The Message 100: A New Type of Bible Reading Engagement

We live at a time when Bible publishers have offered us a degree of choices and formats that previous generations would never have imagined. Different editions compete both in terms of brand identification and in their desire to readers engaged in the scriptures.

The Message 100: The Story of God in Sequence takes the complete text of Eugene Peterson’s version of the Bible and divides it into 100 readings and although the reader is encouraged to go at their own pace, this means that one could read this Bible in 100 days, an acceleration of the usual “read the Bible in a year” type of approach.

Starting in Genesis, I decided to time myself with the first section and clocked in at 26 minutes, though I may have rushed the two genealogies. Still, at less than a half hour, and with only 99 readings left, I was impressed that day how easily this pace of reading the whole Bible might be accomplished.

Because the publisher of The Message, NavPress has merged their marketing and distribution with Tyndale (publisher of the NLT) I was a little wary that this new Message might follow the One Year Bible format which scrambles the text considerably.

Instead, The Message 100 keeps whole books of the Bible fully intact, the First and Second Testaments are completely separated, and the first 30 sections follow the traditional sequence. After that, all bets are off: The minor prophets are co-mingled with books of history, and the wisdom literature is placed at the very end with Psalms wrapping up the 79 OT sections, reminiscent of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) where Prophets come before Writings.

The New Testament begins with the synoptic gospels, then Acts, then the letters (epistles) in a more accurate chronological sequence, not the sorting-by-length with which we are familiar. The writings of John, including his gospel, concludes the 21 NT sections.

The Message 100 also contains a short introduction by Bono — himself quite familiar with the version — which makes it an instant collector’s item for U2 fans.

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Connect to the full text of Bono’s intro at fellow-blogger Dave Wainscott’s review.

The Message 100 is 1,808 pages, available in both paperback and hardcover editions, with a North American release date of Tuesday, October 15th.

Wednesday Link List

My pappy said,”Son, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ if you don’t stop readin’ that Wednesday Linkin'” *

With that* we begin another round. To read this week’s list with the actual links, you must click over to Out of Ur.

• Where are the frogs?  For Glen Eyrie, a Christian conference center in Colorado operated by The Navigators, last year it was fire, this year it’s flooding.
• The latest story of a child’s death alleging a connection to a controversial parenting book has international repercussions. (I’ve been tracking the book’s story for four years now.)
• Sermon of the Week: Steve Carter at Willow finds a common thread between postsecrets.com and the life of Moses.
• Testimony of the Week: Jessica Kelley shares an intense story of suffering and loss with the congregation at Greg Boyd’s church. 44 powerful minutes.
• Essay of the Week: Andy Hall finds himself in the middle of the same type of story as Jessica, and connects what happened at Eden to the suffering we experience in a fallen world.
• Saeed Abedini appeals to the new President of Iran to release him from prison; while his wife speaks at Liberty University.
• Is there a difference between women preachers and women bloggers? Much depends on how the women bloggers view their role.
• Jamie The Very Worst Photographer attempts to show us highlights of her trip to Guatemala.
• At some point in 2014, Hillsong is planting a church in Southern California. Maybe some day Justin B. will visit that Hillsong church also.
• Parents in Scotland want to be able to have a say in whether or not their children receive gay sex education.
• Just weeks before classes started, Canada’s Trinity Western University canceled a filmmaking course because the teacher couldn’t sign on to TWU’s statement about the fate of unbelievers.
• Got last minute company arriving tonight? Take the references for the top sixty most searched Bible verses at topverses.com and turn it into a trivia game.
• While the Pope is suggesting the possibility of married priests, for some, the big story is his purchase of a 1984 Renault. (Bumper sticker: My other car is the Pope Mobile.)
• Christena Cleveland is running a series of essays on the experience of African-American students at Christian universities.  Here’s  some  samples.
• For I know the plans I have for who? A look at the context behind a much-quoted Bible promises.
• Before he could burn nearly 3,000 copies of the Quran, Pastor Terry Jones and an associate are charged with firearms and vehicle registration issues. The story does raise the question of what happened to the kerosene-soaked copies of the Muslim holy book.
• Equal Time Department: In a Reformed-theology-dominated blogosphere, someone dares to offer Ten Reasons Why I Am a Wesleyan. (Some Arminians may not be drawn to these particular reasons.)
• Sigh! Another case of a church wanting to part company from their denomination, but wanting to keep the property.
• In a world where unusual church names are the norm, it’s hard to distinguish yourself from the pack, which is why I like this one from the UK: Everyday Champions Church. (Do they have the breakfast cereal Wheaties there?)
• If you’re going to read an apologetics book review, you want an apologetics website; hence this link to Apologetics 315’s review of God’s Not Dead, a primer on the subject by Rice Broocks.
• If you’re planning your Christmas services and need design ideas, you can always hang Christmas trees upside down.
• Len Wilson, who serves at an Atlanta church called Peachtree, has written an excellent series of articles about visual arts in the church.  (He ought to be easy to track down; how many things in Atlanta can possibly be named Peachtree?)
• Jordan Michael Taylor gets downright preachy at a recent Blimey Cow video on the subject of loving your enemies. At the same time, only days in, his Kickstarter CD campaign has already doubled its goal.
• For the Christian, when is a glass of wine, one glass of wine too many?
• Double sigh! Another youth pastor crosses a line with teens. I won’t even include the summary for this one.
• A pastor friend of mine said this article was guilty of stating the obvious, but here are ten reasons leading a church is tougher than running a business.
• A Mormon dad goes to great lengths — or in this case, shorts — to show his daughter what immodesty looks like.
• Unstoppable, Kirk Cameron’s lastest film will play one night only — next Tuesday — in selected U.S. theaters.
• Not to be taken seriously, the blog Celebrity Pastor offers five essentials to look for in a worship leader.

*I want to be really clear that the Commander Cody intro this week was my wife’s idea.

 

http://www.outofur.com/archives/2013/09/wednesday_link_11.html

Wildfires Cancel Entire Summer at Navigator’s Camp

While it’s not the only worst-case scenario, this probably ranks high among every camp director’s nightmares:

Text cropped off this screenshot reads:

It is with heavy hearts we announce the cancellation of the Eagle Lake’s onsite camps for 2012. If you had a camper registered for an upcoming week, we will contact you to discuss refund or transfer options.

On Tuesday, Christianity Today reported:

Among the Colorado wildfires drawing national attention today, the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs poses an immediate threat to the Navigators’ Glen Eyrie Conference Center and Eagle Lake Camp properties. The blaze, which has spread over 5,000 acres in three days, was only at 5 percent containment today, reports ABC News Colorado.

Wednesday night the Glen Eyrie Conference Center had this on their website:

At the heart of the facility is the famous Glen Eyrie Castle, pictured here.

Campers who left Eagle Lake for a day of whitewater rafting on Saturday were not able to return which left parents with nowhere to call for information on their whereabouts, as reported by WFAA news.

The Navigators is a longstanding Evangelical Christian discipleship organization.  Their website defines the organization:

The Navigators^® is an international, interdenominational Christian ministry established in 1933. Navigators are people who love Jesus Christ and desire to help others know and grow in Him as they “navigate” through life.

It is also known worldwide for its Bible study material, published through subsidiary NavPress.

The organization is headquartered not far from its camps, in the city of Colorado Springs, an area that has also been on standby for evacuation over the past few days with 32,000 people being evacuated as of Wednesday night.

Christianity for Members Only

The Navigators publishing subsidiary, NavPress, has a book coming out that intrigues me, so I decided to Google the author’s name; which directed me to a particular article he did in their ministry magazine, Discipleship Journal.  But then I was met with this:

Why?  Why do I have to create yet another login and password to read a 1985 article in a now-defunct Christian magazine?  For whose protection is this extra level of security?  I decided to find out.  I clicked around the website looking for a “contact” button that would both answer my question and provide a bit of balance to this otherwise rant.  You guess it.  There isn’t one.  Which is too bad because I really don’t have any issues with The Navigators.  At least, I didn’t until today.

 

^{Amplified Bible: Acts 15:19}Therefore it is my opinion that we should not put obstacles in the way of and annoy and disturb those of the Gentiles who turn to God…

Whatever Happened to the Memory Verse?

My mom turned her head to the back seat, “…You’ve got your offering, right?”

“One dime, same as always.”

“And you know your memory verse?”

“Oh, oh!”

A quick leaf through the student manual and I found the verse, which I committed to memory in about 30 seconds.  Most of them, I still remember today…

…Fast forward to 2011…

…What happened to scripture memory?   My kids went through the Sunday School system and have emerged with a fairly accurate God-picture and understanding of basic theology — probably more than I at their age — but very little actual memorization accomplished.

Meanwhile, we have some friends whose kids are part of a national “quizzing” program that has involved memorization of entire chapters of Paul’s epistles; even the entirety of some shorter ones.    So perhaps it’s us;  we failed as parents in this respect.

Either way, I think the Christian book market is going to be very, very ready for Gary Smalley’s new book Guarding Your Child’s Heart:  Establish Your Child’s Faith Through Scripture Memory and Meditation.

I’m not on any kind of review list for NavPress — I don’t even think they do that sort of thing — but I thought this book deserves some highlighting anyway.  Here’s what they say about it…

Most people have 20,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. And for Americans, more than half of those thoughts are negative. So how do you teach your children to guard their minds and hearts in today’s society? The last thing you need is more parenting advice that proves futile.

Your beliefs strongly influence your thoughts, words, and actions, which in turn form your emotions. So the key to a high-quality life is to create powerful beliefs within your heart that control your behavior. You can think whatever thoughts you want, but what would happen if you mainly thought about the words Jesus told you to think about more than two thousand years ago?

Seasoned marriage and family relationship expert Dr. Gary Smalley clearly understands the frustrations of trying to defend your children from destructive cultural influences. In this interactive twelve-week companion workbook that accompanies the Guarding Your Child’s Heart DVD series, Dr. Smalley presents how-to steps, engaging questions, practical exercises, and fun activities to help the whole family memorize and meditate on key Scriptures and lead an enriching life of humility, love, and gratitude.

I can so easily picture grandparents buying this for parents.   For whatever reasons.   I think scripture memory has become a lost art.   So maybe, just maybe, it’s a lost art we need to recover.

There’s also a DVD for this to be used in a small group situation.

“A spiritual community that does not transmit its sacred writings to its children is one generation away from extinction.”