Before you got her in the bedsheets, you got her in the car. Before there were children, there were late-night phone calls. Before you were married, you dated. Men: when was the last time you dated your wife? | Women: when was the last time your husband dated you? (more…)

I’m starting a new blog series here at Doxologie, one that would hopefully enlighten us to the counter-cultural position that the Gospel takes to all of life. Basically, I’ll take some of the most prominent people in the world (celebrities, politicians, influentials), and imagine what Jesus would say to them, not putting words into His mouth, but taking words from what He has already said in Scripture, and applying it to their circumstances.

As is already crossing your mind, this can be dangerous. So here are some precautions you as the reader should take when reading these thoughts:

1. I’m a mortal, sinful human being and do not speak for God. He has already spoken for Himself. However, I may be incorrect in my application of Scripture (what He has already said) to the particular situations posed here.
2. I struggle with believing some of these aspects too. Just because He says it doesn’t mean I like it. It means I’m trying to obey it.
3. At times, I too struggle with living like the Scriptures teach. I’m not ‘above’ these influentials simply because I’m writing a blog post about it. I just think it’d be interesting to take a high-profile Author and apply His words to high-profile people.
4. Relax, have fun, and if you can’t stand it, leave a comment, or send an email to blackhole@doxologie.org .

Without further ado, here are some things that Jesus would likely say to President Obama: (more…)

Mark Driscoll, over at the Resurgence blog, has been providing some great leadership lessons from baseball. For the rest of the world (!), here are some lessons I’ve noticed during the greatest sporting event ever, the FIFA World Cup. Some of the lessons from soccer overlap with those from baseball because, hey, some things transfer well.

Leadership is a Team Sport

In baseball, one person scores pretty regularly. They are called home runs. It’s one on one (batter vs. pitcher), and those odds are pretty good. No team involvement needed for a run; the only necessary thing is to capitalize on an opportunity (namely a bad pitch). However, in soccer this rarely, if ever happens. Unless the goalie scores on a goal kick, there is a team effort involved in seizing opportunity. Soccer is the premier team sport. Sure there are ‘names’ in soccer, even names that stand above all the rest (Pele, anyone?), but those names are nobodies without someone defending the goal, someone moving the ball up the field, and someone delivering a beautiful cross from the corner. Nearly every goal in soccer is a team effort, and without a team, it’s 11 on 1 for 90 minutes. I’m not one for those odds. What does this mean for leadership? You can’t do it alone. Surround yourself with forwards, midfielders, and defenders who know their role in accomplishing the overall mission. (more…)