Fight Clubs Wins Sales Contest!

Posted on February 19, 2010

My little booklet on gospel-centered discipleship won a contest at LuLu in January as the second highest selling book of the month! Thanks to all who purchased copies. As with the profits on these books, the reward will go back into supporting our church and my writing ministry (though I might treat my wife to something fun!).

RISE OF FCs & FALL OF COST

More and more churches are implementing Fight Clubs in their communities. They frequently write us asking for discounts. So, we lowered the price from 8.50 to 6.99. Plus, bulk discounts are automatically discounted at LuLu as you increase the number of copies. Check here for free Fight Club resources and coupons. Try WINTERBOOK for 10% off now.

FAQs

Are Fight Clubs just for men? Nope. In our church there are more women than men in Fight Clubs. They love fighting.

Can I make copies of the book? We prefer that you not make copies. Besides, after all the discounts and reduced prices the affordability rivals the cost of making copies. Oh, there’s a cheaper eBook version too.

Do I have to call them Fight Clubs? Of course not. Call them whatever you want, just be sure to make the gospel central!

How do Fight Clubs multiply? Once you have three, add a fourth person just for two weeks and then split off into two groups or have one person go start a new one.

Do intergenerational Fight Clubs work? Yes, we’ve seen single men fight for joy with younger men. Sometimes a natural mentoring relationship emerges. The key isn’t similar struggles; it is commitment to the same gospel that addressees all our struggles, whatever age you are.

When’s the next book? I’ve contributed to Viral Hope: the good news from the urbs to the suburbs, which comes out in March. I’m working on a booklet like FC called City Groups: Gospel-centered Missional Community. And I’ll do a revised & expanded FC later this year. Lord willing, I’ll start work on my first full-length book this summer.

COOL FIGHT CLUB SIGNS

Ben Hansen, graphic artist and designer of Fight Clubs, has created some pretty cool vertical signs. If you’re interested in purchasing the files to have them made for your church, just send an email to Justin.

2081 (or Harrison Bergeron)

Posted on February 18, 2010

I was stoked to see the ad in PASTE about the film 2081, which is based on Vonnegut’s great little story “Harrison Bergeron.” The tagline of the film is “Finally Equal”, and is about a time in the future when everyone is forced to be equal by wearing different handicaps that level strength, intelligence, beauty, across society until someone stands up to this radical egalitarianism. Apparently the film is already out. I’ll be renting it soon.

Read a review I did on the short story a while back. Check the trailer below.

2081 Trailer from 2081 on Vimeo.

Resurgence: Reformed Theology & Mission

Posted on February 18, 2010

I had the privilege of guest lecturing today at a University of Texas in a Journalism & Religion class. Eileen Delao-Flynn, Professor and Religion writer for the Austin-American Statesman, was kind enough to extend me the invitation. Thanks Eileen! The topic was the Resurgence of Mission & Reformed Theology.

The “New Calvinism”

The first half of the lecture was historical and focused on the Resurgence of Domestic Mission. The second half of the lecture was contemporary and focused on the Resurgence of Reformed Theology. Regarding the latter, TIME magazine noted “New Calvinism” as one of the top ten ideas changing the world in 2009. In an effort to explain this “New Calvinism”, I pointed out that New Calvinists are laboring to shake off fundamentalist, religious baggage and articulate an old gospel in fresh, biblically faithful ways. To this end, they are making five important distinctions:

    1. Gospel/Religion: New Calvinists point out that the Gospel is not Religion. This came as a surprise to some of the students. Religion says: “You must impress God” but the gospel says “Jesus impressed God for you.” Religion says perfect yourself and God will be happy. The Gospel says, “We are all imperfect people, but  cling to a perfect Christ and gain a happy God.”
    2. Us/Them: The Gospel makes a distinction between arrogant separatism and humble evangelism. It doesn’t exaggerate an Us/Them mentality. New Calvinism doesn’t evangelize out of superiority but empathy. We recognize that we all need Jesus before the judgment of a holy God. The only difference between true Christians and non-Christians is that Christians are recipients of God’s grace in Christ. But we all are equally in need of that grace. There’s not one person in this world that needs God’s saving grace more than anyone else.
    3. Big/Small: New Calvinism is recovering a gospel that is bigger than “fire insurance” from hell. It is articulating the gospel as “good news” for the whole world, society, culture, people, the environment. The gospel is not a LCD, a lowest common denominator of the bare minimum facts you have to believe to get into heaven. Rather, it is a TOE, a theory of everything that addresses God’s purpose for humanity, society, culture, cities, environment, justice, and the future. New Calvinists are embracing all goodness, truth, and beauty as God’s truth, goodness, and beauty, and redemptively engaging that which is false, evil, and ugly.
    4. Conservative/Liberal: New Calvinists are distancing the gospel from Politics. We’re not preaching a political gospel, though the gospel does have political implications. In short, Jesus is not a Republican or a Democrat.
    5. Urban/Suburban: New Calvinists are returning to the city, to engage the beauty and brokenness of urban life. They are recovering a commitment to justice and mercy in the city, returning to cities from the white suburban flight.

These distinctions are direct result of a high view of the sovereignty of God–his reign over all of life not just religious matters. They flow from a big gospel that can be articulated as: the good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new for those who hope in him. The dying-rising-from-the-dead Messiah alone has the power to break the back of evil, redeem sin, and exchange life for death. It is the gospel that awakens us to this marvelous news.

Continuity from the Old to the New Calvinism

Much more could be said regarding this resurgence, about these points and in addition to them. One student asked what remains the same between the “Old Calvinism” and “New Calvinism”. The soteriological core–God’s sovereign grace in redeeming broken sinners, via the total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints of TULIP acronym (limited atonement appears to be more negotiable among New Calvinists).

However, the TULIP is flowering more vibrantly than it has for some time in the U.S. The Reformed resurgence has led to a missional resurgence that is set on holding the formerly “liberal” and “conservative” agendas together with the Gospel, promoting robust engagement of social, cultural, and spiritual spheres of life. In this regard, the New Calvinism has more in common with Kuyperian Calvinism than some of its narrower conceptions. All in all, I believe this resurgence is a very positive resurgence, a winsome Calvinism for the 21st century that advocates a whole gospel for the whole person and country.