Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Here's a pic of the Rutter family just after we got back from Christmas Eve services and just before Santa made a visit...

Engage Promo Video

So I spent about 10 hours in the video room at the church learning how to work (and falling in love with) the Mac and it's video production tools. I love geeking out on new toys so this was really a blast for me. Well, here is the end result. This video is a promo for Engage. Check it out and let me know what you think...

Quick Hits

True to form Mike wrote a tear-jerker post on his blog about his reflections from imagine. Click here and read it...

Brandon Grant, the pastor of Eastview's young adult ministry: Fuel mentioned that the live worship CD of original worship songs from Fuel is available now in Eastview's bookstore. The proceeds from the CD are helping to fund Fuel's mission trip to Romania next year. Click here to check out a video that tells more about the Romania trip...

Imagine Distribution

Alan (an Eastviewer) over at The Way Warriors blog wrote a great post about his experience of Imagine Distribution day today. Click here and read it. For those of you interested in numbers.

• Over 800 families will be able to imagine a better Christmas this year.
• Over 400 Eastviewers volunteers imagined how they could actually participate in the lives of people and not just drop something in a donation box.
• Hundreds of prayer requests were received and prayed for. It was a great day!

I'm sure Mike will have some emotional, tear-jerking post up early next week about his observations, so I'll leave the mushy stuff to him.

But I just wanted to say thanks to all the staff and volunteers who made this a great milestone moment in the life our church!

Some other Blogs

I'm locked in my office today planning a sermon because I'm preaching Sunday. But, I wanted to make you aware of a couple of Eastview spots on the Internets that you might want to check out.

Mike's blog - Of course most of you probably already know about our Senior Pastor's blog because most of you came here from there, but if not, check it out.

Single Women of Eastview blog - Our director of involvement, Nicki Green, is just starting this blog as a way to communicate, encourage and minister to some of the most courageous people in our church. I know I talk a lot about God's ideal for the family (men leading sacrificially, women submitting joyfully, and children obeying) but these are women who are honoring God in some of the most trying circumstances and I'm glad there's this effort to minister to them.

Amazon 2008 blog - Ralph Maurer, an awesome Eastivewer, has developed a passion for mission to Brazil. He is leading a trip to Brazil in May 2008. Check it out. You can chart the progress of the team, pray for them and perhaps God will stir in you a passion to go on the trip, yourself.

Dave Schwulst & family - The Schwulst's are an Eastview family that recently left their comfortable mid-west lives to become missionaries in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. You can follow their ministry and pray for thier work.

Eastview on MySpace & Eastview on Facebook - If you're a user of either of these sites, you should check out the Eastview pages. An awesome volunteer, Anette Levitt, called me up and asked if she could just run with developing sites for the church. How cool is that? She updates these sites regularly with events and sermon series information. Just do a search for Eastview Christian Church.

Check them out! See you this Sunday. I hope God gives me something to say!

Weekend Recap

Well, this weekend was a little light because of the weather. We had just under 2000 people this weekend. So if you couldn't make it because of the weather, I hope to see you next week.

Because we were missing so many, it means that the last week of Imagine was interrupted by the weather. We had around 500 of the 1,500 food boxes returned. So I know there is a lot of full boxes waiting to be brought in. Well, here's the deal...Distribution day is Saturday (12/15) so if you have a full box at home, we need you to bring it by the church this week. (Preferably, early this week!) Thanks!

Ten Books for Every Christian

The bookstore here at Eastview asked me to put together a list of books I recommend. So I thought I'd share the list here as well.

1. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Lewis is one of the most effective spokespeople for the gospel in the history of the church. He had a remarkable abiblity to translate the complex concepts of God into a language that every man could understand. This is his most concise and effective presentation of the message of the gospel.

2. Knowing God by J.I. Packer
No one can claim to be "well read" in theolgoy who has not read this book. It was originally written as a series of individiual articles on sepereate aspects of the nature of God. Although it is considered a modern classic of theoglogy, it is written in a language that almost anyone can understand.

3. The Universe Next Door by James Sire
The reality is that not everyone sees the world the way Christians do. In order for us to be able to explain the message of Jesus to all people, we must understand the unique way they view the world. This book explores the major "world views" or religious perspectives. This book brings clarity to Christians as they seek to understand how their neighbors see the world.

4. Basic Christianity by John Stott
This is another book by a British scholar that explains the gospel message in simple language. It explains our need for Jesus, who Jesus was, what Jesus said, what Jesus did and why he had to come and die.

5. Simply Christian by N.T. Wright
Okay, this is the last British author I'll recommend, I promise. N.T. Wright is an Anglican bishop. This book is the most recent example of clear explanations of the truths of the Gospel.

6. Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
This is the one reference book that every Christian needs to own. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't refer to this once or twice. My copy is dog-eared with multiple pages falling out. In each chapter, Grudem explains what the Bible teaches about different aspects of theology. This book isn't for new Christians, but it is a must have for maturing Christians.

7. Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood edited by Wayne Grudem
One of the most controversial issues in the church today is the definition of manhood and womanhood. This book lays out what the Bible teaches about the roles God has designed for men and women for their greatest joy and His greatest glory.

8. The Five Love Languages - Gary Chapman
This book has been revolutionary in my marriage. If I could consistently live up to the lessons I learned from this book, it would virutally eliminate conflict in my family. (Unfortunately, I don't.) Chapman categorizes people in the way that they most naturally recieve love. By understanding how our spouses best recieve love, we can learn how we can best communicate our love to them.

9. Don't Waste Your Life - John Piper
John Piper is one of my favorite authors. This book lays out a challenge to Christians who are too easily distracted by the lifestyle of our socitely. Piper confronts our complacency and shows the demands that the rality of the gospel places on our lives.

10. The Bible: English Standard Version - by God
This is my preferred English translation of the Bible. The translators of the ESV maintained a rigorous committment to allowing the text to speak and avoiding paraphrases or interpreting in their translation. When I study the Bible, the ESV is the first bible I read from.




Well, there's the list. What did I miss? What books have been meainingful in your spiritual journey that you think should be required reading for every Christian?

Man Up

One of the ideas I'm just obsessing on right now is the desperate need we have for a revival of "manliness" in our culture. That was why I wrote the Stupid Guy post a few weeks ago.

I ran across this recent lecture that a professor gave to a group of college guys (click here for the audio). It is excellent. I think every guy should listen to this lecture once a month for the rest of their lives...

Here's the outline I took while listening to it...

Three Essential Tasks of Manhood
1. Take Responsibility
-Do Your Work
-Own Your Mistakes
-Expect to Work
-Don't Live to Play
-Don't View Work as an Intrusion
-Know What Work God Made You For
-Reject the Temptation to Whine & Complain

2. Embrace Commitment
-Our true character is only revealed in the intimacy of true community
-Involvement in the local church develops manhood
-Recreational dating is sin

3. Sacrifice
-Selfishness destroys manhood
-Protect women and children
-Initiate in relationships
-Give up personal desires for others' benefit

Book Review: The Future of Justification

I just finished reading John Piper’s latest book: The Future of Justification. Dr. Piper is a pastor and former Biblical Studies professor in Minneapolis. I respect his commitment to the authority of scripture and the glory of God.

This book is a theological work that responds to a new teaching about what the apostle Paul really said and thought. Primarily, it focuses on the doctrine of Justification and the “alternative” view being taught by a British scholar named N.T. Wright. (I don’t imagine I’ll ever be smart enough for someone to refer to me as D.M. Rutter.).

This book is very deep and probably not for everyone. It deals with academic understandings of theological issues. But I thought the best thing about it was the way Dr. Piper went about his argument.


He went out of his way to conduct his critique of Bishop Wright with sensitivity, honesty and integrity. In a world of sarcastic letters to the editor and snarky blog comments, this was a model for how two Christians who seriously disagree on issues of Biblical understanding should conduct themselves.

If you have an interest in modern theological controversies (that sounds really nerdy!) I recommend picking it up.