A couple years ago I had a phone conversation with a guy I’ve never met and, in this life, almost certainly never will. He said things I’d heard before, but which, for some reason, took root like they hadn’t before. He talked about the tendency of American Christian men—particularly Baptists, and even more particularly Baptists from conservative circles in the South—to think we’re doing our job if we’re providing and coming home at night and taking our family to church. He made the point that we need to be actively—proactively—discipling our wives and our families, not just being good guys.

Darrin Patrick, church planting pastor in St. Louis, pushes that conversation a step further, offering some sober words for men regarding our responsibility to disciple other men and embrace active leadership in our churches to advance the proclamation of Christ’s Kingdom.

Lots of preachers talk about the centrality of the gospel in every aspect of the life of a Christian. But not everyone who talks about it actually explains how this is true and how it fleshes out.

Certainly, not everything that needs to be said can be said in an hour, but Tim Keller gives us a healthy push in that direction in this talk.

One resource that was on my mind much in preparing for yesterday’s sermon is Operation World, which is an extraordinarily useful guide to the state of missions across the globe. I haven’t seen this new edition, but I’ve been looking forward to it coming out so I can peruse the latest data.

Use it, and you’ll be introduced to people groups you’ve never heard of, and which themselves have never heard the name of Jesus. It’s a great way to lead your family in prayer for the nations. Christianity Today has a nice story on the new edition here.

And if you thought the two slides were helpful, you can download the whole “State of the Gospel” presentation here. Many more resources—maps and slides—available through the Southern Baptist International Missions Board for purchase or as a free download.

Last Saturday evening’s parenting forum addressed questions including:

• How our children’s ministry curriculum focuses primarily on the gospel, not conforming behavior
• How our elders lead parents and children to move towards baptism, church membership, and the Lord’s Supper
• How to explain difficult theological concepts in the gospel to young children
• What resources are helpful in that work
• How to encourage children to respond to the gospel without pressuring them
• How we should shepherd older children who’ve made a profession of faith, but whose lives give little evidence of biblical conversion

With Josh Turley’s help, DVDs of the forum will be available for checkout in the library this Sunday. If you need a copy to keep, or to pass on to family or friends, touch base with Josh or me.

Also, many of the helpful resources we discussed are listed and linked in a recent post on Juan’s blog.

Here’s a good word on ambition. The best part:

One great measure of our humility is whether we can be ambitious for someone else’s agenda.

It works for all of us, but I’m convicted by it as a pastor who’s fortunate enough to serve in a church led by a plurality of elders. And its particularly convicting for an associate pastor.