“How much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize?” – Penn Jillette

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To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing Up without a Father

by Donald Miller and John MacMurray

Good dads are almost as rare as fire-breathing dragons – or at least so it seems. New from Donald Miller, author of the critically acclaimed Blue Like Jazz, comes a gut-wrenchingly honest look at growing up without a father. In a unique, literary style, Donald and John MacMurray – the man who taught Donald the things his dad never did – encourage readers to both recognize and leave behind the disappointment and emotional scars marked by having absent earthly fathers.

Orphaned Elephants in puberty are like men without fathers

Excerpted from Guys and Dads, a 2006 Christianity Today interview with Don Miller:

What was your experience growing up without a father?

My dad left before I remember anything. There were early memories of my mom interacting with my dad occasionally, trying to get a credit card back from him, but I don’t have any memories of my dad. It all seemed pretty normal. It wasn’t until five or six years ago that I even began to process the fact that something in my life had been missing. There were a lot of the things I didn’t know. By know I mean that on a holistic level I didn’t know that authority equals love, those sorts of things. I always felt like I was ten years behind in terms of the way I was living my life. I attribute that to not having a father.

It was watching a documentary about a group of orphaned elephants that helped you see the need for a male authority in your life.

Without the presence of older elephants in their lives to mentor them, these elephants remained in suspended musth cycles, which essentially is like a puberty phase. With an older male elephant there, their musth cycle will only last about three days. It’s a very uncomfortable time, but it’s eased when an older male elephant is in their life.

But for the elephants on this reserve, with no older males, their musth cycles did not end. They basically began to lose it. They acted out aggressively and violently toward other creatures. They began to withdraw from their tribe. When they introduced older male elephants into that community of orphaned elephants, their musth cycles ended. They were able to be normal.

It was very interesting to me that there is evidence in the animal kingdom that you are changed biochemically by your relationship to something outside of yourself. Young men are changed by their relationships with older men. There is evidence of that. So I began to wonder, what am I missing? How am I being affected by not having a dad? ….

[READ CHAPTER 2 IN TO OWN A DRAGON FOR THE FULL STORY ON THE ORPHANED ELEPHANTS]

Conversations With A Skeptic Part 1

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Conversations With A Skeptic Part 2

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Reflections on Part 2 – CLICK HERE

Conversations With A Skeptic Part 3

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Conversations With A Skeptic Part 4

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The conference takes place on January 16th and 17th, 2009 at the legendary Team Quest Fight Club in Gresham. OR.

CHECK OUT THE PREVIEW VIDEO

This is a unique opportunity to learn fight principles from scripture in a manner that you will never forget!

Real fighters will teach you fight techniques that are tied directly to the Apostle Paul’s teachings in scripture about spiritual battle.

… in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
2 Cor. 2:11

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VIDEOS

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• Proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the world
• Receive anything that is not counter to the gospel
• Reject anything incompatible with the truth of scripture
• Redeem objects of sinful, idolatrous worship for the glory of God

Here is a great article on Halloween that looks at the holiday through this Gospel lens, asking: Can this be redeemed for Jesus?  The Gospel gives us freedom to act out of conscience, not forcing legalism onto others on issues that the bible is silent or unclear on, but not ignorantly engaging aspects of culture that might be harmful. It’s about being thoughtful in our cultural engagement.

Gimme Some Sugar, Baby…

The holy, hellish, hodgepodge history of Halloween

By Pastor James Harleman, Mars Hill Church

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Interview with Lecrae – Mark Driscoll

At Text & Context in February 2008, Mark Driscoll sat down with Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae.

Lecrae – Rebel Intro – Lecrae

This is the first song off of Lecrae’s new album Rebel in stores September 30. Buy it from Amazon.com

Doxologist Interviews Lacrae – Mike Anderson

Interview with Hip Hop Artist: Trip Lee

Interview with Hip Hop Artist: Trip Lee

Mars Hill’s Pastor Tim Smith interviews Sho Baraka of Reach Records.

(CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO)

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO