Category: Fun

Book Giveaway: A Praying Life by Paul Miller

~ Bob Hayton ~ 7 Comments

Courtesy of Michelle Bennett and NavPress, I have 2 free copies of Paul Miller’s A Praing Life to give away. I’ve decided to use a form from Google Docs to help with this contest. Just fill out the form to enter.

If you subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter, you get an extra entry. Of course you can become a subscriber today by clicking here, and follow me on twitter here. Then if you create a blog post linking to my giveaway, or if you link to my giveaway on a Twitter or Facebook update, you can get an additional entry. The contest runs through 6pm (Central) on September 9th.

I’m looking forward to blessing 2 lucky people with a really good book. Don’t forget to read my review of A Praying Life, to see why you really will want to enter this contest!

Contest is now closed.

BibleWorks8 Giveaway

~ Bob Hayton

A great new blog, Cal.vini.st is holding a first anniversary giveway on July 12th. There are only 3 more days to enter the contest and I want to spread the word. At stake are 2 free copies of Bibleworks8 software (a 349$ value)!!

To enter:

  1. Subscribe to Cal.vini.st
  2. Visit Bibleworks.com to find the answer to this question: “Name the three standard original language grammars that have newly been included in BibleWorks 8?“
  3. Fill out a form here, with your answer to the question and contact details.
  4. And if you’re a blogger, post about the contest first, then enter the contest and submit your post’s link, to double your chances of winning.

Minnesota Religious Bloggers

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

Desiring God’s blog, with 21,000+ subscribers may be the most popular Minnesota religious blog. Tony Jones’ emergent blog is showcased on belief.net. But in an article on Minnesota religious blogging published today at MinnPost.com, it is yours truly who heads the list of Minnesota religious bloggers!

Since blogging is inherently narcissistic, I guess no one is surprised that I’m tooting my own horn right now! 😉

Seriously, the article is an interesting read, and MinnPost.com looks like an interesting mix between online journalism, blogging and a traditional newspaper format. A couple of my local blogging buddies also make honorable mention: Jamsco at The Responsible Puppet, and Shaun at Bible Geek Gone Wild.

The article does bring up a good point. Talking about faith has been enhanced through the online media. Many who are in oppressive religious groups or who are just hesitant to make their questioning or religious seeking known, find the internet very helpful in evaluating their religious beliefs. The world wide web both equips and propels one to find out what they believe and why. The one thing you can count on with respect to the web is that your opinion will be challenged — from all sides. Personally, I think that is a good thing, as Biblical Christianity can stand on its own two feet, and a well-grounded faith is a strong faith.

So all my loyal blog readers will have to go over and read the article. Be sure to leave a comment too, and say how awesome my blog is!

Tweeting the Gospel

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

Twitter is becoming more and more popular these days. One of the things it does is force us to be succinct, which is good. Nine Marks Ministries‘ blog, Church Matters, is challenging all Christian twitterers to share the gospel in 1 tweet. It’s a novel idea, and causes us to focus on the true heart of the gospel. Crafting such a tweet is a good exercise, but it also challenges us to use Twitter for good ends, by challenging those with whom we interact on Twitter, with the gospel.

I enjoyed crafting my tweet, but I would have loved more than 140 characters! Here’s my tweet, and then a better one.

G=S+J<M / Gospel=Sin [spurning God & His law] + Judgment [eternal punishment] < Mercy [Jesus died in our place offering peace with God] #9M

The #9M enters me in the contest, and can be searched easily via Twitter. Take some time to read through the results of that search, and you’ll encounter many other ways to simply declare the heart of the gospel.

My tweet stopped short of calling people to believe this message. But I think the Gospel, when understood, carries the weight of a response within the message itself. When one understands G=S+J<M, he may then value the truth in this message and cherish it. In short, he will come to believe it.

A much better attempt at distilling the beauty of the gospel in a few words was accomplished by songwriter Drew Jones:

Holy God, in love, became / Perfect Man to bear my blame / On the cross He took my sin / By His death I live again

These words form the entire length of The Gospel Song (music by Bob Kauflin). It is one of my favorite songs; learn more about it here.

So what’s your gospel tweet? Post it on twitter, or add it to the comments at the Church Matters’ blog (contest runs through Wednesday night). But please share your gospel tweet in the comments here. 140 comments or less. Let’s rejoice in the clarity of the gospel together.

Congratulations: Book Giveaway Results

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

whathemustbe1Congratulations goes to Jason DelGado and Nathan McKinney for winning free copies of What He Must Be… If He Wants to Marry My Daughter by Voddie Baucham Jr. Many thanks goes to Michelle and Angie at Crossway for supplying the free books for this giveaway.

If you didn’t win a free copy, you can still order the book through Amazon.com, or support a Christian bookseller by picking it up from Monergism Books or Westminster Bookstore.

I should have those books shipped out by the end of the week to our winners. Thanks for everyone who entered the contest, you had a 1 in 11.5 chance of winning. Pretty good odds!