My TOP3 is a way to share with all ya’ll what I’ve been reading and enjoying from around the Web. These are my favorites from this week! – Mark Navey
“BOY CRISIS” THREATENS AMERICA
The writer of this article identifies a culture that subversively and openly fights against boys. But more than a cultural boogeyman, we see absent dads as the most detrimental cause of the crisis.
Favorite Quote: “It is a crisis of shame — of boys feeling that their masculinity is toxic; that the future is female; that dads are but bumbling fools or deadbeats.”
HE DIED A THOUSAND TIMES- AND LIVED
John Piper loves biography. I love that he loves biography. Because it helps us benefit from the stories of men and women who persevered in the faith before us. Adoniram Judson is one of those men. His story of loss and despair and faithfulness is heartbreaking and life giving. I pray Provision might be as willing to suffer for Christ.
Favorite Quote: “But even more, his sufferings had disengaged him from hoping for too much in this world. He was learning how to hate his life in this world without bitterness or depression (John 12:25).”
PRAYER AND PLANTING
It’s a temptation for most (if not all) Christians – to forget prayer. Life makes us busy and we forget that we are needy children with access to a generous Father. This is a great reminder, especially for us as church planters, that we absolutely must rely on the gift and power of prayer.
Favorite Quote: “Too often our prayer lives look like we think that apart Jesus we can do some things.”
Bonus: “we must depend on God for the salvation of the nations. We may labor, but he gives the increase. If we forget this truth, we will fall into depressing discouragement or give in to sinful pragmatism. May it never be so! Lord, keep us faithful, but keep us dependent on you.”