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Title:  Oh, That I May Never Loiter on My Heavenly Journey! (Reflections on the Life and Ministry of David Brainerd) [MP3]
Speaker:  John Piper
Source:  Desiring God Resource Library (Biographies)
Description:  Despite his almost constant, debilitating pain and depression, David Brainerd persevered to take the Gospel of Jesus to the unreached Indians of the early American frontier. Brainerd only lived 29 years. But (owing mostly to his biography by Jonathan Edwards) his life has been used to incalculable effect for the Kingdom of God. He didn't waste his life.
"The list of missionaries who testify to the inspiration of Brainerd’s Life through the work of Jonathan Edwards is longer than any of us knows: Francis Asbury, Thomas Coke, William Carey, Henry Martyn, Robert Morrison, Samuel Mills, Fredrick Schwartz, Robert M’Cheyne, David Livingstone, Andrew Murray. And a few days before he died, Jim Elliot, who was martyred by the Aucas, entered in his diary, 'Confession of pride—suggested by David Brainerd’s Diary yesterday—must become an hourly thing with me.'"
"There are a few Indians—perhaps several hundreds—who owe their everlasting life to the direct love and ministry of David Brainerd.... If we live 29 years or if we live 99 years, would not any hardships be worth the saving of one person from the eternal torments of hell for the everlasting enjoyment of the glory of God?"
"Remember your leaders who have spoken God's word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7)
Other Media:  Transcript (website)

Labels: audio, christian hedonism, faith, favorites, foreign missions, Grace, ministry, sovereignty, suffering and sacrifice, testimony, the unwasted life

Title:  John Newton: The Tough Roots of His Habitual Tenderness [MP3]
Speaker:  John Piper
Source:  Desiring God Resource Library (Biographies)
Description:  This time Piper recounts the life and ways of another of my spiritual heroes, John Newton. Once a debauched slave trader, God transformed Newton into a balanced man of God by His grace: tender, yet tough. In this sermon, you'll find a few reasons why I love quoting John Newton.
"It seems to me that we are always falling off the horse on one side or the other in this matter of being tough and tender—wimping out on truth when we ought to be lion-hearted, or wrangling with anger when we ought to be weeping. I know it's a risk to take up this topic and John Newton in a setting like this, where some of you need a good (tender!) kick in the pants to be more courageous, and others of you confuse courage with what William Cowper called 'a furious and abusive zeal.' Oh how rare are the pastors [or, read: 'Christians'] who speak with a tender heart and have a theological backbone of steel."
"Remember your leaders who have spoken God's word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7)
Other Media:  Transcript (website)

Labels: audio, favorites, Grace, growth, leadership, mercy and justice, ministry, preaching and teaching, racial harmony, suffering and sacrifice, testimony

Title:  How Few There Are Who Die So Hard! (Suffering and Success in the Life of Adoniram Judson: The Cost of Bringing Christ to Burma) [MP3]
Speaker:  John Piper
Source:  Desiring God Resource Library (Biographies)
Description:  John Piper tells the story of one of my spiritual heroes, Adoniram Judson.
"Our Lord Jesus said to us in very solemn words, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit' (John 12:24). Then he adds this: 'Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life' (John 12:25). In other words, a fruitful life and an eternal life come from this: dying like a seed and hating your life in this world. What overwhelms me, as I ponder this and trace the life of Adoniram Judson, America's first foreign missionary, is how strategic it was that he died so many times and in so many ways."
"Remember your leaders who have spoken God's word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7)
Other Media:  Transcript (website)

Labels: audio, churchplanting, faith, favorites, foreign missions, ministry, suffering and sacrifice, testimony, the unwasted life

Title:  Church Planting Movements parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 [MP3]
Speaker:  David Garrison
Source:  "Church Planting Movements - Dr. David Garrison" podcast
Description:  "These are days of great harvest, and nowhere on earth is the harvest greater than in the growing number of Church Planting Movements God is stirring around the world."
"In 2001 a newly emerging Church Planting Movement yields 48,000 new believers and 1,700 new churches in one year." —A church planting movement is no fad. It is something real and spectacular that God is doing among many people groups all over the world. "Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." (Habakkuk 1:5)

Titles:
01 Intro to CPMs
02 Why CPMs are Important
03 Reverse Engineering
04 CPMs around the World
05 Ten Universal Elements in a CPM
06 CPMs and Non-Literates
07 Leadership Development
08 Fruit that Lasts
09 What is a Church?
10 In Most CPMs
11 Contextualization and CPMs
12 How to kill a CPM
13 FAQs about CPMs
14 Baptism and CPMs
15 POUCH Churches
16 Discipleship in CPMs
17 Muslim Background CPMs
18 10 CPM Commandments
19 Prayer Requests
20 Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Copy the source podcast link into iTunes or another podcast player to add it to the rest of your podcasts, or you can simply download the recordings here. This is not an ongoing podcast. There are no additional recordings.)
Other Media:  Booklet (PDF), Book (website)

Labels: audio, churchplanting, community, CPMs, favorites, first-century thinking, foreign missions, ministry, preaching and teaching, simple church, small groups, testimony

Title:  Church Planting in Corinth [MP3]
Speaker:  Mark Driscoll
Source:  Mars Hill Church Media Library
Description:  As part of the "Christians Gone Wild" sermon series on 1 Corinthians, Mark covers Acts 18:1-18.
"As a strategic church planter, Paul focused his efforts on cities like Athens and Corinth because culture emanates from urban centers."
"In the earliest days of Christianity, our faith spread from city to city so that by AD 300, 50 percent of Roman cities were Christian, but only 10 percent of the rural area was Christian. Christianity was so identified with urban life that to be a pagan meant that you lived on a farm.
Corinth was a port city and the center of ancient trade and tourism.... If the city was impacted for Jesus, its influence for the gospel would reach far and wide."

Labels: audio, churchplanting, culture, leadership, ministry, the city

Title:  The Gospel-Driven Church [MP3]
Speaker:  Dick Kaufmann
Source:  Acts 29 Multimedia
Description:  "The Gospel is out not to reform people but to transform people. Churches that preach for behavioral reformation tend to elevate middle-class values to the level of biblical norm and focus on external change. We resolve to seek transformation at the motivational and character level, not merely behavioral modification."
"The root of all of our problems is that something other than Christ is serving as our functional savior. Therefore we neither tell people: 'You shouldn't act like that—stop it!' nor 'You need to accept yourself as you are!' Rather, we call them to repent of their idols and trust in Christ who through his life and death is the only one who can give them all they are longing for."
Other Media:  Notes (website)

Labels: audio, churchplanting, culture, Grace, idolatry, ministry, preaching and teaching, testimony

Title:  My Gospel Journey [MP3]
Speaker:  Dick Kaufmann
Source:  Acts 29 Multimedia
Description:  Dick Kaufmann tells his own story of ministry, suffering, and God's way of teaching about his grace. A personal and very applicable message about how the Gospel relates to our lives on a daily, practical basis.
Other Media:  Timeline & Notes (website)

Labels: audio, churchplanting, favorites, Grace, growth, idolatry, ministry, suffering and sacrifice, testimony

Title:  Single in Christ (A Name Better than Sons and Daughters) [MP3]
Speaker:  John Piper
Source:  Desiring God Resource Library
Description:  John Piper gives a solidly biblical reminder to Christians in our Modern, Western culture that the Bible holds a special place for people who choose to worship God in a lifetime of singleness, celibacy, and service for Jesus. He explains how both marriage and singleness have their benefits and drawbacks, but that singleness is uniquely positioned for ministry, and discipling, in particular. Singles and married people should all listen to this sermon. Piper helps put natural family relationships in perspective to the potential of giving birth to an exponential spiritual family in the Spirit of Christ.
Other Media:  Transcript (website)

Labels: audio, christian hedonism, discipling, favorites, foreign missions, ministry, singleness dating courtship and marriage, suffering and sacrifice, the unwasted life

Title:  Part 1 Being the Church in Our Culture, Part 2 Preaching the Gospel, Part 3 Doing Justice [MP3]
Speaker:  Tim Keller
Source:  Reform & Resurge Conference 2006
Description:  Keller discusses the role of the church in culture, the importance of cities to the church, preaching against idolatry as a means of exalting Jesus in the Gospel, and the biblical importance of doing justice as a means to a more comprehensive embodiment of Jesus and his Gospel in our culture and the world.
Other Media:  Article (PDF)

Labels: audio, church, churchplanting, culture, evangelism, favorites, Grace, heart, idolatry, mercy and justice, ministry, preaching and teaching, the city

Title:  Preaching and Teaching Jesus from Scripture [MP3]
Speaker:  Mark Driscoll
Source:  Mars Hill Church Media Library
Description:  "A message originally given to Acts 29 pastors, Pastor Mark Driscoll offers ten cautions and encouragements for preachers, that they may effectively fulfill their call to proclaim the gospel clearly."

Labels: audio, Grace, leadership, ministry, preaching and teaching

Title:  Urban Promise [MP3]
Speaker:  Collin McCartney
Source:  The Meeting House Audiocast

Labels: audio, favorites, Grace, growth, mercy and justice, ministry, testimony