Saturday Three

1. Interesting post here from Trevin Wax. This plum is ripe for picking:

Evangelistic presentations are a sign of failure. They show that Christians no longer talk about their faith in their everyday life. If a Christian has believed the gospel, why would they not know what to say if asked about it?

Wish I'd said that. [HT: Dash House]

2. Great quote on sanctification from Anti-Itch Meditation.

3. Since I'm an infinitive-splitting fool, I'm gratified to find this out:

The Chicago Manual of Style [5.106, 5.160] says it is “now widely acknowledged that adverbs sometimes justifiably separate the to from the principal verb.”

That's good enough for me! [HT: Justin Taylor]

Bonus Track: Justin Childers presents 10 Reasons We Need to Be Reminded of the Gospel Everyday. [HT: Already Not Yet]

3 that made me think

Ryken cites Mohler's list of 5 negative trends in contemporary preaching. Something to think about.

I liked (and learned a few things from) this article on linguistics by Robert I. Bradshaw.

There's this church-planting movement in Sheffield, England, called The Crowded House. One of it's members, Andy Stovell, keeps a blog of the same name. In a recent post, he laid out the following 7 rules for evangelism:

1. Spend quality time with Non-Christians
2. Protect them from the church.
3. Witness to those new friends about Jesus Christ.
4. Protect them from the church.
5. Lead them to Christ.
6. Protect them from the church.
7. When they have matured a bit and are ready even for a culture shock, introduce them to the church for the first time.

I find myself in sympathy with this approach.