Wisdom for Your Weekend is your regular installment of what we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web. Presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with guidance from Pastor J.D., this is our attempt to reflect Proverbs 9:9: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”
While we do not always agree with everything these authors post, we share these resources because we find them challenging and enriching. As we often say around the Summit, “Eat the fish and spit out the bones.”
Video of the Week
Quit Social Media, Dr. Cal Newport. You’ve probably been told, at some point, that you should quit social media. Or at least take an extensive break. And you’ve also probably not heeded these repeated pieces of advice. Why is that? Newport—who is much younger than you’d expect—identifies three big objections people have to quitting social media, and he shows why each one is bunk. (Confession: I (Chris) have often fallen prey to Objection #2.)
Articles of the Week
What the Soviets Intended for Siberia, God Intended for Good, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra. During the middle of the 20th century, the Soviet Union killed 20 million Christians. Josef Stalin, along with later rulers, intended to stamp out the Christian presence in the USSR completely. The attempt was nearly successful. But since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Christianity multiplied once again. What will the recent (and growing) government restrictions mean for the Russian church? Time alone will tell, but if history is any indication, there is reason for hope.
Republicans Don’t Understand Democrats—And Democrats Don’t Understand Republicans, Yascha Mounk. You may not be particularly shocked to learn that Democrats and Republicans often construct caricatures of those on the “other side.” Recent research confirms it. What you may find shocking is that education—a certain type of it, anyway—often makes the caricature worse. (For more about this growing divide, you can’t do better than Ben Sasse’s excellent book, Them: Why We Hate Each Other—And How to Heal.)
Sinful Things to Say in Conflict, Lore Ferguson Wilbert. We rarely realize that our theology is on display in the midst of conflict. The specific words we choose often belie hearts that don’t understand or don’t believe the gospel. If we want our lives to adorn the gospel we believe, we should do everything in our power to purge these three dangerous phrases from our vocabulary.
One Question Every Church Planter Should Ask, Kevin DeYoung. I wish the stories DeYoung shares here were more exceptional, but they seem far too common. Many church planters launch out into new ministries without asking an all-important question: What other gospel work is already going on? I’m thankful that our own Summit Network asks this question every time it considers, prepares, and sends a new church planting team. May the question—and the church planting teams!—increase.
On the Lighter Side
Nicolas Cage Is Searching for the Holy Grail. (No, Really), David Marchese. Sometimes it seems the only thing more absurd than all the Nicolas Cage jokes … is Nicolas Cage himself.
