text:
Preview: Epic Games Releases Citadel Preview
by Rob on
September 2, 2010
Filed under Daily App Reviews, Entertainment, Games, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps
During Apple's keynote address during their media event on September 1st, Epic Games showed off their new, up and coming 3D sword fighting game. The game has amazing 3D graphics built upon "Unreal Technology" – Unreal Engine 3. For now, the preview only has you walking around in the old-world map of a medieval town. There's no enemies to fight yet but the preview does allow you to get a feel for the controls, graphics and the game in general.
During the Apple keynote, two representatives from Epic games did battle it out live onscreen. The game looks very exciting and as previously mentioned the graphics are amazing. If you have a device capable of running the preview I highly encourage you to get it installed and walk around the map. This is a glimpse of games to come for the iPod Touch and iPhone.
The download is 82.2MB and runs on later generation iPhone, iPod or iPad devices.
Device Requirements: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 3rd or 4th gen and iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later.


text:
The Miami Marlins are in Philadelphia for a weekend series starting Friday night
photo: PMell2293 / flickr
The Phillies are still in last place, despite winning 2 of 3 from the Mets and 3-4 from the Cardinals in the last two series. It sounds worse than it is though, as the Phillies are only 3 GB from first place, despite being only 2 game above .500
The NL East is log jammed, with 5 teams and nearly two solid months of play, all the teams in the division are basically within reach of first place very easily. The Washington Nationals, who have lost 3 straight games, are still in first but the fast moving Miami Marlins are only a 1/2 game away from them. The team that the Phillies just took 2 of 3 from, the New York Mets, are only 1 1/2 games back.
Last night's game was a classic battle, the ending score really wasn't reflective of the whole game, as it was closer during most of the game. Cliff Lee again was turned away from his first win, but he didn't lose either on the night, as the Phils rallied again to break open a 3-3 game in the 8th inning by scoring a run, and then scoring 6 in the 9th to put the Mets away by a final score of 10-6.
Thursday is a much needed rest for this team, the last day off they had was May 10th. The Miami Marlins come to Philadelphia for a weekend series, then the LA Dodgers camp out for a 4 game series in Philly from Monday to Thursday next week. The Dodgers are 32-18 and are playing better than they have in years.
First it's Miami though, the Marlins are hot and bring a 3 game win streak into Philly for Friday night's game. The Phillies starters for the weekend series will be:
Friday: Kyle Kendrick vs. Mark Buehrle
Saturday: Cole Hamels vs. Ricky Nolasco
Sunday: Joe Blanton vs. Carl Zambrano

subset: commoncrawl


text:
About CEUs
What Are CEUs?
Wondering what a continuing education credit is? Here's a definition.
CEUs are professional development hours that are awarded to individuals who have participated in non-credit educational activities that meet identified goals.
Some regulators refer to these activities as CEUs (continuing education units), CPEs (continuing professional education units), or PDHs (professional development hours). We use the term, CEU, as the descriptor for all these activities.
CEUs matter when you're hosting an event where participants attend, in part, to maintain a license or show/demonstrate continued professional development. Continuing education credit is their opportunity to earn required contact hours.
Not every organization can confer continuing education credit. Only those authorized by regulators can do so. And here's what regulators expect from licensed providers like us.
The event must be under capable direction, under responsible sponsorship, and presented by qualified instructors.
Continuing Education at Bradley University is a licensed provider of CEUs, CPEs, and PDHs. Our staff registers participants' professional development activities and maintains those records for seven years.
Some of our customers include Caterpillar, Inc., the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), the National Private Truck Council (NPTC), and Bradley University.
How are CEUs calculated?
One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) is generally considered to be equivalent to ten contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience. A CEU can be awarded in whole units or fractions of a unit (one-tenth unit, for example).
For what kinds of activities is Bradley qualified to confer CEUs?
Continuing Education at Bradley University is licensed to award three different types of continuing education credit.
Type 1. CEUs may be awarded on behalf of regulatory agencies that require ongoing professional development activities by their licensees. We are authorized to offer CEUs for these agencies and professions:
- Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
- Illinois State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board (SEPLB)
- Clinical Professional Counselors
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Nursing Home Administrators
- Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants
- Professional Counselors
- Professional Engineers (Professional Development Hours)
- Social Workers
- Structural Engineers (Professional Development Hours)
Type 2. We are authorized to offer CEUs on behalf of Bradley University. When an individual participates in a Bradley-sponsored non-credit educational activity offering CEU contact hours, we are a recognized provider of CEUs.
Type 3. We can certify CEUs. Once your participants have successfully completed their professional development hours, we can provide them with a certificate that validates their participation. Your participants can then use these certificates to notify regulatory agencies that the work has been completed.


text:
|Del Mar, Calif.
|High School:
|The Bishop's School
Golf Stat Individual Statistics
Junior (2014-15):
Earned All-Ivy League first team honors ... Placed sixth at Yale Invitational, shooting 78-74-72-224 … Shot 236 at Penn State Invitational (78-80-78) … Shot 230 at Stanford Intercollegiate (79-77-74) ... Finished tied for 13th at Silverado Showdown, shooting 78-72-73-223 ... Finished tied for fourth place at the Ivy League Championships, shooting 79-72-79-230 ... Finished tied for 36th at the NCAA Regional Championship, shooting 77-72-77-226.
Sophomore (2013-14):
Named winner of Harvard's Biff Jeeks Award ... Finished tied for 18th at the Princeton Invitational (74-75-83-232) ... Shot 81-78-76-235 at Golfweek Conference Challenge ... Placed tied for 14th at Harvard Invitatonal, shooting 81-76-157 ... Placed in a fourth-place tie at Lehigh Invitational (74-78-152) ... Finished tied for ninth at Rebel Intercollegiate (73-72-73-218) ... Earned a fourth-place finish at Brown Bear Invitational (78-80-158).
Freshman (2012-13):
Earned All-Ivy League first team honors ... Finished fourth at Ivy League Championships, scoring 225 (77-73-75) ... Finished with a score of 234 at NCAA West Regional (82-76-76) ... Shot 235 (78-76-81) at Yale Invitational ... Finished tied for 15th with a three-round score of 223 (77-74-72) at Nittany Lion Invitational ... Tied for 53rd at Stanford Invitational, shooting 77-72-76 (225) ... Was tied for 38th at Rebel Intercollegiate (74-74-76-226) ... Finished 13th at Brown Bear Invitational (79-76-155).
Before Harvard:
Four-year varsity letter recipient in golf … Captained the team in 2010 … Selected as Bishop's School golf team MVP for four consecutive years … Won the AJGA Rochester Open and AJGA Lessings Classic ... Had four top five AJCA finishes including a second-place finish in the AJGA Lockton Junior ... Named CIF Coastal League Player of the Year in 2009 and 2011 … Four-year selection as CIF Coastal League: All-League … Four-year selection as CIF San Diego: All-City … 2010 Union Tribune All-Academic first team … Led team to victory in 2008 and 2010 League Championships … Holds individual school 18-hole team scoring record of 69 and 9-hole scoring record of 32 … Team record in league matches from 2008-11 was 33 wins and four losses … Only player in 60 year history of San Diego Junior Golf Association to win Player of the Year for 10 years … Qualified to play in Callaway Junior World Championships for unprecedented 12 consecutive years … Won over 200 golf tournaments … Two-time qualifier for U.S. Women's Amateur Golf Championship … Has shot nine holes in one … Co-Founder of 100 page/issue Golfer Girl Magazine which grew circulation to 10,000 with subscribers in 50 states, Canada, and Mexico … Other interests include surfing, basketball, volleyball, and running … Grandfather, Claude Hooton Jr. '54, was a member of rugby, varsity golf, and swim teams at Harvard … Father, Clauge Hooton III, received MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990 … Mother, Michelle Hooton, completed two years at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine … Sister, Libby, is a junior on University of Pennsylvania's varsity women's golf team … Father rowed varsity heavyweight crew for four years at San Diego State University from 1981-85.


text:
Unit 9: Biodiversity Decline
Buttress roots of a canopy tree in the rainforest of northern Queensland, Australia. Courtesy William Laurance
Unit Overview
Living species on Earth may number anywhere from 5 million to 50 million or more. Although we have yet to identify and describe most of these life forms, we know that many are endangered today by development, pollution, over-harvesting, and other threats. Earth has experienced mass extinctions in the past due to natural causes, but the factors reducing biodiversity today increasingly stem from human activities. In this unit we see how scientists measure biodiversity, how it benefits our species, and what trends might cause Earth's next mass extinction.
Content for This Unit
Online Textbook


text:
I have installed Remote Desktop 3 (purchased from the AppStore) on my administrators machine. However, if one of our employees installs Remote Desktop 3 themselves onto their machine on the network via the App Store, how I can prevent them also accessing all the machines on our network?
Or will I have to disable admin access to everyone's machines other than mine on the network?


text:
Why Zoo and Tyler are a threat to women: MTR and Caitlin Roper take on Brendan O'Neill
Fueling sexist attitudes which contribute to violence against women
Last month I responded to a piece by Brendan O'Neill, in The Australian, critical of our campaign against Tyler the Creator and Zoo magazine. It appeared in the on-line version at News.com (paywall means only subscribers would see it). Following this, my colleague Caitlin Roper took down O'Neill's claims against us regarding Tyler the Creator in an interview with 'I probably hate your band' (O'Neill is interviewed too). Have a look at it after my letter.
If only Zoo Weekly was a 'jokey mag for awkward 15-year-olds.' We – and the too many women and girls subjected to the kind of abuse Zoo promotes – don't see the joke. (Brendan O'Neill 'Foot soldiers of the Empire of offence march on, laying free speech to waste', Inquirer. August 22-23, p.23).
Zoo normalises the treatment of women as sexual objects, fueling sexist behaviours and attitudes which underpin violence against women. The men's 'lifestyle Bible' provides step by step instructions for coercing women into sex by isolating her from her friends and using alcohol to make her more vulnerable. Readers are told if she is drunk, that's a 'green light'.
A recent edition encouraged young male readers to do "cool things…like hitting women", joking about "backhanding the missus".
People can't distinguish between the statements taken from lads mags like Zoo Weekly and statements from convicted rapists, according to a 2011 UK study.
O'Neill claims our targets didn't incite violence.
Tyler is renowned for his songs advocating rape, murder, genital mutilation, stuffing women into car boots, trapping them in his basement, raping their corpses and burying their bodies. The abuse he incited against Collective Shout activist Talitha Stone in 2013 was enough to cause Twitter to implement a 'report abuse' button. The footage she filmed undercover of him whipping up the crowd into a frenzy of anger contributed to NZ authorities denying him entry in January 2014. Our more recent campaign saw Tyler use dog whistle tactics to mobilise his fans into sending a deluge of death, rape and mutilation threats against another of our activists, Coralie Alison, as punishment.
In the original letter to the Immigration Minister signed by Coralie and myself, we argued it was contradictory for the Government to have a National Plan of Action to address violence against women while rolling out the red carpet to a rap artist who glorifies and glamourizes it.
We doubt the absence of Zoo from Coles or of Tyler singing "rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome" at all-ages concerts is a threat to "great truths or breakthroughs". It does, however, send a message that violence against women should be taken seriously.
Melinda Tankard Reist
Hi Caitlin,
Thanks so much for speaking with me. First of all, I want to say I, and IPHYB as a whole, are passionate supporters of women's rights. In whatever individual definition that takes in today's convoluted climate of modern feminism, we hold our own views very dear and close to heart. That being said, we're also (as you can probably tell from the name of our website) staunch advocates of free speech. I wanted to gain your perspective on the issue, as it seems Collective Shout have come under fire from fans of Tyler, The Creator and free speech alike, for what some consider an act of censorship. Is it Collective Shout's aim to engage in any kind of censorious behavior, and do you really believe his lyrical content is dangerous? To be frank, I struggle to make the connection.
CAITLIN: "We've obviously heard a lot of Tyler's fans expressing a similar sentiment – essentially that we just don't understand, and that we are trying to ban things we don't understand, or that we are merely 'offended'.
The suggestion that the issue here is about offence or personal taste is really missing the point. My feelings, my personal taste, like anyone else in this discussion, are largely irrelevant. Reducing criticism of Tyler's brand of misogyny to offense is an attempt to deflect and undermine discussion of the real issue – the promotion and normalising of hostile and hateful attitudes towards women.
The whole offence argument also neglects to consider the fact that our campaign goes much further than Tyler's sexually violent lyrics. While we strongly object to Tyler's lyrics detailing rape, strangling, mutilating and chopping up women, stuffing their bodies into car boots, trapping them in his basement and raping their corpses, we are also talking about Tyler's real-life behavior. When lesbian recording artists openly called out his misogynistic lyrics, he responded with a threat of corrective rape, offering them some "hard dick". At his 2013 Sydney concert he unleashed a barrage of abuse directed at my Collective Shout colleague Talitha Stone, calling her a bitch, a whore, and a c**t while the crowd cheered, unaware she was present in the audience. I shudder to think what might have happened to her had she been recognised.
Both Talitha and Coralie Alison have been targeted with vicious abuse, rape and death threats after Tyler tagged them on Twitter. What did he think would happen when he called out Coralie, identifying her as the reason he wouldn't be showing up for his scheduled tour? At any time, he could have so much as tweeted to call off his fans, to say it wasn't okay to threaten a woman with violence, yet he remained silent.
This is not about offence, or even song lyrics. This is incitement to violence against real women. Real Australian women who have been forced to obtain police assistance, who have had to fear for their lives and have had to deal with the psychological toll of sustained, vicious abuse.
Tyler fans claim that Tyler's music and treatment of women have no bearing on their attitudes to women. Wading through the steady stream of abusive emails, Facebook posts and tweets calling us bitches and whores, encouraging us to commit suicide and threatening to rape and murder us along with our children has made it very clear to me that that normalised misogyny has and does impact on attitudes. Essentially, I think it's easier to paint all criticism of Tyler's misogyny as uptight women who want to ban things they don't understand than to actually engage with the issues.
There has been some speculation that campaigns like ours set a dangerous precedent in terms of free speech and censorship. I hope that as well as free speech, we value the rights of women to dignity, justice, equality and safety, and that as a community we are equally committed to upholding these rights.
In our letter to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, we pointed out the hypocrisy in spending $15.6 billion on a National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women – a plan including prevention strategies and education – only to welcome rappers who undermine the government's attempts to address violence against women.
We've been critical of various artists – and not just artists, but advertising, media and popular culture – yet some issues and campaigns certainly do seem to attract more media attention than others. As a non-profit organisation, we don't have the resources to organize and carry out campaigns against every artist who promotes the sexual exploitation of women, nor has it ever been our goal to pursue every artist with questionable lyrics.
We've been critical and sparked a dialogue about various artists over the last few years and campaigned against a few, including Redfoo, Brian McFadden, Robin Thicke, Snoop Dogg/Lion and Eminem. Some also suggest we unfairly target hip hop, but a look at our website will prove the wide range of issues and campaigns we have run. Is hip-hop somehow off-limits for critical analysis? Should hip-hop culture not be held to the same standard as the rest of society?
The reason we called on Immigration to deny Tyler a visa back in 2013 was because we felt his lyrical content vilified women and arguably incited violence against them. We felt it was impossible for us to remain silent. We only became more convinced after seeing his treatment of women on Twitter, setting his fans on women who were openly critical of his work, and his onslaught of abuse to Talitha at his 2013 concert – the footage of which was instrumental in his 2014 ban from New Zealand.
This has been expressed to us repeatedly over the last few months, that we haven't done our research, that it's art, that Tyler is playing a role, that he's evolved as an artist, etc. I'm well aware of all of these arguments as well as the nature of Tyler's work. We have done our research. We've listened to his songs, watched music videos, interviews, performance footage, read numerous articles and even attended his concert. It's not that we don't understand the arguments – we just reject them. We have taken this knowledge and come to a different conclusion.
I think it's entirely possible for musicians and artists to use art, humour and irony to pose meaningful questions and comment on the state of the world and society, and even to explore dark subject matter. But I reject the notion that that is what is going on here. Tyler's near constant uncritical exploitation and abuse of women for entertainment purposes doesn't even come close to that. What is the statement being made? Where is the condemnation of abusive treatment of women? Rather, the men who degrade and demean women are positioned as badasses who don't give a f**k and women are reduced to bitches. None of this is challenging the status quo or posing meaningful questions. Tyler's "art" is at the expense of women, even survivors of rape and physical violence.
If Tyler has truly evolved as an artist as he claims (a notion I'd reject based on his recent behavior), why is he yet to take responsibility for it? Even now, he continues to justify and excuse it, never owning it. He's built a career of the degradation of women, made a name for himself and profited from this material.
Tyler claims he doesn't even perform his earlier work anymore, but concert set lists from as recently as last year show that he has. He's also made his earlier albums available to stream via his Golf Media App. A few weeks ago he performed Rella on Jimmy Kimmel – here's a few of the lyrics: 'Nigga my d*ck's in her jaw … my bitches white and I need f*cking head … bitches on my d*ck … Your girlfriend had a really nice meeting with my d*ck, I killed that p*ssy and grabbed that knife … met up with bitches, gave 'em c*m on their dimples.'
Is this supposed to be progress? Is this an indication he's concerned with equality now? It's ironic that those men arguing for freedom of speech here have failed to notice that the women they are criticising don't share this same freedom. These men are not impacted by misogynistic 'art' – they aren't the ones being targeted. They aren't likely to be on the receiving end of rape and death threats, won't need to engage the police, nor be genuinely in fear for their safety as a result of sharing their views.
For these men to dictate how women, including survivors of rape and sexual violence, should feel about, respond to and challenge misogynistic attitudes demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the issues and perhaps more disturbing, a lack of empathy."
Reprinted from 'I probably hate your Band'


text: Get the most for your money and expand your ink selection with Stampin' Write markers. These artist-quality markers come in exclusive Stampin' Up! colors, grouped in collections to take the guesswork out of product coordination. Flexible brush tip and fine tip in one marker. Color on paper, or color directly on a stamp for a multicolor effect.* Fast drying, dye-based ink* 1 each of 5 colors: Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Lemon Lime Twist, Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide* Coordinate with Stampin' Up! cardstock, ink, and embellishments* Dual-tipped: 0.5 mm fine point and flexible brush* Finger grips on cap for easy removal* No guessing about which end to uncap: there's a wide line on the marker barrel by the brush tip and a narrow line by the fine tip* Acid free


text:
results found with selected category.
For use with Generation Capture Kits in genomic DNA purification
For fully automated sample prep using QIAGEN spin-column kits
For detection of key mutations in myeloid malignancies from blood and bone marrow
For indexing samples enriched with either QIAseq Targeted DNA Panels or QIAseq Targeted ...
Digital DNA sequencing to confidently detect low-frequency variants
High-quality whole genome libraries – no shearing required!
Single-cell whole genome libraries with comprehensive coverage and high sequence fidelity
Single cell RNA-seq libraries that provide a deeper view of the transcriptome
Integrated automated sample preparation and assay setup, with manual transfer to the ...
For digital RNA-seq for gene expression profiling
Digital RNAseq for gene expression profiling
For indexing samples for targeted RNA sequencing and primers necessary for sequencing RNA ...
Digital DNA sequencing to confidently detect low-frequency variants
Gel-free miRNA Sample to Insight solution for differential expression analysis and novel ...
For isolation of free-circulating DNA and RNA from human plasma or serum


text:
Jenna Von Oy Writes Tribute to Her Newtown, Conn., Hometown
Actress said her "heart hurts" for the families affected by the shooting tragedy, which took place in the town where... Read more »
Streisand and Rogen's Bond Fueled "The Guilt Trip"
The actors developed a mother-son dynamic off-screen as well. Read more »
Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan-Tatum Expecting First Baby
Channing Tatum and wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum are expecting their first child, reps for the couple told People Monday. Read more »
Quentin Tarantino: Don't Blame Violent Movies
"Django Unchained is a Western," he says. "Give me a break" Read more »
"Hobbit" Sets December Record With $84.6M Debut
The Middle Earth epic was the biggest December opening ever, surpassing 2007's "I Am Legend," which opened with... Watch »
"The Voice" Soars
The singing competition heads toward a dramatic finale powered by strong talent. Read more »
Amy Winehouse Inquest to be Heard Again
Officials in London say the inquest into the death of soul singer Amy Winehouse was overseen by a coroner who lacked... Read more »
Depardieu Wants to Surrender French Passport
Gerard Depardieu, one of France's best-known actors, has chastised his country's Socialist prime minister for... Read more »
Janice Dickinson Engaged to Robert Gerner
The "first supermodel" and famous former Top Model judge Janice Dickinson has announced that she'll be putting all... Read more »
Kate Middleton Attends UK Sports Awards Show
The pregnant Duchess of Cambridge made her first public appearance Sunday night since her hospitalization for acute... Read more »
Kelly Clarkson, Brandon Blackstock Get Engaged
Hitmaking American Idol winner takes to Twitter to share the happy news Read more »
"Jack Reacher" U.S. Premiere Postponed After Shooting
Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures are taking a step back following the horrific shooting at an elementary school in... Read more »
Amanda Bynes Enters Settlement in Hit-and-Run Case
Bynes was charged with leaving the scene of accidents in April and August without providing the proper information. Read more »
Naomi Watts' "Impossible" Role
The Golden Globe-nominated actress brings a real mother's bid to help her family survive to the big screen. Read more »
Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's "This is 40" Hollywood Premiere
The stars hit the red carpet in Hollywood for the premiere of "This Is 40" where Paul Rudd discusses the craziest... Watch »
2013 Golden Globes: Katharine McPhee Reacts to "Smash"...
Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty chat about their Golden Globe nomination, while on the set of NBC's "Smash." Find... Watch »
Hugh Jackman Gets a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hugh Jackman thanks his family and fans for the support they've given him over the years at his Hollywood Walk of... Watch »
"Casablanca" Piano Sells For More Than $600K
The piano used for the song "As Times Goes By" was sold to an unidentified buyer. Read more »
Taylor Swift: Knife-Wielding Intruder Arrested at Nashville Home
Police have 24-year-old Jacob Kulke in custody on $10,000 bond after capturing him trespassing at the star's gated... Read more »
Billboard: Adele Dominates Another Year With "21"
Adele is the top female artist. Drake is the top male artist, One Direction is the top new artist and Maroon 5 is... Read more »


text:
An overwhelming concentration of MRO growth over the next decade will occur in emerging markets, say analysts at the Aviation Week MRO Americas Conference & Exhibition. However, increased labor costs and high charges for ferrying aircraft to foreign countries for maintenance may eventually provide a good opportunity for North American MROs in the long run, and third-party MROs may actually see increased opportunities as OEMs strive to take more control of maintenance.
According to ICF SH&E Vice President Kevin Michaels, current global MRO spend for the commercial aircraft market, including jet and turboprop aircraft, is about $50.9 billion. He says the current fleet of 25,870 aircraft will grow by about 1,000 aircraft per year until 2021, led by passenger traffic in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
The MRO industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4% throughout the decade, reaching a total of $76 billion in 2021, according to ICF SH&E's forecast. Largely driving this growth are the modifications, engine and component segments, yet Michaels says that airframe heavy maintenance will grow at a slower rate of 2.7%, due to new aircraft renewing the global fleet.
TeamSAI's model for calculating MRO growth and spend between 2012 and 2022 does not include turboprop aircraft or Russian aircraft, so the numbers cannot be directly compared to the ICF SH&E presentation. However, the two companies agreed on main maintenance trends throughout the forecast.
Chris Doan, chairman and CEO at Team SAI, says that global MRO spend for the commercial market will be up 5.7% in 2012 from 2011, totaling $49.5 billion. Demand will grow to $59.5 billion in 2017 and then to $68.4 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate of 3.3% throughout this period. This estimate is down from the $69 billion value that TeamSAI estimated for 2021 a year ago, which reflects changing fleet mix and the increased efficiency of newer aircraft, says Doan.
The engine MRO segment is coming down by 1.6% but will continue to be the largest segment of MRO value at 46% throughout the forecast period. The rate of component maintenance will grow as fast as engines closer to the end of the forecast.
Doan and Michaels both agree that MRO demand is shifting away from North America, especially to the Asia-Pacific regions and the Middle East. Michaels says that China, for example, will see a $6.3 billion increase in MRO spend by 2021, compared with only a $1 billion increase in North America.
However, Michaels says that the trend of sending aircraft from the Americas to Asia for heavy maintenance will not stay forever and will reverse itself or reach a plateau by 2021, and the Southeastern United States will be a region to watch for viable MRO opportunities. Michels says that for North American MROs, "the game isn't over."
"In an era of high fuel costs, rising labor costs in China and more competitive labor costs in North America, we're seeing that this migration of heavy maintenance to Asia will peak," says Michels, who explains that these changes are making it less economical for North American MROs to send aircraft to Asia for maintenance visits.
Doan says that while there could be more opportunities in North America in the future, the growth in this region will be slow. He explains that the North American fleet will shrink until 2017 and then start to grow again, despite the overall growth of the global fleet.
"The Americas growth, it really represents not a very pretty picture from the standpoint of what's happening to MRO," says Doan. "It's not a growing market—it's one that is going to have to be focused on very carefully from the standpoint of strategy."
Doan says that a "real game changer" shaping North American MRO is how American Airlines emerges from bankruptcy and addresses any proposed layoffs. Consolidation among North American MROs is imminent.
"There will be a new wave of consolidation, especially in North America," says Doan.
Demand in emerging economies will present a need for more MRO infrastructure in those areas, says Michaels, which could be a good opportunity for third party MROs looking to partner with OEMs to create licensed service centers in those countries. The service centers allow OEMs to determine standards for how MRO is carried out and save money by using an existing facility.
This also gives OEMs an opportunity to create standards for how maintenance is carried out in those facilities in growing markets, which will slow PMA penetration. Michaels says that PMA penetration for engines and components will slow to about 3% by 2018, which he believes is due to continuing pushback from lessors on using these parts. PMAs for interiors and lower-tech parts will drive much of the growth in this area instead.
Doan and Michaels agree that OEMs will wield influence by becoming more involved in increasing their revenue from services, exemplified in Boeing's Edge program and Airbus' flight hour services contracts for A330s, A340s and A380s. Michaels sees OEMs becoming MRO players within five years, and Doan says that independent MROs understand that.
"The OEMs have become much more aggressive and interested in the total airplane market, not just manufacturing," says Doan. "In order for the independents to interface well in that environment, they are starting to tighten relationships with those OEMs—a much more cooperative world is starting to develop."
Michaels says that lessors will also increase their involvement in MRO, first through asset management made appealing by the amount of aircraft retirements. He says that 80% of surplus material comes from parted out aircraft, and it will likely stay that way for the rest of the decade. Michaels thinks that lessors will move downstream to provide maintenance in tandem with the aircraft themselves, which could take on the form of wet leases.


text:
Bangladesh U23 vs Bahrain
Live Bangabandhu Gold Cup 2016
Sunday January 10, 2016
Match Start Time: 02:45 pm BDT | 02:15 pm IST/SLST | 0845 GMT | 03:45 am EST
Bangladesh U23 vs Bahrain Preview
Bangladesh U23 vs Bahrain football match of Bangabandhu Gold Cup 2016 will be held on Sunday Jan 10, 2016 at 2:45pm local time (0845 GMT) in Jessore Stadium. Bahrain football team is a strong opponent and Bangladesh U23 Olympic Team will face tough time against the Arabs.
Though Bangladesh Olympic team are participating in the tournament as part of their South Asian/SA Games 2016 preparation, they have set a preliminary target of qualifying for the semifinals, and they want to begin the campaign on a winning note against a side which has brought players born between 1995 and 1996.
Skipper and centre-back Rezaul Karim wants to start their Jessore campaign from where the senior team left. "The national began with a victory and we will be hoping to produce something similar too. We are confident of a good outing to enthral the spectators and there will be the best effort from us," said Reza.
There has, however, been no pressure to perform from either the team management or coach Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno, who has instructed his charges to play their normal football and enjoy the game as long as they are on the field. Moreno wants to see where his charges stand after nearly one month's preparation for next month's SA Games 2016.
"Our target is to find out the level we stand at the moment. We are ready for the tournament and the players are excited to take part," said Moreno, who prefers to build up the game from behind with crisp passing, good amount of ball possession based on zonal marking.
Moreno believes the first match is very important and it is a big test for his charges. The Spaniard can bank on his young guns who have the experience of representing the country at different level as well as playing in top-flight football.
Moreno is likely to go with a 4-3-3 formation with Reza, Kesto Kumar, Arup Baidya and Shakil Ahmed standing in the backline. Midfielders Emon Babu and either of Shahedul Alam of Mashuk Mia Jonny will play ahead of holding midfielder Atiqur Rahman while Aminur Rahman Sajib, Rubel Mia and Yousuf Sifat or Toklish Ahmed are likely to play upfront.
Reza believes the Bangladesh U23 Olympic squad, which is a mixture of junior and senior players, is balanced one and the winning mentality among the players is the biggest advantage for them.
Bahrain, who are the top favourites on paper, kept their feet on the ground after being eliminated from the group stages of the last edition, and they have set their initial target of advance to the semifinals.
"We came here with only one week's preparation and we could not even bring some players for exams, but the players accompanying the squad are talented enough and they are playing in the first division in Bahrain," said Bahrain's head coach Marjan Eid at the pre-match conference.
Bangladesh U23 vs Bahrain Football Match Historical Stats
Bangladesh football team met Bahrain only once in 1979 Presidents Cup Football and lost by 2-0.
|Games won:
|Games drawn:
|Games lost:
|08 Sep 1979
|Bangladesh v Bahrain
|Presidents Cup
Bangladesh Olympic Team vs Bahrain Live Channel 9 Online TV
Bangladesh Olympic Team vs Bahrain Live TV Telecast will be available on Channel 9. BAN vs BAH Live Streaming online can be watched on RootsBD.com .


text:
I mostly work in source code hierarchies where for a given source file
X.source the location of the file with the unit tests is
tests/test_X.source and more often than not I need to do edit the unit tests after having opened the actual source file.
Being the geek that I am I *obviously* need to come up with some sort of optimisation or shortcut even if it takes
10x as long as stupidly typing in
":e tests/test_X.source" all the time 🙂
Thankfully, the solution in vim turns out to be quite straightforward. The following mapping (conveniently added to your
$HOME/.vimrc file) will open the unit test file when you type
nnoremap %% :e =escape(expand("%:h")."/tests/test_".expand("%:t"), "")^M
Please note that the last bit (
"^M") is just one character (the
Enter key) that you can get by typing
^V followed by the
Enter key.
I guess what I should really do is write a configurable
vim plugin that opens arbitrary files/locations based on the current buffer/location. Oh well, so much to do and so little time


text:
Tetreault(left) and VanderMeulen (Left) are listed among the top 50 women's lacrosse student-athletes in the country (Gil Talbot).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Junior's Jennifer VanderMeulen and Danielle Tetreault have been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Watch List, which is comprised of the top 50 women's lacrosse student-athletes from all three divisions of collegiate lacrosse.
VanderMeulen was named to the Synapse Sports All-America second team, IWLCA All-Region first team and All-Ivy League first team in 2011 after ranking 18th in the NCAA in goals per game (3.0) and 30th in goals (48). VanderMeulen was a WomensLacrosse.com All-America third team selection as a freshman, as well as a member of the WomensLacrosse.com All-Rookie squad, IWLCA All-Region first team, All-Ivy League first team and the unanimous choice as the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. The junior already ranks 10th in program history with 104 goals, while her 56 scores in 2010 rank fifth on Harvard's single-season list.
Tetreault was a first team all-region and second team all-Ivy selection a year ago, and ranked 31st in the nation with 2.63 goals per game. Her 42 goals scored were second on the team to VanderMeulen's 48, while her seven assists ranked her first among the Crimson. Tetreault recorded 20 goals and 10 assists as a freshman, and boasts 62 goals, 17 assists, and 79 points in 31 career games.
VanderMeulen and Tetreault join current teammates Micaela Cyr (2011) and Jess Halpern (2010) as recent Crimson to be named to the Tewaaraton Watch List.
The Selection Committees will make additions to these lists as the season progresses and athletes earn a spot alongside these elite players. In late April, both lists will be narrowed to 25 and these men and women will earn the distinction of Tewaaarton Nominees. In mid-May, the five Finalists in each category will be announced. These finalists will be invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, which will take place on May 31st, at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
Event details and ticket information can be found at Tewaaraton.com.


text:
The Foreign Desk
Why ambassadors still matter
00:00 / 00:00
3 November 2018
Episode 252
30 minutes
Photo: Shutterstock
Despite being the world's most powerful country, the US has dozens of vacant ambassadorships in the capitals of some of its most important allies. Does the current administration's disregard for America's foreign service signal a shift in global attitudes to diplomacy, when picking up the phone for a direct government-to-government chat has never been easier? Andrew Mueller is joined by John Everard, Chas Freeman and Tiina Intelmann to discuss the importance of diplomatic missions.
3 November 2018
Share episodeDownload
Want more radio episodes like these in your inbox?
Sign up to Monocle's email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.
The Foreign Desk - latest episodes
Who's standing up for the Uyghurs?
The treatment of the Uyghur people in China's Xinjiang region has been condemned by journalists but overseas governments have remained silent. Has China become too powerful to criticise or does the international community…
Explainer 195: Why is Aung San Suu Kyi at the International Court of Justice?
Andrew Mueller explains how Aung San Suu Kyi went from Nobel Peace laureate to being questioned about genocide in the International Court of Justice.
An Iraqi Spring?
Ongoing demonstrations in Iraq, which began in early October, are significant because of protesters' persistence – despite heavy-handed and sometimes deadly responses from authorities – and the youth of some of those taking…
Explainer 194: Who killed Daphne Caruana Galizia?
The murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 has influenced Malta's politics for the past two years. Andrew Mueller asks whether we're getting closer to finding out who is responsible.
Tear Down This Wall: Legacies
Description: In the final episode of our series on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Andrew Mueller is joined by Istvan Rev, Oana Serafim and Cerstin Gammelin to explore the legacy left by the Soviet…
Explainer 193: What is France doing in Mali?
On Monday, 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Mali – the French army's worst day of active service since 1983. Andrew Mueller asks what France is doing in Mali and the wider region.
Tear Down This Wall: The resistance
In the third episode of our series reflecting on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Andrew Mueller explores the forms of resistance from within the Eastern Bloc. Whether led by peaceful playwrights, pow…
Explainer 192: What have we learned from the Iran cables?
This week hundreds of Iranian intelligence reports were leaked to a US news website. These reports not only confirm the vast amount of influence Iran has in neighbouring Iraq but also include some intriguing insight into…
Tear Down This Wall: Life behind the Iron Curtain
In the second part of our series on the fall of communism 30 years ago, Andrew Mueller is joined by Carmen Bugan, Anna Funder and Tim Mohr to look at what life was like behind the Iron Curtain, including the surveillance…
Explainer 191: Why are Australia's governing parties denying the obvious?
As catastrophic wildfires spread across New South Wales in "the most dangerous bushfire week Australia has ever seen", Andrew Mueller asks why some of those in power are dismissing the views of climate experts.
Tear Down This Wall: Tipping Points
In the first episode of a four-part series exploring the end of communism in Eastern Europe, we look at the fall of the Berlin Wall, 30 years ago this week, and ask when and where the cracks began. Andrew Mueller is joined…
Explainer 190: Will Ukraine-gate be the end of Trump?
Yet more testimonies have been released by those investigating Donald Trump's phone call to Ukraine's President Zelensky. Andrew Mueller asks if this might be the scandal that actually unseats the US leader.
Do targeted killings really work?
The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Isis, will not have been upsetting to many. But it did serve as a reminder of how much warfare has changed this century. Who gets to decide who is captured and who is killed?…
Explainer 189: Why are Ethiopia and Egypt fighting about water?
Just weeks after winning the Nobel Peace prize for his outreach to Eritrea, Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed warned Egypt that "no force" can stop Ethiopia from building a dam that had been planned for years. Andrew…
The threats to democracy
Special episode in association with the Nordic Council of Ministers. 'The Foreign Desk' has teamed up with the Nordic Council of Ministers for a series of five special episodes that delve deeper into topics of global imp…


text:
Back In Stock Beetle Parts Beetles BMW Parts Cars Jaguar XF Manufacturers New Products Out of Stock Single Items XF Repairs XF Service Generator Spares Generators Pressure Washers Auto Care Building and DIY Camping, Caravans Christmas Clearance Electronics End of Line Gardening Giftware Health and Beauty Household Leisure Mobile Accessories Pest Control Pets Corner Post and Packing Smokers Delights Toys Babies and Toddlers Misc. Quads for kids Remote Control Cars Games Educational Toys Travel and Holiday Water Dispensers
Tell someone you know about this product.
Use keywords to find the product you are looking for.Advanced Search
Contact UsDropship WebsitesFrequently Asked QuestionsJobs at DropshiponlineLegal & Privacy NoticeTerms and ConditionsPostage & CouriersWhat is Dropshipping?Warranty & ReturnsWholesale DropshipWholesale
The game of table tennis is great fun but you do tend to need a lot of room to play.
Here is the solution to those space issues, a table top version, this means that you can have a game almost anywhere with everything you need included to get started.
So go on, what are you waiting for, it is time to play!
When the weather is gloomy and the kids are stuck on what to do, you can always rely on the tabletop table tennis game to entertain them.
The children's table tennis game comes with two paddle bats, two lightweight balls and a detachable net.
The surface of the mini ping pong table is slick for speedy action and the paddle bats have been designed to return a serve with the utmost power and precision.
Once the mini table tennis game has been set up children can place it on a dining table, desk or any other surface with sufficient space.
Fully fold-able for simple storage and with measurements of just 60 cm x 30 cm the two player children's game is a breeze to carry around a friends, set up in the back garden or take on a weekend trip.
0 items
UK PoundEuroAustralian DollarYen
Notify me of updates to Gizmo Games Kids Table Top Table Tennis Game BML80530 *Out of Stock*


text:
We're sorry, but we currently have no tickets available for this event.
Check out our full selection of Soccer tickets or sign up to be notified when tickets are available and exclusive discounts!
Guatemala National Soccer Soccer Tickets & Seating
Vivid Seats has your Guatemala National Soccer tickets for exciting MLS action this year! The Guatemala National Soccer players have all put in some serious conditioning in the offseason and are looking to demonstrate their capabilities in front of an intense crowd. Be a part of that audience and browse Vivid Seats' massive catalog of soccer tickets for the new f�tbol season. We've got large quantities of Guatemala National Soccer soccer tickets for every game on their schedule, including excellent Guatemala National Soccer home games. And if you want Guatemala National Soccer away games tickets, we've got those too. Vivid Seats is your backstage pass to all soccer games this year. As one of the nation's premiere ticket marketplaces, we've got information on all sports events. Order your pro soccer tickets right now through our secure server. Just click the tickets link to find available soccer tickets for that any particular game. Choose the tickets you like and enjoy some great f�tbol live. Grab your Guatemala National Soccer tickets and see why it's the international sport of choice.


text:
Nov. 29, 2006
Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson
On the game:
"Obviously when you play a team of Stanford's caliber, you can't have a lot of what I refer to as `game slippage.' We had a game plan coming in and we executed it for part of the game, but we need to be consistent with that for 40 minutes. Outside of that we just gave them too many opportunities, either off of our turnovers, which they capitalized on very well, or off of offensive rebounds. We need to make adjustments to stop them in those areas."
On Stanford's size:
"I thought we did a good job of crowding them and inhibiting their moves when they got inside the paint, but obviously their size was a factor as far as offensive rebounding, more so in the first half. We just need to do a better job in our boxing out."
On Stanford's perimeter defense:
"Their perimeter defense I felt was solid, they did a few different things as far as switching, but we didn't make an adjustment on that and capitalize on opportunities when we had them."
Guard Chandice Cronk
On the game:
"Like coach said, we didn't make adjustments when they would switch on defense, and I'm sure we'll probably see that a lot more. We'll have to work a lot more on that."


text:
Lemon Quinoa Salad with Currants
Serves 4
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced onion
4 sun-dried tomates (packed in oil), minced
1 cup quinoa grains
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp minced basil
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup dried black currants
1/2 cup diced feta
1. Heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion until softened. Stir in the minced sun-dreid tomatoes and cook for another minute. Add the quinoa and toast for another two minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
2. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn of the heat, add the lemon zest, basil and currants, and feta - if using- and let sit for 5 more minutes. Fluff with a fork, and serve.


text:
Thursday, 29 November 2018
Watch New Episode of Folk Music Videos Program & Talk Show: Ukali Orali, Ukali Orali is lok dohori program aired from Image Channel. Today's episode is Phone call from skype where you can pick the song you like and we will play it at 12PM to 1 PM. More then 5 new Lok Geet, lok Dohori Morden Songs are played in each episode.
Guide of the month: January 2018
Traveling gives us the opportunity to disconnect from our regular life. You get to forget your problems/issues for a few weeks, it can also help you figure things out that you would not have understood without the distance traveling can give you. We all have crazy schedules, work and a family to take care of, going away alone or with some friends can give you distance and perhaps even make you realize how important these people are for you. Like the saying says: we never know what we have until we lose it.
Another great benefit is the relaxation you get to do. It's nice to live life to its fullest and enjoy a stress free time with yourself. Going on vacation lets us recharge our "batteries" by disconnecting us from our regular life. When we come back we feel invigorated and we are happy to be back in our day to day routine. It's a very good stress remover that has a lot more to give than most people are willing to accept.
Traveling increases our knowledge and widens our perspective. To view new customs, different ways of living is fantastic for the mind. It gives us a new perspective about life and especially our life, it can help us change some of our habits or even create new ones. When I travel I usually make it a point to try new food, some cultures don't have fries in their diet and they are all skinny, others use spices to give taste and not oils or fats. Discovering different values and ways to get by in life is really interesting. You also need to visit exotic new places and discover what this wonderful world has to offer.


text:
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Servings and Times
Cups of Fruits and Vegetables Per Person: 2.0
Ingredients and Preparation
- Place fruit, yogurt, and apple juice concentrate in blender. Whirl until well-blended. The smoothie will be thick.
- Pour into a glass.
- Garnish with Grape Nuts if desired.


text:
Skip Navigation
Our vision: To improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland by providing high quality, integrated physical and mental health care pathways.
Easy Read
Our Services A - Z
Information Library
Involving You
About us
Commitments to Care
Staff eSource
You are here:
Our Services A - Z
>> Psychology for People using Learning Disabilities Service
Acute Recovery Team for Adult Mental Health Service
Acute Wards for Adult Mental Health Service
Adult Community Mental Health Teams
Agnes Unit for Learning Disabilities Service
Alcohol and Drug Service - City (Leicester Recovery Service)
Assertive Outreach for Adult Mental Health Service
Audiology for Families, Young People and Children's Service
Autism Care Pathway
Autism Service for Adult Learning Disabilities
Bradgate Unit Occupational Therapy
Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding support
CAMHS Inpatient Service
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
Community Hospital and City Inpatient Rehabilitation
Community Immunisation Service
Community Integrated Neurology and Stroke Service
Community Learning Disabilities Teams
Community Nursing Service
Community Paediatrics
Crisis Resolution/ Home Treatment for Adult Mental Health Service
Diana Community Children's Service
Downs Syndrome
Early Start Programme
Eating Disorders for Adult Mental Health Service
Family Lifestyle Clubs
Forensic Services for Adult Mental Health
FYPC (Families, young people & children) referrals
Griffin Ward female PICU
Health Visiting
Healthy Together
Heart failure
Homeless Service for Adult Mental Health
Integrated Crisis Response Service (ICRS)
Intensive Community Support (ICS) Service
Learning Disabilities Service for Families, Young People and Children
Liaison Psychiatry for Adult Mental Health Service
Medical Psychology for Adult Mental Health Service
Mental Health Act
Mental health rehabilitation services
Mental Health Services for Older People
METT Centre
Mill Lodge for Huntington's Disease Service
Neuropsychology - Adult Mental Health Service
Nutrition and Dietetics
Occupational Therapy
Open Mind adult talking therapies (City)
Outreach for Learning Disabilities Service
Palliative Care Services
Perinatal Service for Adult Mental Health
Pharmacy services
Phlebotomy Service for Children and Young People
Psychosis Intervention and Early Recovery (PIER)
Primary Care Coordinators
Procurement Services
Psychological Therapies
Psychology for People using Learning Disabilities Service
Psycho-Oncology for Adult Mental Health Service
Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Recovery College
Respiratory health
School Nursing
Sexual Health Services
Short Breaks Service for People with a Learning Disability
Single Point of Access for Community Health Services
Speech and Language Therapy
Tissue Viability Service
Travelling Families Service
Young Onset Dementia Assessment Service (YODAS)
Need help urgently?
Latest News:
£900K crisis care boost
MoD gold for LPT
Garden therapy reaps rewards
WORD! over the Moon
NHS Cup is back
Agnes Unit gets quality stamp
We are 'Veteran Aware'
Work gets underway on our new CAMHS inpatient unit
A fun day out is prescribed at Leicester's festival of health
Walkers step in to save a life
Connect with us on ...
Back to top
Website by LHIS
© 2019


text:
Hello, I'm Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace To You and I'm in the studio today with Pastor and Bible Teacher John MacArthur. Hello, John.
JOHN: Hi, Phil, great to be with you again.
PHIL: Let's get right to it. We're calling this interview, "The Case Against the R-Rated Church." What do we mean when we say "The R-Rated Church?"
JOHN: Well who'd have thought, right? The R-Rated church...staggering. Now what do we mean by that? How about this, "Foul, coarse language in the pulpit, sexually explicit language in the pulpit, cheap jokes about sacred things, overt sexual references making public what should be private, aggressive, purposeful integration of pop-culture I think at its basest level and secular entertainment at its basest level into the worship service. I think it begs the point that it's not even possible to consider it a worship service.
And then you have the amazing trend on sex-oriented challenge programs, where you have pastors telling their people they need to have sex every day for 30 days, or sex every day for 14 days, or sex every day for seven days. This is supposed to transform their marital life. These are the kinds of things that are common place, much more than most of us would ever realize. And some of you out there are saying, "Are you kidding me?" And we would tell you, if you were to look on the Internet and got to watch...probably don't do that, you would shocked at the explicit nature of these kinds of things that are running rampant in the name of the church.
PHIL: Yeah, especially in the Christian districts of the Internet where you think you might be safe.
JOHN: Right.
PHIL: In a similar vein, I noticed four times over the past year, at least four different times, there have been news stories about different churches who have had these series on sex, or sex challenges, that sort of thing, and advertised it with billboards that have created a stir in the community, and people in the community who aren't even believers, are outraged at the carnality reflected in the church's advertising.
JOHN: You know, when I was flying into Dallas some months ago, I saw that Church where a massive banner stretched across the whole side of the building, "The Sexual Revolution Begins Here." That's what it said. Selling sex.
PHIL: Yeah, now this is not an isolated problem, right?
JOHN: No. It's coming clear that this is widespread. It's so widespread now, as you well know, Phil, that the public media, public journalists, public television, you know, news stations are picking up on it. It's the new...it's the new attraction in the church from a media standpoint. This is hot stuff when the church sort of joins the pornographic trend.
PHIL: Yeah, we looked at a couple of news items about this trend and the interesting thing is that most of these news accounts actually express a degree of shock that churches would stoop to this level.
JOHN: Yeah, I think, you know, traditionally there is a certain sense about the dignity, the propriety, that a church should manifest. And I think those kinds of sensibilities are part of our society, part of our culture, and I think it does shock non-believing people to see churches sink to this level.
PHIL: Well it certainly shocks me. If you had said to me five years ago that we would have a conversation like this, I would have thought, "That's crazy, it will never get to that point."
JOHN: People always ask me the question, "What's the next trend?" You know, "Where is it going, and what's going to be the next issue?" No matter how many times I've been asked that question in the past, I could never have comprehended that the church would embrace the pornographic movement. I have in my hand an article called, "A Proposal For Christian Pornography." Christian pornography? This is by some spiritual leader, some church, some evangelical, right? And he says Christian pornography is going to be good because when we do Christian pornography, you know, we're going to help couples have better sex life. But there are some rules for Christian pornography. This Christian pornography must be uplifting, inspirational, focusing on strengthening Christian marriage and Christian faith...and oh, by the way, no profanity is allowed.
PHIL: Wow.
JOHN: Those are the rules for the correct use, it says, of Christian pornography.
PHIL: Wow, now I'm shocked like you and you say you really didn't see this coming, but the fact is, let me play for you something you said 30 years ago where I think you saw this tendency in its mildest form and decried it even then. This is from more than 30 years ago, your series on Ephesians 5, here's what you said.
"We live in an age when fornication or sexual sin is rampant. You wouldn't be adverse to call this society 'The Sexy Seventies.' We are inundated, drowned, preoccupied and our senses are dulled to the potency of the attack that comes against us and it's a tragic thing because it affects the church. We have sex madness, I'm afraid even in the church. It really shocks me some of the books that are now being written by Christian people, you know, Sex for Christians. I've thrown some in the trash can. I've had some books sent to me written by Christians, published by Christian publishers dealing with the issue of sex, read about three pages and pitched it in the trash. You know what's happened is, the world is selling this so effectively that the church is coming in the back door and buying some of it and sort of trying to sanctify it. You can't sanctify this. I heard one person say in his, pre-marital counseling, he advised the couple to see each other naked before they were married so that they would have some idea of what they were getting into. Ludicrous. This isn't something clinical that can be dealt with in that fashion. There are some who even suggested pre-marital sex relationships for Christians before they're married."
JOHN: That's pretty good, 30 years ago I said all of that?
PHIL: Yeah, I think you were reacting to books that were....
JOHN: Oh I know, there was a wave of those books, I remember the books. But, you know, it has its little day and it went away really fast. That's not going to happen in the current environment. And I think, Phil, one of the major contributors to this in the church is that the churches in general are so full of non-Christian people. They're just filled with non-Christian people. I think many of them are quote/unquote "led by," or "pastored by" non-Christian people. I just think that the church today, we call it an evangelical church, you know, nobody would say, "I'm a liberal," people aren't promoting liberalism, neoorthodoxy, all that kind of thing. Everybody wants to be an evangelical. But I think we have within the big word "evangelical" just massive numbers of people who have no real salvation, and they're attracted to all this stuff. And you could just sanctify this, it's a perfect world for them.
PHIL: How did the church get so full of people who perhaps aren't really even Christians?
JOHN:Well, you can lay the responsibility on the negative side, you can lay it at the feet of the marketing strategy that came in in the Church-Growth Movement. In order to sell Jesus, they stripped the gospel, they became minimalists, they developed a sub-Christian gospel. Well we've said this before, you take a book like The Purpose-Driven Life. The Purpose-Driven Life selling in the tens of millions supposedly to lead people to salvation, and there is not one single mention of the doctrine of justification or the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in order to be saved you have to believe God raised Him from the dead, Romans 10:9 and 10. So I think it is the market strategy which has minimalized the gospel, just turned it into some kind of sub-saving, oversimplified message and then I think the second element that really has produced this is connected to that and that is the idea that we have to make non-believers comfortable in the church. So we never really deal with sin the way sin should be dealt with. And that's essential if we're going to have genuine conversion. I think popularity has been the goal and we've sold out to a damning lie as to what salvation really is for the sake of popularity.
PHIL: So you're really saying that you don't see this, the root problem here isn't merely a lack of sanctification among people who are saved, it goes back even further than that.
JOHN: No, I think genuine believers for the most part are not responsive to this. You know, there may be some immature genuine believers who can't quite figure it out, but for somebody who...who...who genuinely has been transformed, whose longings are for holy things, who is doing everything in his or her life to resist the flesh, these kinds of things seem intrusive.
Now we listened to some calls that came into the church that was promoting sex everywhere...
PHIL: Yes.
JOHN: And the people called up and Christian people called up and said, "This is outrageous, why are you doing this? You're a sex club hiding behind the name of a church." I think that's the kind of response that you might get from genuine Christians, it's intrusive, it's...it opens up areas that they know are not helpful in their own spiritual development. But I think non-believers are happy to imbibe this, happy to embrace this, people sitting in a church thinking they're Christians because they go to the church and they have warm feelings about Jesus. This is a perfect...this is a perfect kind of religion for them. I think very little different maybe than worshiping in Corinth, you know, at the pagan temple, where sex dominated the worship. We all know that from the New Testament that temple priestesses were essentially temple prostitutes and people worshiped by going and communing with the deities through having sex with a prostitute. So that's been a part of religion in the past, even in the New Testament era of pagan religion, that's always had a high level of appeal. Look at Islam. You can be a Muslim and you can have multiple wives and you can die and waiting for you if you die in the Jihad are 72 virgins on green pillows waiting for you to have eternal sex with them. You can always make religion more attractive by selling sex, that's a bigger appeal, I think, than selling celibacy. That's why there's so few priests. But I do think that works with people who are religious but never really have been transformed.
I think when the Spirit of God really transforms a heart, there are spiritual instincts that draw us away from those kinds of things because we know they pander to the flesh and they are not helpful in our spiritual growth.
PHIL: And even beyond those spiritual instincts, don't you think there's something in the conscience of every person that says "this isn't right?" Some of those phone calls we listened to were...non-believers who were offended.
JOHN: Yeah, and that's what we were saying earlier. People are shocked that quote/unquote Christians would do this. Absolutely, I don't think you can get away from the fact that the Law of God is written in the heart, part of the Law of God, of course, is moral Law, that relates to sexual behavior. I think part of the agony and pain of our sexually liberated society is that people are dealing with such massive guilt, because although they're not violating their Christian commitment, because they're non-Christians, they are violating the Law of God written in their heart, their conscience is accusing and accusing and accusing and accusing and I think it's part of the horrendous stress and pain in unfulfillment and dissatisfaction that comes to these kinds of people. But if you can sort of aid and abet the release of that guilt by saying, "Hey, we have Christian pornography, we have sex in church." If you can work to sanctify it, you can mitigate some of that...that's naturally in people's hearts.
I mean, if the church tells you that Christian pornography is okay, and, you know, you ought to have sex every single day and reduce your marriage relationship to nothing more than a sex act, that's coming from the church, that kind of helps with whatever guilt you might be feeling.
PHIL: Yeah, now that prompts me to say this, I've dialogued with a number of people, as I know you have, who want to justify this kind of thing. And there are some standard arguments that they use to justify it. Let me throw some of those arguments at you and see how you would answer them.
One of the key ones, first of all, they would say "Well the Bible itself is R-rated, Scripture talks about sex. There are words, certain words in Scripture that you wouldn't want to read in a public venue, in the King James Version, at least." What do you say to that? I mean, the Song of Solomon talks about the marital relationship.
JOHN: I think the propriety of the Bible is clear. I don't think that there's any sentence, paragraph, or word anywhere in Scripture that in and of itself is prurient, designed to elicit lustful thoughts or lead to sin. I don't think anything in the Bible is designed to be a temptation because God cannot tempt, God is the author of Scripture, He tempts no man. That is explicitly stated in Scripture. The Bible can talk about sex because sex is a reality. You can talk about it, I can talk about it without having a prurient approach to it. Look, I've been preaching for 40 years in the pulpit and we've talked about a lot of things in the Bible in the 40 years that I've been preaching, I don't know that anybody's ever come to me when they edited my tapes in 40 years and said, "You know, this was sexually explicit, this could be read as a temptation, this was a lust-inducing statement." That is the farthest thing from my mind. I don't think anybody's ever taken anything like that out of anything I've said and I take it right out of the Scripture and explain exactly what the Bible means.
I think that's false accusation. The Bible does not do that. It does not do that. In fact, the Scripture speaks about matters that are sexual in a very general way, or in a very, very veiled way. Now you brought up the Song of Solomon, so I need to mention that.
Song of Solomon is a wonderful, wonderful gift from God. It is a book in which God celebrates the physical joys of marriage, clearly that is it. And it's so important that it was there because it would be...you take Song of Solomon out and there might be some dialogue about how much you should enjoy your partner, your wife, right? We could be...we could be tempted to be a little bit prudish about that, but Song of Solomon just blows that prudishness up because it has all these expressions of the joy of the physicality of your spouse. It talks about the beauty of form, the handsome desirability of the man and the beauty and desirability of the woman in veiled terms. I like to think about...I like to think of the Song of Solomon as this beautiful, beautiful veiled statement in which you talk only in analogies and only in metaphors, you know, your hair is black like goat's hair, and you know, your eyes are like pools and your breasts are like a deer, or whatever it is. I don't think the idea is that there's a one-to-one correspondence there. That doesn't make sense.
It's simply that he sees in life the beauty of creation, the beauty of nature, the beauty of the Garden, the flowers and the trees and she sees the same. And it's all those physical beauties and delights and joys that are metaphorically used to describe what is never really described at all, and the reason the explicit aspect of their relationship and love is never described because it is never intended to be anything but private. And I think the greatest statement on the privacy of the sexual relationship between a man and a woman, the greatest statement on that in the Bible is the Song of Solomon because God veils the whole entire thing. You never get past the metaphors, you never get past the analogies, you never get past the word pictures which don't have a one-to-one correspondence but are rather general kinds of things, feelings about something beautiful, and something lovely and something flowing and moving and all of that.
So to say the Song of Solomon is erotic is absolutely ridiculous. To say that it is sensual is ridiculous if you mean by that that it's somehow sexually explicit because it is just the opposite. And recently I addressed this issue because there are people who try to turn the Song of Solomon into an erotic explicit sexual book taking liberties that are not found in the text, reading their own pornographic ideas into the text and I called it The Rape of Song of Solomon because what was done was like a rape, you ripped the beautiful poetic dress, you ripped the beautiful imagery off and you leave the book stark and naked and I don't think that does justice to the intent of it, I think that's a brutal way to treat Song of Solomon, because I think the Bible always is veiled, always general and when it gets into the beauty of the man and the woman and their unique relationship, it veils the entire thing in euphemistic analogies and it's intended for that because it is the most private thing in human life and God wants to make sure it stays private and yet He celebrates the beauty of it.
PHIL: Yeah, now you go through all of that in detail in the MacArthur Study Bible.
JOHN: Yes I do, going through Song of Solomon, right.
PHIL: And I think it's intriguing that that's exactly how you dealt with it so that the notes while they explain some of the imagery, do so without violating that sense of privacy that you get as you read it.
JOHN: You know, and it's also true that they're cultural analogies that might not work today. I mean, I doubt that we would say to our wives when we wanted to express something about their beauty the same thing that they would have said then in an agrarian culture. So it is so culturally designed in that environment to speak of things very familiar, things that spoke of beauty and joy and all of that, that I think they even shift and change.
PHIL: Yeah, the point is clear, it's the tenderness and the joy of that relationship.
JOHN: Well what it is, it's a guy saying about his wife, "I can't find enough words to describe your beauty." And instead of just having 42 adjectives, you're really, really, really, really, really beautiful, he just grabs all the imagery in the beauty of creation, all the imagery in a Garden, all the imagery in the agrarian culture, all the imagery of the beautiful motions and forms of animals, he just grabs everything that he can find and expresses...it's for the purpose of finding ways to express without just tacking on, you know, repeated adjectives in front of how beautiful she is. So...but I do think the veiling of it is what gives it its wonderful, wonderful beauty.
And by the way, it has been a rare, rare day in the history of the church when anybody interpreted Song of Solomon in the explicit way that it is being interpreted today. And this is the new popular book to teach.
I was at a pastors' conference recently with some young guys and there were about four or five of us...four of the young guys were starting Song of Solomon and I just grabbed my head because I knew what was going to happen. They're going to jump into that thing and they're going to follow the explicit style that has become the kind of pop way to do it and they're going to tear into that book, and I just fear they'll rape the book the way others have done it recently.
PHIL: Yeah, that's the pattern they have to follow, isn't it?
JOHN: Yeah.
PHIL: One of the other things you mentioned is the sort of lowering the bar with regard to what kind of language is deemed appropriate for Christians to use in their casual conversation and even more so in the pulpit? We hear now about pastors using profanity from the pulpit, I mean, I hear stories about that every single week and it's become a big thing. And the argument there is twofold. One, they say this is vital to do as a means of contextualization, to translate the gospel message into language that the people I'm trying to reach can understand. This is the language of our culture, so it's appropriate to translate the message into that language. That's argument number one.
Argument number two is, Scripture doesn't give us any list of forbidden words, and for every dirty word you can name, I can name a synonym that means the same thing, so why is this word deemed dirty, there's no biblical command to abstain from this or that particular word? Why are some of these words inappropriate and is the culture changing to the point where they're not inappropriate anymore?
JOHN: Well first of all, with regard to contextualization, I will probably sound like a dinosaur at this particular point, but I think the only context that people need when you communicate to them the Word of God is the biblical context. Look, there's a context assumed, right? I'm talking in the English language. Okay, that much context we have. I think I've lived long enough in this culture and long enough spoken this language that I know what the words in this language mean. So that is just a false standard. You talk in the language of the people and that's really all you need. I think the only context people need, the only context they need to have the power of divine truth hit them is the biblical context. So they know what it meant by what it said. That is the issue.
With regard to the second thing you pointed out, what about words? I think it's pretty simple. We all know what words are considered curse words, swear words, out of bounds. We all know what words gracious mothers would rather not have their little children hear. We all know what words children say when they come home from school and their mothers say, "Don't ever say that word again." You know, when I was a kid I got my mouth washed out with Fel's Naptha soap for a few words and it had a great effect on me. We all know that. The culture knows that. And if the culture shifts over a long period of time, maybe that would change. But for pastors to lead the shift, for pastors to be the out-front guy, "Okay, guys, I'm going to start using this word because this is just a word and there are three other synonyms to this word, so let me lead the parade," I think is irresponsible and mostly it's immature. It's kind of like being a perennial seventh grader who just loves to be able to say that word and not get his mouth washed out.
PHIL: Yeah. Now you mentioned that these standards because they really are cultural standards, there is no definition of the boundaries in Scripture, Paul simply says, "Let no filthy talk come out of your mouth," he assumes they're going to know what they mean. And I read a thing today, it says in the Roman world there were about 1200 words deemed cuss words by comparison in English we have about 30. And there are people who would say that standard is changing, John, it has changed, maybe you've missed it, but people use these words all the time so if the standard is changed, why not embrace it?
JOHN: Well maybe someday I will, but I'll be the last one. Why?
PHIL: Yeah, my answer.
JOHN: Well as long as there's anybody left who is going to be offended, what ground have I gained? I mean, it's my...look, we say this in another context, people always ask me about how do we do music at Grace Church? And my answer is this, to elevate people. And secondly, to do music that never ever intrudes on any one's ability to worship. Why would I want to eliminate them from worshiping? I want to find the most common ground I can find. And the same would be true in the speech that I use in the pulpit.
Oh sure, I might be able to say some things that some people would think cool, but if there's going to be anybody in my mind that is going to be offended by me saying that, I'm not going to say that. So that's why I say, if things do change, I'll be the last guy to use those kinds of words because there may be some folks out there who haven't caught up with the trend yet and why would I cheapen myself, why would offend them when what I want to gain is a hearing and an acceptance with them? And I don't want to shock them, I don't want to drive them away.
One of the things that happens when you throw this kind of stuff into your messages, it doesn't communicate. And I think this needs to be said. Swearing, cussing, dirty talk, whatever it is in a message does not aid communication. What it does is shock people and end communication. It stops it because they're stunned by it and they lose you. You know, instead of, "Oh wow, he really connected with me," the jolt of it becomes either a joke, an offense, and it's a distraction. So it really doesn't aid communication at all. And people will walk away maybe forgetting everything else you said and remembering only that.
PHIL: Okay, now one of the other common arguments against this is, "Look, you're talking style here, not substance, this is just a matter of generational conflict. You're old-fashioned, that's the sort of church you grew up in. The people I'm trying to reach aren't shocked by this sort of language.
JOHN: Well look, you know our church, so, last Sunday night we had 60 people join the church. Sixty people joined the church...two were out of their thirties, two...all the rest were in their thirties. You tell me how many nations were there represented?
PHIL: Boy, it's hard to say.
JOHN: Asian people, Middle Eastern people, African American people, and we've been tracking this for a dozen years now and I say this...look, 85 percent of the people that come to Grace Church over the last dozen years are in their thirties and under, and they're Los Angeles. They're Hispanic, they're Asian, they're Korean, they're Pilipino, more Armenian people joining our church, Middle Eastern people joining our church, they're from all over the place. I just want to make sure that in my ministry to these people, I don't offend any of those people. And so I stay so far inside the bounds, not only of words but of humor. My mind isn't filled with dirty stories, I'm not trying to have to check myself all the time...oops, can't say that.
I just...I think out of the heart the mouth speaks and I don't see any purpose in cultivating some kind of whatever you want to call it, connection with people by getting on the edge either of the words you use, or the sexual innuendos or the smarmy kind of humor, it's just...it's pointless.
PHIL: There is also a sense...the true sense in which the medium colors the message, so...
JOHN: Absolutely.
PHIL: You do actually affect the content of the message if you start to translate it into, you know, filthy humor and dirty language, and all of that. It's pretty hard to represent the holiness of God when you're catering to the fleshliness of the culture.
JOHN: Yeah. Let me tell you a story. Sunday, last Sunday morning, a lady walked up to me, she said, "I go to such-and-such a church, it's in our area." She said, "I take my two boys," and she said, "I work in AWANA, I'm a leader in AWANA." That's a children's ministry. She said, "I've come to your church because I'm sick of the cursing that goes on in AWANA. I said, "In AWANA? A children's ministry?" She said, "Yes, I'm just sick of the cursing and I don't think I should have my children exposed to that."
Well, look, if it's okay for the pastor to do it, right? It should be okay for the AWANA leader to do it. How sad. The trickledown effect is very real. You know, you're going to have the freedom to do that in the pulpit, believe me, you're never going to be able to stem the tide in the pew. You legitimize people flooding their minds with the kinds of things that produce that kind of speech.
PHIL: Another common complaint you hear from people who say, "Yeah, we think this is legitimate, we want the church to move more and more in this direction, they'll cite 1 Corinthians 9:22 where Paul says, "I become all things to all people that I might by all means win some."
JOHN: Oh I hate it when they use that verse.
PHIL: What does that verse mean if not that we should contextualize...?
JOHN: It doesn't have anything to do with that. What Paul is saying there is the opposite of that. What he is saying is, "I will restrict any liberty, every liberty that I have, I will give up anything, I will sacrifice anything, I will change my behavior whatever it requires, whatever I have to give up, I will give up for the sake of reaching those people. That's what it means. It is not saying that in order to reach those people I have to become like those people, he's really not talking about freeing himself up to talk like them and act like them and live like them to reach them. He's talking about the very opposite. He's saying there isn't anything I wouldn't give up, there isn't anything I wouldn't say no to, there isn't anything I wouldn't restrain and hold back and forfeit for the sake of reaching people with the gospel.
So that's a very, very different approach.
PHIL: Yeah, in fact doesn't the pastor have a biblical duty to stand above the culture in order to be an example to his people? That's what Paul told Titus.
JOHN: Well of course, yeah, don't, you know, be like the culture, don't be like the Cretans who are lazy gluttons. Well he should have said to them, I suppose in the Church Growth Movement, "become a lazy glutton so you can reach those people." What in the world? That is just so bizarre.
Again, from my standpoint, look, I've been preaching now over 40 years in the same church, cultures have come and gone. How fast? Really fast. Trends have come and gone, like lightning, just more and more and different and changes and what have we done different? Absolutely nothing...absolutely nothing. If you listen to Grace To You, you might be listening to a message preached 35 years ago, or 35 days ago, or three years ago, it doesn't matter. The messages that I preach at Grace Church I also preach on satellite television in Germany, or in India, or I get in an airplane and I preach them in Italy, or I preach them in Russia or I preach them in the Ukraine or I preach them in Latin America, or I preach them in Asia, or I preach them in London, or I preach them in Scotland. And I tell pastors all the time, if you can't get your sermon out of your zip code, throw it away. If you can't get your sermon out of your country, throw it away. It ought to be transcended.
And that's one of the real joys of our ministry is that our Christian radio goes across the world in English a thousand times a day and also in Spanish a thousand times a day. Books are translated into, I don't know, 50, 60 languages all over the world. I don't change anything when they translate a book.
Somebody said to me, we were talking about it yesterday, they're doing your Study Bible in Arabic. Are they having any trouble with the issues of American culture in the Arabic culture? And I said no because there's nothing in my Study Bible about the American culture, there's nothing there. And it's in German and French and Italian and Russian and Spanish and English, and now it's soon Chinese and Arabic, and so far nobody has said to me, "Can you help us fix this American colloquialism? I just think you put a narrowing on your ministry, you limit yourself. How wonderful it is to be able to preach...well, you know, Spurgeon was like that.
JOHN: Where did his sermons go? They said every ship that left England for twenty years was packed with thousands of his sermons. Where did they go? They went to every port in the world...
PHIL: And people still read them...
JOHN: And they still read them today. You know, every time I write a book, we wind up with Spurgeon in the book somewhere, an appendix, or introduction to a chapter, or quotes, or whatever, just totally transcendent...just totally transcendent. And that's what happens when you stick with the truth of Scripture.
PHIL: It's timeless.
JOHN: Absolutely.
PHIL: You marry a spirit of the age and you're destined to become a widower.
JOHN: Good for you guys. You know, when I go to heaven, you can just keep playing my tapes.
PHIL: We intend to do that. (Laughter) If we outlast you.
So, John, is this...let's talk about holiness in the church, do you see this as a result of the lack of holiness in the church or is this a trend that is causing a lack of holiness in the church? Or is it just an endless cycle where it's feeding upon itself and this is ...?
JOHN: All of the above...all of the above.
PHIL: So how do we get out of it?
JOHN: The church is unholy...the church is unholy. First of all, we don't have sanctifying shepherds. We don't have sanctifying shepherds. If the pastor's objective is to be cool with the culture, oh, he's going to make massive sacrifices to the process of sanctification, right? If he's not consumed with the holiness of his people, then he's really prostituted his calling.
Look, Paul said, "I am in birth pains until Christ is fully formed in you." He said, "Who sins and I don't feel the pain?" To the Corinthians. Do you understand that a pastor has one calling? Peter, 1 Peter 5, "Feed the flock of God...Feed the flock of God." It doesn't say, "Revolutionize your community." It doesn't say, you know, "Reach the unreached." It doesn't say, "Reach unchurched Harry and Sally." It doesn't say, "Raise the moral consciousness of your city. Feed the flock of God." We are sanctifiers by calling, that's what we do. We are sanctifying agents in the church. My goal as a pastor is to give an account to the Lord of the church for how I have been faithful to feed the flock of God, over which I've been given oversight, or in the language of Hebrews 13, they are to follow our faith and we give an account for that.
Ephesians chapter 4 says the same thing, "He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, teaching pastors...for what?...for the perfecting of the saints, the building of the body to the fullness of Christ."
We've gone so far away from that, trying to titillate the people, trying to titillate the non-believer, make them feel comfortable. The call of the pastor is to feed, nurture the flock of God to spiritual maturity, Christ likeness. Now if you don't do that, if all you try to do is make non-believers comfortable, you literally sacrifice holiness, you sacrifice sanctification, and then you get an unsanctified congregation that will continue to be unsanctified. You can't change the trend and they are going to be more and more victimized because they're immature and unable to cope with the real issues of life and they're going to fall victim to sin again and again and again and again. It just escalates and what you get is a sinful congregation and all the time you're convinced that if you can just draw a big crowd, you've done what your calling is. That's not your calling. That's not your calling. Your calling is not to get a crowd of unbelievers together. Your calling is to feed the flock of God so they can be mature and godly and holy and righteous. And then when they go out in the world, they live the life that is attractive and winsome and draw people to Christ and proclaim the gospel.
So I think it is true that churches are unsanctified because pastors are not sanctifying shepherds and...
PHIL: Would you say the root of this problem then lies with leadership problems? It's a leadership issue in the church.
JOHN: Always...always...like people, like priests. People never rise higher than their leader.
PHIL: Well-known pastors using bad language, issuing sex challenges to their people. Some of the pastors of American's largest churches doing this, would you say this is a serious enough thing to disqualify some of those men from ministry?
JOHN: I would. Look, it's a serious enough thing to disqualify you from ministry if you don't do what you're supposed to. Forget that you do what you're not supposed to, you shouldn't be qualified if you don't even do what you're supposed to. We're to feed the flock of God. I don't know how you could say it more clearly. Peter says, "Feed the flock of God." Well where do you think he learned that?
Well he learned that as we know in John 21, when he comes off the denial of Christ and Jesus meets Him post resurrection and confronts him and says, "Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?" And every time he says yes, he says, "Feed My sheep, feed My sheep, feed My sheep." And Peter got the message. And so when he wrote to pastors, he said, "Feed the flock of God and do it humbly, not lording it over them, like you're some important person. Do it humbly, do it graciously, don't do it for money, right? Not for filthy lucre."
So I think it's as simple as this. The shepherds who feed their flock are the ones that do what God has called them to do. And hey, all of us will give an account. First Corinthians 4 says, "They'll come a day when no matter what people have said about us, no matter what we think about ourselves, the secrets of the heart will be revealed and then will every man have his praise from God.
PHIL: Now with regard to the shepherd's duty to feed the flock, I know you've preached on this at least twice recently. Once was at the Moody Pastors' Conference this past summer, and then more recently from a student's perspective. You gave a similar message on this subject to students, college students at the Resolve Conference, talking about what sort of spiritual leaders they should look for. Talk about that for a moment.
JOHN: Well, first of all, it needed to be said to pastors because pastors need to do what they should, but it also needs to be said to kids. And this may seem like a rather narrow approach, but I am convinced that young people pick churches for all the wrong reasons. They pick a church because of the music. They pick a church because of the video, or they pick a church because...one kid said to me, "I go to Such-And-Such a church."
"Why do you go there?"
"Because the pastor is a cool dude, man, he comes and plays basketball with us."
Really, really. You can go to the YMCA and find somebody to play basketball with you. You know, kids they just don't make the most informed spiritual decisions. So my objective, talking to 4,000 college kids at Resolve was to say, "Look, not only are pastors responsible for what they are, and what they do, but you are responsible to God for the choice you make as to what church you're a part of. And you need to find a sanctifying pastor." And then I describe to them what a sanctifying pastor is like and how critical it is that he be that way and how secure and safe and protected and blessed you are when you find someone like that.
You know, kids are...it's a hero-worshiping world, right? We've got all of these frivolous, unaccomplished people who are famous for being famous, who are the heroes of our youth, whether they're athletes who live utterly immoral and grossly greedy lives, or movie actors, or these musicians, whoever they are, kids don't necessarily pick the best heroes to follow. And the pastor that looks like their heroes or acts like their sort of worldly heroes oftentimes attracts them...if he's funny, if he's cool, if the music is really the kind they like. Somehow they've got to get beyond that. I've often wished that God would just shut down all the music. Well He will, according to the book of Revelation, all the music will one day will stop.
But I always wonder if all the music stopped, where would people go to church? I think that a lot of them probably wouldn't go at all because in many cases you've got basically a rock concert with a twenty-minute Sermonettes for Christianettes at the end. But I think kids need to make decisions about where they're going to go that are far beyond the kind of things that are making those decisions for them. That's why I want to talk to them about it. You've got to pick the right church. You've got to be under a sanctifying shepherd. And what should you look for? And what would be the marks of that kind of shepherd?
PHIL: Okay, John, in conclusion, just talk to our listeners. I know some people have followed this trend or they see it as a threat. For some this is the first time they've heard about it. What should they do next at the personal level? What can we as church people to sort of counter this trend and help set things right.
JOHN: I think if it exists in your church, you need to go to your pastor, or write him, and just say, "I appreciate you...if you do...but I don't think this is necessary, it's offensive. I don't think it honors the Lord. It's not helpful to me. And that's the first place you go. You know, the only way to ever resolve an issue is to confront the issue. A sanctifying pastor knows the power of confrontation. I think you do that. I don't think you try to tear up the church and create a gossip campaign and all that. But I do think you go directly to the person in charge, the pastor or youth leader, whoever is taking these kinds of liberties and just let them know that this is not helpful and you're deeply concerned about it. That's the first thing to do.
And then I think you've got to decide whether you if indeed the person responds, you know, you can stay and be a part of that, if they don't respond, look, there's no sense in being loyal to something that's not spiritually beneficial. Find a sanctifying shepherd.
And I think instead of being caught up in the contemporary culture, this may sound a little unusual, start reading great material from the past. Get out of this culture. I tell people, young people particularly, you don't need any more of this culture. You don't need your pastor acting like he's on a talk show. You don't need your pastor acting like the people you see on television. You need something that is unaffected by the constantly increasing corruption of the culture. I encourage young people to read the Puritans. Go back, read sermons by Spurgeon, get good sermon material. If you know somebody, you know, gives good sermons on the Word of God, a gifted communicator and Bible teacher, get their material, listen to their material. You don't need more cultural junk, you certainly don't need it from the pulpit. What you do need is to think biblically.
And I think the issue is get separated from the culture. Come out of it, get out of it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, all these kinds of things are clear in Scripture.
When I step in to the pulpit at our church, when anybody teaches at any level in our church, the last thing we want to do is to make sure that everybody knows how well we are informed about the culture. The culture is everywhere and it has a million variations that we could never get to anyway. But what we want them to know is we are consumed with something that is unaffected by the culture and that's the truth of God. So I think, go to sources that are transcendent, go back in years and read Donald Grey Barnhouse, or go back and read Jim Boice, or go back all the way to the Puritans and begin to think biblically apart from your culture. You don't need to have everything strained through this culture. It sucks out the life of it, it's..I guess you could say cultural preaching takes the nutrients out of the truth. That's what it does.
PHIL: Well thank you, John. I know I speak for thousands of our listeners when I say thank you for your clear thinking on this and the clarity with which you speak. And thanks for the admonition to think biblically and for the help you give us in doing that.
JOHN: Well it's my joy, Phil, and thank you for your great partnership and friendship, it's a real blessing to me. What a wonderful life of ministry the Lord's given is together, right?
PHIL: Amen.
JOHN: Yeah.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information