StephenBarkley.com

Here’s an observation on the need for preachers to be serious about their craft (in Encounter with Spurgeon): Freedom in Christ is no soft spot for the lazy. And the grace that does not enlist a man to serve but is misused as a license for Christian sloppiness and dilettante slovenliness degenerates from costly to [...]

Let’s continue our look at the MPS Papers. Just a reminder, the stated intent of these papers is to “provoke thought and discussion”, not to layout the PAOC’s official position on these matters. Paper no. 5 was written by Jim Lucas, the president of Canadian Pentecostal Seminary. The last line of the document reads, “For [...]

Lost in the Barrens © 1956 M&S Paperback (McClelland & Stewart) © 1989 244 pages This is juvenile fiction at its finest. Mowat used his experience of life in the Barrens of Northern Canada (see: People of the Deer & The Desperate People) to tell an adventure story about a white city-boy and a young [...]

Avison developed this observation after watching birds approach her on foot (“Resting on a Dry Log, Park Bench, Boulder” in Not Yet but Still): But play is part of any living creature’s energy. I like to think birds walk for fun. . . .

Let’s continue our look at the MPS Papers. Just a reminder, the stated intent of these papers is to “provoke thought and discussion”, not to layout the PAOC’s official position on these matters. Paper number four was written by William Sloos, a guy I went to Bible College with back in the ’90s. Let’s have [...]

Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend © 2007 Thomas Nelson 360 pages Beyond Opinion is a collection of essays on defending the faith. While Ravi Zacharias only wrote 4 of the chapters (including the introduction and conclusion), almost every other author is a member of his ministry (RZIM). The book is divided into two [...]

The Age of Fable © 1855 The Heritage Press (with additions © 1942) 369 pages Bulfinch’s Age of Fable is a classic reference work that lives up to its reputation. The book is packed with anecdotes of deities, monsters, and heroes, some of whom I had never heard of before. Thanks to the “Index of [...]

Calvin’s superb at describing faith. Here’s a metaphor worth meditating on (in the Institutes): Faith needs the Word as much as fruit needs the living root of a tree.

Let’s continue our look at the MPS Papers. Just a reminder, the stated intent of these papers is to “provoke thought and discussion”, not to layout the PAOC’s official position on these matters. The third paper was written by our very own Dean of Master’s Pentecostal Seminary, Van Johnson. I fortunate enough to take a [...]

The Crucible (Penguin Classics) © 1952 Penguin 152 pages There’s something refreshing about reading plays (something I don’t do nearly enough). It takes some serious literary wizardry to tell a compelling story within a mere few hours of dialogue. Dialogue is (obviously) the foundation of any play, and Miller’s is snappy and engaging. It doesn’t [...]