The Rev. Dr. Jeremy Berg is the founding and lead pastor of MainStreet Covenant Church in Minnetonka Beach, MN, where he has served since 2010. He is an adjunct professor of Biblical and Theological Studies who has taught classes at Bethel University, University of Northwestern—St. Paul, North Central University, Crown College, and Solid Rock Discipleship School. Jeremy earned a doctorate in New Testament Context under Scot McKnight at Northern Seminary (Chicago). He and his wife, Kjerstin, have three kids, Peter, Isaak and Abigail.
In my first review of this film I pointed out some of the underlying spiritual/psychological themes in the film: (1) the danger of letting a relationship take over one’s entire life, (2) turning a relationship into an idol which we cannot live without, (3) engaging in self-destructive behaviors (e.g., self-injury, suicide attempts) as a desperate … More MOVIE REVIEW: “Twilight: New Moon” – Part 2
“The Medievals conceived the world as a book written by God, the plot of which is given in God’s other book, the Bible. Today, however, the world is plotted by different narratives, either humanly authored (modernism) or authorless (postmodernism). Now the world writes itself; or better, it is writing itself…It is against this background—of the world … More QUOTABLES: Gerard Loughlin on God’s Story
This particular Friday night I was proudly wearing both my “good husband hat” and my “committed youth pastor hat” as I went to see the much anticipated “Twilight: New Moon” film on opening night. (Keri asked me to go to the midnight opener the previous night and I had to draw the line somewhere!) Gazillions … More MOVIE REVIEW: “Twilight: New Moon” – A Youth Pastor’s Perspective
QUESTION: Can I trust God if he does not possess exhaustive definite foreknowledge? Excerpt from Motivations for ascribing foreknowledge to God by GREGORY A. BOYD published in “Religious Studies” (Cambridge University Press 2009). Aside from exegetical objections, the single most frequent criticism raised against the open view in the polemical literature is that it undermines … More Boyd on God’s Foreknowledge & Intelligence
The “My Top 3” series is your chance to get to know some of my personal favorites. Today, on a lighter note, I share my favorite 3 bands. These are not necessarily my vote for the BEST bands of all time. I would have to place The Beatles, Led Zepellin, Elvis Presley and many others … More My Top 3: Rock & Roll Bands
This is by far one of the warmest, most concise, well-reasoned and articulate cases I’ve seen for the existence of God lately. Tim Keller visits Google’s Mountain View, CA, headquarters to discuss his book, “The Reason for God.” This event took place on March 5, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. His arguments … More Does God Exist? (Tim Keller)
NOTE: Please don’t the following too seriously. I’m just thinking (or joking) out loud again. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Yeah, well, if that’s what it means to be insane, then what do we call folks who do certain things religiously and … More Why do we Rake and Shovel?
I can’t believe I’ve never made this observation before. We all know Christianity and church life is all about COMMUNITY. Well, at least it has become the big buzz word for the last decade or two. The Sunday worship routine that had for so long become a spectator sport with the people on stage providing … More Christian Community: The Goal or Starting Point?
We Christians in the Christian blogosphere can easily isolate ourselves and our writing into a little club of associates who all speak our language and understand our biblical framework. This goes for Christians in general who only surround themselves with other Christians and pastors whose social interaction is almost exclusively with fellow believers. When … More An Interview: Some Personal Thoughts
Rob Bell is one of the most popular pastor-teachers in America today. He is best known for his Nooma short films used by churches everywhere. He was recently interviewed by YouthWorker Journal at a national conference to give us some of his thoughts on youth ministry today. Here’s the interview originally published on October 2, 2009 … More Rob Bell on Youth Ministry
What if we could follow Jesus on Twitter? This question is asked all the time and is worthy of a good conversation. I’m glad you can find innumerable articles with similar titles as mine. Would he give new revelation via Twitter or just quote his own Bible verses daily? One person was surprised and humored … More WWJT: What Would Jesus Tweet?
Greg Boyd is involved with some very deep and provocative research and writing at the moment (and always). He gives us a link to a recently published article entitled “Two ancient (and modern) motivations for ascribing exhaustive definite foreknowledge to God: A historic overview and critical assessment.” If the title is any indication I would … More BOOK PREVIEW: “Jesus Versus Jehovah” by Greg Boyd
The book of Romans doesn’t mess around. Paul is shooting straight and going to the heart of things. Our senior youth group is plowing through portions of Romans this fall and winter. We’re still bogged down in the swamp of chapter 1 and Paul’s description of the fallen human condition is growing darker verse by … More Sin & Monopoly (Rom 1:18-32)
I am currently teaching a 4-week class on the topic of Heaven with our high school students. What a fascinating and inexhaustible topic to explore! Among many questions that this raises is ‘What happens immediately upon death?’ Of course, Christians believe the soul lives on beyond the last heart beat and cessation of brain activity. … More D’Souza on Life After Death
Join the conversation on how to approach Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come to your door at Jesus Creed today. Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog at Beliefnet.com is ranked the #6 most popular Christian blog, the #1 blog of the emerging church by Technorati and receives nearly 500,000 visitors per month. Thanks again, Scot.
Some will still protest, saying: “I tasted the morning coffee only to have it turn bitter in my mouth! I jumped up at the first breakfast call only to find stale cereal and sour milk waiting on the table! The sweet song of the morning bird was quickly drowned out by the loud ruckus of … More ALARM CLOCK 11: Everyday is a Fresh Start
USA TODAY.com News featured a story entitled How Stressed Are Kids? More Than We Think. I care deeply about the world today’s teens inhabit and the unique challenges they are facing. To the best of my knowledge and from my own personal observation, the world of teenagers has been changing over the last couple decades … More Teens and Stress
I read an article today about the things that teens today are most stressed about. I was rather surprised by the results and wanted to take my own poll to see if it matches the results of this finding. So, if you wouldn’t mind, please take a moment to weigh in on this poll if … More POLL: What stresses TEENS out most?
The debate over the legitimacy of virtual church vs. traditional church has heated up at Out Of Ur over the past couple weeks. (Dr. Mark Roberts has a series of posts as well.) I’ll be honest and admit that I have at times been too critical and skeptical of the “virtual church” movement. I see the … More Is ‘Virtual’ Church ‘Real’ Church?
We all owe the man who invented the alarm clock radio a heart felt thanks. I am still baffled by those who insist on waking up to obnoxious beeps or irritating buzzers. I still remember my first year of college, living on a dormitory floor with some thirty other freshmen. Every morning as I … More ALARM CLOCK 10: God’s Alarm Clocks
Just one more reason my wife is so amazing. She really knows how to throw a party and puts extra time into the little details that make it more special. Check out her creepy crawler cookies and cupcake creations! They sure didn’t taste as scary as they looked. PS: She even let me put some … More Keri’s Creepy Crawler Cookies & Cupcakes
Here’s an old post salvaged from the old DI archives from a couple years back. Enjoy! I love the Bible. But I’ve never been good at citing “chapter and verse” as they say. Have you ever met those Christians who always need to have a verse cited to back up every statement made? When reading … More Beyond Chapter & Verse
Business marketing strategists have even capitalized on the power of the olfactory sense. Fast food joints located within close proximity to other businesses are rumored to pump their deep-fried smell into the parking lot in hopes of drawing in hungry shoppers for a bite. Coffee shops grind their own beans, filling the air with that … More ALARM CLOCK 9: Your Smell Gives You Away
Dr. Ben Witherington, well-respected New Testament scholar provides a nice, short critique of the common arguments against women in ministry in a post entitled “Why Arguments Against Women in Ministry are Unbiblical”. What are your thoughts on this issue? What do you think of Dr. Witherington’s treatment of the debated biblical texts?
I found this post at Jesus Creed — originally from Umair Haque at Harvard Business Publishing. No parent likes it when their idealistic college-aged kid comes home for Christmas and begins criticizing the ways of the older generation. This post sounds like just such a rant. Some strong points made here, and one … More Generation M Manifesto (or “Hindsight is 20/20”)
Kingdom Harbor 