In our new series, Teenage Mental Health and the Gospel, we will hear from youth ministry workers, counselors, and clinicians as they share encouragements for parents seeking to walk alongside their teen in today’s world. Read our first article by new contributor Gower Lee: Parents, Let’s Make God’s Grace Visible.
October is Pastor’s Appreciation Month! Editorial Board member Faith Chang has a special message for her fellow ministry wives and sisters in Christ: Dear Ministry Wife, You Are Seen.
Keep in touch on Twitter and Instagram. For more, check out my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group and TGIF Playlist on Spotify. This newsletter is one of the many ways you can stay connected with SOLA Network. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Aaron Lee, Editorial Curator
Enter our giveaway! Thanks to Serge and New Growth Press for providing, in partnership with @diveindigdeep, SOLA Network, and FCBC Walnut. The work of Serge consists of sending and caring for missionaries, mentoring & equipping ministry leaders around the world, and developing resources for on-going spiritual renewal. 1 winner will receive these excellent books!
- Job: Where Is God in My Suffering? creates space for prayers, reflections, and conversations in which Job’s story, your story, and Jesus’s story all come together.
- Acts: The Power that Changes the World will encourage, challenge, and empower readers to live out God’s story in their lives and in their world.
- Colossians: Becoming Who You Are in Christ helps readers better understand their connection to Christ and realize that they are becoming who they have already been declared to be in Christ—fully loved and fully alive in him.
Articles From Around The Web
1. Tim Challies: The Sins of the Elderly and the Sins of Youth
“I know that the sins of the elderly can be the sins of youth, that the factors that commonly disqualify men at the beginning of a life can disqualify them near the end.”
Related: Learning and Writing About God and the Church: An Interview with Tim Challies
2. Sophia Lee: Called to Kenya’s Chinatowns
“Even other Christians thought it was strange when two Kenyans wanted to evangelize their Chinese neighbors.”
Related: Popsicle Philosophy: Remembering What We Have In Common
Will you join us in embracing the call for the Asian American Church? The collective voices in our new book argue that there is underappreciated beauty, diversity, joy, benefit, and place for the Asian American church. Asian American leaders need to joyfully embrace the call to serve the Asian American church, not only for the emerging generation but for the broader church. Find a sample, links to purchase, and a free discussion guide at sola.network/book.
Books, Podcasts, Music, And More
1. Seminary Now: Preaching to a Divided Nation
Matthew Kim and Paul Hoffman’s course is outstanding. It is timely, relevant, and immediately applicable. This course equips preachers and pastors to navigate our contentious political climate with confidence and courage, guiding their congregations toward Christ. Read my recommendation, watch the course trailer, and preview the first few sessions of this new course for free.
Related: Preaching to a Divided Nation: An Interview with Matthew Kim
2. Geoff Chang: Spurgeon’s Sermons: Being Mentored by the Prince of Preachers
“Many preachers have published their sermons. But no one has had anything close to Spurgeon’s staying power; his weekly sermons were sold for 63 years. In the end, it took a World War to put an end to publishing his sermons.”
Related: A Powerful Vision for Ministry: A Book Review of “Spurgeon the Pastor”
3. Brett McCracken: Contemporary Christian Is One of Music’s Fastest-Growing Genres. Why?
“Like Christianity generally, there’s no geographic ‘center’ for Christian music. It’s global, and increasingly so.”
Related: Balancing Our Wisdom Diet in the Internet Age: An Interview with Brett McCracken
4. Aaron Lee: Related Works
Listen to our TGIF playlist on Spotify. Join my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group.
Our Books and Reviews page is your one-stop resource for all of your reading needs. It features Asian American authors and issues, recommendations, and interviews.
Featured This Week On SOLA Network
1. Faith Chang: Dear Ministry Wife, You Are Seen
“There is real comfort in knowing we aren’t strange for struggling, that we are not alone. Sometimes all we need is a person who loves and understands us to say, “I see you!” Still, the greatest comfort I have found in ministry has been knowing I am not only seen by people, but by God himself.”
2. Gower Lee: Parents, Let’s Make God’s Grace Visible
“Just as teens get entangled in patterns of unhealthy striving, I forget that God doesn’t leave me to sort everything out and solve every difficulty. Instead, He graciously reorients me to the truth of His Word.”
3. TGIF: Roundup for September 27, 2024
“Who Shall Keep the Keepers?”: Churches and Pastoral Accountability / Serious Joy in Preaching / Heaven Has One Celebrity: A Dream at the Gates of Paradise / Highlights from the Seoul Statement at Lausanne 2024 / What Makes Asian American Youth Ministry Challenging?
4. SOLA Network: TGIF Subscription
Get our TGIF installments delivered straight to your inbox for free every Friday. Join today so you never miss out.
General disclaimer: Our link roundups are not endorsements of the positions or lives of the authors. Header image by Mathieu Odin on Unsplash.