Experience God with Us - Study Starts 4/10

We've just finished Wilberforce's A Practical View of Christianity and are jumping right into Reality: 7 Truths from Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby starting Thursday, April 10th.

This study is a departure for us. You see, this group, as part of its foundational format, studies only the works of deceased authors. Both Blackabys are very much alive, though, and we wish them both well. Our impetus to do this study is to be in solidarity with our church body as a whole, most of whom are also doing this study (or a variation) during this season. We look forward to what God has in store for us, both individually and collectively.

The schedule for this study will be fairly straightforward. The book has seven DVD segments, a weekly group discussion and daily reading for forty days. We'll come together, enjoy some fellowship, eat some snacks, then catch up on how everyone's doing. We'll then dive into the discussion and end with prayer time together.

Please purchase the book prior to group if possible. They should be available for purchase at New Life Lakeview this Sunday, and I will have an extra copy or two. Christian bookstores and online book sellers should also have them available. They're only $4.

If you'd like to join us, you are welcome. We meet Thursdays from 7-9pm at our place near Montrose and Ashland. Parking is usually not difficult, and we are close to the Montrose Brown Line stop. Contact me for directions. We are a mixed group (men, women, married and single) and both my wife Jen and I are involved in the group.

A Practical View of Christianity - Reading Schedule

Better late than never...here's our reading schedule for the Wilberforce book study. We are biting off slightly larger chunks than we started with in an effort to join the rest of the small groups in doing Experiencing God starting in April. Details to follow as we get closer.

• February 28 - pg. 83-115
• March 6 - pg. 116-137
• March 13 - pg. 138-175
• March 20 - pg. 176-205
• March 27 - pg. 207-240
• April 3 - pg. 241-278

Wilberforce Study Starts Thu., Jan. 17

Apropos of this political season, our next DTS study will be William Wilberforce's work, A Practical View of Christianity. Wilberforce, a member of British parliament, put his faith in action and was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade in Great Britain. If his name rings a bell, the fairly recent movie Amazing Grace was about Wilberforce and his efforts.

If you are a DTS regular, I enjoyed partying with you twice over the past month and look forward to jumping back into a book study with you. The Pilgrim's Progress made for some great discussion, and I'm eager to see how God will challenge us in this new year and season.

If you're new to DTS or thinking about checking us out, Welcome! We are a mixed group (men and women, married and single) that began as a short-term focus group studying Francis Schaeffer and grew into the Dead Theologians Society. We are not theologians by profession, just people who enjoy being stretched and challenged.

On a "practical" note, we will no longer be meeting in the church cafe. We are now going to be meeting at my apartment, though our time remains the same: 7-9pm. (Contact me for directions.)

Also, the books for the new study will be available to purchase from me. Please order through me for the $6 deal or order the edition linked to above so that we can be sure to all be literally "on the same page" in our discussions. Thanks!

The Pilgrim's Progress Reading Schedule-Revised 12/3

The following is the reading schedule. Please read the scheduled passage prior to coming to group.

Oct. 24 - through pg. 39
Nov. 1 - pg. 39 - 80
Nov. 8 - NO GROUP
Nov. 15 - pg. 80 - 120
Nov. 22 - THANKSGIVING - NO GROUP
Nov. 29 - 120 - 160
Dec. 6 - 160-191
Dec. 13 - CHRISTMAS PARTY @ PATTY'S
Dec. 20 - 191 - end

The Pilgrimage Begins Oct. 18th

As you may or may not know, the next DTS study will be The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. (No, not the guy with the blue ox. That's Paul, his brother.)

This will be a bit of a departure for us. Thus far we've studied Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together, C.S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory and Dorothy Sayers' The Mind of the Maker. Unlike these, The Pilgrim's Progress is not strictly a theological work. It is a story, an allegory of the Christian life. Though we are bound to have good discussion and some deep questions, my hope is that this will give us an opportunity to share our own journeys and spur one another on. That is my prayer.

If you'd like to join us, we will have our first meeting on Thursday, October 18 at 7p.m. in the cafe upstairs at New Life. From that point we may well meet in coffee shops and other places in the community. Notices of a change in location will be emailed or posted here.

We have a great deal on the book for this series--$4, half off the retail price. I encourage you to order the version the rest of the group is using so that we can literally be on the same page in our discussions. If you'd like to order a copy, let me know.

Updated Schedule for "The Mind of the Maker"

Updated reading schedule for the remainder of The Mind of the Maker. Please have the selection listed with each date read by that date.

• Oct. 4 - Chapter 10 & 11

Get Into "The Mind of the Maker" This Week

The next book study starts this week--Thursday, August 2nd @ 7pm in the Cafe at New Life Lakeview. The book we are diving into is Dorothy Sayers' The Mind of the Maker.

Dead Theologians Society wrestles with works by, you guessed it, dead theologians. While we will typically deal with classic, well-known writers like C.S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (our last two studies), I think it's worthwhile to occasionally throw in an author we're less familiar with, someone who will stretch our discussion a bit and someone whose perspective we may not already know by osmosis through living in Christian community.

The following is a summary from the back cover of the 1987 version published by Harper San Francisco (this is the cheaper of the current paperback versions, by the way, at roughly $11):

This classic, with a new introduction by Madeleine L'Engle, is by turns an entrancing meditation on language; a piercing commentary on the nature of art and why so much of what we read, hear, and see falls short; and a brilliant examination of the fundamental tenets of Christianity. The Mind of the Maker will be relished by those already in love with Dorothy L. Sayers and those who have not yet met her.

A mystery writer, a witty and perceptive theologian, culture critic, and playwright, Dorothy Sayers sheds new, unexpected light on a specific set of statements made in the Christian creeds. She examines anew such ideas as the image of God, the Trinity, free will, and evil, and in these pages a wholly revitalized understanding of them emerges. The author finds the key in the parallels between the creation of God and the human creative process. She continually refers to each in a way that illuminates both.