The Billy Graham Center in Wheaton has an interesting section on certain aspects of evangelical history. One part that stood out to me when I was there was a series of pictures of a “Frontier camp meeting” that took place around 1814. Most of my long-term readers will know that I am part of a reformed charismatic group called Newfrontiers. Hence it was somewhat amusing to me to see the name, and rather nice to see further evidence that raising hands in church is not a novel invention:
Since the Bible commands us to lift our hands in prayer and worship repeatedly I suppose I should not think that us charismatics somehow created the practice! God’s Word also commands us to clap, and even dance. I must say I have little comprehension of why those who love the Bible the most often seem to struggle with understanding and obeying these plain commands from Scripture.
But just maybe Newfrontiers shouldn’t be called “new” after all! In fact, there is even an example here of something we perhaps see slightly less frequently in the average Newfrontiers church at least at the moment: people “swooning” under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
I also rather liked the following picture of Billy Sunday preaching. O for preachers of like passion today! If only our pulpits were filled with more men like this Billy, I suspect we would see more salvation.
Speaking of Billys, there was another one of course, Billy Graham. Here is my friend Matt Sweatman trying out that Billy’s pulpit:
I still dare to believe in Christian bookshops. Oh, they need to evolve all right. It seems like the new “Living Oasis” chain might have some of the right ideas in some places. Making the bookshop also serve as a coffee shop and meeting point seems like a great idea. Getting people into the shop is the challenge. Once there, if the bookshop is well laid out and with helpful staff, the customer may well be encouraged to buy more materials. Why not make the effort and go visit your local store this weekend if you still have one? If you want to pick up a copy of my book, Raised With Christ, that could be a good reason to go.
British Christian bookshops have gone through a period of turmoil in the last few months. As a direct result, a number of stores were not even open around the time pre-orders for Raised With Christ were placed. There were also some early stock shortages due to higher than expected sales. But many stores are now getting stock, and all are now in a position to order it from IVP UK.
The following stores have kindly sponsored a Facebook campaign for this book and have said they are stocking it:
Stores known to stock Raised With Christ:
Why not check your local store this weekend and let us know if they have stock? The UK Christian Bookshop Directory will help you find your closest store.
Meanwhile, it seems that plenty of stores in Australia have it (including also Orange Christian Bookstore and Reformers, and as far as we can tell many Christian bookshops in the USA area also selling it.
Some of you may feel that my support for Christian bookshops in this way is not consistent with the fact that the Raisedwithchrist.net site promotes other avenues to purchase the book. The fact is that life is not as simple as that. Many Christians no longer have a local store, so have no choice but to buy online. Also, I am fully convinced that we should not see the Internet store as the enemy. Every book sold on an Internet store is, if it is any good, a potential sale for a Christian bookshop when the reader recommends the book to their friends who may live in another part of the country.
Every Christian needs to become an advocate for good books. One of the most helpful things we can do for our friends is to encourage them to read a great Christian book.
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