Many of you have seen the preview of our new site over the summer, but we've cleaned out the remaining errors and ported over all of the content into this fresh new site.  Everything you see except for the store has been rebuilt from the ground up with the goal of better serving the global church, starting with you.

The changes we've made were focused on making it easier for you to find, read (or listen or watch), and share our resources with your friends and the world.

Over the next several days we will be posting small instructional posts highlighting each of the new features of the site. For now, create an account (if you need help, see the video below), and start exploring!

If you're having trouble and need help, visit our support site and ask a question, make a comment, or suggest an improvement.  We're here to serve you and want to know how we can best do that.

At the core of our vision for International Outreach is a strong desire to serve and bless church leaders in the Global South. Almost every week we receive stories from our partners who are serving in these parts of the world. It’s such a challenge to pick which ones to pass on to you!

Training Leaders International is a new ministry emerging from our local network here in the Twin Cities. Darren Carlson has just returned from a recent trip to Africa and shares this quick report with us.

Training Leaders International is a ministry that mentors and sends graduate students and pastors to teach cross culturally.  These trips are not just about teaching solid theological content. They’re also about molding the teacher into an effective cross-cultural communicator.

One of the benefits of sending out teams is taking resources from Desiring God and placing them into the hands of key leaders around the world. This month we were able to give out the Arabic translation of The Passion of Jesus Christ [a. k. a. Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die] to leaders in southern France.  Another 150 books were delivered to Gaba Bible Institute in Kampala, Uganda.

In the pictures below, I had the privilege of delivering 30 copies of Let the Nations be Glad to Church Army Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. These leaders are in turn also distributing these books to key leaders in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania.

This is such a great example of our goal to get solid theological resources into the hands of indigenous pastors and teachers through missions networks. Please pray with us that God will use the truth in these books to bring great fruitfulness in the lives our brothers and sisters in Africa.

I recently recommended the video below to all the pastors at Bethlehem Baptist Church. These men are mentoring the 45 apprentices who are seeking to complete their MDiv's here at our church-based seminary.

The video is a moving challenge from Darrin Patrick, author of the recently released book Church Planter. In it he charges pastors and other male leaders in our churches to invest in the next generation of men who will pastor the flock of God for years to come.

Please ponder this video and let the Lord use Darrin to haunt us with the possibility that churches will eventually die without strong men pastoring the flock.

But let Darrin also encourage us that one of the best ways for each of us not to waste our lives—whether we are pastors or not—is to invest in men who are younger than us, and to pass on to them a passion for the glory of God in the face of Christ.

For the women out there who are reading this blog, we have much to learn from you. My sense is that women intuitively know the value of mentoring younger women more easily than men perceive its value for younger men. But both men and women are to pass on their passion for Christ to the next generation (2 Timothy 2:2; Titus 2:4).

May God press home to us all this weighty and joyful responsibility. And may we both "be strengthened by the grace that is in Jesus" to do it well (2 Timothy 2:1).

Scroll down to read a transcript of the video.

I'm standing in a museum that used to be a church. In 1887, Pastor Henry and his wife Grace planted this church in a one-room schoolhouse just down the road. And in 1888 they were able to build this building. And they passed on their love for this community, because of the gospel, to a generation. And things were going really well. But two generations after this church was planted it died.

You can see the pictures behind me of the faithful members of this congregation. And many of them lie in the graveyard behind the church. This church had a man crisis. It was men who made this church come alive, and it was probably men who caused this church to die.

In churches, when men stop investing in younger men, younger men stop caring. That's probably what happened to this church. And that's definitely what's happening in our churches.

Older gentlemen do not know how to finish well. They don't know how to invest. And so middle-aged men don't know how to stay married. They don't know how to stay connected to the hearts of their children. And so younger men don't even want to be men. And so younger men are prolonging their adolescence.

• They're doing this residentially. Guys in their 20's and early 30's, a third of them live with their parents. That's a 100% increase in the last 20 years.
• They're doing it professionally. Men 18-42 will change jobs 11 times.
• They're doing it recreationally. The average age of video game users is 35 years old.
• And when these men finally stop fondling the controller, they fondle themselves. Every second of every day $3000 is spent on pornography. Every second.

We need better men. Which means we need better pastors.

We need pastors who are not boys but are men. Pastors who are not trying to prolong their adolescence but pastors who are trying to be the men that God has called them to be. They are qualified men in their character. They are called men to serve God's church. They are determined men. They are dependent men. They are tough men. They're able to take a punch. They're able to handle circumstances. They're tender men. They're able to love their wives and love their kids and to teach their church to love their community.

Tragically, the last time the gospel was preached from this pulpit to this church was in 1957. Three to four thousand churches this year will close just like this church. Why? Because the story and the glory of the church becomes bigger than the story and glory of God.

See, the men and women who planted this church, they actually believed this stuff. They actually believed that Jesus lived a perfect life, that he died a brutal death, and that he rose again, triumphing over sin and death. They believed it. And because they believed it happened, they believed it had implications on their life, that their sin could be forgiven, that they could have a new identity, and that they could be sent on mission with this God who was on mission.

But the reality is that most Christians are not on mission. A recent poll said 60% of all Christians felt no obligation whatsoever to share their faith. Now the temptation for us pastors is to beat the sheep with a stat like that in our sermons. But here's the reality, guys: they're simply imitating and following our example. We need a glimpse of the God who is on mission.

My friend Dave was meeting with a consultant who asked him this question: "Dave, why do I have a bigger dream for your church and your city than you do?" I don't know about you, but I don't want anyone to have a bigger dream for my church and my city than me. And I don't want to build a museum. I want to be a part of a movement.

Do you ever struggle with God’s sovereignty? Do you wonder why he has ordained for you to face the things you face? Are you ever tempted to doubt his goodness or question his love? Or do you experience rest of heart even when your relationships are messy and your circumstances are difficult? The following words are about where the rest can be found.

I did it again and again when our children resisted our instruction and correction. I did it again and again when they debated a command or questioned our plans. I did it again and again when they opposed our authority and quested for self-rule. I did it again and again for two good reasons.

To begin with, my wife and I had brought children into this world who thought they didn't need us! Like us, each of them at some point fell into believing they were far more knowledgeable and capable than they really were. Like us, they often assumed that their intentions were noble and their plans were sound. Like us, they tended to think they were capable of determining what was best, even when they lacked important information and experience. Like we often do, they simply felt they were in possession of a better way.

But there was a second reason I did it again and again. Our children were too young to grasp the abstract, strategic, and often theological purposes underlying my instruction. Even if I explained everything in as age-appropriate a way as I could, they would still have no actual understanding. They just did not yet have the categories or the capacity to grasp the parental logic behind the plan or command.

So I did the same thing again and again. I would kneel down in front of them at eye level and say, "Please look at Daddy's face. Do you know how much I love you? Do you know that your Daddy is not a mean, bad man? Do you know that I would never ask you to do anything that would hurt you or make you sick? I am sorry that you can't understand why Daddy is asking you to do this. I wish I could explain it to you, but you are too young to understand. So I am going to ask you to do something—trust Daddy. When you walk down the hallway to do what Daddy has asked you to do, say to yourself, 'My Daddy loves me. My Daddy would never ask me to do something bad. I am going to trust my Daddy and stop trying to be the Daddy of my Daddy.'"

God does the same thing with you, over and over again. He meets you in one of the difficult hallways of your life, kneels down before you in condescending love, and asks you to trust his loving and wise rule, even though you don't have a clue what he is doing.

He knows there are many times when your life doesn't look like there is anyone ruling it, let alone someone wise and good. He knows there will be times when you will wish you could be the author of your own story. He knows that at times you will be overwhelmed by what is on your plate. He knows that his plan will confuse and confound you. And he knows that real rest cannot be found in understanding, because, like my children, there are things, as a limited human being, you simply do not have the capacity to understand.

Real rest is found in trusting the Person who is in control of the things you don’t understand.

He is willing to have the conversation with you again and again, and he has made sure that his Word assures you of his rule again and again. (For just a few examples, see 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Psalm 103:19, Psalm 115:3, Proverbs 21:1, Isaiah 46:9-10, Daniel 4:35, and Ephesians 1:11.)

Over at What's Best Next, Matt Perman gives a snapshot of the book he is working on. It also serves as a preview of what he will be talking about in his seminar at our National Conference.

A disemboweled chicken on his doorstep and a cross painted on the wall of his home. This is what “David,” an Indonesian church planter discovered one morning—a not-so-subtle warning that his purpose for being in the village was no secret.

I recently had the privilege of meeting David and others who shared about their work in Indonesia. These church planters have chosen to follow the model of Kingdom expansion Jesus gave his disciples in Matthew 10. They seek “worthy persons” who can open a community to the witness of the gospel through their hospitality and interest in Christ.

Sometimes church planters find themselves shaking the dust from their feet and leaving in search of more receptive hearts. With thousands of villages unengaged with the gospel and a limited number of workers, they trust the Holy Spirit to use this process to lead them to the places where he is at work.

The gospel is penetrating spiritually dark corners of the world, and cross-cultural workers are seeing pockets of awakening among unreached people groups. However, many cities, regions and even nations have a miniscule percentage of inhabitants who call Jesus Lord.

Unreached nations like Afghanistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh represent some of the largest and fastest-growing population centers on earth. Yet fewer than five percent of cross-cultural workers serve among the challenging “nations, tribes, peoples and languages” scripture has promised will be worshiping around the throne in the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 7:9).

The pragmatic human response to this dynamic is to work harder, to pour more resources into the battle, to excoriate those who sit on their hands. But the reality is that, even if everyone gave to the point of poverty and obeyed to the point of death, the results would be fruitless apart from a sovereign work of the Spirit to draw the lost to the Father.

Our response to the plight of the unreached reveals the depth of our view of God. Do we truly believe it is the mission of God to reconcile the nations to himself? And, as counterintuitive as it may seem, do we believe that our proclamation of the gospel is the means that he has ordained to accomplish this? The Indonesian church planters I met are deeply aware of this truth—and it is what gives them faith when their efforts seem frail in the face of spiritual opposition.

It is what drives them to prayer—the vanguard of all mission activity. As S.D. Gordon writes:

We can do no thing of real power until we have done the prayer thing. Here is a man by my side. I can talk to him. I can bring my personality to bear upon him, that I may win him. But before I can influence his will a jot for God, I must first have won the victory in the secret place. Intercession is winning the victory over the chief, and service is taking the field after the chief is driven off. Such service is limited by the limitation of personality in one place. . . . Prayer puts man into direct dynamic touch with a planet.

Pioneers-USA is pleased to be a sponsor of the 2010 Desiring God National Conference. Meet Pioneers-USA’s president, Steve Richardson, and others in Minneapolis, October 1-3. Until then, you can connect with me at twitter.com/matthewdgreen and explore Pioneers at pioneers.org or twitter.com/pioneersusa to find out more about what church planting among the unreached looks like.

Jonathan Edwards says that a lack of external expression in worship can actually destroy Christian community and devotion.

Some bodily worship is necessary to give liberty to our own devotion; yea though in secret, so more when with others . . . 'Tis necessary that there should be something bodily and visible in the worship of a congregation; otherwise, there can be no communion at all. (From Miscellanies #101)

Read his rationale for thinking this way.

Recently, in partnership with Christian Focus Publications, we were able to create a 12-week study guide for use with John Piper's book about what it means to be born again, Finally Alive.

With the restart of Bible studies, small groups and Sunday schools this month, you might want to consider this as a guide and supplement to a group study of the book. Or, if not in a group, you may want to use it to enhance your own individual study.

Download the study guide (PDF). And if you don't already have a copy, get Finally Alive.

This is the last question from the Ask Pastor John Live session we recorded earlier this year. Due to Pastor John's leave, we will not be rolling out any more new episodes for at least the rest of this year. Search all previous episodes.

Podcast subscribers, stay tuned for more information about our forthcoming "Everything Video" podcast.

John Piper says you don't have to be ordained to be a minister. Watch or listen to him explain. Scroll down to read an edited transcript.

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

Would there be any specific counsel you would give a business person about glorifying God in their work?

You must have heard a talk I gave earlier today. I gave a talk to the Christian businessmen's group downtown today on how to glorify God from 8 to 5.

The first thing I want to say is that I totally believe in secular work, meaning non-church work. We are all ministers, we are all priests—priesthood of the believer. I'm not drawing that kind of distinction. I'm just saying, as far as the office goes, your priesthood may be at a computer company, or in nursing, or as a doctor, or in carpentry or whatever. And my priesthood happens to be in pastoring.

So I'm totally there, and I believe the Bible says we should be staying generally where we are. Only if God leads in a clear way should we leave the job we are in when we are saved.

So the counsel I would give is to seek to do your work in such a way that Christ looks more important than your work. Seek to make and use money in such a way that Christ looks more important than money. Seek to have relationships with people in the work place such that Christ is more important than those relationships.

Now, that doesn't imply that relationships go down in effectiveness and importance. It means, in fact, that they go up! Because if Christ is infinitely precious to you, you will now have resources for the relationships and for the work that you wouldn't have had otherwise, if those relationships were god.

If they are god, you are drawing strength from them and eventually people are going to feel that. "You are using me. You may be really really interested in me, and you may want to spend time with me. But I'm starting to feel drained by you."

Whereas, if Christ is all, and he sends you into that relationship with resources, then the feel should be, "I like being around you because you are ministering to me. You are not taking from me."

So whether it is people, whether it is money, whether it is activities, we do them all. We are very good at them. We should be creative and industrious and excellent in all of our work in order to adorn the gospel and do it in a way that Christ is shown to be more valuable than any of those things.

The chapter in the book Don't Waste Your Life called "Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5" is where I'm getting all that stuff.

Pun intended.

This is probably my favorite thought/quote from Blaise Pascal. Except perhaps his quote on happiness.

What is man in nature? A nothing compared to the infinite, a whole compared to the nothing, a middle point between all and nothing, infinitely remote from an understanding of the extremes . . . equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed. . .

Let us then realize our limitations. We are something and we are not everything. Such being as we have conceals from us the knowledge of first principles, which arise from nothingness, and the smallness of our being hides infinity from our sight.

Our intelligence occupies the same rank in the order of intellect as our body in the whole range of nature.

Limited in every respect, we find this intermediate state between two extremes reflected in all our faculties. Our senses can perceive nothing extreme; too much noise deafens us, too much light dazzles; when we are too far or too close we cannot see properly; an argument is obscured by being too long or too short; too much truth bewilders us.

—Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 61-63 (emphasis mine)

I love this quote because it reminds me of how humble I should be about what I think I know. It's also good to keep in mind as I prepare for our conference theme this year.

Praise God that he has not left us lost in the middle. He has spoken. And what is more, he has entered in.