Archive for category: Newsletter

Before I give you an update on ministry of the CFBS and on the Whitney family, I’ll mention the following resources in hopes that they might serve you and/or your ministry.

First is a new blog post, a Christmas meditation on “God, the House-building God.”

These “Ten Questions to Ask at a Christmas Gathering” may be of service in stimulating discussion in slow or difficult conversational settings this week. I’m hopeful they’ll be especially useful in settings where you want to ultimately share the gospel.

Ready for 2017? Ready or not, it’s almost here. These “Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year or on Your Birthday” may help you enter the new year more thoughtfully and deliberately. At the end is a bonus of 21 additional questions, for a total of one for every day in the month of January. This Sunday or the next would be the ideal time to print this document as a bulletin insert or handout for your church or small group.

Hoping to read through the Bible in 2017, but not sure how to go about it? Or maybe you read through the Bible on a regular basis, but would consider altering your approach. Last yearJustin Taylor collected several dozen different Bible reading plans. Here’s a link to that post at The Gospel Coalition Blog.

Next, here’s a “Bible Reading Record” to assist you in reading through the Bible next year. Regardless of your pace or plan, this tool can keep you on track. Print a paper copy, put it in your Bible, and cross off chapters as you read them. Or download it to your smartphone or tablet, then delete or italicize the chapters you complete each day.

Say hello to my grandson, Trippe! My daughter, Laurelen, and her husband, Mike, presented us with Trippe on May 27, so he’ll be seven-months-old soon. Obviously, this happy little fella is the most handsome grandson in the world, although admittedly as a new cereal-eater he is still working on a few of the finer points of keeping the food in his mouth. So far our two favorite activities together are sitting in the porch swing with each other and anything that makes Trippe laugh.

One of Caffy’s most satisfying activities is investing in the lives of women in the Southern Seminary Wives Institute. Led by Mrs. Mary Mohler, wife of SBTS President Albert Mohler, the program involves both seminary faculty and faculty wives. Caffy is involved in both teaching and discipling these young women.

In this edition:

• Crossway releases new edition of Don’s Family Worship book
• A new, free, five-part video series by Don on family worship
• New blog post by Don: “Family Worship and the Day I Made by Daughter Cry”

 

Crossway releases new edition of Don’s Family Worship book

After 10 years in print, I am excited to announce that my self-published Family Worship book has been revised, repackaged, and re-released in a beautiful new Crossway edition.

“Don Whitney has written a book we truly need. . . . This book belongs in every Christian home and in the hands of every Christian parent.
—R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

What’s different from the original, 2006 edition?

——More content. In every major section—family worship in the Bible, family worship in Christian history, and in the practical, how-to section—there’s at least some new material. If you are familiar with the original edition, you’ll still see all of that, but now you’ll find even more helpful material about family worship.

——More features. In addition to an attractive new cover, the Crossway team has reformatted the book for easier reading. This edition of Family Worship also has a Scripture index and more extensive endnotes.

——More editions. Besides the paperback edition, Family Worship is now available in Kindle and iBooks formats. You can also get the book on CD audio from christianaudio.com and as a digital download from both Audible.com and christianaudio.com.

Family Worship by Don Whitney is a priceless little volume. . . . This book is persuasive, practical, and most of all, doable.
—Dr. Tedd Tripp, Pastor; author, Shepherding a Child’s Heart

I’ve also revised the Discussion Guide printed in the back of Family Worship. This makes the book useful for class or small group study

With the original edition, the majority of copies sold were through bulk sales. Because of that trend, Family Worship will be available at a significant price reduction for bulk orders. As many did with the older edition, you may want to consider purchasing the book in discount quantities for your men’s ministry, men’s or couples’ conferences, or to distribute as gifts to your men on Father’s Day. Crossway has discount pricing on case quantities (call 800-543-1659), as does The Center for Biblical Spirituality on both case orders and 10-packs.

If you are one of the 35,000 who read the original edition of the book, please receive my heartfelt thanks. May the Lord guide you in your use of this new edition, and bless you with much lasting fruit in your life, family, and ministry from it.

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A new, free, five-part video series by Don on family worship

Many readers of this newsletter enrolled in the free, five-day video course on praying the Bible when my book on that subject came out last year. That series was so successful that Crossway, the publishers of Praying the Bible, decided to do the same with the release of Family Worship.

So “Family Worship 101” is also a free, five-day video course. By going to this page to sign up (simply by providing your email address), you’ll receive an email from Crossway each day for the next five days. Each email will contain a video (of about 3 to 5 minutes) in which I teach practical tips on leading family worship. Here’s a sample:

“Family Worship is a great introduction to a topic of great importance. I recommend it for any and all Christian families.”
—Tim Challies, author, The Next Story; blogger, Challies.com

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My daughter, Laurelen, graduated from a small, classical Christian high school. The school enjoys a commencement tradition in which the parents hand the diploma to their child, but only after speaking a few words of encouragement (usually accompanied with some nostalgia) to him or her. The graduate responds with some brief, prepared remarks of his or her own.

A surprise for me

From her response to us, here’s the section Laurelen specifically addressed to me:

Dad, I can’t think of learning to read, reading, or books without thinking about you. I remember how encouraging you were when I first learned to read. I would finish those little books, so proud of myself, and you would encourage me to start another one right away. I remember you reading to me when I was little and telling me how exciting it would be when I learned to read and could read to you. For as long as I can remember, you’ve been bringing home books from used bookstores for me to read and enjoy. By the time we moved from Kansas City, I had 4 or 5 bookcases full of books that you had lovingly brought home for me.

Reading has always been such an important part of us as a family. Dad, the way you have so consistently led us in family worship every single night of the week for every night of my life [Note: her memory certainly failed her here] is so meaningful and inspirational for me. I’m going to cherish those moments together for as long as I live. You have been a wonderful, loving, spiritual leader for my entire life. Not only our time reading the Bible or Christian books together, but also our time reading classic books will be something I’ll remember forever. Thank you so much, Dad, for making that such a huge part of our time as a family.

As meaningful to me as they obviously were, Laurelen never finished reading these two precious paragraphs (which, with her permission, I copied from her manuscript). When she started talking about how much family worship had meant to her, Laurelen began to cry. And when I say cry, I mean I cannot remember her weeping that hard since she was a preschooler. She came and sobbed on my shoulder, and the photo of that moment is my all-time favorite of the two of us together.

Perhaps a surprise for you

Now before you imagine something that isn’t true, I want you to know that I cannot recall once in the thousands of nights before Laurelen wrote these words when we concluded family worship and I had some atmospheric sense of the presence of God. Not one time did we finish family worship where I would have said afterward, “The Lord evidently moved in great power among us tonight.”

On the contrary, most nights our family gathering was more like, “Will y’all pay attention; I’m reading the Bible here. . . . Please put down your phone. . . . Are you listening?”

Was anything accomplished tonight?

Many times after family worship I wondered if anything good had been accomplished. Almost nightly I had to remind myself to trust in the Lord to do His work through His Word, and not in my perceptions or feelings about what had or had not occurred.

Often came the nights when I perceived no enthusiasm to gather for family worship, and frankly, many times I had very little myself. In many such cases you know you need to proceed with at least a brief time of family worship out of sheer discipline and a resolve that refuses to cave in to plausible excuses of everyone’s fatigue or busyness. Sometimes you’ll sense that for you to mandate family worship on that occasion would be received as harsh and legalistic, so you simply for a quick circle and sing the Doxology or offer a brief prayer. And you’ll second-guess yourself just about every time you have to make such a call.

It will be worth it

Strive for faithfulness in family worship, not immediate results. I fully understand that what you may see night-after-night, week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year in family worship may be uneventful. Just realize that the effects are rarely immediate; usually they’re cumulative.

Oaks aren’t grown by the effects of an occasional spectacular day of weather, but by long-term, consistent exposure to the elements that encourage their growth. The same patient persistence is true for growing “oaks of righteousness” (Isa. 61:3).

Give your family years of faithful, if unspectacular, leadership in family worship, and you’ll agree it’s worth it all when someday, perhaps far from now, unexpectedly, you get a response like this:

 

“This book will equip you to lead your family in worship, without fear or awkwardness or intimidation. This book could change your home, and you will be glad for the change.”
—Dr. Russell Moore, President, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

“I love this little book. It is clear, biblical, and practical. It gives hope and direction for anyone. . . . The “what if” chapter is worth the price of the book. I highly recommend it.”
—Martha Peace, Biblical Counselor; author, The Excellent Wife

To order Family Worship online, click here.

To order by phone or get more information, call Terry at 502-883-1096.

 

 

Christmas and New Year’s greetings from the Whitney family. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Before I give you an update on ministry of the CFBS and on the Whitney family, I’ll mention the following resources in hopes that they might serve you and/or your ministry.

Most immediately, these “Ten Questions to Ask at a Christmas Gathering” may be of service in stimulating discussion in slow or difficult conversational settings this week. I’m hopeful they’ll be especially useful in settings where you want to ultimately share the gospel.

Ready for 2016? Ready or not, it’s almost here. These “Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year or on Your Birthday” may help you enter the new year more thoughtfully and deliberately. At the end is a bonus of 21 additional questions, for a total of one for every day in the month of January. This Sunday or the next would be the ideal time to print this document as a bulletin insert or handout for your church or small group.

Next, here’s a “Bible Reading Record” to assist you in reading through the Bible next year. Regardless of your pace or plan, this tool can keep you on track. Print a paper copy, put it in your Bible, and cross off chapters as you read them, or download it to your smartphone or tablet and delete or italicize the chapters you complete each day.

In terms of family, our daughter Laurelen and her husband Mike are expecting our first grandchild on Father’s Day. Caffy and I are so excited! Below is the captionless photo they posted on social media to announce the news. If you’re over 40, then like me, you may not get it.

 

The picture is intended to convey the title of a popular 1990 hip hop song by rapper Vanilla Ice. The song is “ice, Ice, Baby.” Everyone over 40 to whom I showed this picture didn’t get it. Like me, they tried to read the wording on the label of the ice bag, or find some other clue to figure out the meaning. Everyone under 40 immediately said, “Oh, ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’—they’re expecting a baby!”

Caffy just relocated her art studio to the Frankfort Crossings building on Frankfort Ave. in Louisville. She loves the new location, and so do her students and their parents. She’s only a couple of blocks from the great Comfy Cow ice cream parlor, the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen, as well as coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, and the other amenities on Frankfort Avenue.

You can see a bit of her work, as well as some of the work of her students and other photos from her former studio, by going to her “Caffy I. Whitney” Facebook page. (Note that this is not the same as her “Caffy Cox Whitney” personal Facebook page.) Below is a piece that one of her students is currently painting.

Here’s a sample of some of Caffy’s artwork this year. She painted several portraits in 2015, and this is one of Jonathan Edwards. This 3×4 oil portrait was done for the office of Dr. Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

Among Caffy’s other projects in 2015 were two life-size portraits of Charles Spurgeon. One was of Spurgeon as a young preacher, and the one below is of him as a mature pastor. These 4×8 oils hang on either side of the entrance to The Spurgeon Library which opened at Midwestern in October.

Personally, in May I completed ten years as professor of biblical spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Training the best and brightest from all 50 states and dozens of countries for gospel ministry around the globe as pastors, worship leaders, church staff members, missionaries, campus ministers, biblical counselors and more is incredibly rewarding.

In June my material on Praying the Bible was published by Crossway. Having taught this material in classrooms and churches about 500 times, I’m more and more convinced that, next to the Gospel, this is the message God put me on the planet to proclaim. I’m grateful He has allowed me to live to see it go into print. There’s also a Kindle edition, as well as audio editions via Audible and ChristianAudio.com.

Crossway produced a free, 5-part video series in which I teach an overview of how to pray the Bible. At this page you can sign up for a 3-minute video emailed to you daily for five days. At this page is a 15-minute interview Justin Taylor did with me about the book.

 

 

BIG NEWS! Crossway will now be publishing the book I previously self-published on Family Worship. It has a new cover, new layout, some revisions, and a small amount of new content.

As with the previous edition, we’ll be offering bulk discounts on 10-packs and cases of the book via www.BiblicalSpirituality.org.

For now, you can pre-order individual copies of the book for $7.99 here at Amazon. Kindle and audio editions of the book will be available as well.

The release date for the book is January 31.

 

 

 

I am very excited to announce that my two best-selling books will soon be available in Spanish editions! Please pass the word about this to Christian brothers and sisters you may know who speak Spanish, or to leaders of Spanish-speaking churches and ministries.

•   Disciplinas Espirituales para la Vida Cristiana—the Spanish-language edition of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life is scheduled for release in paperback and for Kindle on April 1 and is available for pre-order here.

•   Orando la Biblia—the Spanish-language edition of Praying the Bible is scheduled for release March 1 and is available for pre-order here.

 

 

 

 If you’re active on Twitter and/or Facebook, you can follow my Twitter posts via @DonWhitney and get my Facebook feed by “liking” my page there.

 

“Finally, brethren, pray for us” (2 Thess. 3:1).

•   Pray for our family. On January 8 Caffy and I will celebrate 39 years of marriage. My mother recently began her sixth year with us. She fell in May and broke her pelvis. Since August she has been in an assisted living facility. Please pray for Laurelen and her pregnancy, and for Mike and Laurelen as they prepare for the delivery of the baby expected on Father’s Day.

•   Pray for my ministry of teaching as professor of biblical spirituality and associate dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. One out of five seminary students in America is in one of the six SBC seminaries, and the oldest and largest of these six is SBTS. We train students from all fifty states and dozens of countries, including more than half of the Master of Divinity students in the SBC seminaries. It is a solemn and joyful responsibility to prepare these students for a lifetime of service to Jesus and His kingdom.

•   Pray for my preaching, teaching, and writing done in addition to my seminary ministry. In 2015 this has taken me to 36 churches, 8 denominational and pastors’ conferences, and 4 seminaries and colleges in 18 states via 114 airplanes and more than 52,000 miles.

At the close of this year, I want to express my thanks to all you who pray for us. Thanks also to those who send financial support to The Center for Biblical Spirituality. These are all gifts from Him “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Most of all, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift,” the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 9:15). May the Lord greatly bless you this Christmas season and new year! 

If you’d like to receive this newsletter by email, simply scroll to the top of the page and enter your name and email address in the box in the upper right corner.

 By His grace and for His glory,

Don Whitney

 

www.BiblicalSpirituality.org

The Center for Biblical Spirituality

11113 Peppermint St., 

Prospect, Kentucky 40059