I've gotten into several conversations with friends lately about which church they should join, or how they should advise their friends to evaluate a church. 
I was recently reading The Top 100 Questions, by Richard Bewes (Rector, All Souls', Langham Place, London 1983-2004), and he had 4 good questions to ask yourself about the church you've been visiting:
1.  Does the Bible actually get opened here?
2.  Is this the kind of church you could take an uncommitted friend to?
3.  Is there a recognisably New Testament feel to the church?
    Here's what he meant in this question:  "Is it Trinitarian in its emphasis on Father, Son and Holy Spirit as equally God?  Is the saving death of Christ at its centre (I Cor. 2:2)?  Do the hymns reflect this?  Are baptism and the Lord's Supper . . . a proper part of the church . . . ?"
4.  On the whole, are the arrows pointing outwards from the church?
In fact, these are 4 good question not just to tell your friend, but for yourself as you pray for and evaluate your own church.

This is how I'm thinking about preaching Revelation chapter 20 tomorrow.  Just thought I'd share the evolution of an outline (that still isn't finished!).

#1 
            20:1-3  The Binding of Satan
            20:4-6  The Thousand Years—Christ Reigning with His Saints
            20:7-10  The Final Defeat of Satan
            20:11-15  The Final Judgment of the Dead
 
#2
            20:1-3  God is Sovereign over Satan
            20:4-6  Christians reign with God & Christ
            20:7-10  Satan will appear to flourish but will be judged
            20:11-15  The dead (and death!) are judged.  Everyone will be judged
 
#3 
            Christians need not fear persecution  20:4-6
            Christians need not fear Satan, 20:1-3, 7-10
            Christians need not fear death, 20:11-15
 
#4
            Christians need not be scared of Satan, 20:1-3, 7-10
            Christians need not be scared of death, 20:4-6
            Christians need not be scared of God, 20:11-15
 
#5 
            Don’t let threats intimidate you  20:4-6
            Don’t let lies deceive you  20:1-3, 7-10
            Don’t let death fool you  20:11-15
 
#6
            Christians will be blessed 20:4-6
            Satan will be defeated 20:1-3, 7-10
            Everyone will be judged 20:11-15
 
#7
            Common myths:
            1)  Christianity isn’t worth it.  20:4-6
            2)  Who’s to say?  20:1-3, 7-10
            3)  People get away with stuff 20:11-15
 
#8
            Don’t worry  20:1-3, 7-10
            Make sure 20:11-15            Praise God 20:4-10

Great meeting this week.  Wonderful displays of unity around the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission.  Good leadership by Johnny Hunt, Danny Akin & Al Mohler.  Wonderful sermons by J. D. Greear and David Platt.  God is being kinder to us than we deserve--in ways old and new!  The celebration of God's kindness through 150 years of history at Southern Seminary and the new lunch sponsored by Baptist 21 and the 9Marks and 9 events AND the 9Marks booth were all huge encouragements to me.
There were certainly still stresses and strains evident in the convention.  I assume good motives on all sides.  I wonder if there aren't two different views of the SBC's money.  What I would call the older perspective understands that the SBC functions at the generous gift of the state conventions that pass Cooperative Program monies along to the national level.  What I would call the newer perspective senses that through the inerrancy controversies many churches came to have more confidence in the national convention than in their state conventions.  The current giving agreements between the Executive Committee and the state conventions, therefore, perhaps reflect more of the older perspective than the newer perspective.
I don't know which perspective is the case.  I have no objective data.  And I thank God for good work being done in both state and national entities.  But I do wonder if what we're seeing is a shift in trust.  Either way, I pray that God will use us all to His glory.

Just got back from a restful week's vacation.  One of the most restful things to me is reading, uninterrupted by phone calls, meetings, etc.  Just my family, a couple of close friends, the sun, waves, wind, AND BOOKS.  I don't think I'll rehearse my whole vacation here.  That would undermine the restful and restorative nature of privacy.  But I certainly don't mind sharing with you some of the stuff I read. 
First and foremost was I & II John again and again.  Very edifying.
Now on to the non-canonical (and therefore less usual) list:
Easily the most interesting thing was Michael Lawrence's manuscript for his new book on Biblical Theology and Ministry.  Superb!  Unusual.  Should be very useful for the Bible student, and espcially for the pastor and seminarian!  Thank you, Michael, for serving us as you have in this book!
Other things I got read:
Harvie Conn's wonderful study of The American City and the Evangelical Church (1994 Baker).  Good summary of cities in American history and of evangelicals responses to them.  I'm a city pastor, so I thought this would be good to read. Great intro to the field.
Stephanie Faul's amusing little Xenophobe's guide to the Americans (1994 Oval books).  Oh to see ourselves as others see us!  And to read this in another country was all the more fun.
On a more serious note, Eugene Genovese's The Southern Tradition:  The Acheivement and Limitations of an American Conservatism (Harvard 1994).  Geneovese deploys Marxist and Agrarian concerns about capital, urbanism and individualism to explore American history and society, especially the South. Fascinating.
Christopher Hitchens' The Missionary Position:  Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice (Verso 1995).  Quick read.  He has great style.  His worldview is quite different from mine.  Facts about Mother Theresa I didn't know.  Again, oh, to see ourselves as others see us!
Thomas Sowell, Race, Culture and Equality (Hoover Institution, 1998).  This was a re-read.  One lecture.  A booklet which summarizes Sowell's research in the 1990's.  Fascinating counterpoint to the agrarianism of Genovese.  Cultures prosper that interact with and learn from others.
Callum Brown's The Death of Christian Britain (Routledge 2001).  OK, I had started this one before, and had put it down (which I almost never do).  Picking it up again reminded me of why I put it down in the first place.  His studies of the shift in narratives from the 19th century to the late 20th century was interesting.  Too much detail for my mind untrained in such analysis.  Still, interesting.
Roy Blount, Jr.'s Robert E. Lee (Viking 2003).  Interesting, non-comprehensive , short editorializing on Lee's life and views.  Blount's a good writer.  Lee's life is a study in both uncompromisingness and yet deep compromise.
Ian Buruma & Avishai Margalit, Occidentalism:  The West in the Eyes of its Enemies (Penguin 2004).  This was one of the most interesting reads.  B&M look at the German, Japanese, Russian, Arab critiques of the West.  Similar to some of the Agrarian's concerns.  Interesting to see how ideas spread.  Worth reading.
Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation (CBS 2004).  Just a fun read about a great news show.
Wendy Murray Zoba, Evangelical Christianity (Three Leaves 2005).  Quick intro.
Julie Rugg & Lynda Murphy, A Book Addict's Treasury (Frances Lincoln 2006).  Fun quotations.  Al gave it to me a couple of years ago.  Just got around to it now!
Hemant Mehta, I Sold My Soul on eBay (Waterbrook 2007).  Fun read.  Oh, I want to talk to this friendly athiest!!  Again, the Oh to see ourselves as others see us theme.  He talked about what it was like to visit various churches as an atheist.  I resonated with much of what he said.
Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad, (Univ of Penn 2008).  An intelligence analyst in my church suggested I read this to understand the current state of terrorism.  Centrally controlled stuff is being effectively countered.  Homegrown stuff is a threat.  Decentralized stuff is the internet's gift to our future.
And, lastly, and most edifyingly!  Tim Keller's The Prodigal God (Dutton 2008).  What a wonderful job Tim has done in applying this parable accurately to our hearts.  Read and profit, friends.  The point was clearly the elder brother, and Tim applies this to our situation today well.