Prepare your heart for our Sunday Morning Gathering by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together.

You will find tangible suggestions for putting scripture to action in your personal life and in our corporate body, links to the songs we will sing, and lyrics for you to prepare for our corporate singing.

This Sunday, Dr. Owen Strachan, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Director of the Center for Public Theology, and Director of the Residency PhD Program at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will be preaching as a part of our Morning Gathering.

The Maine native is a graduate of Bowdoin College (A.B. in History), Southern Seminary (M.Div. in Biblical & Theological Studies), and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Ph.D. in Theological Studies). In roles within the SBC and greater Evangelical sphere, Dr. Strachan is Senior Fellow of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood and was formerly President of CBMW, whose purpose is “to set forth the teachings of the Bible about the complementary differences between men and women, created equally in the image of God, because these teachings are essential for obedience to Scripture and for the health of the family and the church.”

He is also a contributing writer for The Gospel Coalition, a research fellow of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC, and a fellow of the Center for Pastor-Theologians.
At SBTS, Dr. Strachan was director of the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement, and at Boyce College, he served as chair of Gospel & Culture. Prior to his time in Louisville, Strachan was the full-time managing director of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and associate director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at TEDS, which is in Deerfield, Ill.

A well-established writer, Dr. Strachan has published six books, including: Risky Gospel: Abandon Fear and Build Something Awesome; editor of The Pastor as Scholar, the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry by John Piper and D.A. Carson;Jonathan Edwards, Lover of God; Jonathan Edwards on Beauty; Jonathan Edwards on the Good Life; Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity; and Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell. In 2015, Strachan will have five more works published: The Colson Way (Thomas Nelson); Reawakening the Evangelical Mind(Zondervan); The Pastor as Public Theologian (Baker); Designed for Joy (Crossway); and Essential Evangelicalism: The Enduring Influence of Carl F.H. Henry (Crossway).

Strachan has written academic journal articles for Themelios, Trinity Journal, Fides et Historia, Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, Bulletin of Ecclesial Theology, and Theology for Ministry. Further, he has authored popular articles for The Atlantic, Washington Post, First Things, The American Spectator, The City, and Christianity Today. He writes regularly for 9Marks, The Streamand his Patheos blog, “Thoughtlife,” which was ranked a top-100 Christian website by ChurchRelevance.com. He speaks regularly for churches and conferences, and has been profiled in World Magazine as a young evangelical leader and by Baptist Press for his pro-life work.

Dr. Strachan is married to Bethany and together they have three children. He is a member of Mission Road Bible Church, Prairie Village, KS.

Please see the Preparing for the Sermon post for suggestions in thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Intentionally Act

• How can you live this week considering all things as “loss” and “rubbish” compared to knowing Christ?
• How might this passage be helpful in sharing the gospel with an unbeliever who relies on their own righteousness?
• Click the links below to find the lyrics and recordings of the songs planned for our gathering this Sunday; practice the songs, study the lyrics and sing together.
• Pray for those leading our corporate gathering this week and for the Holy Spirit’s work as the Word of God is further explained and applied: Dawson Bryant: music; Terry Engling: elders' prayer & scripture reading; Dr. Owen Strachan: teaching.

Songs for Sunday

Morning Gathering

• God Is For Us (sheetmusic)
• Great One In Three (sheetmusic)
• When I Survey (sheetmusic)
• When We See Your Face (sheetmusic)
• Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken (sheetmusic)

Evening Gathering

• My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness
• O God that Hears When Sinners Cry (sheetmusic)
• Your Words of Life
• Fairest Lord Jesus

Lyrics

Lyrics Morning Gathering - April 25, 2021 by Summit Woods Baptist Church on Scribd