There’s no discernible theme in the links today, but if you get a little holiday time off to read over the next few days, you’ll find some good stuff below.

“10 Reflections on Today’s Preaching” by Chuck Lawless. Good observations on sermon length, humor, application, boring preachers, and so on.

“Should you preach from a full manuscript?” by Michael Kruger. I’ve tried preaching from full manuscripts before, and it doesn’t work for me (Kruger doesn’t like it either). I lose the ability to adapt my sermon as I preach it, and I lose a connection with my audience. I know some guys who can do it well, though. Do you like it? Have you written about it or have a link to an article supporting it? If so, send it to me and I’ll link it here, just to give another perspective.

“Discouragement in Ministry” by Jason Helopoulos. I’ve been there—haven’t you? This article touches on the reasons why it happens and offers some encouragement.

“A Crash Course on the Muslim Worldview and Islamic Theology” – videos from Adam Francisco (PhD in Islamic-Christian Studies, Oxford). Online bio of Francisco: “He has a unique ability to see and understand both the difficulties facing Christians who wish to evangelize their Muslim friends and the Muslims who are being asked to come to Christ. Many of his unique insights come from personal experiences sharing his faith with Muslims.” You probably don’t have time right now to watch these videos, but it might be good to save them somewhere for future use.

“Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity” by Larry Taunton. I might be drawn to this article in The Atlantic because of a slight personal connection to the author—my children attended the same homeschool co-op as his son for a few years, and the Tauntons are good people. But beyond that, he’s doing some really good work in apologetics, and this article is worth your time.

“What Would Cool Jesus Do?” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (gq.com). You always wanted to know where Justin Bieber goes to church, right? Spoiler alert: it’s not much like the churches where you and I preach. This might be the only article from GQ that I ever link here, but I actually enjoyed reading it. Though the author is extremely liberal, she offers a remarkably fair treatment of a conservative (in the broad Christian sense) expression of Christianity. As an example, the NYC church described in this article holds to a traditional view of sexuality.