Bravo to Wheaton Bible Church on their logo "Deeper Still" on the spiritual disciplines. 
We do want to get deeper and we want to become still. You can use it like a pun either way. I like the phrase and the image. I like the p going deep and becoming the i in still.
I have heard three of the messages (June 25, July 9, 16) and they have all been good. You can download and listen to them here.
A fellow professor asked about what the contemplative prayer movement is and if we should be concerned about it. Here is how I responded:
Critics of contemplative prayer are particularly worried that Christians will accept Hindu or Buddhist practices. When Christians speak of “meditating” or “meditation” or “Lectio Divina” (spiritual reading) or what we can learn from Catholic mystics such as Teresa of Avila, these critics start getting very concerned about these manifestations of contemplative prayer influencing people toward eastern mysticism. For example, Richard Foster has a chapter on “meditation” in his book Celebration of Discipline. These critics worry about the continued influence of that book. They worry that Christians will do Eastern mysticism practices and dismiss Scripture. In reality, most people including Richard Foster are simply showing people what Biblical prayer and Scriptural meditation is all about.
A number of Christian writers including Robert Webber and Tony Jones have decried our lack of historical knowledge. They have tried to remind modern Christians that Christians throughout history have memorized Scripture and prayed in solitude. Some people within the emerging church movement (such as Jones) have encouraged these “ancient” practices as a response to the harried and consumeristic modern life-style. You won’t be surprised to learn that contemplative prayer is not spreading like wild fire because it mostly entails mediation on Scripture and times of prayer in solitude! This is not easy for any of us!
It is appropriate to listen to the warnings about contemplative prayer but I would assume the best about Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Larry Crabb, Tony Jones, Robert Webber, James Houston and any others who urge us to meditate on Scripture and spend time in prayer! This is the right kind of contemplative prayer.
I would be happy to hear if there is more I need to know about this movement.
Update February 2007:
See also a well known church Church of the Open Door (Maple Grove, MN) that has a Response to Emergent Church & Contemplative Movements (PDF) that sounds a lot like my response.
You can listen to my LAUNCHcast Station here
It plays
Note:
I have to turn off ("disable") my Norton Internet Security pop-up blocker to play the station.
Disclaimer:
I freely admit I am not a very artistic, musically-astute listener. I last played an instrument when I played tuba in 8th grade. I don't prioritize buying CD's or buying concert tickets. The height of my musical appreciation was listening to lots of top 40 radio from 1986-1994 (jr-high and high school).
My listening habits:
I can listen to all the LAUNCHcast radio stations commercial-free because I have SBC DSL high-speed internet at home. Find the LAUNCHcast station guide here for lots of stations like Contemporary Christian Station or the Praise and Worship Station which you can listen to with commercials.
I have a cord from my laptop (from the headphone jack) to my stereo so I can listen to it through my stereo speakers.
At work, I can't get LAUNCHcast to work because of the settings at the school so I sometimes listen to Christian radio at K-Love here.
Often times in the morning, I listen to NPR (National Public Radio). I listen to their Hourly Newscast 5-minute news summary, the NPR Program Stream or stories that look interesting. I have blogged about this before here and here and here.
Still, I most often am found listening to sermons and lectures online. My post here gives a great list of Sermons and Lectures online. This may be my most valuable post.
I have written posts after listening to a number of the sermons and lectures. (See here about William Lane Craig and here about John Perkins and Erwin McManus and here about Wangerin, McLaren, Buechner, Capon, Foster, Groome and here on John MacArthur).
I listen to stuff on the internet a lot because:
The discipline of study vs. the discipline of silence
Sometimes I have felt guilty for not practicing the presence of God like Brother Lawrence. I have felt bad for not practicing the discipline of silence. In chapter 7 of Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes: "Our fear of being alone drives us to noise and crowds . . . We buy radios that strap to our wrists or fit over our ears so that, if no one else is around, at least we are not condemned to silence." I take his prophetic warning seriously. There is a place for silence in my life and surely needs to be cultivated more.
But I think there is also a place for thinking about "whatever" is worth thinking about (Philippians 4:8). (I just realized that this is equivalent to Richard Foster's "discipline of study" (ch. 5 of Celebration of Discipline) and he in fact quotes Philippians 4:8). I hope that I can turn what I am listening to into prayer. "Lord, help me to sort through what I am hearing and use it to serve you better."
Another option is to listen to Scripture read aloud. See Biblegateway's Audio here or listen to the New Testament in Greek here like NT Wright used to do. See my post about him here.
This post was updated on August 30, 2006.
Below I have placed links to lots of free audio of good teachers and speakers on the internet.
See also my list of favorite podcasts for church leaders here.
Allelon - NT Wright, Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard
American Rhetoric including Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Bono
Andy Stanley - North Point Community Church
Andy Stanley - Practically Speaking - Seven Practices of Effective Ministry Series
Billy Graham and Franklin Graham - The Hour of Decision Past Broadcasts
Bob Russell - OnePlace.com - Broadcast Archives
Brenda Salter McNeil - Urban Youth Workers Institute - "Elevate" - 2004
Brenda Salter McNeil - New Community (Chicago) - "Racial Reconciliation" - 11/20/2005
Brian McLaren - Cedar Ridge Community Church including series on Emerging Church in Sept-Oct 2005.
Brian McLaren Q&A with Canadian Church Leaders "Resonate" in April 2006.
Brian McLaren - Grand Rapids Theological Seminary - What is Emerging?
Catalyst Conference Podcast Interviews with Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Tim Sanders, Eugene Peterson. Rob Bell, Mike Foster and Louie Giglio.
Cornel West at Whitman College
Covenant Theological Seminary's "Covenant Worldwide" - free seminary courses.
Craig Barnes and John Perkins - Shadyside Presbyterian Church Recent Sermons
Da Vinci Code - New Testament scholars Richard Hays and Bart Ehrman Debate - April 2006
Darrell Johnson, Ken Shigematsu, Larry Crabb, John Stackhouse - Tenth Avenue Church
David Dark - The Message in the Matrix - 25 minute interview
Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger Lecture on Emerging Churches at Fuller Seminary
Emergent Village Podcasts including LeRon Shults, Miroslav Volf, Stanley Hauerwas, and Scot McKnight.
Erwin McManus - Mosaic Podcast
For Sale - Regent Bookstore Online MP3 CDs
For Sale - Willow Creek Conference Resources
For Sale - Youth Specialties 2005 National Youth Workers Convention - San Diego, California
For Sale Youth Specialties 2004 National Youth Workers Convention - San Diego, California
For Sale Youth Specialties Pastor's Conference 2003
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Audio
J.I. Packer - St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church
John Ortberg - Menlo Park Presbyterian Church - Menlo Park, CA - Sermons Online
John Stott, Alister McGrath, Philip Yancey - All Souls Church, Langham Place
John Stott "A Call to Christian Maturity" Mariner's Church, Calif. Nov 2005
Larry Crabb - New Way Ministries
Leadership Network resources - mission statement: to identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.
Leith Anderson - Weekly Sermons
Marva Dawn interview. It is excellent. From WBCL - a Christian radio station in Fort Wayne, IN. March 24, 2006. You can only listen to it online.
New Perspective on Paul Opponents- Theopedia - DA Carson
Off-The-Map - Brian McLaren on Evangelism
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Audio including Ken Bailey
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Audio including Emerging Church Discussions with John Franke
Preaching Today Audio - They ususally have one free under "Media"
Resurgence Podcasts including Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, John Piper, Chris Seay
Stuart and Jill Briscoe - Elmbrook Church, Brookfield, Wisconsin
Taylor University Chapel Archives 2005-2006 - Jay Kesler, Dan Allender
Tony Jones talks with Alan Hartung - March 2006
The Veritas Forum - Donald Miller, Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig
Tim Keller - Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Wheaton College Chapel - now free!
Willow Creek's most recent mid-week "New Community" sermons
Basics of listening to MP3’s:
In the olden days, I would listen to tapes. Now I usually listen to MP3’s. If you are technologically fearful and don’t want to deal with the hassle of MP3’s, you can always pay for CD's and tapes. Almost all the sites above have places where you can order CD's or tapes. But if you want to listen to free stuff, this is the ticket!
MP3’s are computer files. So you can listen to them on any computer and on most new CD players and DVD players and of course portable MP3 players. Your computer will likely play them in Windows Media Player, or on the basic Real Player (which is free to download here) or in ITunes (which you can download for free here). Basically, you just click on the sites above and you click on the sermon you want to listen to and it will pop up and begin playing. Make sure you have your volume up on your computer (Control Panel . . . Sounds and Audio Devices . . . )
Some of the audio are only available when you are connected to the internet. Usually they play in Real Player only or some other player. But most are MP3's that you can download and listen to later. If you want to save a copy to your computer to listen to later, you can often right click the link and click "Save Target as . . ." and save the MP3 to a folder of your choice on your computer. For example, you can do this with the Veritas files. (These are big files (20-50 MB) so you don't want to do this with Dial Up.)
Once you have it on your computer, you can burn it to a CD and play it in your CD player or DVD player or MP3 player. Or just listen to it from your computer like I do. I hook my laptop up to my stereo by having a cord that goes from my laptop headphone jack into my stereo.
See my description here of my listening habits.
