Skip to main content

David Powlison (1949-2019)

David Powlison died around 11am on Friday, June 7th, 2019.

I wrote this about him a couple of years ago:

He taught some of my counseling classes at WTS and is the Executive Director of CCEF. His ability to pastor the human heart and his relentless pursuit of the glory of Christ was on display in the classes he taught. We would often begin classes by singing a hymn together and Dr. Powlison would pull a nugget of truth from the hymn and riff for a few minutes. It was always encouraging to our faith. I will forever be grateful to Dr. Powlison and his wife Nan for how kind they were to me and my young family.

He has left a treasure for us in what he has published. Without reservation, I recommend everything below:

The Journal of Biblical Counseling. You can subscribe to the digital copy or a hard copy. He was the editor and past copies are available.

Seeing with New Eyes. This is a "vision shaping book" that makes the case that the Bible is sufficient for all we experience.

How Does Sanctification Work Dr. Powlison brings his pastoral insights to bear on the work of the Spirit of Christ in His people. 100 of the best pages you will read on the subject.

Making All Things New This is a book for the sexually broken. If I had to pick a favorite book of his, this might be it.

Good and Angry If there is a better book on getting a biblical and clear-eyed view of anger, I haven't seen it.

God's Grace in your Suffering There are many good, hearty and robust books on how to face suffering as a Christian. This is one of them. Dr. Powlison helps the sufferer connect the truth of God's Word with their suffering.

Do you see a theme? Dr. Powlison had a heart for the hurting; that they may see Jesus and love Him.

Dr. Powlison was a generous gift from God to His church. He influenced me as a pastor and impacted my pastoral work with and for the people I serve. I am grateful to God for him.

Read this write up about him, provided by TGC and Justin Taylor.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Getting the Most from Reading your Bible

 The start of the new year often means the start of a new Bible reading plan. For most of us, we start strong, fight through the "descendants" and difficult names. The familiarity of Exodus (thanks to  Cecil B. DeMille ) puts some winds in our reading sails.  Then we hit the rough waters of Leviticus. You get the idea... God reveals Himself to us in His Word. We want to see Him in His Triune glory there. Fighting against the difficulty of reading regularly, consistently, and prayerfully is one of the most important battles we face every day that God gives us.  Below, I am recommending three resources that may help you, not just stick with your Bible reading, but love God's Word more, even the difficult parts. My prayer is that one or two or all three of these resources will help you fight and win the battle so you can consistently read God's Word and God will consistently bless you through your personal Bible reading.  This is not a countdown, from best to least best.

Suffering--Book Brief

Paul Tripp is a faithful counselor and has served me and many of you through his conferences, books, video series, newsletters and booklets. He has written on the transition to middle age, love, sex, and money, raising teens and many other subjects.  If you are not familiar with him or his writing, I highly recommend him. His latest book, Suffering , is the best thing he has written. There are multiple contact points any reader will have with this book because suffering is universal. We all experience it. We can’t escape it. Tripp, through his decade's long association with the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF) has counseled hundreds of sufferers. You will hear many of their stories in this book. More importantly, you will hear how a skilled biblical counselor helps the sufferer frame her experience in such a way that the truths of the Bible connect to the experience of the sufferer. The chapters “The Awareness Trap”, The Fear Trap”, “The En