Arthur Sido has written a pretty thorough review of God's Desire for the Nations: The Missionary Theology of John Piper.

Some key takeaways:

What this book really excels at is showing how Piper's overall theology impacts and forms his understanding of missions. Missiology cannot be put in a silo and dealt with as an unrelated issue. Missiology and how we view our role as ambassadors for Christ in God's great mission is integral to our understanding of salvation, of the church, pretty much everything we deal with as the church. If you have a poorly formed theology of missions, your entire theological foundation is going to be flawed and there are plenty of people, me included, who have a partially formed theology of missions that impacts our own doctrinal thinking.

And …

This is a great book for both the Calvinist who appreciates the teaching of John Piper and is looking for a comprehensive look at Piper's theology of missions as well as for those who are not Calvinists and are under the mistaken impression that Calvinists by and large are disinterested in missions and missionary work.

I must also note that I agree that the book is often more like reading an academic paper, but I'd add that you can ignore the notes (nearly 850 of them) and just read the 112 pages of text. The notes provide a way to do follow-up study.

John Piper is the foremost evangelical catalyst for world missions, and Philip Hopkins is the foremost interpreter of Piper’s theology of missions. The convergence of these two facts makes Hopkins’ recent book, God’s Desire for the Nations: The Missionary Theology of John Piper (Gonzalez, FL: Energion, 2010) significant for pastors, missionaries, professors, and students who seek to do missions for the glory of God.

Read the rest at Between the Times.

If I were to launch a movement this year, 2011,  I would call it the year of Christian Hedonism.  In a word Christian Hedonism is: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satistified in him” (John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist).

Read the rest…

Preacher and prolific writer John Piper asked a profound question Monday evening: Do you feel more loved by God because He makes much of you or because He enables you to make much of Him?

Want the answer? Read the rest at The Christian Post.

While we cannot guarantee delivery by Christmas, it’s possible that orders placed with Energion Direct through about noon Monday might (and I repeat might) make it to their destination by Christmas.