It’s Showtime!
The 21st century church needs to be into show-business. But the question is: what are we really showing?
At the heart of God’s show is the cross of Christ (1:23-25). God’s show glorifies what the world is most ashamed of – the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. And, that event obliterates human boasting (1:29), and gives all the glory back to God (1:31). So, this is God’s show! It is show-time at... Continue Reading
Unduly Influenced By Celebrity Culture?
A person I know expressed his personal devastation about a popular preacher, whom he had never met, falling into sin; he acted as though he was his personal pastor.
Christian people should be careful not to be too influenced by the celebrity culture of our age when being guided in some way by spiritual leaders who are not their local pastors or elders. Podcast preachers and YouTube teachers are not your pastors. Christians should commit to membership in a local congregation and eagerly sit... Continue Reading
Vanguard Presbytery Votes to Call for First General Assembly
The Presbytery voted unanimously to organize the denomination into three presbyteries and call for a General Assembly to be held some time before the end of August 2025.
The three presbyteries will be regional in nature: Southwest Presbytery will encompass Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Missouri. Northern Presbytery will encompass all the congregations north of Tennessee and North Carolina (with the exception of Pathway Presbyterian Church (mission) in Clarksville, TN). The Southeast Presbytery will cover all the states east of the Mississippi... Continue Reading
The Ruling Elder’s Reasonable Service in the Courts of the Church
Consistent Participation For Denominational Health
Doctrine matters. We live in times when all truth is under attack, especially orthodox Christian teaching. The higher courts of the church are essential to preserve truth and to ensure that the church’s ministers teach and live in accordance with sound doctrine. Ruling elders are part of the firewall that protects the sheep of today... Continue Reading
A Case For A Big, Central Pulpit
The various features of a church’s architecture and layout should be based on things we see as biblically important.
As for the pulpit in particular- it is big, central, and strong, for a reason. It is meant to promote the preaching of God’s inspired, inerrant, sufficient, and authoritative Word as the central activity of the Church. The pulpit is bigger than the preacher. The pulpit requires the person who brings the Word to stand... Continue Reading
The Constitution of the PCA Prohibits the Ordination of Men Who Experience Unnatural Lust
The Presbyterian Church in America recently adopted changes to its Book of Church Order that specify that an elder “should conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity…”
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) recently adopted changes to its Book of Church Order (BCO) that specify that an elder “should conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in his descriptions of himself, and in his convictions, character, and conduct” (BCO 8-2). Similarly, deacons are to be conspicuous for “conforming to... Continue Reading
A Virtuous Life in an Idolatrous World
Flourishing gospel communities of committed disciples of Jesus is always our best answer to critics and a crisis of credibility.
While there is no quick fix for immorality. No singular or simplistic response that will eradicate the influence of the plethora of cultural idols that shape our imaginations and calibrate our desires, forming in us a distorted vision of the good life. There is an answer. It’s not new. It’s not quick. It’s not glamorous... Continue Reading
The Church at Election Time
The unique aim, purpose, and warrant of the church is to educate and mobilize our fellow citizens of heaven.
I believe Christians would do well to get informed and vote. And yet, I am hard pressed to find scriptural warrant for thinking Christians must vote as a matter of obedience to Christ. By conducting voter registration in the church we are communicating, “This is what Christians should do.” Voting is generally a good thing,... Continue Reading
What a Church Is . . . and Isn’t
The family is not just an institution; it’s a group of people. So it is with a church.
The church is a people, not a place or a statistic. It’s a body, united into him who is the head. It’s a family, joined together by adoption through Christ. I pray that we pastors would increasingly recognize our awesome responsibility for the particular flocks over which God has made us undershepherds. A Jarring... Continue Reading
Died: Jack Iker, Anglican Who Drew the Line at Women’s Ordination
The Texas bishop fought a bitter legal battle with the Episcopal Church and won.
“Almost every day I am in conversation with one of our attorneys. We have engaged six different law firms to respond to the litigations brought against us.” The legal battles dragged on for 12 years before Iker and the Anglicans ultimately won. Finally, a Texas Supreme Court judge ruled that “under the governing documents, the... Continue Reading