I said it in that post, and I’ll say it here again: the people perpetuating these bad stats aren’t bad people—they’re truly trying to help pastors and do what is right. Sometimes, we just need to be more careful about how we do research and how we present data. Facts are our friends, but if... Continue Reading

“Please, please, please, the next time someone comes to you with a “story” about someone, don’t be so foolish as to believe it without asking for the other side. Instead, say, “I know you would not want me to be a Proverbs 18:13 fool, so would you mind if I asked this person for his/her... Continue Reading

“We find ourselves in a remarkably similar cultural moment, constrained as we are to the cultural sidelines. The evangelical mind exists, and even thrives, today. But the question before us in 2015 is this: Will we embrace our marginalization? Or will we, like the neo-evangelicals, dream fresh dreams, hatch fresh plans, and seek something altogether... Continue Reading

Stuart also addressed claims made by the presbytery in an Oct. 28 letter — that if the congregational meeting went ahead as planned, it could result in “the possibility of ecclesiastical charges” being filed against the pastors and session and that they could be “found to have renounced the jurisdiction of the Church.”   A... Continue Reading

This is the echo chamber of public-opinion polling: People are asked about their perceptions of others’ beliefs, but those perceptions are likely shaped by what they’ve read and heard about poll results, at least in part. Polls aim to show how people think about the world, but the tool is inherently distorted, attempting to simultaneously... Continue Reading

The Reformed approach to assurance is to start with the objective, Christ’s work for us, which is credited to us and received by us through faith alone (sola fide). We observe the fruits of God’s grace and give thanks to him for them. We rest in Christ and his promises (gospel) but we recognize that he... Continue Reading

As our culture continues its downward trajectory, our biblical responsibility is to continue doing things that we have always done, which are: standing strong on the Bible and the gospel and involving ourselves in worship, nurture, service and outreach. I am confident that we will experience organic and sustained spiritual and numerical growth as we... Continue Reading

Vest was asked if he accepted orthodox doctrine on for example, the Trinity and the atonement. Vest answered opaquely, “I would not say that I’m not orthodox.”  When pressed about whether he accepted the Nicene Creed, he did not respond but suggested that his teaching would not be about his faith (or apparently the church’s... Continue Reading

The fundamental issue is this: is the basis by which I am justified a righteousness that is my own? Or is it a righteousness that is, as Luther said, “an alien righteousness,” a righteousness that is extra nos, apart from us—the righteousness of another, namely, the righteousness of Christ? From the sixteenth century to the... Continue Reading

Those who know the Lord, love Him, and belong to Him need not fear. Though the mountains tremble and collapse into the sea; though kingdoms rise and fall; though wicked men flourish; though our lives are but a breath; and though we are frail vessels; we need not fear for our hope is in God.... Continue Reading