In 2013 The Aquila Report posted over 2,900 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read. The top story this year had over 20,890 hits.

We average 8 new stories each day, with a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to the readers of The Aquila Report. As a web magazine we are an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will inform the church of current trends and movements within the church and culture.

In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year. That’s easy for us to determine – we just count the hits! We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run and the five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 21-30.

30. One Vital Lesson From Doug Phillips’ Resignation

I must admit, over recent years, I did worry at times that Phillips’ leadership and some parts of his wider homeschool/full quiver/patriarchy movement were coming across as a bit arrogant and overly self-confident. Although I valued so much of what they were promoting, I’d grown increasingly uneasy at the somewhat condemning and condescending tone towards any who did not sign on 100% with that agenda. Sometimes I feared that the Gospel of grace seemed to be lost in the midst of all that we were meant to be and to be doing as Christian fathers and mothers.

29. An Ordinary Means of Grace Model of Ministry

Ours is an “ordinary means” congregation. Our philosophy is that of our Presbyterian heritage and is shared by the churches of the Twin Lakes Fellowship. We stress the gatherings of the whole church on the Lord’s Day in which the word of God is read, preached, sung, and prayed, trusting that sinners will be born again by the living and abiding word, that faith will come by hearing the word of Christ, that God’s people will be sanctified by the truth, and that believers grow by the pure milk of the word.

28. Report on Rosaria Butterfield at RUF Event at University of South Florida

Rosaria spoke for 35 minutes and then fielded questions from the audience for another hour and a half. While she received many challenging questions from opposing viewpoints, the audience was mostly very respectful of her and her time. In short, the Gospel was clearly proclaimed both in her lecture and during Q&A. Even several from USF’s administration told how thankful they were for her lecture and for how smoothly the whole event ran.

27. Engaging with Keller: Thinking Through the Theology of an Influential Evangelical

Dr. Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City, is, perhaps, one of the best known figures in the Reformed world. He has written many books and has spoken at numerous conferences for many different groups and organizations. He is frequently interviewed and quoted by the secular media on a number of different topics. It is because of his influence on such a wide audience that a group of pastors have taken up the task of writing a book considering whether specific aspects of Keller’s teaching are biblically accurate ways of transmitting the Reformed faith.

26. How to Raise a Pagan Kid in a Christian Home

Because the world has enough pagans. Even plenty of really nice ones. What we need is kids who fully grasp the reality that they have nothing to offer, but who intimately know a God who has everything they need.

25. 10 Sacred Cows in the SBC that Need to be Tipped

A “Sacred Cow” is a tradition that has been exalted to a position of normalcy. They’re hard to get rid of because they’ve become acceptable/normal in the Southern Baptist Convention. The sacred cows I mention in this article are fairly recent phenomenons in the SBC. They’re “new traditions,” new “sacred cows.” Here are 10 Sacred Cows in the SBC that Need to be Tipped:

24. The Holy Hip Hop Hullabaloo

At the recent “Worship of God” conference sponsored by the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches a panel of speakers–some of whom are well known to the Reformed and Evangelical community–was asked a question about Christian Rap music (or “Holy Hip-Hop”). The moderator queried, “Any thoughts on Reformed Rap artists? Their musical style would be considered offensive to some but the doctrine contained in the songs is sound.”

23. PCA’s Evangel Presbytery Votes to Deny Peter Leithart’s Request to Labor Out of Bounds

At its stated meeting on November 12, 2013, Evangel Presbytery voted unanimously to deny TE Peter Leithart’s request to labor out of bounds with Trinity House and Trinity Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala. Trinity Presbyterian Church is a member church within the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). Evangel Presbytery is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

22. ELCA Has Biggest Split in American Church History

On the one hand, the world will never be satisfied–until Christians completely renounce their faith.  More importantly, the Lord will never bless such unfaithfulness to Him and His Word. We see from the sad example of what’s happened to the ELCA–the biggest split in American church history–that whatever churches and other organizations such as the Boy Scouts imagine they will gain by giving in to the world is dwarfed by what they will surely lose.

21. Thinking Thoughtfully About Doug Phillips’ Resignation

Look at the teachings that have come out of patriocentricity, especially in the last 6 or so years. Teaching that men are the prophets, priests, and kings of their homes, daughters are helpmeets to their fathers, women are here primarily to fulfill the creation mandate and are expendable if threatened with ectopic pregnancies, women do not have their own callings from the Lord but rather are to fulfill a man’s calling, and a strident hierarchy that hearkens back to the antebellum south, these are just the tip of the ice berg. They certainly reveal a heart attitude toward women that can lead to unfaithfulness to a wife and broken dreams for a younger woman taken as a mistress, emotional or physical.