Reformation21

There is nothing more central to the Christian message than the cross of Christ. It is there in the shadows of the Old Testament. It explodes to the fore in the New, dominating the landscape of the Gospel records. And from the very first sermon preached by Peter on the Day of Pentecost it becomes...

Memorial Day 2018. I stood in Union Square, New York City, attached to a personal voice amplification system. I was nervous. I opened my Bible and stepped forward, lifted my voice and began to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Strangers passed by. Some stopped to listen. A few hecklers showed up...

Although it was over twenty-five years ago, I still remember a track race one of my older brothers ran during his senior year. He was scheduled to run the final 800m race at the Nova Scotia Provincial Track Meet. There were two heats for the final and unfortunately, my brother was placed in the...

With God’s help, in 2001 I graduated from The Center for Biblical Studies Institute and Seminary in the Philippines. That same year I received a call to pastor the congregation, where I previously did my internship. The year 2021 therefore marks my 20th year in the ministry. Throughout my life as a...

In recent years, painful examples of abuse have come to light both in our culture at large and in the church in particular. Perhaps just as troubling as the abuse itself has been the way that those in power – including those with ecclesiastical power – have at times responded to that abuse...

Debates are rarely won on the battlefield of terminology, but they are frequently lost there. This is certainly the case in today’s debates over sexuality. Virtually all of the key terms are so freighted with ideological ordnance that entire regiments of exegetical and philosophical argument can be...

All across America, a myriad of pastors take the summer to plan out future sermon series. Preachers bring key questions to the planning task including: Old Testament or New Testament? Topical or Expositional? Character study or Contemporary Issue? Pastors wrestle with seminal questions with no...

The church membership vows in my own denomination (the PCA) include this passage where we “promise to study [the] purity and peace” of the church. One of the premier ways we can do that as Christians is to reflect deeply and well upon the unity of the church, especially when it comes to what is...

In anticipation of the 48th stated meeting of the PCA General Assembly in St. Louis, Missouri, an open letter titled, “Looking Forward—Together” was published on June 2nd, 2021 for the purpose “of encouraging others about the present and future of the Presbyterian Church in America and also to...

“You shall not make for yourself an image…” Do you remember the worship wars of the ‘90s? People were ready to burn their church down because a drum set ("Satan sticks") appeared on stage. Today, people may accuse a church of diffusing the world’s essential oils through their fog machine. I’m not...