20 Reflections from 20 Years as a Pastor

Brian Najapfour
Jun 21, 2021
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...

A Peculiar Approach to Unity

Todd Pruitt
Jun 18, 2021
The National Partnership is gearing up for the PCA’s General Assembly (June 29-July 2). If you are unfamiliar with the National Partnership, it is a confidential, dare I say secretive organization of PCA elders who, to use Bryan Chapell’s word, represents the more “progressive” wing of the PCA. You...

Does the Bible Excuse Abuse?

Ben Franks
Jun 16, 2021
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...
The rainbow connection

Natural Law, General Revelation, and Pride Month

Mortification of Spin
Jun 16, 2021
Our precocious pair shares a discussion of “Pride Month,” when big corporations, the media, and others strive to display their unwavering support for the LGBTQ+ movement. Carl and Todd take on everything from cartoons, to advertisements, to countless other means employed by “gender activists” to...
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Mortification of Spin

Homophobia

Calvin Goligher
Jun 15, 2021
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...

The Enduring Value of a Long Sermon Series

Jason Carter
Jun 14, 2021
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...

On Masks, Vaccines, and Church Unity

Adam Parker
Jun 12, 2021
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...

Honest Thoughts on the Open Letter

Stephen Spinnenweber
Jun 10, 2021
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...

Crux, Mors, Inferi

Paul Dirks
Jun 9, 2021
Samuel Renihan, Crux, Mors, Inferi: A Primer and Reader on Christ's Descent (Independently published, 2021), 230pp., Paperback/Hardcover/Kindle. Samuel Renihan has recently published an excellent book on the doctrine of the descent of Christ into hell. His thesis—that Christ descended to hell on...

The Second Commandment and the Church

Justin Poythress
Jun 9, 2021
“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...