At Strict and Particular. One clarification: Read the rest of this entry »
The most recent WHI is (another) not-to-miss episode. Shane has conducted more NRB interviews. Some of them are what we’ve come to expect but some are surprising. You should hear them. Along the way the fellows made three terrific points. 1. The heart of the gospel is not about us. The heart of the gospel is Christ for us (Christus pro nobis). This was the essence of Paul’s message: that Christ came for us, to do for us what we could not and would not do. He obeyed. He was crucified. He was raised. He is ascended. He is returning. The medieval church turned the gospel into a message about what Christ is doing in us, by grace, in sanctification, and about what we must do to do our part in order to benefit: cooperate with grace. The good news is that we have no part, not in this story. We’re recipient. We’re beggars; we’re not contributors to the story. Read the rest of this entry »
The Calvin 500 planning committee has released the following revised schedule: Read the rest of this entry »
At GB. You can order your copy of William Ames on the Heidelberg Catechism at The Bookstore at WSC.
At Feeding on Christ (HT: Nick Batzig)
The United States has a trade gap but one product we shouldn’t be importing is schlocky “evangelical” piety and practice.
From left to right: Mark VanderPol, Christ URC elder Roy Lopez, Rev. Mike Brown, and Brad Lenzner.
Congratulations to Mark and Brad (and their patient wives) who sustained rigorous examinations as candidates for the pastoral ministry in Classis Southwest of the United Reformed Churches. Brad and Mark are both interns at Christ URC in Santee, CA. Brad has also been in Oceanside URC (Carlsbad, CA) and Mark was raised in the Escondido URC. They are now eligible to receive a pastoral call in the URCs. Mark has already begun work on a possible church plant in Gig Harbor, WA. Interested consistories and others may contact them through their consistory at Christ URC. Yesterday was day 1 of a two-day classis meeting and today we have two more WSC grads to examine as candidates for pastoral ministry. Please pray that they sustain their exams and are able to enter into ministry quickly. The harvest is great but laborers are few.
At Helm’s Deep
UPDATE 29 June 2009
Madoff received a sentence of 150 years in prison today.
Original story 8 May 2009
The investors in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme received higher than average returns. Most of those who invested with Madoff had no idea how he was able to do it. It looked like magic. A recent episode on This American Life told the story of one father-in-law who warned his son-in-law that it was dangerous to invest so heavily with Madoff.
Have I not over-emphasised the social and national dynamic behind Paul’s language and seriously underplayed Paul’s analysis of the radical helplessness of the human situation and his concern for the salvation of the individual?” For my part, I have no desire to diminish the seriousness of the charges which Paul levels against humankind, particularly in the devastating analysis of Rom. 1.18-3.20 as I hope my earlier work has made clear. (pp. 29-30, James D. G. Dunn, The New Perspective on Paul, Rev. edn (GRand Rapids: Eermdmans, 2007).
One of the dominant stories in American Christianity in the last 25 years has been the rise of the “megachurch.” According to a recent study published in the 9 June USA Today there are 1,300 “megachurches” in the USA. For the purposes of the study “megachurch” was defined as having 2,000 or more persons attending. By contrast, the overwhelming majority of churches in the USA are less than 200 people. This means about 5 million Americans attend megachurches. If the ISAE is correct then there are about 60 million “evangelicals” in North America; only about 8% attend megachurches. All this makes me wonder why so many pastors are sitting in their studies (do pastors have studies any more or do they only have “offices”?) this morning wondering what they have to do to make their congregations into “megachurches”? (HT: John Bales). Read the rest of this entry »
Last night was an especially joyous Lord’s Day evening at Oceanside URC. We witnessed the installation of the Rev Mr Derrick Vander Meulen as pastor of Kauai Reformation Church. KRC is a church plant of the OURC and Grace Reformed (Torrance, CA) congregations. It was wonderful to see pastor Greg Bero from Grace, Mike Horton from Christ URC in Santee, and several friends from Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim and from the Escondido URC attending last night to rejoice with us and to witness the installation. You can follow developments of the KRC at their blog.
Shane explains at RR. You can get your copy of Kuyper on worship at The Bookstore at WSC.
UPDATE 17 June 2009
The legal case has been resolved. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: In response to requests I’ve posted the report on my WSC website.
At Synod Calgary (2004) Synod of the United Reformed Churches in North America, in response to a complaint over a sermon preached by a (now former) URCNA minister, adopted Three Points on justification on the basis of the imputation of Christ’s active obedience and received through faith alone (sola fide). Those three points were re-affirmed by Synod Schereville (2007). Synod also rejected the self-described Federal Vision doctrines of covenant and justification when it adopted Nine Points of Pastoral Advice. There is an explanation of the Nine Points online and in print in the pages of the Outlook. Synod also formed a large study committee. That committee has completed its work and the report has been sent to the churches. Read the rest of this entry »
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