I came back across this poem from Elizabeth Prentiss today. Mrs. Prentiss suffered much and deals with this topic well in her poems. I like the honest assessment of grief and the move to triumph through the gospel. Christ Victorious Oh, days of sickness, grief and pain, What bring ye in your mournful train? Gray …
My good friend and colleague has launched a website making available various papers and addresses he has given (print and audio). Brad is an excellent theologian in the classic mold- not merely academic but also with a heart for the church. He has given serious thought to a number of issues including education, the life …
Christian Smith has written a brief article condensing his research on the religious beliefs of American teenagers. It is well worth reading. He argues that the functional religious of American youth (which as he says they learned from the adults around them) is “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” This is the functional religion even though many identify …
I Can Read God’s Word, Phil A. Smouse(Barbour Publishing, 2008), pb., 256 pp.Ages 5-7 This book is a collection of Bible passages and stories nicely paraphrased for young children to read on their own. They stay pretty close to the text itself and encourage phonetic recognition. Each story/passage also has a summary with some application …
My family and I have been blessed by the care of many people in this last week as we have dealt with the death of my older brother, Doug. We have seen the church in action, our church, my parents’ church and many others, including the Union University community. We are grateful, and God has …
I just recently discovered an elegy given for John Gill upon his death by Benjamin Francis. It is contained in Sprinkle Publications’ reprint of A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late Rev. John Gill, D. D., by John Rippon. I have included here two brief excerpts from this lengthy piece. Though …
Here is another good quote from Melanchthon Jacobus, this time on faith in coming to the Lord’s Table, “Some will not venture to profess Christ until they can rather profess themselves. they wait for worthiness to come to the Lord’s table, not considering that it is uworthiness which they are to profess, along with Christ’s …
“The Gospel is good news- glad tidings. To whomsoever it is glad tidings and good news, to him it is the gospel. It has come to make troubled consciences peaceful, and wounded hearts whole, and anxious distressed spirits glad. Sinner! does this doctrine of Christ crucified and risen to give repentance and forgiveness, make you …
While working on a chapter on communion I came across a circular letter written by Richard Furman in 1806. Furman was one of the leading Baptist pastors of the time, serving as pastor of First Baptist Charleston, SC, the first president of the Triennial Convention, and first president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. In …
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Earlier this year I posted on the value of a church asking good questions of pastoral candidates. In the comments Barry Maxwell asked about a list of questions for such a candidate to ask the church. Just today I read a list of good questions for a pastoral candidate to ask from Colin Adams, a …
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