Pastor’s Blog

Anyone disagree that it is appropriate and right that the house of God be ordered by God’s rules? How can any disagree with that? But when it comes to corporate worship, at least in practice, many actually do. The impression given in many sanctuaries is that God hasn’t regulated His worship; that He has left […]

Thus far, the case for God’s regulated worship has been made from the Old Testament. Can one be made from the New? Most certainly; we’ll look at one this time and another one the next. In Matthew 15, Jesus is having another run-in with Israel’s “worship experts”—the Pharisees. After their confrontation, Jesus gives them a […]

There is another guy with a funny name in our Bibles who paid dearly for his “worship mistake”. His name was Uzzah. King David was excited about moving the ark of God (2 Samuel 6:2) to Jerusalem. Sounded like a good idea; it was the embodiment of the presence of God. Thirty-thousand soldiers and the […]

Can we go back to Nadab and Abihu for a minute (see previous article)? What is it they did that cost them their life? They offered “unauthorized fire” (Leviticus 10:1). One commentator said he thought that meant they were drunk. Not sure how you arrive at that one, though. What we do know is that […]

Therein describes the majority of Sunday morning (O, and now Saturday night) evangelical worship services. Is that a bad “order of worship”? I don’t know but it certainly is inadequate. We can do much better than what passes as typical worship today. Isn’t our life regulated by Scripture? It is. Certainly the worship of God […]

On September 18, many from the church enjoyed a trip to the Mount St. Helens 7 Wonders Creation Museum. We were treated to a 45 minute presentation on the events of May 18, 1980, when beautiful Mount St. Helens erupted. This event has provided wonderful support for creation science and the biblical record of the […]

Just prior to our arrival in Kenya (see two previous articles), there had been a national election. National elections and post-election violence often go together in Kenya. So when there was little violence accompanying this one, Kenyans were happy. But there was a large segment of the population that was not happy with the results. […]

It’s been three weeks since my return to the States; having been in Kenya the last half of August. I had been invited to teach at a pastor’s conference in the northwest part of Kenya. About fifty pastors from mostly rural Kenya attended. The conference theme was: “On Being a Pastor”. What a joy it […]

A local pastor friend of mine, Michael Sandburg, invited me to join him on a short-term mission trip to Kenya. Pastor Mike has been going the past four years through the ministry of Agape Project International (API) to train local pastors and provide humanitarian relief in the name of Christ. I went to teach at […]

1600: Confessional “box” becomes common in Roman churches 1605: Christmas trees are first mentioned (Strasburg) 1607: John Smith founds first English colony at Jamestown, Virginia 1609: Anglican preacher turned Separatist, John Smyth baptizes the first “Baptists,” they were influenced by the Anabaptist movement 1611: Publication of the King James Bible (Authorized Version), prepared by 54 […]

1700: By this time, Latin is used only in academic settings and in Roman Catholic documents and liturgy; Reformed churches use vernacular liturgy 1701: Yale is founded by conservative Congregationalists (Cotton Mather) 1703: John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards are born 1707: Charles Wesley born; Isaac Watts publishes Hymns and Spiritual Songs, included in it are […]

1801: Second Great Awakening begins at Cane Ridge Revival 1804: Barton Stone and several of his followers break all denominational ties and begin calling themselves merely “Christian—beginning of the “Restoration Movement” 1807: British Parliament votes to abolish slave trade due in large part to William Wilberforce 1809: Restoration Movement (Primitivism)—it takes a prominent place in […]