The Vine Project: A Review
Does church make you tired? By this I don’t mean do the sermons make you sleepy. But are the programs, events, and demands too many, and the laborers too few? From my experience, many pastors, deacons, and laymen feel this way. They’re overworked, underequipped, and a bit distressed by the seeming lack of success that their church is experiencing. The problem may be that twenty percent of the members are doing eighty percent of the...
Defending Substitution: A Review Essay
J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) argued nearly 100 years ago that if Christianity is anything it is a way of getting rid of sin. Machen lived at a time in which Protestant circles increasingly minimized sin, particularly individual sin against God, in favor of societal sin or evil. This was largely due to the rise of Protestant liberalism in America. One of the seemingly direct effects of Protestant liberalism’s rise was the demise in...
Shaping Culture One Classroom at a Time
Over 60 years ago, Carl F. H. Henry questioned whether evangelicals could justify having so much money invested in church buildings that were only used a couple of days per week. He wrote, “The day has now come for evangelicalism to rethink its whole building program. By tremendous outlay of funds, most church communities provide a worship structure which usually stands idle except for two Sundays services and a midweek prayer...
There Is No Golden Age
What’s your ideal place or time in history? Maybe you’d enjoy the slow pace and small town charm of a place like Mayberry where things seem simpler and people seem kinder. Or maybe you’d prefer a more exotic setting like England during the age of Shakespeare. The past may not be your thing. You might prefer some time or place in the future when transportation is easier, cancer has been cured, and poverty has been greatly alleviated....
When General Baptists Became Particular Baptists
What happened in May 1755, significantly altered the early years of what would become southern Free Will Baptists, and nearly dealt their churches a lethal blow. Prior to the events that will be discussed below, Free Will Baptists were one of the most successful Protestant groups in the southern United States. That certainly changed in the following years. In May of 1755, Calvinist John Gano arrived at the General Baptist church near...
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