EPC: Speeding Down "PCUSA Road" as Fast as They Can?

I found the sequence of headlines on The Aquila Report this evening interesting. This headline:

Evangelical Presbyterian Church Clears Way for Women to Serve as Pastors

Was followed by this headline:

Will Presbyterian Church USA Redefine Marriage?

And then this one:

PCUSA Net Membership Loss for 2009 Totals 63,000 Members, Another 3%

Does anyone in the EPC realize that one thing leads to another, the end result being the death (spiritual followed by numerical) of your denomination?

I realize that there are a number of churches leaving the PCUSA to go into the EPC, but I wonder if the EPC realizes just how much of the PCUSA they are welcoming into the EPC?

Ron Numbers On Dabney

I glanced at a copy of Ron Numbers' The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design today. I was curious to see if he had anything to say about Robert Dabney. He does, on pages 26 and 30. Here is what he writes on page 26 [emphasis added]:

Even Princeton Seminary's rock-ribbed Charles Hodge (1797-1878), who concluded that Darwinism was atheism because it banished God from the world and enabled one "to account for design without referring it to the purpose or agency of God," conceded the great antiquity of the earth and gave his imprimatur to Guyot's and Dana's interpretation of the days of Genesis as geological epochs. And his disciple Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898), the scourge of evolutionists in the Presbyterian church of the South, withheld judgment on the question of geological ages and a pre-Adamite earth.

Now, to call Dabney Hodge's disciple is simply hyperbole, but that really isn't the biggest mistake Numbers makes. Dabney wrote a paper entitled "Geology and the Bible," in which he makes it clear that geologists have no right to make claims concerning the age of the earth or the doctrine of creation:

“[Geology] is virtually a theory of cosmogony; and cosmogony is intimately connected with the doctrine of creation, which is one of the modes by which God reveals himself to man, and one of the prime articles of every theology.” ("Geology and the Bible," in Discussions, vol. 3, 129)

“For, creation is not only a physical fact; it is a theological doctrine.” ("Geology and the Bible," 133)

Dabney went on to say this about theologians who compromised with the "latest findings of science" (which at the time of his writing would have been the latest findings of geology):

[Those theologians who had thus compromised] had “adopted on half-evidence some new-fangled hypothesis of scientific fact, and then invented, on grounds equally insecure, some new-fangled explanations to twist God’s word into seeming agreement with the hypothesis.” ("Geology and the Bible," 130)

Does that sound to you like Dabney "withheld judgment on the question of geological ages and a Pre-Adamite earth"? Hardly; which makes me question the accuracy of other Reformed theologians that Numbers cites in The Creationists.

Why I am Excited About my Church

Often, when I invite people to my church they ask me what makes my church different, and I tell them three things:

1. We have a pastor who faithfully preaches the Word of God. If you come to Communion Presbyterian, you will hear the Bible expounded.

2. We have elders who are genuinely concerned for the spiritual well-being of the congregation. Our Elders do not take a distant "Board of Directors" approach to governing/shepherding the church. They care about the people at Communion Presbyterian.

3. We have kind, outgoing, hospitable members. One of the first things my wife and I noticed the first time we visited Communion was how friendly everyone was. Communion was not the first church we visited when we moved to the area, but it was by far the most friendly.

There are a lot of other things to be excited about at Communion Presbyterian, but these are the three I tell people about when they ask me about my church. Of course, I invite them to "Come and see" the many other things our church has to offer.

Miracle: The Second Definition

Mostly because of this article written a couple of months ago by Dr. William Evans, I have been paying a bit closer attention to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) than I previously had. I'll save most of my comments about the EPC for a future post (posts?), but I couldn't pass up this article, posted to The Layman Online yesterday:

A Miracle in the Making: Women as Teaching Elders in the EPC

For those of you unfamiliar with The Layman Online, here is point 1 of their Objectives:

1. To provide reliable information and resources concerning significant issues confronting the PCUSA and the Church Universal, thereby equipping and empowering faithful congregations and leaders in the PCUSA and other denominations to fulfill the Great Commission in the 21st century.

So, The Layman is a news outlet for "conservative" PCUSA congregations. Since the PCUSA has been losing "conservative" congregations faster than a oil out of a BP rig, and since a large number of these congregations are finding their way into the EPC, it is no surprise to find this story on The Layman.

What did surprise me was the use of the word "miracle" to describe the EPC's proposed [further] acceptance of women teaching elders. So, I turned to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia to find a definition of "miracle":

The miracle proper is a work of God (Exodus 7:3 ff; Deuteronomy 4:34-35, etc.; John 3:2; 9:32-33; 10:38; Acts 10:38, etc.); but as supernatural acts miracles are recognized as possible to evil agencies (Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:14; 16:14, etc.).

So, I guess it is a miracle after all. Now, for a definition of equivocation, see the EPC's position paper on women's ordination.

A Small Milestone

This blog does not get a huge amount of traffic, but I would like to point out that sometime last night it did receive its 5,000th visit and its 2,000th unique visitor. Those are some large numbers, even if it took several months to reach them. I thought I would take a moment to break down some of the sources of that traffic.

Geography
The vast majority of my visitors have come from the United States. No surprise there, since I'm an American writing about mostly American theological issues. However, the non-United States visitors are interesting. I've had visitors from Canada (Hello, Canadian Presbytery of the ARP!), the United Kingdom, and South Korea, but also countries such as Cambodia, Bulgaria, Bahrain, and Indonesia.

Within the United States, the state that I get the most traffic from is South Carolina (home of Erskine and the headquarters of the ARP), followed by North Carolina, then California, Virginia and Georgia. I have had visitors from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia.

Sources
Since I began tracking statistics, I have had a fairly even split between people coming to my site after using a search engine and people being referred to my site by a link on some other site. Direct traffic is a distant third.

Search terms involving Erskine have been the most used to find my site, followed by terms involving "ruling elder" or "ruling elders."

The sites that have referred the most traffic to this blog have been Facebook (hello "Alumni for Erskine" Facebook group!), followed by the blogs of Rev. Brian Carpenter and Rev. Wes White.

Content
The most read articles on this blog have been: Erskine Alumni Associate Joins Suit against the ARP, followed by the more recent General Synod of the ARP 2010, Part 2: The Bad. Most people who come to this site read whatever is on the front page.

What does it all mean?
I love statistics, numbers and graphs, but the question is: can I learn anything from all this data? I believe so: That most of my visitors in the U.S. come from states where there are heavy concentrations of ARP congregations tells me that people in the ARP are reading what I write. That's a good thing, as I write quite a bit about the ARP and issues the denomination faces.

That my most people find my site by searching for things related to "Erskine" and that my most popular articles have been about Erskine or Erskine and the ARP tells me that Erskine has been an important issue that interests many people. I believe it will continue to be important, as well.

Here's hoping the next 5,000 visits to my site will be beneficial to all who come to this blog!

How to Discern God's Will

Last night, I lead my church's Monday night Bible study. The topic was "How to Discern God's Will." Here are my notes (based on chapter 7 of Joseph Pipa's The Westminster Confession of Faith Study Book):

How to Discern God's Will
(Remember Romans 8:28)

1. Read/know/apply your Bible! (Deut. 29:29; Psalm 119:98-100)
2. Pray (John 14:13-14; 1 John 5:14).
3. Ask God to examine you and show you your faults/selfish motives (Psalm 139:23-24).
4. Consider the consequences of your decision and weigh the pros and cons (Phil. 1:21-25).
5. Seek wise counsel (Prov. 11:14).

Edited to Add:
I did not know this until this morning, but, Renewing Your Mind (the broadcast ministry of Ligonier Ministries and Dr. R. C. Sproul) is giving away a CD series entitled "Knowing God's Will" if you make a donation of any amount to their ministry. How timely!

Post-Synod Issue of ARPTalk

Chuck Wilson has posted a post-synod issue of ARPTalk here. I encourage you to go and read it. He has, as usual, an informed perspective concerning all things ARP.

Christians Arrested for Witnessing to Muslims...IN THE UNITED STATES

I first saw this story on The Aquila Report. After that, I saw James White mention it on his blog. A Google News search turned up a story by the Detroit Free Press. The Detroit Free Press had a link to the website of the men arrested.

In short, what happened was, a group of men from the Acts 17 Apologetics Ministry went to the Arab Festival in Dearborn, Michigan to witness to Muslims. Four of these men were arrested for "disturbing the peace." As is documented on their website, these men certainly did not disturb the peace, and I am sure they will be vindicated. However, as James White points out on his blog, the reaction from the press is startling--startling, in that, there isn't one. Can you imagine the coverage something like this would be getting if Muslims had been hauled away in handcuffs to cries of "Hallelujah!"? But, the best I could find was a short write up in the Detroit Free Press. That is why I am mentioning it here. Not that my blog gets so much traffic, but the more people know about this, the better.

[Note: I was not familiar with Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries before seeing this story on The Aquila Report, and so I cannot endorse their theology (because I do not know enough about it), but I do applaud their efforts to bring the light of the Gospel to the darkness of Islam.]

Disraeli Would Be Proud

Next week, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America will take place in Nashville, TN. One of the biggest items on the agenda will be the proposed Strategic Plan for the PCA. The assumption that this Plan is based on is: the PCA is experiencing a slowdown in growth and so a Strategic Plan is needed to get the denomination on the right track and growing again. Sounds like a good idea, but there is only one problem: the statistics do not show a slowdown in growth. Or, as this post says it: There is no S-curve.

Now, I want to be charitable with our brothers who have worked on this Strategic Plan, and I certainly do not want to accuse them of lying to forward an agenda; however, I have to ask why didn't anyone check the numbers before publishing this thing? If there is no slowdown in growth, then the whole justification for this monstrosity of a Plan is swept away.

Take a look at the numbers for yourself. And congratulations to the PCA for steady growth of God's kingdom!

Dabney Archive

Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) was arguably the most influential Southern Presbyterian theologian in history and one of the greatest theologians the United States has ever produced. He wrote extensively, taught theology for several decades in both Virginia and Texas, and was chaplain to Gen. Stonewall Jackson (his biography of Jackson is still in print) among other accomplishments.

Sadly, by the end of Dabney's life, he could correctly lament "I have no audience." Thankfully, Dabney is beginning to have an audience once again. And it seems like someone wants that audience to grow!

I stumbled upon the Dabney Archive months ago while doing research for a paper on Dabney. I don't know who owns or operates the site, but what they have done is scan all of Dabney's works and uploaded them as PDFs. The PDFs are searchable, which is a great help and they seem to have everything of Dabney's on the site.

If you are the person (or persons) responsible for this site: Thank you! If you are interested in reading some of the finest Presbyterian theology ever written: go over to the Dabney Archive and start reading now!

Apologetics and the Reformed Church, Part 2: Apologetics.com

Way back in February, I wrote a post on the topic of Apologetics and the Reformed Church. I have heard many times that the Reformed Church talks about apologetics and apologetic methods, but never gets around to actually doing apologetics. I do not believe this to be true, and wrote that first post as a small rebuttal, pointing out the work of James White and Alpha and Omega Ministries.

Today, I want to bring to your attention another Apologetic Ministry: Apologetics.com. Apologetics.com is more than just a website; the staff also hosts a weekly radio show (heard in the Los Angeles area on KKLA 99.5 FM--see the website for details), and have one of the most popular apologetics podcasts in the country (available through iTunes). These men and women engage the culture every week (and more frequently on their website through the discussion board and various blogs) on relevant topics ranging from movie reviews to blog posts on "Science and the Christian Life." Recent radio show/podcast topics include: "The War Over Art," "Are You Trying to Manipulate Me?" "Sacrifice and the Christian Life," and "Quantum Physics and Christology." In other words, these reformed men and women are doing apologetics, not just talking about it.

The next time someone tells you Reformed Christians only talk about apologetics and apologetic method, but never get into the work of apologetics, point out the work of the team at Apologetics.com to them.

[Do you have a favorite reformed apologetic ministry? Feel free to post it in the comments and I may highlight it in a future post in my "Apologetics and the Reformed Church" series.]

ARPdom

A long time ago, I created some geographic data showing presbytery boundaries and locations of congregations in the ARP. I never did anything with it after that. But, having now seen the wonderful work done by Sam DeSocio to make maps of presbytery boundaries in the PCA, I was inspired to do something with the data I had created a long time ago. So, here is a map showing boundaries of Presbyteries in the ARP, as well as locations of congregations in the ARP:

There are some definite geographic patterns that emerge, if you are interested in such things.

You can download a printable PDF of this map, here and a full-resolution JPEG here. I haven't converted these files to Google Earth files, yet, but if there is enough interest, I'd be glad to do so.

"A Mosaic of Minor Opinion"

I mentioned Rev. Brian Howard in a post a couple of days ago. He is a minister in the ARP, but unfortunately, I did not meet him at Synod. From reading his blog, I can tell that he and I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue, but, in his latest post, he makes some great points regarding the nature of debate at the Synod level. Rev. Howard writes:

There are few "big" speeches on the floor of Synod. Rather, there is a mosaic of minor opinion and point that makes up a larger picture.

[Emphasis his]. He is absolutely correct. While I witnessed some very well-thought-out, passionate speeches from the floor of Synod about various topics and from divers viewpoints, the fact of the matter is, there weren't any "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"-esque speeches. There were no grand "Friends, Romans, Countymen, lend me your ears..." moments. Instead, debate mostly consisted of several short, to the point speeches. A delegate (or in my case, observer) really has to pay attention to the big picture--the mosaic as Rev. Howard calls it--to get a sense of what is going on.

While I disagree with his assessment of the Synod's debate on the nominees put forward by the Board of Nominations (I believe the Synod has the right and the duty to ensure that this committee, as well as all other committees, are best serving the interests of Synod and can at any time call into question any aspect of a committee's work and it should not be considered "micro-management"), I would encourage you to read his post to help get a sense of just how Synod feels: 2010 ARP General Synod: Themes & Thoughts

On Church Planting

I briefly mentioned last week that I had the opportunity to meet Athole Rennie while I was at the ARP Synod. He gave a presentation at the Outreach North America (the home-mission agency of the ARP) sponsored breakfast on his work to plant a church in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. He shared with us some of the history of the town, some of the resistance he has encountered (including resistance from other "churches" in Scotland), and some of the hopes that he has for this work. I highlight the work of Pastor Rennie not only in hopes of bringing it to the attention of as many people as possible, but also because the approach he is taking to planting a church is rare these days.

Instead of starting with a core group of families from an existing church, Pastor Rennie is "starting fresh". The "core group" is he, his wife and their infant son. Pastor Rennie expressed some frustration with trying to reach the point of having a core group. He talked of giving presentations at churches that are friendly to the idea of a new biblical and reformed church in the area and asking members of those churches to join him in this work, but not having seen any fruit from those requests, yet.

I sympathize with Pastor Rennie. Certainly, the work he has been called to is not an easy work (from a human perspective). He is going about things in a way that most denominations and churches would view as "all wrong". And yet, I see plenty of biblical examples of exactly what he is doing. Paul, on his missionary journeys very rarely came into a city that already had a group of believers present. Paul was not used planting a church using a "core group" but more often than not, had to build up to having a core group in the first place. Pastor Rennie's model of church planting is also reminiscent of missionaries going into areas that have never heard the Gospel, that do not have established churches, and trusting God to bless the work and save souls. I suppose the difference is, we do not think of Scotland as being such a place, and yet so much of that nation's Christian heritage has been lost (as Pastor Rennie testified to during his presentation).

Finally, I want to point out another brother taking a similar approach to church planting, but in Texas. Pastor Carl Miller is working to plant two churches: one in Waco and one in Houston, and he is doing so without the aid of a core group. If you are in either the Waco or the Houston areas, go over to these works and give Pastor Miller a word of encouragement. Also, remember the work of Pastors Miller and Rennie in your prayers.

General Synod of the ARP 2010, Part 3: The Ugly

[This is the third part of a three part series on the 2010 ARP General Synod, entitled: "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". Part 1, "The Good" can be found here. Part 2, "The Bad" can be found here.]

There were two ugly events that took place at this year's Synod: the way Synod began and the way it ended.

Synod began with the traditional opening worship service Tuesday evening; however, two things were done differently this year: first, outgoing Moderator Dr. DeWitt chose not to "preach a sermon" but to share some reflections of his on this past year and the current state of the ARP. Related to this, the Lord's Table was not celebrated at the conclusion of the worship service. Concerning the "talk" by Dr. DeWitt, I only want to say that I agree with what he said and found his talk to be relevant and challenging. Concerning not observing the Lord's Table: I must admit that at first I was not happy about this; however, after hearing Dr. DeWitt's reasons and after some time has passed, I have come to agree with his decision. Dr. DeWitt reasoned that in Matthew 5, our Lord tells us that if I have something against my brother, I am to reconcile to him first and then come to the altar. He stated it was his belief that there is division in the body, and until we can be reconciled to one another, it would not be proper for us to observe the Lord's Table together. Although I now agree with his decision, I still categorize it as an "ugly" part of Synod, not because of what Dr. DeWitt said or did (or didn't do), but because it is an ugly thing when brothers cannot dwell together in unity. Dr. DeWitt's decision was not the problem, it was the consequence of a much deeper problem that we all pray can be corrected soon.

The second ugly thing about Synod this year was the manner in which it ended. As I had to catch a flight back to California, I was not present for the end of Synod (and also remember, as I said in Part 1: The Good, I was not a voting delegate to Synod this year, only an observer), I had to read about the end of Synod on The Aquila Report. According to this report, on Thursday night a "Quorum Call" was made and lacking enough men to form a quorum, Synod immediately adjourned. This is an ugly way for a Synod to end its business, and although I sympathize with the men who had to leave early, I wish we could have ended on a better note.

That ends my three part analysis of this year's General Synod of the ARP. Others have offered their opinions and observations, and I'd like to point you toward some of their sites:

Tim Phillips always had good observations concerning Synod.
Chuck Wilson has some notes on the "compromise" which was reached between Synod and Erskine (I have left that out of my analysis as I don't yet know if it will turn out to be good, bad or ugly).
Brian Howard also has some thoughts on this year's Synod. I did not get an opportunity to meet Rev. Howard, which I regret. He and I disagree on somethings, based on some of his past posts, but I believe it is important to hear what he has to say, nonetheless.

General Synod of the ARP 2010, Part 2: The Bad

[This is the second part of a three part series on the 2010 ARP General Synod, entitled: "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". Part 1, "The Good" can be found here.]

I wrote yesterday that there were many good things at Synod this year, and I want to reemphasize that there was much more good than bad and ugly at Synod. The few points that I will list here do not compare to the overwhelmingly positive experience I had at Bonclarken. Having said that...

The first "bad" thing that comes to mind, unfortunately, concerns Erskine. There were several motions from the floor of Synod that would have put checks in place concerning the dispersion of funds from Synod to the College. These motions all failed. The concern was that we not further alienate Erskine. This is not a bad motive: our goal should be reconciliation, not further alienation. However, that reconciliation should not come through Synod backing down on its claims that the College has acted incorrectly.

Further, when it came time to confirm those nominated for a term on the Erskine Board of Trustees, there was a motion to substitute the names of the men suggested by the special committee of Moderators that had been formed at the called meeting of Synod in March for those put forth by the Committee on Nominations. I understand the work which that committee puts into vetting each potential member of each board of the Synod, but I am unsure that the candidates which the Committee nominated were better for the College and Synod than those put forth by the Committee of Moderators. This should not be construed as a slander of the men and woman nominated by the Committee on Nominations. Their qualifications are not really the point. The point is that the Committee of Moderators put forth a slate of candidates which it believed would best serve the interests of Synod and those men were not all nominated to the board by the committee of the Synod which makes those nominations (2 of the 6 were nominated). This to me pitted the Committee of Moderators against the Committee on Nominations and brought into question the authority of the called meeting of Synod. Now is not the time to be showing a divided front, and I believe that is what happened. In the end, the slate of nominees put forward by the Committee on Nominations was confirmed. I pray the Committee on Nominations was correct in choosing those individuals.

One speaker on the floor of Synod correctly diagnosed the situation: there was a 500-pound gorilla in the room, and no one wanted to talk about it. When it was talked about, nothing was changed from the status quo. No stipulations were added to distribution of funds, and only 2 of the 6 men who the special committee of Moderator's suggested for Erskine's Board were appointed to it. We presented a divided front, and just handed the usual amount of cash over to Erskine.

This is all I have to say concerning "The Bad" of Synod. My next post will discuss "The Ugly."

General Synod of the ARP 2010, Part 1: The Good

I am home now from Synod (after many delays because of bad weather in Atlanta yesterday). This was my first time attending and to make it clear: I was not a delegate, but an observer. I hope to summarize my thoughts/reflections of this year's Synod in three posts, aptly titled: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (cue theme song).

This post will cover "The Good"

There was a lot of "good" at Synod. A lot. I was able to finally meet in person many godly, gracious men such as Chuck Wilson, Sinclair Ferguson, David Norman (and his lovely wife K.D.), Athole Rennie, Vaughn Hathaway, Tim Phillips, and many, many others. The warm reception and heartfelt welcome was the best possible introduction anyone could have hoped for to the Synod of the ARP.

The Synod was held at Bonclarken, the retreat center of the ARP. The staff were wonderful, the food was delicious, and the grounds were beautiful. I had never been to North Carolina before, and was amazed at how green everything was. It was a prime example of the stunning beauty of God's creation.

It was good to hear of the work God is doing through the ARP in places as remote as Scotland, Turkey and Pakistan. It was moving to hear the choir from our orphanage sing before Synod. It was a testimony to the antipathy of God's church for bureaucracy at just how smoothly so much of Synod proceeded. There were several committee and board reports that did not receive any discussion on the floor of Synod and were simply accepted or approved.

The President-Elect of Erskine was introduced to the Synod and given an opportunity to address the body. This young man was an encouragement to me as he detailed his three point plan for Erskine. (see more at The Aquila Report). I, like many others, told him I was praying for him, as he had a difficult task before him. In his address, he mentioned that he was also praying for the ARP, which was good to hear: praying for one another is the best way to overcome differences, and put problems behind us.

Finally, the worship was biblical, encouraging and reformed. The musical accompaniment to the singing was excellent. We had an organ, a piano, an oboe, a violin, and what I considered the highlight of the music: bagpipes (can't be a Scottish synod without bagpipes!). The ARP showcased several excellent preachers from within its ranks, who brought words of encouragement, challenge and grace to the Synod.

All these and many more things were "The Good" of the 2010 General Synod. Overall, it was very encouraging to be there, despite what I will detail in the next two posts as "The Bad" and "The Ugly". Let me emphasize that, again: the good things far, far outweigh the bad and the ugly. The ARP is a grace filled, reformed Church.

Thursday Morning

This morning's business dealt with the annual report on Erskine. There
were 4 recommendations included in that report of which only the
first, dealing with sending $575,000 to Erskine (as has been the
practice of the Synod in past years). The discussion took several
hours and when the order of the day came up (that is, it was time for
lunch) the discussion on the first resolution (and the ammendments
that had been made from the floor to that first recommendation) had
not concluded and so it will continue in the business session after a
committee report and election of the next moderator.

Sent from my iPhone

Evening Business

The Synod has reconvened for the evening and will hear reports from
several committees, one of which will be the normal, annual report on
Erskine.

Sent from my iPhone

Motion to Dismiss the Moderators Commission

A motion was made to dismiss the moderators commission. After debate a
motion to table the motion was passed. The moderators commission has
not been dismissed, but the issue may be taken up again later.

Sent from my iPhone

Moderators commission report

The Commission will distribute a 50 page report filled with evidence
documenting the claims the commission has made.

Ken Wingate gave a timeline of events that have transpired since the
called meeting of Synod in March.

The report is now being distributed and then the floor will be open
for discussion.

Sent from my iPhone

Erskine Report

The Moderator's Commission on Erskine will give it's report now, since
it is old business.

Sent from my iPhone

Morning Activities

Long applause for outgoing moderator DeWitt. Moderator Stephen Maye is
now addressing the assembly.

Sent from my iPhone

Opening Worship Service

The Lord's Table was not celebrated tonight, nor did outgoing
moderator DeWitt preach a sermon, but rather shared some of his
thoughts on the current status of the ARP. But, there were bagpipes
and that was marvelous.

Sent from my iPhone

Apologies

Apologies for the long absence from this blog. I hope to remedy that by: 1) posting more regularly and 2) "live" blogging from the ARP Synod beginning tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing/meeting many of my brothers in the ARP. There will be weighty issues at this year's meeting, but by the grace of God, I hope we can act rightly.

In the past, I know Rev. Tim Phillips has also blogged the day's events from Synod, so be sure to check his blog, as well.