Presbytery Meeting
Friday, January 29th, 2021
Held at Chalcedon Presbyterian Church
Cumming, Georgia
On Friday, January 29, 2021, Vanguard Presbytery met at the Chalcedon Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia for her first in-person Presbytery meeting. The whole morning from 9 AM to noon was spent in prayer, preaching, and worship, per our convictions as a new denomination. During our lunch break, a good friend told me that the morning session was the best advertisement for Vanguard that we could have. There were many good responses from both attendees and from people who were watching the live-stream of our meeting. Here is a sample of some of the comments we have received as feedback:
From D. A. in Texas: “I was blessed and encouraged as I viewed the Vanguard Presbytery meeting. I believe that the Lord will prosper Vanguard in souls saved and believers edified if it continues to give significant time for prayer, the Word, and witness. When I was a Fundamentalist Baptist, I learned that those three components alone built great congregations. I rejoice that Vanguard recognizes that the schemes, plans, and programs of man never were and will never be God’s way for building His church.”
From L. H. in Georgia: “I did follow the Vanguard meeting from 9-12 in the morning and found it very uplifting. God bless you and the others in this endeavor.”
From T. E. in Louisiana: “We were in on the formation of the PCA in 1973. Excited about this new work! Many prayers being offered for you godly men leading this march for righteousness!”
From P. H. in Tennessee: “Great meeting yesterday. It was a great day of fellowship, worship, prayer, and discussion.”
From N. H. in Maryland: “I was greatly encouraged by what I was able to watch of the proceedings of Vanguard Presbytery. I was convicted and challenged to deeper prayer and more evangelism. . . May the Lord bless you for your work, your work is certainly blessing me.”
From S. D. in Maryland: “Dear brother, sorry that I had to leave right at five on Friday and missed the additional fellowship, but I really enjoyed the meeting, and appreciated your moderating.”
Many more statements of appreciation were made by those who attended in person, but I simply cannot remember them all in detail. Vanguard Presbytery is attempting to be a different type of denomination. Evidently, our efforts are being blessed. Ministers and elders were “excited” to attend the meeting beforehand and blessed by it. For those of us who were there, it was exactly what we had hoped it would be. We want to model the New Testament church. We want to decide controversial matters the way the Jerusalem Council did in Acts 15. We want to come to a decision by being led by the Holy Spirit. We want the Word of God, evangelism, and prayer to be the central business of our denomination. The committee reports will take care of themselves if we focus on the truly important matters first.
Vanguard is going to be putting together the two sermons by Al Baker and Patrick Hines into a video for YouTube along with a short clip of our prayer time. We have also been encouraged to make some videos which will identify the views and positions of Vanguard with respect to several matters. What we did last Friday is the way we are going to conduct our meetings. Prayer, worship, and preaching will take up the whole morning sessions of our meetings. We will also be evangelizing the neighborhoods surrounding the host church at our meetings. The day before every presbytery meeting will be spent in evangelism as well as the day after. However the Lord blesses us is entirely up to Him. We want to be faithful in our actions—not just our slogans.
We were particularly happy last Friday to receive a new mission church that is starting in Clarksville, TN. We also examined some ministers. One minister who transferred into Vanguard is Ryan Denton, formerly a Reformed Baptist. Ryan has written some smaller books on evangelism and is very aggressive in taking the gospel to college campuses and other places. We will give more information about the other ministers at the appropriate time.
Dewey Roberts, Pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Destin, FL and Moderator of Vanguard Presbytery
P. S. If you would like to support the work of Vanguard Presbytery, please send your contribution to: Vanguard Presbytery, PO Box 1862, Destin, FL 32540
Video – 3 Sessions
Docket
Session 1
8:45 AM – In-Person Registration
9:00 AM – Call to Order by the Moderator, and Opening Prayer
9:10 AM – Determination of a Quorum and the Adoption of the Proposed Docket
9:20 AM – Moderator’s Remarks
9:30 AM – Opening Hymn
9:35 AM – Sermon – Dr. Al Baker – 2 Timothy 4:1-8 “Preach the Word of God”
10:15 AM – Time of Corporate Prayer
11:10 AM – Hymn
11:15 AM – Sermon – Rev. Patrick Hines – Acts 17:22-34 “From Mars Hill to America”
Session 2
1:00 PM – Reconvene with Prayer
1:05 PM – Welcome of New Churches and TE’s
1:15 PM – Stated Clerk’s Report
Session 3
1:45 PM – Report of the Examinations/Credentials Committee (Rev. Dave Kinney)
2:45 PM – Report of the Missions Committee (Dr. Al Baker) with Exhortation by Dr. Henry Krabbendam
3:45 PM – Report of the BCO Committee (Rev. Thomas Joseph)
3:55 PM – Creation of and Nominations for a Sessional Records Committee
4:15 PM – New Business
5:00 PM – Motion to Adjourn and Closing Prayer
Vanguard Presbyterian Church 