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 The following article was written by Al Baker, a fellow minister in Vanguard Presbytery, and is included with this week’s email for those who may not be receiving his weekly email devotion, Forget None of His Benefits. This article ties in very well with my two most recent articles on the office of the evangelist. IContinue reading “Daniel Rowland and the Preaching for Divine Impression, Part One”

One of the matters that causes me the greatest amount of confusion is why there is such a pushback even by conservative reformed pastors and theologians concerning the office of evangelist. It was not always that way. It was around 1980 that the great change towards evangelism and evangelists began in the US. Before thenContinue reading “None Dare Call Them Evangelists”

In this week’s article, I am quoting several pages from James Henley Thornwell’s fourth volume of his collected works that deals with ecclesiastical matters. I am a Thornwellian in my ecclesiastical positions and Vanguard Presbytery was self-consciously begun as a Thornwellian denomination with respect to church government. We developed our Book of Church Order to reflect thoseContinue reading “James Henley Thornwell on Evangelists”

            In this week’s email, I am using an article written by a Vanguard Presbytery minister, Rev. Ryan Denton. Ryan writes about the dating of the beginning of Presbyterianism in this country and focuses on the labors of Richard Denton, his ancestor, whose ministry predated that of Francis Makemie. MakemieContinue reading “American Presbyterianism”

            In his sermons on the Book of Job, John Calvin rightly stated that “Job having to  defend a good case, has poorly conducted it.”[1] Job never stated that he was without sin, as his three friends alleged. In fact, he often expressed that he was a poor sinner. Yet, Job knew that his punishment was far more thanContinue reading “When You are Angrily Rebuked”

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (Old School) met at Rochester, New York in 1860. It is famous for a floor debate between the two leaders of the Northern and Southern branches of the denomination—Dr. Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary and Dr. James Henley Thornwell of Columbia Theological Seminary (which then resided inContinue reading “Hodge vs. Thornwell on Polity”

I am using with permission this week an article written by my friend and fellow Vanguard Presbytery pastor, Al Baker. It deals with a subject, LGBTQ+, that was one of the primary issues that led to the formation of this new denomination. I am sure that each of you will appreciate it also. You canContinue reading ““Perversion and Post-Christian Kids” by Al Baker”

In John 4:35, Jesus said to His disciples: “Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” He made a very similar statement in Matthew 9:37b-38—“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send workersContinue reading “Update on the Work of the Presbytery”

Georg William Frederick Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher whose dialectical method has become the dominant thought pattern for most people in the world today—including so-called evangelical pastors and theologians in the United States. His methodology is non-evangelical to the core and it is a dangerous inconsistency for any Christian to hold to it. ItContinue reading “Synthetic Christianity”

Perhaps the greatest book ever written on the Christian ministry was Charles Bridges’ The Christian Ministry. Bridges (1794-1869) was a Church of England minister and one of the leaders in the Evangelical party that witnessed a revival of sound ministers in that denomination during the nineteenth century. When the godly Robert M. McCheyne went to IsraelContinue reading “Rise Up and Evangelize!”