Seventeen82

General Synod in Columbia and in October? Yes, 2020 continues to be a most interesting year. As we approach Synod tomorrow's meeting, I want to encourage and point out a few things:  We need to be prepared for the meeting. The more you can read and study the reports before the meeting, the faster and more efficiently we can do our business.  We need to be patient at this meeting. There is a lot of people who have labored hard to make this meeting happen. I know many would like to have different arrangements, but this was the best that could be arranged by the denomination's leadership.  We need to pray for our moderator, Rob Roy McGregor III. He has had to deal with numerous challenges and moderate what will undoubtedly be one of Synod's most challenging meetings. This alone due to the logistics of it being a hybrid meeting.  We need to be in prayer for our denomination going forward. This meeting can be helpful in not only fixing issues of retirement but also in set...

I had a stepfather who worked for a heating and air company in Greenville, South Carolina. The motto for that company was “D.I.R.T. F.T.”—meaning “Do It Right  The  First Time.” I would submit to you that we  will  have to make some hard decisions at this week’s meeting of General Synod. We are facing these hard decisions because we did not “Do It Right  The First Time.” We have not managed our pension plan well over the past thirty years. As a result, we now have $13,000,000 of unfunded liabilities. We have not evangelized the lost as we should. We have not planted Confessionally Reformed Churches in America and throughout the world as we should. As a result, our denomination is in a state of decline. We now boast some 22,000 members as of the end of 2019. We once recorded 35,000 members just around ten years ago. These financial and spiritual trends must be reversed before it’s too late. We have an opportunity at General Synod this week to repent and dedicate ...

A Plea to the General Synod of the ARP Church Purpose Fathers and Brothers, The purpose of this letter is to highlight a perspective on the state of the ARP denomination, and specifically the Pension Plan, that has not been fully represented. This letter is not intended as a minority report. Furthermore, this letter is not to be received as official business. It is not an attempt to circumvent our Presbyterian Form of Government—its courts, committees, or established and proper channels of communication and discussion. Rather, our purpose in writing this letter is to build up and foster faithful Presbyterian dialogue. To this end, our hope is that this letter will impress on General Synod our deep concern and burden for the viability of the ARP Church. We believe the ARP Church has approached an existential crisis and, if we desire to continue the pursuit of sacrificial Kingdom ministry, we must respond accordingly. We also intend in this letter to suggest some ways forward as we pursu...

  I was asked to write this post which has to do with the upcoming meeting of the General Synod of the ARP Church, and specifically recommendation #5 of the Blue Ribbon Committee report. But before I state another alternative option, let me emphasize two things. First, this is not an “either, or” alternative recommendation, but rather a “both, and” option. The second thing is a Scriptural point from my devotion time yesterday morning from 1 Corinthians 14.   Verse one reads “not to quarrel over opinions.” The church at Corinth was divided over opinions on various issues, and without going into the details, the Reformation Study Bible note includes these words;   “...While Paul does not regard these controversies as insoluble, he regards the unity of the church’s fellowship as more important than resolving them (cf. 12:5, 10, 16). The issues in view here did not belong to the gospel, ...Where essentials of the gospel were at stake, Paul’s response was very different (e.g.,...

The General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church will be meeting Thursday and Friday of next week in Columbia, South Carolina. This will be a unique meeting of the Synod both in location and in routine. Please be in prayer for this meeting of the Synod.  Over the next few days, www.seventeen82.com will be publishing articles from those around the ARP denomination, giving opinions and thoughts about the upcoming meeting of Synod. It has always been our desire to see this site as a platform for different points of view. These will be published to help better understand, pray for, and vote on the issues before our Synod. There will also be a recap of Synod's actions next Saturday. 

Last month, our family took a vacation. It was the first real vacation we had taken in 2020. After COVID and cancellations and lockdowns, it was beginning to look as if such a vacation would never happen this year. I was supposed to have travelled to Germany in July, but of course that was cancelled along with nearly everything else this year. So when the opportunity to take a trip with the family finally opened up, we took it. And where did we go? We went to the only place in the U.S. that seemingly did NOT shut down down because of COVID-19: South Dakota. Now, I have wanted to go to South Dakota for a long time. Mt. Rushmore has always been on my "bucket list," but there's plenty more to see in the state. The Badlands were a special treat. The beauty of God's creation cannot be expressed adequately in words. I've posted a photo I took of the Badlands above, but even that does not do it justice. Why do we go on such trips, which cost a lot in terms of travel time...

I want to begin this post with a confession: I struggle with self-centeredness occasionally. Ok, you got me, I struggle with it a lot. That should come as no surprise to you or anyone else reading this post. You know that I am no different than you. You are also well aware that we both struggle with self-centeredness. Like the Apostle Paul, we fight the fleshly temptation to honor ourselves rather than God (Rom. 7:15-19). This is true for us even after our hearts have been transformed by the gospel of grace in Christ. I don’t know about you, but my self-centeredness is periodically seen in my attitude before, during and after corporate worship. This was true before I became a pastor, and sadly it’s still true. (Shh, don’t tell anybody. Pastors are supposed to be super-spiritual.) There are times when I don’t want to get out of bed, don’t want to get dressed, don’t want be around people, don’t want to sing the selected songs, don’t want to lead the prayers, and certainly d...