I am responding to those who asked questions and made pertinent comments about my previous post on ACV’s Facebook page. I do not have a Facebook account and was not able to respond on that platform. ..If faith is genuine and saving then when it is presented with the truth of Christ being the Great I Am, who, as the Word, became flesh, in order to save sinners, such faith will welcome this glorious truth and not oppose it.
Read MoreI’ve been reading the recent posts on this blog with interest. I too listened to the panel discussion on denominational restructuring at the triennial convention….Comments were made about the need for unity of purpose at all levels of our denomination. Others noted that the question “What is an Advent Christian?” is often answered in terms of relationships. That ties in with things I’ve observed just in the past few weeks, and which I shared with my church following the convention…
Read MoreLast week, my article “Denominational Tectonics” caused a bit of a firestorm amongst the readership of Advent Christian Voices. To be honest, that was one of my goals. I was trying, through confrontational and colorful language, to get people’s attention. What I failed to anticipate, however, is the way that my tone and candor may have deepened the divisions that I desired merely to identify and assess.
Read MoreIn this last article, I will lay out what will be basically required of any model to complete the unfinished work of our past. On top of this, I will also offer two rudimentary models for restructuring the denomination which would alleviate some of the stress of our leadership shortage and give us stronger footing for revitalizing the denomination.
Read MoreAll good things, when left to adults, become busy, and this is especially true of religion. There is a hysteria about religion in America of having to endlessly improve or else…
Read MoreI've begun to view theology much in the same way. Admiration is a term that comes to mind in describing those who've come before me. The church fathers such as Augustine, the Gregorys, Athanasius, Basil, and Didymus are all crucial thinkers of the Christian thought with whom we should be acquainted. These men helped build roads for the Church to understand God more deeply and fully as they compacted the dirt underneath their tires, forming routes with their faithful exposition of God's Word.
Read MoreSometimes there are blog articles that really get you thinking. Nathaniel Bickford’s article, “Solutions?” is just that kind of piece. Honestly, I’ve thought along his lines for awhile, but I couldn’t help noticing how it grabbed the attention of so many of you.
Read MoreLast week, new survey data indicated that only 47% of Americans are connected to a church, synagogue, or mosque; a dramatic drop over the past 20 years. Lots of pundits are worried about that. I'm not and you can read why here.
Read MoreTweet tweet. Tweet tweet.
Welcome to 21st century American Christianity, a cacophonous medley of accusation, insinuation, and ultimately, distraction.
Read MoreThom Rainer recently published a new episode on his weekly podcast Revitalize & Replant that caught my attention. For those unfamiliar, Dr. Rainer is the President of LifeWay Resources, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Rainer is well respected across…
Read MoreA recent Advent Christian Voices exchange captured my attention. It began with a four-part series by Corey McLaughlin covering four aspects of “theological fragmentation” in the Advent Christian Church.
Read MoreThere has been a great deal of confusion surrounding BILD and its philosophy and it is my prayer this clarifies the matter helpfully regardless of whether one remains a proponent or opponent of their unique system.
Read MoreCorey McLaughlin has put forth a monumental effort in his four-part series...After reading these articles, I found myself agreeing with most of them, so much so that it has ironically led me to disagree with the basic contention of the series, that we are in fact fragmented along the lines Corey describes.
Read MoreAs we come to the end with this last post we have covered the problem of fragmentation by…well, fragmenting the problem into four parts and offering suggestions for how to put humpty dumpty together again in each section (see previous posts Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and the end of the article for a link to the full pdf). This final contribution will not rehash or summarize the previous posts, but will instead add a more practical tool to tie the major concepts together.
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1987. This was the year campus operations ceased at Berkshire Christian College. At that time, Berkshire was the primary means through which pastors were trained and developed within the Advent Christian Church. It had been more than a decade since pastoral studies programs had ceased at the Advent Christian Church’s other college, Aurora College, so with Berkshire’s closure, the Advent Christian Church was left without a clear avenue through which pastors and key denominational leaders could emerge.
The title of this article is punctuated with a question mark because of the embryonic stage at which it is being put forward. In his latest two-part series, “Advent Christians in the 21st Century”, Corey McLaughlin has set before us what is in my estimation one of the most pivotal reflections on Adventism in late Advent Christian history. Conditionalism has dominated Advent Christian identity in the latter part of our history, but McLaughlin has reminded us of our other hand, in fact what was once our dominant hand, which is our Adventism.
Read MoreThe passionate, zealous, spirit of the Second Advent movement is still sought today by many in the Advent Christian denomination who pant with drought stricken desperation for the same radical demonstrations of faith as our early brethren. David Platt’s challenging call in Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream, and John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life capture the essence of this spirit many seek while avoiding the pitfalls of fanaticism and abuse.
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