Mary and I are just home from Columbus, Ohio where we had a good weekend serving the Calvary Bible Church (photo 1), pastored by Eric Sipe (senior pastor), David Saxton (pastor of discipling and counseling), and Michael Conn (assistant pastor). On the Lord’s Day, I preached three times for this attentive, responsive, and warm church family of about 350 members/attendees on Christ-centered themes related to marriage and child-rearing, family worship, and heaven.
We thoroughly enjoyed fellowship with and staying in the home of Pastor Eric and Cindy Sipe (photo 2). We had great talks about pastoral ministry and leadership and felt quite bonded with this special couple by the time we left their hospitable home this morning. (I had the privilege of teaching Eric on Reformed Experiential Preaching last January at John MacArthur’s seminary where he is enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program, but only got to know him well this past weekend.) Its great to receive new friends as a fruit of conference ministry!
We also had a great time on the Lord’s Day afternoon having a meal at the home of Pastor David and Mary Beth Saxton, and engaging in valuable conversation with them and their children, and three other families who joined us. David is a ThM graduate from PRTS. RHB has printed his ThM thesis on the Puritan practice of meditation. The other three families had fascinating stories to share about their conversions. One brother was converted from the drug world and now feels called to ministry. I had an excellent talk with him about PRTS, and he will seriously consider applying to our school. The second brother is an FBI agent, so I peppered him with questions about his work and learned a great deal from his wisdom. And the third brother shared how he was adopted to an American couple from Thailand as an infant and was led to the Lord here in America, even though his parents are strangers to God’s saving grace. God’s sovereign grace is truly amazing!
