Last night I had the great privilege of officiating the wedding of Evan Boerman and Jenna DeWaal from John 15:9-12 (the text they chose!) that speaks about the chain of love from the Father to the Son and the Son to true believers, which can be applied to marriage as its supreme calling when both spouses are saved. Please pray for this delightful couple that God will bless their marriage abundantly in Christ Jesus to His glory and their souls’ good.

Don’t miss this once-in-a-generation event celebrating one of the greatest eras in church history. From several of today’s leading theologians and pastors, this three-day conference provides an unparalleled opportunity for you to immerse yourself in the history and teaching of those who lived courageously, believed with reverential precision, and died boldly for Christ in a way that continues to shape the Christian faith.

Register now for the early registration rate of $249, available for just two more weeks. Regular registration for $299 begins May 9.

Find details and learn more here.

Today I was pleased to receive Jerome Zanchius’s (1516-1590) “Doctrine of Absolute Predestination” in Portuguese (“A Doutrina Da Predes Tinacao Absoluta,” Sao Paulo: Joao Calvino Publicacoes), which includes my 20-page introduction to this important and classic Reformed book. Pray that God will bless it to many people in Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking people around the world.

Last evening our elders and pastors had a wonderful meeting with eighteen friends who made confession of faith before us and shared how the Lord is working in their life. Confession of faith will be made publicly in the Heritage Reformed Church, in Grand Rapids, on May 1, D.V. Pray for them that they will be stalwart members of the church of Jesus Christ.

This morning, my good friend, Dr. Changwon Shu, who is staying in our home for some days with his wife, Myoung Ja, gave us a strong chapel message at PRTS on the need to preach Christ alone (1 Cor. 1:25). Changwon has been a leader in South Korea for decades in promoting the Reformed experiential faith as professor at Chongshin Theological Seminary, president of the Korea Institute for Reformed Preaching (KIRP), and editor of the Korean Banner of Truth. My wife and I have been privileged to stay in their home on most of our trips to Korea.

Meanwhile, faculty representatives from Reformed seminaries in Brazil, Columbia, Germany, Hungary, Honduras, Serbia, and Chile had another good and fruitful day meeting at our seminary with some of our PRTS faculty and staff to collaborate on seminary education—especially for the master’s level degree as an embedded academic and practical program of working in the churches. Tomorrow this collaboration conference concludes. Continue to pray for God’s benediction on these important meetings.

We are humbled and excited to be hosting a consultation meeting with professors from eight seminaries for the next three days. I just had the privilege of opening these days of meetings with a meditation on Paul’s apostolic model for Christian ministry in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, which is focused on preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The focus of the consultation and collaboration during these days is on the establishing of an embedded MDiv program, so that seminary students receive not only a full academic program that focuses on godly piety in preparation for the ministry, but also have their studies embedded in hands-on work in the churches. Representatives from various Reformed seminaries are present with us from Germany, Serbia, Columbia, Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, Honduras, and Chile.

Pray that these meetings may be fruitful and that collaboration efforts in seminary training may be enhanced around the globe as a result. The whole Christian world urgently needs sound, biblical, Reformed, confessional, experiential, and practical seminaries to co-labor for the advance of Christ’s cause around the world by training men for pulpit and pastoral ministry to the glory of God. Please pray for us in these days.

The Queen and I had a wonderful time taking her/our dear parents, Henry and Lena Kamp, out to eat for their 66^th wedding anniversary. We reminisced about some of the amazing changes they have seen in the world during their 2/3 of a century of marriage. We love them dearly, and are so grateful that they are still doing so well in their own home. Pray that God will continue to uphold them for the months and years to come, D.V. (Dad hopes to become 90 five months from now).

Blessings to all of you for the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection tomorrow. As has been said, let us never forget that the best news the world ever heard came from a graveyard: “He is not here, for he is risen, as he said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matt. 28:6)! For Christ, the Rock of ages inside the sepulcher, the heavy stone at His tomb was only a small pebble. Rejoice that His resurrection is the Amen of all of God’s promises, but remember as John Blanchard wrote, “The resurrection of Jesus demands not our applause but our allegiance, not our compliments but our capitulation.” So, like Caleb, by the Spirit’s grace, “follow God fully” (Num. 14:24)!

Today I had the privilege of preaching twice on our Savior’s death––once this afternoon with six other preachers on the seven last words of Christ (including my Assistant Paul Smalley and one of our PRTS students, Paul van Engelenhoven, who is pastoring Seventh Reformed Church where the 3-hour service was held––see photos) and then again this evening in our own church, I preached on “It is finished” (John 19:30).

What a Savior true believers possess––at best we preachers can only scratch the surface of proclaiming His infinite love to hell-worthy sinners! I wish you and yours every blessing in the crucified and risen Lord of glory!

Watch or listen to “It Is Finished” below:

I am excited to announce that Reformation Heritage Books has just released two very good books by my close Welsh friend, Geoffrey Thomas, who by God’s grace, is a great preacher and great writer. I am grateful to have had the privilege of editing both of them. The first is titled, In the Shadow of the Rock, which is a fascinating 325-page autobiography that doesn’t only deal with his own life but also provides his thoughts about his fifty-year relationship with his Aberystwyth flock and about other friends who have impacted his life. I especially found his section on his former professors at Westminster to be fascinating. The whole is written in Geoff’s inimitable, transparent, fascinating style. This book is a real page-turner; you will enjoy it thoroughly.

The second newly released book by Geoff is his Everyone’s Invited, which explains in 100 pages what it means for sinners to come to Jesus Christ. In this book, as Paul Washer writes, “the reader will encounter a wonderful Savior, great encouragement, and wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”