Dr. Reggie Weems

On Sunday, June 2, I preached twice for Dr. Reggie Weems, senior pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee. About 500 people attended in the morning and 125 in the evening. Afterward, I spoke briefly on Hebrews 12:1–2 and fellowshipped with a group of fifteen ministers and elders who peppered me with edifying questions. We talked for some length on time-management and on how ministers should respond to the homosexual movement.

On Monday, I studied in the morning, went out to lunch with Dr. Weems at noon, perused a large used bookstore in the afternoon, and in the evening gave the first two opening addresses for the Biblical Worldview Student Conference (BWSC), held at Milligan College. About 250 people (mostly students) were present. The purpose of this conference is to train young men and women (age 15 through college years) to know and grow in the faith and be better equipped to face the challenges of an increasingly hostile world by developing a Christian worldview of every area of life.

My daughter Esther and Elizabeth Carlson arrived safely from Michigan with a van load of RHB books. Throughout the week they sold hundreds of books to dedicated young people as well as to many parents who attended the evening sessions.

Milligan College Conference Site

The conference sessions from Tuesday through Friday were packed tight in the schedule (averaging eight sessions a day!), and flew by. Douglas Bond, high school teacher and author of numerous books published by P&R, spoke four times in areas related to English, church history, and writing. Dr. Del Bailey, a seasoned internist, spoke four times in areas related to medical issues. Sye Ten Bruggencate spoke four times on doing apologetics. Dr. Matt Bell, well versed in financial issues, spoke four times on matters related to money. And I spoke eight times—four of which focused on developing a global Christian worldview, and four that stressed developing Christian perspective on specific areas, including prayer, discerning God’s will, coping with afflictions, and how to handle lust.

The students responded well to the sessions. Most of them were serious-minded Christians who came from well over a dozen states, ranging from Maine to Florida to California. They came prepared to learn, and asked about 150 written questions, to which the speakers responded in three Q and A sessions.

Conference Speakers

Strengthening old friendships and establishing new ones, as well as counseling people individually, are always a tremendous benefit of conferences. I enjoyed fellowship with the two pastors of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, Brent Bradley and Steven Warhurst, who make a great team, working well together. Pastor Bradley, who has served this church for 31 years, served as MC of the conference. I also had good fellowship over meals with Doug Bond, Dr. and Mrs. Del and Debbie Bailey, and David and Sue Temple (whose father I know from South Africa). I was also privileged to offer counsel to a variety of young people, including issues that touched on fears of hell, returning from backsliding, courting an unbeliever, courting in a non-parent approved relationship, and struggling with a call to the ministry and for studying theology. It was also encouraging to see and hear how God was impacting many of the young people even before the conference was over. May eternity reveal the fruits!

With Rev. Michael and Aubrey Ives and Family

With Pastors Rob Ventura and Jack Buckley

After feeling helped in speaking seven times in less than 48 hours, I returned home from the Southern New England Reformation Conference in Rhode Island yesterday. About 225 people attended, many of whom are recent converts who have wonderful testimonies to share. I enjoyed immensely my time with Pastor Ventura and his family, and it was great to visit with Rev. Michael Ives and his family, too. (Michael is one of our former students.) A little girl named Bethany greatly cheered my heart with her notes of assuring me that she was praying for me to have “curij” (courage) because I looked “tired and nervis” (nervous)!

Bethany with Her Notes

After arriving home, I led the funeral of one of our dear members, Mr. John Sporte. Then, when we were between the funeral and the cemetery, my dear friend Rev. Elshout called that his dear wife Joan had just passed away, shortly after crying out, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” (I hope to fly to New Jersey on Saturday, serve my “former church” there on Sunday, and lead the funeral service on Monday, D.V.) On the way home after leaving the cemetery, we received a call that yet another member from our church appears to be dying—a dear sister, Alice Dole. Please pray for all these families, and let us ever remember that we lie in the midst of death and need to be prepared to meet our Maker.

PCRT Philadelphia Attendees

Approximately 600 attended the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology on April 19–21. The theme was “In the Beginning: God, Adam, and You.” I arrived late on Friday, due to having to lead a funeral of one of our dear members in Grand Rapids that morning, so I missed the pre-conference by my good friend Jon Payne on “Our Forgotten Heritage: Recovering a Reformed Ministry,” which focused on the lives and ministries of Charles Simeon, John Owen, and Zacharias Ursinus in conjunction with the 450^th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism. (By the way, Dr. Jason VanVliet and I can still take on a dozen more travelers for our European tour this summer, July 9–19—we’d love to have you join us.) I also missed Derek Thomas’s opening address, “The Bible’s First Word.”

On Saturday, Liam Goligher (senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, where the conference was being held) preached on “Lord of the Garden,” Rick Phillips (the conference organizer and MC), spoke on “The Bible and Evolution.” I spoke on “The Case for Adam,” participated in a QA session, did a video interview for PCRT, and then spoke on “Christ the Second Adam.” As soon as my last address was finished, I had to rush to the airport to catch the last flights home, arriving a few hours before midnight. The next day I preached for Seventh Reformed Church in the morning and our own church in the evening.

Sunrise over Haleakala Crater

Mary and I were on the island of Maui, celebrating some anniversaries. Thursday we took a guided tour to Hana, which brought us by waterfalls, through rain forest, along the coast with black sand and lava rock, and back through arid grazing land. Today we witnessed the sunrise from the top of the Haleakala crater, a dormant volcano, then biked down 28 miles and 10,000 feet in elevation to sea level. Tomorrow we plan to go snorkeling near the Molokini crater and see colorful corral and sealife. We are continually amazed at the variety of God’s creation.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying editing Wayne Spears’s outstanding dissertation on the role of the Scottish commissioners at the Westminster Assembly. Reformation Heritage Books will be printing this insightful work in coming months. Anyone interested in the Puritans and the Westminster Assembly will definitely want to read this landmark work.

Turtle Island in the Pailolo Channel

Real Turtle!

My dear wife Mary and I spent a quiet vacation week in Hawaii, thanks to some dear friends, prior to our annual denominational church meetings which are meeting in British Columbia. On the long flights here, I completed the final edits on a book Bill Boekestein and I have coauthored on 31 reasons why Jesus Christ took our human nature to Himself. Reformation Heritage Books will publish this in our “31 Meditations Series.” Today I did the final editing pass on the second volume in a series of three by Paul Washer that we are publishing at Reformation Heritage Books.

Pastor Whitla and His Sons

My daughter Esther and I drove to Indianapolis on Friday to serve the RPCNA church pastored by Gordon Keddie and David Whitla. My task was to speak five times on Spiritual Warfare for their annual conference called Reformation Indy: Fighting Against Indwelling Sin, Fighting Against Satan, Fighting Against Worldliness, Enduring in the Battle to the End, and Heaven: No More War!

I also did two Q and A sessions—one for the conference and one for a group of young people on Saturday evening. The questions were perceptive and almost all of them were related to the addresses. I felt blessed being with these pastors and among these dear people, many of whom I had met only last year at the denominational conference in Marion, Indiana.

An Eager Book Buyer

I particularly enjoyed meeting Jerry Porter, who recently retired from being CEO of a local hospital; he certainly has a great deal of wisdom to impart about leadership, time management, and a host of subjects. Then too I was touched by 8-year-old Robert who said to me, “I really agree with you that it is very hard to resist Satan’s temptations; I pray every day to God for help to do that.” Esther managed the book table efficiently; we were encouraged with how many people bought books about or by the Puritans.

Robert (left) and His Friend

Speaking at PCRT 2013

After returning from Greenville, I had about 24 hours to turn around for another conference: the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology (PCRT), which drew 500 people, began on Friday evening in the First CRC of Byron Center, Michigan. Providentially, the theme was very similar to Greenville’s conference: “In the Beginning: God, Adam, and You.”

Other speakers included Kevin DeYoung, Jon Payne, Richard Phillips, and Derek Thomas. I spoke on Saturday on The Case for Adam, The Puritans on Adam and the Covenant of Works, and Christ the Second Adam. The addresses I was able to take in were quite helpful; each in their own way affirmed Carl Trueman’s conviction that the battle for the historical Adam is a front-burner issue today.

This week Friday, my daughter Esther and I hope to travel to Indianapolis where I hope to speak five times on Spiritual Warfare for Rev. Gordon J. Keddie, pastor of the RPCNA church there. Pray that God will bless this conference in a mighty way, especially for His struggling people.

Speakers at the Greenville Conference

Part of Library Purchased

I’m back safely from ministering in Greenville, South Carolina, for several days, where I spoke three times, did some interviews, purchased the bulk of a large library, reconnected with old friends and met new ones, and enjoyed the Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary conference which focused on the doctrine of man.

With Some Happy Book Buyers

Conference subjects and speakers included: Supernatural Creation of Man (Richard Belcher), The Covenant of Works (Guy Waters), Death Before the Fall (Matthew Holst), Boston’s Fourfold State (William VanDoodewaard), Man, The Image of God, and The Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission (Nelson Kloosterman), Original Sin and Depravity (Joey Pipa), Questioning the Philosophy of Science Used to Question the Bible’s Doctrine of Man (Gabriel Fluhrer), and The Temptation and the Fall (myself). Book sales were unusually good for a conference of 350.

Today I am preparing for the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology (PCRT) which begins this evening in the First CRC of Byron Center, Michigan. Providentially, the theme is very similar to Greenville’s conference: “In the Beginning: God, Adam, and You.” Other speakers include Kevin DeYoung, Jon Payne, Richard Phillips, and Derek Thomas. I am scheduled to speak three times tomorrow: The Case for Adam, The Puritans on Adam and the Covenant of Works, and Christ the Second Adam. All three are new addresses, so I covet your prayers.

With Lead Pastor & Conference Chairman, Busan, South Korea

I flew to Busan, South Korea, to speak at a large conference. On the 13-hour flight over the Pacific (Chicago to Tokyo—the snow-capped mountains in Alaska were breathtaking from the air), I spoke with a young Chinese woman who had very little knowledge of Christianity. She seemed quite interested in learning more, but it was a bit challenging to communicate with her. I’m afraid that I gave up too quickly.

Though this is my seventh trip to South Korea, I had never been in Busan before. It is a quite impressive city of nearly four million people. At the request of the conference organizers, I gave an address on “Puritan Worship” to a conference of 10,000 people, of which 5,000 or more were ministers. Afterward, some ministers approached me to say that they needed to hear the Puritan emphasis on all worship being grounded in the Scriptures. Pray with me that the conservative Puritan principles for worship that I was called upon to underscore will bear fruit in many Korean churches where the regulative principle in worship is increasingly being watered down.

As usual, the Koreans go over the top in showing kindness and respect to speakers. They won’t even let you carry your Bible and your iPad.

It felt strange to fly all that way to give one address, then fly home again the next day, but that was God’s providence for this trip. On the way back over the Pacific, I spoke at length with a middle-aged woman from Mexico who had just spent six months in southeast Asia traveling on her own. Her English was impeccable. She said that she would have no problem returning to Mexico City to get a new job due to her bilingual gift. She grew up with no religion at all, she said. “My father was Roman Catholic and my mother Lutheran, so since they couldn’t agree, they decided early on in their marriage to drop all religion.”

“So they believe in nothing?” I asked, to which she replied, “That’s right.”

“And you?” I asked. She laughed, “I guess I don’t believe in anything either.”

“Really?” I said. “So you don’t believe that there is a God who created this world and who made you?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Are you an atheist?” I asked.

“I’m not really sure,” she said, “I guess, to be honest with you, I never think about whether I believe in God or not.”

So our conversation began. We ended up talking about “what life is all about” (she never thinks about that either, she said). We talked about how we were created in Adam for the purpose of living to God’s glory, about sin and selfishness, about our need for salvation and God’s provided Savior, about our need for spiritual food (just as we need daily food) which we get from the Bible, about what the Bible is and why it is so important, and about the joy of knowing God and serving Him and living for the purpose for which God made us.

I then found out that neither she nor her parents have a Bible. She has seen a Bible before but has never read a single page of it.

“Do you have any friends that are Christians?” I asked.

“Well, not really; I have a few friends who are Roman Catholics, but they never go to church. They don’t really believe what they say they believe.”

“Has no one ever shared the gospel with you the way I am sharing it with you now?” I asked.

“Never!” she said emphatically.

“Would you like a Bible?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I would like anything that makes me happier!”

We then talked about happiness for a while. I explained that we never get happiness from seeking to be happy, but happiness is always a byproduct of holiness, of finding salvation in Christ and then seeking by His grace to walk in God’s ways. I was surprised at how well she seemed to grasp this.

In the end, I promised to send her a Bible (she wanted an English rather than Spanish copy as she loves getting to know her English “even better”) and several books. She promised that she would read the Bible and the books and let me know what she thought of what she read.

Unknown to us, the couple behind us, Todd and Bernadette, was listening to our entire conversation, and couldn’t refrain from joining us. Bernadette was born with a serious disease that has crippled her body. She was supposed to die by the age of 8, but is now 46 years of age. Her husband cheerfully carried her from her seat to the bathroom three or four times on the trip back. She travels the world, with him always at her side, giving her testimony of God’s grace to different audiences.

Bernadette smiled at my friend from Mexico City, and said, “Everything this minister told you is right. God is so good. He makes me truly happy in his Son.”

God’s providence is wonderful. This dear couple reaffirmed everything I said. My new Mexican friend could not help but be impressed how this crippled woman was just beaming with joy at the goodness of God shown to her. Who can tell?

Ligonier Conference 2013

Mark Jones (my co-author of A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life) and Jonathan Bos (a Florida businessman and son of a Free Reformed minister) met me at the Orlando airport. After having lunch with them, we attended the Ligonier Conference, which had a record number of attendees (5300) this year. This year’s conference revolved largely around the theme of standing on the bedrock of God’s truth in an age of compromise. Subjects covered included “Christ’s resurrection, Scripture’s trustworthiness, God’s plan for the family, our need to show mercy, the importance of theology, the primacy of preaching, the exclusivity of Jesus, the place of the church, our call to be on the offense against the city of man, and the final victory of Christ and His people.”

Steve Lawson gave some bold and powerful messages, and Sinclair Ferguson was helpful as always. Five optional sessions were also given. David Murray spoke well on the theme of his popular book, Christians Get Depressed Too, showing several riveting clips of his forthcoming DVD videos that support the book. Mark Jones and I were asked to speak on our book, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, and felt helped in doing so. We stressed why it is important to read Puritan theology for our spiritual well-being.

With Mark Jones at the Book Table

These were action packed days. Mark and I spent most of our time at the RHB book table in the bookstore, selling our book and conversing with people. We were grateful that Ligonier had ordered 1500 copies, of which we were able to sell about 1000. This gave us hundreds of opportunities to meet new folk, to introduce them to Puritan theology, and to answer scores of questions about the Puritans.

It was a good opportunity to reconnect with old friends as well. I particularly enjoyed lunch with Sinclair Ferguson (who is retiring from First Pres in Columbia, South Carolina, and returning to Scotland this summer), and speaking with three young men who feel a calling to the ministry and wanted to speak with me about PRTS. I had a serendipitous moment when one young man (after he bought our book), showed me a letter from our seminary that he had been accepted to study with us. His excitement to move to Michigan this summer to attend PRTS for the fall semester was palpable. I also did a live radio interview for Janet Mefferd on my new book, Encouragement for Today’s Pastors: Help from the Puritans (with Terry Slachter). Her radio program is now being aired on one hundred stations around the country simultaneously.

Late Friday evening, I visited with Rev. and Mrs. Mike Fintelman (now in Wisconsin), David VanBrugge (our HRC student who was able to take in the conference as he was scheduled to proclaim God’s Word in Bradenton the following Sunday), and several good friends from the Heritage Reformed Church in Iowa. It was great to be with them all again.

On Saturday I took the first flight home, missing the last day of the conference, as I promised Calvin that I would help him sell his new hunting DVD at a large trade show in Lansing, Michigan. I made it to the venue by noon and sold about 100 DVDs for him in the afternoon (he was very grateful!), then battled a snowstorm the last half of the way home. Cars were in the ditch everywhere for several miles; the last thirty miles I averaged 35 miles an hour on the highway. It was great to be home! God is so good.