Category: Update

We will be having our Good Friday Service at Trinitas Christian School at 6PM. It will be a joint service with our brothers and sisters at Harmony Ridge Baptist Church. Please come and join us!

The weather is divine;  my daughter is full of energy. I am sitting outside working on my Good Friday homily.  Resurection is coming!

It has been a long day thus far. This morning  I drove to Valparaiso to meet my brother Mickey Schneider for the Twin Cities Ministerial Fellowship. This is a meeting of evangelical pastors in the Niceville and Valparaiso area.  Since I am from the Pensacola area, I am unable to become a full member. I may join, however, as an associate member. The fellowship is sweet, the food is sublime, and the work being done is noble.

The main reason I come this way is to meet Mickey for our monthly mentoring session. Mickey has become a dear brother and a hero in my eyes. His humility and years of ministry in the church make him not only a Presbyterian par excellence, but a man of God rare in these days of compromise.

Another advantage of these meetings is to hear Mickey’s stories about the “good ol’ days.” Today I heard of his meeting with Cornelius Van Til in the early days of the Pensacola Institute. In those days, seminarians were provided a cottage to stay. Professors who were speakers at the Institute also stayed in the same cottage. Mickey was a young man. On that day, Martin Luther King Jr. was to deliver his famous “I have a dream” speech. Mickey says that as he was sitting on the bed to watch that speech, Van Til walks in with a towel having come back from the beach. He asked if he could sit with Mickey and hear the speech. Mickey and Van Til sitting on the same bed watching a Martin Luther King speech. People have asked him what Van Til said. Mickey told me the only thing he said that day was: ” I hope nothing goes wrong.” Another day of learning, stories and more with Mickey Schneider. What else can a young pastor want?

Back to my sermon prep.

ALUMNI SNIPPETS
Attention RTS Alumni:The Alumni and Friends Community, a Facebook-like application for the RTS web site that will also be connected to Facebook is soon to be released. We are looking for meaningful quotes from you concerning your ministry, church and seminary experience. These quotes will be incorporated into the flash designs of the site. Please send the quotes to feedback@rts.edu.

William (Bill) Bennett (D.Min. ’95) has been serving in various capacities at the Crystal Cathedral in Southern California since receiving his doctor of ministry from RTS. Currently, he is the lead pastor for the church’s Sunday evening service. Bill also serves as a nationwide consultant to churches and nonprofit organizations though the auspices of http://www.thechurchcounsel.com/.   

Uri Brito (M.Div. ’08) has been called as the minister of Providence Church (CREC) in Pensacola, FL.  He has passed his ordination exams and will be installed officially on March 25th.

After three weeks away from the pulpit and finally finished with my examination process, I will return to the pulpit this Sunday. I will be preaching from John 2:13-22.

Last week I traveled to Clinton, MS to be examined by the Athanasius Presbytery. After two hours of examination I emerged victorious. The examination covered Pastoral, Personal, Theological, Biblical, Church History, and Apologetics.

In the evening, as part of my examination, I preached to the congregation of Emmanuel Presbyterian. It was a delightful service and the singing was powerful as always.

I wait until the 25th of March to be ordained/installed as pastor of Providence Church. I look forward to administering the sacraments weekly to God’s covenant people.

I had a long day. This morning I travelled about an hour to Niceville/Valparaiso area to meet Rev. Mickey Schnider who is the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian. Mickey has become a dear brother who has fought the good fight and continues to fight faithfully for the cause of the kingdom. He has graciously mentored me in these first few months here in Pensacola. I have much to learn from Mickey. Mickey used to be Dr. Greg Bahnsen’s pastor in the 70’s. When I consider the qualifications of an elder in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, Mickey is the first person that comes to mind.

We attended the Twin Cities Ministerial Association. This association is composed of evangelical pastors from different denominations. They are all pursuing to fulfill the Biblical mandate in their own areas of ministry. It has been a long time since I attended such an ecumenical gathering.  God has truly honored this association. I hope to be a part of it in years to come.

After a delightful tour of Valparaiso and Niceville, we spent most of the afternoon discussing pastoral matters.

We had a pastoral visitation in the evening. It was a long, but delightful day learning and ministering.

In God’s goodness, I was approved yesterday by the Athanasius Presbytery to be fully ordained and installed as pastor of Providence Church (CREC). Thanks to Rev. Lonn Oswalt for hosting a delightful presbytery meeting, which concluded last evening with a Covenant Renewal Service. I will be installed on the 25th of March.

I will be going to Mississippi this morning for the first official presbytery meeting of the new Athanasius Presbytery. I will be examined at 9Am tomorrow morning.

I took my presbytery exam yesterday. It only took about eight hours. Now, my back hurts, my eyes can’t see well and I still remember where the laws on leprosy is found.

I will be examined orally by the presbytery on the 6th of March and preaching at the evening Covenant Renewal Service.

Tomorrow morning I will be taking the written presbytery exam for the Athanasius Presbytery. It is a long exam. Please pray that God would refresh my mind and give me the ability to articulate in writing God’s truths. Should God give me success tomorrow, I will be traveling to Clinton, MS for the oral examination on March 6th.  I covet your prayers.