Category: Ministry
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How to Treat a New (Young) Pastor
By Matt Mouser The following thoughts will come across more as a letter of appreciation than a theological essay regarding doctrine. Despite that fact, my hope is that the biblical truths found below will encourage church members to lift up the men that God has placed within their congregations to serve alongside them. In November…
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On Plagiarism and Its Destruction in the Church
By: Ben Campbell I have done it. You have done it. I’m sure, every preacher has been guilty at least once in their lifetime. I’ll never forget being less than 6 months into ministry and copying a sermon (COPYING A SERMON) from a well-known preacher for the purpose of re-preaching it to a group of…
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Studies in Free Will Baptist Theology: Deacons
By Dustin Walters Introduction Jesus provided the early apostles with a foundation for establishing a Gospel-centered community known as the church. The study of the church is known as ecclesiology. [1] Mark Dever said, “If you start looking in the New Testament for how we should organize as a church, you won’t find a straightforward…
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Reflections on My Seminary Journey
In 2011, I graduated high school and moved to Nashville to begin preparing for ministry at Free Will Baptist Bible College, now Welch College. I distinctly remember the words of Terry Forrest, who said, “If God has called you to preach then just preach.” I believed then and I still believe that a call to…
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Church Revitalization: A Growing Passion
A Growing Passion for Local Church Revitalization For some time now, I have developed a growing passion for local church revitalization. I do not know where this growing passion originated yet I cannot deny its existence. Perhaps my interest in church revitalization was cultivated during my time in New Orleans. At NOBTS I took a…
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The Regulative Principle: An Introduction
The regulative principle is often times mentioned exclusively within the context of congregational singing. Most would convey that congregational singing may be the best way to apply the regulative principle. But is it? Most theologians, at least the ones I’ve read, only relate the regulative principle to congregational singing and how we are to methodize…
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Theological Training and the Call to Ministry
It all goes back to answering God’s call. Faith and reason are interrelated, yet sometimes we are called to be obedient even when it does not make sense. What might God be calling you to do as a demonstration of your faith? Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac. What’s your Isaac?
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Signs of the Times?
In all honesty, there are times when I want to scream some things from the rooftops of my theological beliefs; this is one of those times. Of course, there is a bit of tongue-in-cheek to what I am saying here, but another way of putting this is that there is some major misunderstandings of Scripture’s…
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A (Pandemic) Philosophy of Ministry
The world-wide phenomenon that is the COVID-19 pandemic has really made ministry in the local church rather difficult. Ministry really has always been demanding, but adding a world-wide virus that is more contagious than the common flu presents its own set of difficulties moving forward. Before COVID-19 settled into the United States, ministry was what…
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Virtual Lord’s Supper: Biblical or Unbiblical?
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about so many different what-if thoughts within the republic of the United States. I know there are many who are out of work and, if you live in Arkansas (as with other states), the schools will no longer hold a session for the 19-20 school year. Many churches (like yours…
Ordinary Pastors Connecting Theological Truths to Everyday Believers 