Horton is a'feerd of the church planting movement

Watch this video, pay special attention right at the two minute mark.



There are two things going on here.

One is the obvious reaction of a seminary guy who thinks anyone in a "serious" ministry role needs to go to seminary. How can you possibly plant a church and minister to people without having formal, expensive training in the original languages? There will always be a subsection of the church that cannot envision faithful ministry that does not include formal academic vocational training despite seeing nothing of the sort in the Bible.

The other response is the ongoing backlash against those who embrace God's sovereign grace, i.e. Calvinism, but don't toe the line on the traditions that surround it. I think that some in the “Truly Reformed” camp are victims of their own success. They have done a great job propagating the doctrines of grace and they have rightly gained a large and enthusiastic following. Then something odd and unexpected happened along the way. As many Christians embraced these doctrines, they did not flood into the traditional “Reformed” churches. They are finding new ways of expressing the church gathering and they are moving past the traditions of the Reformed wing of the church. In doing so they are finding that the more seriously they take the Scripture and the more they study it, the easier it becomes to jettison the traditions that have surrounded being “Reformed” since the 16th century.

When God is moving among His people, it is impossible and foolhardy for some men to try to dictate terms or control that movement. That has never stopped them from trying!

This promises to be interesting

Frank Turk over at the Team Pyro blog has penned an open letter to Michael Horton of White Horse Inn fame, questioning the tendency of the WHI crew to emphasize the “Law and Gospel” distinction to the exclusion of almost everything else. I stopped listening to the White Horse Inn some time ago because I simply grew tired of the “everyone in the church is stoopid and what we need is more Word and Sacrament” as if listening to sermons and nibbling a cracker/sipping a tiny cup of wine is going to fix all of the problem in the church. Frank’s post Open Letter to Michael Horton is sure to draw a spirited response, probably not from Dr. Horton but certainly from his surrogates. I can think of one in particular that is going to have a fit. Much energy will be spent and many keys will be furiously tapped in this debate.

Meanwhile, the lost world is still lost. Orphans are still orphans. Widows are still widows. The hungry still don’t have food.

Has Michael Horton gone the way of John Piper?!

Very interesting. Michael Horton, dean of the "Truly Reformed" and host of The White Horse Inn is going to appear on a panel hosted by *GASP!* Rick Warren at the Saddleback Conversation Gathering. The panel is part of The Lausanne Global Conversation and the topic is The Future of the Global Church. Horton will appear as a panelist alongside a number of other participants. It should be an interesting conversation but I have to ask....

I wonder if Horton will get the same grief as John Piper?

Less than three months away!

The 2009 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology in Grand Rapids is right around the corner, March 27-29. The topic this year is Right With God: The Doctrine of Justification. Looks like several of my comrades are planning on trekking down from northern Michigan, so I anticipate some great teaching, great music from Westminster Brass, great fellowship and at least one trip to BW-3 (although I know at least one person who is coming who can't handle the wings there, maybe he can order some cream of wheat or something...)

The schedule is posted here, looks like the speakers for Grand Rapids are Michael Horton, Richard Phillips, Philip Ryken and Steven Lawson.

As a bonus, we might be moving at around that same time, so maybe I can cajole some of my boys into helping us move...

(I hope they don't realize I am a Baptist, otherwise I may be barred from a conference on "Reformed theology")

Some vital listening...

A couple of radio programs that are thought-provoking.

The first is from the White Horse Inn, as part of the Christ-less Christianity series in 2008, titled "What would Moses do?" The conversation centers around how Christians should read and use the Old Testament on this side of the cross. For a lot of churches, if the Old Testament is brought up at all, it becomes a series of biographies of godly men who become examples of how we should live. As Horton and company rightly show, the Old Testament is about the Christ to come, and every story, every character really needs to be viewed in the redemptive-historical mindset. David is not much of an example for us to live by viewed in a vacuum, but seen in the context of the coming of Christ it makes more sense. The endless sacrifices and laws in the tabernacle and temple all seem boring and futile, until viewed through the eyes of the Jew who sees the risen Christ and knows who He really is.

The other is from the Albert Mohler show, and he and guest Russel Moore discuss how incompatible evolution is with Christianity, "Two Irreconcilable Worldviews". It is not just about the creation account. It is about the nature of God. Is He a God who is sovereign, in control of all things and the idea that He did or had to use evolutionary means to achieve His will degrades His revealed nature. It is a good show, even though he spends a bunch of time glorying in the beagle that won Westminster! More on evolution is coming...