Who’s Your Pastor? [Pastors and Practice]

—Ben Arbour

[Editor’s Note: In the midst of writing a book on the same topic, Ben Arbour has agreed to offer us a series, Pastors and Practice, arguing that Christ is our true model for pastoral ministry. Throughout his argument, Ben will explain how Christ’s example should affect the governing of the church and the ministry of pastors.]

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As Chris and PJ have said, much of the material that is being posted here is part of a book I'm working on. In that book, I spend quite a bit of time and space recapitulating the biblical and theological arguments favoring multiple-elder leadership in a local church. However, because there is already so much literature out there on this subject, and because Chris and PJ both agree that the New Testament teaches this, I won't offer such arguments here.

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Church Planting is for Wimps | Book Review

—PJ King

Earlier this year, 9 Marks released Church Planting is for Wimps, by Mike McKinley. It’s an $8, 113 page book which I impulsively bought a few weeks ago.

About the book

The first questions I had when I saw the book were “What does the title mean?” and “Who is Mike McKinley?”; I’ll begin with the latter.

Michael McKinley has been the Lead Pastor at Guilford Baptist Church since 2005. He was sent by Capitol Hill Baptist to revitalize the church, which had 12 members and no pastor at the time. This book is his story of that replant.

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An Introduction, Part 2 [Pastors and Practice]

—Ben Arbour

[Editor’s Note: In the midst of writing a book on the same topic, Ben Arbour has agreed to offer us a series, Pastors and Practice, arguing that Christ is our true model for pastoral ministry. Throughout his argument, Ben will explain how Christ’s example should affect the governing of the church and the ministry of pastors.

Be sure to read Part 1 of Ben’s introduction.]

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Two things seem to have brought about a recent revival of interest in ecclesiology. First, within Southern Baptist life (the community from which I hail), when compared with historical norms, a disproportional number of budding theologians embrace the so-called “doctrines of grace,” more commonly referred to as Calvinism. Because of the historical connection between Calvinism and presbyterian churches, it is not surprising that some of those who have explored and adopted understandings of the doctrine of salvation (such as Calvinism), which differ from those views under which they grew up, might also come to advocate differing ecclesiologies as well.

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An Introduction, Part 1 [Pastors and Practice]

—Ben Arbour

[Editor’s Note: In the midst of writing a book on the same topic, Ben Arbour has agreed to offer us a series, Pastors and Practice, arguing that Christ is our true model for pastoral ministry. Throughout his argument, Ben will explain how Christ’s example should affect the governing of the church and the ministry of pastors.]

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I am a Baptist. As a Baptist, I believe that the Bible is the final authority on all theological matters, including ecclesiology (the doctrine of the Church). Additionally, as a Baptist, I stand among many in the so-called free church tradition. This tradition understands each individual local church to be self-governed, apart from any higher, external authority other than God and the Bible. Hence, there is no one (no association of churches, no bishop, and no pope) who can tell an individual church how it must worship, who should be its pastor(s), or where it should locate itself. Instead

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Pastors and Practice: The Series

In the midst of writing a book on the same topic, Ben Arbour has agreed to offer us a series of posts arguing that Christ is our true model for pastoral ministry. Throughout his argument, Ben will explain how Christ’s example should affect the governing of the church and the ministry of pastors.

This post will serve as a landing page. As the series progresses, the list below will expand so that you can navigate to all articles in the series.

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Pastors and Practice:

1. An Introduction, Part 1
2. An Introduction, Part 2
3. Who’s Your Pastor?
4. He’s Not Your Pastor
5. What is a Pastor?
6. Titles Don't Mean Squat
7. Pastor like Jesus
8. Proactive Pastoring
9. The LORD as Shepherd
10. Who Should Shepherd?

A Circle in the Sand

—Chris Krycho

One of the consequences of holding a high view of church membership is that some people will inevitably be excluded. That is, in some sense, the point: the church is very carefully stating who is, and who is not, recognized as a Christian—so that believers and nonbelievers alike understand that even if the person claims the title of Christian, the church disagrees. Unrepentant sin is serious, serious enough that when people continue in it we treat them as non-Christians. We go back to trying to win them to Christ.

This raises a quandary for churches

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Capitol Hill: Late at Night

—PJ King

Katie and I took a last-minute trip to DC to celebrate her graduation from OU! While we were there we were able to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church, home of 9 Marks. That trip has turned into a week-long series—Visiting Capitol Hill.

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Earlier, I did not describe one event that transpired during the morning of our visit to Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) in Washington DC: I was able to meet Mark Dever, the Senior Pastor. I had no concern in approaching him because my friend, Ben Arbour, had already let him know that Katie and I would be in town. After I introduced myself, Mark graciously invited us to come back to the evening service and then observe the weekly Service Review meeting.

However, Mark did not just off-handedly invite me. He sat me down (Katie was still in the main hall) and pastorally told me

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Coming down the line

You may have noticed a disturbing lack of content coming to your reader/inbox/screen from Pillar this week. There are good reasons for that, must of them starting with "busy" and ending with "summer." However, we have quite a lineup in the pipe for you.

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Graduation and DC! | Family Friday

—Katie King

[Editor's note: PJ and Katie took a last-minute trip to DC to celebrate her graduation from OU! While we were there we were able to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church, home of 9 Marks. That trip has turned into a week-long series—Visiting Capitol Hill.]

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Hello readers. Happy summer! It’s been a busy, exciting time for the Kings and the Krychos the last few weeks.

I graduated from nursing school at OU (praise the Lord!) in the middle of May. We had a wonderful weekend of celebration with both sides of our family. I cannot even express how glad I am to be done with school. Goodbye 80-hour weeks of studying! [Editor’s note: she is not exaggerating.] I have to say that PJ, Chris, and Jaimie were amazing sources of support during the last hectic months (and really, throughout the whole two years!)

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Capitol Hill in the Evening

—PJ King

Katie and I took a last-minute trip to DC to celebrate her graduation from OU! While we were there we were able to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church, home of 9 Marks. That trip has turned into a week-long series—Visiting Capitol Hill.

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All my life, I have dreaded Sunday night services. As a child, the pain was usually relieved when I fell asleep in the chair (no pews after age 5). On the really awesome Sunday nights, I would fall asleep (or feign sleep) early enough in the service that my Dad would just take me home. We then would watch a prime-time movie, like Indiana Jones. (Didn’t it always seem like the best TV was on Sunday night when we were growing up?) Later in life, I would argue with my parents

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Capitol Hill in the Morning

—PJ King

Katie and I took a last-minute trip to DC to celebrate her graduation from OU! While we were there we were able to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church, home of 9 Marks. That trip has turned into a week-long series—Visiting Capitol Hill.

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As my lovely wife will detail on Friday, we had the opportunity to vacation in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend. As you may know, 9 Marks (which we have mentioned before) is a ministry of Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) in DC. Because we have referenced many of 9 Marks’ material here at Pillar on the Rock, I would like to share with you the experience Katie and I had at the church

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Visiting Capitol Hill

—PJ King

Katie and I took a last-minute trip to DC to celebrate her graduation from OU! While we were there we were able to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church, home of 9 Marks. That trip has turned into a week-long series—go figure.

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1. Capitol Hill in the Morning
2. Capitol Hill in the Evening
3. Capitol Hill: Late at Night
4. Graduation and DC! | Family Friday

Divorce and Remarriage: Practicalities [Part 3]

Posted by Chris Krycho

Today, we wrap up our five-post long discussion of divorce and remarriage. In the first two posts, PJ laid out a biblical theology of divorce and remarriage (Part 1 | Part 2). I have been following that up by dealing with practical applications of that theology. In Part 1, I addressed biblical grounds for separation and what people ought to do when they (or their friends) have divorced and remarried. In Part 2, I addressed the special case of a person whose ex-spouse has already remarried, and church discipline. Today, I conclude by asking whether men who have remarried are disqualified from high office in the church.

1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6 tell us that an elder is to be "the husband of one wife," and 1 Timothy 3:12 states the same requirement for deacons. What does this mean? There are three possible interpretations, all of which we believe are valid readings. However, each church must decide on a single view—preferably before a man is considered for high office who has been remarried!

In any case, we must take these passages in context.

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Divorce and Remarriage: Practicalities [Part 2]

Posted by Chris Krycho

In my last post, I began dealing with the practical consequences of the doctrine of divorce and remarriage that PJ has laid out (Part 1 | Part 2). I covered biblical grounds for separation and what we should do regarding preexisting remarriages. Today, I will tackle two more questions: whether remarriage is permissible if a divorced spouse has already remarried, and church discipline for these issues. Next time, I will wrap up by addressing the issue of remarried men in church leadership.

What if my spouse has already remarried and reconciliation is impossible?

The most pleasant answer here is simply to say that, because no reconciliation is possible, remarriage is allowed. Unfortunately, I disagree, on the basis of the texts PJ outlined. (I'll note that I am disagreeing with one of my own pastors here; you can read his reasoning here, as well as PJ's response immediately following.) I think Deuteronomy 24:1-4 makes clear that remarriage defiles the one remarrying—so even if one's ex-spouse has remarried, one still defiles oneself by breaking that covenant.

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