At the Reformation 500 event in Boston, Doug Phillips asked my father, "What's the mission here?" Doug posted his reply HERE.

To celebrate John Calvin’s birthday today, we are offering hot-off-the-press personally signed copies of Family Reformation: The Legacy of Sola Scriptura in John Calvin’s Geneva for 50% off.

Signed Copy 50% off Sale Ends on July 17^th.

Click HERE to purchase.

Since today is John Calvin’s 500th Birthday, we have a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a man who reminded us of the majesty of God. Here are some striking statements various theologians have made concerning Calvin.

Cotton Mather was asked why he was reading late into the night during his later years, in contrast to his early years where he did not do it very much. He replied,

"Because I love to sweeten my mouth with a piece of Calvin before I go to sleep." ^[1]

In this editorial, Doug provides a summary statement on Calvin's impact on American politics. Doug reminds us, "As we celebrate Independence Day, let us remember the 500-year legacy of liberty bequeathed to us by John Calvin, even as we stand with Harvard historian George Bancroft who wisely stated: "He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty."

As we celebrate the liberties we now possess, we can remember that it is a historical fact that, "It was Founding Father and the second President of the United States, John Adams, who described Calvin as "a vast genius," a man of "singular eloquence, vast erudition, and polished taste, [who] embraced the cause of Reformation," adding: "Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect."

Read the article HERE.

Founding Elders: Steve Breagy and Allen Smith

I am delighted to report that on Sunday July 19, Hope Baptist will be sending elder Steven Breagy out to join with Allen Smith to plant a new church in Moore County, NC. They will be meeting about an hour and a half from us. We are teaming up with Heritage Bible Fellowship in Fayetteville by sending one of our dear elders. Click Here to view their listing in the NCFIC directory.

We have now just graduated our first intern class. Our hearts are full of gratitude and it was hard to see them go back home, as they had become dear brothers to us. Over the months we became a unified team with each of us functioning according to our gifts. We hated the idea of being without them and experienced the sorrows of parting with treasured comrades. They are from left to right, Ryan Glick, Joe Froemming, Andrew Gillingham, Micah Ferrill, Andrew Higginbotham.

Here are some of the things these men said about their time with us here:

 “I have been broken, encouraged, terrified, humbled and delighted by the Lord, through the freedom and mercy he has given us in his commandments!”
 

We just returned from the Reformation 500 Celebration and boy, what a celebration it was. Doug Phillips engineered this event which was marked by joy, friendship, scholarship and practical, experiential, heartfelt Christianity. It was also a three day hard charging training center where young and old were learning of the great doctrines upon which we stand and studying the long line of godly men and women who have maintained them throughout history. The conviction ran high and it was such a pleasure to be part of it. Thank you Doug and Vision Forum for doing this. May your tribe increase.

We now have government indoctrination centers that have systematically secured the corruption of entire generations. How serious is this issue? David d'Escoto shows just how insidious this influence is, and answers the question, "is it sin to send our children there?"

I am often asked how to explain the phrase in Nehemiah 8:2, "So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding." The question typically comes from people who want to use this text to prove us wrong on the issue of age segregated Sunday school. The idea is, "see, the children were not included in this meeting, therefore, the legitimacy of age segregated Sunday schools are proven conclusively." Here is Dr. Voddie Baucham on the matter. Click Here

Paul Butler has done it again. Click HERE to listen to an encouraging audio clip from Moody Radio with Paul Butler interviewing Lyndon Ascuna, myself, and others.

Paul says:

As you read through the book of Proverbs there are many chapters which begin with phrases like: “Hear my children, the instruction of a father” or “My son, pay attention to my wisdom, lend your ear to my understanding…” The words of a father to his children can have incredible impact. This piece highlights the power of a father’s words...

A defining moment in my life came in the year 2000 when I was listening to Dennis Rainey at a conference in Dallas Texas. He said,

“The family is God’s smallest unit in the battle for the soul of any nation. He designed the family as the birthplace and residence of Christianity. It is the place where the knowledge, fear, and love of the Lord are taught by parents and learned by children… If the soul of America is to be restored, it will be done one home, one family at a time, and in the church, we assist that by proclaiming God’s truth for the family. We need a ‘family reformation.’ Just as the Protestant Reformation restored vibrant faith to the soul, so a family reformation can restore spiritual vitality in our homes, communities, and nation…”
--Building Strong Families. Dennis Rainey, Crossway Books, 2002, p16-17

I was convinced that he was right and that the reformation must start with pastors and with fathers. Since God has made elders spiritual heads of churches and fathers the spiritual heads of households, without a radical reformation in their practices there will be no reformation.

Further, unless fathers rise up to play their biblical roles, there will never be sustainable reformation of any kind. When fathers do not adequately teach their children, reforms only last one generation and then everyone goes back to doing what is right in their own eyes. This is a systemic problem with many reformations in the church. When Deuteronomy 11:9 is not heeded and the children of the reformers are not taught, reformation dies with the leaders. (See also: Judges 8:32-35)

My prayer is that this book will help fan the flames of reformation for pastors, fathers, mothers, and children, calling them back to the historic doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture for the family.

The burning questions are being asked everywhere. “How do we insure our children will not abandon the faith?” “What do we do to reverse the destructive influence of the world, the culture, and even the church in our children’s lives?” Gratefully, something significant is happening in almost every denomination and every part of the country. Parents and pastors are finally abandoning psychology and current statistical analysis and turning back to the word of God to answer these questions. Regretfully, it has taken the loss of an entire generation to wake us up to our great need for God’s answers for the family. We need a family reformation.

As I studied the Scripture for answers, I wanted to know what our reformation fathers had learned and taught on this subject. Was this a new problem? Did the reformers exposit the scriptures on the Family?
What I found led me to publish Family Reformation. I discovered a rich treasure trove of historical teaching on the family, pioneered by John Calvin, but carried out and honed through the reformation. Our present crisis is not singular and pastors and fathers crying out to God for answers for their family is not new.In this book, you will find John Calvin’s expositions, commentary, and teaching on the various key elements of Christian family life and discover again the amazing truth that the Word of God is “living, active, and sharper than any two edged sword…” and just as applicable, convicting, and transformational today as it was in John Calvin’s Geneva.

Copies of Family Reformation: The Legacy of Sola Scriptura in John Calvin’s Geneva will be available at the Reformation 500 Celebration in Boston at the end of the month or online after July 5th. You can also go to Amazon.com to pre-order a copy HERE.

During his first 100 days, our president has already proven he is no friend of the church or the family. During this period we have been observers of what seems to be the gutting of the moral capital of America. Now, in an absolutely unprecedented Presidential Proclamation, Barack Obama has officially named this month in honor of sodomites.

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists."

He also states his pleasure in promoting sodomites in the White House.

"I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism."

Romans chapter one addresses this phenomenon in devastatingly descriptive detail.

18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

21. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another ; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

32. Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

“The pivot point hangs on whether or not God has revealed a universal pattern for the church in the New Testament. If He has not, then anything will do so long as it works.  But I am convinced that nothing so dear to the heart of Christ as His Bride should be left without explicit instructions as to her corporate conduct. I am further convinced that the 20th century has in no way simulated this pattern in its method of  ‘churching’ a community... it is incumbent upon me, if God has a pattern for the church, to find and establish that pattern, at all costs.” 
--Jim Elliot

 Elizabeth Elliot, Shadow of The Almighty:  Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot (San Francisco, CA:  Harper & Row, 1989), 138-139.

Church’s Leadership and Ministry? 

We affirm God’s revealed pattern in Scripture that the church be led and fed by a plurality of biblically qualified elders whom the Holy Spirit raises up from within the local church, who equip all the saints to do the work of ministry, and who may or may not be remunerated (Acts 14:23; 20:28; Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 5:17-18).

?We deny/reject the two unbiblical extremes of our day: authoritarian, one-man leadership/one-man ministry that impedes the biblical functioning of the body, and leaderless house churches that disregard the biblical necessity of elders

View the full NCFIC Confession HERE.

We agree with the historic position on the sufficiency of Scripture which views the various creeds and confessions as invaluable (though not infallible) summaries of the Word of God. A creed (meaning “I believe”) is inevitable—even the anti-creedal statement, “No creed but Christ,” is a creed! The Christian creeds and confessions affirm the authority of God’s Word and provide the hermeneutical framework (the Holy Spirit working through His whole church) to help us rightly interpret it. All the cults profess simple “belief in the Bible,” yet they reject the creeds and confessions. We recognize the Nicene Creed as a standard of basic Christian orthodoxy.

Every Memorial Day, our church sponsors an old fashioned Memorial Day Celebration for the whole community where we honor veterans and give glory to God for His providential acts in history. Our church serves a free lunch and prays that people will bring their friends and relatives who served our nation in the armed services.

Visit Doug's Blog for a delightful report of a past Memorial Day celebration.

During our 2007 regional conference in Wake Forest NC, The Extreme Group wowed us with their real time polling technology. John Collins, President and CEO of The Extreme Group delivered instant poll results about the conference attendees seconds after the questions were asked and then immediately displayed them on the big screen for everyone to see. Gone are the days of counting raised hands or trying to sort out whether the "ayes have it".