elders

Reflections on Elders from 1 Peter

March 26, 2011 By ray

This was posted on the 9Marks Blog: Building Healthy Churches by Aaron Menikoff on 3/24/11. At Mount Vernon where I serve, we have been talking about moving to elders for a couple of years. Through it all, I’ve found that one of the most helpful texts to speak from has been 1 Peter 5:2-4 where Peter writes to the elders, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.… Read more

Book Review: The Deliberate Church (Mark Dever)

March 25, 2011 By ray

The Deliberate Church After many people read “The Nine Marks of the Healthy Church,” they asked, if we realize that our church is unhealthy, what can be do concretely to become a healthy church? In his sequel, Mark Dever, pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church, makes a point that everything that we do in the church should be done deliberately, hence the title.… Read more

John Piper's Leave of Absence and What God Taught Him

January 3, 2011 By ray

I wrote this report for Bethlehem and have adapted it for this first day of 2011 on the DG Blog. It’s longer than a blog should be. My only excuse is that I did cut 263 pages. For eight months of this year (May–December), I was on a leave of absence.… Read more