by Sam Waldron | Aug 21, 2013 | Ecclesiology, Family-Integrated Church, Regulative Principle
Some of you may have already heard or seen that I will be speaking at The Worship of God Conference of the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches. This conference will be held October 31-November 2, 2013 at the Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, NC. I am excited to take the two slots that Scott Brown has asked me to fill. The subjects are ones that I care passionately about. I will be speaking once on the subject of The Worship of God in the Great Confessions of the Church and once on the important question Is There a Regulative Principle? In this session I will show that, while all of life is addressed by the sufficient Scriptures, the sufficiency of Scripture has a special and detailed relevance and application to the church and its worship that is different than its application to the rest of life. This special application of the Scriptures to the church and its worship is historically known as the regulative principle of worship.
My concerns about the Family-Integrated Church movement are no secret. And I have not ceased to be concerned about the theological and practical issues I have raised. Over the past few years, however, I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that men like Scott Brown, Jeff Pollard, and Voddie Baucham are heartily confessional and truly and firmly convinced of the system of doctrine (including the ecclesiology) taught in the 1689 Baptist Confession. Whatever contradictions of the Confession some who identify themselves with FIC movement may believe and practice, these men love the 1689 Baptist Confession. Particularly encouraging to me are their clear and correct views of the Christian Sabbath and the Regulative Principle.
This is why we will be featuring a series of videos created by the NCFIC on The Worship of God on our website for the next few weeks. You will here men like Joel Beeke, Paul Washer, Conrad Mbewe, and others sharing convictions and perspectives about the worship of God to which I can give a loud Amen! and which I can only pray will increasingly spread through the global church of God.
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
by Sam Waldron | Aug 16, 2013 | Historical Theology
We must never allow church history in general or any part of church history in particular to exercise a divine authority over our faith. Nevertheless, there are some persons and events of church history that are so close to the core of what historical Christianity is that to deny their legitimacy seems close to denying the faith. One such event might be the conversion of Luther via his understanding of justification by faith alone. Another such event is the conversion of Augustine. We may well say, “If Augustine was not a Christian, and if his conversion was not true conversion, then whose conversion is?” Thus, we may well ask, indeed, we must ask, What lessons about true conversion can we learn from Augustine’s conversion?
Our First Lesson: The Importance of the Use of Means in Conversion
There is a debate in some Reformed circles over views of conversion which emphasize the importance of nurture in conversion and views which emphasize that conversion is a sudden event which often takes place without previous preparation in the context of revival. Now without getting deeply involved in that debate, it is clear that the use of means were vitally important to Augustine’s conversion.
The Means of Prayer—Monica
There may be no famous instance in the history of Christianity of the importance of parental nurture, but especially of parental prayers than the example of Monica. From this we learn that persevering prayer which never gives up on praying for the object of one’s concern is a mighty means in the conversion of sinners. We should never give up on the possibility of God answering our prayers in the conversion of our loved ones.
The Means of Preaching—Ambrose
The instruction from Ambrose which Augustine received in the years immediately preceding his conversion, and especially His preaching, is a strong encouragement to
bring our children faithfully, and others as we can persuade them, under the faithful ministry of the Word of God. It is plain that through the preaching of Ambrose Augustine experienced both an increasingly clear understanding of the truthfulness of the Christian religion and an increasingly deep conviction of sin. These things plainly led to (were the means of) his conversion.
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
by admin | Aug 7, 2013 | Course offerings, Current Events
Below is an e-mail update sent out from Dr. Sam Waldron. If you would like to be added to the Midwest Center for Theological Studies e-mail list, please sign up here!
Friends of MCTS,
In April I wrote an email to report to you our friends to keep you abreast of several, encouraging changes in the ministry of MCTS.
First, while MCTS is governed by a board of directors, it is hosted by a local church. MCTS is now hosted by Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Owensboro where I was set apart as a pastor in June and joined Pastors Joe Wilson and Ron Miller in the eldership of that church. We are very thankful for the very positive and supportive atmosphere at Grace toward the ministry of MCTS.
Second, I want to report on what I believe to be a very successful MCTS Board Meeting. My hope was that we could encourage our board by honoring in specific ways their authority over MCTS to take a much more active role in the leadership of MCTS. I am very encouraged that this was accomplished. I want to thank the board members for their diligent work and the help I am sure they will be to us in the future. The chartering and formation of several active committees promise to lead us forward in very helpful ways.
Third, the coming school year is almost upon us. We have six live classes scheduled to be taught including the last two in our Basic Training curriculum. I begin the year with the second of my three courses taking the student through the historical theology. It deals with what I call the Augustinian Church and covers what are often thought of as the Medieval and Reformation periods of church history. Michael Emadi will then be teaching the two semesters of Elementary Hebrew for us later in the fall and then beginning the second semester in January. Richard Barcellos will be teaching an overview of Biblical Theology in a modular course in January and Tom Ascol will be leading our modular course on Preaching in June. I will be teaching Modern Church History in the spring. If you would like to livestream any of these classes online or take them for credit as a student, please let our registrar know: [email protected]
Fourth, American Vision has just released an over hour long video of the Revelation Symposium moderated by Brian Borgman in February in which I participated along with Jim Hamilton and Gary Demar. A two minute promotional video is available here: http://www.mctsowensboro.org/2013/08/waldron-on-revelation/
Fifth, we exist to serve Christ’s churches by training men for the ministry. If you would like to help us in that work, feel free to contact our registrar. Again, his e-mail address is: registrar@mctsowensboro.org
The Lord Reigns,
Dr. Sam Waldron
CBTS Faculty fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession of Faith, hold an advanced
degree in their field of instruction, and possess significant pastoral experience.
by admin | Aug 2, 2013 | Eschatology
Earlier this year, Dr. Sam Waldron participated in a symposium of three views of the book of Revelation. The video and audio of this discussion is now available through the ministry American Vision. Here is a taste of the symposium:
Symposium: noun \sim-?p?-z?-?m
a : a social gathering at which there is free interchange of ideas
b : a formal meeting at which several specialists deliver short addresses on a topic or on related topics
c : a collection of opinions on a subject; especially : one published by a periodical
d : discussion
In February of 2013, three biblical scholars set out to debate discuss three separate views of Revelation in Reno, Nevada.
- Dr. Sam Waldron, academic dean of MCTS and professor of systematic theology
debated discussed the Idealist position.
- Gary DeMar, M. Div, RTS
debated discussed the Preterist (partial) position.
- Dr. James Hamilton, Asst. Professor of biblical studies, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
debated discussed the futurist position.
What happened however turned out not to be a typical talking head debate symposium on the book of Revelation.
CBTS Faculty fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession of Faith, hold an advanced
degree in their field of instruction, and possess significant pastoral experience.
by admin | Jul 23, 2013 | Audio/Video, Book, Interviews
On a recent episode of the Confessing Baptist Podcast, Dr. Sam Waldron was interviewed on his new book Two Things You Must Do To Be Saved. You don’t want to miss listening to this interview with Dr. Waldron!
CBTS Faculty fully subscribe to the 1689 Confession of Faith, hold an advanced
degree in their field of instruction, and possess significant pastoral experience.
