TPC Pastor's Page

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  • Pastors as Specialists in the Bible and Generalists in Culture/Life

    Pastors, by definition, are generalists. We are supposed to be specialists in the Bible, but the Bible is so broad in its scope, a teacher of the Bible must be a generalist. A good pastor is one of the last generalists left in our highly specialized society. The Bible teaches on marriage, sex, parenting, money,… Read more

  • The Problem with Christian Zionism

    The core problem with Christian Zionism is simple. All of God’s promises are yes and Amen in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). There are no promises to anyone outside of Christ. Jews outside of Christ have no divine promises to claim, including no land promise. Obviously the people living in the land right now have a… Read more

  • TO KEEP THE SHIRE, YOU HAVE TO DEFEND THE SHIRE: A CIVILIZATION WORTH FIGHTING FOR

    [A version of this essay will be published in an upcoming issue of Fight, Laugh, Feast magazine.] The Christian faith built Western civilization. While Western Civilization (aka “Christendom”) was never perfect, it was glorious – certainly the apex of human history thus far. Christendom was our Shire – a civilizational and cultural home we had… Read more

  • Modern Liberalism’s God-Shaped Hole

    Modern liberalism has a God-shaped hole. To put it another way, modern liberalism is just classical liberalism secularized; it is classical liberalism with God taken out of the picture. The values of classical liberalism are basically synonymous with the American founding era. Liberalism is basically just Americanism. When America was Christian, the system worked pretty… Read more

  • Hebrews 5:7 and Gethsemane

    Hebrews 5:7 is one of the most interesting texts in the entire NT, especially when connected to other NT passages: “In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His… Read more

  • Confessions of a Worship Leader

    This is an excerpt from an article by Jonathan Aigner, found here: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2022/01/07/confessions-of-a-former-worship-leader-2/. While Aigner ended up Lutheran, classic Lutheran and Calvinistic/Reformed theologies of liturgy largely overlap. The stress is on seeking God where he has promised to be found — in his Word and sacraments, not in our emotions or fluctuating feelings. Whereas the medieval… Read more