Southern Cemetery

After class today, my DMin cohort comrades took off to the Cave Hill Cemetery here in Louisville to visit the grave sites of a number of Southern Seminary figures. Here’s a few pics of those we vistited today at Southern’s cemetery. After the cemetery stroll, one of my cohorts (Michael aka, Gus) went through Heritage Hall and viewed the massive portraits of all nine of Southern’s presidents. James P. Boyce – first President of Southern Seminary. John A. Broadus – member of the first faculty at Southern and the second President of the school. A.T. Robertson – Professor of New Testament, buried in the shadow of Broadus’ grave. Basil Manly – Professor of Old Testament in the early days of the school. John R. Sampy – fifth President of Southern. Duke McCall – seventh President of Southern and a chief proponent who carried the school in a very moderate to liberal direction. McCall is still alive, but his grave will one day be next to the other Southern Seminary leaders. Here’s my beloved brothers in the DMin program, who I have grown to love and value their friendship, integrity, parternership in ministry and kindred...

For My Seminary Buddies

PyroManiac: You’re probably a cessationist, too Yesterday was another great day of class, discussing how to effectively and accurately preach from the Gospels. Some of our time was spent discussing how to preach the miracle accounts in the gospel, which led to a number of fun discussions during our breaks on the subject of cessationism. The conversation carried over last night as well as we had a wonderful dinner with a great professor, Dr. Cook. In light of our recent conversations, I enjoyed reading Phil’s comments today on cessationism. I don’t want to put words in the mouths of my brothers, but I’m not sure they were really ready to call themselves cessationists. Perhaps Phil can help tip them in the right direction....

Why Not to Abuse the Prayer of Jabez

Between Two Worlds: Bruce Wilkinson Interesting chronicle of Bruce Wilkinson’s recent ministry experiences. From my limited vantage point, his life is the fruit of a ministry that wants quick fixes and immediate successes rather than steady faithfulness. How many who have sought bigger borders through the Jabez mantra have experienced a similar inconsistency in life? Interestingly, this morning I began reading John Piper’s God is the Gospel. In light of what you read about Wilkinson, consider a few quotes from Piper: “. . . we have turned the love of God and the gospel of Christ into a divine endorsement of our delight in many lesser things, especially the delight inour beingmade much of. The acid test of biblical God-centeredness – and faithfulness to the gospel – is this: Do you feel more loved because God makes much of you, or because, at the cost of his Son, he enables you to enjoy making much of him forever?” “The critical question for our generation – and for every generation – is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?” “Have we shifted with the world from God’s love as the gift of himself to God’s love as the gift of a mirror in which we like what we see?”...

Back from the Brink of Extinction

One of the ways you find out who is reading your blog is when you do what I have done and not write for about a month. Out of the five people (maybe ten at the most) who avidly consume the diatribes and brief discussions of The Capranica, they all seem to be quite upset that I have yielded little material lately. It is somewhat satisfying to know that The Capranica is a regular part of a number of people’s lives to the point they are crying for more. Among these are a few of the men who are a part of my Doctor of Ministry cohort. I hesitate to mention their names so as to expose them to ridicule for reading this blog as a regular habit, so I will only mention their first names. Both Jason C. and David C. begged for more and regular content from The Capranica, especially posts similar to the blessing derived from Mrs. Hinn’s video clip. Yes, that was a most edifying display. I’ll try to help these men by being more regular. Not that many will care, but here’s a run down of what has been going on over the past number of weeks. Our church’s Christmas concert was held on December 18. It was one of the largest Adult evangelism events we have yet to have. About three hundred people were present for what was a newly arranged Christmas musical. We pursued more of a concert approach than a cantata or dramatic approach. One of our pastors preached the gospel clearly toward the end of the concert. I was thrilled...