CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

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Adapting Ministry to the Rising Generation

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By David Nelson

Editor’s note: Equip for Ministry will be featuring selected churches in the PCA excelling in the ministry of making kingdom disciples. The following article features First Presbyterian Church of Stanley, NC., Dan King senior pastor. The article by David Nelson, associate pastor of Christian education and discipleship,was written at the request of EfM. Our thanks to David for his assistance. We asked him to highlight their ministry to the rising generation. We commend them for their vision and desire to begin the discipleship process in the early years of their covenant children’s lives.

Adapting Ministry for the Rising Generation


People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:13-16 1

While Jesus’ disciples try to keep little children in the background, Jesus elevates them to the status of kingdom role models. Jesus loves children! What is it about children that Jesus adores? Like Him, they’re humble, meek, trusting, dependent, untainted by the world, loving, accepting of others, not proud or boastful. When Jesus says, “Let the little children come to Me… for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these!” He’s saying, “these are My people, this is what My people are like! AND, they’re important to Me!… don’t disrespect them, push them aside, or keep them in the background. In fact, you should hold little children up as role models, because they’re like the people in heaven!”

Read entire publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader required)

In America, younger and younger children have ever-growing access to anti-Christian philosophies through school, TV, internet, music, and contact with “well-read” friends. Our children’s potential saturation with ideas contrary to Christian ideals is greater than it has been at any time in history! Author Marva Dawn writes:

My experiences over thirty years of working with thousands of young people in churches and schools, convocations and camps make me especially troubled about children in Christian families, members of the Church, residents of God’s household. How are our children being formed? Do they know themselves primarily as citizens of the kingdom of God? Do we and our offspring look, act, talk, and think like people who are shaped by the narratives of our faith, by God’s Revelation? 2

In recent years First Presbyterian Church has seen the truth of Dawn’s concern; therefore, we stepped up our efforts to confront this rising tide of ideas which compete for our children’s hearts and minds. In so doing, we’ve grown in our estimation of children. We have greater ability to see our children as Jesus sees them; kingdom role models most worthy of blessing, time, energy, primary ministry resources, dignity and respect.

In response to that challenge, we’ve worked to improve all of our children’s ministries. Changes are made with an eye toward equipping our children with the answers and attitudes of the Christian world and life view necessary to help them navigate the anti-Christian philosophies they’ll engage in the future and, which we’ve learned, they already encounter to a much greater extent than we realized.


What are some things we do to equip them, and ourselves, in this battle for hearts and minds?

Children’s Ministry Coordinator – three years ago, a member with years of experience working with children accepted our invitation to become our volunteer Children’s Ministry Coordinator. She used training from the 2004 CEP Children’s Ministry Conferenceto create a Sunday school class, “Totally Equipped,” to prepare new teachers for service; to give helpful advice toward our “Image Bearers” ministry design (below); and to provide helpful encouragement in all our children’s ministry endeavors which continue to develop.

Image Bearers – As we grew in awareness of the need to purposefully capture our children’s heart and minds at a younger age, we decided to create opportunities, in addition to Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, to develop the Christian world and life view of our younger children. Under God’s direction we created a children’s ministry to help our first through fifth grade children grow in: 1) Their ability to give an answer for their hope in Christ (apologetics); 2) Their vision for and ability to make disciples; and 3) Their ethic for Christian service.

In Image Bearers, we use an innovative model that enables a few adults to successfully provide this ministry. The basic concepts we follow: 1) All the children stay together the whole time; 2) One adult leads games, one provides a snack, one leads music, and one teaches the lesson and provides a lesson-enhancing activity or service project; 3) For music, teaching, prayer, service projects and disciple-making – children divide into family groupswith an equal balance of children from all grades; 4) We teach interactive lessons at a third grade level where older children are coached by adult leaders to help the youngest children and thus gain experience and vision for disciple-making.

Sports Outreach and Recreation (SOAR) – In 2004, our 16-year-old youth sports outreach ministry went to a year-round status as we added our fourth sport – Spring soccer. A concept that arose with our soccer league was the idea to change from a head coach/assistant coachmodel to a sport coach/prayer coachmodel. The sport coachdevelops athletic and team skills, while the prayer coachensures prayer, team devotions, and spiritual encouragement occur at every game and practice. This change has improved spiritual aspects of our whole ministry! At our recent basketball finale, we registered over forty first-time commitments to Christ – the largest single SOAR event harvest we’ve ever seen! Upholding the truth of Christ by elevating the gospel among these young people is reaping great rewards!

Strategic Planning for Children’s Ministry – In May of 2006, a retired businessman used his skills to lead a First Presbyterian Church team of fifteen through a Strategic Planning Session for Children’s Ministry. In our planning session we produced a Mission Statement, a Vision statement, and an Action Plan for children’s ministry while evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Our strategic planning continues to bear fruit as we’ve formed a Children’s Ministry Team to focus on continued improvement and promotion of children’s ministry in our congregation.

We thank God for where He’s taken us in recent years. We’re learning to be more like Jesus who said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these…” And then He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them. We look forward to God’s continued leading in this fight for the hearts and minds of His youngest people! We’re grateful to be a part of it!

1 From the The Holy Bible, New International Version, Zondervan,

The Daily Reading Bible, ESV

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In 2001 Crossway Books introduced the English Standard Version of the Bible. Since, its popularity has grown and is being used by more and more people and churches. We did a review in Equip for Ministry of the ESV when it was released. We will not repeat except to say that for those who want an accurate, readable, and reliable translation of the Bible, the ESV is our recommendation.

Crossway Bibles has printed the ESV in a variety of different styles and sizes. For example: large print, a pocket size edition of the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, Leather bound and hard back editions, thin line, and a Children’s edition–not a children’s version which changes the translation.

In our effort to encourage people to read and study the Word, we mention the two new publications listed above. The ESV Daily Reading Bible is “designed to provide a flexible and complete Bible reading plan to guide you through the Bible on a daily basis.”

The publisher has formatted the Daily Reading Bible to help you read from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms. If you follow their design, you will read through the Old Testament once and through the New Testament and Psalms twice during the year. The Daily Reading Bible can be used for personal devotions, Bible study, and in the church. Unlike the earlier One Year Bible, which has a daily section from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs, this edition starts at Genesis and continues through Revelation. The days are listed in the margins throughout. For example: January 1 begins with Genesis, Matthew, and Psalm one. The 365 days are listed at the beginning of this edition.

The second publication,the ESV Journaling Bible, allows you to write notes in the margin as you read or study. It also begins with Genesis and continues to Revelation. If you have a fine point pen and are able to write in small letters and are not too wordy, you will be able to journal your Bible reading. Along with the small lines for journaling, the small type (7.5) might be a drawback for some. Maybe a larger print edition will appear in the near future. The Journaling Bible has an elastic strap attached, as well as marking ribbons to help you keep your place in reading and studying.


Evaluating Your Sunday School Curriculum

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]by Dave Matthews
(Article from September 2006 issue of Equip)

Graeme Goldsworthy in his book, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching, has a section on “The Preacher’s Christian Education Program.” He mentions that a manifesto, or creed, for a local church program of adult Christian education (and I would add for all age levels of Christian education) might look something like this:

We believe:

  • That every believer in Jesus Christ is part of the body of Christ.
  • That God calls us to express this fact through fellowship with a local congregation.
  • That God gives to every believer spiritual gifts for the benefit of the body.
  • That God calls every believer to serve by using gifts and talents.
  • That believers need to be equipped for such service through teaching and training.[1]

Part of the church’s responsibility of equipping teachers for a ministry in the church is to provide them with the proper curriculum. While it is a challenge for most church leaders to understand and know how to use curricula, some churches do not even desire to use curricula.

“We don’t need curriculum. We just teach the Bible.” Whether or not it is articulated, this attitude sometimes exists in churches and Christian organizations. However, it usually results in inferior education. Good curriculum is designed to facilitate Bible teaching, not replace it. Therefore, an understanding of what curriculum is and how to choose and use it effectively is essential for Christian education.[2]

A major problem in churches today is choosing a curriculum that is biblically sound and faithful to a correct theological interpretation of Scripture—the redemptive-historical approach. Many churches, independent and denominational, use material that is broadly evangelical and user friendly without discernment of the curriculum’s focus.

There are several factors to consider in choosing Sunday school curriculum. One is the educational philosophy in the curriculum. Every curriculum has a bias toward certain philosophical underpinnings. Is the curriculum based on authoritarian instruction with little participation by the student, or does it adhere to discovery learning that makes the student an active participant in the education process through well laid out interest centers and behavioral objectives for its lessons? Most curricula contain both elements with one being more dominant. Churches need to choose which is more important. Do our teachers have the theological and biblical backgrounds to use more user friendly material, or do we emphasize theology with less user friendly material? While educational philosophy is important, theological considerations are critical. Robert Pazmino in Foundational Issues in Christian Education suggests the following (1) Does the theology of the publisher and curriculum writers agree with the theology of the particular church or ministry? Are theological concepts presented which are appropriate for various age levels and comprehensive in exposure? (2) Does the curriculum affirm the Scriptures as authoritative in the sense embraced by the particular church or community served? Is the whole counsel of the Scripture addressed in the sequence of the curriculum across the age groups? Besides the Scriptures, what other authorities functionally operate in curricular decisions?

It is interesting to look at examples of lessons in some of the more popular Sunday school curricula and compare these with those of Great Commission Publications, one of the few curricula with a redemptive-historical foundation. One popular curriculum on the market for over 50 years, in a series titled “Friends and Enemies, Security, Priorities,” has a life focus of “How to be good friends; security that comes from God; putting God first.” The core worldview questions in the curriculum ask, “How does God’s love and acceptance empower us to demonstrate His love through accepting others and sharing the good news with them?” A sample lesson from this curriculum for Grades 5-6, for the fall of 2005-2006, has a moralistic message. The character study is from I Samuel 18:1-4; 19:2-7, 20; 2 Samuel 1:9, and the teacher is to find ways David and Jonathan showed true friendship, discover reasons why people become friends, understand that God wants true friends to care for and protect each other and identify and plan ways to be true friends.

Great Commission’s lesson on Jonathan and David in the context of a fall curriculum,God Prepares a Kingdom for His, is titled “Rejoicing in God’s Plan.” The Scripture Basis is 1 Samuel 18-23. The Scripture Truth is that Saul’s jealousy and Jonathan’s loyalty to David reveal their attitudes toward God. The Lesson Aims state that by the end of the lesson students should be able to…

  • Compare the ways in which Saul and Jonathan respond to David.
  • Show how attitudes toward God’s anointed reflect attitudes towards God.
  • Assess their attitudes toward Jesus.

The Lesson Summary (summarized) is Saul rebelled against God’s anointed one and tried to kill him. On the other hand, Jonathan’s friendship and loyalty to David displayed his submission to God’s plan, even though it meant he would never be king. As God’s true Anointed One, Jesus came to be our king, to replace us as rulers over our own lives. Whether we are submitting to God’s plan or rebelling against it can be seen in our attitudes to God’s Chosen One, as well.[3]

Much Sunday school literature is moralistic rather than christocentric, the product of attempting to address a common challenge churches have‑-difficulty recruiting enough Sunday school teachers. An easy way to help solve this problem is to find the most colorful, visually appealing, teacher friendly curriculum without a careful analysis of its content. Much of these curricula have non-redemptive messages and is not as Christ-centered as needed, possibly leading the teacher to incorrect interpretation of the text. A problem common to both preachers and teachers is a failure to understand and apply redemptive aspects, and end up preaching or teaching moralism and human-centered messages. Dr. Bryan Chapell addresses this problem in his book, Christ Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon,

“The Menace of the Sunday School” is the title of a rather notorious portion of a book that sadly captures the essence of much evangelical teaching. In an effort to promote moral behavior and deter sin, the stereotypical Sunday school teacher implores children to be good little boys and girls so that Jesus will love them and take care of them. The stereotype is unkind and unfair, but it comes painfully close to characterizing much contemporary preaching that portrays God as a perpetual Santa Claus who is making a list and checking it twice to punish the naughty and reward the nice.[4]

Dr. Chapell states further that, “Messages that are not Christ-centered (i.e., not redemptively focused) inevitably become human-centered, even though the drift most frequently occurs unintentionally among evangelical preachers.”[5] He calls these messages “The Deadly Be’s’—messages that strike at the heart of faith rather than support it often have an identifying theme. They exhort believers to strive to ‘be’ something in order to be loved by God.” Several examples Dr. Chapell gives are “Be Like,” “Be Good,” and “Be Disciplined” messages that focus the attention of listeners on the behavior, accomplishments of a particular biblical character, or exhort believers to improve their relationship with God through more diligent use of the means of grace. The problem often lies not in what preachers (or teachers) say, but in what they fail to say. [6]

Many publishers gear their curriculum to an interdenominational market. Much of what popular publishing houses produce is good—Bible surveys, growing spiritually, Bible discovery techniques, along with several practical suggestions—but does not address the critical importance of correct interpretation. The cause of this interpretation problem, which leads to faulty Sunday school curricula, is lack of a redemptive-historical message as the foundation of the material. As a result, lessons in many curricula stand alone and are not part of the overarching theme of Scripture. Dr. Edmund Clowney says,

“The unifying structure of Scripture is the structure of redemptive history. The Bible does not have the form of a textbook, and the witness to Christ unfolds with the progressive epochs of revelation which in turn are grounded in the successive periods of redemption. Biblical theology recognizes both the unity and the epochal structure of redemptive history. …if we may so speak, we discover that each epoch has a coherent and organic structure and also that there is organic progression from period to period as the plan of God is revealed.”[7]

Many Sunday school teachers have hearts of gold and desire to teach the children, but lack the theological background for understanding the “big picture” of the Bible in its redemptive flow of history. A teacher’s presuppositions applied to a text for interpretation are central for communicating God’s truth. If the interpretation is not correct, the principles and applications will be headed down a wrong road in a nonredemptive context. The Bible is not an assortment of similar parts (verses) which, like pizza, can be dished out at random; rather, each text must be understood in its own historical context and in the light of God’s progressive revelation before it can be proclaimed as God’s authoritative word for contemporary congregations. Dr. Edmond Clowney, in Biblical Theology and the Character of Preaching, says, “Biblical theology, then, seeks to unlock the objective significance of the history of salvation. It focuses on the core of redemptive history in Christ. On the other hand it also opens up for us the subjective aspect, the religious riches of the experience of God’s people, and its relation to our own.”[8] [9] The redemptive-historical approach also helps present what Dr. Chappell refers to as a Fallen Condition Focus. The Fallen Condition Focus (FCF) is the mutual human condition that contemporary believers share with those to or about whom the text was written that requires the grace of the passage for God’s people to glorify and enjoy him.[10] Identifying the FCF helps a sermon, or lesson, not to be anthropocentric.

Finally, the curriculum should be gospel-centered. Goldsworthy says, “We cannot begin to expand on such a set of principles (footnote 1) without first acknowledging again the centrality of the gospel. The life and ministry of the local church needs to be self-consciously gospel-centered if it is to maintain any kind of effectiveness for the kingdom of God.”[11] Even if one cannot see Christ directly in a passage, or as a type or allegorical comparison, the fallen condition focus should lead us to the grace we need through Jesus Christ. One of the greatest helps a church can give to its Sunday school teachers is to supply a curriculum that is gospel-driven from a redemptive-historical foundation. There are very few curricula on the market that have such a focus. The curriculum will not only help the students learn about the grace of God, but it will be a great tool to disciple the teacher as they spend time preparing a lesson.

 

 

[1]Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 129.

[2]Robert E. Clark, Lin Johnson, and Allyn K. Sloat, Christian Education: Foundations for the Future (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), 495.

[3] Great Commission Show Me Jesus, The Junior Teacher’s Manual, “God Prepares a Kingdom for His People,”(Suwanee, GA: Great Commission Publication, 1988), 23.

[4] Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, 2nded. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic), 297-298.

[5] Chapell, 288-294.

[6] Ibid, 289

[7] Edmund P. Clowney, Preaching and Biblical Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing), 75.

[8] Ibid., 78.

[9] Sidney Greidanus, The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text: Interpreting and Preaching Biblical Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988 (reprinted 1998)), 72.

[10] Chapell, 50.

[11] Goldsworthy, 129[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The Lost Art and Practice of Family Devotions

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By Brad Windsted

Brad Windsted is Director of Children’s Ministry International www.childministry.com (CMI), a ministry endrosed by CEP, develops catechetical and reformed material for churches. Brad is the father of eight and grandfather of three children. He is also a Ruling Elder at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

No one has to tell me how busy they are as parents in this cyber/new millennium age. Two income homes are now the commonly acceptable and necessary economic structure of many Christian homes. The increasingly fragmented family finds it almost impossible to set aside any time for family fellowship let alone family worship. To have a meal together is now a cherished event reserved more for holidays and seldom seen during the week as conflicting schedules leave us with microwaved suppers and exhausted parents and children.

This environment presents the idea of family devotions as an anachronism from another “little house on the prairie” era of fireside family discussions. However, if one goes back to Bible-believing pastors who were concerned by the lack of “family worship” in their congregations in the mid-nineteenth century, here is what you would hear:

Along with Sabbath observance and the catechizing of children, family worship has lost ground. There are many heads of families, communicants in our churches, and according to a scarcely credible report, some ruling elders and deacons, who maintain no stated daily service of God in their dwellings. Thoughts On Family Worship by James W. Alexander, 1847

Pastor Alexander saw in a day much simpler than our own the need for family devotion time, yet lamented that fewer and fewer households were taking it seriously. In his classic book quoted from above, Pastor Alexander wrote lovingly of the benefits of family devotions on the individual preparing the devotions, the parents, the children, the church, relatives, the commonwealth (state or nation), and our posterity. I would commend this quick read, classic to anyone who needs to be persuaded that family worship or devotions is as needed today as it has been anytime in the history of the church.

The reasons we don’t and won’t do family devotions are as long and full as each day we have filled with lesser things. The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XXI Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day, paragraph VI states “…but God is to be worshiped everywhere, in spirit and truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself…” The book of Church Order of the PCA in chapter 63, “The Christian Life in the Home” states:

In addition to public worship it is the duty of each person in secret and of every family in private, to worship God….Family worship, which should be observed by every family consists in prayer, reading the Scriptures and singing praises or in some briefer form of outspoken recognition of God….Parents should instruct their children in the Word of God and in the principles of our holy religion. The reading of devotional literature should be encouraged and every proper opportunity should be embraced for religious instruction.

Our church’s fathers of the faith have recognized for years the necessity to build the family around devotions or family worship time. The great Presbyterian preacher of the eighteenth century, Jonathan Edwards, called each Christian home a “little church” as each father is a pastor to that small congregation within the greater church. To ensure our children see living examples of vibrant faith from the parents they must see it more than once a week on Sunday. As a part of elder visits to homes, one of the most probing (and embarrassing) questions to help determine if a family is growing in faith and in knowledge of Christ is to ask the parents about their private (quiet time) and family devotions. If there is nothing from Monday morning to Saturday night, the church is left with precious little time in Sunday school and worship to fill the spiritual void of a week of confrontation with the fallen world and our fallen natures.

So how does one become motivated to have, as Charles Spurgeon would say, “the want to, to want to.” I remember as a younger Ruling Elder in a Presbyterian church telling people on my elder shepherding list, that they should make family devotions a real priority in their families. If a member had the courage and perception to ask me how I did it for my young and growing family, they would hear a convoluted, “do what I say rather than what I do.” Yes, it was a high priority in my family that never got done. Of course, I could jog, read mountains of magazines (this was pre-internet days) and have lots of other mediocre excuses for not doing what I was trying to tell them was foundational to Christian living in the home.

PRIORITIES ARE WHAT WE DO. If we have time to check the weather report off Madagascar everyday on our internet (or other important news) don’t we have time to take our families before the Throne of Grace? Don’t say something is a priority in your life and yet let the lesser things crowd it out. Maybe for most of us a five-minute time of family prayer is all the time we have, but that is a start to something great.

Think about how quickly our covenant children come and go out of our lives. My children are now getting married and one by one they are leaving the home. It seems like yesterday that I was changing their diapers! Yet, if for around forty weeks out of the year (taking time off for summer, vacations and other unforeseen events) we have a brief family devotion, then in the twenty-odd years that God has placed them in my home and charge they would have had approximately 4000 opportunities to open the Word of God, to sing God’s praises and pray for theirs and other’s needs. But most important of all, my children would have an inheritance of daily communion with God and all the benefits that flow from it. They would have a family tradition that would come much easier then it did to me, who had no family tradition of growing up daily in the Scriptures and prayer.

A goal for family worship would be prayer, reading the Word of God and a song of praise or thanksgiving. Depending upon the age of the children, the materials can go deeper or be quite simplistic.

Now the difficult question of “how can this be done?” Fathers, you must take the lead. As in most spiritual leadership questions, your wife is hoping you will become motivated to take the lead. When you give up and give it to her to accomplish it will be much less profitable and your children will get the message, loud and clear, that family devotions are a low and expendable priority.

As I said above, start with something achievable. Decide if morning or evening would be better; before or after breakfast or supper. There are lots of helps available to guide us. Children’s Ministry International (CMI, www.childministry.com), of which I am the Director, has published comprehensive devotional guides to take busy parents through the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith with prayers, hymns/songs, Bible lessons, practical suggestions and other helps to allow one to go through the basics of our faith at their own pace. There are three small booklets that easily fit into the Bible. The PCA bookstore has other helps ranging from PCA Pastor Terry Johnson’s excellent book The Family Worship Book and Starr Meade’s work on family devotions and the Shorter Catechism.

Of course, there are lots other guides to family devotions and maybe you would want to start by reading a chapter from Proverbs or a Psalm daily. God has given us 31 chapters in Proverbs so you have a chapter a day and you will never get lost. If its the 21st of the month then read the 21st Proverb (or Psalm). See how God meets your efforts with real insights and practical advice for the day ahead. Listen as your wife and children share prayer requests. Write them down so you have a testimony of answered prayer. The big issue is whether this is really going to be a priority or let it be crowded out by good but less eternal things.

As Pastor James Alexander said in his classic book Thoughts On Family Worship, “Let other heirlooms perish, but let us not deny to our offspring the worship of that God who has been our dwelling-place in all generations.”

Princeton and Preaching: Archibald Alexander and the Christian Ministry

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When Charles handed me this book to review I wanted to give it back as I was just not interested in reading how one man trained pastors 200 years ago. Instead, I decided to at least read the introduction. That was all it took. This was an enjoyable, interesting and a helpful read. It takes us beyond the history of Princeton’s founding father and gives us a glimpse into the thinking, methods and issues of the day, especially with all the events that were taking place, like the second Great Awakening, the beginnings of the major cults, and the early years of liberalism.

The book is more than Princeton Seminary and more than Alexander’s view of preaching–it is a summary and cataloging of Alexander’s teaching on practical theology. Garretson shows us Alexander’s heart as he pours his life into the men he trained. We are given to see Alexander’s background to understand why he said all that he did to his students regarding their call, qualifications, passion, piety, practices and gifts.

Garretson gives us five reasons for this study: 1. to see God’s hand at work at this point in history through this man 2. for us not to forget about, but to learn from our spiritual ancestry 3. to deepen our appreciation of our Presbyterian confessional identity 4. to show us God’s gospel of grace in His use and development of a person’s character rather than methods, as he says, is stressed today, and 5. to demonstrate that the study of these times “will make us more effective ministers in our own time.”

Dr. Garretson shows us who Alexander was and why his influence is still important. Al Martin says that he would have used this as a textbook supplement in pastoral theology had it been available.

I believe that this work would be all the more valuable if Dr. Garretson would now take all he has gleaned from his study of Archibald Alexander’s published and unpublished works and rewrite them for today’s audience, with his own interjections.

Perhaps my only criticism is the comment that Alexander was Post-millennial. I say this only because the only justification for this came from a statement that I also make. However, this was made in passing, and in no wise distracts from the book.

This book was a great read and one I recommend to not only historians, but to pastors and pastors-in-training.

No More Excuses: Be the Man God Made You to Be

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Here is a motivational book for men. Tony Evans confronts most of the issues that men face in life, and the excuses they give as if they were victims. Evans calls men to stop making excuses or, as he calls it, get rid of the “loser’s limp.” Men need to get up and accept responsibility and see life’s situations as challenges and opportunities. The book looks into the lives of many men in the Bible and teaches how they both failed and also how many overcame their failures by the grace of God, and went on to make a impact in their families, church, communities, and the kingdom of God.

This is a book to give to men to read individually or together as a group. In his concluding remarks Evans says, “You may look back and say, ‘I’ve go a lot of stuff following me into the race. I’ve got a lot of junk from the past weighing me down as I try to run.’ Let me tell you something about God. He loves to dispense His grace. If you will come to God with your regrets and your failures, and start loving and serving Him as a driving force in your life, He has an unmistakable, amazing way of using even failure to bring about success.”