Difficult but Necessary: Relinquishing Leadership in Winter to Renew in Another Season of Ministry

March 11, 2013 Dearly Beloved in the Lord: I greet you in the name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I write you to also make an announcement that must come on the heels of a series of providences that both surprised me and have tried me—body and Continue Reading

Recalling Glory to Recover Obedience

Holy remembrance of God's grace and sovereign dealings with us yesterday, works grateful obedience to His Law today. Thus, the Lord God taught Israel to recall His glory in the wilderness, so to follow Him gratefully in the Promised Land. To meditate Continue Reading

Walking the Tight Rope Between Reserve Chaplaincy and the Pastorate

I trust the following question and answer about chaplain ministry and the local pastorate will provide some opportunity for prayerful reflection by those considering the call. Dear Dr. Milton: May I ask you a question about the chaplaincy? The biggest Continue Reading

Considering a Call Amidst the Clamor of Bigger is Better

Dear Students of the Pastoral Ministry: Charles Haddon Spurgeon had it right when he commented on Zechariah 4:10: "It is a very great folly to despise 'the day of small things,' for it is usually God’s way to begin His great works with small Continue Reading

A New Years Letter to our Ministry Colleagues at RTS

My beloved in Christ, I wanted to write you directly. I wanted to share what it is a central and growing concern and aching plea to God: for revival in our time. I share this video of the first Faith for Living of the new year, recorded just a few weeks Continue Reading

Christ: His Life Our Supreme Goal

I took our daily devotions tonight from the reflections of F.B. Meyer and his preaching of the centrality of our Savior in a true religion: "Christ is the all and all in–all of our holy religion...not ceremonials, nor the life of active philanthropy, Continue Reading

Lest We Forget: Rudyard Kipling’s Recessional as Prophetic Poetry for our Own Day

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) really knew how to spoil a party. One would have thought the cryptic faith of Kipling was a devout Calvinism when he wrote the remarkable poem, Recessional, for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.# For some, the Continue Reading

Delighting in the Law?

"I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart" (Psalms 40:8 ESV). I read the passage this morning and then began to move from Psalms to the Old Testament reading, and then to the New Testament. I had other early morning planning items Continue Reading

Inaugural Prayer for 9/14/2012

The Reverend Robert E. Baxter is the most noble man of God that I have ever known in my life. He is, now into eight decades of living, a very active preacher and pastor and encourager of the saints. He is the Associate Minister, First Presbyterian Continue Reading

Entrusted with God’s Truth to Extend God’s Grace (2 Timothy 2:1-2)—An Inaugural Address

An inauguration is not a coronation. An inauguration is a consecration—a setting apart for the purposes of God. This service is a consecration of our institution, our vision and values, and a consecration of our very lives, with my life intertwined Continue Reading