The Priority of Prayer: 2 Kings 4.8-37

Desperate Prayer

There are no distractions, says one recent writer. There are only choices to focus on other things. If that is so, then the Church, at her weakest moment, is not distracted from its mission, but following her own choice to focus on something else. Many 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

God Can Repair Broken Daddies: A Father’s Day Message

Father's Day is a day to remember that God made dads. And when they break, and they can and often do, only He can fix them. 2 Samuel 18:24-19.2; Proverbs 17:6; Ephesians 6:1-4The Bible is very practical and plain, sometimes disturbingly so. Like in the Continue Reading

Why Expository Preaching is the Power for Pastoral Ministry

• How can we have an effective pastorate? • How can our ministries, our preaching, support church health? • How can we be faithful in our ministries? There is a parable for young preachers in Walt Disney's Dumbo, the little circus elephant that Continue Reading

A Call To Repent And Believe In Jesus Christ

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord (Acts 3.19) Not too long ago I saw a bumper sticker that announced, “Jesus is the Answer.” The driver (who was speeding in fact) was Continue Reading

Thoughts on Faith from a Garden in March and Pastoral Ministry

For a gardener, like myself, March is an in-between month. The dried, gray-brown stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform. And like a Continue Reading

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

A Promise is Stronger than Blood: The Doctrine of Adoption in Romans 8

There is a crisis with adoption. There is a crisis in that there are more would-be parents desiring children than there are children available. This is so because of abortion. This is so because of unjust laws. Recently the president of Russia declared Continue Reading

Pairing: John Constable and Gerald Finzi

If I were to have a soundtrack for John Constable's (1776 – 1837) English landscapes, particularly his well-known sketches and paintings of clouds dominating the landscapes of East Anglia, I would choose the English pastoral compositions of Gerald Finzi 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