I found this an encouraging read. Comments?

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Marty
Minister / Theological Educator
Anglican Church of Australia
(On Sabbatical) Cambridge, UK.
"There is nothing so necessary to draw us to repentance as good thoughts of God." (Thomas Manton)

Very interesting.

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Tim Merki
SBC
Wake Forest, NC

God has people now and will call people in denominations that have fallen away. Some are called to stay and be salt and light there, others to challenge directly and others for special purposes.

This Pastor can witness amongst, it sounds like, mostly nonbelievers who have substituted the arrogant and vain imaginations of men for the Truth of God. Many of us have been in similar situations. As he says, praise God for it.

I am a personal friend of Rev. Brown and can attest for his fervency for the Gospel.

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Benjamin P. Glaser
Pittsburgh, PA,
Fairmount ARP Church
Candidate Under Care Pittsburgh Theological Seminary & Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
"The benefit of deliverance becomes the more precious in the same proportion in which we are brought to apprehend the magnitude of the evil from which we have been rescued"
-- Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism

Very encouraging. Thanks for sharing it.

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

Any hope that Toby is going to let go of that ordination of women bug-a-boo any time soon?

I didn't mean that to sound condescending. I just meant that with Toby's turnaround, it seems odd he would still cling to this particular issue, that's all.

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Blog: Gairney Bridge

Thats great! Thanks for posting it!

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Manley Beasley
Southern Baptist Convention
Lynchburg, VA

Wir sein pettler. Hoc est verum (We are beggars. This is true.).--Luther's dying words

Thanks for posting. I confess to having given up on the mainline entirely. There are still some who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Interesting article indeed.

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Donald Jacobs
Marysville. WA
Cascade Church (CRCNA)

Cum vero infirmor tunc potens sum.

Yes, I tend to agree Dennis. But what is amazing about this story is that some conservative folks stayed in the church and helped (under God) turn a pastor around!

The story reminds me somewhat of Abraham Kuyper's conversion. There were a group of reformed folk in his church that Kuyper got to know, and through them, this great mind found Christ. God does work in wonderful ways. It's a great reminder of the power of the gospel. Praise God!

Sometimes a mainline church is all that a small town might have to offer. After becoming a Christian in college, I joined a PCA church. The PCA was not a realistic option after I left college to begin my teaching career. I tried driving an hour or so every Lord's Day to attend services at my old church, but that gets old fast. The only presbyterian options in my new location were PC(USA) churches.

I was blessed by the fact that the last two pastors at the church I wound up joining were RTS (Jackson) grads. Other than the female ordination issue, they were very conservative. And other than this one issue, the church as a whole was also pretty conservative. But most of the time these churches do not remain in the PC(USA) either. This church has been toying with the idea of leaving for the EPC for several years now.

Hey brothers, thanks for reading my article that was picked up on Virtue Online! I just joined the Puritan Board a while back. The article is from my blog, A Classical Presbyterian, which has become a place on the internet that liberal PC(USA) insiders love to hate. The article that was picked up was from a larger series that I wrote entitled, “Confessions of a PC(USA) Fundamentalist” on the blog.

I intend to start some discussions here and ask for your advice and counsel on how I can continue congregational transition from the dying mainline model (i.e. ‘Mushy Moderate’ or ‘Lurching Lefty’) into the Reformed. I can personally attest to how many dear Christians are trapped within the mainline institutions and who are longing for Biblical truth to change not only their congregations but their leaders as well! You all can be a great blessing and help in my efforts locally and nationally within the deteriorating PC(USA).

I cherish your kind words and have been strengthened by what I read here at PB. I will plead for you all to not forget that God has many elect within the PC(USA), despite the apostasy and corruption of the institution itself. May God build His church!

Your friend in the gospel,

--Toby

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Rev. Toby L. Brown
Pastor
Jefferson Center Presbyterian Church--in, but not of, the PC(USA)
Saxonburg, PA

"The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which God is also highly exalted." --Jonathan Edwards

hmmm...

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Timothy Johnson
First United Presbyterian of Moline
PCUSA (Yea, I know)
Theology/Philosophy Sunday School Teacher
Davenport, IA

I've met laypersons and pastors who have stayed behind in the hopes of reforming the PCUSA. It's heartening to see that God blesses these efforts. I was reared in the mainline church; after coming to Christ, I was surprised to find myself in a Presbyterian denomination again because my initial, very immature, assumption was that there couldn't be anything right that carried the Presbyterian title.

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JWithnell
Member Bethel OPC
Virginia