Since my boys are studying the War Between the States I have read a number of books on the subject this past Fall to supplement our discussions. I came across a book published in 1957 by Broadman Press titled, Chaplains in Gray, written by Charles Pitts. It was a fascinating look at the work of pastors and chaplains in the war.In one place Pitts quoted at length from A Letter to the Chaplains in the Army by James O. Andrew, a Methodist Episcopal bishop from Georgia. This letter contains much good advice from an aged minister. The following excerpt is a good exhortation for all of us on the... [read more]

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Reading the notes on the Psalms in The ESV Study Bible I was struck by the assumption of the Psalms being sung, both by Israel and the church today. Regularly the introductory note on a specific Psalms includes a comment that “the singing congregation” affirms a certain truth or “When the faithful sing this Psalm ….” Of course they were sung by Israel, have been sung commonly in the history of the church and still are sung by many today. But, this fact seems to be often left out of “studying” the Psalms. I am delighted to see how these notes begin with the thought of how these... [read more]

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Merry Christmas from the Van Nestes!

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It seems that many people think you can only celebrate Christmas if all is well. You can see this in the various statements beginning with, “It just does not seem like Christmas because ….” Perhaps we set ourselves up for failure by expecting everything to be just right at this time of the year. If we pay attention to the Biblical text we notice that Christmas is in no way connected to things going well. In fact, as we can see from numerous texts, Christmas is typically set in dark and difficult situations. The message of Christmas is that God is still at work in such times accomp... [read more]

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Readers at my children’s books blog will know that one of our favorite authors is Douglas Bond. It has been a delight over the last several months to get to know Doug via email as we have prepared for his visit to Union as part of the Psalms Project.One of the things I appreciate about Doug is his appreciation of poetry and good hymnody. He recently sent me a Thanksgiving hymn of his and gave me permission to post it. I hope you appreciate it as much as I have.We Rise and Worship"O taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).We rise and worship you our Lord With gra... [read more]

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I recently came across this “Pastor Self-Evaluation Questionnaire” thanks to a link from Steve McCoy. The questionnaire was written by Tim Keller and David Powlison. I have only looked it over so far, but it is a wonderful, searching tool. It opens citing 1 Timothy 4:16 where Paul calls Timothy to pay close attention to his life and doctrine. This resource will help us to do that. Keller and Powlison walk through various areas of pastoral ministry asking searching questions. They are wise and, therefore, search out both extremes of each issue searching out if we are too lax on one... [read more]

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I mentioned previously that with funding from a Worship Renewal Grant from the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship Union will host a series on the Psalms and Christian Worship. We now have finalized the schedule and speakers. In our chapel services (10:00 am) we will have the following speakers connected with the project:2/18- John Witvliet (Director, Calvin Institute for Christian Worship)2/20- Craig Blaising (Provost, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary)2/25- Marty Goetz (Messianic Music Minister)3/4- Ray Ortlund, Jr. (Pastor, Immanuel Church, Nashville)3/6- Douglas Bond (autho... [read more]

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My friend Phil Eyster at Eagle Projects International just posted this photo sent to him from a friend in a Muslim country (you can see his comments at the blog). You can see the blood covering the streets after the Festival of Sacrifice last week. As we approach Christmas it is good to be reminded that we are celebrating the coming of the One who takes away sin, the one “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:14).Christmas is the great missions story as God the Son crosses cultural ... [read more]

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Here is a basic practical post. When I first began doing weddings as a new pastor, one of the challenges was keeping up with my notes, the vows and the order of the ceremony. I tried putting the pages in my Bible but that did not work well. In the end I picked up an unused choir folder at it worked marvelously! This has become one bit of advice I pass down to other pastors.The choir folder is black so it looks the part in the ceremony, and I can slip in two sheets of paper (having trimmed the margins) both face up. The clear plastic in the inside holds the paper securely while not obscuring... [read more]

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As part of the pastoral labor my wife and I do a fair bit of pre-marital counseling. As we were doing some more of such counseling this Fall I remembered hearing, while in college, a recording of Pastor E. V. Hill preaching his wife’s funeral. It was a powerful sermon filled with insight and anecdotal wisdom on marriage and parenting. Since I have lost the tape I had of the sermon I searched youtube and was delighted to find that the sermon is available there. It is found in two parts and is well worth listening to.The sermon was preached in 1987 and is titled “My Wife’s Death in Bibl... [read more]

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