Update

For any of you who may be lurking on my blog, wondering what happened to the series on Mike Horton’s book Introducing Covenant Theology, I have not forgotten it. I took time out to read Kim Riddlebarger’s A Case for Amillennialism, and now I’m reading R. Scott Clark’s Recovering the Reformed Confession.

The young church where I am one of the worship leaders began welcoming members recently, but we have a few issues with the doctrinal statement, such as the explicit inclusion of the word “literal” between “six” and “days”, the inclusion of the words “rapture” and “tribulation”, and the taking of a specific dispensational premillennial stance. Though Covenant Theology definitely speaks to all these issues, I wanted to read A Case for Amillennialism to help solidify my own position as well as get a better understanding of all the major positions. We are welcomed at our church despite our differences, but I think it would be better if the doctrinal statement was more like the Reformed confessions and less specific about its millennial position.

[The exegete] might … well observe the likeness between Moses’ record of the creation “week” and certain visions of John, the seer of the Apocalypse, which are heptad in structure with successively numbered divisions and yet are not strictly chronological in sequence. It appears that the God of revelation chose to reveal the primeval ages of creation and the eschatological ages of re-creation in similar literary form. –Meredith Kline

As for Recovering the Reformed Confession, I think this book will help me get a better understanding of what it means to be Reformed to those who have grown up in that tradition for generations. Though we have been Calvinists for a few years, we are coming to the Reformed faith from the outside. There’s a small batch of young people in this town from Calvary Chapel who have been converted to 5-point Calvinists, and we were compelled to find refuge elsewhere. But to be Reformed goes so much deeper than TULIP, so we’re still only on our way… semper reformanda.

Other ways I’m keeping busy include our daughter Ava who just turned one, and our son Baxter (named after the Puritan pastor), who still needs another four months in the oven. My lovely wife and I recently celebrated our anniversary with dinner at the Sierra Nevada brewery and gifts exchanged from Kay (which every kiss begins with). And I already mentioned leading worship. Coming from a Calvary Chapel and Vineyard background, I’m used to three chords and the truth, but now I do hymns exclusively. Having a music degree helps me with the arrangements, but, since I have not been steeped in hymnody since my childhood, virtually every time I lead I’m learning a new song, just hoping I’ve got the tempo right.