Asian SBTS Students

Studying theology in your second language is difficult. Very difficult. I know this because I am studying it in my first language. Unlike myself, a group of my fellow students at SBTS labor over reading--not because they are slow readers or the text is particularly challenging. Rather because they have crossed an ocean into another culture and another tongue for theological education.

Recently I walked by an Asian student looking up a word in his pocket electronic dictionary as he read Kate Turabian's 7th edition. He read this volume for about two hours without any apparent break (unless he took on during one of my breaks). Another Asian friend reads with a pencil so he can bracket prepositional phrases, mark verbs, etc. as he reads.

What a testimony these brothers are to the worth of knowing God in Christ!

Clarity on Church Planting

PJ Tibayan posted this excellent quote:

Jeff Vanderstelt has taught me a crucial truth about church planting:

Planting (and planning) services is easy, making disciples (who can make more disciples who can make more disciples) is hard. But planting a church is the latter and not the former.

He talked about this truth in a message called, “Being a Leader who Grow Leaders” and wrote about it in a blog post entitled, “Observations about Church Planting.”

See PJ's blog for more on info on all things church planting. PJ and his family are church planting in LA currently.

Christian Music

Though not all the music labeled Christian coming out these days to bad, much (far too much) is. The twitching and shaking which follow more than a few minutes on most any Christian radio station affirm this. And I'm only referring to the music. The lyrics struggle equally so. For the visual learners among us, note this graph which speaks to the state of lyrics:



(HT: Dan Phillips)

Kevin Bauder

Kevin Bauder is worth reading. And he writes something everyweek. For those who don't know, Kevin Bauder is the President of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Plymouth, MN. He is a careful Christian thinker on all subjects. Really. I have benefited most from his writings on the liberal arts and culture. But he is a theologian with a clear mind--as his pen atests. If you don't understand fundamentalism or why you should consider the biblical doctine of separation, read Kevin Bauder.** You will benefit from reading a contemporary thelogian who loves what you love and believes what you believe . . . yet who serves in the little known but very real adjacent universe called evangelical fundamentalism.

Kevin Bauder sends out a weekly email called "In the Nick of Time." You can sign up to receive this or view the archives here. I would encourage you to stop reading my blog and read his latest - "Give Attendance to Reading" -- right now. It is excellent.

**For an excellent presentation to his church on fundamentalism and his visit to Beeson, listen to this audio--entitled "Biblical Separation: A Summary and Report."

Book Recommendation: Water of the Word

A week before the wedding I bought Andrew Case's Water of the Word: Intercession for Her.

I would recommend this book to any married guys who desire to pray Scriptural prayers for their wives. It has been a joy to remember my wife in intercession in this way. Case provides just over 225 scripted prayers for one's wife, all rooted in the language of Scripture (the Scripture Index in Appendix B affirms this well). And praying them aloud with Suemi present has been affirming to her of my desire to care for her spiritually.

Just as Mueller noted that Scripture prompted him to pray, Andrew Case uses Scripture to prompt me to pray and to direct these prayers. I have found the early prayers in this volume to reflex the diverse emotions of the Psalms. And I anticipate Case will spend some time in the New Testament as well (the Scripture index confirms this suspicion).

What an accessible tool to encourage the regular practice of exactly what Carson lays out in A Call to Spiritual Reformation and what Paul models to the churches in Asia Minor--all tailored to our wives!

Though I have just begun using this resource, I highly recommend it. Why not avail yourself to this husbands? Let's be men who pray for and with our wives.

Suemi and I's Vows

I had the joy of writing Suemi and I's vows for our wedding ceremony. They are rooted, first, in Piper's marriage sermons (and now books) which I have listened to repeatedly with great benefit. Second, the vows are rooted in thewording of the Book of Common Prayer (aka traditional vows). I have included them below.

I take you Suemi as my wife,
accepting the divine call
to lead you by protecting you and providing for you,
both physically and spiritually, and
by laying down my life for you
even as Christ did for His bride, the church.
I will love you and cherish you in sickness and in health,
in poverty or in wealth, in every season,
until death separates us.
Suemi, to this covenant, I pledge you my faithfulness.

I take you Ross as my husband,
accepting the divine call
to honor and affirm your leadership
by helping you carry it through according to my gifts and
by submitting to you as I submit to God, hoping and trusting in Him,
even as the church does its Bridegroom, Christ.
I will love you and respect you in sickness and in health,
in poverty or in wealth, in every season,
until death separates us.
Ross, to this covenant, I pledge you my faithfulness.


Suemi, I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage vow I am making with you before God and these witnesses.

Ross, I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage vow I am making with you before God and these witnesses.

Finished a busy semester, moved, and married . . .

Since my last post I have finished my second semester at Southern, moved out of the dorms and into Village Manor Apartments, and married Suemi. It has been a busy summer of travel too, having visited my parents in Boston, traveled to Greenville, SC a couple times, and then a 10 days honeymoon to US Virgin Islands.

One result of the above changes is I now live away from internet access (the half dozen wireless signals floating through our apartment are all locked). This has created some challenges and some blessings . . . one challenge being this blog. I trust I will continue to be able to post thoughts from time to time--but we will see.