Reformed Forum at PCRT

This past weekend it was a thrill to represent the Reformed Forum at the 38th annual Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology hosted at the historic 10th Presbyterian Church in Center City Philadelphia.  My RF colleagues Jim Cassidy, Camden Bucey and I also had the opportunity to record an episode or two of Christ the Center where we discussed the various lectures/sermons presented by the guest speakers.  Look for these programs in the weeks ahead here.  This year’s theme was on the splendid Scriptural doctrine of adoption.  It is a marvelous thing that we who are children of wrath by nature may become, by God’s grace, sons of God, and gain an elder brother in Jesus Christ.  The speakers at this year’s conference were Rev. Richard Phillips, Dr. Steven Lawson, Dr. Joel Beeke, and Dr. David Wells.  I benefited from all the speakers at the conference this year, but I especially appreciated the presentations by Rick Phillips and Joel Beeke.  Dr. Beeke gave a very helpful lecture on ministry to the youth of our churches.  It was biblically grounded, theologically formulated, and practically applicable.

One of the serendipities of the conference weekend was running into Dr. David Wells on the street on our way to dinner on Friday.  As we were walking past a cafe I noticed Dr. Wells sitting at a table and introduced myself and my friends.  We had a lovely chat and made preliminary arrangements for a Christ the Center interview in the future.  Dr. Wells, of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary of South Hamilton, MA.  has given to the evangelical community a five part trilogy (you read that right) which indicted the shallowness of much of evangelical theology, church life, and spirituality.  The volumes in the series are as follows:  No Place for Truth; God in the Wasteland; Losing Our Virtue; Above All Earthly Pow’rs and The Courage to Be Protestant.  There is no better assessment of the current state of the evangelical church.

The only drawback to the weekend was that our brother in arms Nick Batzig was not able to be present.

I am already looking forward to next year’s PCRT.  Thanks go to Rick Phillips, Bob Brady, Gabe Fluhrer, and the rest of the crew at the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.