RTS E-Newsletter iss #96, September 23, 2010

NEARLY 50 YEARS LATER, WIPF AND STOCK REPUBLISHES PROFESSOR'S DISSERTATION
Nearly 50 years after it appeared in print (Feb. 1961) in Amsterdam, Dr. Simon Kistemaker’s doctoral dissertation, The Psalm Citations in the Epistle to the Hebrews, has been republished by Wipf and Stock in Oregon. The back cover reads “Something which draws the immediate attention of the reader is the abundance of psalm citations in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the first chapter, five of the seven quotations are taken from the Psalter. Also in the other chapters passages out of the book of Psalms represent an important share in the number of OT citations quoted.”

To order, please call the RTS Orlando Bookstore at 800-390-7426. They will be ordering sufficient copies for order fulfillment. The book lists for $19.00 and the RTS Orlando Bookstore will sell it for $14.99 (plus tax and shipping where applicable). Expected delivery date in the store is Oct. 4. You may also email the bookstore manager, Greg Thompson, at gthompson@rts.edu.

THE “NEW” RTS ON ITUNES U
RTS on iTunes U is all new with a brand new layout, some very cool new features, and tons of new content coming to the site over the next couple of months.  To experience what you can do with the new RTS on iTunes U, click here.

GLORIOUS REIGN: RETHINKING THE RETURN OF CHRIST CONFERENCE
Do you have questions about what will happen in the last days? There is still time to register for the Glorious Reign Conference which will be held October 1-3 at Poolesville Baptist Church in Poolesville, Md. Dr. Howard Griffith, associate professor of systematic theology at RTS/Washington D.C., will be speaking, along with Rob Dalrymple, academic dean of Koinonia Graduate School of Theology and pastor of Cornerstone Fellowship and Alan Bandy, assistant professor of New Testament and Greek, at Oklahoma Baptist University. Jace Broadhurst  (M.Div. ’99) is senior pastor of Poolesville Baptist Church.

THE FALL LECTURES AT RTS/CHARLOTTE
The Fall Lectures at RTS/Charlotte will be led by one of America's most famous church historians, Dr. George Marsden, retired professor of American Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Marsden will give a series of lectures on Jonathan Edwards at RTS/Charlotte on Sept. 28, 9a-12p. He has written several books including Jonathan Edwards: A Life (pictured left).

TOUR SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, NORMANDY AND PARIS IN THE SPRING
Sign up now for a tour with Professor of Church History Dr. Don Fortson March 19-22, 2011 to Scotland, England, Normandy and Paris. To see pictures of similar previous tours, register-on-line or view the daily itinerary, go to www.rts.edu/cht. The deadline for registering at the listed price of $3398 is Nov. 23. After reviewing the information, if you have questions, e-mail Luther Bigby at cht@rts.edu.

NEW RTS VIRTUAL ONLINE COURSE OFFERINGS
The following courses are now available via the online virtual classroom: History of Christianity I and II, Systematic Theology I, II and III, Pastoral and Social Ethics, Apologetics, History of Philosophy and Christian Thought, Introduction to Theological Studies, C.S. Lewis, Gospels, Acts and Romans, Genesis to Joshua, Judges to Esther, Poets, Isaiah to Malachi, Hebrew I and II, Greek I and II.
You can check out the syllabi for these online courses by clicking here.

NEW IT HELP AT RTS ORLANDO
Welcome new M.Div. student Nate Meyer who has been hired as part-time staff for RTS Orlando as IT administrator. Nate grew up in Orlando but just moved back from Washington, D.C., where he worked as an IT consultant at Community IT Innovators (specializes in non-profit technology). He has a B.A. in English from the University of Florida and also worked at the UF Computing Help Desk and supported the IT infrastructure of the university. Nate hopes to become a chaplain in the US Army.

A big thanks to Adam Boesl of TradeWeb, for serving as interim IT administrator.

NEED A BOOK? TRY MINDANDHEART.COM
Purchase a new or used book on our Amazon Associate Web site, Mindandheart.com and a portion of the sale will go to RTS. You’ll find our professor’s library of books and you can even create a wish list. Click here to get started.

CAMPUS EVENTS
RTS/HOUSTON 
Classes began Sept. 3. Contact admissions.houston@rts.edu for more information about the spring semester, or call 800-752-4382.

RTS/WASHINGTON D.C.
Oct. 15-16 - A conference “The Church and Islam”, hosted by the CS Lewis Institute and RTS Washington DC, will be held at McLean Presbyterian Church in McLean, Va., with speaker Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo. For more information, click here.

RTS/ORLANDO
RTS Women in Ministry small groups are starting today. The groups will meet once a month on the 3rd Thursday of each month.
• Day group led by Sarah Baker meeting in the RTS parlor from 12noon-1p.
• Night group led by Jennifer Redd meeting at the Redd’s home from 7-8:30p.
Both groups are using the book Bravehearts by Sharon Hersh.

Oct. 7 – Women in Ministry - A Conversation with Arlene Richardson: “Lessons Learned in Ministry”, 7-9pm, Fellowship Hall.

Nov. 3-4 - James Davison Hunter will discuss his book, To Change the World; The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, at RTS/Orlando. His book is the RTS/Orlando “One School One Book” title that the entire Orlando campus will read for the 2010-2011 academic year.

RTS/CHARLOTTE
Women in Ministry (WIM) event – Mondays with the Olivers (Sept. 27th) & Fortsons (Oct. 11th & 25th)  at 7:00 p.m. in the dining room on campus. The topic of conversation with Dr. and Mrs. John Oliver will be on “Personal Sanctification and Transformation.” Dr. and Mrs. Don Fortson will talk about “Church History and a Christian Worldview in Today’s Culture.”

Psalm Breakfasts - Fridays 7:30 a.m. in the dining room on campus.

Newlywed Women’s Breakfast & Support Group - Saturday mornings with Tom and Tari Williamson.

Oct 1-3 Women of RTS will hold a retreat at Bonclarken, on “Resting and Waiting on God” with speaker Elizabeth Garn (MATS ’09)

RTS/JACKSON
Sept 27 - Brown Bag Lunch With Dr. Ligon Duncan of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson at 12:00pm in Patterson's Porch

Student Cabinet Hosts Annual "Game Night" on Fri, Sept 24, 7:00pm

New "Tradition" at RTS: Ultimate Frisbee on Mon, 4:45pm
Volleyball to Move to Tue, 8:00pm
Clothes Closet Begins Fall Schedule on Sat, Sept 11, 10:00am

Nov. 9-11 - The John Reed Miller Lecture Series will be held on campus. The speaker is Dr. Steve Lawson (D.Min. ’90), senior pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala. 
 
ALUMNI SNIPPETS
Do you have an alumni snippet to share? Send it to the editor, here.

Jim Adams, III, former RTS student, has served the past year as the youth, marriage and family director at Jackson's New Hope Baptist Church, a congregation of about 2,500 families in Mississippi. He told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper, in Jackson, that he has been a millionaire and he has been bankrupt. Read the article here, titled “What if…you had a second chance?” 

Leonard Bailey (MABS ‘04) is the senior pastor of Hope of Christ Church in Stafford, Va.  He and his wife, Amy, have three daughters and one son.

Jim Carter (MAMFT ’85, M.Div. ‘88), a chaplain in the U.S. Army, was called by The New Presbyterian Church in Pompano Beach, Fla, on Aug. 29, to be their senior minister. Chaplain Carter was serving as the senior protestant pastor and deputy garrison chaplain at the U.S. Army War College Memorial Chapel where he served as pastor to strategic military leaders and family members. He served over 22 years in the Army chaplaincy and has held numerous ministry leadership positions. He served in two combat tours: Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (August 1990 to March 1991), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (December 2007 to February 2009). While in Iraq, he was the senior U.S. military chaplain in Multi-National Division Baghdad, where he oversaw 70 other U.S. military chaplains, and supervised the religious support program for 33,000 service personnel. He is also working on a Doctorate of Ministry Degree at Erskine Theological Seminary. Chaplain Carter is married to Terri Carter (MAMFT ’85) and they have two children, Sarah (17) and David (14). Terri has worked within the Army education system, teaching college courses for soldiers stationed at West Point.
 
Philipp Gollner (M.Div. ‘09) graduated with an M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago recently and will be teaching history and religion as a visiting professor at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., this year. His wife Sarah and daughter Eleonora are doing well. They will stay in Chicago for at least one more year. He sends greetings to Oviedo and “all the dear folks at RTS.”

Douglas Graham (D.Min. ‘10) is the senior pastor of Knox Presbyterian Church in Harrison Township, Mich. He is married to Lesley and they have three sons Andrew, George and Mac.

Andrew “Reid” Jones (M.Div. ‘10) received a call to minister with Jordan Presbyterian Church in West Jordan, UT, a church which is a part of the Mission Utah church-planting network. Mission Utah is a church-planting and campus ministry (RUF) movement seeking to reach disenfranchised Mormons and nonbelievers. Reid has been there for about a month with his wife Kelli and new baby girl Lucy Jones. They ask for prayer that they would lean heavily upon the Lord in this period of transition for their family, and for their ministry work and for opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Read more about their ministry here. http://utahjones.org/

Ron Lively (M.Div. ’83, MAMFT ‘87) is the newly appointed international director of Society for Education and Economic Development (SEED, Inc.), which is “a marketplace and community outreach ministry focused on building strategic alliances and training leaders to change lives and transform communities,” which is helping Liberia. Ron is also the executive director of Healthy Initiatives Ministries (HIM) and works part time for the BUV Ministry (basic utility vehicles).
  
Sean McCann (M.Div. ‘07) (pictured right) and his wife Lindsey are currently serving with Mission to the World in La Ceiba, Honduras with daughters Lucy and Ellie, and another on the way. They recently finished hosting a three-day medical clinic with work teams and a big medical group from Pennsylvania, consisting of many medical professionals. Over 200 patients were seen. This fall they are teaching the 10 Commandments to the kids in their weekly Kids Club. Their teammastes, the Pettengills, left for their Home Missions Assignment in the U.S.  Also, since January, they have been constructing a two-acre ministry center in Armenia Bonito.  Click here to watch a video of the project, put together by their team leader. Click here for more info on the McCanns.

Helen Qiu (Th.M. ‘07) has been admitted as a new Ph.D. student at Columbia University in NY, in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.  Her major will be in Chinese Religion and History.  The question she will explore is "What kind of questions/categories do Chinese people ask when they encounter God or religion?"  She aims to use Systematic Christian Theology to let the Scripture answer the questions that concern the Chinese people/traditions. 

Cynthia Ruble (MATS ’00) is very excited that she has filed for adoption very recently for Micah.  Also she reports that her homestay, Keiko and Keiko’s daughter Rio has been taken off her heart medicine since the hole in her heart has stabilized and hopes that she will come home soon. Also recently a young man studying in her bible study group said “I want to take up my cross and follow Jesus.” Cynthia had never heard anyone say that in Japan before. She asks for continued prayers.
 
Jeremy Sink (M.Div. ’01), pastor of Grace Fellowship in Asheboro, NC, and his wife Gina and three sons are preparing for life in Japan. Read the article here. Read more about his ministry here.  
 
Tim Watson (MDiv '01), senior pastor of New Sterling ARP Church, in Stony Point, NC, was recently appointed to be a member of the board of trustees for Erskine College and Seminary.