Issue #97 | October 14, 2010 |
IT’S CLERGY APPRECIATION MONTH!
Have you communicated your appreciation to your pastor this week? Of course no special occasion is required for that, but October is the month that is set aside for this. Dr. Don Sweeting, president of RTS/Orlando, has written a three-part series on pastors. Part 1 is called “In Praise of Pastors”. He writes “The call to be a pastor is a high and holy privilege; but the actual job is no piece of cake. It is one of the greatest callings in the world. Yet it is also one of the most challenging callings in the world. Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru, once said that the four hardest jobs in America are…” Read more here on his blog.
DR. DOUG KELLY WRITES INTRODUCTION TO INSTITUTES TRANSLATION
Dr. Doug Kelly, the Richard Jordan professor of theology, wrote the introduction to the second edition of the Chinese translation of The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin. This translation of The Institutes (due November 2010) is the work of one of Dr. Kelly's former students, Joseph Chien (MAMis ‘91). Read the introduction here.
RTS/ATLANTA IS ON FACEBOOK!
Visit the new RTS Atlanta Facebook page! What are they doing in this picture? Why it’s the letters R-T-S of course. Atlanta students can use this page to communicate, receive class updates, general news updates, and share stories about how the Lord is working in their lives through their experience at RTS/Atlanta.
VIRTUAL CAMPUS ORIENTATION SEMINARS
Virtual M.A. (Religion) students are required to complete an orientation seminar on an RTS campus near the beginning of their degree work. However, the orientation seminar is much more than just a requirement. Orientation is an opportunity for students to visit the RTS/Charlotte campus, hear lectures from RTS professors, visit top-notch theological libraries, meet with personal advisors from the RTS/Virtual staff, and network with other students. To register, contact Alice Hathaway, Virtual registrar. Upcoming dates for orientation seminars are: Oct. 25-27, Jan. 24-26, Feb. 21-23, April 18-20, June 20-22
DR. GUY WATERS’ POCKET GUIDE DUE OUT IN NOVEMBER
Dr. Guy Waters, associate professor of New Testament at RTS/Jackson, wrote A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Justification: Being Made Right With God? (Christian Focus Publications, due November 2010). The description reads: "Could you explain Justification if asked to? For many of us, the whole concept of justification is as mystifying as a foreign language, but yet Christians down the ages have fought to defend it - seeing it quite rightly as a vital element of how we are saved. But justification is not a relic of the past - it has direct relevance to us as Christians today. We often struggle with the thought of justification because of human pride; 'I can't be that bad' and so justification is often undermined, wrongly presented or just plain ignored. Scripture though, is brutally clear: we have a real problem - the prospect of our lives marred by wrong-doing being laid out before an almighty God who is pure and will not forever let wrong go unpunished. We can't earn our way out of our predicament - as this is just "rubbish" according to the apostle Paul. We need something else, someone who can take the hit we so richly deserve - leaving us to be declared innocent instead. This little book will help you grasp a truth that when understood correctly is explosive, transformational and utterly liberating."
MTW GLOBAL MISSIONS CONFERENCE IN NOVEMBER
Interested in missions? Spend time and get to know missionaries from all over the globe at the Mission to the World Global Missions Conference November 5-7 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Rev. Joe Novenson and Dr. Paul Kooistra are the speakers at this event. For more information and to view videos from the speakers, click here. RTS will be there. Stop by our booth and say hello.
RTS TO ATTEND THIRD LAUSANNE CONGRESS IN AFRICA
The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization begins next week and runs from Oct 17-24 in Cape Town, South Africa. It is for the cause of world evangelization that the Lausanne Movement started in 1974. Chancellor/CEO Elect Mike Milton and Dr. Don Sweeting, president of RTS/Orlando will attend. Dr. Elias Medeiros, Harriet Barbour professor of missions at RTS/Jackson, will also present "Ministering to the Scattered Peoples" in a multiplex session. They ask for your prayers. Read more here. See schedule here.
CAMPUS EVENTS
RTS/ATLANTA
Nov. 18 - Dr. Craig Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, will lecture at RTS/Atlanta from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on “The Apparent Discrepancies in the Gospels Accounts and its Significance to the Doctrine of Inerrancy.”
RTS/HOUSTON
Contact Houston Admissions for more information about classes scheduled for the spring semester, or call 800-752-4382 or click here.
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
Nov. 3-4: James Davison Hunter, Labrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, will discuss his book, To Change the World; The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, at RTS/Orlando. In this thought-provoking book, James Davison Hunter argues that popular ways of conceiving of Christian efforts to “transform culture” have been fundamentally misguided, and he offers a bold new framework for rethinking Christian engagement with modernity. A reception will start at 7:00 p.m., followed by a lecture at 7:30 p.m. and a book signing at 8:30 p.m. The public is invited.
Preview Day at RTS/Orlando for prospective students will be held Saturday, March 12, from 10a-3p. Lunch is provided. Meet the president, Dr. Don Sweeting, who will speak, along with Mr. Scott Redd, assistant professor of Old Testament and dean of students. Register by emailing
RTS/CHARLOTTE
Oct. 25 - Women in Ministry (WIM) event – Monday with the Fortsons at 7:00 p.m. in the dining room on campus. The topic of conversation will be “Church History and a Christian Worldview in Today’s Culture.”
March 10-22 - Christian Heritage tour to Scotland, England and France. Click here for a full itinerary, registration information and a pictorial tour from previous trips.
RTS/JACKSON
Oct 29 - Mystery Dessert Theater in Patterson's Porch
Nov. 5-6 – Mrs. In Ministry Retreat at Twin Lakes Conference Center in Florence, Miss.
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.
Oct. 18 - Brown Bag Lunch With Steve Lanier of Redeemer (PCA), 12:00pm in Patterson's Porch:
ALUMNI SNIPPETS
Tom Brainerd (current student in the Orlando MABS program) has been installed as pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Edgewood, NM, a mission church of the CREC.
Justin Coverstone (M.Div. ’10) received a call from Grace Fellowship Church in Freeport, Ill., to become their pastor and he recently arrived there with his wife Brianna and four children.
Peter Dietsch (M.Div. ’99) just published Living Stones: Why Church Membership Matters (CEP) Click here to order the book. His 
bio states: "Peter grew up in the church as the son of a missionary and then pastor. From his parents he learned a love for Christ and His people. A former army officer, Peter earned his Master of Divinity from RTS/Orlando, where he also met his wife, Stacie, who was earning her Master of Arts in Theological Studies. They have been blessed with four ‘living stones’ of their own: Stephen, Timothy, Lydia, and Titus. As an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, Peter has experience as an army chaplain and local church pastor. His strong desire is that God would be glorified in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever (Eph. 3:21)
."
Paul Flodquist (MABS ‘88) published Avoiding a Small Church Mentality (Resource Publications, April 2010). You can order the book here. The book is designed for pastors who want to see their congregation grow numerically and in spiritual maturity.
Kelly Kapic (M.Div. '98), professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., just published 
God So Loved, He Gave: Entering the Movement of Divine Generosity (Zondervan, October 2010), along with Justin Borger (current M.Div. student RTS/Orlando), and generostiy content director for the Maclellan Foundation. Kelly is married to Tabitha and they have two children. The book's description notes, "By placing the practice of giving within the larger story of God's generosity, Kapic and Borger encourage us not simply to "give more," but to step into the powerful current of God's great gifts to the world." Click here to order the book.
Dan Layman (M.Div. '09) has officially accepted the call from Ambassador Presbyterian Church, in Apex, NC, to be the associate pastor of discipleship and outreach. He will start Nov. 1.
Pedro P. Tarquino (MCE ’91, M.Div.M ’90, PhD, ICS ’04) is with the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship (PEF) and is working on Bethel Educational Center (which will be a bilingual school), located on the west hillside of Cali, Colombia, in one of the poorest neighborhoods with high rates of violence and crime. His wife Cecilia counsels the children and their parents. A house has been donated to them and now they are close to a negotiation on the land purchase. They need volunteer teachers to help at the school. Colombian retired teachers will come and help them with middle school. Colegio Bolivar donated 10 used computers for their computer room, but they need more. Once they start the construction of the classrooms, they will also need groups of volunteers. They continue their work with The Christian Latin American University. Now they are in the last stage of the distance education certification by the Ecuadorian government. Click here for more info.