Issue #121 | April 12, 2012 |
RTS ALUMNI & FRIENDS BREAKFASTS - NO RSVP REQUIRED
This year, we did not send “snail mail”, and will not require RSVP’s, but please plan to attend one of our RTS Alumni & Friends Breakfasts. As always, we have plenty of room for you and for your guests. Click here for times and locations.
MILTON IS KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PREACHING
This year, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church will host the 2012 National Conference on Preaching. Dr. Michael Milton is the keynote speaker and the theme is Preaching on Mission. The conference is sponsored by Preaching magazine and the college of Christian Studies at Anderson University.
SCOTT SWAIN NAMED ACADEMIC DEAN AT RTS/ORLANDO
Dr. Scott Swain, currently associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, has been approved and appointed the academic dean starting June 1, 2012, while continuing to teach. This decision will allow Dr. Mark Futato, a beloved Old Testament and Hebrew professor who has served as academic dean for seven years, to return to teaching more classes. In 2006, Swain joined the faculty of RTS in Orlando. Prior to that, he taught theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill., and served on the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I am so grateful for the steady leadership that Mark Futato has given to our faculty over the past eight years,” said RTS Orlando President Don Sweeting. “Mark is highly esteemed by all, and students are clamoring to have him back in the classroom full-time.” Read more here.
PH.D. STUDENT SHARES DR. FUTATO'S BOOK WITH PRISONERS
Rex Shaver, Ph.D. student at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and instructor at North Bay School of Theology at San Quentin State Prison, wrote this letter to his professor at Bethel University. (used with permission)
Dear Dr. Howard,
This note is to praise Dr. Futato's "Interpreting the Psalms: An Exegetical Handbook." After reading the book in your Psalms seminar, I fell in love with it. While giving technical information and method, the book is so readable. For this reason, when I taught Intermediate Old Testament last fall at San Quentin prison (Golden Gate offers diplomas in Biblical Studies and Theology at the prison), I included a unit on the Psalms and chose "Interpreting the Psalms" as my textbook.
San Quentin students run the gambit from high school dropouts to a few with some postgraduate work, so choosing textbooks can be tricky. My students loved "Interpreting the Psalms." Most of them entered that section with a marginal view of the Psalms, as nice but limited in usefulness, and emerged with great excitement and greater understanding of the Psalter. Through the book they were given analytical tools to see so much more in the poems than they ever suspected was there. I had several students who read the entire book even though I only assigned about half the pages for mandatory reading.
Please pass this along to Dr. Futato. He has done his work well, and the seeds of his efforts are bearing fruit in unexpected places.
ARMY PROMOTES MILTON
Dr. Michael Milton, chancellor-elect of RTS, was recently promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel Chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserve, serving as an instructor and writer at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School in Ft. Jackson, SC.
LET'S OFFER WORDS OF CONGRATULATIONS AS DR. CARR TURNS 90!
Dr. Wallace Carr will celebrate his 90th birthday on October 9, 2012. Carr, the former professor of practical theology and founder of the RTS Marriage and Family Counseling program at RTS/Jackson, will celebrate his 90th birthday at his home in Covington, La. His family is planning a special event and would like to invite members of the RTS community to offer him words of congratulations and fond recollections on this special occasion. If you would like to send greetings to Dr. Carr, please email mail your comments to his son, Dr. Fred S. Carr (fredscarr@comcast.net ) or write c/o Church of the Atonement, 12816 Serpentine Way, Silver Spring, MD 20904.
PROFESSOR BOOKS AND INTERVIEWS
Dr. Guy Waters, associate professor of New Testament, is interviewed on Reformed Forum about his book How Jesus Runs the Church. Click here to listen.
Dr. John Currid’s commentary on the Book of Ruth will be published by Evangelical Press in May 2012. It is titled From Bitter to Sweet and is part of the Welwyn Commentary Series.
Dr. Chuck Hill's Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great ‘Gospel Conspiracy’ (Oxford University Press) will be available in paperback in May 2012.
DR. BOB ORNER NAMED DEAN OF STUDENTS AT RTS/ORLANDO
Dr. Robert H. (Bob) Orner, director of field education, associate director of the D.Min. program, and visiting lecturer in practical theology at RTS/Orlando, has been named the dean of students there, and will take on those responsibilities June 1, 2012, when the current dean of students, Scott Redd, becomes the president of RTS’s Washington, D.C., campus.
“Bob Orner brings a wealth of fresh pastoral experience to our team,” said RTS Orlando President Don Sweeting. “He knows firsthand almost every facet of pastoral ministry. He loves students and they love him. He has a strong interest in building community. On top of all that, he has a heart for the global church.” Read more here.
MILTON INTERVIEW ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY NOW AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST
About 12 minutes into this podcast from the Steve Deace Show, Dr. Michael Milton is interviewed and talks about the crisis of religious liberty. Click here and scroll down to the first item below the picture to listen to the podcast. "An attack on religious freedom is an attack on all freedoms," said Milton.
NEW ONLINE DEVOTION AND NEW BOOK FROM WALT LARIMORE
Walt Larimore M.D., is one of America's best-known family physicians. Dr. Larimore practiced 4 years in the Smoky Mountains before moving to Central Florida to practice for 16 years. In 2001 the Larimores relocated to Colorado where Dr. Larimore is now an author, educator, and medical journalist. He serves on the adjunct family medicine faculty of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and the In His Image Family Medicine Residency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a frequent guest about family health topics on a wide variety of television and radio programs and has appeared on The Today Show, CBS's Morning Show, several Fox News programs and CNN.
Larimore is also a former member of the RTS President's Council and long-term friend of RTS. Something new he is doing now is publishing a free, on-line, twice-a-day topical devotion called "Morning Glory, Evening Grace." Each short devotion is composed of God's Word using Bible verses carefully organized together. An explanation of and defense of the method can be found here. View the devotional's home page, and sign up for email notifications here. Larimore says, "I'm hopeful that church leaders will recommend it to their congregations so that folks can all be reading and meditating upon the same scriptures each day."
He has also written a novel titled Hazel Creek. Click here to read more about the book.
DETAILS ANNOUNCED FOR THE NICOLE INSTITUTE OF BAPTIST STUDIES AT RTS/ORLANDO
Reformed Theological Seminary is pleased to announce the opening of The Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies on its Orlando campus for the 2012-13 academic year. The Nicole Institute was named in honor of Dr. Roger Nicole, renowned Reformed Baptist theologian who was a visiting faculty member on the Orlando campus from 1989-2000. He was part of a generation of scholars that led a renaissance of American evangelicalism in the mid-twentieth century. Dr. Nicole has long been regarded as one of the preeminent evangelical systematic theologians in North America. Click the link above to learn more.
RTS CHARLOTTE'S SPRING LECTURES WITH DR. AL MOHLER ARE AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE
Listen to the lectures given by Dr. Al Mohler at RTS/Charlotte recently. Click Part One for the first lecture and click Part Two for the second lecture.
NEW HIRES AT RTS/ORLANDO
Michael Callahan and John Marshall have been hired to provide information technology services for the RTS/Orlando Campus. 
Michael Callahan currently serves as the director of information systems at the Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida and has been with UCF in various IT jobs for the past 10 years. Michael holds a B.S.B.A. in Management Information Systems and a MBA from the University of Central Florida where he graduated Cum Laude from the Burnett Honors College and has since accumulated numerous professional certifications & licenses. Michael will serve as the departmental manager to help our campus thrive in this critical area and will be assisted by John Marshall in carrying out the daily functions of the department.
Originally from Rhode Island, John Marshall, Jr., is the information technology administrator and has a B.S. in Criminal Justice with a certificate in security systems from UCF. He also serves as general manager of Expert Car Care in Central Florida (10 years). He and his wife Rachel have an 11-month-old baby boy named Caleb. He has been to multiple countries in Europe and loves to travel, loves sports and weightlifting. Welcome, Michael and John!
PROFESSOR MICHAEL KRUGER LAUNCHES BLOG
Dr. Michael Kruger, professor of New Testament and academic dean at RTS/Charlotte, has launched a new blog titled Canon Fodder (having to do with the origins of the NT canon along with other issues). Click here to learn more. He's also on Twitter!
READ MICHAEL MILTON'S BLOG
Chancellor-elect Michael Milton blogs regularly. Here is the most recent blog titled, "I Will Not Let Go of Easter." Click here to read the blog.
THEOLOGY DAYS FOR RTS STUDENTS
Hear from three professors for the price of one during Theology Days Friday and Saturday, May 18-19, 2012, at RTS/Washington D.C., now located near Tyson's Corner. This class will help prepare students for ordination. You will take practice exams and discuss current issues like federal vision, women's ordination, and pheonomy. The class course number is 6PT612. For more information, email Jennifer McGahey at jmcgahey@rts.edu.
RTS GRADUATION SPEAKERS, TIMES AND LOCATIONS:
RTS/Jackson - Graduation will be held May 19, 2012, at First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Miss., at 10:00 a.m. The speaker is Chancellor Robert C. (Ric) Cannada, Jr.
RTS/Charlotte - Graduation will be held at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC, on May 19 at 11:00 a.m. Dr. George Grant will be the speaker. George Grant is the president of the King's Meadow Study Center, the pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church, coordinator of the Gileskirk Curriculum Project, and instructor at Franklin Classical School.
RTS/Orlando - Graduation will be held at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., on May 25 at 7:30 p.m. Dr. David Swanson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, will be the speaker.
RTS/Atlanta - Graduation will be held on the Atlanta campus on Saturday, May 26 at 10:00 a.m. The speaker will be the Rev. George W. "Chip" Miller, Jr.. A graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary, Miller is the senior pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church of Macon, Ga.
RTS/Washington DC - Graduation will be held at McLean Presbyterian Church on May 25 at 7:30 p.m. The speaker will be Mr. John Scott Redd, the president-elect of RTS/Washington DC.
ALUMNI SNIPPETS
John W. Martin (M.Div. '11) currently serving as youth pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Hillsborough, NJ, is engaged to Margaret Ellen LoPresti. She is completing her final year in the PharmD program at the Medical College of Virginia. In December 2010, she was commissioned into the Air Force and will begin active duty as a pharmacist on July 1. A May 2012 wedding is planned at Windsor Castle in Smithfield.
Greg Joines (current RTS/Charlotte student) and his wife Dolly are headed into church planting in Corvallis, Oregon, and have put together a very brief video to introduce their mission. Click here to view the video. Read more on their Web site.
J. Phillip Luther, Jr. (M.Div. '07), church planter with Mission to the World, and his wife Kay finally moved into their apartment in Greece on March 1st after 15 months of transition. They are grateful to be somewhat settled and have a place they can call home. On March 10th two teams of students with Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at UT Chattanooga and UGA arrived for their spring break to serve in the on-going ministries of the Greek Evangelical Church. They ask for prayer for opportunities to develop friendships, grace as they tackle the challenge of learning a new language, and guidance as they finalize details of a summer internship designed for students who are considering missions.
David Foster (D.Min. '88), 58 years old, passed into glory on April 3, 2012. He was an author, speaker and pastor of The Gathering Church in Franklin, Tenn. He died in his sleep. A memorial service was held on April 3 at Brentwood Baptist Church. Here is a video of the service. In lieu of flowers, the David Foster Memorial Fund has been established at The Gathering-Nashville, P.O. Box 681867, Franklin, TN 37068-1867. Read more here from Tennessean.com.
Jim Black (M.Div. '02) serves as the ministry director at Columbia University for the Christian Union. Read more about the Christian Union here. Upon finishing his studies at RTS, Jim served as the senior pastor at Alliance Bible Church in Baytown, Texas, for nine years. Two long-term dreams coalesced in his role with Christian Union as Jim had long felt called both to minister to college students and to serve in the City of New York. He, his wife Laurie, and their three children are honored to engage in this exciting endeavor.
Paul Bankson (M.Div. '91) is the pastor of Houston Lake Presbyterian Church. He said Houston Lake Presbyterian has a mix of young and older families, many of whom have ties to Robins Air Force Base. He also said the majority of elders in the church are active or retired military and have brought in the Air Force idea of getting “re-blued” each year, or looking at and reaffirming who you are, what your mission is and whether you’re accomplishing it. Read more about the church here in an article recently written at macon.com
Martin "Paul" May (M.Div. '07, MAC '07) and his wife Meaghan recently moved from South Florida to South Dakota with their children Austen and Claire to plant a church "The Grace Project." He challenged his core group in March to begin praying for the nonbelievers they see on a regular basis, to make those relationships more intentional, and to pray that before Easter Sunday that each would have the opportunity to present the gospel to at least one person they know. He says it was a big challenge, difficult, risky and uncomfortable, but he says "Advancing God's kingdom is exactly what our souls deep down long for and he quotes Jesus' words, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me..." John 4:34.
D. Gordon Gartrell (M.Div. '80) and his wife Dorothy are Presbyterian Church (USA) missionaries working in partnership with the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil in the city of Belem in the state of Para at the mouth of the Amazon River. He served an internship on the TransAmazon Highway and lived with Dr. and Mrs. Paul Long Sr. He grew up with their children in Brazil. They are involved in church planting and evangelism and arrived in February. They are working with a small congregation with 6 adults and 15 children. The mother church is across town, so they are helping in both places. There is a lot of drug abuse in their surrounding community. They have already served in Brazil as missionaires with a different Presbyterian Church for 18 years. God has opened doors for them to be there at this time. He asks for prayer for a fruitful ministry for the Kingdom of God.
Chad Grindstaff (M.Div. '05) is in Ohio with his wife Erin and children, Reed, Meredith and Anna, planning to plant a church in Cincinnati. They have recently moved and started meeting as a core group in January. This group is comprised of believers who want to see a new church started in the Fairfield/Fairfield Township area of town. At this point they have seven other couples/family units that are a part of our group. Along with the adults, they now have 18 children. They are currently talking through possible church names. Follow their blog here.
Lauren S (MATS '10) is serving in Africa and asks for prayers for rain! Actually, to be more specific she is praying Psalm 67 over all of North Africa. She asks for prayer for wisdom in how to be a blessing to her neighbors in a way that honors their dignity and builds up her relationships with them in love and mutual respect.
Donald L. Friederichsen (M.Div. '11) was ordained and installed as the fifth pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church of Millburn and Short Hills in New Jersey. The ordination and installation service took place at the church on Sunday, March 25, at 5:00 pm. Pastor Friederichsen will serve as the new pastor of the church following the retirement of the current pastor, Dr. David Miner of West Orange, New Jersey, who has faithfully served the church as Pastor for the past 20 years. Read the article on NJ.com here.
Steven W. Gaines (M.Div. '00) is serving as an elder at Providence Church in Duluth, Ga.
Bob Roane (D.Min. ‘00) taught at the East African Pastors Conference in January for pastors in Kenya and Tanzania under the auspices of Global Field Evangelism (GFE). GFE has planted 70 churches in this region. The conference theme was “God-Centered Life” under the four headings: God, Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. Most of the pastors have no formal training, so the teaching provided an overview of Christian systematic theology, mixed with help in practical ministry. Bob also serves as teacher-pastoral counselor-evangelist with Words of Hope Bible Ministries in Houston, Texas, and teaches at Belhaven University in Houston.
Mark Spellman (M.Div.C '92) is the pastor of Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church of Pueblo West in Colorado. In April, the church will achieve full-church status in the Presbyterian Church of America's Rocky Mountain Presbytery. The ceremony is set for 5:00 p.m. April 29 at the church in Building 2 of Pueblo West Plaza at 44 E. Spaulding Ave. The ceremony will include the ordination of Bobby Maes and James Solis as ruling elders, as well as formally recognizing the change in Spellman's status. The public is invited. Read more from the Chieftan.com here.
Chad Bennett (MABS ‘10) was installed as the senior pastor of Grace Fellowship Church of Hazleton, Pa., upon the retirement of Dr. Tedd Tripp on March 25, 2012. For a year and a half, Chad has served as the associate pastor while being mentored by Dr. Tripp and the other elders. Dr. Tripp will continue to serve as an elder of Grace Fellowship Church after his retirement and will maintain his national and international speaking under the auspices of Shepherding the Heart Ministries. Chad and his wife Amanda also welcomed the birth of their second child, Grace Eden, on March 3, 2012. Their son, Hayden Josiah, will be three in May.
Jinsung Kim (PhD/ICS '08) is in Korea working on planting a church named "Truth and Disciples Church." Follow his blog here. 
Ryan McVicar (M.Div. '07) is serving as the associate pastor at Knox Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Harrison Township, Mich., and wanted to announce a church planting project in Detroit. He says the church where he serves is the only PCA church in all of Metro-Detroit. "Although Knox recently joined the PCA, the need for biblically faithful and mission-minded churches in Detroit is great. For this reason, MNA has long desired to see a church planted which will serve as a base from which to reach Detroit." They are trusting God to raise up churches outside of Detroit who will partner with them in this project. Read more about the church plant here.