Elder Q&A 2024 Recap

On November 10, we hosted our sixth annual Elders Q&A. Thank you for your thoughtful questions. Our church is marked by Christ’s love, gratitude to our God, and a relationship of trust between our congregaton and our elders. You are a joy to lead even on the hard days. That’s owing in part to your faithful submission to your elders as we lead you in the Word (Heb. 13:17). 

Welcome Gettys, Matt Papa, and Matt Boswell

Today we are fortunate to be joined once again by Keith and Kristyn Getty and their band. But this time they join us with two guests: Matt Papa and Matt Boswell, two writers on the Getty’s Hymn Writing Team.

Mourning The Loss of a Father

Some of you don’t have many photos with your dad because he was always taking the pictures. In my case, my dad just didn’t like his picture taken and he was stubborn about it. That’s one thing about him I’ll strangely miss. He loved anchovies on his pizza. That’s another thing.

Got Any Questions?

Questions are normal. In our own family, Kristi and I probably ask one another a dozen questons a day. Our kids ask us more, especially the youngest. When we circle up at night, we’ll read the Bible, pray, talk about the day to come, and typically I’ll take questions to make sure we’re all on the same page.

Prayers and Plans for the Summer

Jesus needed to get away from the everyday work of ministry and so do everyday pastors like me. Our elders have established a thoughtful plan for periodic extended breaks for both non-staff and staff pastors.

Recap of Greenville’s Fourth Annual Simeon Trust Preaching Workshop

What’s at stake in the preacher’s work? Quite a bit actually. That’s why we host a preaching workshop every year for preachers in the Upstate, a partnershop with The Charles Simeon Trust. Our Lord loves us so much that he calls our preachers to this kind of careful work. 

Elder Q&A 2023 Recap

On November 12, we hosted our fifth annual Elders Q&A. We host these evenings because we love one another. Asking and answering questions is natural to any relationship of love and trust. We have plenty of both and we mean to keep it. Thank you for your thoughtful questions and your interest in our church’s good.

Welcoming Jim Knauss to the Staff Team

This past spring we launched a search for a new role on our team, the Director of Discipleship and Theological Development and shared the vision for this role in a blog, “A New Pastoral Role and A Vision for Deep Discipleship and Pastor Training.”

Any Questions? Join Us at Our Annual Elder Q&A

Questions are good and normal and needed. In any meaningful relationship, we ask questions to get clarity for any number of reasons: so that we don’t make assumptions, so that we can be helpful in our life and work together, and so that we may reason together when that’s needed.

Meet Chris Groat

I am eager to introduce you to a brother in Christ who has become a good friend to me and to our church. His name is Chris Groat, our new worship director. On behalf of our elders, Jason updated our church family last Sunday in our service and by email about the process we’ve been […]

Parental Discipline With A Destination

There is more to parenting than discipline and there is more to say about discipline than we we explored last Sunday. Nevertheless, discipine in the home is of profound importance for our children’s earthly and heavenly good. It is God’s prescribed means to both and we neglect it to peril of our children. 

Meet Sarah Asire, Our New Women’s Ministry Director

On behalf of our elders, I am thrilled to introduce you to Sarah Asire, our new Director of Women’s Ministry. In this interview I ask Sarah a few questions so we can get to know her. Along the way, let’s all get some insight into the how and the why of our women’s Bible study.

A New Pastoral Role and A Vision for Deep Discipleship and Pastor Training

Discipleship is all the rage. Commercials, sports commentary, and social media feeds teach us the story of the world, what we should believe, and how we should live. Sometimes I’ll hear this comment: with all of the indoctrination we and our children receive through the week, what can a one hour sermon do? I’ve thought that. Maybe you’ve said it yourself.

A Call to Prayer During Ramadan

According to Muslim tradition, in the year 610 Allah began a twenty-three year process of dictating the Quran to Muhammad. The essence of the story is that Muhammad, in his quest for knowledge of Allah, repeatedly visited a cave near the city of Mecca for times of solitude. During one of those visits, Allah sent an angel to begin the dictation. That first visit came in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan.

Recap of Greenville’s Third Annual Simeon Trust Preaching Workshop

What’s at stake in the preacher’s work? Quite a bit actually. That’s why we host a preaching workshop every year for preachers in the Upstate, a partnershop with The Charles Simeon Trust. Our Lord loves us so much that he calls our preachers to this kind of careful work. 

Elder Q&A 2022 Recap

Meet Our Fall Intern: Jim Knauss

We’re committed to investing in the gospel’s advance by investing in men who aspire to serve as vocational preachers and pastors. Remember Paul’s words to Timothy: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). That’s our biblical strategy for finding and appointing elders here at Heritage, and for propagating the gospel beyond our walls.

Why We Are Against Abortion

On Friday, June 24, at 10:10 AM the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Row vs. Wade, reversing the legalization of abortion on demand across the United States. The issue of abortion is now the legal responsibility of our state legislatures. If you were alive on September 11, 2001, you remember where you were when the planes struck the towers. That was a bad day. The striking down of Roe marks a good day and a one to remember.

Social Justice, Pride Month, and The Two Parent Home

Social justice is something we’ve discussed in our preaching over the years. I’ve proposed that it’s not a helpful descriptor if we want to think and communicate in clear biblical terms. It’s overloaded with conflicting meanings. It’s also associated almost entirely in our public discourse with governmental redistributive programs aimed at resolving disparities of one kind or another.

Are God’s Wrath and God’s Love Compatible?

D.A. Carson has written a helpful book, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. Kristi gave me this book when we were dating, actually. Now, twenty years and about two weeks later, I commend it to you. 

Meet Our Spring Intern: Timothy Martin

We’re committed to investing in the gospel’s advance by investing in men who aspire to serve as vocational preachers and pastors. Remember Paul’s words to Timothy: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). That’s our biblical strategy for finding and appointing elders here at Heritage, and for propagating the gospel beyond our walls.

Welcome Keith and Kristyn Getty, Deep Songwriters for Deep Churches

Deep. Happy. Faithful. Those are three words that come to mind when I think about Keith and Kristyn Getty. I remember where I was when I first heard, “In Christ Alone.” This song takes the deepest truths to the deepest places. There’s something about the combination of text and tune that struck me.

Welcome Three Faithful Brothers: David Mathis, Andy Naselli, Joe Rigney

In the coming weeks we have an opportunity to work out this spirit as a church by welcoming several “faithful brothers.” I’m eager for you to meet them and to greet them in Christ. So, let me make some introductions for us. I’ll make these remarks personal where I can, taking my cue from Peter who commended Silvanus to his own readers. I also asked each of these brothers for recommendations of things the other brothers have written lately, since they are all friends.  

Recap of Greenville’s Second Annual Simeon Trust Preaching Workshop

Every preacher thanks God for these encouraging words: Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. —1 Timothy 4:13–16

Meet Our Fall Intern: Jared Jenkins

This is such a cool photo of Jared, one of our college students whose pastoral internship is wrapping up. Jared’s internship began this past fall and is finishing up this week.
Jared has been reading and writing, he has joined our elders meetings, and he has met with me weekly over twelve weeks. Our purpose in this internship is to see churches led by pastors who faithfully connect the Bible’s theology of the church to the church’s worship, life, and mission. In other words, to see churches flourish in the gospel and gospel work.

How Does The Gospel Shape Our Gathering?, Part 3: Our Design Workflow

Elder Q&A 2021 Recap

How Does The Gospel Shape Our Gathering?, Part 2: Our Liturgical Form

How Does the Gospel Shape Our Gathering?, Part 1: A Theological Framework

You Can’t Join Us On Livestream. Say What?

Settle in and allow me to explain. Greg Gilbert wrote a helpful piece for pastors a little over a year ago. Some of his concluding words have stuck with me: This is a hard year to be a pastor. There’s the pandemic. There’s the frustration, for many of us, of not being able to gather with the church as normal. There’s the vaguely ridiculous prospect of preaching to a congregation whose faces you can’t see because they’re all wearing masks. There’s the livestream you launched literally two weeks after you publicly called down God’s own curses on yourself if you ever consented to a “video venue.”

Meet Our Summer Intern: Jarod Hill

Paul’s words to Timothy are the Holy Spirit’s words to our elders: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). That’s our biblical strategy for finding and appointing elders here at Heritage, and for propagating the gospel beyond our walls.

Now Taking Questions for Our Annual Elders Q&A

One way our elders at Heritage seek to lead our church to maturity in Christ is by the simple work of answering questions. We do this in informal and private ways, and we do this in especially public ways such as our annual Elders Q&A. On November 14 at 4:30 p.m. we will host our third annual Elders Q&A. You should come.

The Miracle of Giving and Why We Stopped Passing the Plate

We haven’t passed the plate in over a year, yet our lights are on, our pastors are paid, and giving has increased. Let’s talk about that. COVID gave our elders an opportunity to test-drive something we had been pondering informally for some time: giving without plates. How has it gone? Just fine. Actually, measured in terms of the church’s generosity, it’s gone great.

Let’s Sing! “Jesus, Your Mercy”

This past week we introduced a new song, “Jesus, Your Mercy,” which we’ll sing again this Sunday. This song is a prayer to our merciful Lord, a song to help us confess our sin and rejoice in our assurance rooted in the mercy of God. Meditate these words and wear yourself into the tune ahead of Sunday. 

Looking for Shepherds: Biblical Qualifications for Eldership

One way to know how much God treasures his people is to listen to what he says to our leaders. Here’s Paul’s words to the elders at Ephesus: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

How Not to Lose Yourself (and Your Soul) In A Crowd

I’ve been thinking about crowds lately. There are a few reasons for that. We keep seeing them on the news. We feel the effects of them in our feeds. The crowding out of our ability to think for our selves—or think at all—is one reason why a half dozen friends have told me they recently dialed back or jumped out of social media altogether.  

New eBook: Thinking Theologically about Racial Tensions

Our elders recognize that there is a need to offer biblical instruction on the topic of race. This is not because we believe that we are demonstrating sinful thoughts or attitudes on this topic as a church. Not hardly. Rather, it is because this topic—filled as it is with human beings, human history, and human conflict—deserves nothing less than our best biblical thinking.

Our Plans for Singing on Sunday, April 11

For some time now we have wanted to host a weekend workshop specifically for our Sunday musicians. We are well served by talented and church-loving musicians each Lord’s Day and this is a way of investing in them spiritually and in the practical work of leading congregational singing as a team. That’s what we’re doing […]

Join us on Good Friday and Easter, ’21

There is no happy ending for this world apart from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is a way for our sin and guilt to be removed and there is a way for you and I to be made new. Yes, we have been ransomed by Christ and raised with him.  

Recap of Our First Annual Simeon Trust Preaching Workshop

Preachers need encouragement, help, and a regular reminder that God accomplishes his work in the world through his Word. It’s in this spirit of encouragement and progress that Heritage has invested in area churches and pastors in a variety of ways. It’s also why we hosted a preaching workshop for area preachers this past January through a partnership with the Charles Simeon Trust.

Our Plans to Hire a Full-Time Worship Director

Our heritage is a heritage of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which reconciles sinners to God and to one another. Proof is in the singing. The purpose of this post is to share our thinking behind the search for a full-time Worship Director and to unite our church in those plans. We may not begin a public search for many months or perhaps another year or two—more on the budget and timing later in this post. But now is a good time to lay some groundwork for when that time comes.

Your Journey Through The Psalms: Where to Begin

If you’ve been in church long enough, you’ve probably been told to, “open your Bibles to the book of Psalms, right in the middle of your Bible.” Measured by chapters, Psalms is the longest book in our Bibles so it’s not hard to find. In it are the prayers, hymns, and laments of our ancestors to our great God. It’s filled with familiar lines that we rightly recall: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,” or, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (1:1; 23:1).

No Bits and Pieces, No Little People: Meet Francis Schaeffer

When the Sadducees came to Jesus with a disingenuous question about the resurrection, his response was direct: “you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Mk. 12:24). This is an interaction we explored in Sunday’s sermon, “He is God of the Living,” from Mark 12:18–27. The Sadducees insisted that there would be no future resurrection, that when we died that was it.

Defining Justice

There’s a popular slogan these days, “No Justice, No Peace.” Surely, we should want to positively affirm this simple statement. It is theologically true that there is no peace without justice. But in context, this slogan has been used as a threat. In short, “if we do not get justice, we will burn this city down.” So much turns on the meaning of justice.

Help for Anxious Hearts

God speaks some of the most beautiful words to anxious people. I don’t know where I read that, but it has stuck with me. Our text from Sunday took us to some of those beautiful words in Jesus’ otherwise peculiar command: “look at the birds” (Matt. 6:24). Birds are a reminder that God values us. If he feeds them, how much more will he care for us! That’s a good argument, and it’s put in a way that changes how we look at things. It literally changes what we are look at. Birds are one of God’s answers for our anxious hearts.

Reading the Bible in 2021

The original title for this post was, “Reading the Bible in 2071.” I mistyped the date. But then, that’s actually how some of us might approach Bible reading. It’s something we’ll get to later. A reading plan can help with this procrastination. Remember Jesus’ words, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

What’s in the Water?: Baptism as a Sign of Addition

What’s in the Water?: Baptism as a Sign of the New Covenant

Elder Q&A 2020 Recap

What’s in the Water?: Refreshing the Sign of Baptism

Thanksgiving, 2020

Thankfulness isn’t the banner most of us would naturally fly over 2020. Only a few things come to mind: a pandemic, violence, and an election season that exposed so many of our nation’s contradictions. Even Thanksgiving is at least legally curtailed for some brothers and sisters in other states.

Give to God What Is God’s: Rule 3, Reserve Your Greatest Energies for the Most Lasting Society, the Church

Give to God What Is God’s: Rule 2, Engage in the Political Process as a Christian

Give to God What Is God’s: Rule 1, Understand What You’re Doing as an American

Give to God What Is God’s: Three Rules for (Political) Engagement

Plans for the Pulpit: Stops Along the Path

Just this last week several of us elders were talking about how strange and sweet preaching is. What other group is sustained over centuries by near hour-long weekly monologues? We couldn’t think of any. But for us preaching is more than just words from a man, but the Word of Christ for us, to us, about us, and even in us. “Him we proclaim,” Paul wrote, “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Preaching is personal and crucial.  

How We Appoint Elders Together

If you hang around Heritage long enough, you’re going to hear about elders. You’ll hear us talk about how there are three terms used interchangeably in the New Testament for this office: elder, pastor, and overseer. You’ll hear us talk about how some of our elders are paid and some are unpaid, some have special assignments or expertise, but our elders lead us together.

An Election Season Prayer to Heaven’s High King

Once a month I will pray what we’ll call “A Prayer for the Church” in our Lord’s Day gathering. Periodically I will post this prayer to this blog. The following prayer is adapted from the Prayer for the Church, from Sunday, October 4, 2020.

Now Taking Questions for our Second Annual Elders Q&A

One way our elders at Heritage seek to lead our church to maturity in Christ is by the simple work of answering questions. We do this in informal and private ways, and we do this in especially public ways such as our annual Elders Q&A. On November 22 at 4:30 p.m. we will host our second annual Elders Q&A.  

Blue Crabs and Human Tradition

blue crab

In Sunday’s sermon, “Worship and the Word,” from Mark 7:1–23, we came to Jesus’ famous confrontation with the scribes and the Pharisees on the topic of human tradition. The Pharisees sought to take God’s Word seriously. If God told the priests to wash their hands in the temple, then why shouldn’t all of us wash your hands all the time (Ex. 30:19–21)? And why not wash the pots and couches too? They did many things like this, apparently.

A Tragic Death and a Prayer for Peace

Dear Father, A man died on the street in Minneapolis under the knee of a police officer and we saw it with our eyes. Our nation is in turmoil and our cities are on fire. Oh Lord, there are many emotions we should feel right now: sadness, anger, and grief. There are many things we should pray for this morning—for your justice, your peace, and your healing. There are also many people we should pray for.

Meet our Spring Intern: Phil Shiver

We’re committed to investing in the gospel’s advance by investing in men who aspire to serve as vocational preachers and pastors. Remember Paul’s words to Timothy: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). That’s our biblical strategy for finding and appointing elders here at Heritage, and for propagating the gospel beyond our walls.

Together Again, this Sunday: Why and How

  Some of you are going to have to start wearing real clothes on Sunday morning again. Some of you kids are going to have to wear a shirt again. Adults, you will now need a lid on your coffee. I’m excited to share that our elders have decided that we will begin gathering again […]

Let’s Sing! “Jesus, Strong and Kind”

Jesus-strong-and-kind

Let’s just go crazy and sing another new song this week. City Alight is a group of song writers out of Australia who keep writing beautiful songs for us. These are the folks who wrote, “Only a Holy God,” “Christ is Mine Forevermore,” and “Yet Not I.” This newer song, “Jesus, Strong and Kind,” is an invitation to find our strength in Jesus, and to come to him through the cross. It’s simple, personal, and biblical. Enjoy. 

Let’s Sing! “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death”

Christ our hope in life and death

The first question of the Heidelberg Catechism is the first question we should ask ourselves, and our children: What is your only comfort in life and in death? Here’s the answer: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with […]

Join us for Good Friday and Easter

It occurs to me that the first Good Friday and Easter were not marked by thoughtful gatherings and joyful celebration. That didn’t come until Pentecost when the Spirit came and the church was born. This year we’ll be apart, but it’s not because we’re ashamed of Christ or confused about his death. 
Here are our plans for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Hardship and Church Health: How This Could Be Good for Us

A few months ago I didn’t know the first thing about the coronavirus. Now, everyone knows the first thing about it. It’s bad. Let’s start there. There are some real ways in which this whole thing is bad for us. It’s a killing machine, especially for our older population. That’s bad. We can’t gather and that’s bad. The economy is halting and that will be bad in ways that we are only starting to understand. Yesterday at 5 p.m., one of our members let me know he was not available Friday night. A friend was getting married. By 6 p.m., he followed up to let me know the wedding was canceled. Just try to imagine being that couple.

Coronavirus, Community, and the Cross

Dear Heritage Bible Church,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the peace of Christ rule in our hearts even as the coronavirus rules the airwaves and, to a good extent, our lives for a season.
Yesterday evening we sent you a simple communication regarding our plans for services and ministry programming at Heritage in light of the COVID-19 virus National Emergency.

Elder Q&A 2019 Recap

Recap of our First Annual Women’s Workshop

In God’s wisdom, he has ordered the church so that men and women have complementary roles, with men entrusted with public teaching and the role of elder (1Tim. 2:8-3:7). We worked through this topic a little over a year ago in a sermon titled, “Women of the Word.” However, we must say more. Women are not merely […]

You’re Invited to our First Annual Elders Q&A

We’re eager to begin a new tradition. This fall, the elders will set aside an evening to take questions from Heritage members. We’ll call this our annual, “Elders Q&A.” We may host smaller and more focused Q&A sessions here and there as needed, but this will be an opportunity we return to each year. Here’s […]

Meet Our Summer Intern: Chris Gerber (Part 2)

A few weeks back we introduced you to Chris Gerber in Part 1 of this two-part post. Chris has worked through about five books, written as many short book reviews, and has led out for Evening Prayer once. Greet him when you see him around the church. Let’s pick up where we left off.    […]

Meet Our Summer Intern: Chris Gerber (Part 1)

Where do the church’s teachers and preachers come from? They come from Paul’s words to Timothy, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2). In that simple command, Paul summed up the strategy for the propagation of […]

The Grace and Grind of Shepherding Groups: What We Saw in Your Homes

On Sunday evening our family concluded our tour of all thirty-one Shepherding Groups. It took two years. We’re human beings and church members first, so we’re eager for the regular grind and grace of one group. But we’re glad we did this. Let me tell you what we saw. 1. We saw you open your homes.  […]

Let’s Sing!: “The Lord is My Salvation”

If our trek through Genesis is teaching us anything it must be this: there is no salvation in man, only in the Lord. The title of this past Sunday’s sermon, “The Lord Remembered Noah,” captures the heart of Genesis 6–9, and the anchor of our hope. To encourage you during the week and to help us all sing better […]

What it Means to Walk with God

In Sunday’s sermon from Genesis 4–6:8, “East of Eden,” we considered two ways to live outside the garden. We are not terribly surprised to discover the wandering way of Cain and the subsequent descent and spread of sin. We are caught off guard, however, by the record of Enoch, who “walked with God, and he […]

On Scripture Memory, Part 2: Some Encouragements and Exhortations

On January 6, Pastor Abe Stratton delivered the book of Hebrews from memory, in a sermon titled, “Looking to Jesus.” In Part 1, Abe discussed observations and benefits from memorizing a large portion of Scripture. In this second and final guest-post, Abe shares with us some encouragements and exhortations related to Scripture memory.   ——— In this […]

We Have a Confession to Make

In Sunday’s sermon from Genesis 3, “Did God Actually Say?,” we watched sin enter the world through Adam’s attempt to dethrone God. We watched God drive the first human couple out of his presence, but not without the promise of One who would crush the head of the serpent. It is difficult to name a […]

Is Eden Really a Temple Sanctuary?

Maybe you’ve heard it said that the garden in Eden is a temple sanctuary. Maybe, like me, that sounded at first like reading the temple into the garden. In Sunday’s sermon, “Naked and Not Ashamed,” from Genesis 2:4–25, I suggested that we may not initially see the temple in the garden, but the first readers […]

Getting to Know God in the First Chapter of Genesis

If we had to put it in a word, what is the subject of the Bible? The Bible’s first sentence gives it away: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). God is the subject of Scripture, its main character, and the chief actor behind its unfolding story. What is he […]

New Series through Genesis: The Blessing

Where do we turn when the world seems dark and our lives seem like chaos? To the first page of the Bible where we read the words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Those words were written for a generation that was rescued out of the darkness and chaos […]

On Scripture Memory, Part 1: Some Observations and Benefits

On January 6, Pastor Abe Stratton delivered the book of Hebrews from memory, in a sermon titled, “Looking to Jesus.” In this first of a two-part guest-post, Abe shares with us some observations and benefits of Scripture memory.   ——— From the middle of 2016 until the end of 2018 I worked to memorize the book […]

New Series through Isaiah: A Vision of Two Cities

This Sunday we will begin a five-week sermon series through the Book of Isaiah, titled, A Vision of Two Cities. In Isaiah’s vision he sees Jerusalem as it is, in ruins. Yet by the end of the book, he sees a new Jerusalem. The question is: how does Jerusalem get that way? Across these 66 chapters […]

Welcome to Sing! Greenville

Psalm 96 tells us to, “Sing to the Lord a new song” (Ps. 96:1). We sing old songs because our faith has roots in an old gospel. We sing new songs because the living God is saving sinners and the living Christ is building his church. Today we welcome Keith and Kristyn Getty and their […]

Introducing Dan Cruver, our Director of College Ministries (Part 2)

Two weeks ago we got acquainted a bit with Dan Cruver, an old friend to Heritage and our new Director of College Ministries. Part 1 gave us a basic introduction; read on for some helpful influences and curiosities about our new partner in ministry. We left off on the topic of ministry to college students, so let’s […]

Music, Worship, and the Regulative Principle

What has God told us to do when we come together? What kind of worship is worthy of “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,” to whom belongs all “honor and glory forever and ever” 1 Tim. 1:17)? In Sunday’s sermon, “Elders as Bible Men,” we explored what we call, the Regulative Principle. […]

Introducing Dan Cruver, our Director of College Ministries (Part 1)

To the church at Philippi, Paul wrote, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil. 1:3–5). Partnerships change over time. Here at Heritage we’ve received […]

Resources for Growing in Godliness

It is helpful to think of our growth in godliness as growth. Things that grow take time, and things that grow usually take a measure of work. That’s why Paul says writes to Timothy, “train yourself for godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). How exactly do we train ourselves for godliness? We explored this a bit in last […]

The Pulpit in July: The Beauty of Holiness

We’re one week into our new July sermon series, The Beauty of Holiness. Abe Stratton, our Pastor for Member Growth, designed this series as a kind of preached biblical theology of holiness in the Bible. As he said this past Sunday in his sermon, “The Holy God,” for a variety of reasons this is an often […]

Meet our Summer Intern: Mark Centers (Part 2)

Two weeks ago we got acquainted a bit with Mark Centers, our intern for the summer. Click here for Part 1of this two-part blog post. We’ll finish up here with a few questions. What’s your favorite book of the Bible and why? A combo: Leviticus and Hebrews. They both succinctly encapsulate the majesty of God, mankind’s […]

Meet our Summer Intern: Mark Centers (Part 1)

Paul exhorted Timothy to guard the gospel and then he said this: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). We guard the gospel by handing it down to faithful men who will guard it. That’s […]

A Swift Kick: Four Reasons Why You Need to Be at Family Meetings

One of the strengths of our church is our commitment to meaningful covenant membership. One of the weaknesses of our church is our lack of commitment to meaningful covenant membership. Not in every way, but in a big way. I was in a meeting recently where a team of men, including elders, were eager to shepherd […]

Closing Up Colossians: A Prayer for Fullness in Christ

One of the commands in the book of Colossians is that we would “continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful I it with thanksgiving” (4:3). We’ve heard God’s voice in the book of Colossians. Now, let’s pray a concluding prayer through the book. **** For the saints (1:1–2) and faithful brothers and sisters at Heritage Bible Church—a […]