Brad Isbell is a ruling elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Oak Ridge, TN, board member of More In The PCA, co-host of the Presbycast podcast, editorial member of Presbyterian Polity, and treasurer of the Heidelberg Reformation Association.
In my sixth decade, Cold War spy novels captured me, and I believe I know why. As a child, I was about all things related to war and the military. I say all things, but really my interests were limited to the American . . . Continue reading →
The real defenders of liberty are those who are devoted to it for its own sake, who believe that freedom of speech means not only freedom for those with whom they are agreed but also freedom for those to whom they are . . . Continue reading →
At the end of March Brad Isbell, Wilson Van Hooser and I discussed whether Revivalism can be Reformed. As usual, great fun was had by all. Here’s the video: Here’s the audio-only episode in the Presbycast Libsyn feed. Subscribe to the Presbycast . . . Continue reading →
There is an idea floating around that all the teachings of the original version of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646/1647) are basically included in or assumed by the revised American version of 1788/1789 and that agreeing with/preferring the original is more or . . . Continue reading →
Many in Prague were deeply uncomfortable with courting the Ottomans, yet the leadership was seduced by the fantastical scheme of a grand alliance smashing both Poland and the Habsburgs. Scultetus (court preacher to the Elector of the Palatinate Frederick V) did a . . . Continue reading →
The issue is actually not about sex; it is about polity and ordination. Yet the bearers of non-standard titles seem to usually be women, not men. Women cannot be (and are not being) ordained in the PCA, though there seems to be . . . Continue reading →
Dr Machen answered my call to help in presenting the cause of The Presbyterian Church of America in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Presbytery of Bismarck of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. had painted Dr. Machen as a very unsavory and troublesome . . . Continue reading →
At the end of the first paragraph of Christianity and Liberalism, the quotable Machen spun out a sentence for the ages, a statement striking rightness: In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt . . . Continue reading →
“I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.” This is an old saw often deployed against the Reformed by revivalist evangelicals to imply that the Reformed do not “do” evangelism at all (not true), and . . . Continue reading →
The second BCO clause, which refers to prior approval by the session, is not a lower bar, but a higher one, and is rarely used. The standards that would guide the session would be the same. The difference is that the session . . . Continue reading →
My kingdom is not of this world. By these words he acknowledges that he is a king, but, so far as was necessary to prove his innocence, he clears himself of the calumny; for he declares, that there is no disagreement between . . . Continue reading →
With simple visuals and authentic Appalachian-American verbiage, the Little Bubby Child social media accounts1 paint a loving and humorous picture of modern-day hillbillies as they interact with broader American culture. It’s not all fun and games—the dysfunction and breakdown are on display, but the wisdom . . . Continue reading →
I don’t like writing about this, but I like ecclesial lawlessness even less. And I don’t seek this stuff—it is thrust upon me. Is there any reason unordained persons should lay hands on ruling elders being ordained in a PCA church? Is . . . Continue reading →
My church has ministered in the local prison for twenty-five years or more. The call came from inside the prison. As I remember the story, an inmate became convinced of the Reformed faith through literature he had obtained and contacted a publisher . . . Continue reading →
On Sunday, my church’s morning worship service opened with a call to worship by an elder and sung congregational praise. Then the pastor offered a prayer of invocation, making it clear who was being worshiped and why the congregation had assembled. At . . . Continue reading →
Just as Christians are not to “grieve as others do who have no hope,” neither are we to rage as those who do not know the one true God. Continue reading →
To be fair, congregational singing has been under assault for a century or more. The “contemporary” worship of 100 years ago in some P&R churches already suffered from invasive species propagated by Oxford Movement’s high-church, Anglo-Catholic tendencies. Low churches got high. Organs . . . Continue reading →
The mission of American Reformer (a project that fancies itself the brains of a movement that seems to major in morphing and losing its mind) sounds tame and broad enough: American Reformer’s mission is to promote a vigorous Christian approach to the . . . Continue reading →
Mr. Moderator, Brad Isbell, ruling elder, Tennessee Valley Presbytery. At the risk of sounding like a politician—or Mel Duncan, for that matter—I was against the study committee before I was for the study committee, but this is a speech in favor. Last . . . Continue reading →
When one recalls the family ties dating back to Baltimore days and the pleasant contacts of Machen’s early years at Princeton, the violence of van Dyke’s attack is rather overwhelming. These considerations only serve to point up, however, the thoroughness of van . . . Continue reading →