Other than Jesus, do you have a favorite Christmas character? I do. It’s Joseph, and I call him the father of Christmas. However, before I tell you why, let me begin with a story. I don’t have many childhood memories of Christmas. I was the only child of older parents, who were no-nonsense people. They were in their 30s when they married in 1942, and they waited until after World War Two to have a child. Daddy explained he wasn’t going to chance dying in the war and leaving mama to raise a child alone.

DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY (2) A Two Part Analysis of the Meeting of General Synod In the last issue of ARPTalk, by identifying the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as a dysfunctional family, I am sure I offended some of my more sensitive readers who live in the fragile world of nice. However, as I was taught in…

DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY (1) A Two Part Analysis of the Meeting of General Synod The meeting of General Synod last Thursday and Friday (October 22 and 23) sparked my imagination. In the beautiful sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, SC, we heard numerous delegates speak of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as “family.” Well,…

Recently, a number of friends have asked me about the goings on which are presently so troublesome. I have been encouraged to share my thoughts. So, I said, “Email me your questions, and I will see what I can do.” Below are a few of my responses to friends’ questions. I have given my friends…

As a lover of long words, a long word describes my thinking in this post. In a time of financial uncertainty, watching the churchmen who run Central Services in Greenville applying for a government loan instead of appealing to God’s people in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is gut-wrenching. Does this reflect a distrust of…

On an episode of Arial America about Hawaii, I heard the story of Father Damien of Molokai. Born in 1840 in Belgium, he became a Catholic priest and was sent as a missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1864. In those days, leprosy was considered contagious and incurable, and lepers were isolated in leper…

The meeting of General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church this year was at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA. In 2015, at our invitation, the delegates of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America traveled south, to Bonclarken, to meet with us, and this year, at their invitation, the delegates of the Associate…

Unless there is great duress, a college board goes in the direction the president desires and sets. With the concurrence of the board’s chairman and input from chief administrators, the president oversees and approves the framing of agendas for board meetings. The Erskine board meeting in Due West last Thursday and Friday (February 21 and…

Since 1946, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sponsored Urbana Conference has probably been the leading platform in the evangelical Christian community for challenging young Christian men and women to a life of evangelism as missionaries. Held every three years, the most recent Urbana Conference occurred in St. Louis, MO, on December 27-31, 2018. I attended college…

On Wednesday, August 26, I traveled to the Greenville Associate Reformed Presbytery Church were Outreach North American was holding a seminary on poverty with Randy Nabors and Will Broadus. Nabors is pastor-emeritus of New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Urban and Mercy Ministries Coordinator for Mission to North America for the Presbyterian Church in…