My little sister is now a published author. I’m pretty proud of her! Bekah works for our alma mater, The Baptist College of Florida, as an admissions counselor but has also recently authored an article about one of the employees at the college. It was published in the most recent edition of the Florida Baptist Witness.

I’m proud of you Bekah!

Access the story here.

For this weekend’s “Weekend Worship” I’m going to post this video of Casting Crowns and their song “Praise You in the Storm”.Much like the theology in Matt Redman’s song, “Blessed be Your Name”, this song speaks to the heart of how we as believers in Jesus Christ live in the midst of pain. The lessons that we originally hear coming from Job still speak clearly to us today.

Job 1:21-22

21 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

In keeping with Baptist’s historical love of invigorating dialogue, Drs. Steve Lemke (of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) and Mark Rathel (my former Theology prof. from The Baptist College of Florida) prove to be both more than capable historians and extremely competent theologians in this example of “Point - Counterpoint” that they engaged in over at the website for The Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry. Dr. Rathel, I think, does a fabulous job of pointing out the strengths of Lemke’s position while maintaining enough distance from Lemke to be able to adequately refute the fallacious positions that Lemke posits. His arguments concerning both historical Calvinism as well as biblical baptism are particularly worth the read. I would recommend that you check it out.

Read Lemke’s article here.

Read Rathel’s response here.

I am a big fan of my alma mater, The Baptist College of Florida. I am extremely proud, and thankful, for the education I received from BCF. I have found my time at seminary to almost be redundant thanks to the diligence, and excellence, of the faculty at BCF.

I’ve always been thankful for BCF niche as a leader in undergraduate ministry education. I’ve also consistently been disappointed with the lack or worship leadership training by educational institutions in the area of contemporary worship.

As a result of all of that I am excited to hear about BCF’s new music degree, a B.A. in Contemporary Worship. This speaks to their desire to be proactive in offering quality education, at an affordable cost, that works diligently to meet the ministry needs of our current context.

If you have a student, looking for a college, and interested in ministry they should really consider BCF. Not only is it a stellar educational opportunity for those interested in ministry, it’s also one of the most inexpensive colleges in the country. I highly recommend it.