Christian Education Ministries Quest Conference, at Bonclarken Conference Center, for middle schoolers is wrapping up. Reverend Evan English is leading the teaching time. English teaches Bible at Westminster Schools in Augusta, GA. Prior to being a teacher, he was the pastor of Clover ARP Church in Clover, SC. Crossings Community Church, Columbia, SC is once again leading the worship time. With over 400 in attendance, it is the highest attendance at Quest.  Please pray for all attending to be receptive to the Holy Spirit’s call.

Be sure to tag your pictures #ARPmagazine!

Dear friends,

At the annual meeting of the ARP Synod, the motion was made and approved by the assembly to remove the president of the Alumni Association as a voting member.  

The primary motivation for the motion was to bring that seat into line with every other seat. In previous practice—before the motion was approved—the synod, after discussion with the Erskine Board of Trustees, vetted and affirmed board members. The only seat that did not go through this synod process was that of the Alumni Association president. 

As a graduate of Erskine College, I believe it is of utmost importance to have alumni from both the college and seminary on our board. Currently, more than one third of our board members are alumni. This will continue. In our needs analysis, we will continue to make clear our desire for strong alumni representation. 

As the college and seminary of the ARP Church, Erskine seeks to offer evangelical, Christian higher education of the highest quality. The selection of Erskine trustees who hold to the clear standards of the ARP Church is an important responsibility.

I am thankful for the Alumni Association and the work they do. My wife and I are proud Erskine alumni.  

Please join me in praying for our college and seminary as we seek to be faithful to Christ in all that we do at Erskine.  

Blessings,

 Sam James, Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Opening Worship

Moderator Lee Shelnutt opened the 2018 General Synod meeting reading from Hebrews 11. #Don’tdespisethedayofsmallthings. “We know the temptation, to fall into the trap of the worldly way of thinking. We know of being impressed by and trusting in what we’ve called right-handed power. We know what it is to feel embarrassed by the size of our denomination, or our lack of influence in our culture, or our limited resources, forgetting how our Sovereign and Glorious God relishes using ‘left-handed power’ – that when we are weak, He is strong. We know what it is to forget that He uses the small, weak, and seemingly insignificant in order to declare His own glory!” Rev. Rick Barnes assisted with communion along with Elders from the Canadian Presbytery, Tennessee/Alabama Presbytery and First Presbytery.

Synod Business

The Synod meeting began with Moderator Lee Shelnutt giving his final address and then handing duties to Phillip Malphrus who challenged the delegates through 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

Vicki Marsh, president of Women’s Ministries, addressed the court. “Slightly more than half of our churches have organized Women’s Ministries but any church that has at least one woman contributing her talents to the work of the church does have a Women’s Ministry.”

Business picked up the following morning after Rev. Andrew Di Iulio lead worship from Nehemial 4. Reports were heard from the following committees: Revise the Book of Discipline, 2019 Concurrent Synods Logistics, Directory of Private/Family Worship and Domain Name Study.

Rev. John Paul Marr lead the afternoon worship time, “Stand Firm in the Faith” from Isaiah 7. “Those who don’t stand firm in the faith don’t stand at all,” Marr said.

Delegates were able to hear reports from several Fraternal delegates including PCA, OPC and RPCNA. Reports were heard from the list of Standing Committees and then each Board.

Synod moved to the Chapel where Rev. Clint Davis challenged the court that, “We are all tasked by God to participate in His plan. We are to DO the work of God, not just sit on a pew.”

Reading Clerk, Charlie Edgar, was acknowledge for his 32 years of service. Assistant Clerk, John Cook, was acknowledged for his 33 years of service.

The General Synod meeting adjourned at 10pm with Rev. Bill Macaulay making the motion.

For a full list of motions and business discussion subscribe to The ARP Magazine by clicking here.

Moderator Elect

Rev. Lee Selnutt nominated, ” a man of his word.” Leslie Holmes, Provost of Erskine Theology Seminary grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has pastored a variety of congregations from Pennsylvania to California to Florida to Mississippi. He hasn’t been an ARP all his life, but Shelnutt says, “Once he became an ARP, he was all in!.” He has been married to his wife, Barbara, for 53 years. Rev. Jamie Hunt seconded the nomination by saying, “Holmes is not known for being a man of few words but he says what he believes and thinks. You can count on what he says.”

Leslie Holmes nominated Rob Roy McGregor, III as Vice Moderator Elect. McGregor is an elder at Back Creek ARP Church in Charlotte, NC.

World Focus

Join us today for World Focus 2018 beginning at 10am in the Youth Activity Building! If you have not registered, it is not too late to join us at 1pm. All agencies and missionaries will be represented. Come check out how you can be involved in mission work at home and abroad.

General Synod 2018 is off to a great start.

World Witness hosted their annual Golf Tournament at Etowah Valley Country Club. The winners were Lee Winters, Trust Winters, Jeffrey Brown, and Harold Blackmond from Newberry ARP Church in Newberry, SC.

Outreach North America hosted Pre-Synod with Dr. Lon Allison from the Billy Graham Center on Evangelism. Dr. Allison encouraged everyone to remember, “Prayer, care, share,” according to Colossians 4:2-6 which reads, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

General Synod begins Tuesday with Opening Worship at 2pm.

The ARP App

The ARP App is now available for Android users. You can click on this link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=arpnews.arpmagazine.com.arpnews to take you directly to the app store.

iOS users can click this link https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-arp/id1372501675?ls=1&mt=8  to go directly to the itunes store. Enjoy!

Faith In Action

Outreach North America introduces the Faith in Action Series. This series includes thoughts and devotions written by the younger generation of our denomination and their leaders. They are stories of growing in grace.

To sign up to receive the devotions throughout June click here: https://outreachnorthamerica.org/june/

Family Bible Conference Announcement

The numbers are in!

341 are registered for the Synod meeting beginning Tuesday, June 5. If you have not registered, you may do so at Bonclarken on Monday, June 4 beginning at 2pm.

Banner of Truth

The 2018 Banner of Truth Ministers Conference is being held this week at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. ARPs from the Carolinas, Canada, Lithuania, and Pakistan are in attendance. Rev. Jeff Kingswood is a Trustee for the Banner of Truth Trust. He is seated to the right in the photo.

Camp Joy Florida

Things are off to a great start for Camp Joy in Florida. Please pray for the 15 campers, 19 counselors, and 14 staff.

Synod & World Focus Online Registration Deadline

Reminder:  Thursday, May 24, is the deadline for online registration for Synod and World Focus.  After May 24, on site registration/sign-in will be held from 2-5pm on Monday, June 4  and 9-12 Tuesday morning, June 5.

Family Devotions in the Life of the Church

At the 2017 General Synod Meeting, Rev. Matt Miller gave his testimony regarding “Family Worship.” A motion was made following the talk that it be transcribed and distributed to ministers and churches. Accordingly, it has been made available to us in print and it is now being distributed to ministers and churches by email, ARP News Update and upon request from Central Services.

It’s my privilege this morning to give a quick testimony about family worship, about family devotions, in the life of the church. I’d like to thank Moderator Lee Shelnutt for this invitation and opportunity.

It’s been said that the goal of all theological thinking is to distinguish without separating, and to unite without confounding. You can think of how that played out in 451 A.D. in the Council of Chalcedon—to distinguish the human and divine natures of Christ without separating them; to see his two natures united in his one person without being confounded. You can think of how that has played out in the last 500 years in the relationship between justification and sanctification—to distinguish them without separating them, lest it be thought you could be justified without in any way being sanctified; but also to avoid the Roman error of uniting them to the point of confounding them, so that justification becomes sanctification, and sanctification becomes justification.

You can think of how this is at the root of all ancient heresies, and even of the heresies of modern Western thought—you can think of the separation of faith and science, not just distinct but now entirely separated. Or the modern way of uniting to the point of confounding—male and female, now seen by our culture as interchangeable. A goal in all theological thinking, though, is to distinguish without separating and to unite without confounding. Read more!

I am happy to introduce to you the new ARP app. It is free to download for iOS users only. Other versions will be available soon. Download the app to keep up-to-date with all ARP news and events throughout the denomination plus quick links to agency websites. Click here to take you directly to the app store. For step by step instructions in downloading the app, click this link to download a short video, The ARP app.