1989 Issue 10 - The Spreading Flame - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 10 - The Spreading Flame - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/3

Report on the General Assembly

of the e f o q n ~ d ~ e s b y t e r i a n

Ch

h

h . us .

. .urc

nt

e

.. .

{

. . . . .

'

. . ' '

..

: '

'

T

e

best

way

I know to

,

describe

what 'took pl Ce on October 6,

,

1989'

in Atlanta, Oeorgia

at

the

G_nerCII Assembly

of

the Refonned

Pres

b terian

Chutch in the United States is

by quoting from two letterS w r i t t ~ to

after otii' meeting by a visitor in at

tendance .

,;It is impossible for words to d e ~

scribe the. impact of my visit to Atlanta

last .week. I have never imagined that

people such

as

I met

at

Chalcedon Pres

byterian Church for the General As-

sembly/Presbytery meeting even

isted. I dreamed ~ r h a p s that there_ x

isted a group

of

people.who are unified

in their beliefs, and mar importantly

are unashamedly dogmatic, . but until

la8t week I had been fairly disillusioned.

.What a

joy

to be around ministers who

stand for the whole' o ~ n 5 e l

of

God,

who believe what I believe, and who 'are

3lso very wartn, kind and loving. I am

nothing less than excited and full

of

anticipation concerning the prospects

for the future. I have not .aclue as tO

how it is going to happen; but I believe

that I Will be a member of the

RPCUS

sometime soon."

.I

just wanted to thank you and Chal

cedon.Presbyterian Church for your o s ~

pitality last

week.'

I am still

on

fue

after the wonderful meeting:

(WE)

are

so thankful we came. I saw such con

~ k t i . o n

joy, hope, and unity. Never

have

'I

seen such unity at a presbytery

meeting."

I have been a member of four different

presbyteries in

two

denominations, be-

The Counsel of Chalcedon December, 1989 page 2

fore .I joined the RPCUS, spanning a

period of several years. All I saw was

c o n f l i c ~ distrust, and

one

side trying to

out-waneuver the other side for control.

In the

frrst

den

-omination

it

was

the

C O I S ~ r v a t i v e s .versus

the

liberals,

with

the liberals in

the

majority.

In the

~ c o n d denomination it was the pseudo

refonned versus

the

reformed, with the

pseudo-refonned n the majority. Praise

God, I iun free from an that, and

am

now in a presbytery, where there

are

no

sides, no parties, no factions, where

there is genuine unity

of

doctrine, vi-

sion and love, and

where

all our time,

money .and consideration are spent in

the worship

of

God and in the carrying

op:t of

the Great

Coqmrission.

ave many dear

brothers

remain

ing in liberal

or

pseudo-reformed

Presbyterian denominations, whom

I long to be

with

us.

It

is my earnest

prayer that God would give them

the

.

desire, courage and opportunity to join

with

us.

The

RPCUS

is what these dear

brothers long for their denominations to

be, but which denominations are get

ting farther and farther from their roots.

Please, understand that I do not say any

of

this in boasting, because I am over

whelmed with asense

of

our total depen

dence on the grace

of

our great

God. t

.is by God's grace

alone

that

we

are what

we

are.

And certainly we are not every

thing we ought

to

be.

We

are not per-

. feci. As long as I .

am

a member of the

RPCUS . it will not be perfect. But,

Praise God , we believe it is a fresh

work of God, reviving his church in the

niidstof the years.

Our. General Assembly meeting began


2/3

by

Joe

Morecraft, III

at 1:00PM on Friday. Wayne Rogers,

pastor of Christ Community Church in

Lawrenceville, Georgia, situated in the

fastest growing county in the nation,

was the moderator. After the singing

of

the great hymn, How Sweet

and

Awful

is

the Place with Christ within the

Doors, (pg.

27

in the

Trinity

Hymnal , we heard three sermons by

men seeking entrance into the RPCUS.

The frrst was on Psalm 3, entitled,

What to Do When Everyone is

Against You, by Robert Hargrove of

the Sovereign Grace Church, Spokane,

Washington .

The

second was on

Philip

pians 2:12-16, entitled, Being

of

One

Mind,

by

Phil Schmidt

of

Faith

Baptist Church, Louisville, Nebraska.

And the third

was

on

I I

Timothy 3:15-

17

entitled, Why We Should Study

the Scriptures,

by

Eric Mcquitty

of

Shreveport, Louisiana.

Our

worship ser

vice was then closed with the singing

of

Psalm 3 from the Covenanter Psal

ter.

T

e members present included:

Teaching Elder Wayne Rogers,

Christ Community Church,

Lawrenceville, Georgia; TE Robert

Le

ster, Chalcedon Christian School,

Atlanta, Georgia;

TE

Donald Crowe,

Atlanta School of Biblical Studies,

Decatur, Georgia; TE Joe Morecraft,

Ruling Elder Si Wages, Stated Clerk,

and RE Bill Brown, Chalcedon Presby

terian Church, Atlanta, Georgia; 1E

Jeff

Donnan, Caribbean Christian

Min-

istries;

TE

Samuel Brown, Immanuel

Presbyterian Church, Merrimac, New

Hampshire;

TE

Ken Talbot, TE Randy

Talbot, RE John Druguet, Christ

Presbyterian Church and Whitefield

Theological Seminary, Lakeland, Flor

ida; TE John Martin, RE Richard Har

ris, Community Presbyterian Church,

Tyler, Texas; and

T

Edwin Elliott, Jr.,

Reformed Presbyterian Church,

Man-

assas, Virginia.

We

received

two

new

members: TE Robert Hargrove, Sove

reign Grace Church, Spokane, Washing

ton, and Phil Schmidt, (presently) Faith

Baptist Church, Louisville, Nebraska.

Another minister was received contin

gent

upon further theological examina

tion in the areas of theonomy and post

rnillennialism, TE Eric McQuitty of

Shreveport, Louisiana. Besides our

members we had several visitors

inter

ested in joining

our

denomination from

Virginia, Maryland, Nebraska, and Flor

ida.

W

received a gifted young

man under care of presby

tery,

Mr.

Chris Strevel of

the Chalcedon Church.

We also received two new churches

into our denomination.

The

Sovereign

Grace Church

of

Spokane, Washington,

formerly of Carey Memorial Baptist

Church, will be formally received in the

spring.

The First

Reformed Presbyter

ian Church

of

Managua, Nicaragua,

formerly the First United Methodist

Church, was received as a mission work

under the oversight

of

TE

Jeff

Donnan.

This is the flrst

and

only Presbyterian

Church in Nicaragua. We praise God

and pray earnestly for

our

brothers

there. The pastor

of

the church will

be

examined

by

presbytery in the winter

or

spring of 1990. We also rejoice in the

interest of Faith Baptist Church in the

The Counsel of Chalcedon December 1989 page 3


3/3

RPCUS

That

church, recently perse

cuted

by

the

state

for its Christian

school, under the previous leadership of

verett

Sileven,

not

oilly

sent

three re -

presentatives

to

our General Assembly

meeting, but,

more

importantly,

the

Sunday before our meeting, the pastor,

Phil

c h m i d ~

baptized several children .

and infants of the congregation

as

chil

dren

of

the covenant

Oneof

the most blessed and encourag

ing

parts

of our

meeting was :wnen

the

The

Rev.

Jobn

Martin,

o

.

Tyler, Texas, (left) with

Moderator, tbe Rev. Wayne Rogers,

of

Atlanta.

Three ministers, seeking admission to the RPCUS, are

examined by the Presbyterr. They are, PhU Schmidt, of Louis

ville, Nebraska; Robert H a ~ I D o v e , of Spokane, Washington;

and

rtc Mcquitty, Of Shreveport, Loliislana.

The Rev.

Jeff

ilon.QaJt, head

of

Caribbean Christian Ministries.

The Counsel

o

Chalcedon December,

989

page 4

1 ' I

I

various

chUJ, ches,

ministers and elders

shared

w h a ~ God

was doing in their

areas. All ove.r .North America and

Central America,

God

is expanding and

renewing his church in thrilling ways. I

. only wiSh

a,ur readers could have heard

.

lwse

testimonies on the power

of

God

in

Christ bUilding on

the

earth a church

against which.

the

gates

of

hell will not

. prevail. '

In

1988 our ministers and

. churches were able to ptesent the

gospel to over 25 million people

around the world. Our growth is such

that the assembly laid the ground work

for the establishing

of

two

or

three new

presbytenes in 1990:

one

in the eastern

states,

one ifl the

south-central states,

one

in

the

mid-western and western

states, and one

in

Florida. This develop

~ t will be a major step forward for

us, and which, hopefully, will

be

an

added encouragement

for

other in

dividuals, ministers, churches, and in

terested groups to join with us.

C

ribbean Christian Ministries,

headed by Jeff Donnan, was

officially recognized by the

RPCUS,

and

authorized to represent the

RPCUS

in

world missions.

The

CCM

is reaching thousands of people in the

Caribbean Basin, Central America, and

South Ani.erica

for

Christ and the

Re

fomied Faith

.Because

we

believe in the catholicity

of

Christ's Church

we

seek to practice

biblicai .ecumenicity. Therefore we are

seeking offivial fraternal relations with

the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the

Reformed Church in

the

United States,

the Reformed Presbyterian Church

of

North America, Covenanter, the Presby

terian Church in America, the Bible

Presbyterian Church, General Synod,

and

the Ainerican Presbyterian Church.

We also accepted the invitation ofthe

North American Presbyterian andRe-

.formed Council

to

send a representative

t its i iext meeting.

If

y()u are interested in finding out

mote

about the RPCUS, we have pub

lished a colorful and informative bro

chure briefly explaining

our

origin, fo

cus, faith, mission, traits, worship and

praise, government, discipline, ecumeni

city, locations and ministries, make-up

and future.

The

brochure is entitled:

Church Blazing with Vi ion.

Please, call us for more information at

(404) 396-0965. Q

Documents

1989 Issue 10 - The Spreading Flame - Counsel of Chalcedon