Internships Sought

Dear Tenth Presbyterian,

I'm writing on behalf of two students who are looking for internships in the Philadelphia area. One is for this summer, and one is for next fall. I know you might not be directly involved in either of these fields, but if you know anyone you'd be willing to contact in any of these areas, I'd greatly appreciate it.

(1) One interested in a business setting for this coming summer. I know I contacted you last fall for another student who wants an accounting setting, which is also this student's interest, but I don't expect you to address that again. If you have contacts in a business setting other than accounting, that's great. I know this is a broad request, but he's interested in general business experience. He's certainly willing to do lower level "grunt work" as well as any other experience he can get.

(2) The other wants to be in a counseling setting fall of 2006. Two areas of interest are crisis pregnancy and in the inner city, both areas in which she has experience. Again, without post-graduate training, she understands that it might be a lot of administrative work. Anything
above that for either student is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Marla Randolph
Internship Coordinator
Covenant College
14049 Scenic Highway
Lookout Mountain, GA 30750
706.419.1164
fax 706.820.2165

P. S.
Dot has more info, if anyone is interested.

David Wells

The Church History Dept at Westminster (PA) is hosting a study afternoon with David Wells on February 22. The program is as follows:

2 pm: Lecture “Which Way is Up? : Worldview and the Postmodern Ethos.”

3:30 pm Panel discussion of David's latest book, Above All Earthly Powers, with Paul Wells (no relation!), Scott Oliphint,and Jeff Jue. President Peter Lillback in the Chair.

Admission free. All welcome. Both events will take place in Van Til auditorium. Directions to WTS can be obtained via the website, www.wts.edu/.

Trinity Symposium

"I lead a ministry at Trinity OP Church in Hatboro, which I hope can be seen as a benefit to the wider evangelical community in the Philly/Montgomery/Bucks county region. The minsitry, called Trinity Symposium, offers monthly events aimed at building Christian community through mutual learning. Speakers include Paul Vallas, Susan Wise Bauer, Dan McCartney, Bill Edgar, Stewart Greeleaf, Paul Nussbaum (of the Philadelphia Inquirer). Here is a link to the website giving information about events.

Women of Westminster

March 25 - Women of Westminster sponsors a reading and Q&A with Carolyn Custis James, author of Lost Women of the Bible, from 2:00-4:00 pm. Rust Auditorium, in Van Til Hall, on the Glenside, Pennsylvania campus (intersection of Church Rd. and Willow Grove Ave.).

First 50 to register online and attend will receive a free copy of the book (Retail: $16.99)!

For more information or to register online, click here.

Walk-ins welcome.

From the 1989 Annual Report

Hope, Harvest's AIDS outreach, has now been in existence for a little over one year. During that time service has developed in three different ways. The first is a direct ministry to people with AIDS, their families and friends.... The second area of development is AIDS education in the churches.... The last area of work is meeting physical needs.

Ken Larter,
Director

Presbytery Core Value 4

Christ-centered expository preaching is foundational to the vitality and mission of the Church.

Preaching the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the divinely-appointed means of bringing sinners to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and building believers up in the gospel. How can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Rom. 10:14). At a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching, but would prefer to hear something that reaffirms their own selfish desires, we are charged with this perennial imperative: “Preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). Although our preaching is weak in itself, we believe it has the power to transform people’s lives by the life-changing work of God the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:3-5).

By expository preaching we mean preaching that is driven by Scripture and derived from its divine authority, so that God’s Word is declared to God’s people. It is not preaching that merely begins with a biblical text and then proceeds to communicate the preacher’s own spiritual ideas or the values of contemporary culture. Expository preaching carefully and thoroughly communicates what the Bible actually teaches, exploring its context, explaining its meaning, expounding its doctrine in connection to the person and work of Jesus Christ, and applying its gospel to the spiritual needs of those who listen, exalting the glory of God. Because God’s Word is supremely “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16), expository preaching is of its very nature practical. And because the Bible contains the gospel on every page, such preaching always is or ought to be evangelistic in its proclamation of the crucified and risen Christ.

WBE Set

The date for the second Workshop on Biblical Exposition has been set: February 5-8 (to take advantage of Westminster's break between classes). This is the preaching conference we had a couple of weeks ago. To give an idea of its impact, here is a partial quote from a participant a couple of weeks ago:

"I have to admit, it was the most humbling, challenging experience I have had in a long time. I really struggled through each segment of the workshop as my deficiencies were uncovered. There were even times when I thought I had wasted 25 years of ministry because I was a pretend expositor.

"At the same time that I was being painfully challenged, I was being taught, corrected, equipped and encouraged to be the kind of bible student and preacher that God called me to be. All of you did an excellent job in showing how and what to do to press on. So I found myself humbled, feeling bad about not being the kind of preacher I needed to be for 25 years, and at the same time, praising God for not allowing me to go down that path any longer. He intervened and put me back on the right course so that the last years of my ministry can be more fruitful and God-honoring."

Stuart Neill Sighting

Just passed Stuart Neill on the street as he was leaving the church, evidently after rehearsing for Friday night's concert. I'll see you there.

How to Search

Do you want to find a posting that was written, well, sometime ago? If you know a word, you can find it. Note at the of the page a window to the left of "Search this Blog." Type in the word, click Search this Blog, and, presto, the posting you are looking for!

Philadelphia Access Center

I've just returned from a pleasant visit to the Philadelphia Access Center, where Tenth member Joe Welch directs counseling services. PAC provides Christian social aid services in S Philly at 11th and Mifflin. They could use, by the way, volunteer help at the receptionist's desk and a woman fluent in Spanish. Their contact info is 215.389.1985, www.philaccess.org.

The Hits Keep Coming

My daily hits last week (Wednesday-Tuesday) averaged 196 daily. Usually the weekends record a big drop. This time Sunday was the highest - 236. I feel like KYW on a bad weather day!

UMC Schedule

This is just in from Christiana, our Missions Coordinator. As I promised, my readers are the first to know the new plans for the Urban Missions Conference.

We have finalized plans for “A Vision for the City,” our Urban Missions Conference, March 10-12. Bill Krispin, as noted earlier, is the speaker for Friday evening and is also preaching Sunday evening. Saturday morning, at 9:30am, Bruce Finn, our region’s Church Planting Coordinator, will speak about the church planting efforts in Philadelphia. A panel of church planters follows his opening comments.

Tuck Bartholomew, City Church (University City) http://www.citychurchphilly.com/
Geoff Bradford, liberti (Art Museum and Northern Liberties) http://www.liberti.org
Steve Huber, liberti (Art Museum and Northern Liberties) http://www.liberti.org
Kin Lam, New City Church (South Philly) http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~shengx/SouthPhilly/index.html
Lance Lewis, Christ Liberation Fellowship (Overbrook) http://www.clfphilly.org
Doug Logan, Calvary Bible Church (Port Richmond)

Bagudekia Alobeyo from All Nation’s Church in Southwest Philly may also join the panel. Steve Kim, from City Line Church, and Ilya Lizorkin, From Rock of Israel have prior commitments, so cannot join us.

Tuck Bartholomew, who will be church planting in University City and is currently serving as Associate Pastor at Redeemer (NYC), will be preaching Sunday morning on “Engaging the Mission of God”

In preparation for the conference, it would be helpful to check out the Philadelphia Church Planting website http://www.cpphilly.net/, as well as http://www.citynetphilly.org.

Last week’s Tenth Press article by Rich Shoemaker about being involved in a neighborhood church also provides good food for thought going into this conference.

CCA Photography Need

The photographer hired to provide photography for CCA's yearbook has backed out at the last minute, leaving the yearbook staff in a desparate situation. Who among you Tenth photographers can come to their aid? They primarily need someone to take portraits of students. If you can help, contact Rebecca Bohl at rbohl@citycenteracademy.

Last Casting Call

Come visit mereBreath's new website: www.mereBreath.com
Still seeking to fill one crucial role:
1. MALE ACTOR, MIDDLE-AGED TO SENIOR to portray the role of "Alexander," an aging corporate executive near death, bitterly estranged from his Christian son. The role is considered "BACK-UP" which allows the primary performer time off from the stress of a full season. Back-up roles are a terrific way to learn what mereBreath is all about without the stress of a full commitment.

Thanks!-Bryan Glass
Director mereBreath
mereBreath@aol.com

From byFaith Online Newsletter

A member and former member of Christ Community Church (PCA) in Franklin, Tenn., Steve Taylor and Peter Shockey, have produced the film The Second Chance. Michael W. Smith is a lead actor in the film. The Second Chance opens around the U.S. in major theaters on Friday, Feb. 17. To read about the film, see a trailer, and to see a list of theaters in which it is playing, click here.

A PCA pastor is thinning out his library to help pay medical bills. 460 classic Reformed books, e.g., Dabney, Hodge, Thornwell, Calvin, Spurgeon, Ridderbos, Banner of Truth sets, and much more. To view the list of book, click here.

Tenth Concert

Friday night is the next concert in the Tenth Concert Series. Stuart Neill and Kristine Biller Mattson will be featured, singing "Love Songs & Scenes." It will include the music of Schubert, Strauss, Liszt, Puccini, and Bernstein.

The concert begins at 7:30 with a brief talk on the music and organ history of Tenth Church. This talk is connected with the meeting of the American Guild of Organists, which Tenth is hosting.

And don't forget this opportunity to invite your neighbors and colleagues to a church event.

Men's Choir

The Men's Choir will meet this coming Sunday morning at 8:20 am and sing in the morning services (what was cancelled last week because of the snow).

She's Arrived!

Ryan and Serene Perkins' baby daughter arrived last Thursday, February 9, 7:43 a.m. Her name is Sitara Sahar Perkins. Congratulations!

Bulletin Bloopers

These bulletin bloopers were passed on to me by Pat Canavan who obviously has too much time on his hands:

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

Presbytery Sermon

The first sermon of the new Philadelphia Presbytery is posted on the church website. Click here to read. It is by Lance Lewis, church planter of Christ Liberation Fellowship. You can go to CLF's website to hear the sermon as preached to that congregation (www.clfphilly.org).

PCRT Numbers

The Alliance sent over the registration numbers for PCRT. 494 signed up for the conference; 185 signed up for the pre-conference.

Valentine Blessing

Let me take this Valentine's Day to give thanks to the Lord for giving me a wife who is beautiful on both the inside and outside. And, as if that were not enough, gave me two beautiful daughters.

SHS Rescheduled

The spiritual health survey has been rescheduled to be administered on March 5.

Sunday Changes

We had a wonderful day of worship on Sunday with some changes in the services.

In the morning, the hymns were changed to 110 (Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah!), 508 (Jesus, Lover of My Soul), and 355 (We Are God's People). The musical offerings were presented by Harrison Hollingsworth on the oboe. And I switched my sermon to "Church Anatomy," 1 Corinthians 12:14-31). Jessie Bible gave a report on the TenthWomen Conference for Living Church.

In the evening, Hye-Jim Kim played violin for the Soli Deo Gloria and Dan Bubeck sang for the offertory.

Presbytery Core Value 3

This is the third of twelve core values for the new Philadelphia Presbytery, adopted February 11, 2006.

Kingdom-centered prevailing prayer is central to all we do.

Nothing of significance happens in the kingdom of God without prayer. In prayer we acknow­ledge our weakness and helplessness as we call out to the Lord for grace and power. Jesus tells us that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), but that as we remain in Him and His words remain in us we will be blessed with dramatic answers to our prayers (John 15:7). Just as the early church was devoted to prayer (Acts 2:42), we are called to be a community devoted to kingdom-centered prayer (as opposed to survival or self‑centered prayer), that our lives might be God‑centered and that we might see His power displayed in transforming us and the world around us. Jesus teaches that persistence in prayer is critical—we can either pray or give up (Luke 18:1). As we face enormous spiritual obstacles and powers, we know that the kingdom will only move forward as God’s people cry out to Him. We are involved in intense spiritual warfare and our battle is not against flesh and blood; therefore we must put on the armor of God and fight in prayer (Eph. 6:10‑20). As we do, we will see the forces of evil and darkness destroyed and the power of the kingdom of God revealed.

Webcast Report

Hi Marion –The service has been posted on the website. A little clarification on the webcast. The numbers Sunday morning were: 123 Concurrent listeners peak. 427 listeners tuned in at some point. The numbers in the evening were: 28 concurrent peak with 66 “tuned in at some point”

We hit a technical limit on the server at SermonAudio very early in the service. This was unforeseen by us (we didn’t know that there was a hard limit) and we didn’t think we’d have that many listeners. We certainly would have had more, as well there are several “regulars” who listen to our service during the 9am while they get ready for their church’s service. We are working with Sermon Audio to try to alleviate this problem in the future.

BTW, missed our target for doing video by Thanksgiving but we have the equipment needed now and will be live by Easter, if not sooner.

John Voorhis

Bruce and Jonathan

Jonathan arrived without trouble at his destination. Bruce got delayed in Paris and was due to arrive late tonight. What did Bruce do with his extra time? What else would Bruce do? He used the opportunity to present the gospel to someone in the airport.

Sermon Posted

Sunday's sermon is posted on my blogsite "DMC Messages."

Church Attendance

Church attendance yesterday:
241 for the morning (plus 123 on the internet with more than 200 trying to get on)
163 for the evening.

By the way, I switched sermons. I preached "Church Anatomy" on 1 Corinthians 12:14-31. Will post it tomorrow, maybe today if I can get to it.

Jury Duty

I am on my way to jury duty. I usually am not chosen and so may be out by noon.

Maranatha Returning

Maranatha youth are on the bus and heading back on the turnpike. The bus driver got to camp a half hour early, so it looks like the time of 7:30 is on target.

Maranatha

I've heard from Carroll. Maranatha, of course, is having a blast with the snow - 14 inches. The buses for the kids will pick them up at camp at 5:00. They should arrive at the church between 7:30 and 8:00. This allows for the roads to clear and to coincide with the end of evening church.

Schola Cantorum and Sinfonia Sacra have been cancelled.

What's a Little Snow?

Snow shoverlers are clearing the walk. Lights and heat are on. We'll be ready for worshippers at 11:00 and anyone coming in at 9:00 for Bible school and fellowship.

If you can't make it in, listen to the worship service live at 11:00 on the webcast. Go to the church website to get there and keep up with notices about tonight.