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Encouraging the Church After the Violence in Washington DC

January 15, 2021 by Michael Coughlin Leave a Comment

The following is what I told my church on January 10, 2021. Click here for the audio. Our commitment at CBC is verse by verse and expositional preaching. By exegeting scripture and applying its wisdom every week, we think the saints are most edified and prepared to live godly lives. We also recognize that there […]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Christian Life, grace, local church, love, Reformed Baptist Theology, scripture

What Does my Son Think of Church?

June 19, 2020 by Allen Nelson IV

Last Wednesday my wife had a bit of a toothache from a recent filling and so I offered to take our 3-year-old to Wednesday night Bible study. Now, we are just now transitioning back into in-person services so I knew our attendance would be low as we also continue to live stream for those unable […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: 2020, children, Dads, family, Father's Day, local church

A Book of Numbers: What the 2019 SBC Annual Church Profile Data Tells us About the Southern Baptist Convention

June 5, 2020 by Allen Nelson IV

The 2019 annual church profile for the Southern Baptist Convention came out recently and the numbers aren’t great. While many people will bemoan the Baptism numbers, something else caught my eye. For those of who you are not Southern Baptists, the reporting works like this. Our church, Perryville Second Baptist, is a member of a […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: church membership, Cooperative Program, local church, Regenerate Church Membership, SBC, Southern Baptists

False Conversion, Quarantine, and Apathy

April 27, 2020 by George Alvarado

I recently conversed with a young lady about why she left Christianity. More often than not, when I evangelize to someone in America, they have some sort of Christian background. This benefits me because the door slams open to discuss the gospel. And I asked her a question that I ask every false convert: How […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: apathy, COVID-19, False Conversion, local church, quarantine, Salvation

Why Spontaneous Baptism Sunday is Not a Good Idea

April 6, 2020 by Allen Nelson IV

Here I am, a Baptist writing a post against baptism. That might be like Michael writing a post dogging the Big 10 or something. But actually, this post isn’t actually against baptism. Rather, it’s because I love baptism so much that I write today’s post. Now originally, this post was a response to J.D. Greear […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: baptism, gospel, local church, SBC, Southern Baptists, spontaneous baptism

Do You Have to Go to Church Every Sunday?

October 22, 2019 by Allen Nelson IV

A familiar ding of the phone went off. (That’s right, I still walk around with my cellular device on loud). The text message read: “So you think you have to go to church every Sunday?” The reason for this message was because I had reached out to some church members who had missed quite a […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: affections, Allen Nelson IV, Christianity, church, fellowship, local church, Sunday

Worship Me

September 30, 2019 by Allen Nelson IV

Older generations like to make fun of all the selfies millennials take, and to an extent, that’s warranted. However, the selfie generation in America was here much earlier than the 1980s. The god of self didn’t come along with the iPhone. The iPhone is a fruit of idol worship, not the root of it.

The key attribute of the god of self is autonomy. Essentially autonomony means that “I get to do what I want because I am me. There is no one more important than me. In fact, you can’t spell awesome without ME” (I know, Taylor Swift song reference).

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Idolatry, local church, me, selfie, worship

Partnering with Future Churches

September 23, 2019 by Allen Nelson IV

What a travesty when local churches are reckless with their doctrinal commitments, soteriological practices, commitment to the Scriptures, worship practices, and church leadership structure all because things are seemingly going “good.” Too many churches take confidence in current worship attendance numbers, weekly offerings, or baptism rates in order to justify practices that are setting up future generations to be taken captive by Babylon, thinking “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: autonomy, Doctrine, future, local church

When You Miss, You’re Missed

September 18, 2019 by Allen Nelson IV

A Parable Once upon a time, there was a mother with 7 sons. She loved her boys very much and they loved her. She and her husband were committed to the family meal and their evenings were often filled with laughter. And if you have boys then you know that those evenings were filled with […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: church family, church membership, local church, pastoral ministry, pastorate, pastoring

Why I Need A Church that Judges Me

July 29, 2019 by Allen Nelson IV

If you’re not a careful reader of Scripture you may have never noticed what Paul says to the church in Corinth: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” 1 Corinthians 5:12 We are a society so enamored with autonomy that we […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: church, church discipline, church membership, local church

The Necessity (or Lack Thereof) of Seminary

July 2, 2019 by Garrett O’Hara

Some no-longer-recent Twitter discussion on at least two different threads centered around the necessity or usefulness of seminary. As one who has gone through an entire Th.M. program without a call to ministry, let alone ever being employed by a ministry, I thought I might add my two cents in long form. Is Seminary Essential […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: campus, complementarianism, degree, education, Garrett, internet online, local church, M.Div, Money, pastor, pastoral ministry, pastorate, qualified, seminary

5 People Not to Be During Someone Else’s Trial

October 18, 2018 by Allen Nelson IV

We recently began a journey through the book of James at Perryville Second Baptist. As I studied through James 1:2-12, I thought about some of the unhelpful people I’ve encountered during a personal trial, or a trial that someone else was going through. In today’s post, I’d like to caution us to not be one […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Christian Life, church, local church, reformed theology, Suffering, trials

Strategies for Successful Churches

October 2, 2018 by Allen Nelson IV

The age of technology is a beautiful time to be alive. Social media has connected us, and there are resources available to churches like never before at the click of a mouse. I am grateful to live in the digital age. And then again, the age of technology can also be quite a frustrating time […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: local church, successful church, the gospel

The Problem with Identifying as a “Non-Denominational” Church

May 2, 2018 by Allen Nelson IV

There is a trend that’s been around a few decades now about having a “non-denominational” church. I think I first consciously remember the terminology when I had a friend in 9th grade tell me he went to a “NonDom” church. I was not savvy to the jargon and he had to explain to me that […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: church, local church, non-denominational

8 Practical Thoughts on Corporate Singing

April 27, 2018 by Allen Nelson IV

Pastoral duties, coaching little league baseball, and working to finish both the From Death to Life book and small group study guide have kept me from writing as much as I would like to as of late. Today, however, I was reading Psalm 100 and had some thoughts about corporate singing that I would like to share […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: local church, singing, worship

Make Sunday Less Spectacular

March 15, 2018 by Allen Nelson IV

The ushers were friendlier than I expected as we came through the front door. We weren’t exactly sure where to go after that, but we sort of just followed the crowd until we found our seats. We chit-chatted with those around us as we waited for everything to start. I wasn’t sure how many people […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: local church, worship

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The Team

Garrett O’HaraGarrett O’Hara

Garrett appears to have originated the term, but not the theology, "dispybapticalvinistic-expialidocious." He ...

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 3 — Conscience, China, and Putting it Together
George AlvaradoGeorge Alvarado

George Alvarado is an almost retired member of our Armed Forces (yes, he's older than he looks). He has a beautiful w...

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Chuck IveyChuck Ivey

By God’s grace, Chuck Ivey grew up in a Christian home and came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at a y...

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Michael CoughlinMichael Coughlin

Michael Coughlin lives near Columbus, OH, and leads local outreaches to glorify our Lord and reach the lost with...

Encouraging the Church After the Violence in Washington DC
Allen Nelson IVAllen Nelson IV

Allen S. Nelson IV is the pastor of Perryville Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. He and his wife Steph...

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Tim BatesTim Bates

Tim lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife, Melanie and two children, Calvin and Caroline. He serves as a deacon, teacher...

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Justin BullingtonJustin Bullington

Justin Bullington is the husband of Deb, a father of four, the Associate Pastor at Princeton Bible Church, a 6th...

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