Archive for April 2015
Lectures on Proverbs by Bruce Waltke
Biblicaltraining.org offers free audio and video lectures by prestigious evangelical scholars for every subject that a typical seminary may offer. The lectures on OT Theology by Miles van Pelt, for instance, are gold. I’ve listened to them three times over. Now they are offering 27 lectures on the book of Proverbs by Dr. Bruce Waltke, all at no cost. Waltke’s commentaries on Proverbs in the NICOT series are the best. Other commentaries have merits, but Waltke’s supersedes those in many ways. During my PhD work I completed an independent study on Proverbs and reviewed nearly every commentary on Proverbs in the English language. But I still go back to Waltke when I’m dealing with tricky issues in that book. He comments on text criticism, morphology, syntax, theology, and praxis in two magisterial volumes, which you can buy here.
Check out the Biblical Training page to view or download the lectures.
A Call for Musical Pastors via Bob Kauflin
Lately I’ve been trying to say and teach our congregation that worship leading is a pastoral task. We call the people of God to sing God’s words for God’s glory, to say and speak the truth about God and his redemptive plan to one another. Or to say it differently, we put words in their mouths. As a friend of mine once said, leading worship means leading worshipers, which is inherently pastoral. One of the main influences of my ministry as a pastor for worship is Bob Kauflin, who leads Sovereign Grace Worship. Today he has an excellent blog post along these same lines:
An increasing number of musicians have full time worship ministry in their sights. They hope that one day they’ll be able to make a living playing their instrument, leading people in songs of praise.
That’s a great goal. But I’m not sure it’s the best one.
If you believe God’s called and gifted you to serve the church with your music vocationally, I want to suggest that you consider whether God’s calling you to be a pastor as well. A musical pastor. Of course, not every musician who leads congregational singing should or will be a pastor. But if you hope to join a church staff some day, I want to suggest six reasons why preparing to be a pastor musician is better than simply aiming to be a worship leader.
Read the rest to get those six reasons. Kauflin’s point here pushes up against the more common definition of a worship leader in evangelical pop culture: a musician who sings and leads a band in front of a church. But I think Kauflin’s words are wise in this regard. Church leaders shouldn’t pass over them lightly:
Can someone lead music in the church and not be a muscial pastor? Sure. . . . But pastors will always be responsible to choose and lead what the church sings. It’s pastors, not worship leaders, that God will ultimately hold accountable for those they shepherd (Heb. 13:17). Which means it’s possible that if you want to be a pastor or already are, any musical training you get is only going to serve you and your church.
So what might happen if more churches were led in song by musicians who were pastors, or pastors who were musicians?
I’m not exactly sure, but I’m confident our hearts, our songs, and our churches would all be the better for it.
May the Lord raise up pastors who are gifted to lead musically in our churches.
(Via Bob Kauflin)
Josh Philpot 