Posts by Adam Parker

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Practical Retrieval: How Maximus the Confessor Helped My Sermon Prep

Adam Parker
Jun 7, 2024
A while back, I took an interest in the theology of Maximus the Confessor. I primarily became interested in him because he represents a theological capstone to Nicene-Constantinopolitan theology, and I want to keep sharpening and improving my own Christology as a pastor. If I wanted to understand...

Justifying Revolution

Adam Parker
Jul 4, 2022
Gary L. Steward, Justifying Revolution: The American Clergy’s Argument for Political Resistance, 1750-1776 (New York, NY; Oxford University Press, 2021), 232 pages, Hardcover. $74 The subject of submission and resistance to political authorities is an evergreen issue. No matter where one stands on...

Is Church Growth Desirable or Dangerous? Yes.

Adam Parker
Jun 29, 2022
When it comes to church growth, virtue really is a mean between extremes. It is right for churches to avoid falling into an implicit prosperity gospel, thinking that faithfulness will necessarily lead to obvious financial and numerical increase. It is also important, however, for churches to be...

The Deep Places

Adam Parker
Nov 25, 2021
The Deep Places: A Memoir Of Illness And Discovery. Ross Douthat. Convergent Books, 2021. 224 pp. Hardcover. $26.00 The Deep Places is a memoir written by New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat. I have appreciated Mr. Douthat’s writings for a number of years, including his books Bad Religion...

A Pastoral Letter on Sprinkling

Adam Parker
Aug 27, 2021
I am encouraged by your children’s sincerely expressed faith in Christ and of your desire to have them baptized upon profession of faith. I realize that your family is used to only baptizing by immersion and that our own church’s practice of baptism by pouring water seems like a major departure...

Church Membership: Why Bother?

Adam Parker
Jul 20, 2021
Last year I changed pastorates from a church in the southeastern United States to a church in the Pacific Northwest. Of course there are cultural changes that come along with geographic shifts, but one of the biggest differences I noticed was the attitude toward church membership. I am painting...

On Masks, Vaccines, and Church Unity

Adam Parker
Jun 12, 2021
The church membership vows in my own denomination (the PCA) include this passage where we “promise to study [the] purity and peace” of the church. One of the premier ways we can do that as Christians is to reflect deeply and well upon the unity of the church, especially when it comes to what is...

On "Selfish" Church Attendance

Adam Parker
Dec 18, 2020
One of the current charges leveled against Christians (largely on social media) is that Christians are being selfish by insisting on worshiping even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. One could put the argument like this: Participating in unecessary social activities that risk perpetuating the...

Go to Church

Adam Parker
Oct 15, 2020
I have a confession to make, and it may not be very surprising: It’s hard to pastor people when the government has declared a pandemic. There are a few reasons for this. To begin, there really is a virus going around. A very small percentage of people really are having complications and dying. It’s...

Preaching the Good News

Adam Parker
Jan 27, 2020
It is very common in my sermons for me to make an evangelistic application to the text. Those who hear my sermons often will recall that it isn’t unusual for me to make a statement applying the text by imploring the listeners to believe in Jesus, to stop finding security in their good works, and to...

The Pastor as Hourly Employee?

Adam Parker
Oct 21, 2019
One of my favorite things is getting together with other pastors and asking them how their ministry is going. Most of the time a pastor will say that things are going great, and then he will share some of the joys of his ministry. However, occasionally a pastor will sigh deeply and tell me that...

Reciting the Creed

Adam Parker
Sep 23, 2019
Why do we recite the historic creeds of the church in our worship services? There are a few ways to answer this question. First, we believe these creeds are really just recitations of the content of Scripture. All we are doing is reading a summary of what the Bible says. Second, we believe...

Ain't Just Putting On the Ritz

Adam Parker
Aug 28, 2019
Only a few days after Josh Harris told Instagram that he is no longer a Christian, Marty Sampson similarly announced that he is "genuinely losing [his] faith." To briefly summarize, the former Hillsong United lead singer is apparently the first person to notice that miracles aren't commonplace...

Learning from the Early Church

Adam Parker
Jul 6, 2019
I recently finished a sermon series on the book of Acts at our church. I have been deeply blessed by working through this book. In fact, as I completed the last sermon, I was in tears. I told my wife, "It might seem silly, but I'm going to miss spending this much time with Paul." It has been very...

When Dead Men Speak...

Adam Parker
Jun 13, 2019
I just finished watching the TV miniseries Chernobyl . I was brought to tears by the end of the series. In the final episode (spoiler alert, the reactor explodes), Legasov, the nuclear expert rises to speak before the Soviet tribunal tasked with determining whose fault the explosion of Chernobyl...

The Karen Pence Rule

Adam Parker
Jan 21, 2019
Recently it was announced that Karen Pence - a private citizen who is not even occupying an elected office in the United States of America - is going to resume her teaching career at a Christian school. Part of this school's beliefs is that homosexual behavior is a sin, and they require their...

Closing the Facebook

Adam Parker
Oct 16, 2018
It's been two weeks since I deleted my Facebook account. I do not see myself going back. The reasons for leaving have nothing to do with cybersecurity or privacy - they have to do with what Facebook is doing to me as a person. I began using Facebook about a decade ago. Ten years ago my life was...

Conflict, Comfort and the Cross

Adam Parker
Nov 13, 2017
Last week, a gunman entered First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and killed 26 people, wounding 20 others. The massacre was brutal and left what will surely be scars on all of those who survived, many of whom were young children. Usually there is some sort of grieving period that...

Reflections on Preaching Revelation

Adam Parker
Oct 10, 2017
Last November I made the decision (as a newly ordained minister) to preach through the book of Revelation. This decision may have been driven by a touch of hubris, or perhaps merely by my own curiosity. More than anything else, I wanted our congregants to make this book their own–to have it...

When Calling Yourself a "Christian" Isn't Enough

Adam Parker
Sep 1, 2017
As a new Christian, I was very interested in studying cults. I studied the nuances of Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarianism, and so on. When we think of cults, we tend to think of groups that not only pervert what the Bible says about salvation, but especially that depart from what...

Mr. Moral Magoo?

Adam Parker
Aug 18, 2017
I'm sure there's a generational gap when someone refers to Mr. Magoo. If you're under 30, there's a good chance that you've probably never heard of Mr. Magoo. I just so happened to have watched enough classic cartoons over the years to have seen a few episodes. Mr. Magoo is a cartoon about a...

As Jesus Sees It

Adam Parker
Jul 17, 2017
One of the benefits of having young children while being a pastor is that it affords you the opportunity to get plugged into the local school system. When we first met with someone who worked at the school, we told them the name of our church. Their immediate response was, "Oh we used to go there!...

Being Pence-ive about Dinner with the Ladies

Adam Parker
Apr 1, 2017
Adultery among any people group is a serious and dreadful act in this fallen world. In fact, in an increasingly fatherless culture where divorce is becoming more and more the rule rather than the exception, one would argue that this is empirically verifiable. When a pastor, who is supposed to be...

Jesus and the Federal Budget?

Adam Parker
Mar 22, 2017
One of the interesting aspects of Scripture is that it doesn't tell us the precise way in which moral principles should be implemented in the civil sphere--even while it contains ironclad moral commands and lasting principles for the lives of God's people. This makes sense for quite a number of...

A Just Silence

Adam Parker
Feb 17, 2017
We've all felt the pressure to speak out about things that we know little to nothing about. The increasingly prevalent sentiment is that if Christians-and especially Christian leaders-don't speak up on the hot button issues of the day, then they are complicit in fueling social injustice. The...

Trying Not to Remember

Adam Parker
Jan 17, 2017
I've been thinking a lot about self-deception and the lies we tell ourselves. Sometimes we lie to others so that we can advance ourselves. Sometimes we lie to others so that we can gain a foothold to a place where the truth wouldn't, perhaps, get us. But self-deception is odd. Self-deception is...

When in Babylon...

Adam Parker
Dec 21, 2016
Regard for the Lord's Day is on a steep decline, and, sadly, has been for quite some time. Disregard for the Lord's Day is evidenced by the fact that many churches have decided to cancel their worship services this Sunday in order to encourage families to spend time together on Christmas. The...

Shusaku's Silence

Adam Parker
Nov 28, 2016
Some readers may be curious about the forthcoming Martin Scorsese film, Silence . The story follows two Jesuit priests (played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who leave Portugal in order to discover the fate of Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a missionary to Japan whom rumor has it had abandoned...

Forget Nostalgia!

Adam Parker
Nov 10, 2016
Following the election on Tuesday night many are still reeling with surprise from the results. Some are in shock, some are incensed, some are delighted, and still others have taken this opportunity to decry the result as a sign of declining public virtue. The tendency in moments like this is to...

No Waffle in the Gospel

Adam Parker
Oct 21, 2016
[ The contents of this article reflect the views of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals or of the editorial team of Reformation 21. ] One of the best things about being a pastor is the freedom of knowing that you do not bear the...

Playing the Nihilism Game

Adam Parker
Sep 13, 2016
Eugene Thacker, in his Nihilistic masterwork In the Dust of This Planet offers a quote at the very beginning by Arthur Schopenhauer: "The life of every individual, viewed as a whole and in general, and when only its most significant features are emphasized, is really a tragedy; but gone through in...

Pluck Out...Your Candidate?

Adam Parker
Aug 15, 2016
I'll never forget the first year that I was able to vote. I had just turned 18 and could not have been more zealous to be part of the American political process. I spent six hours a day while I worked listening to angry talk show radio hosts who seemed intent on raising my blood pressure. I...

Walker Percy on the Bankruptcy of Naturalistic Materialism

Adam Parker
Jun 14, 2016
About a year ago I took a solo road trip from Jackson, MS to St. Joseph's Abbey in Covington, LA, which is the final resting place of the Roman Catholic novelist, Walker Percy. It was an opportunity to pay my respects to one of my favorite authors. Though Percy found fame (and a Pulitzer Prize) as...

Of Gorillas and Men

Adam Parker
May 31, 2016
A few days ago, Harambe the gorilla was shot by the Cincinatti Zoo after a 4-year-old child accidentally climbed past the fence and enclosures--only to tumble into the moat surrounding the gorilla's habitat. Sensing that the child's life was in immediate danger, zoo workers made the prompt decision...

Calvin's Company of Pastors

Adam Parker
May 6, 2016
Scott Manetsch, Calvin's Company of Pastors , Oxford University Press, 2013. 428 pp. HB: $75 PB: $30 Of all the books that I have read in preparation for ministry none have been able to claim the title of personal favorite, until I read Calvin's Company of Pastors . This book has been out for...

Calvin's Company of Pastors

Adam Parker
May 6, 2016
Scott Manetsch, Calvin's Company of Pastors , Oxford University Press, 2013. 428 pp. HB: $75 PB: $30 Of all the books that I have read in preparation for ministry none have been able to claim the title of personal favorite, until I read Calvin's Company of Pastors . This book has been out for...

Jonathan Edwards, The Westminster Standards, and Presbyterian Church Government

Adam Parker
Jan 8, 2015
Jonathan Edwards pastored a congregational church in Northampton, Massachusetts for many years. It would be easy to assume that Edwards was a Congregationalist at heart or that he therefore did not hold the Westminster Standards in high esteem. This would be a mistake. When it came to catechizing...

Fearing the God Who Rescues?

Adam Parker
Aug 21, 2014
In Mark 4:35-41 we are confronted by the narrative of Christ’s stilling of the storm. It may be a familiar narrative, but if we pay close attention we will nonetheless be gripped by it. We should be especially keen to notice that the fear of the disciples is so intense that they even have the nerve...

Watching Movies to the Glory of God

Adam Parker
Oct 1, 2008
Our God is a storytelling God. Much of the Bible is narrative, and a lot of that narrative is something that would give our children nightmares. I was 18 years old when I first read the story of the Levite's concubine from Judges 19. I was disturbed and disgusted by this story when I first heard it...

The Golden Compass

Adam Parker
Dec 10, 2007
The Golden Compass is this holiday season's uber-expensive (try $180 million) family-friendly fantasy epic. No doubt, the movie is attracting a lot of attention (and has been for the past year leading up to its release) due to what we have been warned is a staunchly anti-Christian message. These...