Dear First Scots family, There are many in our nation today who are quite anxious about how today will turn out as we go to the polls to elect a new President.  In one sense, it’s only natural that we care deeply, thinking of the impacts on communities, families, and our witness as Christ’s followers.  We are greatly blessed to live in a country in which we can make our voices heard and participate in the election of leaders.  And yet, as important as elections are, we must fix our minds on the reality that, while these choices matter deeply, they are guided by a hand far greater than any…

Dear Saints,  Each month, I make recommendations of books that I hope will be a blessing to your walk with the Lord.  One thing I’ve learned through this process is that too many recommendations can be overwhelming, so I’ve shortened the list to a few good reads you might enjoy.  Also, you may benefit from this video in which Iain Murray speaks about how and why to read books well.  Devotional: At General Assembly, I picked up a copy of Ian Hamilton’s devotional on Psalm 23 entitled Our Heavenly Shepherd.  Few people can connect God’s Word with the experience of life as well as Dr. Hamilton.  I’m excited to dig…

“Believers are not only children of God by adoption, but they are also made joint heirs with Christ. This is a rich and glorious truth! Everything that belongs to Christ is ours in Him. As He is the heir of all things, so are we in Him. Our inheritance is sure because it is secured by His merit and sealed by His blood.” -Charles Spurgeon  Dear flock,  This week in our pastoral letter, we will look at the extraordinarily sweet biblical doctrine of adoption; that God has adopted us as his own children.  In this letter we will define the Bible’s teaching on adoption as “God’s gracious act of changing…

Dear Saints,  Each month, I make recommendations of books that I hope will be a blessing to your walk with the Lord.  In some months, I think the list has been a bit overwhelming, so this month I’ve shortened it to make it more accessible.  My Main Read for June: While I’m still slowly working through Owen’s Communion with God and plan to be for quite some time, I do have one main read that I’m excited to dig into in June: Authentic Ministry by Michael Reeves.  Most everything Reeves writes is wonderfully encouraging, and I have no doubt this will be as well.  Theology, History, and Christian Living: Not many…

Over the last few weeks, the focus of these letters has been to consider the awesome work of God’s Spirit known as revival.  Using the revival that took place in Beaufort in the 1830’s as a case study, we’ve considered what revival is, how God has historically brought it about, and what the lasting effects of revival have been.  In this final letter in this series, let us go back to the beginning and consider what typically precedes God’s great works of revival: The forerunner to revival is prayer.  The greatest revival in the history of the world was Pentecost, when 3,000 people were converted.  And what made Pentecost so…

Preaching and Revival Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at the awesome topic of revival, and we’ve used the revival that took place in Beaufort in the 1800’s as our case study.  I hope that this study has built within you a hunger for God to once again bring revival to our community.   What we have seen thus far in our study is that revival is a powerful outpouring of God’s Spirit in which the lukewarm are awakened, unbelievers are converted, and a whole community seems to be saturated with the awareness of the glory of God.  Surely, such a work is too great for the most…

Dear Saints,  Each month, I make recommendations of books that I think will be a blessing to your walk with the Lord.  While I do realize that reading books has fallen on hard times today (statistics say that almost half of college graduates never read a whole book after college), I do believe that Christians should have a particular interest in reading good books.  Reading good books is like fellowshipping with dear saints of past and present. Through their words, we can gain new perspectives and deepen our understanding of God’s truth and how to apply it to our lives.  With that said, here are some recommendations in various categories.…

Beaufort’s Rich Spiritual History Living in Beaufort for the first 18 years of my life made it very easy to take for granted the beauty of this majestic town.  I am probably not alone in that; I am sure that many of us forget that not every town has exquisite views, Spanish moss-covered oak trees, history that dates back centuries, all of which are only matched by the wonderful people who live here. As I’ve gotten older and returned to Beaufort, I’ve grown to appreciate this beautiful place more and more.  “Beautiful Beaufort-by-the-sea,” as my grandmother used to call it, is undoubtedly the most wonderful town in America, and there’s…