Rev. Jeff Voorhees (1971-2008)

Some of you may have heard already, but on Friday, November 21, Rev. Jeff Voorhees of Drenthe CRC, MI, was killed in a automobile accident. He leaves behind his wife Kate and their four children; Calvin, Hannah, Felicity and Gabriel - ranging in ages from 9 mos to 6 years. Before taking the call to Drenthe a big year ago, Jeff served at Pine Creek CRC in Holland, MI. Needless to say this has been devastating to Kate and their family and also very difficult for the Drenthe Church. Jeff was also active in the Returning Church discussions, having a head and heart for both the truth of the Gospel and the lost. Pray for the Voorhees family as well as Drenthe Church, calling upon our good God's grace, mercy and comfort for them.

If you would like to read more about what has happened - and even how God is already using this for His glory - you can go to one of the following links and search by name:

Drenthe CRC (includes information on memorial fund for family)
Holland Sentinel
WXMI Fox 17 News (search "pastor," "Voorhees" and "Drenthe" in videos)
Grand Rapids Press

Third Wave Pentecostalism

Synod 2007 took up the first Third Wave Pentecostalism reports but withheld action because they failed to provide "sufficient biblical study and theological reflection on key aspects of the third wave movement." The task was recommitted to a "beefed up" study committee which will be presenting this new report to Synod 2009.

What are your thoughts and comments on the report specifically or on the whole topic in general?

Click here for a copy of the updated report.

Revitalitzation or Rejection??

In a comment to the previous post Dave Watson from Kent, WA, brought up a good discussion point that warrants its own post. He asks:

"I guess I'm just wondering whether The Returning Church group (I realize it's not a very tightly knit organization) is going to have a somewhat lasting impact on the CRC or if you are just going to move on to greener fields when you can't stomach the direction of the CRC leadership anymore (like the URC folk)."

Those involved with the Returning Church discussions have stated their commitment to the CRC and bringing revitalization to the denomination. Being an unorganized "organization" the Returning Church has so far sought to be a forum for networking and sharing ideas as well as encouragement. How can this best be done in the CRC? What sort of "lasting impact" do you see the Returning Church discussions having... if any? Or are we just setting ourselves up to bolt from the CRC and form yet another Reformed denomination/federation/fellowship??

This discussion is open to anyone and given the looseness of the Returning Church organizationally, your thoughts and reflections are very important in determining where this should all go in the future.

Summer Youth Conventions/Camps

Summer youth conventions/camps have been almost ritual for our high school youth for the last many years. Some of the churches involved in these discussions have attended the Youth Unlimited convention in Bozeman this past weekend and others the Reformed Youth Service (RYS) covention in Minneapolis last week... maybe your congregation went somewhere else, like a Young Life camp or wherever. Your eyewitness reports would be very helpful to all of us. We would love your comments, evaluations - good/bad/etc, especially as we are thinking about faith formation as a denomination. What role does "convention" play?

Blogging from the Floor #5

Well, Synod 2008 is over... we finished Thursday night around 9:30 p.m. It was good to finish the week of business and talking (and talking and talking) with a time of worship and prayer together. But before we got to the finish line there was a bit of a long sprint...

We had a lot of business to cover, but the officers thought we could get it done by Thursday. We did a bunch of house-keeping items throughout the day - like ratifying the work of the synodical deputies. One interesting note - since last year 2 became ministers via article 7 (exceptional giftedness), 25 via article 8 (other denominations - mostly Korean) and 43 became ministry associates (which is a wide range from evangelists to youth pastors to music directors).

There was an overture requesting that an option be provided at the synodical worship service for delegates to receive the elements from males only. Interestingly, the first recommendation from the Advisory Committee was not to accede to the overture, yet their second recommendation was to urge the convening church to show sensitivity to both views on women-in-church-office - which, as the overture's author stated, was what they were asking for. I'll tell you, when an Advisory Committee does their work clearly and thoroughly, there is little discussion. But when they try to muddy things up - the flood gates open... which is what happened here. We spent much more time talking about the whole women-in-church-office issue than the agenda would have led us to believe. But it needed to be done during this "historic" synod. I believe the point came across that we still officially believe the historic biblical position on this is valid. It seems many people had forgotten that.

Other things we did were to adopt a resolution to challenge the president of Zimbabwe on his treatment of the people there. Both the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa and Reformed Church of Zambia representatives pleaded with us for our prayers and action. Sounds like just an awful situation there - so if you know any political representatives in the U.S. or Canada, give them a call.

We also recommitted the Abuse Victims Task Force report back for another year of fine tuning and further study. This issue is too big - spiritually, emotionally and legally - to rush into.

The most tenuous issue for the day was the revised recommendation from the Interchurch Relations Advisory Committee regarding our relationship with the Protestant Churches of the Netherlands (PCN). Like I said earlier, we, in what they thought would just be procedural housekeeping, ended up completely severing our relationship with the PCN and couldn't find a way to approve re-establishing it within our current ecumenical charter. So the Advisory Committee came with another muddy proposal - the PCN won't be in full ecclesiastical fellowship or in ecclesiastical dialogue (our only two categories currently) - it will be somewhere in between or something completely other or who knows. The recommendation kind of left it up to the Interchurch Relationships Committee and Peter Borgdorf. Many of us weren't comfortable with that, but I think the Synod was "smelling the barn" - to quote Jerry Dykstra - and didn't have the energy to go through another lengthy debate. This was approved - but I don't think many really know what it means.

We approved a new Form of Subscription revision committee - looks like a good slate. We'll just have to wait for what they come up with. Mark January 1, 2010 on your calendars!

The Advisory Committee for the Candidacy Committee responded to overtures regarding Article 8 and 23 by basically saying, "Let's wait and see how the new director of Candidacy does." I think this is probably a good approach. There is a tension between the centralization of the process and grassroots development of leaders. I received the impression that the new director, David Koll, has received this message. So nothing has changed in regard to these routes to ministry. Just a note - the Candidacy Committee is engaging in some discussions about article 23... so give them your input!

As I was walking back to the dorm to pack up my things and head home I bumped into the pastor of a Samoan congregation in California. He joined the CRC just a few years ago and is actively working on drawing ten other Samoan congregations into the CRC. He came to the CRC, he said, because He loved our theology, our creeds, our confessions - our love for the Word of God. He loved our high standards (and is insulted by the talk of minorities needing an easier route to ministry). He said, "Don't lower your standards and never give up on the truth." Of everything that happened at Synod I don't think God could have encouraged me more than with this wise man's words. Why is God blessing us by drawing men & women like him and congregations into the CRC? I don't dare presume to know God's eternal decrees, but could He through them be calling our attention back to our first love - Him... His Word... His Son, our Savior? Let's pray that He does.

Chad Steenwyk
delegate from Classis Holland - signing off...

Blogging from the Floor #4.2

Wow, it's taking three posts to cover the whole of Wednesday at Synod 2008. Just a couple of more things:

The Board of Trustees had recommended that only one name be required to be presented to Synod for the various board positions throughout the denomination. This would mean that a simple yes or no vote would happen rather than voting between two persons. The rationale was that it is difficult to get people to commit themselves to the long process of nomination. The Advisory Committee ended up actually going against the B.O.T. on this saying it would give the impression of more centralization (I would argue that it would actually be more centralization). I was glad to see they recognized that in principle at least. Synod passed the committee's recommendation and will be voting between two nominees in the future. Granted, just going through this yesterday, there were many individuals I did not know and had to make a prayerful decision based on what information had been given to me so far. But if the agencies, committees and B.O.T. give names of appropriately gifted, qualified persons to Synod, then it at least gives the churches input into which way they would want these agencies to go. The other related item of business was that Synod approved the B.O.T.'s recommendation to eliminate the alternate positions - just for the B.O.T. itself.

It's amazed me how just-below-the-surface the whole issue of women-in-church-office is. Now, I said this before, but personally I have found the tenor here to be very respectful - maybe even cautious. Particularly, women delegates have been gracious. Some of the men seem to think they need to be the knight in shining armor though. There was a recommendation from the B.O.T. to eliminate the Women Advisers now that women can be delegates directly. They gave a straight forward recommendation which the advisory committee felt compelled to amplify with celebratory language. This, of course, was binding on the consciouses of several delegates and led to another lengthy discussion - but one that continues to be needed. How can delegates who have a complementarian view vote that their classes should encourage the full participation of women at Synod. That was the first recommendation, which passed.

The next recommendation dealt specifically with eliminating the women advisers. Again, the committee added some unnecessary language - which this time was eliminated after the motion was defeated. A pared down version was approved, thereby eliminating the position of women advisers (by the way - 8 women advisers have served Synod for many years, en lieu of delegates - a compromise from years back). I spoke against the motion from a different angle. I know women from a complementarian perspective will never serve as elders and deacons - not because they are being held down, but because of their own godly, biblical convictions. Yet, I think in an advisory role, they could be a beautiful light for truth at Synod meetings. Interestingly, many came up to me afterwards and thanked me for that perspective. There seems to be an assumption that all women who are serious about their service to God's church aspire to be deacons and elders - oh, we have some wonderful ladies for them to meet! Maybe more on this as Synod approaches next year.

Well - off to another day... possibly the last, but those things can never be predicted.

Chad Steenwyk
delegate from Classis Holland

Blogging from the Floor #4.1

It's amazing how quickly it is 11:00 p.m. over at Synod - lots of talking. I'll be looking forward to a week of vacation and some good child banter. We didn't take up the issue of the PCN again tonight, which was a relief for most, I think. The Advisory Committee has to go back to work with the IRC to come up with another option. We'll find something on our tables tomorrow, I'm sure.

Tonight we took up the issue of the Form of Subscription. We've written and posted quite a bit on this topic here (check older posts). There ended up being 10 overtures and 1 communication - all against the proposed changes. The Advisory Committee did a great job evaluating the complexity - and seriousness - of this issue. They identified it as a rock bed foundation of what holds us together. They recommended that the whole matter be re-committed to a new Synod appointed study committee (as opposed to the study task force which was appointed by the Board of Trustees that came up with the proposed Doctrinal Covenant). This passed overwhelming with little debate.

The Synod was then quite firm that it wanted to appoint the committee and whole-heartedly turned down a motion to have the B.O.T. appoint a new one. Anyway, the recommendation passed and the new study committee of 11 will be appointed tomorrow morning from suggestions we gave tonight (so if any of you get calls - say "yes"). That commmittee will present a revision - not a document that alters the meaning of the FOS - to the churches by January 1, 2010. They'll have 18 months to gather input before it has to be presented to Synod 2011. Sounds like a long time out, but this is how long the old committee wrestled with it - and still completely misread the denomination. We actually spent more time on trying to determine the make-up of the committee than we did debating the recommendation - so many were against what was being proposed - HALLELUJAH!

Earlier today we heard from fraternal delegates from the RCA, Associate Presbyterian Reformed Church and the CRC in Nigeria - all good reports, however, the APRC guy was just hillarious... had to be there. But I've said we need to do more church planting in the south! The APRC is centered in South Carolina.

There are some more things to mention, but check back tomorrow. Time for bed here.

Chad Steenwyk
delegate from Classis Holland

Blogging from the Floor #4.0

Since I reported late last night I'm reporting early today. The big topic of the day (all day in fact) has been our relationship to the Protestant Churches of the Netherlands. For many out there you may say, "Why would that be a big deal??" Well, there is a huge historical connection between the CRC and the PCN (which was formerly the GKN, our "mother" denomination, so to speak). Anyway, the Interchurch Relations Committee was asking that we establish full ecclesiastical fellowship with the PCN. When it was the GKN (which merged with two other denominations to form the PCN) we restricted our relationship because they began ordaining practicing homosexuals and there are some questins on how they view Christ (click here if you're interested in some of what they believe and practice on this). Now, under the CRC's new ecumenical charter which promotes broader and less restricted relationships, the IRC would like those restrictions removed.

With underlying practices such as those, you can imagine there was a ton of debate. That began in the Advisory Committee as they ended up with both a majority and minority report basically as follows:

• Majority Report: enter into full ecclesiastical fellowship with the PCN
• Minority Report: enter into a relationship of dialogue with the PCN

Full ecclesiastical fellowship is a deeper relationship which allows for fellowship at the Lord's Supper together and exchange of pulpits. Dialogue means just that - a talking relationship. So do we overlook these differences in the spirit of Christian unity or do we continue to send the message we've been sending them that their practice is sinful - but we're willing to maintain contact in the hopes that God's Word will prevail in the future.

Over the course of the debate, it came out from a poll done in the Netherlands that 14% of the pastors in the PCN consider themselves atheist or agnostic. Yes, you read that right. 39% of PCN pastors cannot deny the statement that God is a figment of human thought... eek!

But it was also reported that the percentage of atheist pastors is going DOWN (correction from earlier) and the number of orthodox pastors is rising - so God is bringing some hope there... Praise the Lord!

Procedurally, there were a couple of recommendations. The first was to declare the restricted relationship with the GKN moot with respect to the PCN because it was in effect a new denomination. That passed - so we didn't have any officially relationship with the PCN. Next the majority report to establish full fellowship was table almost immediately and the minority report taken up. That was debated for a long time but then defeated by less that 10 votes. The majority report was taken off the table and discussed for quite a while again, but that was also defeated, but a little more than 10 votes. So back to the drawing board - and for a few hours today we have no relationship with the PCN - the committee is meeting to come up with a third option - however, our new ecumenical charter doesn't have a third option... so what'll they come up with next???

More than the specific relationship to this church is what does this mean for the CRC. Does hopping in bed with the PCN give defacto credence to homosexual practice and loose Christology?? Or is it our opportunity to be a witness to them? I guess if we look back on the 20 or 30 years of strained relationship we've had - trying to be a witness to them - have we had more effect on them for orthodoxy or they on us for liberalism? An unrestricted relationship would only give us more of the same.

On top of that, what does our relationship with them convey to our local congregations?? To other denominations (the fraternal delegates from the CRC in Nigeria were fairly vocal about this in the gallery)... to our communities?? Lots of implications.

I won't go through all the debates, but the parallel I drew was to I Corinthians 5:9-13. If that doesn't speak here, it doesn't speak anywhere. Of course, we speak the truth in love... but we still speak the truth. But does God's Word mean that much to these kind of debates?? By now you know my answer to that question... maybe I should make that a motion on the floor to see what Synod thinks on that. More later....

Chad Steenwyk
delegate from Classis Holland

Blogging from the Floor #3

Sorry to all for not reporting in last evening - sort of feels like I'm in college again! We had a gathering of folks last night that turned into a great time of encouragement and fellowship. I just hope I don't fall asleep in Western Civ again today... wait... fast forward 15 years... in plenary session.

Yesterday was the first full day of plenary sessions. I'm not going to report on every detail or decision, but I'll describe the day the way I did to Roxanne VanFarowe from the Banner; "respectful." Particularly when it comes to the women-in-church-office issue there has been a good spirit. Joe VandenAkker from Classis Minnkota (the Classis that was sort of slapped on the wrist Monday night for sending a Communication as a classis that they were sending delegates in protest of the seating of women at Synod) set a motion to clarify that Church Order states classes may send Communications on pretty much anything. Synod doesn't have to act on them but may just receive them for information. That's what should have been done Monday evening. That led to some good discussion - rather lengthy - longer than it should have been had we acted correctly the night before. But basically the principle from Synod 2007 of making room was applied and the Advisory Committee that slapped the wrist had, as one delegate put it, "their noses smacked with the newspaper."

We spent yesterday rummaging through a whole bunch of business - probably the biggest thing was the proposed changes to the Contemporary Testimony. It was decided to not take amendments from the floor - which I guess happened back in 1986 and accounts for much of the cumbersome language for the now old CT. Some were concerned with what seemed like political statements toward the end of the document and also that the churches hadn't had much time to review the most recent revisions. Regardless, it passed.

We spent some time giving input to the Faith Formation Commmittee over lunch - particularly in regards to children at the Lord's Table and I Corinithians 11. We also interviewed and approved Mary VandenBerg as a new professor of systematic theology. I'd like to write more but my suitemate is breathing down my neck to go for breakfast. I'll be back!

Chad Steenwyk
delegate of Classis Holland

Blogging from the Floor #2

Monday was another packed day - lots of committee work and it seems like most of the advisory committees were pushed right up until dinner - which was an incredible picnic on the president of Calvin College's back lawn. He knows how to throw a party!

Plenary sessions began this evening - it felt good to get some business under our belts. Most items warranted little discussion. 53 candidates were approved for Minister of the Word and Sacrament. They explained that the number is artificially high because a recent change in the program. We will be welcoming them Tuesday morning. We also approved the retirement of 41 pastors - just imagine all the lives that have touched for Christ through all their years of ministry.

Two items did garner some chatter though. One was the overture from Classis Zeeland encouraging an evening worship service. They requested Synod to encourage the practice of an evening worship service. It was a very good discussion, although fairly brief. No one who spoke seemed to dismiss it as being antiquated or anything like that - although some informal chatter around Synod leaned that way. The point came across that we need to gather for worship and not neglect the means of grace. The recommendations from the advisory committee highlighted what Synod 1996 said:

a. "Synod affirms the rich tradition of assembling for worship twice on the Lord's Day and encourages existing congregations to continue and new congregations to embrace this tradition for the building up of the body of Christ."
b. "Where congregations are exploring alternatives to the second service, synod encourages those congregations to ensure that such alternatives are part of a strategic ministry plan with full accountability to their classis."

The Reporter from the advisory committee emphasized the last line of point b. above - the need to hold each other accountable in our classes. It was good to hear the Synod using those words - now it's up to us to encourage that among one anothers congregations.

The only other issue that caused some conversation was a Communication from Classis Minnkota that said they were sending their delegates in protest to the seating of women at Synod this year. The advisory committee basically said that this was the wrong way to go about it and that the individual delegates should have registered their protest on their credentials instead - point noted for the future. However, it did seem a bit dismissive since a Classis can really send a Communication about anything it wants - as serious or silly as the matter is.

Tomorrow will be a full day of plenary sessions... thank you for your prayers.

Chad Steenwyk
Delegate from Classis Holland

Blog from the Floor #1

Well, o.k., we're not in session on the Lord's Day (even after one day it was a welcome break - what'll we do by Thursday!), but we'll be blogging about the events from the floor of Synod. After orientation for the new delegates (57% of the delegates are first-timers) on Friday evening, Synod met Saturday morning for its first plenary session. We spent a couple of hours going through introductions and trying to figure out the electronic voting system - which as the I.T. folks said is about 120 years old in technology years, but seems to work o.k.

The only signficant action was the election of officers. Several were nominated but Joel Boot from Ridgewood CRC in Jenison, MI, was elected president and Thea Leunk from Eastern Ave CRC in Grand Rapids, MI, was elected vice-president. Les Kuipers and Laryn Zoerhof were elected 1st and 2nd clerk respectively. Elections went quite smoothly - except the fact that there were cheers after Thea was elected V.P. I understand the "historic" nature of this synod, but it's always good to reverse situations like that to see how "rub-it-in-your-face" it can be. Suppose a staunch conservative who was vocally opposed to the ordination of women was elected an officer and there was cheering - more than a few would be hurt or even offended. Now I know, people are going to go on about how long they've waited for this moment. I understand that fully... but the fact is, we say there are two equally valid interpretations of Scripture on this issue. That fact that clapping only occurred after her election makes the motivation clear (I do have to take that back a bit - after Les Kuiper was elected 1st clerk there was some clapping... but that may be because his name was listed as Leslie Kuiper...hmmm). It is out of place, immature and rude to celebrate it knowing people are, as a matter of biblical principle, grieving this time. With that said, most of those who are not comfortable with this say they are making every effort to work with all of those who have been delegated to Synod and I've seen nothing contrary to that. It just makes for some awkward situations that we're going to have to learn to deal with.

The rest of the day was filled with advisory committee meetings - that will produce more action over the coming week. A few evangelical and more conservative delegates met Saturday after the day was concluded for mutual support and encouragement. This was a blessed time - as was this day of worship! It is good to be re-rooted in why we are here - to serve the Lord and His Church! So pray that we all sense the joy that surely comes with that task.

Chad Steenwyk
delegate for Classis Holland

Blogging from Synod

Several pastors who have been involved in the Returning Church movement will be attending Synod 2008 as delegates. We will be posting blog entries periodically throughout the week. Synod is alway interesting and what happens there affects the whole denomination. If you have any thoughts for us in return, leave them as comments. So check back here throughout all of next week - not just for information, but primarily so you will be able to pray more specifically.

Synod '08

The CRCNA Synod will begin meeting Friday, June 13 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and run until Saturday, June 21. Please keep the delegates and all the deliberations in your prayers. The focus of attention by many is on what will happen with the status of the Form of Subscription (a.k.a. Doctrinal Covenant of Office-Bearers) - and more importantly, the confessional/biblical foundation of the CRC. Also, this is the first year women will be seated as delegates - a matter to be kept in your prayers as well. There are certainly many more issues that need our prayers. You can keep up-to-date on the schedule and happenings - even watch a live web-cast beginning the first Saturday of Synod - by clicking here.

More FOS Overtures

It looks like the discussion over the proposed revision of the Form of Subscription is going on all over the CRC. This is wonderful and a vast majority of the overtures and communcations coming out of the churches and classes demonstrate a strong desire to maintain confession unity in the CRC. Keep in prayer for the delegates of Synod this summer as they deliberate over this (as well as many other matters).

All of the overtures that we have posted previously have been compiled, along with some others, in the Agenda for Synod 2008. Go to page 235 for the study committee report and 288 for the first of the overtures.

Additional overtures and communications have been submitted after the printing of the agenda. They can be seen by clicking here. The overtures begin on page 69.

Other updates and additions will probably be posted. Those can be found by periodically checking here. Also, for some of the other response letters sent by church councils, scroll through previous posts on this blog.

Report on April 17 Meeting

We had a good meeting in Byron Center, MI, on April 17. Dr. Robert Swierenga set the tone for the evening by giving an historical sketch of the use of the Form of Subscription, primarily in the Dutch Reformed Churches, to which the CRC has historical ties. Over the years, different denominations have watered down their FOS resulting in similar results across the board: a move away from Scriptural truth. In fact, there is not one example of a denomination disconnecting from its confessional foundation that is flourishing today. Just the opposite is true. His conclusion was that a FOS does not guarantee orthodoxy, however without a FOS orthodoxy is impossible. Why should we be so arrogant to think that we can repeat the same behavior as many others have done and expect different results -isn't there a word for that...?

The whole discussion of the FOS was framed by the issue of truth; what place does truth have in our congregations - especially in light of the post-modern society in which we live. The panel included Dr. Swierenga and Revs. CJ denDulk (Trinity CRC, Sparta, MI) and Tom Groelsema (1st CRC, Byron Center, MI). They fielded a variety of questions from the audience of about 70 or so on the topic at hand. Although many things were discussed, it came down to the vital need we have for the truth of God's Word. The confessions offer to us a unity around Scripture that allows us to go about the work of Christ in His kingdom. There was a common concern that this unity would disipate if the proposed Doctrinal Covenant was adopted by Synod this summer.


It was also encouraging to have Rev. Duane Kelderman from Calvin Seminary present, as well as a number of seminarians. Rev. Kelderman was not an official representative of CTS, but he did offer words of encouragement and solidarity. He noted that the seminary is very concerned about watering down our confessional foundation (which can be seen in the most recent edition of the CTS Forum).

Returning Church Meeting in April

The Returning Church will be holding a meeting in Michigan on Thursday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. We will again be hosted by 1st CRC in Byron Center.

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss "The Vibrancy of Confessionalism" and the place of biblical truth in our local congregations. Dr. Robert Swierenga (Research History Professor at the VanRaalte Institute and CRC member) will be giving a brief background on the role of the Form of Subscription in the Reformed churches to set a starting point for maintaining biblical truth in a denomination. His speech will be followed by an open forum/panel discussion on the broader topic of the place of biblical truth in our local congregations and the role of our confessions. In light of rampant post-modernism - even an all-out assault on truth - in our society and even in our churches, this topic could not be more timely.

There is no need to preregister but PLEASE HELP US GET THE WORD OUT. You can cut and paste this posting and email it to your friends and fellow church members. You can also print off and copy a half-page bulletin insert/flier (MS Word) to be passed around by clicking here.

P.S. This conference is held on the eve of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology (see posting under "Conferences 2008!" below). So if you are from outside West Michigan, make it a weekend. You can find more information on the PCRT by going to www.alliancenet.org.

Overtures/Communications Related to the Form of Subscription/Covenant of Ordination

There have been several overtures and communications working through church councils and classes in the past several months. Here are a few of them. If you know of others, please comment and we'll post them here.

Classis Alberta North - overture requesting Synod to reject the proposed Covenant of Ordination (Scroll down through classis agenda)
NEW: Classis Columbia - overture rejecting the proposed Covenant of Ordination.
Classis Holland - overture re-emphasizing confessional unity in the denomination
Classis Minnkota - overture requesting Synod to reject the proposed Covenant of Ordination
Classis Zeeland - overture re-emphasizing the Form of Subscription (see Agenda below)

NEW: Also, there are also overtures and communications listed in the 2008 Agenda for Synod from Classes Northcentral Iowa, Iakota and Lake Superior and Erie. Click here for a PDF version of the agenda.

Conferences 2008!

Attending a conference is a great way to get good, solid biblical teaching and also broaden your perspective of Christ's church. There are several good conferences this spring - and most of them aren't just for pastors! If you have any others to add to the list, please post a comment. Here are some links:

• February 4-6 Desiring God (John Piper) National Pastors' Conference, Minneapolis, MN: "The Pastor as Father and Son"
• February 29-3/2 PCRT (Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology), Sacramento, CA: "Precious Blood: Christ's Atoning Work"
• March 13-15 Ligonier National Conference, Orlando, FL: "Evangelism According to Jesus"
• April 4-6 PCRT, Atlanta, GA: "Precious Blood: Christ's Atoning Work"
• April 15-17 T4G (Together for the Gospel), Louisville, KY
• April 18-20 PCRT, Grand Rapids, MI: "Precious Blood: Christ's Atoning Work" There will again be a Returning Church event the evening before the PCRT begins. Watch the blog for more details.
• April 25-27 PCRT, Philadelphia, PA: "Precious Blood: Christ's Atoning Work"
• May 27-29 Banner of Truth Ministers' Conference, Grantham, PA