Baseball Anniversary 20 Years Ago for Father and Son

1990 Headline: Griffey Jr & Sr – First Father/Son Tandem To Go Back-To-Back Rockets!!

Yesterday afternoon, as the 20th Anniversary-----September 14, 1990, the fans of the California Angels, sitting at Angels stadium in Anaheim, witnessed the very first father-son duo hit back to back shots out of the park. I think it was Ken Griffey, Sr. hitting just ahead of Jr.

The Seattle Mariners lost to the Angels, but the historic occasion is well-remembered.

G. Mark Sumpter

Charles Spurgeon 1

Spurgeon’s Pastors’ College

“Many of my readers will have read Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students, recalling with joy such subjects as ‘The Minister’s Self Watch,’ ‘The Call to Ministry,’ ‘Sermons—Their Matter,’ and ‘The Faculty of Impromptu Speech.’ The lectures are evidence of the standards set in the college. At the time he gave them Spurgeon was only thirty-four.

The college now had three instructors beside Mr. Rogers. They were Alexander Ferguson, David Gracey, and J. R. Selway. The school majored on the study of theology, but the whole course was similar to that of many seminaries, and Rogers listed other chief subjects as ‘Mathematics, Logic, Hebrew, the Greek New Testament, Homiletics, Pastoral Theology and English Composition.’ Spurgeon mentions astronomy also as part of the course in physical science, and some of the men became, like himself, particularly interested in the stars and the laws governing the heavenly bodies.”

Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon (Moody Press, 1984), p 107.

I agree with so many writing and teaching on the reformation of the purpose and philosophy of education happening in Reformed and Evangelical circles nowadays. The seminaries of the Reformed stripe in North America will be richly blessed as the years continue to tick by. The high school students of the late 1990s and moving into these early decades of the 21st Cent will be (are) top-shelf kids. They are top-shelf regarding their training and preparation for college and seminary. Like Spurgeon’s practice regarding education, the classically trained students are orbiting the Sun taking rides on the planets of life, faith, truth, revelation, the sciences, the languages and literature, and the fine arts, and they move in concert, and call up awe. The relationship between the Sun and planets are known, as well as the relationship between the planets themselves. It’s a splendid universe.

Note that all of life was on the menu at the Pastors’ College. It was getting grounded in an array of subjects as mentioned above. For Spurgeon, no question, it was training for bold faithfulness in the pulpit.

The students today anchored in the regiment of English Grammar, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and in the basics of reading widely, and writing and speaking as rhetoricians are the students who will be the community of joy as a sound, robust Christian witness for the whole earth. Take notice—the Lord is doing marvelous things.

G. Mark Sumpter

Eyeball to Eyeball on Commitment in Marriage

A Couple in for Counseling—Wanting to Get Married

Woman sitting next to her boyfriend, her live-in: Who wants to marry somebody and commit to a relationship that might not work out? We’ve actually been living as if married, in every sense, and it’s been good to have sort of a test drive about one another.

Pastor: Having that view about marriage worries me, actually.

Woman: (Stunned look) What do you mean?

Pastor: (Going eyeball to eyeball with both of them): You have been living in an experiment, and there is no reason why the formality of marriage would change your habit of treating the relationship as an experiment. Christian marriage is a commitment, not an experiment.

I was taken in with this paraphrased piece from an old edition of Touchstone Magazine.

Tomorrow I am leading off with a talk on sex, sexuality and self-control for men. The test-drive age in which we live has been so formative. Experimental live-in situations assume man’s self-sufficient ways and answers for life. It’s all very person to person focused. It borrows just a teaspoon of Christianity—it’s not good for man to be alone, but then gives shape to life on man’s own standards. What worldly standards? I’ll live with you so long as I am still able to be at the center getting my way, according to my likes. Anything that pushes me too far out of the center no longer serves my purposes.

Rather than acknowledgement about heart issues of man’s sinful state, and his self-serving choices and pleasures, it’s the confession of “I have needs, you know.”

Where’s the binding agreement, a covenant that takes the focus off of each person, and places it on commitment? One of the assumptions above on the part of this couple is that love gives special permission, it places them in an unique spot: they think that experimenting with love is acceptable.

Is one of the attributes of love experimentation? Would it be found in 1 Corinthians 13? Love is patient…does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up… bears all things…experiments with all things….

G. Mark Sumpter

Young Men, Sex and the New Testament Times

Reading William Barclay’s Letters to the Seven Churches

I used to read to book store customers this quote from Barclay’s own pen:

“It is not that Jesus is God. Time and time again the Fourth Gospel speaks of God sending Jesus into the world. Time and time again we see Jesus praying to God. Time and time again we see Jesus unhesitatingly and unquestioningly and unconditionally accepting the will of God for himself. Nowhere does the New Testament identify Jesus and God. He said: `He who has seen me has seen God.' There are attributes of God I do not see in Jesus. I do not see God's omniscience in Jesus, for there are things which Jesus did not know...”

A Spiritual Autobiography Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975, p. 56.


Evangelicals standing at the front counter, who had asked why we refused to carry Barclay’s material, would be shocked to hear this quote from such a popular writer. That huge matter aside, I have been reading his little study on the background of the churches of the Revelation.

One quote related to the church of Pergamos (Barclay commenting on Revelation 2:14c…, “to commit sexual immorality.”)

“It has been said that chastity was the one completely new virtue which Christianity introduced into the ancient world. In the ancient world sexual morals were loose; relationships outside of marriage were entirely accepted and produced no stigma whatsoever. Demosthenes has laid it down: ‘We have courtesans for the sake of pleasure; we have concubines for the sale of daily cohabitation; we have wives for the purpose of having children legitimately; and of having a faithful guardian of our household affairs.’ He was not saying anything which was in the least shocking; he was simply laying down what accepted pattern of sexual life. Cicero in his Pro Caelio pleads: ‘If there is anyone who thinks that young men should be absolutely forbidden the love of courtesans, he is extremely severe. I am not able to deny the principle that he states. But he is at variance, not only with the license of what our own age allows, but also with the customs and concessions of our ancestors. When indeed was this not done? When did anyone ever find fault with it? When was such permission denied? When was it that that which is now lawful was not lawful?’ To Cicero such relationships were an accepted part of life of a young man.” pp. 39-40


The Pauline admonitions, “…abstain from sexual immorality…,” and from Hebrews, “…Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge…,” and last, a text like, “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife…” are watershed passages for the will of our Almighty—and He counsels us for blessing, emotional and physical security and so that we might be His witness of holiness, that we might not be in “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”


I’ve been working on preparation for helping men with sexual lusts, pornography and related snares. The Lord Jesus Christ addressed this topic with both churches—Pergamos and Thyatira.


G. Mark Sumpter

100 Bible Verses

New Book Released Next Month

“Change your life from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:20.

With the immediacy of Internet searches and ease of handheld devices, the custom of memorizing Scripture may not seem necessary, but best-selling author Robert J. Morgan makes an airtight case for reviving this rewarding practice in 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.

It's vital for mental and emotional health and for spiritual well-being, he writes. It's as powerful as acorns dropping into furrows in the forest. It allows God's words to sink into your brain and permeate your subconscious thoughts. It saturates the personality, satiates the soul, and stockpiles the mind. It changes the atmosphere of every family and alters the weather forecast of every day.”

Broadman and Holman publishers supplies THIS BLURB HERE.

G. Mark Sumpter

Preaching within the Glorious Stream of Grace

Situating exposition into God's faithfulness

“Moralism, which merely tells people that what they are doing is wrong and tells them several practical steps to take that will correct that wrong, falls far short of preaching Christ. Preaching isolated biblical texts as examples of how to live without placing each story in the stream that leads to Christ falls short of preaching Christ.”

In the book, Reforming Pastoral Ministry, p. 120 (Editor: John Armstrong, a Crossway Publication, 2001).

Keeping the exposition and application in the stream of grace, keeps the preaching in an historical context. God works through persons and events, thus, we’re brought back to God’s work by His faithfulness, wisdom and power. That’s preaching that centers on Him. The persons and events of the Old and New Testaments feed into the person and events of Jesus Christ—His person and His work. Our union with Christ, by faith in Him, is one with His person of righteousness, of penal substitution and His glorious triumph at His empty tomb. In Christ, we’re given release from slavery to sin, and we’re given incentive and strength to live for God’s glory. Because He lives, we may live too. Lord, help me to preach the person and work of Jesus.

G. Mark Sumpter

Big Daddy Cabbage

At the Alaska State Fair

Speaking about the size of the vegetables grown in the Matanuska Valley as a sermon illustration has been overused by me, but it still provides an Alaska-size kick in the pants.

See this STORY.

As a kid, we enjoyed getting close to these creatures; obviously, it would take two, maybe three Shaquille O’Neal-size men to get their hands locked around these beasts.

G. Mark Sumpter

Eating the Sermon

Two Years Ago I Was Challenged to Give Up the Manuscript


“There’s no doubt you’ve become much more focused on us as the congregation—the change is super noticeable.” A member at Faith OPC.


“Get rid of your sermon manuscript.” A fellow OPC pastor.

I was challenged to get grounded in the vocabulary and the flow of the English Bible text from which I'm preaching, use the verses as my sermon outline and know the points of explanation and application well—that is, know what I want to say. This pastor friend of mine finished: Your congregation wants to listen to and feed off the sermon, not watch you looking down at your notes.

I have had to work against my fears about this:

1. I am extra nervous on Sundays and I fear that I will forget what I want to say.

2. My notes become a crutch.

3. I am a perfectionist, and therefore, I think using a manuscript will satisfy my hunger, as an obsession, for control and polish. Does someone smell idolatry?

4. I didn’t see this modeled for me growing up through the ranks of younger buckhood to middle ager buckhood. Can I do this? I’ve not seen it done.

5. Is it OK to forget a point, get mixed up a little? My pastor friend said, “You’re the only one who’ll know you forgot something—get over it.”

6. Don’t be afraid to make use of insight and application that the Spirit brings for illumination while in the execution of preaching the text. There have many times where there’s been illumination while reading the passage or preaching the passage, and they are truths or points that I had not seen while preparing it.

This challenge has been good for me. I do want to be prepared. Prayer is huge to be sure. I am learning to preach to God’s people, not be so tied to notes.

Last thing—I do have notes in the pulpit with me. Over time in the pulpit, I’ve gone from 13 pages, down to 10, down to 7 and the past 2 years down to 4 ½-5. I try to take into the pulpit the basic grid and helps that I need.

G. Mark Sumpter

The Church as Pace-Setter in Caring for Young People

“If youth ministry is really about saving kids from the acidic culture (which is bad) then youth ministry can easily slide into the wing of the church that ushers kids into conventionality. In other words, youth ministry is doing a good job when kids act and look conventional (happily religious). It could be argued that it was this driving need in light of a new radical youth culture in the 1970s that motivated parents to financially support a youth worker in their local congregation (not just at the denominational level)—they wanted someone with the expertise to make their kids conventionally religious kids (that showed this by being ‘good’).”

From web article by Andy Root Is Youth Ministry Working Too Well? Is it Making Kids too Conventional?

Root’s point is well-taken. Youth Ministry is not alone in promoting conventionality; any form of evangelical ministry can be about promoting a gospel that provides a better option for men, women and children. The last thing we need in our age is more option-preaching and teaching.

But there’s more. Is Youth Ministry working too well at rescuing youth from the evils of cold North American culture because it’s a follower of the other institutions that have concerns for the physical, educational, social and emotional well-being of youth instead of being a pace-setter for them?

One of the reasons I was drawn to this article by Root is that it interacts with Chap Clark’s book, Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers (Zondervan, 2004).

When I re-read portions of that book recently, I was caught up short on how little the nature, calling and ministry of the local church was presented. That is, even though Clark develops in his book the acute need for acceptance, belonging and purpose that young people have, and how so often they are trying to communicate to older generations that frequently ignore them, he seems, whether intentionally or not, to marginalize the church’s central function of being the guide for all other institutions that are involved in the care and nurture of youth.

Clark spends time on matters of place and institution. He identifies the locations where youth socialize and interact: peer groups—he calls them clusters—and sports teams, school, the family, and two or three other places. Each of these spheres have a role for nurture and care. The church gets Appendix A at the back of the book.

Throughout the book, Clark genuinely breathes with strong systemic vision in his way of offering assessment of need and how to go about meeting that need. Youth live systemically. They intersect with and walk in the warp and woof of various institutions. Clark reaches out to institutions across the youth-world landscape; he’s to be applauded—his zeal is contagious about calling adults to care for hurt students of today’s America. But if the standards for that care get underscored in the realms of education, social interaction, mentoring by athletic coaches and so on as the pace-setting standards, we’ll end up nurturing conventionally acceptable kids. The work of restoration regarding those who are hurt requires the Savior of the world (John 4, the woman at the well), and being brought into the life and faith of person-to-person discipleship in the church. The church must get the attention as pace-setter of all other institutions, especially when we’re talking about relationships: the care and nurture of hurt people.

In this way, Christ’s church must get Youth Ministry’s attention. Until that prodigal son, Youth Ministry, comes home he will waste away in the pleasures of a Gospel-less life. Teens will get help, but still will hurt.

G. Mark Sumpter

Skool Tamarow. Chhhh I Don't Kneed Skool I Can Spel Phine!

Tis the beginning of the school year

“The Athenians…were enthusiastically fond of oratory, and ardently cultivated fluency of speech. It was by this art that Themistocles kept the fleet together for the great battle of Salamis. It was by this art that Pericles so long held control of Athens. The sophists, the philosophers, the leaders of the assembly, were all adepts in the art of convincing by eloquence and argument, and oratory progressed until, in the later days of Grecian freedom, Athens possessed a group of public speakers who have never been surpassed, if equaled, in the history of the world.”

I am so grateful for the 4 or 5 individuals in recent years that have urged me onward in taking up good books to continue the journey of learning. My wife last school year more than stretched me when she asked me to assume the duties of being a one-afternoon-each week tutor in English Grammar and Writing. I tutored four children as their parents sat in too.


I have some interest from high school students at present to launch a reading course on Ancient Greece and to learn New Testament Greek. We’ll see what develops. Hence, the quote above.


One like George Grant and his work at New College Franklin, Tennessee has inspired many the past 10-12 years to learn the stories of Western Civilization, and then to tell them to the next generation.

HT: J. Lockman, on the title for this entry


G. Mark Sumpter

Ready to Hit a Blocking Sled

Norman DeJong, an OPC Man, has a Super Book on Education

“Knowledge is unified by nature. Knowledge is an organic oneness, but because of the ingenuously labeled “knowledge explosion,” its unity is obscured by fragmentation. We fail to see its unified arrangement and we get lost in the shrapnel of detail without ever recognizing knowledge’s essential character. In order to grasp and control knowledge, we fragment it, dissect it, and re-structure it into inanimate classifications called subjects or disciplines. We think “in clusters” partially because we are not big enough to grasp the magnitude of knowledge, but primarily because we were taught to think that way…

…The greatest challenge facing Christian education today is that of discovering the unity of all that is known, of formulating for our children a single mental vision, of bringing every tidbit of interpreted fact and every theory of explanation into subjection of Christ…

…Knowledge is not divided by nature; it is not made up disciplines or subjects or studies. The dividing of knowledge into disciplines and subjects and studies is purely a human invention, a human construct. God’s knowledge is one, and is characterized by no divisions…


…What do we mean when we talk about the oneness of knowledge? In the first place, it means that in every instance or portion of knowledge, all of the so-called disciplines are represented. There are no distinctly historical facts or distinctly religious facts or distinctly biological facts or distinctly musical facts. Second, it means that every portion of knowledge is at one and the same time:


[My commentary with his order]

1. religious [moral, devotional, community with symbols]


2. economic [related to man and his work and dominion]


3. historical [persons, events and ideas in a context]


4. aesthetic [concerns goodness and beauty]


5. philosophic [relationship between men and things, and the eternal]


6. mathematical [order, predictability]


7. educational [facts, questions and uses]


…[and] on to the end of our abstracted analytic categories.”


Education in the Truth (revised edition), from Redeemer Books, Lansing, MI, pp. 46-48.

G. Mark Sumpter

The One and The Many—in Creation

Why are we given to isolate and fragment the subjects of day-school education?

“Secular philosophy moves from one extreme to the other, because it does not have the resources to define a position between the two extremes, and because it seeks an absolute at one extreme or another—as if there must be an absolute oneness (with no plurality) or else a universe of absolutely unique, unconnected elements, creating an absolute pluralism and destroying any universal oneness. To find such an absolute in either direction is important if the philosopher is to find an adequate standard apart from the God of Scripture. Thus is revealed philosophy’s religious quest—to find an absolute, a god, in the world. But the Christian knows there is no absolute unity (devoid of plurality) or absolute plurality (devoid of unity). These exist neither in the world nor in the world’s Creator.” p. 49-50 Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame.

As I prepare a talk on approaching Christian learning and studies of the various subjects and disciplines across the landscape of a standard day-school curriculum, I am mediating on man’s inclination to sever the subjects from one another with the hopes of exercising his dominion, albeit in a way that invites him to be his own self-governing interpreter. How? In what way? Our age is the scientific age. Break down the parts to the finest, granular minutiae for study. This age tempts us to fragment for our pretense of intellectual mastery. There’s something attractive about that—it fits like a glove over a hand: man’s pride and boasting, etc.

To use Frame’s reasoning above, severing Biology from History, and Language Study from Economics, and the like, suggests that there’s an absolute oneness, almost a self-contained set of rules and applications within the said discipline, that governs our approach to learning, study and behavior. For example, for some Physics can take on absolute oneness: it’s held so high that it’s thought to contain the basis for fundamental truths for answers to life. Can Physics really and truly carry that much weight? It’s believed—YES, on the basis of it being an adequate standard by which to think and live. In this view, Physics has become a god, an adequate standard.

But what’s the answer to this idolatry?

The Christian’s answer is the doctrine of the Trinity. Just as God is both One and Many, so His creation is One and Many. The doctrine of the Trinity stages us for an invitation to remain the student in our studies. God is His own interpreter of all subjects, and since He is Lord holding all subjects together, we must study them in concert, in an interrelated way. This doesn’t mean, however, that the Christian approach moves into a field of study in an irresponsible way, in a way that refuses to pursue the minutiae of the bits and particles of a discipline. But as it approaches a matter for learning, it’s always approached as something in a context of diversity, plurality and variety in the creation. The pursuit of learning includes interests about the package or interrelatedness of the creation. This means keeping absolute unity and absolutely plurality in a give and take relationship. Such a give and take approach leads to a holy contentment about the resultant mysteries, humility, faith and dependency in our study of the creation, the handiwork of our Lord and God.

G. Mark Sumpter