thoughts from the pastors college

Farewell to the PC (plus one last new song)

2 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 6:24 PM

Well, this is our last week in Maryland. We graduated last weekend (check Bethany's blog for pictures). I know I haven't kept up with posts the 2nd half of the year, but the absence of posts in itself gives you a picture of how busy we have been this year!

This is the last post I will make on this blog. I will leave the blog up for a while I guess. I'll let you know from here if I ever venture back into the blogsphere.

For my last post, here is a new song that I have been working on called For Your Sacrifice.

Download mp3

long time no post

0 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 8:11 AM

Ok, I know that it has been a really, really long time since my last post. Oh well, that's just the way it goes.

First, let me say that if you want more regular updates on what's going on with the Grover's at the PC, you should check out Bethany's blog at bethanygrover.blogspot.com.

Ok, so what's the reason for this new post? Check out this picture taken last week for our Pneumatology class with Dr. Wayne Grudem. We had a number of guests in the class for the week who are also in the photo.

Preaching Conference

0 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 8:20 PM

For several years now, the Pastors College takes one week a year to bring additional focus to a specific subject. This year, the special focus was the task of preaching. Last week we had about 100 pastors crammed in to the PC classroom for the preaching conference. Mike Bullmore taught most of the sessions, but we also heard from our dean, Jeff Purswell, as well as an introductory message by CJ Mahaney. All 3 men participated in Q&A throughout the week. One quote in particular that I think represents the heart of Mike Bullmore's emphasis on preaching is:

“Preaching is less a treatise on the material of your text and more a
communication of the burden of the text. Preaching is not coverage of biblical
material, it’s the accomplishment of a biblical intention. A good expository
sermon is one whose content and intent is controlled by the content and intent
of a passage. You cannot just be satisfied with the content, you must accomplish
what God was trying to accomplish in the preaching. The end of preaching is not
information, it’s persuasion. Your sermon’s purpose needs to find itself
completely in line with the purpose and burden of the text. This will give your
sermons unity, focus, and effectiveness.”
HT: The Shephards Scrapbook for the quote.

Songwriter's Retreat

0 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 11:23 AM

A couple weeks ago I was able to participate in a songwriter's retreat for Sovereign Grace Music. We were working on potential songs for an upcoming Sovereign Grace Music project based on the Psalms that will be released at the Worship God conference this summer.

This year I brought just one song to work on. Obviously I have a lot on my plate this year, and I was grateful to have the time to even work on one song!

What a great privilege it is to get to work on songs with such gifted and humble people.

Preaching in Joppa, MD

5 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 6:49 PM

All the PC students take turns preaching once in class on a Friday afternoon sometime during the year. I did my in class preaching last Friday from Ephesians 1:3-14. I received much encouragement as well as some very helpful reccomondations on how I could improve the message. Taking the feedback I recieved, I am reworking my message from Ephesians and will be preaching the same text this Sunday at Chesapeake Community Church in Joppa, MD.

Please pray for me as this will be by far the biggest congregation I have ever had the privilege to preach to.

Back to school, William Tell, and Minor League Baseball

1 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 12:53 PM

Well, it's been a long time since the last post. Now that the holidays are over, things are back in full gear. We just finished our Old Testament 2 course with Bruce Chick. Bruce is the senior pastor at the Sovereign Grace church in Roanoake VA. He is also a former AAA minor league baseball player.

Bruce is renowned for his monumental reading assignments, daily quizzes as well as his competitions at the Pastors College. For example this week our class champion, Efisio Setzu went up against a former PC student in an archery competition. Efisio won the competition and the class was rewarded with being able to drop a quiz grade. Then for a bonus challenge, someone set an apple on top of the target and Bruce told Efisio if he knocked the apple off the target in one shot he would take away one of the 2 essays from our test. Off went the apple and off went one of our essays!

The PC Library

1 comments Posted by Eric Grover at 4:48 PM

Across the hall from the PC classroom is the PC Library. It is an ever growing library with some of the best commentaries and theological books available. It is also the place you will likely find many of the PC guys on weekends studying. Since a number of us live in apartment like situations, it can be difficult to read or write papers at home. And yes, those big leather chairs are as comfortable as they look. The library is also right next door to the break room where we can get coffee, soda, and lots of snacks.

We are currently working on our second major paper of the year. We are doing a research paper for our Church History II class (which we won't actually have until later this winter) on the doctrine of scripture seen in the writings of one of the reformers. I will likely do my paper on Calvin since our library has more books avaiable for him than many of the lesser known reformers.

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