Category: Writings on Christianity

As mentioned in an earlier post, my community group has been going through and learning the  New City Catechism (NCC) together.  The catechism is an excellent resource for small group study.  To help others utilize NCC, my friend Brian Malcom and I have recently begun creating discussion questions for each of the questions. Here’s what […]

The church I attend (Redeemer Fellowship) does a great job of emphasizing the importance of small group gatherings.  We call these gatherings community groups (CG), and the function of each CG is to provide a place to gather for community, fellowship, prayer, and service.  The focus is on the gospel and the groups are biblically […]

Chronicles: Retelling the Story of Israel More than Just a List of Names: 1 Chronicles 1-9  (this post is the second in an series on 1-2 Chronicles, the first found here: http://www.ttschmidt.com/blog/chronicles-an-introduction) Chronicles begins with nine chapters of genealogies, a fact which causes many modern readers to consider the book to be boring, irrelevant, and […]

New City Catechism I want to commend an excellent resource to you today: New City Catechism.  A catechism is a summary of the Christian faith put into question and answer format.  Basically, it is a tool used to teach people about the basics of Christianity.  Typically, individuals memorize the questions and answers as they learn […]

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. Ps 116:7 Martyn Lloyd Jones and my pastor Joe Thorn are surely right: we need to preach to ourselves. Such a mandate finds its support in Scripture in passages like Ps 116:7: “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for […]

Chronicles: An Introduction I recently began reading 1-2 Chronicles again in my daily devotionals and have been struck by its rich theology and relevance for my life.  My renewed appreciation has led to a fresh study and enjoyment of the book, the result of which I’d like to share in this blog series “Chronicles: Retelling […]

  Rachel and I just returned from a wonderful time in the UK.  In additional to invaluable time spent with family and friends, we saw some beautiful English country side, like the one pictured above (though I cannot take credit for this picture, that goes to Luc B via Compfight). Highlights from the trip: 1. […]

What I’m looking most forward to this year in Britain (besides seeing family and friends of course!):       image courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32136271@N08/4514594299/

Another question I answered on an application to a ministry position is worth repeating here: “A friend with limited Bible knowledge asks you to describe the basic message of the Bible.  What would you say?  Reference Scripture to support your summary statement.”  This is a great question to think through.  How would you respond?  Here’s […]

Recently, I filled out an application for a ministry position at church and one of the questions asked me to explain my conversion to Christianity. As I wrote my answer, it was encouraging to reflect on how God has been at work in my life–both in the past and in the  present.  God brought me […]