Tom Schmidt's Blog[tab] [tab_item title=”Introduction”] Introduction On September 1st 2013, I began a year-long church-planting apprenticeship at my church, Redeemer Fellowship. This program will equip and train me to lead a new church plant and then serve as its senior pastor. While the notion of leading and pastoring a church plant is daunting, my wife Rachel and I sense God […]
Here’s the theological influences and teachers who have had the biggest impact on me (after God and the Bible!): 1. Tim Keller (gospel centrality and preaching) 2. John Piper (reformed theology and Christian hedonism) 3. D.A. Carson (exegesis and biblical theology) 4. Mark Driscoll (reformed theology, cultural engagement, and ministry practice) 5. Joe Thorn/Martyn Lloyd […]
Church Plant Location: Naperville, IL. If you have been following our journey into church planting, you know that we have been wrestling with question of location. Where should we plant a church? Well, we have made a decision and believe that God is leading us to plant a church in Naperville, Illinois. Here’s why: Naperville […]
Some Thoughts on Predestination 1. The doctrine of predestination is the notion that God freely chooses particular individuals, before the world was created to come to faith in Christ. This is a decision that God makes based on His own free will, pleasure, and design and is not because of any foreseen future human actions […]
Why Pray If God Knows Everything? Some might ask the question, ‘If God is sovereign over everything and the only things that come to pass are those which are the result of His providence, why pray at all? What is the point of prayer when only what God has ordained will come to pass?’ It […]
Check out this funny and helpful satirical video, which shows how the analogies we use to try to explain the Trinity all fail:
My friend Dan Alcantara has written an excellent piece on songwriting, the Bible, and the church. He also wrote a catchy worship song to go along with it! Check it out here.
Here’s the second part of Dan Tsouloufis’ piece “The Unfortunate Reality of Hell” (you can find the first part here): The truth is, the Bible portrays a view of God that should bring us not only awe, but awestruck terror. He is no benevolent deity up in the sky, or a fun-loving grandpa who wants to give us candy and […]
My friend Dan Tsouloufis wrote a helpful piece on hell. Here’s the first part: The Unfortunate Reality of Hell In today’s climate of theological skepticism, there are many misinformed people who assert that the concept of eternal punishment or eternal retribution is not taught in the Bible. Not only is this assertion completely unorthodox, it seems […]
I’m presently working through John Calvin’s Institutes, and ran across a few helpful statements on spiritual warfare: “We must, then, bend our every effort to this goal: that we should not let ourselves be overwhelmed by carelessness or faintheartedness, but on the contrary, with courage rekindled stand our ground in combat. Since this military service […]
