Report on the General Assembly

of the
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T
he best way I know to, describe
what 'took pl!!Ce on October 6,
, 1989' in Atlanta, Oeorgia at the
G_enerCII Assembly of the Refonned Pres-
bYterian Chutch in the United States is
by quoting from two letterS to
after otii' meeting by a visitor in at-
tendance . .
,;It is impossible for words to
scribe the. impact of my visit to Atlanta
last .week. I have never imagined that
people such as I met at Chalcedon Pres-
byterian Church for the General As-
sembly/Presbytery meeting even
isted. I dreamed that there_ ex-
isted a group of people. who are unified
in their beliefs, and mar importantly
are unashamedly dogmatic, . but until
la8t week I had been fairly disillusioned.
.What a joy to be around ministers who
stand for the whole' of God,
who believe what I believe, and who 'are
3lso very wartn, kind and loving. I am
nothing less than excited and full of
anticipation concerning the prospects
for the future. I have not . a clue as tO
how it is going to happen; but I believe
that I Will be a member of the RPCUS
sometime soon."
".I just wanted to thank you and Chal-
cedon.Presbyterian Church for your
pitality last week.' I am still on fue
after the wonderful meeting: (WE) are
so thankful we came. I saw such con-
joy, hope, and unity. Never
have 'I seen such unity at a presbytery
meeting."
I have been a member of four different
presbyteries in two denominations, be-
The Counsel of Chalcedon December, 1989 page 2
fore . I joined the RPCUS, spanning a
period of several years. All I saw was
distrust, and one side trying to
out-waneuver the other side for control.
In the frrst den-omination it was the
. versus the liberals, with
the liberals in the majority. In the
denomination it was the pseudo-
refonned versus the reformed, with the
pseudo-refonned 1n the majority. Praise
God, I iun free from an that, and am
now in a presbytery, where there are no
sides, no parties, no factions, where
there is genuine unity of doctrine, vi-
sion and love, and where all our time,
money . and consideration are spent in
the worship of God and in the carrying
op:t of the Great Coqmrission.
I have many dear brothers remain-
ing in liberal or pseudo-reformed
Presbyterian denominations, whom
I long to be with us. It is my earnest
prayer that God would give them the .
desire, courage and opportunity to join
with us. The RPCUS is what these dear
brothers long for their denominations to
be, but which denominations are get-
ting farther and farther from their roots.
Please, understand that I do not say any
of this in boasting, because I am over-
whelmed with a sense of our total depen-
dence on the grace of our great God. It
. is by God's grace alone that we are what
we are. And certainly we are not every-
thing we ought to be. We are not per-
. feci. As long as I . am a member of the
RPCUS . it will not be perfect. But,
Praise God!, we believe it is a fresh
work of God, reviving his church in the
niidst of the years.
Our. General Assembly meeting began
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Flame
by Joe Morecraft, III
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at 1:00PM, on Friday. Wayne Rogers,
pastor of Christ Community Church in
Lawrenceville, Georgia, situated in the
fastest growing county in the nation,
was the moderator. After the singing of
the great hymn, "How Sweet and Awful
is the Place with Christ within the
Doors," (pg. 271 in the Trinity
Hymnal), we heard three sermons by
men seeking entrance into the RPCUS.
The frrst was on Psalm 3, entitled,
"What to Do When Everyone is
Against You," by Robert Hargrove of
the Sovereign Grace Church, Spokane,
Washington. The second was on Philip-
pians 2:12-16, entitled, "Being of One
Mind," by Phil Schmidt of Faith
Baptist Church, Louisville, Nebraska.
And the third was on II Timothy 3:15-
17, entitled, "Why We Should Study
the Scriptures," by Eric Mcquitty of
Shreveport, Louisiana. Our worship ser-
vice was then closed with the singing
of Psalm 3 from the Covenanter Psal-
ter.
T
he members present included:
Teaching Elder Wayne Rogers,
Christ Community Church,
Lawrenceville, Georgia; TE Robert
Lester, Chalcedon Christian School,
Atlanta, Georgia; TE Donald Crowe,
Atlanta School of Biblical Studies,
Decatur, Georgia; TE Joe Morecraft,
Ruling Elder Si Wages, Stated Clerk,
and RE Bill Brown, Chalcedon Presby-
terian Church, Atlanta, Georgia; 1E
Jeff Donnan, Caribbean Christian Min-
istries; TE Samuel Brown, Immanuel
Presbyterian Church, Merrimac, New
Hampshire; TE Ken Talbot, TE Randy
Talbot, RE John Druguet, Christ
Presbyterian Church and Whitefield
Theological Seminary, Lakeland, Flor-
ida; TE John Martin, RE Richard Har-
ris, Community Presbyterian Church,
Tyler, Texas; and TE Edwin Elliott, Jr.,
Reformed Presbyterian Church, Man-
assas, Virginia. We received two new
members: TE Robert Hargrove, Sove-
reign Grace Church, Spokane, Washing-
ton, and Phil Schmidt, (presently) Faith
Baptist Church, Louisville, Nebraska.
Another minister was received contin-
gent upon further theological examina-
tion in the areas of theonomy and post-
rnillennialism, TE Eric McQuitty of
Shreveport, Louisiana. Besides our
members we had several visitors inter-
ested in joining our denomination from
Virginia, Maryland, Nebraska, and Flor-
ida.
W
e received a gifted young
man under care of presby-
tery, Mr. Chris Strevel of
the Chalcedon Church.
We also received two new churches
into our denomination. The Sovereign
Grace Church of Spokane, Washington,
formerly of Carey Memorial Baptist
Church, will be formally received in the
spring. The First Reformed Presbyter-
ian Church of Managua, Nicaragua,
formerly the First United Methodist
Church, was received as a mission work
under the oversight of TE Jeff Donnan.
This is the flrst and only Presbyterian
Church in Nicaragua. We praise God
and pray earnestly for our brothers
there. The pastor of the church will be
examined by presbytery in the winter or
spring of 1990. We also rejoice in the
interest of Faith Baptist Church in the
The Counsel of Chalcedon December, 1989 page 3
RPCUS! That church, recently perse-
cuted by the state for its Christian
school, under the previous leadership of
Everett Sileven, not oilly sent three re-
presentatives to our General Assembly
meeting, but, more importantly, the
Sunday before our meeting, the pastor,
Phil baptized several children .
and infants of the congregation as chil-
dren of the covenant!
One of the most blessed and encourag-
ing parts of our meeting was :wnen the
The Rev. Jobn Martin, of. Tyler, Texas, (left) with
Moderator, tbe Rev. Wayne Rogers, of Atlanta.
Three ministers, seeking admission to the RPCUS, are
examined by the Presbyterr. They are, PhU Schmidt, of Louis-
ville, Nebraska; Robert of Spokane, Washington;
and Ertc Mcquitty, Of Shreveport, Loliislana.
The Rev. Jeff ilon.QaJt, head of Caribbean Christian Ministries.
The Counsel of Chalcedon December, 1989 page 4
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various chUJ,"ches, ministers and elders
shared God was doing in their
areas. All ove.r .North America and
Central America, God is expanding and
renewing his church in thrilling ways. I
. only wiSh a,ur readers could have heard
. tlwse testimonies on the power of God
in' Christ bUilding on the earth a church
against which.the gates of hell will not
. prevail. ' In 1988 our ministers and
. churches were able to ptesent the
gospel to over 25 million people
around the world. Our growth is such
that the assembly laid the ground work
for the establishing of two or three new
presbytenes in 1990: one in the eastern
states, one ifl the south-central states,
one in the mid-western and western
states, and one in Florida. This develop-
will be a major step forward for
us, and which, hopefully, will be an
added encouragement for other in-
dividuals, ministers, churches, and in-
terested groups to join with us.
C
aribbean Christian Ministries,
headed by Jeff Donnan, was
officially recognized by the
RPCUS, and authorized to represent the
RPCUS in world missions. The CCM
is reaching thousands of people in the
Caribbean Basin, Central America, and
South Ani.erica for Christ and the Re-
fomied Faith .
. Because we believe in the catholicity
of Christ's Church we seek to practice
biblicai .ecumenicity. Therefore we are
seeking offivial fraternal relations with
the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the
Reformed Church in the United States,
the Reformed Presbyterian Church of
North America, Covenanter, the Presby-
terian Church in America, the Bible
Presbyterian Church, General Synod,
and the Ainerican Presbyterian Church.
We also accepted the invitation ofthe
North American Presbyterian andRe-
. formed Council to send a representative
to its iiext meeting.
If y()u are interested in finding out
mote about the RPCUS, we have pub-
lished a colorful and informative bro-
chure briefly explaining our origin, fo-
cus, faith, mission, traits, worship and
praise, government, discipline, ecumeni-
city, locations and ministries, make-up
and future. The brochure is entitled: A
Church Blazing with Vi$ion.
Please, call us for more information at
(404) 396-0965. Q