Being a Titus 2 Church

Images: Scenes from 2019 family retreat (top to bottom): Friday campfire; Saturday morning men and boys prepared pancake breakfast; Saturday afternoon recreation.

But speak thou the things that become sound doctrine (Titus 2:1).

Our CRBC family retreat was held last Friday-Saturday at Lake Anna. For our Saturday devotional we focused on Paul’s instructions in Titus 2 on how to encourage intergenerational fellowship within the church, with exhortations for older men, older women, younger women, and younger men (see Titus 2:1-18).

We got together in family groups to read and discuss this teaching and then came back together for a group discussion. Here is the discussion guide we used:

1.    Preliminary discussion:

How is your family’s day to day schedule right now? If you could change one thing to make it better what would that be?

Be brutally honest: How is your family doing at family devotions? Prayer before meals? At regular church attendance and participation? Rate your family 1-10. Are there any changes that could be made to improve the spiritual life of your family? Note: This will not be discussed in the larger group, but is just for your own “in-house” evaluation.

2.    Read aloud together Titus 2 and answer the following:

What four groups are addressed in 2:1-8?

What is each group commanded to do? Are there any instructions here that you find surprising?

Take one group addressed and find an example in the Bible that illustrates either a good or bad model of this.

Thanks to those who participated in the retreat. If you did not make it this year, plan to come next year.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Puritan Parenting

In part of his discussion of "the titled of honor bestowed" upon peacemakers in The Beatitudes (i.e., "they shall be called children of God"), Watson offers an aside on Christian parenting (that I did not include in my message last Sunday).  Those who are God's children should desrie to see their children become God's children.  He notes, in particular, the spiritual responsibilties of parents to train and catechize their children:

How Christians should bring up their children

There are two reasons why a godly parent will endeavour to bring his child into the heavenly kindred:

(i) Out of conscience. A good parent sees the injury he has done to his child. He has conveyed the plague of sin to him, and in conscience he will endeavour to make some recompense. In the old law, he that had smitten and wounded another was bound to see him healed and pay for his cure. Parents have given their children a wound in their souls and therefore must do what in them lies by admonition, prayers, tears, to see the wound healed.

(ii) Out of flaming zeal to the honour of God. He who has tasted God’s love in adoption looks upon himself as engaged to bring God all the glory he can. If he has a child or acquaintance that are strangers to God he would gladly promote the work of grace in their hearts. It is a glory to Christ when multitudes are born to him.

How far are they from being God's children who have no care to bring others into the family of God! To blame are those masters who mind more their servants' work than their souls. To blame are those parents who are regardless of their children. They do not drop in principles of knowledge into them, but suffer them to have their head. They will let them lie and swear, but not ask blessing; read play-books but not Scripture.

But, say some, to catechise and teach our children is to take God's name in vain.

Is the fulfilling God’s command taking his name in vain? 'These words which I command thee this day, thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children' (Deuteronomy 6: 6, 7). 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it' (Proverbs 22: 6). 'Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord’ (Ephesians 6: 4). This threefold cord of Scripture is not easily broken.

The saints of old were continually grafting principles of holy knowledge in their children. 'I know that Abraham will command his children, and they shall keep the way of the Lord’ (Genesis 18: 19). 'And thou Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart’ (1 Chronicles 28:9). Sure Abraham and David did not take God's name in vain! What need is there of instilling holy instructions to overtop the poisonful weeds of sin that grow! As husband-men, when they have planted young trees, they set stays to them to keep them from bending. Children are young plants. The heavenly precepts of their parents are like stays set about them, to keep them from bending to error and profaneness. When can there be a fitter season to disseminate and infuse knowledge into children than in their minority? Now is a time to give them the breast and let them suck in the 'sincere milk of the word’ (1 Peter 2: 2).

But some may object that it is to no purpose to teach our children the knowledge of God. They have no sense of spiritual things, nor are they the better for our instructions. I answer:

We read in Scripture of children who by virtue of instruction have had their tender years sanctified. Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him the Scriptures from his cradle: 'And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures’ (2 Timothy 3: 15). Timothy sucked in religion as it were with his milk. We read of young children who cried 'Hosanna’ to Christ and trumpeted forth his praises (Matthew 21: 15). And sure those children of Tyre had some seeds of good wrought in them in that they showed their love to Paul and would help him on his way to the seashore. 'They all brought us on our way with wives and children’ (Acts 21: 5). Saint Paul had a convoy of young saints to bring him to take ship.

And again, suppose our counsel and instruction does not at present prevail with our children, it may afterwards take effect. The seed a man sows in his ground does not presently spring up, but in its season it brings forth a crop. He that plants a wood does not see the full growth till many years after. If we must not instruct our children because at present they do not reap the benefit, by the same reason we should not baptise our children, because at present they do not have the sense of baptism. Nay, by the same reason ministers should not preach the Word, because at present many of their hearers have no benefit.

Again, if our counsels and admonitions do not prevail with our children, yet 'we have delivered our own souls'. There is comfort in the discharge of conscience. We must let alone issues and events. Duty is our work; success is God's.

All which considered, should make parents whet holy instructions upon their children. They who are of the family of God and whom he has adopted for children, will endeavour that their children may be more God's children than theirs. They will 'travail in birth till Christ be formed in them’. A true saint is a loadstone that will be still drawing others to God. Let this suffice to have spoken of the signs of adoption. I proceed.

JTR

Voddie-ites

JPBC's John B. and Byron G. also got the opportunity to hear Voddie "Big Papi" Baucham at the HEAV Conference last week. I think they have definitely become Voddie-ites. In fact, the photo above might even indicate shades of stalking. You draw your own conclusions.

JTR

Mallory Dunn Fan Club

UVA Today recently ran an article featuring participants in the AccessUVA plan that included JPBC's own Mallory Dunn. Mallory just graduated from UVA. She professed her faith in baptism and became an active and vital member at JPBC during her students days. She has been a rich blessing to our fellowship. She served as a Rainbow House intern with us last summer and will be back this year too. We're proud of her!!!

JTR

JPBC Deacons and Wives at Peaks of Otter

Photo: JPBC Deacons and Wives along with "Little John" Case and Llewellyn Riddle.

Photo: Saturday morning discussion. Outside was a beautiful view of the nearly completely frozen over lake where an otter was playing in one pool.

We had our annual JPBC Deacon and wives retreat last Friday-Saturday at Peaks of Otter in Bedford. We started this January tradition a few years ago. The Retreat is informal with time to get to know each other better, prayer together, discuss strengths and weaknesses in our church's ministry, and evaluate caring for our congregation.

JTR

Artusio Fan Club

Photo: Danny Artusio during a match.

The Cavalier Daily had a nice article on JPBCers Danny and Kyle Artusio yesterday. These are indeed two fine young men. My daughters have also enjoyed having them as their Sunday School teachers this year.

JTR

The Blessing of Adoption

One of the great privileges of being a Pastor is that you get to be witness to and take part in key events in the lives of your people. On the last day of 2008 my family went to an adoption agency office in Northern Virginia to take part in an adopton finalization cemermony for the Minyards as they welcomed a beautiful new daughter to their family.

JTR

The Little Red Hen and Biblical Stewardship

Note: We had our annual stewardship breakfast yesterday at JPBC. This is the devotion I shared from an old Evangel article:

Do you know the children’s story, "The Little Red Hen and the Grain of Wheat"?

As the story goes, a little red hen finds a grain of wheat, and asks her friends, "Who will plant this wheat?" "Not I," say the cat, the pig, and the turkey, each in turn. "Then I will," says the little red hen.

After the wheat grows tall and ripe, she asks, "Who will reap this wheat?" Again, her friends respond: "Not I." "Then I will," says the little red hen.

After reaping the wheat, the little red hen asks, "Who will thresh this wheat?" Again, the cat, the pig, and the turkey reply, "Not I." And the little red hen says, "I will, then." And she threshes the wheat.

"Who will take this wheat to the mill to have it ground?" she asks next. Again, she hears, "Not I," as each friend replies in turn. So, she takes the wheat to mill and soon returns with flour.

"Who will bake this flour?" asks the little red hen. "Not I," says the cat. "Not I," says the pig. "Not I," says the turkey. So, she bakes the flour and makes a beautiful loaf of bread.

Finally, the little red hen asks, "Who will eat this bread?"
"I will," says the cat.
"I will," says the pig.
"I will," says the turkey.

The story ends with the little red hen responding to her friends, "I will," and she eats up the loaf of bread.

This child’s story, reminds us of some Biblical truth about stewardship of our resources (time, money, energy, activity). It would be wrong for us to contribute nothing to kingdom work and expect to reap the benefits.

In Luke 6:38 Jesus taught: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

In 1 Corinthians 12:7 Paul notes, "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." And in Galatians 6:5 he says, "For each one shall bear his own load."

Too often a few carry the burden for the many. We are at work, by God’s grace, in making something beautiful in this church. How will we respond when asked questions like the following:

Who will keep the nursery?
Who will sing in the choir?
Who will find a personal ministry to pursue?
Who will be faithful and consistent in Bible study and worship?
Who will give tithes and offerings to support the work of ministry?

On Commitment Sunday at JPBC, let the church be filled with little red hens who say, "We will!!!" to the glory of God.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Requiescat in Pace: Lee Stocks (1933-2008)

We got word this week that Lee Stocks died last Sunday, September 14, 2008 in High Point, NC. Lee served a stint as intentional interim pastor at JPBC in 1996-1997 between John Herndon's tenure and my own. The funeral service for Lee will be held at 11 am on Saturday, September 20 at FBC Kernersville, NC.

Lee was a native of Lauringburg, NC and a graduate of Wake Forest University and Southeastern Baptist Seminary. He and his wife Doris served for 10 years as IMB missionaries in Zambia. He then served for 20 years as a hospital chaplain in Lynchburg, VA. In his retirement years he served several churches in Virginia and North Carolina as an intentional interim pastor. He served in that role at JPBC during an important time of transition for this congregation. In addition to his wife of 53 years, Lee leaves behind three sons and five grandchildren.

For man also knoweth not his time (Ecclesiastes 9:12).

JTR

Byron Glaspy Fan Club

The Daily Progress has a nice article this morning on JPBC's Byron Glaspy: "UVA's Glaspy takes ownership of safety position." There's also a nice interview with Byron on the Cavalier sports website (read the encouragement to Jon Copper and Ben Parziale near the end).

There are plenty of news stories about college athletes behaving badly. It's nice when a Christian young man of admirable character gets some notice.

How many starting D-I defensive backs do you think spent part of their summer reading selections from Charles Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students and have Paul Washer on their I-pod?

JTR

JPBC July Church Family Fellowship in Staunton

We have a summer tradition of JPBC of having one Sunday evening Church Family Fellowship each month in June, July, August. Yesterday we had our July meeting at the Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton. The meeting was hosted by the Dick family, our lone JPBC-ers who live in Staunton.

Here are some folk eating:

And some of the children eating:

After the picnic, we had a spiritual discussion, mostly centering on the importance of fellowship in the life of the church, and had prayer together. Afterwards folk were off to walk to the duckpond, toss the football or baseball, and fellowship.

Next month (August 10) we will meet in Scottsville.

JTR

"Celebrate the Glory"

One more thing.

While at the UCH Network meeting last Thursday, I also met Pastor Mark Jantomaso of River Rock Church in Forest, VA. He also has a ministry called "Simply Devoted" which is having an event called "Celebrate the Glory" at the Sedalia Center (near Lynchburg) on Saturday, October 20, 2007. The conference is free if you pre-register and will focus on family worship. Check out details about the schedule and speakers.

JTR

UCH Virginia Church Leader Network report

Yes, I am alive.

This has been a week of meetings.

Tuesday we had the Central Virginia SBCV Pastors' meeting at JPBC.

On Thursday I rode down with a friend from C-ville to the first quarterly meeting of Uniting Church and Home Virginia Church Leader Network, held at Sycamore Presbyterian (PCA) in Midlothian, VA. The meeting was hosted by Eric Wallace, author of Uniting Church and Home (a book I highly recommend).

Eric preached a powerful message at the gathering from 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 with these three points on "uniting church and home":

1. Christ is the message.

2. Christ is the method.

3. Christ is magnified.

Pastor John Neal of Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Midlothian also urged the leaders present to "hold those accountable responsible." In their church they have mandatory "head of household" monthly meetings with their church's men to encourage and equip them in spiritual leadership in the home.

It was a good time of conversation and fellowship with brothers from Baptist, Presbyterian, and Brethren churches with encouragement to equip fathers to lead families in ministry and growth in churches.

JTR

The Ten Year Milestone at JPBC

Last Sunday marked the 10th year since I signed my covenant to become the Pastor at JPBC. I actually preached my first sermon as Pastor at JPBC on the last Sunday of August 1997.

JPBC constituted as a church on the first Sunday of October in 1962. I am the sixth Pastor in 45 years. JPBC Pastors:

1. Don Givens (1960 [as Mission Pastor] to 1969);

2. Carroll Bruce (1970-1976);

3. Samuel Young (1977-1978);

4. James Luck (1979-1982);

5. John Herndon (1983-1995);

6. Jeff Riddle (1997-present).

Here is my letter of thanks to the congregation posted in the September 13, 2007 Evangel:

Dear friends,

Thank you for the special celebration last Sunday to mark my 10th year of Pastoral ministry at JPBC. The deacon body, of course, deserves special thanks for their arrangement of this event.

Thank you in particular for the special resolution of appreciation read before the church body in morning worship, for the wonderful meal of North Carolina Barbecue with all the fixings shipped in from Kinston, North Carolina, for the generous gifts, for the kind words of encouragement, and for the slide show, revealing how my hair has turned gray, how my waistline has expanded, and how my children have grown. Funny, however, how Llewellyn still looks the same as she did in 1997!

JPBC was constituted as a church in 1962. I am the sixth man to serve as Pastor in these past forty-five years, and I now hold the distinction of having the second longest pastoral tenure in our church’s history (John Herndon has the longest tenure, serving twelve years, from 1983-1995).

It is hard to believe that ten years have passed since we moved to Charlottesville and began to labor in this ministry. I praise God for all that has taken place in our church body under his sovereign hand in these past ten years. Indeed, we can agree that God has already done far more among us than we might have ever asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20). What else might He be pleased to do among us in the future?

I should also mention my appreciation of other members of the church staff who have added to our church’s continuity. Evelyn Jones has served JPBC for over thirteen years (first as Secretary and since 2002 as Financial Secretary); Bonnie Beach has also been at JPBC for ten years (serving faithfully as a Preschool teacher, Rainbow House Director, and since 2002 as Ministry Assistant); Jo Pettitt has served us as a Church Musician since 2000; and Llewellyn Riddle has also been in our Preschool ministry since 2002, serving as Director for the past three years. Pastoral Assistant Marcus Deel is the new man on board, having joined us in June of this year.

As I noted Sunday, one of my growing convictions is that healthy churches need prolonged pastoral tenures. Thank you for calling me to the office of Pastor in this body, for upholding me in this charge, and for your kind and encouraging acknowledgement of this milestone in my tenure of service.

Of course, if anything of any lasting worth has been accomplished, to God alone be the glory!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Congratulations to the Parziales!

The big event of last weekend at JPBC was the wedding of Ben and Vanessa Parziale on Saturday (August 18th). Vanessa completed her third summer with us as a children's ministry intern (at the Rainbow House) the week before her wedding. Ben also served us a Pastoral intern this summer. They met at JPBC four years ago when they were incoming first year students. These two have been a great blessing to us at JPBC, and we wish them well in the establishment of a Christian household.

JTR

Congratulations to Ben and Vanessa!

JPBC's Ben Parziale and Vanessa Garvey are engaged to be married! Here's a photo Sheri States sent me that was taken at their house last Saturday evening soonafter Ben popped the question. We, of course, rejoiced with them on Sunday morning. Ben and Vanessa graduate from UVA next weekend and both will serve ministry internships at JPBC this summer (Ben as Pastoral Intern and Vannessa as Children's Ministry Intern). We are glad they plan to be around C-ville and JPBC to begin their married life together.

JTR