Richard Hutto

Redemeed (by the death & resurrection of Jesus), Husband (@jessalynhutto), Father (3 boys & a girl), Pastor (King's Church)

[Jeff Wiesner @JeffreyPWiesner]

Anecdotally, I’ve observed a few related things over the years:

1. Many evangelicals have been equipped over decades with an instinct that church is primarily for adults (i.e. “big church”) not children. This is a faulty instinct that is difficult to recalibrate.

2. Parents who *depend* on age-based kids ministry through (at least) elementary school are inconsistent, at best, with daily at-home discipling.

3. Parents who are inconsistent in daily at-home discipling often struggle most with their children in the service—not only behaviorally, but also in their own attitudes: “If I can’t listen without distraction, it’s not even worth it.”

4. This attitude often betrays a faulty view of participation in a church’s worship. Many assume that worship is purely passive—not unlike going to the movies (which the architecture and stage design in many churches sadly reinforce). If this is one’s mindset, then having to “work” with your kids seems contrary to the nature of worship itself. But if corporate worship IS work—a GOOD work—in our singing, praying, reading and reciting, and eating—then we bring our children to work, so to speak, showing and training them to do what we do when we gather.

5. Often, the worry that “everything is over their heads” is misplaced because (1) parents assume *maximal* comprehension at a young age is essential. (It’s not). Also, in many cases, children who are daily instructed at home (especially through daily Bible reading, hymn singing, and catechesis in which they are trained to sit still and participate) comprehend more than children who are not. Often, they’re bored and restless and everything is “over their heads” because parents don’t prepare them well or at all for the most normative Christian act of obedience there is: Gathering with a church. Many look to church programs and volunteers on Sunday to do that.

6. More pastors (including this one) need to be better at preaching to *everyone* in the gathering, including kids.

7. This kind of kids ministry depends on a multi-service model lest their committed volunteers disobey Hebrews -25. This is an especially difficult tension for committed single-service churches who are not Family Integrated.

I say all this as a Pastor of a church that values ministry to children AND integration—and am constantly working to hold these in tension.

And I don’t doubt the sincerity of most who commit to a ministry philosophy different than my own. They undoubtedly love Jesus, families, and children.

But I think they would agree that sincerity is never enough. We need to think carefully about these things and train our people accordingly.

I think children’s ministry is valuable, but I also think the default instincts for many evangelical Christians— especially those trained by large and megachurch multi-service environments (of which I was a part for many years)—are more cultural and pragmatic than scriptural, and extremely difficult to change.

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

John MacArthur was the first man I remember preaching the Word with clarity and conviction. He has shaped me in immeasurable ways. I'm thankful for his ministry and rejoice that he is now in the presence of his savior.

[9Marks @9Marks]

Last night at 6:17 p.m. Pacific time, July 14, 2025, Pastor John MacArthur of @GraceComChurch entered into the presence and joy of his Master.

Several long-time friends and gospel partners offer tributes.

https://t.co/cHWWtzbQz7

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

During the press conference on the resolutions, I was asked by a journalist—charitably, I’ll assume in good faith—whether the omnibus Resolution #5, which calls for overturning Obergefell, was grounded in a theocratic or so-called “Christian Nationalist” agenda, as though we are attempting to impose Christian doctrine upon the nation.

I responded by noting that while the truths articulated in Resolution #5 undeniably flow from a Christian moral vision, they are by no means truths accessible only through Christian revelation. These are moral realities that cultures across history and across the globe have recognized. Consider this simple fact: of the world’s roughly 8 billion people, only about 1.5 billion live under legal regimes that recognize same-sex marriage. Roughly 81% of nations still retain the natural understanding of marriage. The same global pattern holds true regarding the laws and customs that honor the embodied nature of human beings and the priority of the natural family.

In other words, what Western progressivism now requires active ideological coercion to overturn is, in fact, a moral order that is both broadly recognized and deeply rooted in natural law and human nature. The Christian moral witness aligns with these “self-evident truths”—to borrow the language of our own Declaration of Independence—not because Christianity is an arbitrary imposition, but because it faithfully testifies to the way the world actually is.

This is the enduring beauty of Christian morality: it is not a parochial morality, but a true morality. To speak of “imposing” a Christian understanding of marriage and family is no more an imposition of sectarian dogma than it would be to say that gravity imposes itself upon us. It is simply truth doing what truth does.

[Jason Gray @Jason_Gray]

People are frustrated by what happened at the SBC today.

But for change to happen it’ll take influential guys being willing to burn some of their capital & lesser known guys being willing to speak plainly and to lose some opportunities to climb some ladders.

It’ll be worth it.

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

@davideprince We had Wild Salsa last night and it was fantastic!

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

@MichaelCarlino @ZacharyGarris What are your main issues with the LSB?

[Jeff Wiesner @JeffreyPWiesner]

The Holy Spirit uses the law to convict me of my sin and convince me of my ongoing need for Christ in the gospel.

In turn, the gospel comforts me in Christ and compels me to enjoy and glorify Him by Spirit-empowered obedience to the law.

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

In the account of Jesus’ temptation, “do not mistake who is the hunter and who is the hunted..."

[Southern Seminary @SBTS]

"Ultimately, death itself would be destroyed through the work of Christ." - Mark Dever at #southernseminary chapel.

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

@mrmedders Just popping in.

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

Important Thread:

[Doug Ponder @dougponder]

It's no surprise to those who follow me that I was deeply disappointed the Law amendment (@sbcamendment) failed to pass at the #SBC this week.

There were many factors at play in this scenario, one of which is a deep confusion that's likely to get worse before it gets better 🧵👇🏻

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

@NWhite_GA Out of curiosity, does the church where you pastor require baptism for membership?

[Richard Hutto @Richard_Hutto]

@JeffreyPWiesner Yeah, I guess you’re right.

[Jeff Wiesner @JeffreyPWiesner]

If you read J.R.R. Tolkien through a modern epic fantasy lens, then you’ll misunderstand Tolkien and depreciate his fiction.

Pulling from Anglo-Saxon “hero-quest” epic literature—Beowulf, notably—LOTR mythologizes key virtues such as wisdom, love, friendship, courage, and more.

Contrary this, modern fantasy increasingly loves morally ambiguous anti-heroes navigating violent and perverse shades of grey. The genre has become an ode to post-modern perversity, really.

For those whose literary taste buds have been trained by works such as Game of Thrones, Tolkien’s world seems too black-and-white, his characters too morally monolithic—good being truly good, evil being truly evil, with good predictably defeating evil in the end. Boring!

Except Tolkien’s goals are not the same as Martin, et al. He aims not for cynical cultural commentary and amoral fleshly indulgence but the cultivation of virtue.

We are meant to see in Gollum, Smaug, Saruman, and others, vices to avoid; in Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Legolas, and Aragorn, aspirational virtues to pursue.

All this to say, Tolkien’s moral imagination was not shaped by the morass of postmodern relativism but in fixed truths far more ancient.

If one doesn’t read Tolkien in this way, one will never fully understand, appreciate, or benefit from Tolkien.

[Jeff Wiesner @JeffreyPWiesner]

Brother Stephen is correct. But no confessional Protestant argues for the infallibility of catechisms or confessions.

We DO argue for the fallibility of the interpreter: One cannot read, interpret, and apply the infallible Scriptures infallibly.

Bible-onlyism says it just “reads the Bible as it is.” But this isn’t true. In reality, it favors the implicit and unacknowledged commitments of the individual interpreter over the explicit, acknowledged commitments of the church catholic.

Contrary to Bible-onlyism, confessionalism says that if we read, interpret, and apply Scripture without ALSO calibrating our (unavoidable) interpretative commitments with the Scriptural doctrines confessed by true Christians through the ages, then we (and our children) are left far more vulnerable to all manner of error, heterodoxy, and heresy.

[Tim Wilson @uk_timwilson]

Not going to your church’s evening service is like choosing to watch Lord of the Rings un-extended.

[Jeff Wiesner @JeffreyPWiesner]

Many sincere evangelicals have been misled to conclude…

1st, that the Christian tradition prior to the Reformation was wholly Popish and corrupted, thus…

2nd, the Reformers were “Bible only” guys who rejected tradition to restore the authority of “my personal interpretation.”

[Nick Batzig @Nick_Batzig]

"Jesus bore the condemnation and punishment of sin, and thus forever secured our pardon. . .He actually so condemned sin in his own material body, that it lost the power of condemning his spiritual body, the Church. So that neither sin, nor the consequence of sin, can ever lay the believer under condemnation. Thus, while sin condemned Jesus as the Surety, Jesus condemned sin as the Judge, assigning it to its own dark and changeless doom. That, therefore, which itself is condemned, cannot condemn." – Octavius Winslow

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

“What would you say to a young Christian who is nervous about the future?”

Beautiful answer from @TimKellerNYC (1950–2023). His faith is now sight.

[Scott R. Swain @scottrswain]

Three New Year’s resolutions for an amazing 2023:

1. Believe the Creed

2. Obey the Ten Commandments

3. Pray the Lord’s Prayer