Zach Murchison

“Don’t panic yet, there’s plenty of time for that later.”

[Katy Faust @Katy_Faust]

I’m not a Southern Baptist. I’m a conservative Baptist, which is virtually indistinguishable doctrinally. But if I were SBC, I would 100% be on Team @albertmohler

Male-only pastors all the way.

While it may not be culturally palatable, male-only elders is biblically faithful and socially beneficial. No surprise: what is spiritually true often has earthly benefit. Here are some observations and reflections from 30+ years of ministry, in kind-of order:

- God ordains male headship in exactly two institutions- the home and the church. Why? They, not banks, senates, or industry, are both tasked with human formation: making and raising new life (biological and spiritual).

- Proper human development (not banking, government, or textiles) requires both men and women because without both we are mal-formed.

- Literal and spiritual children benefit from enduring male and female involvement.

- Distinction in roles and equality of persons is no contradiction. See Trinity.

- Most opportunities and offices can easily be filled by women who have historically out-attended men in church.

- Men are more likely than women to disengage from family and church life unless institutions clearly call them into responsibility- roles that women can’t volunteer into.

- Men are at their best when shouldering a heavy load on behalf of others. That’s exactly what headship requires.

- Men rise to higher standards when institutions expect sacrifice, leadership, and accountability from them.

- God specifically carved out a role that mandates men step up and mature. Women can grow organically; men often have to be pulled into growth.

- Boys learn genuine masculinity not primarily through teaching, but through embodied male example. Women speaking truth alone cannot make boys into good men.

- Modern culture has increasingly treated men as optional within family life, to the great suffering of children, especially boys. Most mainline denominations also treat men as optional in church life. They are declining for a reason.

- When society tells men they are unnecessary, they believe us. And they leave.

- Churches that minimize or eliminate male leadership often experience lower male participation overall.

- Wives want men who lead (not dominate, not boss, not demean). Women whose husbands outpace them in scriptural knowledge and who protect and provide for them are secure, productive and often… radiant.

- Congregants flourish when qualified men rise to the office of elder to teach, protect, and provide. They receive encouragement, their gifts are utilized, they find accountability, and they teach their neighbors.

- Congregations with female elders or pastors often lose biblical sharpness, compromise on sex and gender, and become increasingly female in the pews. It seems to be a gateway to decline.

- Churches that maintain male headship cherish and celebrate the women in their body and are grateful for the many ways they serve.

- Strong men ≠ weak women; in fact, strong male leadership often creates an environment where women become more confident, productive, and joyful.

- When boys who have been made intentionally fatherless via the sexual revolution and the redefinition of family darken the church door, they should be able to find the masculine love they have been lacking-not yet more women.

Women in Scripture defeat God’s enemies, make peace deals, teach and counsel outside the gathered church, engage in commerce, rescue the vulnerable, evangelize, and much more. The God of the Bible uses women mightily in a variety of ways.

When it comes to the home and the church, however, headship is fixed. It is for men only. The home, the church, and the world are better for it.

[Gospel Family @Gospel_Family]

https://t.co/omSI0QpznH

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

Tribulation produces perseverance, which develops experience, which ultimately cultivates hope—and this hope will not disappoint you because God’s love has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:3–5).

If I’m honest I’m not feeling overly “hopeful” today. But I thought I’d share a few thoughts from my reading of Romans 5 this morning.

Paul here illustrates hope’s practical power: it emerges through hardship rather than despite it. Hope realigns your perspective so that temporary difficulties become manageable; problems ultimately pass away. When you’re facing difficulty, this reorientation prevents despair from becoming permanent.

Practically, hope motivates righteous action when your flesh grows weary; Paul urged believers not to lose heart in doing good, and hope should fix your eyes on Jesus so you walk in purity as he did. Rather than waiting passively, you actively pursue integrity because you’re anchored to something greater than present circumstances.
Hope then provides something superior to desire, when the world’s temptations appear attractive, hope redirects your longing toward God’s presence, where alone you’ll find the fullness of joy you truly crave.

And this is me speaking to myself — Wes, to put this hope into practice: cultivate Christ-like characteristics and show diligence in service. Hope isn’t passive sentiment but an active anchor that steadies you through life’s storms when you deliberately cling to it.

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

Seeing some response to my statement on @MikhailaFuller's podcast about speaking in tongues. Some potentially helpful clarification:

First, I am not a cessationist (though I see myself being accused of it). I state in the interview that I believe that the spiritual sign gifts (tongues, prophesy, healing) still take place today, just not normatively like they were in the Apostolic era.

Nonetheless, I hold to the standard exegetical position that biblical tongues refer to known languages. In Acts 2, the foundational instance, foreign speakers understood the disciples in their own native languages, establishing the clearest precedent for interpreting the phenomenon throughout Scripture.

Secondly, while bliblical specialists and theologians debate whether tongues encompass human languages alone or include angelic speech, the consensus recognizes that a tongue functions as a language -- either immediately intelligible to hearers or requiring interpretation. The requirement that Paul places on interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14 indicates that tongues contain objective, propositional meaning subject to translation, and his statement that “every valid instance of tongues contains intrinsic, propositional meaning" reinforces this understanding.

A prominent scholarly argument identifies glossolalia as “the miraculous ability to speak unlearned human and (possibly) divine or angelic languages,” with the most common usage of “tongues” referring to ordinary human languages. The term γλῶσσα throughout the NT carries two primary meanings: the human organ or a human language, and careful word studies demonstrate that it never denotes non-cognitive utterance.

However, scholarly consensus isn’t absolute the core agreement across interpretations centers on cognitive content: tongues communicate meaningful, intelligible information rather than incoherent utterance.

Third, the early church evidence after the Apostolic era is virtually unanimous: the Early Church Fathers consistently interpreted the gift of tongues as the capacity to speak the many languages used across the earth. Their writings indicate the gift served an evangelistic purpose enabling communication with non-Christian populations.

The Patristics universally understood “tongues” in Acts and 1 Corinthians to refer to human languages, and ancient Christians understood the biblical gift of tongues as a miracle involving intelligible human languages. When the fathers described the phenomenon, they used concrete language: John Chrysostom wrote that believers “would suddenly speak in Persian, another in Latin, another in the language of the Indians or of some other people” (Homilies on First Corinthians, Homily 35), and Augustine stated that disciples “spoke in the languages of all the nations” (Sermon 269, Sermo CCLXIX.

The most significant, and almost exclusive, early figure associated with ecstatic speech for tongues was Montanus, a 2nd-century prophet whose followers emphasized speaking in tongues; he was actually excommunicated (not necessarily for his position on tongues) around AD 177. By the late 2nd century, ecstatic interpretations of tongues were present but only in context of ecclesiastical concern.

One interesting nuance appears with Philastrius in the 4th century, who understood angels as capable of conversing in all languages and believed the apostles received this same ability at Pentecost. However, this doesn’t represent a departure from the “knowable language” framework rather, the Early Church Fathers understood the gift of tongues as the ability to speak all languages spoken by people. The Church Fathers agreed the gift was the ability to speak all languages known to humankind, an ability they ascribed to angels, suggesting the “languages of angels” would not refer to a distinct heavenly language but rather to the capacity to communicate with anyone encountered.

The historical record shows no discussion among the fathers of ecstatic utterances, unknown languages, or supernatural unintelligible speech. The gift remained firmly anchored to practical, learnable human languages throughout Patristic interpretation.

So if you've stuck around this long, I think my position is both exegetically and historically sound.

[Dane Ortlund @daneortlund]

Ten basics for skilled conversation--easily learned, easily forgotten. (I'm envisioning the hallway at church as I jot these down but they're broadly transposable).

1. Eye contact, including when speaking (it's harder to maintain eye contact when speaking than listening).
2. Listen with a view to what is being said (rather than formulating your own next comment).
3. Smile/gentle countenance as much as possible (90% of people are more discouraged than they're letting on).
4. Ask questions (everyone is more interesting than they realize).
5. Remember that this person, as the image of God, is a king or queen, worthy of accordant dignifying.
6. Be slow to pivot someone's joys or sorrows to your own similar experiences.
7. Adjust to the person--if they are painfully shy, be willing to carry more of the conversation load; if they are talkative, be willing to throttle back accordingly.
8. As appropriate be eager to move to deeper/spiritual things, taking the lead to do so rather than trying to prompt the other person to go deep first.
9. But: nothing wrong with small talk! Talking about the weather and sports and flowers greases the gears for deeper conversation. Christians who only ever talk at a spiritual level are exhausting.
10. It is not rude to smile, shake hands, and swiftly end the conversation (usually the other person wanted it to end too but didn't know how).

As a pastor I've been learning that the art of a skilled conversation is vital, though one that is not taught in seminary. I'm trying to grow in these ways, glad I had parents who modeled this well for me.

What would you add or change?

[Gospel Family @Gospel_Family]

https://t.co/PeVoVZXFJQ

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“Good work takes time…pray that God would protect us from the idolization of the rapid, because it will hinder the spread of the gospel”

-Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“A church that is known for its prayer life is not indulging in self-promotion but in God-promotion.”

- Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“Instead of searching for leaders with secular qualifications, we are to search for people of character, reputation, ability to handle the Word, and demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.”

-Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“A healthy church is characterized by having members who are seriously concerned for their spiritual growth. In a healthy church, people want to get better at following Jesus Christ.”

- Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

The irony is that Governor Beshear’s appeal to the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” inverts the meaning of the text. As is often the case with progressive revisionism, the command is treated as a moral permission slip: love your neighbor in the way your neighbor defines as loving. That reduces love to radical subjectivism and evacuates it of moral content.

Biblically speaking, to love one’s neighbor is to will and seek their good as defined by God’s moral order, not by shifting perceptions, desires, or self-asserted identities. Love is tethered to the good; it is not constructed by the will.

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“Biblical church discipline is simple obedience to God and a simple confession that we need help. We cannot live the Christian life alone.”

- Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“Church membership means traveling together as aliens and strangers in this world in this world as we head to our heavenly home.”

-Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“The call to evangelism is a call to turn our lives outward, to stop focusing on ourselves and our needs and to start focusing on God and the world he has made.”

Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“Churches need to call people not merely to improve but to repent, and not to believe in ourselves but to believe in Christ!”

-Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“We are called to preach the Word of God to the church of God and to everyone in his creation. This is how God brings life.”

-Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“We are what we sing.”

“Are the fountains we point to as we sing deep enough to meet the thirst that the trials of life give us.”

-Keith & Kristyn Getty, Sing!

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“As we sing to God and about God together with the people of God, we reflect the truth that we were designed for community, both with God and with each other.”

-Keith & Kristyn Getty, Sing!

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

Transformed homes beget transformed churches.

“Instead of focusing solely on a worldly inheritance or heirlooms that may be handed down, families today are called to embrace worshiping together so that faith in Jesus may endure as their lasting heritage.”

- Jonathan Williams

[Zach Murchison @z_murch]

“We corrupt Christianity itself in the eyes of the world, and do our part to make them believe the Christ is no more for holiness than Satan”

Richard Baxter on the criticality of confession, repentance, discipline within churches.