Announcements

Welcome to the new BaylyBlog!

Joseph, Ben and I are very happy to present the new BaylyBlog! We hope you like what we've done to the place. Please take some time to look around. And while you check out the new design—I think Ben did a bang-up job, myself—you can also take advantage of a few of the new features:

A technical introduction to the new BaylyBlog

In my previous post, I introduced BaylyBlog readers to a few of the new features of the site. In this post, I will introduce a few of the technical details:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty"...

Here's a post by Michael Foster giving you four good reasons to make plans now to attend the 2012 Clearnote Fellowship Conference, "I Believe in God the Father Almighty."

Please join us this evening for dedication of Christ the Word's new church house...

MapFrontMainNorthAtriumAtrium 2SanctuaryAwningSignUpstairs

Christ the Word, Toledo, dedicates its new church house to the Lord this Sunday evening, June 17, at 6:30 pm.

Our new church house is located on twenty acres across Central Avenue from the 600-acre Secor Metropark, and it features:

  • Over 3,000 square feet of nursery space, with two children's bathrooms (instead of two tiny rooms)
  • Private offices for each staff member (instead of multiple individuals shoehorned into every available room)
  • 75,000 square feet total floor space, 45,000 developed 
  • 4,000 square feet of junior and senior high meeting rooms
  • 14 classrooms, in addition to youth and nursery spaces
  • A shower for those who ride their bikes to work...

Changes to Baylyblog...

Just now, I have disabled threading on comments. Threaded comments seem to work on some sites, but we have found them to be very difficult to follow here on Baylyblog. So, after discussion with Tim, we have turned them off. All comments will now be posted in order time submitted, with the comments submitted the earliest at the top.

I have also disabled the ability to add a comment title. There is, obviously, some loss of information as a result, but we're convinced it will improve comments overall.

Comments are central to the work done here on the Baylyblog, and our writers consider comments very carefully. If you haven't already, please take some time to look over the rules about comments. A link to the rules about comments appears above each comment box on this site.

We have some more changes coming down the pike for the Baylyblog, so stay tuned. It just so happens that we have been busy at work on another project recently...

Save the date...

2013 Clearnote Pastors ConferenceOn Thursday, February 21st and Friday, February 22nd, Clearnote Fellowship is holding its 2nd annual pastors conference titled "Preach the Word" at Clearnote Church, Bloomington, IN. If you are (or aspire to be) a pastor, elder, or deacon, I hope you'll come. And if you're not an officer, would you please encourage your own pastors, elders, and deacons to attend? In fact, pay for them to go. It will be a wonderful gift to them and your church. Register now.

Here is the line-up...


Announcing ClearnoteSongbook.com...

Clearnote SongbookTo reform the Church is to reform her worship.

Everything about our worship indicates our reverence, zeal, and love toward the Triune God; or alternately, our flippancy and indifference. Hearts aflame for God cry out for men to preach the Word, read Scripture, pray, and sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with zeal. Sadly, though, worship today is aimed at the mind or the heart. It's intellect or passion--never both. When there is zeal, it's rarely "in accordance with knowledge." And those claiming knowledge make a principle out of their absence of zeal.

Five hundred years ago, John Calvin worked to reform every part of the Church's worship. We must give ourselves to this same work today.

That's why I'm very thankful to announce ClearnoteSongbook.com. The men behind the Songbook--Jody Killingsworth, Philip Moyer, and the Good Shepherd Band, along with Ben Crum, Joseph Bayly, and Lucas Weeks--have put together a site that is a call to reform our worship. The Clearnote Songbook is jam-packed with goodies to help in that work...

Engaged at last...

Last night Niek and Therese Schreuder hosted a party in celebration of the engagement of their daughter, Réze (pronounced reesa), to our son Taylor. What Christmas joy!

In Calvin's Geneva, couples were banished if their engagement lasted longer than six weeks. We held a family council some years back and decided the Bayly limit would be six months. A summer wedding is planned.

2013 Clearnote Pastors Conference audio...

If you missed the 2013 Clearnote Fellowship Pastors Conference, you missed a great time. If you're an officer in Christ's church, we hope you'll join us at next year's conference. To whet your appetite, here are the audio recordings of this year's conference from the Clearnote Fellowship website.

Register now for the Clearnote Fellowship 2013 Summer Conference...

Clearnote Fellowship is excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2013 Summer Conference, "She is Our Mother," to be held July 5th and 6th in Bloomington, Indiana. The theme of this year's conference builds on the 2012 Summer Conference, "I Believe in God the Father Almighty."

Christians in America today reject the fatherhood of God by gagging His word and those who proclaim it. They also scoff at the truth that any true son of God must have the church as his mother. When elders are diligent in their care for the sheep, we often refuse their care, bleat, and run off—away from our mother!

In the 3rd century AD, Cyprian of Carthage wrote: “You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the church for your Mother.” In his Institutes, Calvin writes: "But because it is now our intention to discuss the visible church, let us learn even from the simple title of 'mother' how useful, indeed how necessary, it is that we should know her."

Useful and necessary, indeed! Christ's church is the mother of all those chosen by God for salvation so join us as we sit under preaching focussed on what our relationship should be to this Mother God has given us, and what it means for her to be reformed in our own age.

The Clearnote Summer Conference is like none other! Our habit is to preach the Word of God rather than to give lectures and talks. We welcome children...