CTC 68
From Reformed Forum Wiki
| Christ the Center | |
 |
|
| Episode | 68 |
|---|---|
| Guest(s) | Jon Payne |
| Panel | Nick Batzig |
| Reformed Worship | |
Length:
Date: May 8, 2009
Contents |
[edit] Description
Rev. Nick Batzig meets up with Rev. Jon Payne at Twin Lakes Fellowship, where they discuss Payne's In the Splendor of Holiness: Rediscovering the Beauty of Reformed Worhsip for the 21st Century.
[edit] Author
Dr. Jon D. Payne has been minister of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Douglasville, GA since 2003.
[edit] Early Formation
Jon was baptized, catechized and confirmed in a Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod church where he was raised-- Santa Clara, CA.
[edit] Jr Soccer Star
Jon drifted away from a Christian life when he was in high school and as he quickly rose in the ranks of soccer. He even played for the U.S. Youth Soccer Team and got to travel overseas with this. He got a full five-year scholarship at Clemson for soccer.
[edit] College
His love of partying and hatred of going to class manifested in his first college semester 0.6 GPA. Although he improved his academics a bit, he says that he was still living a life of sin and idolatry. At the end of the second semester of his sophomore year he was involved in a drunk-driving accident in which a girl in the car he was driving was thrown from the car while going 50mph. He was told that night that if the girl died or was significantly maimed, Jon would be facing jail for the next 15 years.
[edit] No Jail House Conversion
That night the Spirit came and, in Biblical terms, took out his heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. He cried out to God-- by God's grace--, and all of the furniture that had been put in place in his childhood all of the sudden was understandable to Jon, and Jon embraced it.
The one think that kept coming back to me over and over was Christ died for me. Though I had cursed His name for years, though I had lived as if He had made no promises to me, He died for me and I believed it that night.
In subsequent weeks and months he had many friends tell him he was going to be back in his old lifestyle, but he was truly converted.
This was no jailhouse conversion.
[edit] Catechization
This reinforces the importance of catechizing our children, reminding them of the promises made to them in their baptisms.
Too often Evangelicals will say that it's superfluous-- the kids don't understand, that we shouldn't teach it to them. But just because they can't understand it as a 3 year old doesn't mean that it isn't being memorized and becoming a part of their very identity of who they are and what God has done for them, that one day by God's grace they will understand it and embrace it as their own.
[edit] Why are you interested in reformed worship, and why did you write this book about it?
- Studied at RTS in Charlotte under Dr. Douglas Kelly.
- Hughes Oliphant Old taught a class on worship.
- Also read Jeremiah Burroughs' Gospel Worship.
- From there began reading works by Terry Johnson.
- Took a graduate course by Derek Thomas.
- Came back from Twin Lakes presentation 4-5 years ago by Terry Johnson about worship and reading scripture, determined to bring it to his church.
[edit] It's commanded by scripture
We're commanded to sing the Psalms. Paul exhorts us to pay attention to the public reading of scripture and of exhortation. This got Payne interested in studying further the points of liturgy.
[edit] The Book
The book grew from a series of weekly letters to his congregation about worship. Many in his congregation were not from reformed backgrounds, who have never been taught the why we do what we do in worship. What each element really means and where in scripture we are commanded to do these.
These letters drew a lot of interest from the congregation such that they had a Sunday School class and self-published a small volume.
