Kyle Oliphint Dot Com

She had become kind of haggard. Stuff wasn't staying put like it used to. I got tired of trying to make it work; taking her places and making sure she was put together. I imagined how nice a new, fresh one would be; it would smell good, it would be bound well so everything would stay the right place. It didn't take me long to find another one I thought would be better. The picture spurred me on even more. I was so excited when I got the new one. Everything started off fine. It was exciting and new. Eventually though, I started feeling funny, it started feeling strange.  Something wasn't right.  After 6 months I was done with the new one. It was a bad fit.  It wasn't her, it was me. I needed the other one back.  She knew me. I knew her. We had been to so many hospitals together too. We had been in a lot of living rooms together. One of the most cherished times we had was at a dear woman's house as the body of her husband lay back in the bedroom, entering g...

When I decided to start blogging, almost two years ago, I had one primary purpose; to have a place where I recorded my thoughts on the stuff I was reading .  I wanted to focus on books on preaching (you can read the post with a list of those books here ). I did read about 75% of those books listed and I am still working my way through them.  I have added to the list too: Saving Eutychus , (a wonderful book you should purchase and read if you are a preacher), Preaching? , Preaching Like Paul  (recommended by Kevin DeYoung and one I am looking forward to reading), and One Year to Better Preaching , a book I plan to crack open and use beginning November 18, 2013. I found, however, that these kinds of books didn't induce reflective thoughts (or maybe it is this kind of reader...I don't know). I have benefited greatly from reading these books, but I only blogged part way through the first one.   I still intend for this to be a neglected blog, but I think I will drop ...

I am very grateful for the seminary where I sought training for pastoral ministry; Westminster Theological Seminary . I graduated in 1999 as green as any new minister would be. I could find my way around the Bible in the original languages, had a better than average grasp of church history, could hold my own apologetically and had been run through the ringer in my preaching classes. I graduated loving both systematic theology and biblical theology. Upon graduating I didn't leave WTS but joined the administration for a short time as the Director of Admissions.  I got to be a cheerleader for what I still believe is the best seminary in the world where one can be trained for pastoral ministry.  I also got to serve incoming students in their first year of study. These years of my direct connection with WTS, roughly 1995-2000, years as a student, an administrator and a friend to new students; there were things bubbling under the surface.  A controversy was brewin...