Ben Edwards and David Doran talk about churches with a congregational church government.
Congregationally Governed Churches
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Dave Doran
Free and Informed Choices
Each spring I teach a section in a third-year pastoral course aimed at helping aspiring pastors deal with change and conflict in churches. I have been doing it for years, but the escalating level of tension in our culture that is seeping into churches and ministries...
Moving from an Exegetical to a Homiletical Outline
Ben Edwards talks with David Doran about moving from an exegetical outline to a homiletical outline.
The Fragmenting of Fundamentalism Pt 2
In this episode Ben Edwards talks with David Doran about the further fragmenting of Fundamentalism.
Leadership Vision
Anyone who has read, listened to, or studied contemporary leadership theories knows that vision is touted as “the essential ingredient for successful leadership” (Hyatt, The Vision Driven Leader, p. 21). If you are among my older readers you may have endured the...
The Fragmenting of Fundamentalism Pt 1
In this episode Dave Doran and Ben Edwards discuss the fragmenting of Fundamentalism.
Hopeful Signs
There is a lot of talk these days about how the culture is disintegrating and about concerns for whether the next generation of Christians will have the courage and conviction to take the stands for the name of Jesus Christ that will be necessary. There are legitimate...
Teaching on Assurance of Salvation
In this episode Ben Edwards and David Doran discuss how to teach on assurance of salvation.
Beale on Broader Evangelicalism
It’s been several years since I have taken time to write anything other than Tweets about Fundamentalism, but a new book and a blog post piqued my interest recently. When I saw that Dr. David Beale, under whose teaching I greatly benefitted as a college student and...
Interview with Chris Anderson: Writing Hymns
Dave Doran sat down with Chris Anderson recently and asked him about pastoral ministry and modern hymn writing for the church. Chris served as church planter and pastor at Tri-County Bible Church in Madison, OH, from 1998 until just a few weeks ago. He recently...
Pietism and Conflict
Some bad effects of the pietistic heritage of fundamentalism and evangelicalism tend to make conflicts worse: An all-or-nothing view of people and ministries. A misguided view of spirituality affects how others and oneself are viewed. Being “wrong” on some issue is...
Redeeming the Time
Listen to a sermon recorded at Inter-City Baptist Church about making the most of our God given opportunities in 2025.
Assumptions Affect Interactions
Please allow me to share three anecdotes before making some comments about how our assumptions can affect our interactions. All come from the early 1990s when I was working on a DMin at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). How Long Did It Take…? One day, during...
Support DBTS on #GivingTuesday
A message from Dr. Doran: Dear Friend of DBTS, Happy Thanksgiving! God has been gracious to us and is worthy of every bit of thanks, and more, that He receives. I am looking forward to a fun and refreshing time with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day, then...
A New Devotional Resource
Church Works Media has produced a number of devotional works over the past few years. Each has a special emphasis (e.g., missions, prayer, suffering) that focuses on unpacking biblical texts and helpfully applying them to life. I was asked to participate in the...
Mid-America Conference on PreachingOctober 16-17, 2014“Striving Together for the Faith of the Gospel”
Dear Fellow Servant of Jesus Christ: It seems like every day brings more bad news in this crazy, sin-cursed world. And it seems, at least sometimes, like God's people are dropping into defense-mode as the world becomes increasingly hostile toward Christianity. While...
Equip and Encourage
MACP Roundtable 2012: Dave Doran, Michael Vlach (The Master's Seminary), and Neal Cushman (Northland International University) explain why eschatology is important for an individual believer and for church life. Check out the other topics covered in the MACP...
Announcement
Next year will be our 40th year of helping local churches prepare men for gospel ministry. God has been very kind to DBTS through these four decades of ministry. DBTS grads are serving all over the United States and advancing the gospel around the world. There are a...
Following Is a Stewardship Too
I spent the last two weeks teaching a leadership class for our seminary’s summer school program. It was challenging and encouraging to spend four hours a day looking at this subject with men involved in and preparing for vocational ministry in the church. My last post...
Leadership Is a Stewardship
The leadership of an institution is a stewardship entrusted by both God and men. I followed a man who shepherded this congregation for forty years. The same man was the founding president of DBTS. I serve a congregation with a clear set of doctrines and by-laws which...
Why the Silence?
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Eph 5:11). We live in a world where too often we hear about the unfruitful works of darkness—the nightly news seems to thrive on ghastly stories of murders, rapes, and violence. Frankly, it...
When Silence is Consent
The tragic happenings associated with the arrest, guilty plea, and sentencing of Jack Schaap, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond are a sad spectacle. Well before any of this blew up, I’d expressed my opposition to Schaap’s ministry and toward ministerial...
Equip and Encourage
For the first DBTS student body chapel of the Spring 2013 semester, a panel discussed the topic of missionary deputation. Specifically, they answered questions regarding the issues missionaries, churches, and church leaders ought to address regarding the process. For...
Specks and Beams
I had the privilege of preaching in seminary chapel yesterday. One of the great blessings of my current ministry is that I get to teach seminarians each week and preach in the chapel regularly. I often try to preach from texts of Scripture that I think will help shape...
Equip and Encourage
Dave Doran talks about his recent sermon series on contentment, specifically addressing why it is an important subject for the church to think through in our culture. Topics covered in the talk: 0:24 Reasons for preaching on the topic of contentment 1:57 Cultural...
Equip and Encourage
Dave Doran defines "worldliness" biblically and discusses the "in, but not of, the world" command. In a follow-up video, he talks about distinguishing between worldly and non-worldly issues in culture.
Equip and Encourage
Dave Doran talks about preaching from the book of Proverbs in light of his recent sermon series from the book. Check out the other video where Dave talks about applying principles from Proverbs to believers today.
What Makes Dispensational Premillenialism Unique?
MACP Roundtable 2012: Dave Doran, Michael Vlach (The Master's Seminary), and Neal Cushman (Northland International University) talk about the different kinds of premillennialism. Audio and notes from their 2012 MACP general sessions and workshops are available at the...
Equip and Encourage: MACP
Dave Doran talks about the Mid-America Conference on Preaching occurring next week at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He provides a little history regarding the conference, explains the theme "The Mystery of Christ: God's Glory among the Gentiles," and...
The Mystery of Christ: God's Glory among the Gentiles
The relationship between the Old and New Testaments has been debated (sometimes hotly) since the book of Acts! This makes sense since so much hangs in the balance of properly understanding this issue—What role does the Law have in a NT believer's life? Is the Church a...
A Bad Trade?
Here’s the basic fallacy of the Elephant Room 2 storyline—once you’ve granted to someone good standing as a Christian brother and fellow servant of the gospel, you can’t claim that you’re going to be sitting down to discuss whether he is truly such or not. You’ve...
Artful Dodges
Personally, I think that Thabiti Anyabwile has provided some of the best commentary on the inclusion of T. D. Jakes into the Elephant Room discussion. His initial offering before the event was dead on target, and his follow up post is also worth reading. He continues...
Should Missionaries Skip Seminary?
God is graciously using DBTS to prepare His servants for global ministry. Through His help, we have graduates planting churches in a growing number of foreign fields. Most of these graduates are doing pioneer work in areas that are in desperate need of the gospel and...
Celebrity and Gospel Witness
American culture is fascinated with celebrities. American evangelicalism, as a subset of American culture, is too. For some reason, there remains a persistent belief that the public testimony of a well known athlete or entertainer will be more effective than that of a...
Equip and Encourage: Resolutions
Dave Doran talks about making (and keeping) resolutions at the outset of a new year. He addresses what the book of James says about resolutions and goals, centering on the balance between our diligence and reliance on God's sovereign control.
Equip and Encourage
E&E: Church Revitalization 4 from DBTS. Dave Doran talks about some faulty options for church revitalization in the 4th talk on the subject. 00:10 It is crucial that church leaders root members' hearts in the mission statement of the church 1:16 Surface changes...
Equip and Encourage
Dave Doran continues his talk about church revitalization, describing the process of church decline and inept responses to it. 0:34 challenge of church revitalization in older, established churches 1:34 Trend of church health and decline: - Upward: Dream > Beliefs...
Equip and Encourage
E&E: Church Revitalization 1 from DBTS.