On Friday, March 20, I began a three-part series at Sharper Iron defending the 24-hour day interpretation of the creation account. As I noted in my first part, because the tradition of Christian orthodoxy has a legacy of interpreting Genesis as a historic narrative, the prevailing interpretation of Genesis 1:1–2:3 has been that it is a record of God’s creative activity in six, consecutive, literal days followed by a literal seventh day of rest. The point of my first post was to provide a fourfold biblical justification for the 24-hour day interpretation of the creation account.

With my second post, I summarized four of the most prominent alternative views that have arisen largely as a result of the advent of modern geology and its claims about the (old) age of the earth.

With my third and final part that is posted today, I present three areas of weakness and a questionable presupposition that each view shares. To read this third post, go to “An Apologia for the 24-Hour Day View in the Creation Account (Part 3).”

Yesterday, I was privileged to speak about “Two Contrasting Worldviews” at the Campus Bible Fellowship at Wayne State University. Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI is the local church partner for Campus Bible Fellowship at WSU. CBFWSU was given charter recognition in February of 2005 by Campus Bible Fellowship (to read more, click here).

The following picture is from my conclusion contrasting a Biblical-Creation Worldview with that of an Evolutionary Worldview.

I gave a 30 to 35 minute presentation followed by a time for questions and answers. The men who met with us gave me their undivided attention. With my conclusion, I challenged the men to take up their cross and follow Christ. After my presentation, we had a Q & A session. Some very good questions were asked. The following picture is of the men during my lecture.

Since people from every tribe and nation are found in the university setting, this presents a great evangelistic outreach for Campus Bible Fellowship (see Rev. 5:9). Some remained after our Q & A session and we gathered for one final picture.

Two to three weeks back, one of our assistant pastors from Inter-City Baptist Church, Dan Winnberg, returned from a two-week mission trip that he and his wife, Meredith, made to Mwanza, Tanzania in order to assist the Howell family in various phases of their complex ministry, such as Dan teaching in the Grace Baptist Institute as well as helping with the church planting work and Meredith assisting with the Tumaini Children’ Home. When Dan returned, he brought back the nice soapstone dish pictured above as a gift from the Howell family and the students from Grace Baptist Institute.

As you look at the plate above, the names of the Institute students are painted on the top of the plate and “Taasisi Ya Kibaptisti Ya Neema” [Grace Baptist Institute], Mwanza, Tanzania, 2007″ is on the bottom. In reference to the details of the plate, the two men are traditional warriors of East Africa, known as Masai, and are also nomadic cattle herders. The warrior on the left has a spear in his left hand and a shield in his right. The man on the right with a staff in his hand is standing by a tree. As nomadic cattle herders, the three animals between the two men are cows. The two huts above the men are traditional huts made out of mud and grass. The picture of the huts is something of an anomaly since the traditional Masai huts are made of dung with a flat dung roof.

When I went to Mwanza last summer, my desire was to be able to minister to the Institute students and members of the three churches at Sweya, Shadi and Nyagaliro. As it turned out, I believe this group of believers did more to minister to me than I to them (to check out pictures my trip, click here). When I received plate, I was humbled by the thoughtfulness of the Howell family and the students at Grace Baptist Institute. I also thank my sovereign God who in his sovereign electing purposes is saving out a people for his name sake from among the people of Tanzania, as well as throughout the earth (Rev 5:9). To my friends in Mwanza, thanks so much for your thoughtfulness.

The above picture is of the Rob Howell family. Working from right to left, Rob and Kara are in the back row, Kaylee, Kelsey, and Kristen are in the middle, and Robby is by himself in the front. This past summer from June 23 to July 8 I had the privilege of ministering with the Howell family in Mwanza, Tanzania, East Africa. The Howell’s were sent to Mwanza in July of 2000 by our home church, Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, Michigan. Their objective has been to start and build up local churches of growing Christians. The Lord has enabled them to start three churches, a Bible Institute, and an orphanage.From the time I left Detroit on June 23 and returned home on July 8, my trip was filled with many profitable lessons, though I will only mention three. First, the unforgettable highlights of flying on British Air and Precision Air were greatly overshadowed by the blessing of ministering with the Howell family and the believers at the Sweya, Shadi, and Nyakaliro churches. I was able to rejoice in our Lord’s goodness in using one of DBTS’s graduates and his family to faithfully obey the great commission and to be used as instruments in equipping the believers in these three churches as they persevere in the faith. Second, I was able on this trip to further develop my friendship with the Howell family. I have known Rob since he was in fourth grade at Inter-City Baptist Elementary School. Though I did not know Kara and the children nearly as well as Rob, this trip gave me a first-hand observations of Kara’s godly character and to see how she and Rob are raising their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Since Rob and Kara’s children are about the ages of my grandchildren, I felt like I was right at home. Third, the Tanzanian believers challenged me to a greater faithfulness in the Lord’s work and to diligently pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ in Tanzania. According to his gracious purposes, the Lord used the students at the Bible Institute to minister to me. While I marveled at some of the backgrounds that the believers in these three churches came from, I constantly reminded myself that all believers, from every tribe and kindred, have two things in common: we justly deserve eternal condemnation and God through his monergistic work of regeneration saved us from our total inability and just condemnation. My trip taught me, again, to thank God for grace.One of my purposes with this post is to introduce you to the Howell family. To stay current with their ministry, you should regularly check out their blog. I should also note that, while the Howell’s primary objective in Tanzania is to establish and strengthen local churches, it has also become necessary for them to start a children’s home. You can find out more information by clicking Tumaini (“Hope”) Children’s Home. Another purpose of this post is to call your attention to the pictures from my trip to Tanzania. You can view these photos by clicking the link Tanzania trip. If you would like to see a travel blog from Pastor Jon Trainer’s 2005 trip to Tanzania, follow the links at the end of the pictures.

 Yesterday, September 7, 2007 marked 200 years since the first Protestant missionary began his work in China. The name of this missionary was Robert Morrison, a Scottish Presbyterian. John Piper had a challening message on September 7, 2007 entitled Mark This Day and Marvel at the Work of God.Though the western world has limited knowledge about the gospel’s advancement in China—a communist country that has suppressed Christian missions since the middle of the twentieth century, I have heard of figures that estimate that there is anywhere from 40 million to 111 million Christians. I am convinced that God’s people, even in the midst of persecution, desire to snatch fallen sinners out of the fire and they do this by sharing the gospel. While we have limited knowledge about the spread of the Gospel in China, these figures verify a biblical truth that should create genuine worship and praise for our Triune God: God’s electing purposes cannot be thwarted.Because of God’s own good pleasure, he is saving out an elect people who transcend every tribe, language, people and nation (Rev 5:9). As Scripture clearly teaches, God only regenerates people in conjunction with the Gospel message. As such, God uses the necessary means of gospel-preaching, with missionaries such as Robert Morrison, to take the message of the resurrected Christ beyond their own lands in order to glorify their God as they see God’s people come to faith. This principle was reflected in the early days of the Church as the Gospel was proclaimed to Gentiles: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). May God help us to glorify our God by being faithful in our witness both at home and abroad.