NRP On Issues, Etc.
Monday, September 17th, 2007We’re going to be on the radio!
The good folks over at Issues, Etc. are going to interview Ted from here at NRP, and it’s sure to be interesting. Topics discussed will most likely include a bit about what it was like for Ted growing up as Dr. Rod Rosenbladt’s son, as well as what’s going on here at NRP.
The interview is tomorrow, Tuesday, September 18th at 4:30 Central time. If you don’t get Issues, Etc. on a local radio station, you can always listen live on the internet. And if you miss it entirely, Issues, Etc. offers a great archive which you can podcast or listen to directly from the website at your leisure.
Be sure to join us!
** UPDATE **
Ted’s interview has been pushed back by an hour. The interview will now take place at 5:30pm Central time. Please make a note of it!
Wow, it was a great interview. Thanks, Ted!
The people at the White Horse Inn and Modern Reformation Magazine saved my Christian life. I was introduced to Michael Horton and modern reformation magazine back in 1993.
I was then attending an independent charismatic Church in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area that was affiliated with about 20 Churches in the states and 4 or 5 in England. A fellow named Bryn Jones from England started these Churches. It was modeled off of the Churches started by the New Wine Magazine people (Derek Prince, Bob Mumford, Ern Baxter, Don Basham and Charles Simpson).
The Pastor of the Church was taking classes at Calvin Theological seminary at the time when I came across Michael Horton’s book “Putting Amazing Back Into Grace.” I think I found it browsing in Bakers Book House. It had a great impact in my life.
I was struggling with certain sins in my life that I couldn’t conquer so I was attending counseling with the Pastor when I started talking about the book and how it was different from most of what I has been exposed to in my Christian life (since 1975). I was also going through marital problems at the time and was about ready to give up on the Christian life- I was not able to live it like I was being taught and was going through tremendous conflict…
To give a brief backround- I went from Watchman Nee to the New Wine Magazine people to Charles Finney to Rousas John Rushdooney and Christian Reconstruction and then Francis Schaeffer and Reformed theology. I think I started reading R.C. Sproul and tabletalk magazine, the Princeton theologians and the Dutch theologians right during this time also.
This stream of theology is quite different than what I was getting at the Charasmatic Churches I had been exposed to. My Pastor was also going through a similar transformation in his theological perspective so we ended up discussing those differences every Saturday morning for about 2 years. Sometimes the counseling sessions would go on for 4 hours before we realized what time it was. The dialog was intense and interesting. He loved talking to me because I could keep up and add to what we were discussing.
You could not find many in the Charismatic circles who had that much knowledge of the different theological streams in the Church. Because of Horton’s book I started reading Luther, too, whom I have come to love and is my favorite person in Church History now.
Which brings me to the grace centered approach to child rearing. The interview brought me back to my days in the Charismatic Churches when I used to watch mothers slap their kids for their “disobedience.” It used to make me cringe inside and I could not treat my kids that way.
I remember feeling guilty that I was not a very good disciplinarian for my kids. James Dobson’s books on child rearing were in vogue at the time. I believe their titles were “Tough Love” and dealing with “The Strong Willed Child.” I was raised in a fairly laissez-faire home in regards to discipline- my mother did most of the disciplining (which was rarely- Dr. Spock influenced) while my father felt his only responsibility was to bring home the paycheck. That is the way most Post WWII families raised their kids in the suburbs (I grew up in a suburb of Chicago).
I wish I had raised my kids with this grace centered approach. It was a refreshing breeze to listen to the interview and hope I can influence my now older children, who have kids of their own, to raise their own families with this approach. I am beginning to enter the wise grandpa stage in my life (I may be delusional) so the interview was very helpful.
I love you guys at the White Horse Inn- hope I get to meet you one day. You do not realize what you have done for my life. I wish I had enough money to be more of a financial support to your ministry. I am working towards that goal. Take Care, God bless and keep up the good work.