• General Assemblies, Rome, and Artificial Intelligence

    In this free-for-all episode of Christ the Center, we welcome Derrick Brite, Lee Hutchings, and Dan Borvan for a wide-ranging conversation following the summer season of Presbyterian and Reformed assemblies. They reflect on the PCA General Assembly, the OPC General Assembly, and the URCNA Synod, considering overtures, church order, the spirit of deliberation, and the practical realities of Presbyterian polity.

    The conversation also turns to Reformed witness in Italy, Roman Catholicism, and the need to speak the truth clearly and charitably. Camden previews upcoming discussions on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Catholic social teaching, artificial intelligence, human dignity, and the need for a sound Reformed anthropology in an age of rapid technological change.

    Links

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Borvan, Derrick Brite, Lee Hutchings

    17 July 2026, 5:00 am
  • Meeting God in His Means of Grace

    In this episode we speak with Harrison Perkins about his book Meeting God in His Means of Grace: How Word, Sacrament, and Prayer Help Us Encounter Christ. Perkins argues that the Christian life is fundamentally receptive: We do not invent our own paths to God but meet him where he has promised to be present and active for the good of his people.

    The conversation explores the ordinary means of grace—Word, sacraments, and prayer—as Christ’s appointed instruments for strengthening faith, assuring believers, and shaping the church’s worship. Perkins discusses the reading and preaching of Scripture, baptism as a covenantal sign, the Lord’s Supper as communion with Christ and a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb, prayer as a means Christ uses to sustain his people, and congregational worship as active participation before God rather than religious spectatorship.

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Harrison Perkins

    10 July 2026, 5:00 am
  • Lively Truths of the Puritans

    In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey welcomes Stephen Yuille, director of Puritan publishing at Reformation Heritage Books, for a conversation on Puritan spirituality and the devotional series 90 Days with the Puritans. Yuille reflects on his work with Puritan writings, the relationship between the mind and the affections, and the way the Puritans seek to move biblical truth from mere cognition into doxology, repentance, obedience, and perseverance.

    The discussion centers on five “lively truths” that recur throughout the Puritan tradition: the majesty of God, the beauty of Christ, the severity of sin, the mystery of providence, and the hope of glory. Along the way, Camden and Stephen consider biblical meditation, Thomas Manton, holiness as divine beauty, beholding Christ through Scripture rather than mysticism, affliction as fatherly discipline, and the believer’s blessed hope in the face of death and suffering.

    Resources Mentioned

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Stephen Yuille

    3 July 2026, 5:00 am
  • Heaven Opened: Biblical Theology in the Gospels and Acts

    In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey welcomes Adam York and Randy Lee back to the Reformed Forum classroom for the second part of a conversation on global theological education and OPC foreign missions. Whereas the previous discussion focused especially on Uganda and faith-centered finance, this episode turns to York’s recent teaching trip to Ethiopia and the biblical-theological material he taught on the Gospels and Acts.

    The conversation traces major themes from John 1:51 and Jacob’s ladder to Matthew’s genealogy, Jesus as true Israel, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the kingdom, Peter’s confession, Matthew 24–25, the Great Commission, and the book of Acts. Along the way, York shows how the hope of heaven opened in Christ, the end of exile, the gift of the Spirit, and the church’s missionary calling all belong together in the unfolding work of the risen and ascended Lord.

    Watch on YouTube

    Chapters

    • 0:00 Introduction from the Reformed Forum classroom
    • 0:57 Review of OPC foreign missions and the previous conversation
    • 1:51 Focusing on Adam York’s Ethiopia teaching trip
    • 3:32 Christianity and the Reformed church in Ethiopia
    • 5:36 Ethiopian Mercy Reformed Church and local pastors
    • 7:08 Joyful worship with few earthly comforts
    • 9:09 Travel, Addis Ababa, and cross-cultural observations
    • 10:35 Teaching the Gospels and Acts
    • 11:20 John 1:51 and heaven opened in Christ
    • 13:39 Why begin with Nathaniel and Jacob’s ladder?
    • 15:24 Heaven, creation, exile, and the hope of God’s presence
    • 18:47 Matthew’s genealogy and the fulfillment of Jubilee
    • 21:02 Teaching biblical theology through translation
    • 26:02 Jesus as true Israel in Matthew’s temptation narrative
    • 30:21 The Sermon on the Mount and access to God’s presence
    • 31:57 The Transfiguration and mountain theology
    • 33:30 Parables, mystery, judgment, and the two-age structure
    • 38:04 Peter’s confession and the keys of the kingdom
    • 42:14 Matthew 24, partial preterism, and biblical prophecy
    • 45:17 Watchfulness, imminence, and the blessed hope
    • 47:25 Heaven opened, the Great Commission, and Christ’s authority
    • 49:17 The Spirit, Acts, and embracing the cross
    • 50:15 Teaching Acts while serving in Ethiopia
    • 52:13 Praying and serving in foreign missions
    • 53:31 Reformed Forum resources and upcoming events

    Resources mentioned

    Participants: Adam York, Camden Bucey, Randy Lee

    26 June 2026, 5:00 am
  • Global Theological Education and the Biblical Foundations of Finance

    In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey welcomes Randy Lee and Adam York from Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois, to discuss recent teaching trips connected with OPC foreign missions in Uganda and Ethiopia. Lee, a ruling elder, reflects on teaching personal finance at Knox School of Theology in Uganda, while York, pastor of Hope OPC, describes his work teaching and training pastors in Ethiopia.

    The conversation explores the global need for theological education, Reformed Academy’s role in serving the church worldwide, and the biblical doctrine of stewardship. The discussion turns especially to Biblical principles of finance: why money must be brought under the lordship of Christ, how Scripture and the Reformed confessions shape our view of possessions, how prosperity theology distorts Christian hope, and why work, generosity, contentment, and vocation all belong to faithful stewardship before God.

    Watch on YouTube

    Chapters

    • 0:00 Introduction from the Reformed Academy classroom
    • 0:39 Global theological education, Uganda, and Ethiopia
    • 1:21 Prayer for Peter Stafford and missionary medical work
    • 3:21 Reformed Academy and the global need for theological education
    • 5:09 Randy Lee’s call to teach personal finance in Uganda
    • 6:24 Adam York’s trip to Ethiopia
    • 7:28 OPC foreign missions and theological training
    • 10:58 Preparing to teach faith-centered finance
    • 13:25 Randy’s business background
    • 15:26 Biblical and practical resources for finance
    • 18:21 Teaching finance and stewardship in the church
    • 21:42 Stewardship beyond money
    • 26:13 Reformed confessions and finance
    • 29:11 Manifesting, prosperity theology, and biblical worldview
    • 36:45 Five uses of money
    • 40:14 Cultural differences and family obligations in Uganda
    • 44:16 Need, want, generosity, and work
    • 49:37 Lessons learned in Uganda
    • 52:24 Opportunities to serve in foreign missions
    • 53:47 Closing resources and Reformed Forum updates

    Resources mentioned

    Participants: Adam York, Camden Bucey, Randy Lee

    19 June 2026, 5:00 am
  • Protestants and Patriots: Presbyterians in the Age of Revolution

    We welcome Darryl G. Hart back to Christ the Center to discuss Protestants and Patriots: Presbyterians in the Age of Revolution (University of Notre Dame Press). Hart traces the transatlantic story of Presbyterianism from the Reformation through the age of revolutions, asking why presbyterian polity so often became a political irritant in Britain, Ireland, North America, and beyond.

    The conversation ranges from Calvin’s Geneva and the French Reformed connection to the Scottish Covenanters, the English civil wars, John Witherspoon, the American founding, the 1788 revision of the Westminster Confession, and contemporary debates over Christian nationalism. Along the way, Hart helps us see how questions of church government, civil authority, establishment, liberty, and public memory are bound up with the church’s confession that Christ alone is head of his church.

    Watch on YouTube

    Chapters

    • 0:00 Introduction and the road to episode 1,000
    • 2:00 Protestants and Patriots and the Presbyterian question
    • 3:10 The project’s origins and teaching the big picture
    • 5:12 Calvin’s ecclesiastical ordinances and Presbyterian polity
    • 7:26 Was the American Revolution a Presbyterian revolution?
    • 10:12 Lumpers, splitters, and Presbyterian identity
    • 11:09 Reformed and Presbyterian: why the names matter
    • 15:01 Presbyterians, nationalism, and the godly society
    • 16:12 Covenanters, national covenanting, and regicide
    • 19:31 Geneva, exiles, and the French connection
    • 22:26 The true Presbyterian revolutionary moment: the 1630s and 1640s
    • 24:21 Why Scotland became a Presbyterian laboratory
    • 28:29 Why England and Scotland became Reformed rather than Lutheran
    • 30:52 What did Presbyterians want? Church independence and state support
    • 34:43 The Glorious Revolution, moderation, and establishment compromises
    • 39:15 Regium donum, Canada, Ireland, and voluntary giving
    • 42:34 John Witherspoon and Presbyterian moderation in the American founding
    • 48:16 Revising Westminster Confession chapter 23
    • 55:30 American Heretics, Two Sons of Oil, and anti-liberal Presbyterianism
    • 60:30 Further conversations and Protestants and Patriots
    • 65:05 Independence Hall, historic preservation, and public memory
    • 70:07 Conclusion

    Resources mentioned

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart

    12 June 2026, 5:00 am
  • Act Like a Man: Biblical Masculinity

    We welcome Matthew Adams, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Dillon, South Carolina, to discuss his book Act Like a Man: Understanding the Biblical Call to Masculinity, published by Christian Focus. Adams argues for a vision of manhood grounded in Scripture and formed by the Holy Spirit rather than by cultural capitulation, reactionary posturing, or online personality-driven models of masculinity.

    The conversation considers why the doctrine of Scripture and the work of the Spirit must come before any faithful account of biblical masculinity. Adams unfolds five marks of manhood—righteous living, sacrificial love, dependent leadership, courageous zeal, and humble servanthood—using David’s life as both a positive and negative example that ultimately points to Christ. The episode also addresses contemporary challenges in the church, the need for fathers and elders to disciple younger men, and the importance of presence, faithfulness, and generational responsibility in the home and covenant community.

    Watch on YouTube

    Resources mentioned

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Matthew Adams

    5 June 2026, 5:00 am
  • The Nature of the Church

    We welcome Matthew Vogan to discuss The Nature of the Church by John Brown of Wamphray, a concise seventeenth-century work on Presbyterian ecclesiology republished by Grange Press. Brown, a Scottish Covenanter exiled to the Netherlands, wrote with deep conviction about Christ’s headship over the church, the visible and invisible church, church government, discipline, unity, and the distinction between church and state.

    This conversation explores why Brown’s work remains timely for pastors, elders, seminarians, and church members today. Rather than treating church government as a secondary or merely practical matter, Brown presents the church as a visible spiritual society established by Christ, governed by his Word, and ordered for the edification of his people.

    Watch on YouTube

    Chapters

    • 0:00 Introduction
    • 1:15 The Nature of the Church by John Brown of Wamphray
    • 4:30 John Brown’s life, ministry, exile, and Covenanter context
    • 8:40 Matthew Vogan’s introduction to John Brown
    • 9:36 Brown’s 32 theses and the Westminster Confession
    • 10:54 A majestic view of Christ’s church
    • 12:33 The scope of Brown’s ecclesiology
    • 15:12 The church as a visible spiritual society
    • 21:43 Church and state under Christ’s authority
    • 27:08 Scripture and Presbyterian church government
    • 30:53 Brown’s polemics against Erastianism, prelacy, and independency
    • 35:00 Ministerial authority and edification
    • 39:17 The church’s spiritual government
    • 42:14 The spirituality of the church
    • 44:59 Key insights from Brown’s work
    • 46:06 Communion within the visible catholic church
    • 52:21 Further reading: Durham, Gillespie, Rutherford, and Bannerman
    • 53:55 Final thoughts on The Nature of the Church
    • 55:00 Scottish football and closing conversation
    • 56:57 Reformed Forum resources and conclusion

    Resources mentioned

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Matthew Vogan

    29 May 2026, 5:00 am
  • John Calvin as Counselor: Pastoral Wisdom from His Letters

    We welcome Dr. Michael Mock to discuss his D.Min. dissertation on John Calvin’s pastoral counseling through his correspondence. Drawing from Calvin’s letters, Mock shows how the Reformer cared for people amid grief, anxiety, marital conflict, abuse, persecution, and suffering with theological depth and compassion.

    The conversation challenges the caricature of Calvin as cold or detached, highlighting his attention to the whole person—mind, heart, and will—and his confidence in God’s providence, prayer, Scripture, and the ministry of the local church. Calvin’s letters reveal a model of soul care that remains deeply relevant for pastors, elders, and church members today.

    Chapters

    • 0:00 Introduction and guest welcome
    • 2:01 Michael Mock’s D.Min. project and biblical counseling
    • 4:37 Bringing Calvin and counseling together
    • 9:49 Calvin’s letters in the Banner of Truth edition
    • 14:11 Calvin as a suffering saint who needed counsel
    • 17:42 Calvin’s ministry and the care of souls
    • 23:18 Calvin’s doctrine of the heart and whole-person counsel
    • 27:21 Answering caricatures of Calvin as cold-hearted
    • 29:39 Prayer, suffering, and compassionate counsel
    • 32:59 Counseling the martyrs in Lyon
    • 35:39 Abuse, suffering, and Geneva’s consistory
    • 42:01 Discipline, sympathy, and the company of pastors
    • 44:24 The church as mother and the context for counsel
    • 50:28 Whole-heart ministry and elder care today
    • 57:28 If Calvin had time: counsel as pastoral ministry

    Resources Mentioned

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Michael Mock

    22 May 2026, 12:40 pm
  • Confessional Reformed Renewal in Germany

    In this special on-location episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey visits Gießen, Germany, to explore a remarkable work of confessional Reformed renewal. Through conversations with Jochen Klautke, Lukas Strauß, and Philip Paul, listeners are introduced to the Academy for Reformed Theology, a growing seminary that serves students across German-speaking Europe through a hybrid model of in-person intensives, online instruction, and close partnership with local churches. The episode also traces the recent formation of a new continental Reformed denomination in Germany, the challenges of church planting in a highly secular and heavily taxed society, and the need for pastors who can preach, plant, and patiently build confessional churches from the ground up by God’s grace.

    What emerges is a deeply encouraging portrait of ordinary, faithful labor. The conversation highlights the need for indigenous theological leadership, German-language Reformed resources, and strong ecclesial communities where believers are not left to grow in isolation. Lucas reflects on discovering Reformed theology and using podcasting and social media to introduce it to German listeners, while Philip describes the theological journey that led his family to move for the sake of a confessional church home. Taken together, these conversations offer a vivid glimpse into the opportunities and difficulties of gospel ministry in Germany today—and a compelling call to pray for theological training, church planting, and lasting Reformed witness.

    Links

    Watch on YouTube

    Chapters

    • 0:00 — Introduction from Gießen, Germany
    • 3:36 — The Academy for Reformed Theology—history and mission
    • 7:23 — How the seminary serves students across Germany and Switzerland
    • 13:14 — Why part-time theological training matters in Germany
    • 16:53 — A new confessional Reformed denomination in Germany
    • 21:43 — What church planting requires: men, people, and finances
    • 25:59 — How the seminary is funded and how students manage study and work
    • 28:51 — Why Germany needs indigenous Reformed pastors and literature
    • 34:53 — Bullinger, suffering, and providence
    • 38:56 — Lukas Strauß on becoming Reformed and serving through media
    • 49:18 — Podcasting, social media, and explaining Reformed theology in German
    • 58:17 — Why Reformed believers in Germany need real church connection
    • 1:02:23 — Philip Paul on law, theology, and moving for church
    • 1:18:09 — From Calvinism to covenant theology and paedobaptism
    • 1:32:46 — Elder service, church commitment, and counsel for German Christians
    • 1:39:13 — Reasons for gratitude and prayer for Reformed churches in Germany

    Participants: Camden Bucey, Jochen Klautke, Lukas Strauß, Philip Paul

    15 May 2026, 5:00 am
  • Cornelius W. Grafton: “Mississippi’s Greatest Minister”

    In this episode, Camden Bucey welcomes David T. Irving, President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, for a rich conversation on Irving’s dissertation, Mississippi’s Greatest Minister: A Historical Study of Cornelius W. Grafton’s 61-Year Pastorate, 1873–1934. Before turning to Grafton, they discuss Irving’s recent transition into seminary leadership and the growing pastoral shortage across confessional Presbyterian churches, reflecting on the need for prayer, training, and laborers for Christ’s harvest.

    The heart of the episode explores the life and ministry of Cornelius W. Grafton, a remarkable Mississippi Presbyterian pastor whose decades of quiet faithfulness, denominational leadership, educational labor, and pastoral endurance left a deep mark on church life in the American South. Camden and David consider why Grafton has been largely overlooked, what his ministry reveals about ordinary pastoral faithfulness, and how his life still instructs ministers and churches today.

    Watch on YouTube

    Chapters

    • 00:08 Introduction and guest welcome
    • 01:09 Mississippi’s Greatest Minister and today’s topic
    • 02:03 RTS Jackson update and the pastoral shortage
    • 08:20 David Irving’s connection to Mississippi and Cornelius W. Grafton
    • 14:06 Why Grafton has been overlooked in church history
    • 18:14 Grafton’s early religious life and spiritual maturation
    • 23:58 Education, pastoral formation, and early ministry
    • 29:33 Union Church, rural ministry, and a sixty-one-year pastorate
    • 36:46 Grafton’s preaching, pastoral rhythms, and churchmanship
    • 43:18 Denominational leadership, education, and public influence
    • 49:19 Grafton as historian and the unpublished history of Mississippi Presbyterianism
    • 54:03 Lessons from Grafton’s life and ministry today
    • 59:09 Closing remarks and upcoming Reformed Forum events

    Resources Mentioned

    Participants: Camden Bucey, David T. Irving

    8 May 2026, 5:00 am
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