April 24, 2024
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: children in church, church, children, kids church
While the topic of children’s church is not forbidden in Scripture, we certainly cannot take a cavalier attitude to the topic. It is most certain that the Israel’s worship in the Old Testament and churches of the New Testament knew nothing of an age-segregated worship or “children’s church.”...
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October 26, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: pastor's wife, Pastor, church, ministry, love, kindness, serving, qualifications, expectations
I want to share just a few things a church and its members should consider in relating to a pastor’s wife, because honestly few people know what it is like to be in a pastor’s home. Unless you hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, how could you know? So here goes....
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October 19, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: priorities, church, church attendance, Pastor
The other day my son asked me why people who used to go to church stop going, presenting a “teachable moment” on the importance of church in the Christian life. My son was observing a behavior that was already a tendency in the first-century church, as seen when the writer of Hebrews instructed his readers to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the ...
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September 7, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, Adult Bible Fellowship, Bible study, Small groups, fellowship, community, prayer requests, discussion, Flat Run Church
The importance of a Christian’s relationship to a local church cannot be overstated. As a matter of fact, 1 John 2:19 states that permanent separation from the church and the Gospel demonstrates one is not actually a Christian.
The church is so important for us because it gives us a sense of identity. No matter what type of family we have, what job we work, what other s...
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June 22, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: Bible, ESV, Bible version, Flat RUn, church
One topic that has often been controversial in the Evangelical realm is what Bible version should be used? In the context that I was reared and trained initially for ministry, this was a question that caused a lot of contention and even division. Churches at times have split over which Bible to use. This is altogether unnecessary, but it happens. The purpose of this blog i...
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June 6, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, clothes, what to wear
One conversation that tends to engender passionate feelings in Evangelical circles revolves around what to wear to Sunday services. I recently heard one pastor’s rather smart aleck answer: whenever people ask him what to wear to his church, he replies, “Clothes.” While the response is meant to be funny and put people at ease, it’s not especially useful or informati...
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May 23, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, nourish, Bible, Lord's Day, dead, salvation
My wife and I can be morbid. Over the last several months, we have discovered a YouTube channel where a mortician answers questions about her practices and life’s vocation. It is fascinating – but again, we can be morbid!
Being a pastor, I have been around the dead quite a bit. I can still remember the first time I went to the hospital and sat with a member and her...
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May 17, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: communion, bread, sacrifice, Lord's Supper, Acts, church, ordinance, Scripture, God, Jesus
The partaking of the Lord’s Supper in many churches is like the national anthem before a sporting event. Everyone is used to it. Everyone participates. One person leads it. However, the national anthem is often treated like nothing but an ancient ritual we want to get past to get to the game. ...
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May 2, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: preaching, preacher, Pastor, church, Bible, perfectionism
I am a perfectionist is some areas of life. I am not advocating theological perfectionism, but rather confessing to the personality construct of feeling like you always have more to do in a certain area and you are never satisfied with it. This is something many people deal with, but more on that in a moment....
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April 20, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, sermon, endings, preaching, Pastor, end of sermon, Isaiah 40:8, Bible
Ending a sermon well has always been difficult for me. Preaching can be likened to flying an airplane. The introduction is the takeoff. The exposition is the actual flight. The conclusion is the landing. And oh, my, have I had some crash-and-burn landings! Maybe at the top of the list was the time I forgot the lyrics to a song I was going to recite! After fumbling and mu...
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April 6, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: preaching, expository preaching, expository, Bible, sermons, church, Pastor, preacher
In my last post, I talked about what I believe is the best method of exposing the people of God to the Word of God on the Lord’s Day. I am convinced that this is done through expository preaching. However, I am not so naïve to think that every expository sermon is done in a 5-star fashion and there are times when it is not modeled well. I want to help correct some misco...
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March 8, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, worship, instrumentation, worship style, public worship, Christianity, Evangelical
It seems like Evangelicalism’s so-called “worship wars” go back just a few generations – but as a matter of fact, the church throughout its history has wrestled with changing music, instrumentation and styles in its public worship services....
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February 21, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, Pastor Seth Alcorn, Pastor, Flat Run Church, Virginia, God, Jesus, love, Holy Spirit, doctrine, preaching, pulpit
February 18, 2019 is probably not a big day for you unless you had a child born that day. While I doubt anyone remembers where they were that day, I sure do! It was my first Sunday as Pastor of Flat Run Church....
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