All Articles For Address at Convocation/Commencement of Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary (PRTS)

When ChatGPT3 made its appearance three years ago in November 2022, a friend of mine (not a minister) quickly and eagerly tested its ability to make a sermon. “For kicks and giggles,” he said. ChatGPT, if you do not know, is the internet-based “software” that is called “Artificial Intelligence” or AI. Within 12 months of ChatGPT’s release, there were over 100 million users, making it the fastest growing computer application in history. And even that is old news, because on August 8, 2025 (less than one month ago), ChatGPT released version 5, described as light-years ahead of version 3, and...

professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan Tradition has it that Monday is a minister’s day off. If my own past experience is representative of pastors in the PRCA, that bit of folklore is not true. What is true is that the burden of the past week, growing increasingly heavy as Sunday approached, has been lifted. Perhaps the minister has started his Monday off slowly. But by the end of the day, especially if he is in West Michigan, he has prepared for and taught between...

professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary and member of First PRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan ”Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him…”—Colossians 2:8-10a   The text is a warning to all God’s people. Yet, at the beginning of another academic year of the PRC Seminary it is a warning especially to the seminary students preparing for ministry. In the text,...

The annual convocation exercise for the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary was held at Byron Center PRC on Wednesday evening, September 4. Attendance was outstanding, especially since early September and the beginning of a new school year is a busy time of year for everyone, and when our exercises began at 7:00 p.m., it was still 79o F on a picture- perfect, late-summer evening! Historically, convocation is not very well attended. Going back forty years to 1984, we find Prof. Homer Hoeksema commenting on convocation in the Standard Bearer, “I only wish sometimes that more of our people could and would...

*This convocation address was given at Hope PRC in Walker, Michigan on September 6, 2023.   Scripture Reading: II Timothy 2 Introduction For three reasons I take as my subject, “The Protestant Reformed Minister Today.” The first reason concerns target—the target at which we aim. It is the express purpose of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary (hereafter: PRTS) to train men to become Protestant Reformed (hereafter: PR) ministers. It has been a great privilege for us in the seminary to participate in the training of men who never intended to enter the gospel ministry in the Protestant Reformed Churches in...

* Text of the address given at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary Convocation 2022, September 7, 2022, held in Trinity PRC, Hudsonville, MI. To graduate from the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary and become a Protestant Reformed minister, a student must take 45 semester-long courses, in addition to five semesters of practice preaching, three interim courses, and a half-year internship. Nine of these 45 courses, or a full 20%, are history courses: four treat the sacred history recorded in the Bible, and five cover church history. In addition, in other classes, such as Hermeneutics, Homiletics, Church Polity, and Missions, the student...

(This special submission is the text of the sermon preached by Prof. Cammenga on the occasion of the installation of Rev. Brian Huizinga as professor of theology in the PR Theological Seminary on September 4, 2019.) “… whose I am, and whom I serve.” Acts 27:23b Introduction Whose are you? And whom do you serve? Those are the two most important questions in the entire world. They are the two most important questions that every child of God must face. They are the two most important questions that every minister of the gospel must face. And they are the two...

(The text, slightly revised, but maintaining as much as possible the spoken form and personal address, of the graduation speech for the Protestant Reformed Theological School. Commencement took place on June 15, 2017, in Hudsonville PRC auditorium, for seven graduates: Matthew DeBoer, Brian Feenstra, Joseph Holstege, Jonathan Langerak, David Noorman, Stephan Regnerus, Justin Smidstra.) Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy...

This is the third installment of the address that was given on the occasion of the graduation of Candidate Mr. Ryan Barnhill from the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary on June 11, 2015. Previous installment was printed in the September 15, 2015 issue, p. 490. The Minister’s Calling with Regard to His Wife We are at present considering the calling that the minister has toward the wife that God has graciously given him. We have seen that the expression in I Timothy 3:2 that the minister is to be “the husband of one wife” does not only underscore one of the...

This is the second installment of the address that was given on the occasion of the graduation of Candidate Mr. Ryan Barnhill from the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary on June 11, 2015. Marriage of the Clergy The Reformers encouraged the clergy to marry and repudiated Rome’s unbiblical requirement of clerical celibacy. Both Luther and Calvin repeatedly blasted Rome and her pope for making this commandment of men a command of God. Calvin did so in a sermon preached on Monday, October 2, 1559 in Geneva. The sermon text was Genesis 2:22-24. The title of the sermon was, “The Inviolable Union...