NR #1996-006: Concerned Presbyterians Announce Jay Adams as Lead Speaker Concerned Presbyterians, a conservative organization concerned about the direction of the 260,000-member Presbyterian Church in America, has announced that leading Reformed theologian Dr. Jay Adams has accepted their invitation to be the keynote speaker at the organization's annual Concerned Presbyterians Day on March 1 in Greenville, South Carolina. Adams' topic will be "How to Bring Reformation to the Church." Best-known as the founder of the "nouthetic counselling" model of pastoral ministry, Adams has written over sixty books, including "Competent to Counsel," "Christian Living in the Home," "Preaching with Purpose," and "The Biblical View of Self-Esteem, Self-Love, and Self-Image," and taught for nearly three decades at the Philadelphia and California campuses of Westminster Theological Seminary before beginning church planting in South Carolina. NR #1996-006: For Immediate Release Concerned Presbyterians Announce Jay Adams as Lead Speaker by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (January 12, 1996) URNS - Concerned Presbyterians, a conservative organization concerned about the direction of the 260,000-member Presbyterian Church in America, has announced that leading Reformed theologian Dr. Jay Adams has accepted their invitation to be the keynote speaker at the organization's annual Concerned Presbyterians Day on March 1 in Greenville, South Carolina. Adams' topic will be "How to Bring Reformation to the Church." Best-known as the founder of the "nouthetic counselling" model of pastoral ministry, Adams has written over sixty books, including "Competent to Counsel," "Christian Living in the Home," "Preaching with Purpose," and "The Biblical View of Self-Esteem, Self-Love, and Self-Image." Adams founded the Christian Counselling and Educational Foundation, is a past president of the National Association of Nouthetic Counsellors, and edited the Journal of Pastoral Practice. After twenty years as a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Adams' served seven years as the director of advanced studies at Westminster Theological Seminary in California. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Missouri, an S.T.M. from Temple University School of Theology, and a divinity degree from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, in addition to graduate work at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a post-doctoral fellowship in psychology at the University of Illinois, studying under Dr. O. Hobart Mowrer. "We recognize Jay Adams as one who is a reformer in the church and who has brought reformation in areas such as counselling," said Concerned Presbyterians chairman Rev. Charles Wilson of Charlotte, North Carolina. "He is considered an outstanding Reformed theologian, and we know of his interest in bringing reformation to the church at large so we felt free to invite him to speak to Concerned Presbyterians." "All of his life he has been teaching through his writings as well as in the schools and in the churches and he has been teaching a very practical working Reformed faith," said Wilson. Inviting Adams, a member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church who has never been a PCA minister, to be the keynote speaker of Concerned Presbyterians Day signals the possibility of a significant expansion of the organization's work. "We are seriously discussing crossing denominational lines and setting up a 'Concerned Presbyterians' in other Reformed bodies that we see fighting many of the same battles that we are fighting in the PCA," said Wilson. "We're being careful to invite ARP and Orthodox Presbyterian churches and people as well as PCA pastors and people." What are Concerned Presbyterians concerned about? "I believe the Reformed faith to be the most biblical presentation of the faith, and as I see men watering down what I believe to be biblical truths, we feel compelled to call them to the Word of God," said Wilson. "We see the pragmatism that is called evangelicalism, which I call modernism, spreading throughout every denomination in the land. Our call is for churches to be as biblical as possible." Other speakers at Concerned Presbyterians Day will be Rev. George Felton, who will preach and lead opening worship, and Rev. James Jones, Jr., speaking on "Reformation and the Great Commission." Both are PCA pastors, graduates of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and members of the Concerned Presbyterians steering committee. Felton serves McDonald Presbyterian Church in Collings, Mississippi; Jones, a former PCA missionary to France, pastors Dickenson First Presbyterian Church in Haysi, Virginia. The 1996 Concerned Presbyterians Day will be held at the Greenville Ramada Inn. Registration fees, which include a buffet lunch, are $35. Preregistration by February 15 is encouraged but not required. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1994-023: Concerned Presbyterians Take Aim at Presbyterian Church in America Leadership, Vow Fight at June General Assembly #1994-029: PCA General Assembly "Pleads" with Christian Reformed Denomination not to Open All Church Offices to Women; Proposal to Dismiss Interchurch Committee Rejected After Floor Fight #1995-011: Concerned Presbyterians Announce Meeting to Further Reformation of Presbyterian Church in America #1995-034: Retired PCA Stated Clerk Overtures General Assembly to Appoint Committee to Study Denominational Unrest #1995-045: Top PCA Denominational Leaders Meet, Consider Strategy Against Concerned Presbyterians and other "TR's" #1995-080: Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly Unanimously Warns CRC to "Repent and Rescind" Women in Office Decision Contact List: Dr. Jay Adams, Pastor, Harrison Bridge Rd. Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 257 Harrison Bridge Rd., Simpsonville, SC 29681 * O: (803) 967-2986 * FAX: (803) 228-0212 Concerned Presbyterians Registraton 7425 Pirates Cove Court, Charlotte, NC 28227 Rev. George Felton, Pastor, McDonald Presbyterian Church (PCA) Box 333-A, Collings, MS 39428-9663 * O: (601) 765-0538 Dr. Paul Gilchrist, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church in America 1852 Century Place, Suite 190, Atlanta GA 30345 * O: (404) 320-3366 Rev. James A. Jones, Jr., Pastor, Dickenson First Presbyterian Church (PCA) PO Box 287, Haysi, VA 24256 * O: (703) 865-5650 * H: (703) 865-5623 Rev. Charles Wilson, Chairman, Concerned Presbyterians 3420 Rea Rd., Charlotte, NC 28226 * H/O: (704) 542-9603 * F: (704) 875-2998 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-006.txt .