Camden Bucey and Ryan Noha cover a wide range of topics important to our community, including an in-depth review of the Reformed Academy’s progress, what we’ve accomplished, the lessons we’ve learned, and what we have planned for the upcoming year, including new ideas and a proposed schedule.

We also dive into our recent and upcoming events and meetups, sharing highlights from our trip to California, details about our visit to Arizona, thoughts about our upcoming symposia, our big pre-conference in Greenville, and our participation in the PCA and OPC General Assemblies.

Additionally, we discuss potential future cities for our meetups and events, ensuring our community remains vibrant and connected. Furthermore, we provide an update on the Reformed Forum Magazine, sharing exciting developments and what readers can look forward to.

Most importantly, this town hall was an opportunity for us to engage directly with you. We took questions from our livestream listeners, addressing your curiosities, concerns, and suggestions. Whether you’re deeply invested in the Reformed community or simply curious about what we do, this town hall was a meaningful dialogue about our collective journey and future aspirations.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:02:55 Financial Update
• 00:22:33 Reformed Academy
• 00:30:13 Past and Upcoming Events
• 00:48:55 A New Book on Van Til
• 00:51:36 General Assemblies, Synods, and Meetups
• 00:56:01 Reformed Forum Magazine
• 00:59:17 Random Topics
• 01:01:02 Alabama and Michigan Football Predictions
• 01:03:37 Forthcoming Books
• 01:07:57 Episodes on Southern Presbyterianism
• 01:10:54 Reformed Forum 2024 Annual Conference
• 01:11:52 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Ryan Noha

In this special quarantine episode, we discuss the theological issues and lessons learned from the initial weeks of staying at home during the global COVID-19 health crisis. Though many Christians are prevented from gathering physically to worship on the Lord’s Day, the Lord has promised that his church shall never perish. While our worship practices may be irregular for a time, God has provided means by which he cares for his people.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jim Cassidy

Dr. Lane G. Tipton teaches on the Foundations of Covenant Theology, summarizing the basic points of his course available now. This lesson was delivered at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois during the adult Sunday school hour over the course of the 2019 Reformed Forum theology conference.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Camden M. Bucey explores Paul’s enigmatic phrase in Romans 7:14 by using Galatians 3 as an interpretive context for Romans 7–8.

This address concluded the main sessions of the 2019 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Dr. Lane G. Tipton delivers his second plenary address at the 2019 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois. In this address, he discusses Paul’s Christological interpretation of the new beginning in 1 Corinthians 15:45–49.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Jeff Waddington, Lane Tipton, Glen Clary, Jim Cassidy, and Camden Bucey answer questions at the Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois on October 12, 2019.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington delivers a plenary address at the 2019 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

Dr. Lane G. Tipton delivers his first plenary address at the 2019 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Camden Bucey speaks at our 2019 Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois. The theme of the conference is “The Law Is Spiritual,” which is a phrase that comes from Romans 7:14. This is a verse that has been a perennial challenge for interpreters. What does it mean for the law to be “spiritual”? In this opening lecture, Dr. Bucey offers several exegetical, hermeneutical, and biblical-theological suggestions for approaching this difficult verse and its immediate context, namely Romans 7. This is a sketch of what could be developed in due course.

There is a typological and eschatological difference post-Pentecost. This is a fundamental point of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. There is deep congruence between Galatians’ structure and that of Romans. It is interesting to compare the flow of Paul’s argument in Galatians with that of Romans. If that is true, you should be able to look to one letter for assistance when the other is particularly difficult to understand. Romans 7 is one of those chapters, particularly with regard to the so-called “schizophrenic I.”[1] When Paul uses the first-person singular pronoun, what does he mean?

The ancient church held the view that Paul was referring to himself when he was an unbeliever. The Augustinian and Reformational tradition viewed it as the struggle of a believer battling with indwelling sin in this age. Others have argued for a redemptive-historical view that Paul describes life under the Old Covenant.

We will consider consider the hypothesis that Romans 7:14a is explained in part by Galatians 3:19 and Galatians 3:22–24 sheds light on Romans 7:14b. The struggle of Romans 7 is that of the earthly/dust (χοϊκός) man (1 Corinthians 15:47–48). The law originates from heaven and guides us as a pedagogue unto the precipice just as Moses brought the people to the Jordan. But to cross over into the promised land, we need the man of heaven, the life-giving Spirit. Once there, we can offer the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5), which was the goal of the law in the first place (Romans 8:4).

[1] See Dennis Johnson’s chapter in Resurrection and Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Rev. Danny E. Olinger lectures on the connection Geerhardus Vos and J. Gresham Machen. This lesson was taught at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois as part of the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference.

Participants: Danny Olinger

Camden Bucey delivers the concluding address at the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois.

Glen Clary delivers a plenary address at the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois. Download the handouts.

Participants: Glen Clary

Jim Cassidy delivers a plenary address at the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois. Download the handout.

Participants: Jim Cassidy

Jeff Waddington spoke at the fifth annual Reformed Forum Conference, which was held October 5–7, 2018 at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois. The theme of the conference was “Seeing God: The Deeper Protestant Conception.” The speakers addressed important theological challenges and controversies facing the contemporary Reformed church by exploring the theologies of Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, and Geerhardus Vos on the beatific vision and glorification of man.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

Lane Tipton delivers the first plenary address at the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois. Download the lecture notes to follow along.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Camden Bucey delivers the opening and introductory address at the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Participants: Jeff Waddington

The Reformation of Apologetics, Session #5 Reformed Forum 2017 Theology Conference Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC)

Participants: Camden Bucey

The Reformation of Apologetics, Session #4 Reformed Forum 2017 Theology Conference Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC)

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

The Reformation of Apologetics, Session #2 Reformed Forum 2017 Theology Conference Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) Download the handouts.

Participants: K. Scott Oliphint

The Reformation of Apologetics, Session #1 Reformed Forum 2017 Theology Conference Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) Download the handouts.

Participants: K. Scott Oliphint

Jeff Waddington spoke about Van Til and the archetype/ectype distinction during our 2017 Theology Conference VIP dinner at Market House on the Square in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

We are pleased to welcome Theology Simply Profound. Rob McKenzie and Bob Tarullo address issues of Reformed theology in an accessible manner. If Christ the Center is an advanced course, this is your prolegomena. Think of it as Reformed meat and potatoes, a foundation.

Participants: Camden Bucey

This week we’re at The Gospel Coalition 2017 Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’re meeting many new people and telling them about our mission to assist the Church in her call to discipleship. With a host of new listeners, I wanted to release a special welcome episode into our podcast feed and provide a short introduction to what we do here at Reformed Forum.

We’ve been podcasting since January 2008. Our flagship program, Christ the Center, has released a new episode every Friday since that first episode was released over nine years ago. We’ve just published our first book No Uncertain Sound, which plants a flag for our distinctive confessional Reformed theology. We are unabashed in promoting historic Protestantism in the tradition of the Westminster Standards and the three forms of unity: the Canons of Dort, the Belgic Confession, and the Heidelberg Catechism. We believe this important, since we live in an age of broad and often pragmatic evangelicalism. We’re promoting something substantial and enduring.

But even beyond our confessional tradition, we specifically advance theology in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos and Cornelius Van Til. We’ve detailed all of this in our book No Uncertain Sound. We hope you pick up a copy and fall in love with this rich theology arising from a redemptive-historical hermeneutic.

At the end of the episode, we include a portion of Christ the Center episode 378 with Dr. Carl Trueman. In this episode, we speak about Dr. Trueman’s book Luther on the Christian Life, in which he paints a portrait of Martin Luther through his historical context, theological system, and approach to the Christian life. Luther is often treated in a black-and-white fashion or exclusively through his succinct theological quips and mottoes. Trueman helps us to see the practical and pastoral context in which Luther lived and ministered and thereby grants to us a better understanding of both the man and his theology.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carl Trueman, Jim Cassidy

Camden Bucey speaks at the 2016 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois on October 8, 2016.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Lane Tipton delivers his second address at the 2016 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois on October 8, 2016.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Jeff Waddington speaks at the 2016 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois on October 8, 2016.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

Glen Clary speaks at the 2016 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois on October 8, 2016.

Participants: Glen Clary

Jim Cassidy speaks on Herman Bavinck’s consistently Reformed defense of the faith at the 2016 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Jim Cassidy

Lane Tipton delivers the first address at the 2016 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Lane G. Tipton teaches the adult Sunday school class at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois, considering Christology from the early chapters of the epistle to the Hebrews.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

We are pleased to announce the paper selections and program for the Covenantal Apologetics Colloquium, which will be held online on Saturday, December 5th, at 7pm (Eastern Standard Time). We’ll be streaming the event live through Google Hangouts On Air. Earlier this year, we issued a call for papers on covenantal apologetics. We submitted those papers to our esteemed panel of judges for blind review. Out of that field of submissions, we are presenting three papers based on the aggregate assessment of our panel. More information including a video embed is available on our event page.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. preaches during the morning service at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Richard B. Gaffin Jr.

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington delivers his breakout session at the 2015 Reformed Forum theology Conference.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. delivers his second plenary address at the 2015 Theology Conference.

Participants: Richard B. Gaffin Jr.

Dr. James J. Cassidy delivers his breakout session at the 2015 Reformed Forum Theology Conference.

Participants: Jim Cassidy

Participants: Camden Bucey

Lane Tipton delivers the first of his two plenary addresses at our 2015 Theology Conference at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. delivers the first plenary address at the 2015 Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Richard B. Gaffin Jr.

Over the years we have received many questions pertaining to different aspects of recording and publishing digital audio. In this episode, Camden Bucey shares practical lessons and many of the tips and tricks he’s picked up after eight years of podcasting.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Dr. Lane G. Tipton teaches on the eternal Son of God revealed climactically as described in Hebrews 1:1–4.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV)

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Camden M. Bucey preaches from Romans 8:29 during the Sunday morning worship service over the 2014 Reformed Forum Theology Conference.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Dr. Lane G. Tipton builds upon his first plenary address by developing a biblical-theological and systematic approach to considering whether there is a republication of the Covenant of Works in the Mosaic economy.

Unedited and Unprocessed Recording of the Livestream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTB7r10Ap-4

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Dr. K. Scott Oliphint explains three key theological principles from Van Til’s Common Grace and the Gospel.

Unedited and Unprocessed Recording of the Livestream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJF0CkuHbrY

Participants: K. Scott Oliphint

Lane Tipton delivers his second plenary address at the 2014 Reformed Forum Theology Conference. In this address, Dr. Tipton offers a way forward in the debates regarding a republication of the Covenant of Works in the Mosaic economy.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Lane G. Tipton lays a foundation of covenant history through the story of three sons: Adam the protological son of God, Israel the typological, and Jesus the eschatological. Dr. Tipton opens Luke 4 to demonstrate the pattern of covenant law and obedience woven throughout the experience of each son.

Unedited and Unprocessed Recording of the Livestream

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. K. Scott Oliphint examines the Reformed tradition’s understanding of the Son as a se. In his assessment, much of the tradition relies upon unsatisfactory formulations offered by Thomas Aquinas. Oliphint encourages Reformed theologians to “tear away the tares of Thomism” in this first plenary address at Reformed Forum’s 2014 Theology Conference.

Unedited and Unprocessed Recording of the Livestream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0f5c61qCRs

Participants: Camden Bucey, K. Scott Oliphint

Secure your place now. Join us for a unique theological learning experience that has been designed to promote face-to-face interaction among attendees and speakers. Reformed Forum has always been about making Reformed theological conversation available and accessible to anyone who is interested. For the past six years, we have done this mainly through our website and podcasts. Now you have the opportunity to be an active participant in the discussion for an entire weekend. Attendance is limited to 104 participants, which ensures that each attendee has the opportunity to participate in personal exchanges with our speakers and theological contributors.

The conference will be held October 10–12, 2014 (Friday–Sunday) at Hope Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois. Our theme will be The Sons of God. Scripture speaks of several different sons of God. Adam is called the son of God (Luke 3:38). The nation of Israel is as well (Ex 4:22). Climactically, Jesus Christ came to the earth as the now incarnate eternal Son of God. These three, as the representative protological, typological, and eschatological son, respectively, bear upon the life of Christians, who will be revealed as the sons of God in glory (Rom 8:19). This overarching theme offers an exciting opportunity to develop a full range of biblical-theological, systematic, apologetic, historical, and practical themes. Our plenary speakers will be Dr. K. Scott Oliphint, Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary and Dr. Lane G. Tipton, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster. Dr. Oliphint plans to develop the conference theme in light of his work in his book God with Us, and Dr. Tipton plans to break new ground in the debates regarding a republication of the Covenant of Works in the Mosaic Administration. Camden Bucey, Jim Cassidy, Jeff Waddington, and other Reformed Forum contributors will also be speaking and/or leading breakout sessions on a variety of topics. → Pledge your support on Indiegogo.

How We’ll Use the Funds

We need your help to raise the funds to make this conference happen. Your contributions will go directly toward speaking fees for our plenary speakers, travel expenses for our contributors, conference materials, Saturday lunch, and audio-visual expenses related to live streaming and recording the conference. For those new to this kind of project, it’s important to understand that this conference will only happen if Reformed Forum raises $7,500. If we do not reach our goal, your pledge will be refunded automatically. If the project fully funds, you will receive additional information about conference registration and a survey soliciting your input regarding breakout sessions.

Location

Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) is located roughly 2 miles west of Interstate 94 in Grayslake, Illinois. It’s easily accessible by car and approximately 30 minutes north of Chicago O’Hare Airport. The church is also only 10 minutes from Six Flags Great America, one hour south of Milwaukee, and depending on the time of day, about an hour from downtown Chicago. Address: Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) 18215 Belvidere Rd. (Rt. 120) Grayslake, IL 60030

Tentative Schedule

• Friday afternoon—Pre-conference
• Friday evening—Main conference introduction and first plenary address.
• Friday night—Special dinner for the top level supporters.
• Saturday—Plenary addresses and breakout sessions. A modest lunch and drinks will be provided on-site. Dinner will be at local restaurants.
• Sunday—Morning worship service and adult Sunday school.

Area Accommodations

Comfort Suites 1775 E Belvidere Rd Grayslake, IL 60030 Phone: (847) 680-8828 Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago-Libertyville 2061 Shell Dr Libertyville, IL 60048 Phone: (847) 680-8828 Fairfield Inn Chicago Gurnee 6090 Gurnee Mills Cir E Gurnee, IL 60031 Phone: (847) 855-8868 Holiday Inn Gurnee Convention Center 6161 W Grand Ave Gurnee, IL 60031 Phone: (847) 336-6300 Visit our Indiegogo page to support the project.

Participants: Camden Bucey