Congratulations to Wheaton College and to Dr. Philip Ryken

This past Sunday, Dr. Philip Ryken, the Senior Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, announced that he had accepted the position as the President of Wheaton College. Dr. Ryken was preceeded in the historic church’s pulpit by such notable pastors as Donald Gray Barnhouse and James Montgomery Boice.

I have been blesed greatly by the ministry of Dr. Ryken, hearing him at conferences, listening to his sermons via podcast, and reading his books. As I watched the webcast of Dr. Ryken’s announcement, I was further impressed by a number of things which clearly helped make him the wonderful pastor he has been at Tenth:

1) The way he tenderly cares for the flock that has been entrusted to his care. The love that he has for the members of Tenth was evident in the words he spoke and the way he spoke them. He made it clear that leaving them would be a hard experience, “so hard because it has been so good.” The mutual love and sorrow reminded me of Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20.

2) The fact that he appropriately values his family was evident in a number of ways:

• His wife’s input was clearly a part of the decision he made
• His took steps to guard his children from being overwhelmed by a whirlwind of questions from those in the church
• One of the few prayer requests he made was for his family and the issues that they would have to deal with in their time transition

3) Even with these two priorities (his family and his church), Dr. Ryken made it clear that a kingdom perspective is required. This was apparent in his opening words which were a reminder to the congregation that the session had asked him to issue: “One of the things we’ve really tried to teach and to model as a congrgation…is to, with joy, to give up what we have for the wider work of the kingdom of God.” It was also apparent in the family prayer that he shared: “We are open to God severing every earthly tie of affection, as long as he will preserve that tie of affection with himself, and that we will go where Jesus calls us to go.”

May God bless Dr. Ryken, his family, and Tenth Church during this time of transition.