President's Message for Donors

Dear Kingdom Builder,

Thank you for your interest in the Kingdom-building ministry of RPTS!

As tuition alone does not keep the Seminary going, and ninety percent of gifts to the Seminary are from inviduals, it is no exageration to say that God uses you as a vital part of our work. We truly could not continue training pastors and church leaders without you coming along side and holding us up. Thank you!

As you donate your time and talent through volunteering with us, or your treasure, I trust the following words resonate with with your soul:

Good ministers are one in a thousand.  If therefore their number is to be increased, training institutions must be well maintained.

This profound statement affirms how vital you are to our work here at RPTS.  It comes from a book entitled The Art of Prophesying which was required reading for our recent preaching practicum. The author, William Perkins, was a Puritan teacher and preacher in England during the late 1500’s.  His words that continue below are striking:

In order to uphold the kingdom of Satan, Antichrist is careful to erect colleges and endow them with financial backing, to be seminaries for his synagogue … He employs strenuous means to sow his tares in the hearts of young men, so that they may in turn sow them in the hearts of people abroad.  Should not Christian rulers be just as careful, indeed, even more zealous, to increase the number of godly ministers?

While Perkins might very well be ignored by civil leaders in our day, certainly he still pricks the hearts of God’s people.  He understood as you do that the world needs nothing less than the Gospel, and that heralded by preachers.

I think of Martin Bucer’s advice to Prince Edward during the Reformation: if he wanted to have a Christian nation, he must send godly preachers to all corners of Britain.  Indeed, the Spirit changes men’s hearts and lives through the proclamation of the Word.

Thank you for giving to this work. Thank you for helping men who have ministered to train good ministers and send them throughout our nation and to all peoples of the earth.  Pray for God to anoint their ministry.  And please do continue to help us maintain this institution well to produce more and more godly ministers.

Jerry F. O'Neill

President