Ryan Martin is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Granite Falls, Minnesota. Prior to that, he served as the associate pastor of Bethany Bible Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He is on the board of directors of Religious Affections Ministries. Ryan received his undergraduate degree at Northland Baptist Bible College, and has received further training from Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis, Minn. (M.Div., 2004; Ph.D., 2013). He was ordained in 2009 at Bible Baptist Church of Elk River, Minn. (now Otsego, Minn.). He has a wife and children too. Ryan is the associate editor of Hymns to the Living God (Religious Affections Ministries, 2017). He contributed to the Jonathan Edwards Encyclopedia (Eerdmans, 2017) and is the author of Understanding Affections in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards: "The High Exercises of Divine Love" (T&T Clark, 2018).
This series of posts is in defense of the prayer service. In the first post, I offered some important introductory remarks, and laid out the… Read More »In Defense of the Prayer Meeting (Part 2): Its Essential Purpose
Long live the prayer meeting! When I was a kid, the independent Fundamentalist Baptist church I grew up in had a prayer meeting. It felt… Read More »In Defense of the Prayer Meeting (Part 1)
In the midst of difficult days, it is helpful to learn from those saints who have endured hard times before us. We are self-centered enough… Read More »Hymns sifted in Satan’s sieve of suffering
If someone was to tell you every day, multiple times a day, that you were an extremely handsome man or beautiful woman, that repeated compliment… Read More »Greet one another with a holy kiss
The novel coronavirus has resulted in a time where many churches have been unable to gather. This has been unprecedented for most of us alive… Read More »What I’ve missed while not gathering with my local church (Part 3)
We’ve all been caged up for a while now. Because of the concerns of governments the world-wide, churches have not been able to gather. In… Read More »What I’ve missed while not gathering with my local church (Part 2)
Throughout my life, I have very rarely missed church services. Because of our governor’s “Stay-at-Home” order, this season has been one of the most prolonged… Read More »What I’ve missed while not gathering with my local church (Part 1)
Increasingly, evangelical Christians are abandoning abstentionist and prohibitionist positions on alcohol. This is true among many conservative Baptist churches. It is increasingly common for pastors… Read More »A parable of moral change on alcohol
Of late many high-profile apostasies have rattled evangelical Christianity. Some of the men who have departed from the faith were much admired and loved for… Read More »Cold water to splash in Despair’s face over Apostasy
The great shift in worship over the last century has been the result of evangelical clergy in America seeking to make the worship of the… Read More »Worship and the “Mixt Congregation”
I was recently asked to fill out a survey for pastors about their use of hymnals. Their final question was: “If you DO use hymnals… Read More »Why Hymnals?
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was known for being an ardent “soul winner.” He maintained that a gospel minister will see certain fruit. A lack of success… Read More »Converted clog-dancers: Spurgeon on drawing a crowd
I recently walked through Psalm 130 with the congregation I pastor. Psalm 130 My Soul Waits for the Lord A Song of Ascents. [1] Out… Read More »Psalm 130 in the Hands of the Great Composers
Today marks the release of my first book, Understanding Affections in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards: “The High Exercises of Divine Love.” (Amazon Link | Bloomsbury… Read More »Book Announcement: Understanding Affections in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards: “The High Exercises of Divine Love” by Ryan J. Martin
In the preface to his Christian Book of Mystical Verse, A. W. Tozer writes, The hymns and poems found in here are mystical in that they… Read More »Tozer on great Christian poetry
A critic recently approached me about our hymnal and rebuked us for (among other things) including hymns written by Catholics in our hymnal. It is… Read More »May a Baptist (or any other Protestant) sing Catholic hymns?
With this post, I conclude my series on Scripture-regulated worship (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7). The Christian impulse to submit to Christ ought grounds our willing… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 8: Love for Christ through Scripture-Regulated Worship
I am forming an argument for Scripture-regulated worship from two pillars: the authority of Christ and our love for him (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6). If Christ… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 7: Loving What Christ Loves
This is the sixth post in this series (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5). The whole of the first five parts could be summarized… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 6: Love for Christ and New Testament Authority
My initial post in this series introduced the idea of worship regulated by Scripture alone (also known as the Regulative Principle of Worship). The second post considered important… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 5: Christ’s Authority 3