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).
The first post in this series introduced Scripture-Regulated Worship. The second post considered some important arguments for Scripture-Regulated Worship. The third post showed the ways the New Testament explains… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 4: Christ’s Authority 2
The first post in this series introduced Scripture Regulated Worship. The second post considered some of the most important arguments for Scripture-Regulated Worship. The Argument from Christ’s… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 3: Christ’s Authority 1
In the first post, I introduced Scripture Regulated Worship and the topic of this series. In this post, I consider some of the most important… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 2: Arguments for RPW
Note: This is the first in a series of posts on the Regulative Principle. This offers documentation for and expands upon my presentation to the 2018… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 1: Introduction
It’s no secret that people sing much less than they used to. Generally, as a culture, we listen to a lot of music, but make very little.… Read More »A plea for singing hymns in family worship
Religious Affections Ministries is pleased to announce the new Church Pew Edition of our new hymnal, Hymns to the Living God. This hymnal is the… Read More »Introducing the New Church Pew Edition of Hymns to the Living God
I still confess the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The Scriptures teach repeatedly that no man is or can be saved by his works. This matter… Read More »On the relationship of faith and works
Gospel ministry is filled with both great difficulty and great encouragements. When ministers are discouraged, one of the ways that the Lord strengthens them is… Read More »Encouragement to Ministers
Every pastor and Christian leader feels a certain pressure to be relevant. We do not want Christianity to slip away into an oblivion. We do… Read More »Horatius Bonar on Trendiness in Religion
Too often, contemporary Christianity sees all emotions or affections as essentially equal. For this reason, many conclude as long as some kind of religious emotion… Read More »Augustine on that which deserves the name “love”
Occasionally I listen to the Mortification of Spin (hereafter MOS) podcast. I find the episodes largely helpful and would happily recommend the podcast to others.… Read More »The Mortification of Spin’s Take on Secular Music (or, Calvin vs. the Calvinists)
In the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul rebukes the church for its chaotic worship. It seems that the problems included women teachers (14:33b-35), the… Read More »The Holy Spirit and decent and orderly worship
The carol “This is the Truth Sent from Above” is a traditional carol whose text originates from words that first appeared in the 19th century.… Read More »This is the Truth Sent from Above
Paul has a corporate worship in mind in 1 Corinthians 14, and as the Apostle addresses the problem of tongues in Corinth, he at the same teaches… Read More »Christian worship is corporate
In 1 Corinthians 14:7-8, Paul says, ”If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know… Read More »Paul, Plato, and Calvin on Music
The Scriptures teach us to pray for the things that God has promised. We often pray for things that we are unsure of. We often pray… Read More »Praying for what God has promised
Paul’s Words to the Ephesians The beginning of Ephesians 5 is striking. Paul writes to former idolaters and fornicators, reminding them of their new life in… Read More »tobyMac and the state of Evangelical piety
I have had a chance over many months to get to know the hymnal Cantus Christi published by Canon Press, associated with Pastor Douglas Wilson and Christ… Read More »Some Thoughts about the hymnal Cantus Christi
We all say we’re against selfishness. But what is selfishness? And if God hates selfishness, why does our own happiness play such an important role in… Read More »Is Self-Love Always Selfishness?
In 1 Cor 10:17 Paul says, Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one… Read More »A Modest Proposal: One Loaf in Communion