My name is Tim Phillips, and I am an ordained minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Currently, I am the pastor of the Midlane Park ARP Church in Louisville, Kentucky. I have an A.A. from East Georgia College, a B.S. and M.Ed. from Georgia Southern University, a M.Div. from Erskine Theological Seminary, and an M.Th. degree from Campbellsville University. My interests including reading theological books, computers, and watching college football and professional baseball (Go Dawgs! Go Braves!)
The name of this blog is an historical one with regard to the ARP church (it is the origin of the “A”). Gairney Bridge is actually a village located near the town of Kinross in Scotland (the village is called Gairneybridge, but there also appears to be an actual bridge called Gairney Bridge nearby). It was at a public house here, in December of 1733, that Ebenezer Erskine, along with the ministers James Fisher, Alexander Moncrieff, and William Wilson, formed an Associate Presbytery of the Church of Scotland. Called Seceders, they were later joined by other ministers (including Ebenezer’s brother Ralph), and they stood for the faithful preaching of the word of God. In particular they were noteworthy for their commitment to the free offer of the gospel (in a day in which a dark cloud of hyper-Calvinism hung over the Church of Scotland).