church planter / public theology / 🇺🇸
Abilene, TX
Joined August 2011
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Some big news to share. The Hasler's are moving to Texas!
I've accepted a call to plant the first PCA church in Abilene, TX. Our family is very excited for this opportunity to be part of the amazing things the Lord is already doing in West Texas.
But we can't do this alone. So, could I ask you to...
1. Pray for us. Pray for our family, for our core group, and for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this mission church. We are hoping to be arriving Spring 2026 but many things have to come together before then.
2. Tell your friends! If you know anyone who is looking for a church in Abilene or would like to support a PCA church in Abilene, I'd love to talk with them.
3. Consider financially supporting us. We will need to raise some significant funds over the next couple years as we get this church off the ground. If you or your church would like to give to a confessional, ordinary means of grace, P&R church committed to the Great Commission and reaching the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can DM/text/call/email me. I'd love to talk to you about this work!
"And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved"
Robert Hasler retweeted
The War Department is officially launching the Chaplain In-Service Procurement Program.
Robert Hasler retweeted
The chances of being killed by a landmine delivered by a bear are low, but they are never zero.
Robert Hasler retweeted
Where would Achilles be without Homer?
Even heroes need someone to sing about them.
Socrates knew it and resented it.
Story tellers rule the world.
Rewatched The Great Escape again last night and was reminded of how much I appreciate the 4th of July scene and Sturges interpretation of the American project.
Political goods like freedom must be secured. Man gets stir-crazy in a cage. It’s unnatural.
But the good of freedom must be secured through common action and requires individual sacrifice.
At the end of the day, however, there is a universal kind of aspiration for freedom that transcends natural boundaries. Even former enemies who waged war over the right to freedom link arms to fight for it, together, once again.
Robert Hasler retweeted
Victor Davis Hanson recounts his life growing up as a farmer in California on a recent episode of The Larry Arnn Show.
bit.ly/4i4JgGl
Robert Hasler retweeted
Put the Destination in the Frame - Boys need more than warnings. They need a picture of the men they’re meant to become - A guest essay by John Seel aaronrenn.com/p/put-the-dest…
If evangelical Protestant churches like the PCA resign themselves to an obscure existence in a mostly RC-Pentecostal landscape it will be because we chose it, not because we didn’t have the resources to address the questions of our time.
Ross is right about the vibrancy of evangelicalism. But a distinction needs to be made. The strongest currents of Protestantism in the US are Wesleyan, not Calvinist, Pentecostal rather than Presbyterian. When intellectual Protestants wax triumphant about an “evangelical century,” they are celebrating the success of a form of Christianity that differs in significant ways from their own.
I was raised in a non-denominational evangelical church. When I became “young, restless, and Reformed,” my parents were alarmed. They asked the pastor how to handle my evident defection from the faith. Whatever I believed, they thought, it wasn’t true Christianity.
Intellectual Protestants—the kind who attend Anglican churches or imbibe high-proof Calvinist texts—represent traditions of belief that have helped shape this country. But in terms of sociology and doctrine, they are alienated from the most vigorous contemporary expressions of American Christianity.
Robert Hasler retweeted
Much as I wish it weren’t the case there’s a lot of truth to this. The buzz has been about Catholicism in, but on campus I know as a Presbyterian for most kids the draw is not to Rome, but Bapticostalism. That said, theological diffusion being what it is, those boundaries are…
Ross is right about the vibrancy of evangelicalism. But a distinction needs to be made. The strongest currents of Protestantism in the US are Wesleyan, not Calvinist, Pentecostal rather than Presbyterian. When intellectual Protestants wax triumphant about an “evangelical century,” they are celebrating the success of a form of Christianity that differs in significant ways from their own.
I was raised in a non-denominational evangelical church. When I became “young, restless, and Reformed,” my parents were alarmed. They asked the pastor how to handle my evident defection from the faith. Whatever I believed, they thought, it wasn’t true Christianity.
Intellectual Protestants—the kind who attend Anglican churches or imbibe high-proof Calvinist texts—represent traditions of belief that have helped shape this country. But in terms of sociology and doctrine, they are alienated from the most vigorous contemporary expressions of American Christianity.
Current events within our world of evangelicalism have me revisiting something I wrote some months back about intellectual silos.
There are benign manifestations of it like how we joke about the only two sources preachers draw on for illustrations are LOTR and Narnia.
But there are also those cases when the quest for ideological orthodoxy keeps us from engaging new ideas critically or creatively. The result is we become increasingly stunted in our thinking, irrelevant, and boring.
I tend to think it’s all downstream of bad ecclesiology. We frame everything in the context of “the church” without ever really defining what we mean. So the kind of intellectual diversity that probably doesn’t work in *the church* is confused as being something dangerous among *Christians.*
(An unsophisticated understanding of worldview is probably also at play but I haven’t figured that part out yet)
Robert Hasler retweeted
Very eloquent defense of Just War convictions. @mlivecche
Palmer Luckey says America needs people willing to build weapons and fight to defend freedom: “Pacifists exist on the sacrifices of people who actually put their lives on the line.” 🇺🇸
“Societies have always needed a warrior class that is enthused and excited about enacting violence in pursuit of good aims. Philosophers can criticize those people and say they’re sick in the head, but society needs them.
We need people who are willing to fight for our country. My life’s not on the line directly, but you need people like me who don’t lose any sleep making tools of violence in order to preserve freedom.
I have no problem with people who say, ‘I could never do that. I’d feel too guilty.’ It’s a good thing we’ve got a mix in society. We don’t all need to do the same things or think the same way.
Pacifists exist on the sacrifices of people who actually put their lives on the line. And I think we should respect that, even if we’re not willing to do it ourselves.”
Palmer is exactly right. I believe we need to stop criticizing people who have dedicated their life to protecting our soldiers and our country. Since the beginning of time, we’ve always needed a warrior class and I’m happy we have people willing to sleep at night knowing that what they’re doing is protecting all enemies domestic and foreign.
The story of the magi in Matthew 2:1-12 is a testament to the extraordinary grace of God.
The first people depicted as worshipping Christ Jesus are Gentiles and Gentile astrologers (i.e. idolaters) at that.
By the grace of God, the far off are brought near in Jesus.
Robert Hasler retweeted
if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses
Robert Hasler retweeted
One of the things you learn in church planting is that people do not need organized church programs. They don't need a perfect church community. They don't even need you to be perfect. But they really do need Jesus Christ, and you are someone (maybe the only person they know) who can bring them to Him. And, that is the greatest work on earth.
“For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
—Matthew 3:9-10
Robert Hasler retweeted
Since the military is in the news a lot, why not read about how religion affected the US Army and Navy in the 19th Century? Check out *Valiant & Pious* from @DavenantInst Press! It also has a cool cover. Purchase link below:
Robert Hasler retweeted
I’m very grateful to Rev Dr @scottrswain for this endorsement of *Valiant & Pious* from @DavenantInst. Purchase link below:
