Author: Milton Vincent
Located in: Moreno Valley, CA
Submitted: February 01, 2008
Tell us a little about yourself. My wife and I are from Indianapolis, Indiana. We both went to Bob Jones University, and we graduated from there in '87. I graduated from The Master's Seminary in '91, and a few months later I assumed the pastorate at Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church, where my wife and I have been ever since. I did teach English Grammar at The Master's Seminary for two years and Beginning Hebrew at the seminary for four years. I have four children, Brooke (18), Brendan (16), Benjamin (12), and Breanna (10). I have a terrible golf game.
What was your motivation behind this project? To the Christians at Rome, Paul literally says, "I am eager to evangelize you who are at Rome" (Romans 1:15). Apparently, Paul felt that the Roman Christians still needed to be evangelized; and I have found the same to be true in my own life and in the lives of many other Christians to whom I minister. The Gospel Primer represents an attempt to meet the needs of Christians who, like me, feel the need for a simple tool through which they can evangelize themselves each day.
It had been a burden of mine since 2001 to write a gospel tract for Christian people, a tract which lays out for them the basics of the gospel, calls them to faith in that gospel, and shows them how they can come into a fuller experience of it. The Primer is that tract.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? My hope for the booklet is simply that Christians will find the truths in it as helpful as I have found them to be in my own life. It has been rewarding in recent months to witness the interest in the primer and to hear of how it has blessed so many. This confirms to me that we all share the same basic need for the gospel each day.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? The Apostle Paul is my greatest hero and dearest brother in the faith. The Lord used his fanatical zeal for the gospel to give me light and show me the way forward when my soul was at a critical impasse.
William Wilberforce. He was a gospel-driven man who worked and spoke with great conviction of the rightness of his causes, yet he did so with a humble consciousness of his own sin and a spirit of graciousness toward others.
C.J. Mahaney. I know of no other man who exudes the spirit of the apostle Paul more than he. C.J. speaks and emotes about the gospel the way I've always imagined that the apostle Paul did when he was alive. I love him for that.
Jerry Bridges. Bridges' book, 'The Discipline of Grace' has had a huge impact on my life, and I will always be grateful for his introducing me to the role of the gospel in the life of the believer.
