fbpx

Pray for Phil Newton

My dear friend and brother, Phil Newton, has cancer. He received the diagnosis this week that a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma known as Mantle Cell Lymphoma has attacked his body. It is inoperable and there is no known cure. An aggressive treatment protocol is being planned as he consults with Phil Newtonspecialists both locally and at MD Anderson in Houston. They hope is to contain the cancer and keep it at bay for several years.

Phil pastors South Woods Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, a church that he planted in 1987. Along with being an award winning author, conference speaker and energetic supporter of gospel work around the world, Phil serves as a fellow board member of Founders Ministries. Due to the challenging treatment path in front of him, Phil resigned from our board today. He hopes to continue preaching as he is able and to study and write as the Lord gives him strength.

Please pray for Phil and Karen, as well as for their children and grandchildren. Pray also for his fellow elders and the members of South Woods. They are a wonderful congregation and have been well-taught and shepherded for many years. Pray that the Lord will cause the gospel to work powerfully in them and through them during this trial. He is planning to preach Sunday from Revelation 5—his favorite passage. Ask the Lord to grant Him liberty and power as he preaches.

As news has spread many have already reached out to Phil and his family to express their concern, love and prayers. He no doubt would be encouraged to hear from friends and is the kind of man who tries to respond to every contact, but if you do drop him a note, please do not expect him to respond during this time.

Tom Ascol has served as a Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL since 1986. Prior to moving to Florida he served as pastor and associate pastor of churches in Texas. He has a BS degree in sociology from Texas A&M University (1979) and has also earned the MDiv and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. He has served as an adjunct professor of theology for various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary, the Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary, African Christian University, Copperbelt Ministerial College, and Reformed Baptist Seminary. He has also served as Visiting Professor at the Nicole Institute for Baptist Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Tom serves as the President of Founders Ministries and The Institute of Public Theology. He has edited the Founders Journal, a quarterly theological publication of Founders Ministries, and has written hundreds of articles for various journals and magazines. He has been a regular contributor to TableTalk, the monthly magazine of Ligonier Ministries. He has also edited and contributed to several books, including Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry, The Truth and Grace Memory Books for children and  Recovering the Gospel and Reformation of Churches. He is also the author of From the Protestant Reformation to the Southern Baptist Convention, Traditional Theology and the SBC and Strong and Courageous. Tom regularly preaches and lectures at various conferences throughout the United States and other countries. In addition he regularly contributes articles to the Founders website and hosts a weekly podcast called The Sword & The Trowel. He and his wife Donna have six children along with four sons-in-law and a daughter-in-law. They have sixteen grandchildren.
Get Founders
in Your Inbox
A weekly brief of our new teaching resources.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SEARCH ARTICLES
Teaching BY TYPE
Teaching BY Author
Founders Podcasts