Providential Musings

The Great Gamble, The Big Sin, and the Huge Cop Out

2009-11-05T04:45:00.000-08:00

There is a dance that is performed every day across the Southern Baptist Convention. It is a strange waltz between chance, neglect and hypocrisy.

This dance is performed daily by not a few local church pastors and church planters and their families while church members, sister churches and denominational workers choose to look the other way.

I am writing about and on behalf of the unknown number of local church pastors and church planters who are ministering without adequate health care insurance across our convention. I am always humbled when I think of the dedication of men who will risk their entire family’s financial well being by choosing to minister even when they cannot afford or do not have adequate health insurance provided them by their churches or denomination.

Having encountered four such pastors and church planters in the last few weeks has prompted me to ask some tough moral and ethical questions about this darker side of our denominational life.

1. Is it ever right for a pastor to have to gamble that he and his family will remain healthy for an indefinite period of time? I know they call it “trusting in the Lord” but is it not really taking a very big risk? Does God demand that men take such steps of faith when they may be forced steps caused by the neglect of other parties? Is it ever right for a congregation or a denominational entity to put a man in such a position where he has to choose no healthcare coverage?

2. Is it right for any congregation to simply give a pastor a “Salary Package” and let him decide how to break it down? Does not each local congregation have a moral obligation to take care of their pastor and his family and insist that health insurance be provided? How they work that out is obviously up to each individual church and pastor but is it not responsible churchmanship to at least expect from God’s Church the same benefits we would demand from secular employers?

3. What about sister churches who observe this happening in neighboring congregations? Do they not have a moral obligation to at least take care of “missions” at home before sending contributions to denominational entities that do provide health care insurance for all denominational workers?

4. What role do denominational leaders have in working to ensure that all SBC Pastors and Church Planters be at least minimally covered when it comes to healthcare insurance? Is it morally right to hire a church planter who receives denominational support without providing minimal health care insurance? When a church planter’s children are forced to be on Medicaid or go to Charity Clinics for their health care needs is this a good witness and testimony for the largest non catholic denomination in America?

5. How long can denominational leaders hide behind the “autonomy of the local church” as an excuse for not addressing in a real and meaningful way this problem that exists in the SBC? Is it ethical for SBC leaders to continue to rail against a “Public Health Care Option” when it comes to the current national health care debate while at the same time they are presiding over a “No Care Option” in many flung reaches of the SBC?

6. Why is health care insurance through Guidestone Financial not the most affordable option for all SBC pastors and church planters? Is it ethical for Guidestone to deny healthcare coverage to any SBC pastor and his family? Do we not have a responsibility to “Do unto others as we would have them do unto us?” even in the area of health care insurance?

It seems to me that SBC Pastors and Church Planters are always expected to be “on the team” when it comes to CP promotion and support but we are virtually “on our own” when it comes to health insurance. For most of us that works out fine but for a growing number of SBC Pastors and Church Planters there is a real need that is not even being quantified or addressed in the SBC. We have a growing mission opportunity in our own denomination that we are simply choosing to neglect.

Is it a gamble, a sin or a cop out or all three?

You decide.

Southern Baptist and their own Mini-holocaust?

2009-10-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Live Blog from North Dakota.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am incensed. I remember recently reading how Dr. Richard Land compared the ideology of Obama's Health Care Reform to the same ideology behind the Nazi holocaust. http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10836.article I understand he later issued an apology.

This week I have witnessed firsthand the insensitivity and hypocrisy of Dr. Land's and my own Southern Baptist Convention and how it relates to some of its affiliated churches when it comes to healthcare for pastors and their wives. If what the Obama administration is guilty of is the same as that behind the Nazi holocaust then what should we say about our own SBC and it's unwillingness to address healthcare for pastors and church planters on the NAMB mission fields?

Dr. Land is perfectly free to criticize Obama's Health Care Reform Plan and its misguided objectives but is he not wrong as head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to ignore the plight of many of our own Southern Baptist pastors and their families in far flung areas of our Convention's work?

When he talks about the ethical vacuum in which the Obama administration operates I am inclined to agree with much of what he says but as Head of the SBC Ethics Commission should he also not have a responsibility to bring to light our own unethical treatment of some of our own pastors and their families?

I ask my fellow Southern Baptists - Is it ethical for Southern Baptists to call men as church planters or pastors and not provide health insurance for them and their families?

Is it ethical to pay substandard salaries for these same hardworking pastors while we lavish six figure salaries on our agency heads and many of our denominational leaders?

Is it ethical for Southern Baptists to turn a blind eye to the plight of pastors who are forced to accept food stamps and Medicaid for their families to survive?

I wonder if there is even any sensitivity to this ethical compromise within the hallowed halls of SBC leadership?

Shame on Dr. Richard Land for ignoring such an ethical lapse within our own Convention. But then again maybe if the Obama public option comes to pass the whole ethical issue of not taking care of SBC pastors and their families will become moot. It seems to me that the Ethics Commission should at least be on record as being opposed to our own denomination's negligence.

Your Best Christmas Gift

2008-12-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

Jesus Christ, the Son of God It is without a doubt the Best Christmas Gift You or I ever received.

Sent by the Father’s Love from heaven to be our Savior.

One Tree – The Cross of Calvary
One Gift – Jesus, The Savior
One Result – Eternal Life for You and for Me.

I want to tell you a story about how Christmas works.

I KNEW there was a tree because from the time I was born my mom and dad took me to church.

I KNEW about Jesus for I had heard all the stories from the nursery class to the junior class.

I even KNEW that verse John 3:16 – “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…..”

But what I didn’t know was that there was a present under the tree for me.

I saw all the others at various times open their gift.
I saw all the others eagerly enter the Baptismal waters after receiving their gift.
I saw the evidence of the gift in lives all around me.

But I didn’t know and didn’t even care that there was a gift under the tree for me until that fateful night in 1957 when the Angel in charge of the Tree picked up the gift and read my name out loud to my heart.

“James Wheeler Shaver” - “This gift is for you.”

And as the songwriter Charles Wesley put it so well.

“Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quick-ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed thee.”

I KNEW the Gift was for me.
I KNEW it was all I had been searching for.
I KNEW it held all the answers to all my questions.
I KNEW I had found Salvation.
I KNEW Christ had Died for me.
I KNEW I was Saved.

Now there are some who teach that the gift is generic and lies dormant under the tree until You and I decide IF and WHEN we want it.

But we who have received it know differently.

There was a gift under the tree for each of us and it was personal. It had my name on it and your name on it as though it were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life eons ago.

And the reality of our salvation was not that we stumbled over it, like curious children snooping under the tree; for the Bible itself says that all have gone astray and none seek Him or his righteousness. No, we had NO interest in the tree until our Name was Called.

When He Called My Name
When He Called Your Name
WE Arose, Went Forth And Followed Him.

Hallelujah, What a Gift
Hallelujah, What a Savior

It’s possible to be familiar with Christ and not know Him.
It’s possible to be familiar with the Church and not really Be a part of it.
It’s possible to be familiar with all the Christian Lingo never to have experienced the Real Gift of Christmas in your heart.

Our prayer at Providence Baptist Church this Christmas is that the Tree – the Real Christmas Tree – the Cross of Jesus Christ, might become the Focus of your Attention this Christmas Season.

May He call your Name
May He Present you with Your Best Christmas Gift ever – Eternal Life.

AMEN

Why Jerry Vines Doesn't Get It

2008-11-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

Buy Your DVD's of the John 3:16 Conference Here.

Excuse me? $69.00

No Thanks - I'll send my $69.00 to the Lottie Moon Foreign Missions Offering and keep on listening to John Piper for free!

John 3:16 Conference at Woodstock

2008-11-07T03:39:00.000-08:00

Here's the main problem with this conference.

* There will be no live or archived streaming audio or video of this conference via the Internet.

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN

2008-11-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

No Words Necessary

2008-05-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Who Will Cast the Last Stone?

2008-03-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that "stoning" is making a comeback in the Missouri Baptist Convention. Well, maybe not literal stoning but the denominational equivalence.

In case you're wondering whether you're a "stoner" or a potential "stonee", here's the way it's going these days in the Missouri Baptist Convention.

If you've ever been reluctant to say Jesus changed water into non-alcoholic wine or at the very least watered down wine at Cana.........

You will be stoned.

If you've ever watched and discussed the spiritual implications of a movie like "The Bucket List" with a group of believers in an official church meeting........

You will be stoned.

If you've ever scheduled an outreach meeting at a restaurant or other establishment for the purpose of engaging the culture with the gospel, and alcohol was being sold or consumed.....

You will be stoned.

If you hold a favorable impression of the Acts 29 Network, The Journey Church in St. Louis, Mark Driscoll or Darrin Patrick.......

You will be stoned.

If your church supports an Acts 29 network Church........

You will be stoned.

We already know who is willing to cast the first stone. The question is "Who will be willing to cast the last stone?"

Stay Tuned for new and developing Stoning Offenses in the MBC.

How Many Vocational Evangelists Does it Take to...

2008-01-12T03:17:00.000-08:00

Flog a Calvinist?

Apparently 15.

Could It Really Be This Simple?

2007-12-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

I have contended for a long time that the Missouri Baptist Convention does not communicate effectively with the Pastors and Churches of the MBC.

This has been true for years and is still true.

The MoBaptistList, while we admit it is a rabble-rousing, wide open and almost unmoderated free-for-all, serves as the "only" technologically based public space where any and all Missouri Baptists can express themselves candidly and honestly.

To me this is just another example of how the MBC - the Bureaucracy - is out of touch.

Let me list a few new words and phrases that have come into our vocabulary in the last few years that apparently haven't impacted the executive board or the exec. bd. staff.

Facebook
Myspace
gmail
text messaging
internet polling
iPhone

All of this is about the networking of people together using technology.

Some practical applications.

Assign every Missouri Baptist pastor in the state a gmail address. He doesn't have to activate it. He doesn't even have to use it. But if I'm sitting at 400 East High and want to get my official message out about anything this is where I send it - an email to every pastor in the state via his gmail account.

You send one letter to every pastor in the state outlining how the process is going to work and from then on you stick to the plan and go virtually paperless.

What about the pastors who don't have computers? That's up to them. This is the 21st century! But every DOM knows who does and doen't have email in his association. He can call or print and mail the communication to the computerless pastor if it is critical information.

Maybe some emails coming from the EB or Exec B. Staff simply asking beforehand "what do you guys think?" would alleviate some of the negative publicity and ill will that actions like the one of December 10th has generated.

Every staff person at the MBC has an email address posted at http://www.mobaptist.org/alpha_staff_directory .

I suggest some of us need to also use these addresses more frequently to let these folks know what we're feeling and thinking.

The Nominating committee should make another policy - You must have an email account and be willing for it to be posted publicly to all Missouri Baptists before you can serve in an elected position in this state.

I cannot imagine an organization in the 21st Century being unwilling or unable to communicate electronically to all their "members" or "affiliates" critical and timely information in a matter of hours rather than days.

We simply cannot absorb many more divisive blows as a convention and survive.

Communication is the key.

Networking is the future.

It really is that simple.

MBC 1987 vs. MBC 2007

2007-12-14T08:13:00.001-08:00

father time
Originally uploaded by zeelicious

Twenty years makes a lot of difference in today's world.

Change now comes at warp speed and in irresistible waves where as it used to come like gentle breezes of slight pressure to turn or change slowly and gradually.

Twenty years ago a personal computer was a luxury to most SBC Pastors, today it has become an indispensible tool for ministry, communication, networking and even continuing education. I don't know hardly any pastor who isn't connected to the internet. Twenty years ago a cellphone was a rarity. Today it is a necessity.

Twenty years ago most of us Missouri Baptists couldn't conceive of a world that did not include a Southern Baptist Convention, a State Convention and a local Association. We got 90% plus of our denominational news and promotional items through the mail. We depended on the state convention for most of our innovations and most of our instruction on how to do our ministries better. We regarded the local association as the district office of the MBC and the DOM as the denominational agent who could on good days channel our requests to headquarters and subsequently deliver to us the answers to our questions if any were forthcoming. Now Google gives us our heart's desire in seconds.

CP giving was viewed as our proper dues and responsibility. We wouldn't have dared to cut it. We wanted to increase it always because that was one of the ways we were judged and rewarded. If your church gave enough you could get recognized on stage at the annual meeting of the MBC! Today because of our own ability to network and gain information we are aware of pressing mission needs from around the world that seem to many to be a higher priority than maintaining a convention office building.

We were connected and proud of our connectedness. We had problems to be sure. Creeping liberalism was making headway in our state. A showdown was coming but this was our life and all we knew and we would fight for it.

Fast forward to the first split when the CBF'ers left and then later when the Missouri Baptist General Convention was formed. Baptists had never been used to anything except the convention model so it was natural that those disgruntled Missouri Baptists would gravitate to a similar organizational structure that they had left and so they did.

Now zoom forward to the end of 2007. Today's disgruntled Baptists are of a different breed. Their age spans all ranges of years. They are not interested in recreating a copy of anything they have been exposed to in their denominational pasts, especially not another state convention. Why? Because they have become disillusioned with all state conventions that are not rapidly adapting to this new and changing world. They see no need for a centralized office when cellphone and internet technology has become a way of life. A centralized office has an address. A centralized office sends out mail. A centralized office keeps files. A centralized office needs staff. A centralized office is a bureauracy that grows and consumes valuable missions dollars that are desperately needed on the cutting missional edges of our society.

When this new breed of disgruntled Baptists go, if they go, they will not form a competing state convention, neither will they join an existing state convention. Instead they will form loose partnerships with others who think like them. These partnerships will not be geographically restricted. Some will be formed within current associational structures - others will expand current associational structures. But one thing will be sure. They will not look back nor will they ever return to their past.

Will they abandon the SBC? Not likely at least for a generation. But unless conventions start at least talking about how to restructure and recreate themselves to match the passion of this new breed, they will only have themselves to blame when the current structure collapses around them.

Where All Baptists Are In Total Agreement

2007-12-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

It's Not About the Liquor, Stupid!

2007-12-06T04:25:00.000-08:00

Right now in the MBC (Missouri Baptist Convention) there is a preoccupation with alcohol. Not that we're drinking it, because most Baptists I know in Missouri are teetotalers anyway. No we're fighting over it because that's the latest "hot button" issue certain Missouri Baptists are pushing.

Here's the agenda:

No Cooperative Program Funds to any Church who holds a regular announced religious discussion in a Bar.

No one serving the convention who will not sign a statement saying that he or she does not and will not consume alcohol as a beverage.

Disenfranchisment of any Missouri Baptist who maintains that the use of alcohol is a matter of Christian liberty and who will not conform to the position that abstinence is the only correct Biblical teaching.

What is still unclear is the following:

Will the MBC (Missouri Baptist Convention) still receive Cooperative Program funds from Churches that accept tithes and offerings from members who gain part of those offerings from the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages?

Will the MBC still receive CP funds from Churches that hold religious discussions in bars?

Will the MBC still receive CP funds from Churches that participate in Christian family day at Busch Stadium in St. Louis?

Will the MBC still portray Albert Pujols as a Christian example to Missouri Baptists via the Pathway when it is a known fact that his restaurant in St. Louis has a bar?

Will the MBC still hold Annual Convention meetings at Tan Tar A when it is known that a portion of their income is derived from the sale and consumption of alcohol ?

Will the MBC continue to promote usage of the Holman Christian Standard Bible published by Broadman and Holman Publishing Group, an arm of the SBC, at it's annual meetings because it contains the word beer?

My guess is NO to all of the above. I mean we want to be consistent. Right? Right!

The truth is that all of those things will continue to be SOP for the MBC, because it's really not about alcohol. It's all about control. It's all about being a "Better Missouri Baptist" than some other more "Liberal Missouri Baptists." It's all about "I'm right and you're wrong!"

Doesn't matter what the Bible says. What matters is what I say it says.

Sadly, that's the only way some Missouri Baptists know how to live.

Bureaucracy Breeds Stupidity

2007-09-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week when O.J. Simpson was incarcerated he was given two pairs of reading glasses, and two books by the detention center’s religious services minister. One of those books was the Bible and the other was the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.

Now O.J. is fortunate because had he been ushered into a Federal Prison – the Purpose Driven Life would have been considered contraband.

That’s right – the Federal Bureau of Prisons has decided that the “Purpose Driven Life” is much too subversive to allow Federal inmates to read.

God forbid that a federal prisoner learn through this book that he might just have some purpose in life rooted and grounded in the Person of Jesus Christ and leave prison a better person than when he went. Better to let him remain uninformed and unchanged during his incarceration.

I understand the purpose behind all this. The Department of Homeland Security is concerned that subversive Islamic materials are being circulated among prisoners and so in the usual form of government overkill the feds have taken this drastic measure rather than using a more common sense approach.

Sins of the SBC

2007-08-23T03:51:00.001-07:00

Receiving local church money for the Cooperative Program when those same churches don't provide their pastors and families adequate health care insurance.

Transporting state convention executive directors to exotic locations annually for a meetings with national SBC leaders when we have adequate space in Nashville, Atlanta and Richmond in buildings or churches we already own.

Maintaining three different levels of denominational bureauracy when less would do.

Keeping a man as President of the IMB who admits he speaks in tongues when we will not commission missionary candidates who are just like him.

Refusing to compile a national database of convicted sexual predators within the ministerial ranks of the SBC.

Getting up every year in our annual conventions and saying that we have over 16 million members when every one of us knows the numbers are simply not true.

Stalling on making the SBC Annual Meeting a Convention Wide process via the Internet and Electronic Voting.

Paying less mileage reimbursment to laity and pastors who serve the conventions than staff members.

You probably know of others as well.

For The Latest on Calvinism in the SBC

2007-08-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

SBC news with a TULIP scent
Provocations & Pantings
Founders Ministries Blog

Dakota Partnership Gains Momentum

2007-07-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

The following is an article I wrote for our local Baptist Association's newsletter.

Missouri and the Dakotas share the Missouri River. We also share the honor of being home to the two largest confluences of rivers on the entire Missouri drainage. In the northwest corner of North Dakota, the Yellowstone River comes together with the Missouri and continues southward and in the St. Louis area the "Mighty MO" ties into the Mississippi river and continues southward to the Gulf.

Missouri and the Dakotas also share something else. We share a presence of Southern Baptists who are interested in working together to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in our homeland and around the world.

Recently our DOM and two pastors and their respective wives made the long trip to Garrison, North Dakota to help in the Prairie Partners Baptist Associational Children’s Camp. Mary Tanner, Carol Sowder and Jackie Shaver were in charge of crafts and Steve Tanner, Stephen Sowder and Jim Shaver assisted the Prairie Partners DOM during Bible Teaching time. The most productive time however was spent in both formal and informal meetings with the pastors and other personalities from North Dakota as we discussed our mutual interest in being linked up together for ongoing ministry efforts.

We agreed to send representatives to each other’s associational meetings this fall and also mutually decided to hold a joint meeting of pastors on November 6th and 7th in Sioux Falls, SD just prior to the annual Dakota Baptist Convention. The remark was made that Sioux Falls was closer for us in Grand Crossings Association by a hundred miles than it was for some of the pastors of the PPBA!

Another Grand Crossings Team from FBC, Vandalia, trekked to Brookings, SD this July to continue their church planting effort in partnership with the Dakota Baptist Convention. Pastor Derek Grigg reported from the field at the beginning of their week that the weather was cool and they were excited about working there again.

Pastor Phil Dooley of Open Door Baptist Church just south of Columbia also led a mission team to Ft. Yates, ND this month to assist the church and pastor working there on the Sioux Indian Reservation.

The opportunities for partnership and joint ministry are great in the Dakotas. So why go all the way to the Dakotas to do Missions when we can do the same kind of work here in Missouri? Because our brothers and sisters in the Dakotas need us and we need them. The Prairie Partners Baptist Association covers approximately half of North Dakota and in that vast area there are only thirteen Southern Baptist Churches.

By contrast, we have thirty three churches in Grand Crossings Association. The fields of wheat, corn, flax, sunflowers and canola are ripening unto the harvest this summer in the Dakotas and so is the field of souls. Let us send more laborers into these northern fields that are truly white unto harvest.

Eruption in Florida!

2007-06-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

Tom Ascol reports on his blog today about what seems to be a rising stench over some questionable actions on the part of some of the Florida Baptist Convention Staff as relates to a local Florida Baptist Association.

Read the blog and then try to answer these questions.

What are these convention guys thinking?

Why pick a fight with Calvinists in the home state of Tom Ascol and Roy Hargrave? Are they nuts?

Sounds like to me at least a couple of quick resignations are in order in the FBC.

Believe I'll watch this one for a while.

5 People I would Rather Meet Than Jimmy Carter

2007-05-18T06:45:00.001-07:00

I didn't get invited to meet with Jimmy Carter like some SBC Bloggers did, but I don't care.

I'd rather meet these 5 people anyway.

Will Campbell
Merle Haggard
Kevin Costner
Ted Nugent
Ann Margaret

Jerry Falwell

2007-05-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

To say I liked Jerry Falwell would be a denial of the truth. There were many things the man did and said that just rubbed me the wrong way. To be fair, I never met the man although I did see him in person from a distance of about 10 feet at the Southern Baptist Convention in Salt Lake City in 1998.

The things I can't get out of my mind about him that left negative feelings were numerous.

1. He was an independent Baptist with a capital "I" for many years during which he criticized the SBC on many different levels. I just never got over him joining the SBC.

2. His involvment in Heritage Village during the aftermath of the Jim Bakker scandal left me very suspicious of his motives. And I'll never forget that Water Slide plunge.

3. His in your face "Moral Majority" positions made my job as a small Baptist church pastor in Wisconsin a lot harder. A lot of folks just thought he was "nuts,' and because he was a Baptist they didn't want to have anything to do with my Baptist church.

4. His most recent pronouncement that Limited Atonement is a heresy once again showed his "independent" spirit and his ignorance or disregard of Southern Baptist history.

5. To top it off, my son, when he was in the second grade, wrote Falwell a letter in response to a TV show that promised a copy of the Declaration of Independence to anyone who wrote in. My son never got his DOI and never got over his disappointment in Falwell.

Now to be fair there was a lot about Dr. Falwell to admire. Just a few thoughts are worth mentioning here.

1. He built a great Church from nothing.

2. He built a great University from nothing.

3. He entertained his enemies. I'll never forget reading where Ted Kennedy was a guest in Dr. Falwell's home and spoke at Liberty. You have to admire a man who will practice what he preaches about loving his enemies.

4. He changed the minds of a lot of independent Baptists and made a lot of enemies at the same time by joining the SBC.

5. He changed the evangelical landscape in America forever.

The King of American Fundamentalism is Dead. Perhaps it marks the beginning of the end of the fundamentalist kingdom as well.

If Cabelas Was an SBC Church I'd Join

2007-04-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to visit the new Cabelas Store in Hazelwood, MO. yesterday.

WOW! What a Great Store.

I would have moved my membership if they had given an invitation. As it was I just gave my "tithe" (a new gun purchase) and received my free gift ( a new Cabelas cap) and left promising myself I'd soon return.

I sure wish folks held my church in such high regard.

Hunh?

2007-04-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

Is that the Beer Temple? Of course it is. It's Busch Stadium and Missouri Baptists flock to the temple by the hundreds to watch Albert Pujols play ball in the stadium that beer bought.

But, wait a minute......

The Journey Church is not permitted to have a discussion group in a brewery?

I don't get it.

It's OK to sit in the middle of a stadium surrounded by slobbering beer guzzling drunks and cheer for the Cardinals but it's not OK to go to Schlafly Bottleworks and talk about the Bible or Jesus with some of those same beer drinkers?

Excuse me, but what planet does this make sense on?

Historical Disconnection Causes SBC Dichotomy

2007-02-14T04:44:00.000-08:00

FBC Charleston in South Carolina was the first Baptist church in the south. It was thoroughly Calvinistic in its doctrine as were most early Baptist churches throughout the south and midwest.

In fact when the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845, the majority of Baptists in the south held to the doctrine of election. When time came for the convention to start a seminary it chose a Calvinist for its first President and a Calvinistic faculty. The first textbook in theology was written by Dr. John L. Dagg, a Calvinist. The Abstract of Principles of Southern Seminary written in 1858 came out of that commonly held doctrinal position among Southern Baptists.

Even some modern claims that the Sandy Creek strain of Baptists was not strongly Calvinistic conveniently overlook the Calvinistic confessional statements of that association. That the SBC was organized and comprised of men and churches thoroughly Calvinistic in theology is a fact that cannot be and has never been sufficiently explained away.

But to hear some in our beloved convention talk today one would get the distinct idea that none of what I just wrote is even remotely true. My generation, the war babies, suffer from a self- induced historical amnesia when it comes to two subjects, Slavery and Calvinism. We grew up behind the buckle of the Bible belt and you’ve got to understand that when Southerners are embarrassed by something – we just don’t talk about it.

That’s why we didn’t talk much about the immorality of segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. We were embarrassed by our history when it came to Slavery and we were embarrassed by the way some of our own Baptist deacons still treated the people of color who worked for them.

We didn’t talk about Calvinism either because we were in the eager process of shedding our country roots and our redneck ways. We just figured predestination was a holdover from that unenlightened portion of a heritage that had given us Slavery and we were eager to escape that embarrassing part of our history. The sad thing is our educators contributed to our ignorance by conveniently leaving any reference to our Calvinistic roots totally out of the syllabus.

Nobody taught us in Seminary that Jesse Mercer who founded the Baptist School in Georgia that still bears his name today was a 5 point Calvinist. Nobody taught us that Dr. P.H. Mell, the Chancellor of the University of Georgia was a 5 point Calvinist and was elected to 14 terms as President of the SBC after the Civil War. Nobody even taught us who John L. Dagg was or that he wrote the first theology textbook ever used in a convention seminary classroom from a thoroughly Calvinistic perspective.

The only Dr.’s that were always mentioned were Dr. Crawford H. Toy, the first "liberal" kicked out of Southern Seminary and Dr. E.Y. Mullins, the most enlightened Southern Baptist intellectual who ever lived to hear some of our professors talk about him. While they praised his progressive theology they didn’t dare tell us that Dr. Mullins took a three month vacation every summer from his pastorate for fear we’d develop similar bad habits incompatible with SBC pragmatism.

So when I hear my contemporaries saying “We must deal with Calvinisn in the SBC," I know they are being sincere. When they say, "Calvinists are wrong about the tenets of five point Calvinism," because "too much of the New Testament must be ignored or radically interpreted to embrace the five points of Calvinism,” I know they are speaking from a deficient educational background.

When they say things like “I think the problem of Calvinism in the SBC could be solved if we establish one ground rule. If a man wants to start a Calvinistic church, let him have at it. If a man wants to answer a call to a Calvinistic church he should have the freedom to do that, but that man should not answer a call to a church that is not Calvinistic, neglect to tell them his leanings, and then surreptitiously lead them to become a Calvinistic church,” I know they have never considered the fact that many if not all Southern Baptist Churches founded before 1870 has already experienced that kind of transformation at the hands of non-Calvinistic pastors.

Yes we do have a dichotomy in the SBC when it comes to Calvinism and at least part of it is caused by a historical disconnect.

Jimmy and Willie: Two Unlikely Saviors

2007-01-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

I voted once for Jimmy Carter.

I told myself:
He's a Southern Baptist.
He's a Georgian.
He's a Sunday School Teacher.
He's a farmer.
He's a Quail Hunter.

How can a guy with that much going for him be so wrong?

Sadly, along with a nation, I found out.

He lost me and most of my fellow Southern Baptists somewhere between, "Turn your thermostats back to 68 degrees," and "Mormons are Christians."

I did not vote for Bill Clinton. Never ever.

I heard him use the "GD" word on live TV and that was way before Monica became a national household snicker. His Momma should have washed his mouth out in Hope with soap.

These two guys want to straighten out us Baptists?

Give me a Break. I'd rather go shoot a kudu with Paige Patterson.

Where's Jim?

2006-11-25T04:55:00.000-08:00

Remember the "Where's Waldo?" books? Well, this is a "Where's Jim?" blog.

Where's Jim? He's birdhunting with Jake, his bird dog.

Be Back in January.

How The Calvinistic Resurgence In The SBC Began

2006-11-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

Dr. Tom Ascol announces the release of the Founders Ministry's new edition of James P. Boyce's theology book, The Abstract of Systematic Theology.

You will want to read the announcement because it explains how the current Calvinistic Resurgence in the SBC began.

THEY DIDN'T ASK ME!!!

2006-09-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

Not only do I feel like a minority figure, I have been discriminated against by LIFEWAY in that they did not see fit to call me and ask me If I was a Five Point Calvinist!

So just to set the record straight.

If you too feel like you haven't been given the opportunity to have your voice heard, then feel free to confess or deny your minority status in the Comment Section.

PROFOUND TRUTH

2006-09-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

It's a fact that Southern Baptists always have something they're at odds about. This year it's alcohol, private prayer languages and Calvinism. In the past it's been about the CBF, BWA, BGCT, etc and ad nauseum. I predict that nothing will change and we'll always be fighting about something.

Enter my new bird dog puppy. She's a Llewellin Setter and more pup than I've ever owned before and she worships the ground I walk on.

Now that's a refreshing attitude for a Southern Baptist Preacher. Usually I have several somebodies who want me fired and a lot of folks who always think I'm overpaid and underworked. Not "Patch." She's never had an ill thought toward me unless it's in the early morning when I'm a little slow on the food delivery.

Gee, but I wish I had a congregation full of attitudes like Patch's.

Wouldn't it be refreshing if everyone was as accepting of other Southern Baptists as puppies are of their masters?

Come to think of it - Wouldn't it be refreshing if we Baptists were just as accepting of other Baptists as the Father is of us?

Wine Plot Uncovered

2006-08-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Wine Plot Uncovered

No one is talking and nobody will admit it, but the skinny is that a few Southern Baptists who grew up with a mouse in their hands are already working on ways to expose the alleged double standards of some of the top executives of the SBC and many of the high profile SBC pastors.

There is a new technology being tested by Walmart and other retailers called RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification). The concept is really simple. You label a product with a tag that emits an RFID and then keeping your inventory is a snap. The problem is that the technology is not yet widely available and it will probably be a few years before your local Walmart Supercenter will be fully RFID'ed.

But in the minds of a few the wait will be worth it. Imagine a bootleg scanner in the hands of a future Southern Baptist renegade blogger who wants to make a point. By simply walking up the sidewalk of the home of a leading SBC figure this seeking soul may be able to inventory every product in the pantry of the powerful leader. Or by staking out a grocery store where Mrs. Powerful Figure shops it is a simple task to simply sit by the door and scan her buggy as it passes by. Imagine the scandal of it all when the cupboard or the buggy's contents winds up on a blog site as evidence that Dr. So and So really does use products that contain Alcohol.

A word to the wise is prudent here. Pastor, if your wife has a rum cake recipe or any recipe that calls for cooking wine or cooking sherry then you better reform her ways or get prepared for the Great Wine War that is coming.

Since confession is good for the soul, I must confess that I found a bottle of Holland House red cooking wine in my cupboard today. Being the loyal Southern Baptist that I am, I determined to get rid of it as quickly as I could. Tonight I used it to baptize the chicken I was cooking. There was some left so I put it back in the cupboard until I can find another chicken.

Proliferation Abomination?

2006-07-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

My wife and I just returned from about a thousand mile road trip through Missouri, Arkansas and a tiny sliver of Tennessee. What always impresses me as I drive through any part of America is the proliferation of churches of all kinds and sizes.

However, I must confess that when I pull into my driveway I am always depressed because even with all the churches I’ve seen on my journeys, I know in my heart that we’re losing the battle. On this trip for example as I drove through towns and open countryside I came to the quick conclusion that there’s certainly no strategic planning that goes into where and how churches are built. It’s a real hodgepodge (location and architecture) that makes no rhyme or reason.

There was one little town we drove through somewhere in North Central Arkansas. At the outskirts of town is a big (for a country town) Southern Baptist Church. I mean you could tell it was a happening place. Then closer to town sat First Baptist and you knew instantly why the other church even existed in the first place. First Baptist was dull and unexciting, landlocked and obviously in decline. One could almost imagine the Sunday morning crowd sitting in the pews arms folded and thinking, “We didn’t budge”.

We saw Churches obviously trying to become “mega” churches, in the midst of multimillion dollar expansions. Then we saw tiny churches "adding on" with volunteer labor. I couldn’t help but thinking as I passed both, “I wonder who they’re building for?”

Then there were the real small churches we passed on Sunday morning. Six cars at one, maybe ten at another; making me wonder how a Pentecostal preacher can really get wound up for a dozen or so worshippers?

I think I have discovered at least for me the most troubling difference between New Testament Christianity and modern Christianity. It’s the buildings! I believe they make it much more difficult to be a Christian in the modern world. They (the buildings) exist to serve Christians mainly and not the world to whom they are called to minister and witness. They have become escape pods in which we congregate on Sunday.

Then there’s that denominational thing. What does all our denominationalism communicate to the lost and dying world? If it turns me off what must it do to a lost person?

But all is not lost.

We did receive several witnesses.

In a Hardee’s restaurant I watched a lady, obviously a Pentecostal Christian with long hair pulled back in a bun, attempt to pay the clerk two dollars for a drink she had mistakenly received for free on her last visit.

Another lady I talked to on the phone while making an appointment to visit her business on Sunday afternoon, invited us to go to Church that morning with her and her husband.

My wife saw a group of travelers hold hands and pray in our motel parking lot one morning before they left.

And in one university town, we even passed a group of white shirted students with picket signs that were trying to get their message out to passersby. It was a real “The End is Near” type roadside evangelistic event!

So once again I get the message.

It’s not the buildings, stupid!

It’s not even having the right name on your church!

It’s about people, saved people sharing their lives with lost people.

One at a time.

Tools That Make Life Easier

2006-06-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

I'm the original procrastinator. Well, maybe not the original but I'll bet I'd come in pretty close to the top ten contenders. I'm forever realizing I haven't done something that I needed to do. Either one of two things happened. I simply forgot or I put it off.

Enter BackPack, a simple online tool that keeps your life more organized. Just make a to do list online and make it your home page on the internet and everytime you connect there it is reminding you of the tasks you need to get done.

And it's much more. You can add notes, files, images and share all of this with others on your work team or family. As you add features there is a small monthly cost. But if it helps keep us procrastinating and disorganized folks and little more structured then It's worth the money.

The second tool I'll mention is an online calendar. This one is free because it's open source. If you use Outlook and use more than one computer then you have the same problem I have. How do I get my calendar on all of my computers without pulling my hair out. Schedule World might just be the answer to your problem. I'm currently experimenting with it and it shows a lot of promise. The cool thing about this is that it also syncs your cellphone or your PDA. Give it a try if you're interested. One word of caution: it's a little complicated to get set up so if you're not computer literate get your buddy to help you.

Did Blogs Have An Impact On SBC Convention?

2006-06-22T04:05:00.000-07:00

Well, not so according to Dr. James Smith of the Florida Baptist Witness.

Dr. James Smith's editorial this week in the Florida Baptist Witness was amusing to me and I think validates a comment that I made earlier on a SBC discussion list.

Those who have been in the field of traditional print media are beginning to feel the pressure of change in the field of journalism and they do not quite know how to handle it.

The following remark of Dr. Smith's might just be the hint that all is not roses when it comes to the future of State Baptist Papers.

"The idea that Weblogs that are read by a very small number of people was definitive in the presidential election grossly fails to appreciate the fact that the annual meeting was held in the winning presidential candidate’s hometown and in the state neighboring his current place of ministry. It also fails to recognize the overriding factor Cooperative Program giving played in the outcome. I know many messengers who voted for Page who most definitely did not take their cues from the bloggers."

It was the phrase "very small number of people" that raised my eyebrow. How many will it take for Dr. Smith to realize that his world is changing?

Dr. Wade Burleson's webblog has received almost a quarter of a million hits since he began it just a little over 6 months ago!!

The cold hard facts are very simple. We are just now beginning to see the potential of the technology that can put print newspapers out of business. Especially State Baptist Papers! And personally, I think there are some Southern Baptist Editors who are concerned for their Futures.

It's a heady thing to be the ONE man who controls the flow of all news in one's state convention through the state Baptist paper - It's quite a different feeling to find out that Joe Blow down at Possum Trot Baptist Church has a blog that is attracting more readership every week than your own editorial piece.

The Race Is On

2006-06-08T04:52:00.000-07:00

Why as a Southern Baptist do I often feel like I’m living a bad country song?

“I’d really like to go to Greensboro this year but the pickup needs an overhaul.”

Maybe it’s because deep down I know I’m a redneck, something even an MDiv. can’t erase.

Like Larry the Cable Guy, I apologize, but some things are just funny.

The SBC Presidential race is beginning to be funny. In fact it’s beginning to sound like George Jones’ old country song, “The Race Is On.” You know the one with the classic line, “Well the race is on and here comes pride up the backstretch.”

Before this baby is over there could be a lot of pride kicking in and kicking out.

We’ve got the first entry, Ronnie Floyd, occupying the pole position. He was the odds on favorite until Frank Page entered the race. It quickly became a contest between CP Loyalty and the “Approved” candidate. But this week when Jerry Sutton, threw his hat in the ring, all bets were off and the race became much more than just a “lesser of two evil” choices matchup.

And make no mistake about it, the SBC Calvinist saw the race between Floyd and Page as a no win race for Calvinists in the SBC. Floyd is the epitome of practical evangelism and the story about the fire engine baptistry whether it was true or not was enough to foam the mouth of any 5-point or even a wannabe Calvinist. Page on the other hand articulated his stand against Calvinism very clearly in a book entitled, Trouble With The TULIP, which Tom Ascol aptly dealt with in his blog earlier. To say that Calvinists were concerned about the two man race is an understatement.

But Jerry Sutton is encouraging to Calvinists in the SBC when he said in an interview with the Southern Baptist Texan, that he is “sympathetic with Reformed Theology.” Since he did his dissertation on Charles Spurgeon he obviously knows that Calvinism does not kill evangelism which has been the mantra of several high profile and outspoken Southern Baptist leader/pastors.

As you can clearly see by now the SBC CALVINIST is backing candidate number three, Jerry Sutton. But the sad reality remains as that Country Song mentality kicks back in, this could be just another case of “The Winner Loses All.”

Jim Preacher, Jim Hunter, Jim Reader

2006-05-30T03:35:00.000-07:00

Three things happened to me before I was twelve years old that had a lasting impact on the direction of my life. In no particular order here they are.

I got saved. That’s how you say it if you’re a Southern Baptist born and raised behind the buckle of the Bible Belt. It was a God thing that caught me by surprise the last night of a summer revival in the Union Baptist Church of Harris County, Ga in 1957. I was almost twelve. I had spent the first three years of my life literally in sight of the church and the next nine years just about twice that distance to the northwest, still in easy shouting distance. All my ancestors on my Mom’s side of the family rest beneath Georgia marble in the adjoining cemetery. That little spot of terra firma remains to this day, my genealogical and spiritual touchstone.

The second thing that happened was so gradual I don’t remember a day, a time or a place. It was such a natural part of my life that I just assumed it was normal and universal. Dad was a bird hunter. A new bird hunter, converted during my early childhood from the lowly rabbit hunting crowd, to the new sport of wing shooting. I grew up with the scent of gun oil, dead quail, and wet bird dogs in my nostrils. It was a virus, an addiction, and a passion that literally consumed me and shows no signs of remission, short of death.

Last but not least was the impact of books on my young mind. Momma was an English teacher. Daddy was an eighth grade dropout who loved to read westerns. He traded them with men he knew in town and he kept them on top of a tall black chifforobe in the back of the hall in our home. As a young boy not yet old enough to read big words, I would climb precariously on a stool and pull the paperbacks to the edge just to look at the covers. And there I would see the grimacing cowboys as they fired their .45 Colts, flame stabbing out of the muzzles, at unseen villians. I knew great adventure lay between those covers. I just didn’t know how much.

And then the day arrived when I was taken to the public library in town for the first time. I got my own library card. I couldn’t believe how many books were on those shelves. I signed up for the summer reading program. I could not wait to begin. So many books, so little time. I read every day. I read every week. In the eighth grade I took a special speed reading class. That next summer I read Gone With The Wind in one day!

I still haven’t read them all but I have made a dent and I’m still going strong. At least three books every week. Books of all kinds. Fiction, non-fiction, ministry related and non ministry related, it makes no difference to me. Only one test for authors I read. Can you keep my attention, cover to cover? If not, move aside. There are simply too many other possibilities to consider.

I recently discovered a new suspense author, Lee Child. He writes the Jack Reacher novels. I like the name. I like the stories. I like novelists who can keep me turning the pages. Lee Child can.

Jack Reacher, the hero of the novels, is a homeless wanderer. He was a major in the Army before downsizing took place after the Cold War. Now he just roams the United States, discovering America from the under side. A tourist without a car or any property holding him back, he wanders wherever the impulse leads him. The stories are adventures he falls into intentionally or accidentally. People simply call him “Reacher.”

I like that name, “Reacher”.

I may name my next bird dog “Reacher”.

In the meantime I’m Jim Preacher, Jim Hunter, and Jim Reader.

But you can call me “Preacher” or “Hunter” or just “Reader.”

WE WON - MOVE ON

2006-05-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

I was in my last year of seminary when Adrian Rogers was elected President of the SBC in 1979. I have served my whole ministry within the scope of the Conservative Resurgence.

That presidential election in 1979 marked a real shift of power in the SBC from leaning to the left to leaning toward the right. In the thirty six years following that victory, SBC conservatives have consolidated their power and their control over the agencies, boards and schools of the SBC. It is safe to say that all those entities are now strongly led by conservatives and the churches that affiliate with the SBC are for the most part more conservative than the average convention church in 1979. Although the means and the meanness sometimes was almost too much to bear or forgive, the ends have been reached and the goals accomplished.

So what are we squabbling about now? We’re squabbling now about how conservative we’re going to be for the next thirty six years. Have we moved the SBC far enough to the right or do we need to push it to the limit?

And why are we squabbling now, of all times? We’re squabbling now because we’ve realized that not all conservatives and inerrantists think alike or do church alike and differences always breeds suspicion and mistrust.

Now the what and the why of our current controversies present some very interesting dynamics especially when you couple them with a declining rate of baptisms and CP giving convention wide.

Traditionalists are accusing Calvinists of losing their enthusiasm for evangelism and Calvinists are countering that the old traditional ways of doing evangelism are not producing the results that are necessary for long term growth and health in the churches and denomination. Emerging church types in the SBC are shaking their heads and wondering how much longer they can stay and Young Leaders both Calvinistic and emergent are feeling shut out of the processes and confused because they know they’re more doctrinally oriented than many traditionalists. Career missionaries feel trapped between the bureaucracy and the churches they thought they served. Small Church pastors feel unimportant and insignificant in the shadow of the mega church pastors and the numbers hype.

We are a fractured family in desperate need of reconciliation and reformation. We need to listen to our Daddy and get it done.

Here are some suggestions that traditional SBC Leaders could quickly address.

1. If the Cooperative Program is going to survive and grow then all current Southern Baptists need to be onboard and working together toward bigger goals than simply making sure we elect the right president or that we narrow our theological parameters enough or even that we baptize a million souls. We need a new Convention Vision that is comprehensive, exciting and revolutionary.

2. The implications of the first suggestion means that there should be immediate and noticeable representation of all segments of SBC life onto committees, boards and agencies. There are three groups we need to include into decision making positions in the SBC immediately if we are going to keep the convention together. Those three groups are: SBC Calvinists, SBC Emergents, and SBC Career Missionaries. And I don’t mean just token positions that attempt to put a band aid on the problem, I’m talking meaningful positions.

3, SBC Leaders must lead Southern Baptists into revising the way we report membership statistics. Everybody who is anybody in the SBC ought to be ashamed that we report so many members when half of them never show up in any of our churches on Sunday. We simply must have integrity in reporting and a new emphasis on Church discipline of members.

4, Transparency and openness must be priority one. NO CLOSED MEETINGS unless somebody’s life or personal reputation or future is at stake, and even then it must be as a last resort. We must trust one another and be willing to share all our thoughts and conversations. Many SBC leaders would tone down their verbal attacks if they knew every other Southern Baptist was listening. And that’s the way it should be.

Conservatives won in the SBC, it’s time to get over it and move on together.

The Presidency of the SBC - A Mini-Church Pastor's Perspective

2006-05-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

There is a job coming open in June. It’s the Presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention. You won’t find it listed on Monster.com. It’s really not a full time position. In fact, you can keep your present job and do it on the side. The downside is that most folks don’t qualify.

Now let me explain who can get this job and who can’t.

It’s not like you apply. You have to be nominated. In other words you have to have your name submitted to the Southern Baptist Convention in session in the form of a personal and formal nomination for the job.

Here’s the theoretical deal. Any Southern Baptist messenger in good standing with proper credentials can nominate any other Southern Baptist in good standing for this position. You could nominate me and I could nominate you and in theory we could have as many nominations as messengers at the convention except for one thing. As soon as the first couple of nominations are made some messenger always says, “I move that nominations cease.” And all the messengers will be in favor of that because they really like to rush through business stuff during the conventions.

What usually happens is that months before the convention some SBC leader with appropriate notoriety will issue a press release which goes something like this, “After much prayer and soul searching, God has impressed it upon my heart to nominate my good friend and fellow servant in the Lord, Dr. John Doe, to be the next President of the SBC,” and this is followed by much verbal praise and backslapping as the nominator informs the whole world how much the nominee has done for the Kingdom of God and the SBC.

But there’s unwritten protocol. To be elected to the SBC Presidency you have to be a Pastor of a mega church and a mega-church is defined as a church that runs more than 2000 on Sunday. Although there are approximately 200 SBC pastors who fall into this category, your chances of being nominated increase as your mega numbers go up.

For instance if you’re a pastor of one of the nineteen Southern Baptist Churches in America that averages more than 5000 in attendance on Sunday then you’re a prime candidate for consideration. But, there’s one other restriction. You have to be acceptable to a smaller group of influential pastors and other important personalities who make up the “unofficial” inner circle of leadership within the SBC that has sort of evolved out of the conservative resurgence.

Another thing that is happening in the SBC is that this pool of possible nominees is perceived as getting contaminated by too many different breeds of SBC Pastors. They fall into so many categories that it’s almost impossible to list them all. But never say that I won't attempt it. Here they are from this mini-church pastor's perspective.

Categories of SBC Mega Church Pastors

1. Bigger than The SBC. They simply have bigger fish to fry and would not serve under any circumstances.
2, Doing their own Thing. SBC in name only and token support of the SBC but still claim the tradition and the label.
3, Outside the bounds of “Acceptable” SBC Tradition – They’d play ball but they’re not going to be asked because they’re viewed as extreme.
4. On the way out of the SBC – Just haven’t made the formal move yet.
5. Team Captains – They support the SBC and have a lot to say about it, usually way too much.
6. The Real Deal – the humble true blue SBC guys you never hear much about.

If we Southern Baptists were wise we’d probably change our method of doing all this but we are slow learners, so it’s probably safe to say the new President of the SBC will come out of category two or five. But we can dream about the day when God allows us to have the “The Real Deal.”

Ten Top Reasons Why Calvinism is Spreading in the SBC

2006-05-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sure there will be much disagreement over the order but here they are as I see them.

10. The Tireless Efforts of the Founders Ministries and those associated with it.
9. Southern Baptists are reading more Baptist History.
8. More Willingness among SBC Pastors/Teachers to cross SBC lines to hear "dynamic preachers and teachers".
7. Proliferation of online sermons by SBC Calvinists
6. Calvinistic Web Sites and Blogging
5. Inadequate treatment by SBC Professors openly opposed
4. Unwillingness of SBC Leaders to model and promote church discipline
3. Frustration with 60% failure rate of SBC evangelistic emphasis
2. More Calvinistic Professors at SBC Seminaries
1. Anti-Calvinistic rhetoric by "leading" SBC Pastors

Number 10 - The Tireless Efforts of the Founders Ministries and those associated with it.

What can I say? Had not those seven men met in Memphis in 1983 and shared their common concerns and vision I might not even be writing this today as a Southern Baptist. The leadership that Tom Ascol and others have provided through the years since that humble beginning has been an encouragment to all of us Southern Baptists who embrace the Doctrines of Grace.

Number 9 - Southern Baptists are reading more Baptist History.

When thinking Southern Baptists look at the historic Baptist Confessions and look at the Articles of Faith of almost all Southern Baptist Churches in this country that existed before the SBC was organized in 1845, they realize they are holding in their hands evidences of a strong Calvinistic heritage.

Number 8 - More Willingness among SBC Pastors/Teachers to cross SBC lines to hear "dynamic preachers and teachers" like R. C. Sproul, John Piper, John MacArthur, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney and others. What more needs to be said?

Number 7 - Remember back when a sermon tape by an SBC Calvinist was as rare as hens' teeth and you guarded it so carefully because you didn't know if you could ever replace it or not? Not anymore. Any SBC Calvinist can post his sermons online so we can all listen and be encouraged to our hearts' content.

Number 6 - Calvinistic Web Sites and Blogging

I've learned more theology and more Baptist history since I've plugged into the internet than I ever did in seminary or during that period I call the "dark ages" between seminary graduation and the advent of the web. I've also had more fellowship and made more friends through the web than I ever thought possible.

Number 5 - Inadequate treatment by SBC Professors openly opposed to Calvinism

Some obviously must feel like they have to say something so they say things that reveal a total lack of or a woefully inadequate understanding of the position of most SBC Calvinists. It only reinforces what many of us suspected was true during our seminary days. These are dedicated men and are faithful servants, for the most part, but they are certainly not infallible.

Number 4 - Unwillingness of SBC Leaders to model and promote church discipline

I don't believe I've ever heard a SBC mega-church pastor suggest that he needed to prune his church's membership roll, and these are the guys we keep electing President of the SBC every year. We know we have a problem in SBC Churches with unregenerate and inactive church members showing up to vote at controversial business meetings. Our leadership has not adequately addressed these issues but leading SBC Calvinists have.

Number 3 - Frustration with 60% failure rate of SBC evangelistic emphasis

Southern Baptist pastors are simply tired of the same old evangelistic results regardless of whether you call it F.A.I.T.H. or CWT or EE. When you get the same old results - 60% failure rate - campaign after campaign - then it becomes apparent that something is broken.

Number 2 - More Calvinistic Professors at SBC Seminaries

May their tribe increase. I believe this is a providential thing - don't you?

Number 1 - Anti-Calvinistic rhetoric by "leading" SBC Pastors

What happens when a well known SBC personality speaks out for something or against something so controversial as Calvinism? Ears perk up all over the SBC. Questions are asked. Inquiries are made, and the end result is that more and more Southern Baptists examine the Doctrines of Grace and some are persuaded they are true.

Stay tuned - More to come

Five Suggestions for Doing Missions Better

2006-04-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

1. Get Rid of the "Southern" in Southern Baptist. Do people really need to discuss this? It seems so obvious. If we are attempting to win the world to Christ why limit ourselves to a name that reeks of regionalism and separatism? We really need to shed the "guns, grits and gee'-zus" image that the term "Southern" communicates to the minds of more than half the world.

2. Cooperate openly with other evangelicals in strategizing, planning and implementing worldwide missions. If my next door neighbor is a Presbyterian, can't he and I witness to the Mormons across the street together? Of course we can. Then why aren't our denominational mission agencies doing it?

3. Sell those buildings in Atlanta and Richmond and move the staff to the mission fields! The International Mission Board should be headquartered outside of the USA, preferably in a third world country. NAMB should be located outside of the South, preferably in North Dakota. Can you imagine the different perspective that would automatically bring to the professional staff of these boards? When your family meets together with nine other Christians in somebody's living room instead of a mega Church in Atlanta or a large church in Richmond you have a better sense of what it is you're trying to accomplish.

4. De-emphasize the State Conventions. This idea of a State Convention bureauracy that syphons off millions of our mission dollars to do what we as associations of churches can do is getting old and unnecessary. Have a missions coordinator for each state or region, paid by churches in that state or region and establish teams of pastors and laypeople in that state or region to do what is now being done by all these "paid professionals". What a windfall of missions dollars this would free up for real Kingdom work!

Do I honestly think any of these will ever be accepted by Southern Baptists as viable changes? Probably not! But if somebody - somewhere - doesn't rise up as a visionary leader and lead us out of this stagnation we're sinking into, I fear we are close to becoming a footnote in the annals of Christian history.

The Unthinkable, Unconscionable, Untenable Position of the IMB

2006-03-24T06:05:00.000-08:00

When all the smoke has cleared and all the facts have been uncovered we will learn the truth about what has really transpired at the IMB in recent months and perhaps for even years.

That day will come and probably bring great embarrassment to several involved in the whole flap. I, for one, patiently await that day, when the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is finally uncovered or revealed.

While the recent Tampa meeting of the IMB Trustees sought to defuse the volatile issue many questions remain unanswered.

Questions like:

1. Was there an outside group of “advisors” attempting to influence Trustee leadership and promote radical change at IMB?
2. If so, who were they and what was their agenda?
3. Where does the obvious animosity directed at Dr. Rankin come from?
4. Was there a small group of Trustees who controlled the entire board?
5. What really prompted the introduction of the two controversial policies on “baptism” and a “private prayer language”?
6. Did Wade Burleson uncover an embarrassing “good old boy network”?
7. Can SBC Missionaries voice their honest opinions about policy without fearing for their positions?
8. Will the new policy manual for Trustees really be the answer?
9. What other problems are known but not yet exposed?
10. Is it time to rethink the way Southern Baptists organize for missions?

In the meantime, while we wait for answers to these questions, we have this giant incredible problem just standing there in the middle of SBC consciousness, staring us in the face, tearing at the very seam of our sense of justice and logic.

WE HAVE A POLICY AT THE INTERNATIONAL MISSION BOARD THAT PROHIBITS SOUTHERN BAPTISTS WHO HAVE A PRIVATE PRAYER LANGUAGE FROM BEING APPOINTED AS FOREIGN MISSIONARIES AND AT THE SAME TIME WE HAVE A PRESIDENT OF THE IMB WHO DOES AND HAS FOR 30 YEARS!

Does anyone else except me see that this position defies both logic and common sense?

Can this be anything but the product of a dysfunctional board of trustees and a broken system?

It is a public relations nightmare that produces suspicion of deeper problems at the International Mission Board.

This is an unthinkable, unconscionable and untenable position.

You would think that grown men and women would know what to do to solve the problem.

Since they obviously don’t let me tell them.

Dr. Rankin – Resign. It’s the honorable thing to do.
Dr. Hatley – Resign. This happened on your watch.

Board of Trustees – Reorganize and appoint a new Chairman and begin the Search Process for a new IMB President. By the way, I would also suggest an apology at Greensboro would be in order.

Why I'll Never Be President Of The SBC

2006-02-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

It's February and the Southern Baptist Convention is still four months away. But, we already know who's going to be the new president of the SBC in June.

It's Johnny Hunt. He's a big time Southern Baptist preacher and pastor from my home state of Georgia. He's been 'anointed' by the powers that be in the SBC as the next president.

I've often wondered how that process takes place. I know what the leadership would have us believe. Holy men gather in a holy huddle and pray a humble prayer and when the last amen is said they are all in agreement as to who the next president will be. In other words, God told them who.

But wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall and hear all the secret conversation that goes on behind all this 'anointing' and 'choosing?' "Ok, we've narrowed it down to two names. We'll flip a coin and see who get's the nod." Or "We're going to pitch pennies at that mark on the floor, the closest to the mark gets to make the first nomination."

Well I know one thing for sure. I'll never be the President of the SBC.

Here are the Top 10 Reasons why this will never happen.

10. My paternal great-great-grandmother was a Primitive Baptist.

9. I asked Jimmy Draper why the LifeWay website is so SLOOOOOW.

8. I wondered out loud how much money Morris Chapman made.

7. I cut my CP giving to help a SBC Pastor who had no health insurance.

6. I wore a cowboy hat, jeans and boots to the 1998 SBC Convention.

5. As a seminary student, I took the Lord’s Supper in a UMC Church.

4. I was a Presbyterian for 9 months after ordination as a SBC deacon.

3. I buy Christian books from Amazon.com instead of Lifeway.com.

2. My sister is a deaconess in a CBF Church.

And the number reason why I will never be the President of the SBC is:

1. I once said that Dorothy Patterson reminded me of Minnie Pearl.

Is that enough or do you think I need to mention my favorite flower?

Women Missionaries Of The IMB

2006-02-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that the most precarious position in SBC life these days would have to be that of the single female foreign missionary.

Some in SBC leadership have made it very clear that:

She should not preach.
She should not teach men.
She cannot have any authority over men.
She better not have a private prayer language.
She is viewed as less than complete since she doesn’t have a missionary husband.

How strange and ironic are those views since two of the greatest SBC foreign missionary heroes were both single and female!

Wouldn’t you like to be God for a day?

“Bertha and Lottie, I’ve got a little mission for you. It won’t take long. I want you to go to Greensboro, NC, to the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention. All you have to do is appear on the platform during the IMB trustee report; walk toward the crowd; slowly shake your heads and then come back to heaven.”

Back To The Future At IMB

2006-02-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

In the not so distant future, the following exchange might be overheard in the bowels of the IMB Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, unless we halt the current trend toward narrowing the theological parameters for SBC missionary service.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: This will be your final interview before the appointment process is completed. I will review certain issues and then introduce some new questions which you will be required by IMB policy to answer. Is that understood?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: I understand.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: In our previous interview it was determined that you do not have a private prayer language now and have never had one. Is that correct?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Yes

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: You were also instructed to return to your home church, a Southern Baptist Church, and be re-baptized since you had not been baptized in a SBC church before. Have you done that?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Yes sir, and here is my new baptismal certificate signed by my pastor and the chairman of deacons. It was also witnessed by the IMB staffer who had been assigned to be there. You should have his statement in my file.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Yes, I see it here. Now for the other line of questioning that must take place according to the new guidelines of the IMB. These were approved since we last talked. Does your home church use the 1991 Baptist Hymnal?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Yes, I believe that is correct.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Fine, now let me be more specific. Have you ever sung hymn #48 in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal? That would be “Morning Has Broken”.

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Gee, I don’t really remember. But our minister of music was kind of eclectic in his selections so we probably did. I was a member there for 20 years so I guess so. I know the song so I must have heard it first at Church.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Well, I have to inform you that this is a problem that could very well hinder your appointment. Are you aware that the writer of this so called hymn was a secular poet?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: No, I had no idea.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Did you know that she was paid to write this hymn? Did you know that she was never married and had a long term love affair with a man? She was even a friend of D.H. Lawrence and we all know what kind of man he was!

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: I really don’t understand how all this pertains to my service as a Missionary.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Yes, and that’s the problem. Don’t you know that this hymn was sung by none other than Cat Stevens who is now a Muslim and that this hymn was at the top of the pop charts? We can’t have our foreign missionaries singing pop songs that were popularized by Muslims!

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: But it’s in the hymnbook.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Well, we’re working on that. In the meantime I have a form for you to sign where you will affirm that you will never sing this song again as long as you are under the appointment of the IMB.

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Well, I really don’t see the purpose but I’ll sign it if this is all that’s keeping me from serving. I never really liked the song anyway. Is that all?

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: No, I’m not through. Have you ever sung “Majesty?”

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Of course I have. Every Southern Baptist I know has. It’s a great song!

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: You really don’t know do you?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: Know what?

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: “Majesty” was written by Jack Hayford, a pentecostal! And we all know that all pentecostals speak in tongues and don’t believe in eternal security. How can a Southern Baptist Missionary sing “Majesty” and not be espousing the theology of the songwriter? For crying out loud don’t they teach sound doctrine in our churches any more?

MISSIONARY CANDIDATE: You want me to sign another form?

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: Yes, and we’re just getting started. I’ve got a whole stack. You see, the trustees have discovered that most of the hymns in the Baptist Hymnal don’t qualify for use in worship by IMB missionaries anymore. We’ve even discovered that Fanny Crosby was a Methodist and also really into the Holiness movement.

Missionary Candidate: Well, give me the forms, I’ll sign them all. I’m not much into singing anyway. I just played the drums at our church.

CANDIDATE CONSULTANT: YOU DID WHAT? PLAYED THE DRUMS? YOU ENGAGED IN RHYTHMIC TRIBAL ACCOUSTICAL PULSATING THROBBING IN THE CHURCH? DON’T YOU KNOW THAT LEADS TO SEXUAL PROMISCUITY? GET OUT OF HERE!

INCONSISTENCY ALERT!

2006-01-18T04:41:00.000-08:00

Several years ago when the IMB required all the Foreign Missionaries to sign the BF&M 2000 there was no grandfather clause.

Now when the IMB changes the policy on Baptism and Private Prayer Language there is a grandfather clause.

INCONSISTENCY ALERT!

We are faced with the reality of:

Not appointing missionaries who haven't been baptized in a Baptist Church while we still support missionaries who haven't been baptized in a Baptist Church.

INCONSISTENCY ALERT!

We are faced with the reality of:

Not appointing missionaries who speak in tongues privately while we still support missionaries who speak in tongues privately.

INCONSISTENCY ALERT!

IS THERE NO ONE AT THE WHEEL OF THIS SHIP?

All Tracks Lead Somewhere

2006-01-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

It’s snowing in Missouri this morning and I’m considering taking my grandson rabbit hunting. Snow is good for rabbit hunting because you can plainly see their tracks.

It’s kind of like hunting for the truth in the Southern Baptist Convention. When trustees of the institutions and agencies of the SBC don’t trust the people of the SBC with the truth you have to follow any tracks you can find, that is if you want to know the truth. I suppose some Southern Baptists don’t but I do.

There are a lot of tracks leading out of Richmond this week.

The first set of tracks leads to every state convention in our SBC where duly elected representatives from those states serve the IMB as trustees. Some of them will tell us bits and pieces of the truth and some of them won’t. We’ll add that info to our bag and move on.

The second set of tracks leads us into research. Who have these trustees met with and been seen with in the last few years? What can be learned from sifting through the news reports and the public records? Have any seminary professors or presidents been highly visible and involved with trustees? Have any other leaders of the SBC weighed in on the IMB in the last five years? We’ll add that info to our bag and move on.

The third set of tracks leads us to a blind. Now all hunters know what a blind is. You hide in the blind and wait for the wild game to come by or fly over. If we’ll be patient and watch and listen we will hear bits and pieces of the truth before the 2006 SBC convention convenes in Greensboro. Hunting is like that. Sometimes you get a full bag and sometimes your bag is light.

The fourth set of tracks leads us to Greensboro, NC., where the 2006 SBC annual meeting will take place. If our bag is not full of truth by then there will be lot of frustrated hunters of truth who will express that sentiment with a loud and negative shot against whatever motion the elusive trustees present.

Remember the movie “A Few Good Men?”

Col. Jessup: “You want answers?”
Lt. Kaffee: “I think I’m entitled.”
Col. Jessup: “You want answers?”
Lt. Kaffee: “I want the truth.”
Col. Jessup: “You can’t handle the truth!”

Kaffee did handle it and Jessup lost his command.

Folks, that was the Marine Corps, this is the SBC.

Truth, honor and duty are supposed to always win.

Sooner or later it will.

The people of the SBC will see to it.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

2006-01-11T06:40:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite forbidden acts, as a child, was to let dad’s hunting dogs out of their pen while he was at work. They loved to chase the farm cats and I loved to watch them. Never mind that I had to answer to my dad when he got home. It was exciting stuff! Barking dogs and cats fleeing for their lives!

Now there seems to be a similar problem at IMB. The dogs have been let out and these dogs are not chasing cats, they’re chasing people. People who disagree with them about baptism, private prayer language, and apparently open communication with the people of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Here’s my question.

Who let these dogs out?

Who’s the big power broker behind the recent trustee action? Who gave the OK before the latch was lifted on the gate?

It would be naïve to believe that the trustees are acting entirely on their own. In a convention where you always know in advance who’s going to be the next anointed president and the nominating committee always picks trustees from an “approved” candidate list- somebody talked to somebody - and somebody, whoever they are, said they thought this was an idea whose time had come.

When my dad got home the dogs would slink back to their pen and I had to explain why I let them out. He never let me off the hook.

Dad’s home. The people of the SBC want to know.

Tell us.

Who let the dogs out?

Nashville, We Have A Problem

2005-12-30T05:30:00.000-08:00

Nashville: (def.) That nebulous, mysterious, and often far away place that embodies, at least in our minds, the seat of power in the SBC. Now we know that's not entirely true but yet it's true enough for us to almost use the Nashville name as a synonym for the SBC.

Well imagine down in the deep dark bowels of Nashville headquarters - a control room, not unlike its military counterpart somewhere deep in the Rocky Mountains. At the radar screens and computer monitors are the young technicians, constantly scanning and always alert for intruders and threats both real and imagined.

All at once a young technician leaps to his feet and shouts for his boss to hurry to his side. "Sir, we have a problem, there are hundreds of them, maybe thousands of them! I've never seen anything like this before!"

"Alert, Alert! This is no drill. I repeat, this is no drill! We have multiple incoming threats! Man your battle stations! Man your battle stations!

"What are they son?" calmly asks the greyheaded manager.

"They're Baptist blogs sir!" replies the young techie.

"Baptist blogs? What's that?" the manager asks in alarm.

"Sir, they're the writings of all kinds of Southern Baptists. Pastors, laypeople, seminary students, professors, trustees of our organizations and (gasp) even women!"

"What do you mean they're the writings of Southern Baptists? Who would publish them without our knowledge? And furthermore, who authorized this?" asks the manager with his voice rising on each question.

"Sir nobody authorized it. Anybody can do it from their home or office if they have a computer. They just write whatever they want to write and post it on the internet for the whole world to read and comment," the technician explained.

"Well, what are they writing about?" the manager asks.

"All sorts of things. Calvinism, the Cooperative Program, Church Planting, the Emerging Church, Drinking, Trustee action at the IMB and Sir, they're even questioning you and your friends!"

"Ok, OK, I've got it young man. Sit back down and keep monitoring the situation. I've got to call a meeting. This could obviously get out of hand!"

Yes, Nashville it could get out of YOUR hand. In fact it may already be beginning.

Attending the Guilt-O-Rama this Winter?

2005-12-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

In conversations with several of my friends I have discovered a growing lack of enthusiasm among pastors for the annual pilgrimage to Baptist State Evangelism Conferences. It seems that an increasing number of pastors including almost all of us “tulip-types” have a growing aversion to what is being promoted as “real evangelism” within the SBC.

Let me tell you about the best evangelism conference I ever attended and the worst.

The best I ever attended was in Kansas City, Missouri in 1983. Dr. Frederick Sampson of Detroit, Michigan and Dr. Peter Lord of Titusville, Florida were the main speakers. Dr. Sampson’s eloquence and Dr. Lord’s accent were overshadowed only by the content of their uplifting and magnificent sermons on the Holiness of God. I left the conference pumped and excited about sharing to a lost and dying world the God I had heard described for the last two days.

The worst I ever attended was in a western state that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. A local pastor of some renown took all of the less than 200 attendees on a long trip to “Guiltsville.” He ‘rassled our spirits down to about shoe top level and then he beat them black and blue, all for the sin of not visiting and witnessing enough on our collective church fields. After almost inducing a catatonic state on all within the sound of his discouraging words he capped off the sermon by laying all the blame for the numeric gains in hell during the previous year, at least from our state, squarely in our lazy and obviously non-evangelistic laps. I vowed silently after that experience to spend more time in the halls and in conversation with friends during those kinds of future meetings.

And here’s the bottom line with all this. We all know that the majority of churches in the SBC are plateaued and not growing. We’re all concerned about this. But the answer for the problem just may not be to have every SBC Church simply duplicate what Dr. Billy Blowhard has done in Houston or Tampa. Hasn’t the good Dr. and his type been blowing hard at these conferences for at least 20 years now?

INSIGHT ALERT! The problem hasn’t gone away, has it?

Could it be that in the annual evangelism conferences we need to hear more about God and less about men and their evangelistic programs? I could care less if the featured speaker’s church is growing numerically or not. The question is - Does he have a word from God for the hour and can he direct our attention toward Him?

But wait, we’ll never know for sure because the only way to get on the program is to have a lot of baptisms which “proves” that you’re a great evangelistic preacher. Don’t expect for this to change anytime soon for the Baptist state leaders are convinced they’re right about this.

Baptist Flip Flop on Christmas

2005-12-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my ears this Christmas. A lot of my Baptist friends are upset at Walmart, Kmart and Target for allegedly taking Christmas out of their marketing plans this year because of political correctness. Unbelievable!

I can remember when Baptists were upset at the crass commercialization of Christmas! Now we want to encourage it?

What gives here? Didn't early Baptists downplay Christmas altogether as an adaptation of pagan customs and Roman Catholic tradition? It was Christ mass - remember? And Baptists never did think much of a mass. So how did we get into this mess over Christmas?

Enter Bro. Don Wildmon from Tupelo, Mississippi. Visor down, shield up, and lance pointed, he has instructed us this year "to let them know we are offended by their anti-Christian and anti-Christmas bias." Let's see if I've got this straight. We Baptists and Christians at large are to let the secular retailers know that we don't appreciate them not emphasizing our Savior's birth this year. Since when did secularists ever honor Christ? Just yesteryear we were complaining because they were commercializing Christmas too much and now we're complaning that they're not commercializing it enough!

Ho HO HO - we must really not have much to do if we're supposed to be upset over this.

Anyway when I first heard of this I started thinking about the Christmases of my childhood and how retailers honored Christ then. Here's what I wrote to my two sisters.

My World is Changing and I don't like It.

In the 1950's and 60's on mainstreet USA there was no Walmart, No Target and No Kmart.

You went to the shoestore to buy your shoes, the clothing store to buy your clothes, and JC Penney's if you wanted some bed sheets.

An interesting thing about our small town was that we had at least three stores owned and operated by local Jewish families. They put up Christmas trees in their storefront windows and wished us "Merry Christmas" as they rang up our holiday purchases. We went to school with their children and no one ever mentioned Hanukkah which was fine because none of us Gentile kids would have known what it was anyway.

The Jews minded their own business, mingled socially and educationally with us Gentiles and used our religious holidays to their economic advantage.

And the Baptists in my hometown thought nothing of it.

But it's a different world now.

The Pakastanis and the Indians (the Hindu kind) own and operate the local motels.
The Mexicans own and operate the most popular restaurants.
The Secularists own and operate the big chains.

Muslims have finished fasting for Ramadan.
Afro-Americans are preparing for Kwanza.
There's actually a Star of David hanging over one of the streets.

And I can't get anybody to wish me a "Merry Christmas" anymore at least in a language I can understand. If I don't get some relief soon, I'm gonna boycott somebody!

My oldest sister wrote back.
"In case you haven't noticed Toto, we're not in Kansas any more."

I don't think we're in Baptistland anymore either.

Lasering Lemke - Conclusion

2005-12-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

I have no reason to doubt Dr. Lemke's deep concern about the future of the SBC and our churches, because I share many of his concerns. Where I differ is with his analysis and observations of the current problems in the SBC and the implied and traditional solutions he offers along with his predictions and warnings.

That Southern Baptists are divided over certain theological issues is no secret. That the majority of Southern Baptist Churches are plateaued is no secret. That baptisms in the SBC have flatlined in the last four decades is a sobering reality. That Cooperative Program giving percentages are in a downward trend is a seldom publicized fact. That we have serious problems in the SBC is obvious to all who are serious students of Southern Baptist life and history.

Here are the Three Major Areas of Concern in the SBC as I see it.

Distrust of Leadership - As long as the same little group of men (SBC megachurch pastors) cycles through the office of President of the SBC with no possible chance of an 'outsider' ever being elected, we have a problem that is insurmountable by mere rhetoric and more pulpit pounding. Wouldn't you love to attend an SBC annual convention not knowing in advance who was going to be elected president? Haven't we reached that stage of resurgency yet? Furthermore, if these men continue to aggressively attack Calvinism within the SBC it will only breed more distrust and further division.

Decline of Doctrine - Doctrine has been minimized in the churches. So much so that many young SBC Pastors think nothing at all of receiving new members from Pentecostal and other non Baptist denominations without any consideration of re-Baptism. The effect is a watering down of our Baptist distinctives to the point where many members of SBC Churches cannot give a theological reason why they are Southern Baptists. And that's just one tip of this multi-tipped theological iceberg. Don't even ask the average SBC Church member whether he or she thinks christians can lose their salvation. "Once Saved, Always Saved," has become at least a question mark in the minds of many Southern Baptists.

Disappearance of Discipline - Statistically speaking, there is almost no church discipline in the SBC. In our rush to baptize we have neglected the accountability of the congregation to the point where only 40% of all our members ever show up on Sunday. There is no accountability and no discipline and little help from our seminaries and denomination on how to recapture this essential Biblical practice. Instead we compound the problem by insisting that four years olds are 'accountable' enough to be baptized.

Two Observations from the frontlines and the trenches of Southern Baptist life.

1. No longer can the leadership and employees of the SBC expect their comments, decrees and opinions to go unchallenged. The people of the convention have the means by which to respond and responding they are. No longer does it take a week for a letter to reach a state paper or a convention office - email is almost like lightning and is having a electrifying effect on some who are used to hiding behind layers of bureaucracy.

And don't forget blogging. Blogging makes a 'journalist' out of every Southern Baptist with a desire to be heard. Now the question remains, will the leadership respond to or react against this insurgency of the "nobodies" within the SBC? Will it be seen as an important revolution or will it be seen as a threat to the status quo?

2. Lemke is right about Calvinism being a divisive issue. But there's not a Calvinist I know in the SBC who is not concerned about correcting the three major areas of concern I have highlighted above. We are not the Big Bad Wolf who is secretly plotting the demise of the SBC. We have no budget. We have no organization. We have no agenda. And "surprise, surprise," we'd love to see Baptisms increase in the SBC.

The elected and hired leaders of the SBC, the president of Lifeway, and the six presidents of our six theological seminaries and all the State Convention Execs hold the key to the future of this debate within Southern Baptist life. They cannot ignore it because it will not go away. They must engage the issue of Calvinism on a "Let's talk" level or this thing will turn into regional "firefights" and occasional "snipings" which will lead to a widespread conflagration making the disagreement over the CBF look like a kindergarten picnic.

Final thought: Dr. Lemke had an opportunity to be like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike and be a 'fixer' rather than an agitator. If he had just left out the part about the "study of the Founder's Churches" we could all have applauded his efforts.

As it is the "Lemke Paper" may someday be forever enshrined in the "War Museum" of the SBC.

Lasering Lemke - Issue 6

2005-11-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

Issue 6 - Evangelistic Fervor

"Are going to revive our focus on evangelism, or we going to go into decline like most other denominations? Are we going to continue on the plateau of baptisms that we have been on for the past half a century, or are we going to refocus on evangelism again?"

Could there be any link between the methodology we Southern Baptists have used for the last 50 years in evangelism and our flatlined baptismal statistics? Dr. Lemke doesn’t suggest any specific changes except more of the same old, same old – like Flake’s Formula and “personal evangelism”, which has been the mantra of SBC leadership since I can remember. He seems to think that the decline or the plateaued statistics of our churches can be cured simply by more personal evangelism and more Sunday School attendance.

I really don’t know any pastors who are deliberately de-emphasizing Sunday School. I know personally I’d love to have a growing, thriving Sunday School but I simply haven’t been able to get that going in the right direction lately. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s I personally led three churches to grow in Sunday School enrollment and attendance but in the last 10 years, the bottom has dropped out. I saw one of those growth Sunday Schools decline and the church I now pastor has not grown in Sunday School attendance to any measurable extent since I’ve been here. I’ve seen the same trend with Baptisms in the Churches I’ve pastored as well, so I can’t say I’ve witnessed a de-emphasizing of personal evangelism either.

Maybe I’m just getting old and long for the good old days but I’m thinking that ministry is harder today than it ever was in the history of the SBC. I know it is in my experience. I think the trend for Church Growth across all denominations in the USA is downward. What makes us think that our denomination will be an exception when the whole country is moving away from spirituality and religion instead of toward it? Could it be that the last days of which several of the New Testament writers assured us would come are upon us with their scoffing attitude toward Christianity abounding and a general falling away from the truth evident even among Southern Baptists?

Or Perhaps we Southern Baptists are just now beginning to realize we are reaping the whirlwind of our evangelistic methodologies. With our focus on numbers, baptism and attendance, we have downgraded the “gospel” down a simple formula that only takes a brief canned presentation and only requires simple assent on the part of the listener, with the presenter prompting the right answers and even providing the prayer of repentance for the “new convert.” Check the proof in the testimonies of our newly “saved.” They are a far cry from the detailed agony and wrestling with God we read about from newly converted Baptists of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s in this country.

If all we Southern Baptists have to hope in to reverse the trend is Bobby Welch and his goal of a million baptisms in 2006 as Dr. Lemke alludes then we may be further gone than we have ever imagined. I would think a better hope would be that the Church in America, SBC included, would be allowed by God to come under severe persecution for we know from history that the church when persecuted has grown both stronger in doctrine and in holiness.

Dr. Lemke predicts and warns that “Southern Baptists will go into a spiritual and numerical tailspin of decline unless we refocus on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost world and God sends a revival.”

I too predict and warn the same but the answer is more than just refocusing on sharing the gospel – first we have to agree that much of what we have done in the past is not Biblical and then we have to agree on what the gospel is because I’m afraid some Southern Baptists are confused about the basics. Then we have to share it like the New Testament Christians shared it rather than how pragmatic “Church Growth” gurus repackage it.

Lasering Lemke - Issue 5

2005-11-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

Issue 5 - Denominational Identity – "Can Southern Baptists survive as a denomination in what is often depicted as a “post-denominational era”? What does the future hold for Southern Baptists in a day when denominational name brand loyalty is at an all-time low? How will traditional Baptist entities such as Lifeway and NAMB intersect with the emerging church movement? Will the Cooperative Program survive?"

After a below average appearance at the plate thus far in his study, the good Dr. hits this one out of the park. But then again the subject matter is served up like a slow breaking pitch across the middle of the plate by none other than the leaders of the SBC.

Let me address this from a local church perspective. After pastoring SBC Churches for almost 26 years I think I have learned a few things about how the local church responds to outside stimuli from the “Convention”.

1. The local church has learned that it can never send enough money to the Cooperative Program or to the Special Offerings that are solicited by the convention, it has therefore decided to keep more of its own receipts and send less or at the very least channel its giving to its preferred providers of service. Growth in Giving campaigns are increasingly viewed with skepticism since they encourage greater percentages for national and state causes than most local churches are willing to support.

2. The local church has discovered that using a Sunday School quarterly is not the only way to teach the Bible in Sunday School. More and more pastors are writing their own curriculum or opting for cut and paste options being offered by more and more providers. And if you want to buy something, Amazon.com sells almost all the books that Lifeway sells at much lower prices. Many local church pastors have realized that with projection technology and a good book for the class members to add to their personal libraries they can have a quality education program and expose their members to cutting edge teaching and materials. After all it is no secret that average Southern Baptists write the bulk of the standard traditional Sunday morning curriculum not the movers and shakers of the convention.

3. The local church has learned that the “denomination” reacts to change in the Christian realm rather than leading the change. Therefore the cutting edge, high profile resources seldom come from Nashville but from other sources. With the internet many local churches are asking “Why do we need Nashville?” Outside of Beth Moore, I can’t think of a thing my church really needs that I can’t get elsewhere.

The prediction/warning that Dr. Lemke gives is right on the money.
Prediction/Warning: Without a course correction in which SBC entities earn again the respect and confidence of Southern Baptists, other evangelical groups will fill the void left by a disconnection between individual Baptists (and their local churches) with the SBC. The day is over that Baptists will use an approach just because of denominational name brand identity.

Lasering Lemke - Issue 4

2005-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted on SBCCALVINIST.COM on NOV 10, 2005 at 9:00am

Issue 4 – Hyper-Calvinistic Soteriology "Will Baptists change their soteriology such that persons are no longer seen as having any capacity to respond to God’s invitation to salvation? Will Baptists take a “hyper-Calvinist turn” than hinders missions and evangelism?"

OK, I’ll admit it. Dr. Lemke frustrates me with his choice of wording as he asks the questions. I have to be honest. I believe he is predisposing his hearers and guiding his audience with his own bias and toward his conclusions before he submits his answers.

Why couldn’t he just have asked simply – Will Southern Baptists become more Calvinistic in the future and what are the ramifications if such a shift takes place?

I cannot for the life of me think of one Southern Baptist Calvinist who believes that lost people have no capacity to respond to God’s invitation to salvation! And furthermore I don’t ever remember even hearing of one!

There, I’ve vented the first of my frustrations. Now let’s get on with the substance of Dr. Lemke’s observations.

The first statement that Lemke makes that I’d like to challenge is when he states, “Throughout its history, the Southern Baptist Convention has swung periodically toward and away from Calvinism.” I simply do not believe that this statement can be proven. In fact, I believe that the theological movement within the Southern Baptist Convention has been consistently and almost universally away from Calvinism until the final three decades of the last century.

Dr. Paul A. Basden in his book Has Our Theology Changed? Southern Baptist Thought Since 1845, wrote the chapter on Predestination. He clearly shows that the SBC has moved since 1845 from a very strong Calvinistic theology through a more moderate Calvinistic position to a pragmatic Arminianism which tends to presently dominate the convention. The writings of Thomas Nettles and Timothy George represent the first movement back toward Calvinism in SBC academic circles. And while Dr. Basden does not cover the Founders Movement per se, it is safe to say that the Founders represent the grassroots movement that has paralleled the academic movement. The current theological movement toward Calvinism in the SBC is unprecedented.

The second statement that Dr. Lemke makes that drew my attention has to do with his not so subtle connection of “hard hyper-calvinism” to the Founders movement. He offsets this with a glowing mini-review of Timothy George’s doctrinal study book Amazing Grace: God’s Initiative – Our Response. Without getting into personalities there seems to be a bit of divide and conquer strategy being employed here. We’ll embrace the “soft” Calvinists and go after the “hard” Calvinists, using our definitions of course. I personally think that Dr. George has more in common theologically with the Founders Movement than he would with this caricature of “soft” Calvinism that Dr. Lemke draws from Dr. George’s work.

And you tell me – do you really know any hard hyper-Calvinists who are successful at pastoring SBC Churches? I don’t. But I do know that there are pastors all across the theological spectrum in Southern Baptist life who are incompetent and inept. Calvinists are certainly not immune to that problem. I suspect that “hard hyper-Calvinist” SBC Pastors are few and far between and while they give a bad name to all SBC Calvinists they are quickly unemployed and not a real threat to the SBC.

Let me preface my next comments by saying that if Dr. Lemke had stopped writing before he included the “study” that he and a colleague did on the churches that are listed as Founder friendly on the Founders' website then we would have all agreed that Dr. Lemke is OK. This is merely a friendly discussion and everything is fairly represented from Dr. Lemke’s perspective. We SBC Calvinists understand that perspective. We can live with it and we can cooperate with it with no problems. In fact we applaud the good things that Dr. Lemke says about us Calvinists. We appreciate the fact that he and Dr. Kelley have hired Calvinists at NOBTS. Let’s all go get a cup of coffee and talk about how we’re going to work together to get the SBC out of the decline it’s in.

But no, Dr. Lemke has to inject this “unscientific study”; this absolutely absurd study into the discussion! Now this raises the question. Does Dr. Lemke have a hidden agenda? Why would he admit to having a part in hiring Calvinists at NOBTS and then do a chop job on Calvinists at large in the SBC?

What Dr. Lemke doesn’t tell you about the “study.”

The churches listed on the Founders' website are voluntary listings, usually listed by the pastor of the church WITHOUT formal permission of the church.

The churches listed on the Founders' website are NOT ALL of the Founders Friendly churches in the SBC, nor are all of the listed churches Founder Friendly!

With the current climate of hostility, suspicion and misinformation about Calvinism in the SBC, many Calvinistic pastors are reluctant to declare their affinity to the Founders publicly where that information can be used by denominational workers and associational directors of missions to profile pastors in their state or associations.

Many of the small churches if not the majority listed on the Founders' website were small before the Founders Friendly pastor arrived and many of them were in decline long before they heard a Calvinistic sermon from a Founders Friendly pastor.

The findings of the "study" support the a priori convictions of the researchers without any reference to unscientific methodology employed or the incompleteness and unreliability of the data. It's interesting to note that the President of the SBC, chose this "study" from Lemke's paper to highlight his concern over Calvinism and the Great Commission.

Dr. Lemke may really be a friend to Calvinists in the SBC but he has a strange way of showing his friendship and I dare say that after this “study” has been circulated his reputation as a scholar and as a friend will be tainted at least in Founders Friendly circles.

The prediction and warning of issue four simply stated by Dr. Lemke says, “The resurgence of Calvinism will slow over the next few decades, but will exert a stronger influence on the SBC in the future than has been the case in many years.”

I’m just a little confused. How can the resurgence of Calvinism slow while exerting stronger influence on the SBC? I think the opposite will occur and Dr. Lemke has contributed by making this debate much more visible than it was before he published his paper. What Dr. Lemke and others who are publicly alarmed at the resurgence of Calvinism will learn the hard way is that the more controversy that erupts over the issue, the more interest in Calvinism will be stirred among the rank and file Southern Baptists. As more rank and file Southern Baptists read the works of Tom Nettles and Timothy George and are exposed to the Doctrines of Grace they will become more Founders Friendly not less.

That the President of the SBC took Dr. Lemke’s work and used it as evidence against Calvinism proves one incontrovertible fact. Regardless of the real reasons behind the continued decline of the Southern Baptist Convention, Calvinistic Southern Baptists will catch the majority of the blame.

We will be the convenient whipping boy.

Get used to it.

Lasering Lemke - Issue 3

2005-11-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Issue 3 - Baptist Polity – Will Baptists hold to their traditional confessions in issues regarding the doctrine of the church, such as the appropriate practice of church ordinances and the scriptural offices of the church or will we compromise our historic beliefs in order to become more homogenized with other evangelical Christians?

Glaring omissions concerning Southern Baptist Church polity in the early days of our denomination and in the early days of Baptist History make this warning by Dr. Lemke almost irrelevant. The idea that a Southern Baptist Church today with elders is somehow out of the mainstream of Baptist history is an incredible conclusion in face of all the evidence to the contrary.

In the London Baptist Confession of 1644 the following article appears. “That being thus joined, every Church has power given them from Christ for their better well-being, to choose to themselves meet persons into the office of Pastors, Teachers, Elders, Deacons, being qualified according to the Word, as those which Christ has appointed in his Testament, for the feeding, governing, serving, and building up of his Church, and that none other have power to impose them, either these or any other."

In the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of 1742, which is the same as the 1689 London Baptist Confession except for two additional articles concerning the laying on of hands and the singing of hymns we find this statement; “A particular church, gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church (so called and gathered), for the peculiar administration of ordinances, and execution of power or duty, which he entrusts them with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders, and deacons.”

In my own church, the mother church of the Missouri Baptist Convention, which was founded in 1826 in Callaway County, Missouri, we find these words in the Church’s original documents; “And now upon the above articles and covenant the undersigned was constituted and pronounced a Gospel Church of Christ by elders Nineon Ridgeway, Thomas Stephens and Toliver Craig at our meeting at brother Lewis Turners on Middle River Auxvasse in the county of Callaway, Mo the 5th day of August 1826.”

In Article 12 of the original Articles of Faith we find this statement: “Article 12 - We believe that no Minister has a right to the administration of the ordinances only such as are Regularly Baptized, Called and authorized by the presbyter.”

The idea that Dr. Lemke puts forth that Baptist churches should not have elders and that pastors and churches pursuing that end in these days are somehow following “pied Pipers” from other denominations is both condescending and absurd.

The truth is, and Dr. Lemke knows this, that many flagship Southern Baptist Churches operate more like Presbyterian Churches with their boards of deacons and requirements that every item of business must be approved by the deacons before it reaches the floor in a church business meeting, than do some of the new churches espousing elder rule in our convention.

I challenge Dr. Lemke to show me a large mega church in the SBC where there is not an “unofficial board of elders” at work behind the scenes that is actually “running” the church.

Baptism is for believers only and is to be by immersion. It is a church ordinance. Dr. Lemke in his warning seems to be implying that all baptism outside of a Southern Baptist Church is alien immersion. This is a Landmark Baptist keynote doctrine. The truth is that if a person is baptized by immersion by a church of like faith and order (another Baptist church or a Bible church with baptistic church government and doctrine) then most Southern Baptist Churches have no problem receiving members on their “statements” from such churches. Dr. Lemke seems to be advocating a return to a more Landmark position with his implication that we not receive members in this fashion. By seeming to advocate re-immersions he appears to be insisting on a more stringent policy than even scripture requires.

As far as his Lord’s Supper statements, all one needs to do is go back to the first meeting of the delegates of the first meeting of the SBC in 1845 in Augusta, Ga., and discover that the FBC of Augusta practiced open communion on that Sunday when the delegates were in town and all were invited to the table. Yes, the Lord’s Supper is a Church Ordinance but the table of the Lord should not be off limits to like minded Christians who might be visiting in the congregation.

Look at the first three Rules from the original Rules of Decorum of my church in 1826.

Article 1st - The Church Shall hold a meeting for business once in each month which shall be opened and closed by public worship and the members present shall form a quorum to transact any business that shall come before them.
Article 2nd - The Pastor or Elder of the Church shall act as Moderator until the Church shall direct otherwise. It shall be his duty to keep good order.
Article 3rd - The Moderator shall invite all Baptists of Sister Churches which are in good standing to seat with us and act in council with us. That third article is the one that caught my eye. All Baptists of Sister Churches are invited to sit with us and act in council with us.

Now can you really see that church forbidding the Lord’s Supper to those visiting Baptists?

Dr. Lemke closes the discussion of this issue with the following prediction/warning:

"If the current trajectory of Southern Baptists is not redirected, key Baptist distinctives about ecclesiology and church polity will be increasingly compromised and ignored."

I fear Dr. Lemke is stuck in the 1950’s when it comes to Southern Baptist polity and ecclesiology. These distinctives that he insists that we hold on to are basically the products of the 1900’s which came out of the Southern Baptist process of institutionalizing the local church.

Lasering Lemke - Issue 2

2005-10-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Issue 2 - Biblical Authority – Will Southern Baptists submit their lives and opinions on the authority of Scripture, or will cultural and pragmatic pressures force us to “reinterpret”the Bible?

If Dr. Lemke gets anything right in his entire presentation he comes close to hitting the bull’s-eye as he tackles this pressing issue in SBC life. I’m not so sure the drinking and dancing illustrations serve well to prepare us for the weightier problems of marriage and divorce, homosexuality, pluralism and inclusivism. I’m certainly not for abusing the body with alcohol or dancing with a deacon’s wife in a smoke filled tavern nor am I for chewing and spitting the devil’s weed or smoking it in the form of a Camel or a Marlboro but I suspect that Baptists have struggled with these issues since the 1600’s in one form or another. Indeed the image of C.H. Spurgeon with a cigar in his mouth is proof that some small vice in the life of a Baptist is perhaps insignificant when compared to the overall progress of the Kingdom.

But even with a weak start Dr. Lemke hits the head of the nail with his observations. Southern Baptists are a compromising bunch. When a messenger at a Southern Baptist Convention is on the look out for his ex’s new husband you know we’ve come a long way down the road from 1845.

On marriage and divorce Lemke deserves only applause. A contributing factor that needs to be added is this. Many worship services have become nothing more than fashion shows on Sunday morning. Let’s face it folks, when an attractive member of the opposite sex dresses like a movie star on Sunday morning it catches the attention of red blooded Baptists. And when it comes to the youth group it gets even worse. My wife and I attended a worship service with my mother in the deep south during a summer vacation. When the youth choir went up to sing, one young woman was dressed in a form fitting white strapless dress and she had a tanned body that more than adequately accentuated the dress. Needless to say I do not remember what the special music was but I remember my thoughts; “Will she succeed in getting back to her seat without becoming topless?”

What kind of youth minister would permit such a display of flesh? What kind of parents would permit such provocative clothing? I fear the answer is worldly, compromising, Southern Baptists who have not tasted the redeeming savor of church discipline for so long that they have become ignorant of its prescribed presence in the scripture or in the church.

And get this, in the average Southern Baptist Church when the deacon’s daughter gets pregnant before marriage there is no public shame. When was the last time you saw a young pregnant teenage girl on her knees at the altar in your church? When was the last time you saw one repent and publicly ask for forgiveness? Instead of sharing in the shame and publicly crying with her over the sin we compound the error by hosting a baby shower for the expectant mother in the fellowship hall!

We may be too far down the road of compromise when it comes to sexual sin, divorce and remarriage to ever turn back. Just do a quick poll of how many divorced and remarried pastors are in your association. You’ll be surprised.

When it comes to homosexuality and women’s roles in the church, it’s just a matter of time until we capitulate. The homosexuality issue will bowl us over simply because we do not practice church discipline in other areas and if we try to revive it simply for the purpose of addressing homosexuality then we will be crucified in the press, the courts and in our own business meetings.

Women’s roles in the church are a problem that we simply do not know how to handle. It’s laughable that we say in our BF&M that women can’t be preachers when Beth Moore is perhaps one of the top ten preachers in the SBC and Anne Graham Lotz one of the top preachers in America is invited to speak at our SBC meetings. We seem to speak out of both sides of our mouths when it comes to this issue.

Inclusivism and pluralism are another matter altogether. It is in this area of the over arching issue that Dr. Lemke ignores the role of bad theology in the average Southern Baptist Church. It’s no wonder that our children think the way they do because that’s what we have taught them in church. From the cradle roll to the youth group we have impressed upon them the need to make a decision for Jesus and be baptized. We will baptize them as young as four in some churches! We will build a baptistery like a fire truck in another church and shoot off confetti when they get baptized. We indoctrinate and induct them into a system that perpetuates the myth that Christianity is just another life choice that people make. And we preach so much on the Love of God to the neglect of His wrath that we shouldn’t be surprised when our children espouse a Rodney King mentality. They really believe it’s all about them instead of HIM!

Even our confessional statements contribute to this downgrading of our theological stance. The Baptist Faith and Message statements on the Doctrine of Man from 1925 to 2000 when laid side by side show a marked improvement in the character and nature of man. Man is getting better and better as our denomination evolves. The more man centered our denomination becomes the more errors creep in and the less willing we are to call sin - SIN.

Dr. Lemke’s Prediction/Warning: Unless Baptists refocus on living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ as itheChristian life is defined in Scripture, cultural pressures from within and without the church will lead to increased moral compromise and worldliness in our churches.

He’s right.

Lasering Lemke - Issue 1

2005-10-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

Issue 1 - Doctrinal Integrity – Will Southern Baptists continue to stand for sound doctrine? Dr. Lemke’s illustration of the seminary student who in class during an in-depth discussion of the Doctrine of Christ blurts out “I didn’t come here to learn theology, I came here to learn how to grow a church,” is also simply an example of the lack of depth that the SBC seminaries tolerate.

I strongly suspect even with the conservative resurgence that not much really has changed since I attended seminary in the 70’s. With few exceptions the teaching was mediocre and the testing evaluated the student’s ability to memorize certain points and the goal of the seminary seemed to be as pragmatic as that of the student’s declaration. To be very blunt, I was not taught very much sound Southern Baptist doctrine or much else during my seminary years that could qualify as in depth teaching.

In fact one professor during my seminary years stated that he wished that on registration day in the fall they would just set up two lines and sell diplomas in the first line for those who were just in seminary for a degree and register the real students in the other line. But alas, that’s not the SBC way of doing things. We’re always more into numbers and therefore will do anything to increase enrollment in the seminaries including dumbing down the teaching, putting satellite centers all over the South where we least need them and starting a college at the seminary that competes for students with our state Baptist schools.

Could it be with our glaring preoccupation with enrollment that the convention is sinking to a lower common denominator of seminary education which is totally unacceptable? Could it be that Dr. Lemke and other seminary administrators and professors share some responsibility for this lack of interest in doctrine among seminary students? Could it be that they suffer from the same lack of education in Southern Baptist doctrine that I did when I graduated from NOBTS?

Don’t even ask me if I was ever exposed in seminary to the Doctrines of Grace or to the historical reality that the SBC was birthed by real flesh and blood Calvinists.

Dr. Lemke begins his discussion o

Lasering Lemke - Intro

2005-10-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

This is the first of my eight blogs on Dr. Steve W. Lemke’s presentation, The Future of Southern Baptists as Evangelicals as presented to the Maintaining Baptist Distinctives Conference of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in April 2005. I realize that due to the hurricane damage at the seminary that it might be perceived by some to be an untimely resurrection of an old topic, but life's mere distractions and even death cannot be allowed to interfere with the discussion and debate of important ideas.

Thus, we begin.

Intro – In the months that have passed since Dr. Lemke presented his paper on the Future of Southern Baptists there has been much discussion among Southern Baptists on its merits and its warnings. Without a doubt the issue he raises with Calvinism in the SBC has been and remains the most discussed portion of his presentation, however to dwell exclusively on that aspect of his writing misses the most poignant points of the entire work. Southern Baptists are not in trouble mainly because of Calvinism in the SBC, we are in trouble because we have many problems that have brought us to this critical stage of our history and as I will attempt to point out in these blogs – most of those problems have nothing to do with a growing "hyper-Calvinism" in our midst but rather have everything to do with an ever enduring pragmatism and an almost blind and unholy preoccupation with numbers and noses which is slowly rendering us impotent as an Evangelical denomination.

Dr. Lemke touches on some of these points briefly but he seems to be afraid to grab hold and shake them till they give forth the truth. Only in his handling of the “Calvinism problem” where he knows he is on safe ground in the Amen corner does he dare to shake so hard.