Drifting in a Whiskey Barrel!!

The picture to the left is a picture taken of a commercial whiskey still known as Blue Blazes Whiskey still.  You can read about that still here.  The still that is famous for the death of two Federal Agents is now revered as part of the cultural past.  Let me be fair, as I grew up in North Carolina and am an avid NASCAR fan.  NASCAR has its roots in moonshiners.  One of NASCAR’s founding figures, Junior Johnson, served federal time for being caught “firing up” a still that his family owned.  Allow me to say that I do not believe those that were moonshiners were ‘bad’ people.  I do believe they were misguided in their idea of hard work.  I know that the land in Wilkes County was not conducive for agricultural trade, but many other people that lived in Wilkes County made a living without being moonshiners.  While it is a cultural ingredient of the county, it must be admitted that liquor, moonshine or not, certainly has ruined many lives.

My daily perusal of our local paper revealed an article concerning liquor that caught my attention.  If you are like me, I only glance at the headlines and then read the articles that catch my attention.  In the article Burbon Boom I found out that the liquor industry is certainly selling it by the barrels.  Let me remind our readers that this article only deals with “straight whiskey” and does not report on vodka and rum, or Scotch whiskey.  The article enlightens its readers as to the ‘boom’ of the whiskey industry and gives verifiable statistics.  Allow me to give you some simple “cuntry rifmatic” concerning this industry and the US Population.

In the article it reports the sale of ’straight whiskey’ as 14.7 million 9 liter cases.  This does not account for the sales of vodka and rum, which the article reported were more than straight whiskey.  Neither does it account for Scotch whiskey, which the article reported was less than straight whiskey.  Let’s be fair as we examine the numbers.  We know the sales of straight whiskey was 132.3 million liter’s of straight whiskey was sold in the United States.  While the article reported that vodka and rum were ahead of ’straight whiskey’ sales we will allow that at least 132.3 million liters of vodka and rum were sold.  Also, since the article reported that Scotch whiskey was less in sales, we will be fair and report one-half, or 66.2 million liters were sold.  That means that 330.7 million liters of ’straight whiskey, rum, vodka, Scotch whiskey were consumed in the United States last year.

According to the latest figures I could find, in 2006 we had 300 million residents in the United States.  In these statistics we find that 24% of the population is under 18 years of age.  Thus, we have 225 million people residing in the United States over the age of 18.  As you know the legal age to consume this beverage is 21 years of age in most states.  What does the numbers tell us concerning the sales of whiskey in the United States?  One shot of whiskey, rum, or vodka is equivalent to one ounce.  There are 33 ounces of to a liter.  Let’s say that after two shots of straight whiskey, rum, vodka, or Scotch whiskey you would be very close to the legal limit of being considered drunk.  Now, let’s do the math.  330 million liters comes out to 1.5 liter per person over 18 in the United States.  According to a Barna survey in 2007, 36 million people admitted to being intoxicated at least once in the past month.  Here is where my “cuntry rifmatic” breaks down.  According to Barna, 36 million people, or 16% of the population in the United States, admits to consuming enough alcohol to get intoxicated within the past month.  According to the Beverage Information Group, the Whiskey industry has sold, at least, 330 million liters of either, “straight whiskey, vodka and rum, or Scotch whiskey in the past year.  This means that 36 million people purchased a case of whiskey in the past year.

What does this say about alcohol and America.  First, this survey does not cover beer or wine, something some consider less intoxicating than straight whiskey.  Second, the increase in sales is something that we will continue to see as the economy gets worse.  Why? I believe people who drink will not be able to afford to go out to drink and will sit at home to drink.

How will the church respond?  Will we continue to sit around and lament the virtues of abstaining, something we must do, or will we add to the lamenting practical ways to engage the culture and reach out to that person that buys a case a year?  I can tell you from personal experience that one who looks inside a bottle for fulfillment is one that just wants someone to love them as they are.  Jesus is that someone and He loves you just as you are.  You can respond to His love as He draws you to Himself.  Or you can reject His revelation of Himself to you and stay in that bottle.  Remember, when you come to Jesus, He loves you too much to leave you as you are.  I can tell you that the bottle is a lonely place.

America seems to be more and more lonely as she drifts down the Whiskey River all the time singing; Whiskey river don’t run dry you’re all I’ve got take care of me in the whiskey barrel.

Everybody wants to Build a Bridge

UPDATE: SBC Today has requested the use of this article.  I have allowed them to use this article over at that site.  Therefore, I have turned off the comments.  If you would like to comment feel free to do so at that site.

My late father would always offer me sage advice when I was growing up. Whenever I would come home telling him about a deal that was too good to be true he would respond; “If it is too good to be true, usually it is.” Or he would say, “In this world, the only thing worth having that you get for nothing is salvation.” On every occasion I would come home with various ideas and run them past him, he would always interject wisdom into my thought process. On one such occasion I was home after completing my military active duty requirement and had the availability of a GI loan through the VA. I was part of a group of five trying to figure out how to open a junk yard business. Each one, it was agreed would put up $10K and with the total $50K we would begin our own business. Neither of us knew anything about the car business or the junk business. We did not have a business plan and we certainly did not know anything about purchasing land and the restrictions that would be placed on us in the early 1980’s concerning the environment. Neither of the five of us did any research other than how we could come up with the money. I talked this over with my father and he gave some wise advice to me at that time. I can still hear his words ring through my ears as I write this article. He told me; “Tim, before you jump on a band wagon, you need to know where it is heading.” It is these words that I want to echo in this article.

In 2007 at the Union University Baptist Identity Conference, Dr. Tom Rainer delivered a paper on “Evangelism and Church Growth in the Southern Baptist Convention”. In the follow-up to this conference he wrote an article entitled On Building Bridges. His thesis was on how we as Southern Baptist needed to build bridges, I believe, to each other within the convention. I never saw where he advocated that we build bridges outside the convention. I did see two things in the article that did concern me a bit. Dr. Rainer stated there were defined groups at the conference and implied, by a personal story at the conference, that these groups did not desire to mingle or exchange ideas. I was at the conference and I went to a bloggers reception where I exchanged greetings and ideas with Brother CB Scott, Brother Ben Cole and Dr. Dwight McKissic. I left there and went to a reception in the SWBTS area and exchanged ideas with Dr. Malcolm Yarnell along with Dr. and Mrs. Paige Patterson. To be fair to Dr. Rainer, there were more than likely some that were afraid to be seen with others, but I did not get that feeling. I hung out with Brother Wes Kenney and Brother David Worley, gave a ride to the conference to Dr. Ed Stetzer, and had great dialog with Dr. Dwight McKissic. The other concern I had from the article was this statement; “But it seems as if we just can’t stop fighting even though the battle for the Bible is over and won.” I believe we would all agree that the battle for the Bible will forever be at our door. If we ever concede this battle is over, we certainly will have a bridge from Neo-Orthodoxy that leads back into the convention defined as something other than what it is.

In San Antonio we were greeted with a packet of material that contained the booklet, pictured on the left, that advocated Building Bridges. These bridges I cannot comment on as I confess I never have read the booklet. I only present this picture because it is something that some of our leaders are advancing and advanced hard at the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Rainer in his report, once again spoke about Building Bridges, but this time he referenced the foundation on which the bridge should be built. That foundation is something that we all can agree on. But, did he really need to advance the thought that we needed to build this bridge on the Bedrock of Christ? If, as he advanced in his previous articles, the battle for the Bible is over should we not presume any bridge built has as its foundation Jesus Christ? I am not questioning Dr. Rainer’s passion or his purpose. I want to be on that bridge that he desires to build. But, I believe there needs to be some reassessment from him as to his assertion that we throw caution to the wind because everyone in the SBC is a Bible Believing inerrantist. Dr. Rainer is a Godly man and each time I hear him in a presentation I am challenged and moved to seek more of God. He makes excellent presentations and does his research well. I would not be anywhere close to being able to carry his water. However, on this point of Building Bridges I believe he needs to reassess his position.

Enter the next Building Bridges stage. In November 2007 we had a Building Bridges Conference at Ridgecrest where Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The Founders Ministry converged to make presentations concerning Calvinism within the SBC. This was a wonderful time and I enjoyed getting to meet new people and also interact with others I knew. It was at this conference that I renewed my acquaintance and began a friendship with Brother Travis Hilton. Dr. Ed Stetzer had jokingly referred to this conference as “The Revenge of the Nerds“. We had scholar after scholar making presentation after presentation. Some you could follow and some I still go back and listen to the audio, but to no avail. It seems that this conference advocated Building Bridges to the Calvinist within our convention. It was at this conference that Dr. Danny Akin introduced his new baby, The Great Commission Resurgence. Thus, if I understand this bridge that he advocates we build, thi bridge is extended to the Calvinist and it will lead us to a Great Commission Resurgence. If this is what Dr. Akin means then I am 100% on board.  It was refreshing to see Dr. Malcolm Yarnell, Dr. Bart Barber, and Dr. Tom Ascoll stand shoulder to shoulder to put some teeth in Resolution #6 at this past convention.  I believe we cannot begin advancing the Kingdom of God until we stop fighting among ourselves. But if he means we build bridges outside the convention to join forces for planting churches because we want to plant more churches then I believe caution and clearly defined road signs need to accompany the traversing of this bridge.

Well, now we see another Bridge that a group of Baptist want to build. In the annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathering, their platform is Building Bridges. What originality. Their bridge, I do not believe, will be built on the same bedrock as the other bridges I have directed us. According to this article a presenter at this conference has questioned the very Deity of Christ. I know that CBF has a statement that they do not promote ideas the individuals presenting promotes those ideas. CBF, for some strange reason, believes they share no responsibility when a presenter presents a heretical view. Smyth & Helwys has taken the BP reporter to task because he inadvertently presumed they were the publisher of the book. Why wouldn’t he presume such? Smyth & Helwys sponsored the workshop and promoted the book during the General Assembly. Smyth & Helwys also is hosting a book-signing for Killinger at its booth in the resource fair. All of this to ask; Where is this bridge going?  Will this bridge intersect within the cloverleaf of bridges already being built?

It seems that everyone wants to build a bridge to somewhere, but no one is telling us where the bridge is heading. Neither is anyone telling us what we are trying to connect by building this bridge. Let me add that I do not believe these various bridges that I have presented will end up connecting. I do not want to believe that the bridge Drs. Ranier, Akin, Dockery, and George has pointed us to will be connected to the bridge the CBF is advocating. However, with all of this construction going into Building Bridges, we need to be very careful that the band wagon we are on doesn’t get mixed up in a cloverleaf of bridges and we get confused as to what road the bridge takes us down.

Convention Assessment

Well, it has been about a week since we voted in Indianapolis for a new president. Dr. Johnny Hunt overwhelmingly was elected our new president. I look forward to seeing how God will use him in the coming two years. It is already rumored that a couple of Florida pastors names are being floated to see how the response is for the next full election cycle. But, who knows, maybe Dr. Hunt will take a page out of the late Dr. Adrian Rogers’ book and only serve one year and allow Dr. Mohler to place his name back in the ring next year in Louisville. I have not heard anything to that effect and I am not trying to start a rumor, but it would be interesting. Would one not agree that Dr. Hunt has seemingly received the mantle of Dr. Rogers? It would appear that if the trustees reverse their policies after Dr. Hunts meeting with them, that the mantle has truly been passed.

On other convention matters, the resolutions that passed were certainly ones that spoke to the needs of the convention. The Charlotte, NC paper picked up a report from Religious News Service. The story found here speaks about the numbers being debated which spoke mainly about the resolution on Regenerate Church Membership. It seems that in that report the reporter made reference to another resolution that was passed on The Equality of Ethnic Representation. This resolution was a joint effort between Dr. Dwight McKissic and myself. I am a little concerned with Roger Oldham’s response in that article. I do not want to pass judgement on his response because I understand that sometimes a misplaced quote is not what a person communicated. However, if the quote is an accurate quote, it would seem that the Executive Committee sees nothing wrong with no minority representation on the Executive Committee staff because minorities are represented in other entities. If this is what they are saying then trustees should take a serious look at this. But, as I have already stated, I want to believe the quote is a misplaced quote.

Brother Bill Sanderson made a motion that called for us to identify Broadway Baptist as not being in friendly cooperation. I am glad to see this take place. One thing I do not understand is why a motion had to come from the floor of the convention to deal with this issue. It is clear from the debates that ensued around that situation in Texas that we certainly have a church that is not in cooperation with the Convention because their actions affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior (SBC Constitution Article III.1). With that in the constitution, it just is not clear why messengers have to make the motion from the floor before the convention can deal with it. One thing noted in the response to this motion was that Broadway Baptist did not send messengers to the convention. If the church is following the lead of the pastor that implemented the ‘openness’ policy there at Broadway, we can expect a request to address the convention next year.

On another matter that I did not understand was the motion for the Executive Committee to revisit our relationship with the Baptist World Alliance. If this motion comes through the EC and a motion is presented to the convention, I will only have one question. What will we do with Dr. Welch? I mean, isn’t that what he is supposed to be doing. I believe he gave a great report of trying to build bridges to Baptist on an international scale. He seems to be covering his position and building the foundation for a world wide network.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the convention. I am excited to be a Southern Baptist and look forward to the future as we cooperatively allow Jesus Christ to reach the world through us.

Johnny Hunt–SBC President

What a pleasant surprise.  First ballot and Brother Johnny Hunt walked out of the election process as President of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Everyone knows that I endorsed Brother Frank Cox and that was something that I felt led to do and I kept my word.  I knew that either Brother Johnny or Brother Frank would make an excellent president.  I beilieve that Brother Johnny is the man for the postion as the convention as spoken.  I believe he will do a tremendous job for three reasons.

First, Brother Johnny did not come from Baptist Blue blood.  He has been used by God tremendously and, let’s face it, he does not need the SBC.  Brother Johnny was elected on the first ballot by a 52% of 5800 ballots.  That is the number of people he preaches to every Sunday AM.  He has a heart to the SBC not become some elititst status.  I believe that he will do all that he can to keep us focused on the lost.

Second, Brother Johnny mentores many younger pastors and promotes healing for hurting pastors.  In a convention that has been diagnosed as too gray haired, he will be a fresh voice.  He reaches out to younger pastors and has mentored many through his Timothy/Barnabas schools.  He is known across the convention as the mentor of younger pastors.  He also helps those that stumble along the way with his City of Refuge ministry.  God has used him to put that ministry together and he also has done much to encourage pastors that are hurting in their ministry.  I can personally tell you that he has always returned my phone calls.  I have never called his office and left a message that he did not call me and take time to hear me ask questions.

Third, Brother Johnny has pastored churches in various stages in his ministry.  He has a humble attitude about himself.  As I came walking through the convention hall, he stopped speaking to about three people to call to me and greet me with a warm handshake and hug.  Brother Johnny remembers you when he meets you. 

This convention seems to be shaping up to be one that is a convention of unity.  This unity is seen in the first ballot win of Brother Johnny Hunt.  I praise God for this direction and look forward to what the next two years hold.

A Joint Resolution

The following resolution is one that I sent before the deadline to the Resolutions Committee. I presented this resolution after a time of grapplying with the issue.  Allow me to present a brief history and then I will present the resolution.

In a comment thread on another blog the issue of race was being discussed.  In that discussion my Brother Dwight McKissic made a statement that caused me to think very deeply.  Brother Dwight said that on a recent visit to the Executive Committee building he noticed a very strange phenomenan.  As we traversed the hallways he was moved by the lack of minority presence.  Thus, he inquired concerning the highest ranking African American.  He was told that the highest ranking African American was the head custodian.  I openly argued that I trusted the hiring process that Dr. Chapman has in place at the EC.  However, deep inside I had concern that we had no minority representation.  It is not that we had little, but we had no minority representation.  The comment concerned me because I know that I went to school with some very bright African Americans.  One Brother and I studied for tests together and he usually had a much better grasp of the material and his grades reflected his intellect.  He is now employed in our state convention. 

Before anyone thinks this is solely about African American minorities, it isn’t.  As a convention we have many minority churches but in leadership we have few minority voices.  After much prayer and wrestling with what to do, I contacted Brother Dwight with the possibility of presenting this resolution as a joint venture.  He helped me word it and we came to a consensus of statement in order to ask that our leaders begin to pray.  We just want them to do what I did.  Look at the landscape and pray about what God would have us do.  This is not about quotas.  It is about finding God’s people–red, yellow, black, and white–to fill the positions of leadership.  This leadership could be in the committees, or in the employment positions.  Just pray about it as you look to fill the positions is the action called for in the resolution.

On Equality in Ethnic Representation

 

WHEREAS, In 1995 Southern Baptist expressed a commitment to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry; andWHEREAS, we have committed ourselves to be doers of the Word (James 1:22) by pursuing racial reconciliation in all our relationships, especially with our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 2:7), to the end that our light would so shine before others, that they may see (our) good works and glorify (our) Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16); and

 

WHEREAS, Southern Baptist publicly express our gratitude to God for his reconciling grace, and reaffirm our intention to love our neighbors as ourselves, denouncing in strongest terms every expression of racial and ethnic prejudice, discrimination, and hatred; and

 

WHEREAS, According to Lifeway there are 2,416 African American churches and 684 missions, 1,307 Hispanic churches and 1,665 missions, 583 Korean churches and 27 missions and 137, Chinese churches and 71 missions affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention; and

 

WHEREAS, there is among our minority Brothers and Sisters an emergence of strong leadership, pulpit ability, administrative capability, and denominational, theological, and scriptural fidelity as is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message; and

 

WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist Convention does not appear reflective of this racial diversity among her entity heads, employees, the various boards of trustees, executive and cabinet level leadership to any significant degree. Therefore be it

 

RESOLVED, That  the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-11, 2008, express our appreciation to entities seeking to address a balanced representative of minority leadership; and be it further

 

RESOLVED, That we urge our entity leaders, working under God’s timing and at their discretion, to help resolve any imbalance of minority representation within their entity; and be it finally

 

RESOLVED, That we encourage our President and all committees to identify ethnic leadership from within the Southern Baptist family to serve on boards, committees, and programs of the Southern Baptist Convention so as to reflect more completely the oneness in Christ we share as a denomination and as a witness for our Lord everywhere and with everyone.

Accountability–What does it Mean?

When I was growing up there was an unofficial extension of my mother and father’s house guidelines.  I could be at school and a teacher would see me doing something that was no good and he/she would respond; “I know that your mother and father would not approve of that.”  I could be at the grocery store with mama and on another isle playing and one of our church members would see me and say; “You know better than to do that.”  On many occasions our neighbor’s would call mama and daddy at work to tell them about a visitor at the house that just dropped by to see my sisters.  Our house rules were that no one was to be at the house when mama and daddy were at work.  I still remember being 25 years old and the guilt I felt about bringing a date by the house while mama and daddy were out of town on vacation.

Which brings me to my point.  One blogger here has advanced the IMB guidelines to another level in the argument.  It has been tried before, but it did not gain traction.  However, with the new petition being signed, it seems that we are ready to relieve ourselves of accountability we as Southern Baptist enjoy.  The argument now being advanced seems to paint the IMB Board of Trustees as a conglomerate of uninformed “large corporation” personnel that have no respect for the local church.  Notice the terminology:

In many denominations, what the hierarchical leaders say goes, as they are in authority over the churches. The SBC is organized on the principle of local church autonomy, meaning we recognize no authority over a local church except for Jesus Himself, and that all of our missional agencies utlimately answer to the church congregations they serve.

That quote reveals a flaw understanding the role of the local church.  While your church may allow for a baptism from say a Presbyterian congregation, my church will not allow that and we require the candidate for membership to be re-baptized.  The author of the above quoted blog reveals a level of understanding that if his local church authorizes it, it is the duty of the IMB to accept it.  It seems that the writer fails to remember the IMB screeners are from other local churches.  Their fiduciary responsibility is to the other 39,999 churches that also are owners of the entity.

This new policy has placed the board in the position of dictating to local churches what constitutes a legitimate Christian baptism. With the intense specificity required by the new IMB rules, the churches from which potential Southern Baptist missionaries emerge are now subject to extra-biblical management practices which undermine the authority of the local church.

This above quote is from the petition for change itself.  Please note the separation of the “board” from the IMB.  The entire petition is rife with language that deliberately separates the BoT from the IMB.  Houston, we have a problem.  When we begin separating the actions of a group from the entity they were elected to hold trust, we have a serious flaw in organizational understanding.  If we use, for the sake of argument, this logic let me point you to the logical conclusion.  Since those elected to the positions of Trustees come from local churches, and since they oversee actions from a local church perspective, then those signing the petition are saying their local church is not accountable to other local churches.  I do not believe these signatories would say that.  However, using their logic of separating the BoT from the entity of the IMB begins this slide on the slippery slope.

I asked in the last comment thread a germane question.  I asked; what would it take to place this issue of the IMB guidelines behind us?  The answer I received was eye opening indeed.  Nothing short of the Trustees reversing their decision.  Here in lies the problem.  We have local church people serving in positions where they have to decide on issues based, not on one churches practices, but on over 40,000 churches and their standard practices.

It all comes down to this.  As a local church you decide whose baptism you will accept and whose you will not accept.  That is the autonomy of the local church.  When you decide to enter into a partnership venture with other local churches you release your autonomy for and submit to the accountability of all churches within the partnership.  When a candidate has been rejected because of a baptism standard, that is not your churches autonomy being violated.  It is the accountability of all churches being actualized.

Why Now?–Updated

I received a phone call last evening from Brother Allan Blume.  He wanted to personally answer the question for me.  As a result of his answers I am updating this post in order to present it as fairly as I know how.  He has assured me of a couple of issues.  First, the petition was only put together approximately three weeks ago.  It was conceived by Brother Allan and some others as a result of Rodney Hammer’s resignation being the straw that broke the camel’s back.  It seems that while Brother Allan’s wife, Sister Pam, was serving as an IMB Trustee she became better acquainted with Brother Rodney as well as other Regional Leaders.  Brother Allan stressed to me that he has received numerous emails as well as Sister Pam from other Missionaries on the field that have a fear of these new policies.  He said that it has been two years now and these policies have produced negative results. 

As to the comments that I made concerning the connections of Brother’s Allan, Steve Hardy, and Sister Pam with Brother Wade Burleson.  In those comments I tacitly implied that there was a connection between this petition and Brother Wade’s silence.  Brother Allan has assured me that he has not spoken to Brother Wade concerning this issue, and also Brother Wade has broken his blogging silence by commenting at Baptistlife.com that he knew nothing of this petition coming forth.  I accept their words on this as I know Brother Allan to be truthful in his comments.  As to the signing of the MD, I have only stated that as a truth.  You can follow the link to that site in the article and find both Brother Steve Hardy and Sister Pam Blume’s signatures. 

In all fairness, Brother Allan Blume has been open with me and did give me a deserving chastising for not contacting him, Brother Steve, or Sister Pam if I wanted to know; Why Now?  For any offense caused to any of the three of them, I apologize, and private phone conversations will be initiated by me to personally express my apology.  As I spoke to Brother Allan, I am still confused as to the reason for this move because as I have always known him I have always been instructed in NC, that we work through the Committees and Trustee Boards.  He said that he knows others who have tried to work through these channels but without any success.  He informed me that he saw no reason for this petition to stay as just a petition.  I was informed that he did not know if anyone was going to make a motion at the convention.  I expressed my disagreement that this matter should come to the convention floor because it completely undermines the trustee system.  However, if the petition comes to the floor in the form of a motion, may it be in a clear up or down vote and not some generically worded motion that will leave us all guessing as to exactly what the convention has said.

I remember as a small boy I was caught by one of our ’statesman’ deacons doing something that I was not supposed to be doing. He corrected me and then told me that the incident would only be between the two of us. Our church was going through some turmoil some time later and my father was taking a strong stand about the veracity of Scripture. In the midst of the argument, this ’statesman’ deacon revealed how he had corrected me doing the misdeed and how my misdeed would provide proof that my father lacked integrity because he did nothing to stop me from doing it. As a matter of fact, my father did not even know anything about it and thus it made him unfit to fill the position that he had as a deacon. My father responded to him; Why Now? He basically asked if the ’statesman’ deacon knew about this all along, why had he not said anything before now?

Which brings me to this mass revelation that is being presented as a statement for change at timetochange. Many of the signers on this document seem to come out at at time that really does not make sense. Or does it? There is more to this document than just people that believe it is time to change. I say this for three reasons.

First, many of the original signers are former trustees. Notice the number of the ‘former trustees’ listed beside the names. As trustees they were able to provide leadership using the trustee system, but now that they are not trustees they are evading the system. Some that I know as former trustees would have the heads of those that would pull something like this. There are some that have blocked conservative advances here in North Carolina, not because they are not conservatives, but because they insist that we remain within the system. The late Ted Stone worked strenuously to remove various giving plans to return to one giving plan only to be thwarted because he would not work through the committee and trustee structure.

Second, some of the original signers are also original signers of the Memphis Declaration. Venture over to this link and see the signatories and make a comparison. You will note that back in 2006 these signatories were adamant about the need for change and joined our Brother’s Burleson and Cole in their quest for changing the landscape of the SBC. Well, they used the guidelines and then signed a statement in order to place their personal desire before the entire SBC in order to get themselves in positions of influence. Of course you have noticed a quiet from them in the past month. Now this statement comes out and their names are strangely absent. However, notice the connections through the Memphis Declaration.

Third, many of the original signers are also old enough and know enough about SBC politics to remember that NAMB already has these same guidelines, except they call them policies, in place. If this is about the Baptism guidelines I would have never even looked at this the second time. However, these men and women have added the PPL guidelines and that shocks me. NAMB has had policies in place. Dr. Bob Pearle, an IMB Trustee in 2005 quoted in an article concerning the NAMB policy;

Quoting from NAMB’s personnel policy, Pearle read, “‘No person who is actively participating in or promoting glossolalia shall be appointed, approved or endorsed by NAMB. This includes having a private prayer language.’

Dr. Pearle was on the BoT that approved the original policies and he knew about the NAMB policies and quoted them in 2005. If this group is so concerned that the IMB guidelines are holding back qualified missionaries, then where is their voice concerning the NAMB policies?

Well, we have been debating this issue ad nauseum since 2005 when these issues were presented as something that they were not. We have these people all saying they are concerned and desire to see the IMB change these guidelines. If this is such a disgusting issue for this group of people, I only have one question. WHY NOW?

Representing the Entire SBC

Dr. Cox is one that will represent the entire Southern Baptist Convention. He has posted an answer to a question over at his place found here. I want to focus on this one answer to a question he has posted at his blog.

From Dr. Cox’s experience one can trust his leadership potential along with his desire for strengthening the small churches. Just read the following question along with his answer and see what I mean.

What is your ministry experience?

My ministry experience is like so many others who are pastoring Southern Baptist churches. At seventeen years of age God called me to preach and I responded. God began to open doors for me to speak. It didn’t matter if it was to a small youth group, whether it was to youth encampments, God just opened the doors and I went through them. I entered college at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia. It was there I was assigned as a preacher on what we called Impact Teams that went out from our Baptist Student Union. I began to preach in small churches around north Georgia during my college days. God continued to open the doors.

The summer after my first year in college God opened an opportunity for me to be the summer youth minister at Calvary Baptist Church in Lilburn, Georgia. It was only to last three months but turned into three years. God gave me invaluable experience at Calvary Baptist Church. Dick Lincoln was my pastor and he was helpful in utilizing my spiritual gifts for ministry. He allowed me to preach every now and then for him, and he utilized me in outreach as well as youth ministry.

In 1978 I left Calvary Baptist Church after graduating from Mercer University and went to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. It was there I became the pastor of the Barataria Baptist Church in Lafitte, Louisiana. Some of the greatest people in the world are in that church, even to this day. They allowed me to be their pastor and to cut my teeth on preaching. . They must have sat through many terrible sermons, but they were always encouraging. God used us in a great way in that little bayou church, and when I graduated from New Orleans I came to my present pastorate.

In November of 1980 I became the Pastor of what was then called Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Duluth, Georgia. It was my first church out of seminary and to this day, right at 28 years later, I still pastor this congregation. When I came we were running just over 100 in Sunday School, and over the years God has been faithful to grow His church utilizing our gifts and abilities along with hundreds of others in our fellowship to build a great church. I have pastored a small church, a medium sized church, and a large church, all in the same context.

In 1995 our church voted unanimously to relocate ten miles north of where we were located. At that time we changed the name of our church from Pleasant Hill Baptist Church to North Metro First Baptist Church. It has been a wonderful, wonderful experience. Dr. Charles Carter, formerly of Jonesboro First Baptist Church gave me insight into growing a large church. He said, “Frank, if you’ll go to a small church and just stay put and grow it a little bit every year, several years down the road you’ll look up one day and realize God has used you to build a large church.” Well, that is what God has done with us here at North Metro. Even though some may consider us to be a large church, I still see myself as that small-church pastor that came here in 1980 and God has just blessed! In fact, if you were to come into my study, you would see a picture next to my desk, a rather large picture, of a shack on stilts on the bayous of Louisiana. Many times people ask me why that picture is there. It’s there to remind me, no matter what God does in my life or through my life; I want to always remember where I came from. That one picture serves to keep everything in perspective. That is exactly who I am.

What a great man for the next President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Disobedient to Christ’s Command

When I was growing up my father would tell me to do certain things and I would do them. However, there were some occasions I would not follow my father’s command and I would reap the benefits of such disobedience. Just because I reaped the spoils of my disobedience did not mean that I was placed out in the barn and kicked out of the family. There were some spoils of disobedience that were worse than others. However, being disobedient to my father did not result in my not receiving my father’s inheritance, nor did it result in other blessings he chose to bestow on me.

Some months ago one well known Pastor expressed his conviction so strongly relating to immersion that he expressed those who advocate pedobaptism were in unrepentant sin. There was a huge outcry against such a statement. Within the blogging community of Southern Baptists we had one of our leading bloggers to take up this expression and was castigated as being harsh and divisive. His article The Pernicious Evil of Mere Preference brought about one hundred sixteen comments. While the article presented a thesis that Dr. Dever was correct in his assessment that a pedobaptist was in unrepentant sin, some commenters tried to hijack the comments in a direction of hypocrisy on the part of Dr. Dever. Recently Dr. Nathan Finn published an article at his blog that speaks concerning the guidelines on immersion at the IMB. In this article He adovcated accepting the immersion of adult believers within the conservative churches he listed that practiced peadobaptism. He listed conservative Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, and Lutheran churches as being “true” churches.

What does this mean? Well, it seems the debate has much to do with where we find ourselves as Southern Baptists. There are some that are Southern Baptist by conviction and some that are Southern Baptist by convenience. I am a Southern Baptist by conviction. I believe that the call for immersion is a command of Christ. While immersion has nothing to do with the Grace that brings one to Justification, it has everything to do with obedience that begins one walking in Sanctification. Thus, there appears to be a couple of questions that are screaming from the mountain tops. One question of a personal nature and one of a corporate nature.

These questions are very closely related to the argument presented by Drs. Dever and Barber. In these questions one concedes that we are speaking of Brothers and Sisters in Christ, thus there is no reason to place forth a comment about me questioning anyone’s salvation, or any church’s commitment to Christ.

Because we Baptist believe that immersion is the command of Christ. Because we Baptist believe that immersion comes after one has conscientiously responded to the free gift of salvation. Because we Baptist believe immersion is the identification mark that speaks to the world one has identified oneself with Jesus Christ. Would one refusing to be immersed be disobedient to Christ’s command? Also, would a church (one that preaches and teaches salvation by faith alone; in Christ alone; based on scripture alone) that teaches peadobaptism, but will immerse a person who has received the free gift of salvation if that person so desires in order to meet a need in their life, be openly disobedient to the command of Christ?

As a follow-up to these questions. While I believe there are conservative Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches, I still have difficulty accepting the immersion of these adults coming from these various churches. The reason? Let’s face it, theologically speaking, Anglican and Lutherans are really closet Catholics. Also, Presbyterian and Methodists are their kissing cousins–theologically speaking. Thus, I would be hard pressed to accept an immersion performed in any of the other churches due to the theological bend concerning their view of baptism and the Lord’s table.

Therefore, as you can tell, my answer to the above questions would be a resounding, Yes!

Baptist By Conviction!

I am trying to teach my daughter the conviction that I have in being a Baptist. We read in our family devotions this morning from Voice of the Martyrs. It told of a saint from long ago being burned at the stake. Rebekah asked about that and wondered why. I explained to her that many were burned at the stake and even drowned because of their belief in Baptism. It is in this light that present to you a personal conviction that I have been able to place in the following format.

Remember to pray for the Persecuted Church. We have brothers and sisters in Christ that are being persecuted in other lands for the simple reason that they name Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

I AM A SOUTHERN BAPTIST

1. Bible: I hold to the Blood Stained Banner of our Lord Jesus Christ whose death is sufficient to save the entire world as recorded in the inerrant text of Holy Writ. I am not ashamed that I believe in an inerrant text and will not compromise on any doctrine this text clearly defines.

2. Every person that acknowledges a need for and receives the atoning forgiveness of Jesus Christ is my Brother or Sister in Christ, irrespective of his/her nationality, race, or denominational affiliation, or lack thereof. I will demonstrate this by an unwavering and straight forward solidarity which always binds together members of the same family.

3. Baptism by Immersion: I hold to the faithful call to baptize regenerated persons into the body of Christ actualized in the visible local church. I am respectful of the 1930 years of doctrines verbalized by our forefathers, beginning first in the Jerusalem council, and then through out church history. I will honor the command given to the church by our Lord to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism is a command of Christ and I will not be disobedient. I will work, first, within the local church body to establish strategies on how best to accomplish this task and then cooperatively with others.