Rev. Bill Harrell
Today I want to introduce you to the ministry of Rev. William F. Harrell. Brother Bill has been in, and through, the trenches of the Conservative Resurgence. As a matter of fact, it was Brother Bill that organized the conservatives in Georgia. After a time of getting them organized the Lord opened avenues of service for Brother Bill in the national conservative movement. This post is Part 1 of a two part series. This is merely the introduction and the strength of this post will be evidenced tomorrow with Part 2. Enjoy and feel free to comment.
William F. (Bill) Harrell, has been the Pastor of Abilene Baptist Church in Augusta, GA for the past 30 years. He has served in many capacities in the Georgia Baptist Convention as well as the Southern Baptist Convention and has just completed his second eight year term on the Executive Committee of the SBC. Brother Bill, as he is affectionately called, was vitally involved on the Executive Committee during the years of the Conservative Resurgence chairing one of the main sub-committees through which many of the necessary changes were made. He is the preacher on Strength For Today, the television ministry of Abilene Baptist which has a potential audience of over two million people each week in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.
A casual perusal of recent history will reveal that it has not been too many years since the Church really made a difference in the way society conducted itself. The public needed a moral compass and the Church was it. When evil and immorality reared its ugly head, the Church was the first to confront it and more often than not, was successful in dealing with the problem thereby protecting the moral and spiritual climate of society. It was the Church, along with Godly parents, which taught the people what was morally right and socially acceptable. She was viewed as a vital part of the culture while at the same time remaining separate from it to the point that she would be able to influence that culture in a Godly fashion.
It was the Church, and Godly parents who had themselves been taught by the church, that set the standards for what was good and prudent behavior. She held high the standards of decency which are today being cast aside. People knew it was wrong to co-habitate without being married. They knew that homosexuality was wrong as was profanity and drunkenness. People were warned about the sins of sexual license and pornography. They were told that these things are wrong. And, when someone stepped over the line and violated what was considered proper spiritually, morally and ethically, the church, as the spiritual Body of Christ who himself must do the forgiving, was the institution of society to which they went for forgiveness. They automatically knew that it was the church which set the standard and that it was to the church that they must go in order to set things right. There is no redemptive power in social, civic or educational organizations and people knew this. For redemption and peace they automatically turned to the church. It is the Church, and only the Church, which has the message of redemption which truly changes lives and saves souls. No other institution or organization has this vital message or the ability to apply it.
In this postmodern era in which we live the situation is quite different and it will continue to get worse unless the Church re-claims some of the high ground it has given up to the world. People now place as much or more confidence in the government and its social programs to provide answers for life as they do the church. In fact, to the average person today, the postmodern church is little more than just another organization present in society. It is a good organization, but to them, it is just that; another social organization which is supposed to make people feel good about who they are. The true message of the Church is too straightforward for people who have absorbed the postmodern frame of thought on how life should be lived. They will not tolerate the actual message of Scripture because they have been taught that it is too narrow and demanding. Not only is it demanding they also feel that it is demeaning. It violates their right to be the person they want to be as prescribed by the politically correct, postmodern culture in which we now live.
Tomorrow you will read how the post modern church is lazy, intimidated by society, and powerless to do anything about it.
[...] “The Devastating Effect of a Postmodern Church, Part 1” and “Part 2,” by Bill Harrell at the Southern Baptist in North Carolina web site, expressing concerns about the degree to which some contemporary churches may be impacted by postmodern culture and values. [...]