So much of what I see in the emergent church movement excites me... and concerns me. I like how John Johnson from Village Baptist Church in Beaverton Oregon weighs in on the issue. His article follows. Your thoughts?
Having just finished Gibbs and Bolger’s newest book, Emerging Churches, I came away with this strange mixture of being both turned on and turned off. I left the traditional church years ago (at least philosophically) for many of the same reasons my brothers and sisters in emerging churches have left. But gaining a clearer picture of this “conversation,” I am unwilling to go where many of them are going. I am somewhere in what sometimes feels as no-man’s land; not ready to embrace the whole of what is referred to as Emergent, nor interested in going back to what is typically the traditional, institutional church. I agree with Gibbs that the church must embody its message and life within postmodern culture or it will become increasingly marginalized. I’m just not sure that what he describes is the kind of body I believe God has called us to live in. Could it be I belong to something like the emertional church (for lack of a better term, which sounds strangely baptistic but is not), a church that is somewhere in the middle?
It is tempting to set up contrasting models of Traditional and Emergent, and appear positively as something between the extremes. But I want to avoid this. Working in pastoral theology, as well as being a pastor, I find that many love to set up straw men they can easily confute. Behind this is a subtle, and not so subtle, expression of pride, which suggests some of us have found the way. We are God’s instruments to seize this runaway train called the church and bring it back to its biblical tracks. I hope this is not the tenor of this blog.
I both hear and read the distinctions between traditional and emerging. The list is long, and what follows is only illustrative:
• Ordered / Organic
• Church as place / Church as a way of life
• Building / Community
• Homogenous/ Diverse
• Constructed / Deconstruction
• Worship planned for the consumer / Worship arising out of the community
• Propositions to be known/ Narrative to be experienced
• Print & Ear / Image & Eye
• Reaching those turned on to church/ Reaching those turned off to church
• Modern / Postmodern
• Epistles, church / Gospels, kingdom
• Counter cultural through exclusion / Counter cultural through inclusion
• Attractional / Incarnational
• Monologue / Dialogue
These have sometimes been used to define the differences. The only problem is that they are simplistic and reductionistic (if that is a term); more imagined than real. Here’s what I know for sure. The following is a church I want to be a part of: Intimately large (not necessarily an oxymoron), a community devoted to one another, yet expanding in its capacity in order to create a movement; increasing its capacity to be global, doing the kind of cross cultural ministry that greater resources enable it to do.
This is a ministry that has not been done so well by traditional churches that assumed a Constantinian cultural context, nor is it discussed much by emerging churches. The Emertional Church is intent upon sending teams abroad with such collective energy that they partner with existing ministries to make incredible impact. It is a church that views size as an opportunity to gather momentum that, joining with other sizeable churches, can dissuade corrupt powers from attacking believers (standing with others to influence events in Darfur or Damascus). Size that creates the organizational expertise to establish specialized ministries that are then able to reach special needs (like Katrina disasters).
Critical to the Emertional Church is radical connections, where people are challenged at both a gathered and small group level to be community. A group of people that cannot know everyone, but challenged to powerfully engage with someone. Some will question the possibility of community in a larger church. I’m not convinced of its impossibility, but I also realize it will take great intentionality, using such passages as Colossians 3 as a guide.
It is a church that respects both ordered and organism, knowing that it is impossible to have sustained life without developed form. But suspicious enough of form to know it easily turns rigid.
The Emertional Church, while unapologetically committed to structures and policies and facilities and staff, is also dedicated to maintaining function over form. Structures are servants that lose usefulness when they become so inflexible they can no longer contain the fermenting Jesus. This requires that the Emertional Church also be deconstructionist, calling for the tearing down of structures, ways, habits that inhibit ministry, while continually constructing what is necessary to thrive in the world of today and tomorrow.
Here are a few more descriptions of this church. Modern, yet postmodern. Many of us come from a modernistic context, but live in a postmodern context. It’s up to us to figure out how to minister in light of this. There has to be the respect for foundations, things that are certain, things that are linear, things that are distinct. There is an unapologetic commitment to the authority of Word. Not all things are sacred. Spiritual can be cheapened to define things that are not. True spirituality cannot be experienced apart from the church. On the other hand, the Emertional Church rejects many of the modernistic claims. Modernity and rationalism have not necessarily led to a better world. There are mysteries that cannot be easily systematized, explained. Not everything fits in neat systems. Truth that really matters is not so much proven by arguments as verified by changed lives.
The Emertional Church values both incarnational and attractional. There is a place to gather. In fact, a body that reflects the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ can be a greater influence on the community than believers simply scattered. There are occasions when the church attracts, and the community responds. Easter, Christmas serve as immediate examples. But people in this model must come largely through people; not through events, programs, celebrities, slick advertising.
The Emertional Church places great value on monologue and dialogue. Preaching is not an option, but a mandate. But there is also room for dialogue, for community involvement in constructing worship, orienting the direction of a sermon, setting in motion creativity and the arts. There is a need to reach both ear and eye, and all the senses for that matter. The Word of God proclaimed with clarity, its message delivered by one with the posture of a preacher, amidst a community that values poetry as it values prose, silence as it values sound, sacraments as it values revealed Word. Counter cultural, both by being holy, unique, separate, and being engaged, involved, immersed in culture.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
if the church is the only hope, what is the hope for the church?
In this post, one of our missionaries on the field reflects on the American church. She is responding to my assertion that if the trend in America continues, one day the biggest mission field in the world may be the one we live in. I thought her response was interesting. How would you respond?
I don’t have any answers Rick….only questions….and it is driving me crazy. I keep rolling a Bill Hybels’s quote around in my head. Hybels says, “The local church is the hope of the world.” What is the hope of the local church?I honestly didn’t know what you meant when you said ‘our biggest mission field is the one we live in.’ Did it mean the biggest mission field is the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave?’ Did it mean that the biggest mission field is the one that surrounds you wherever you are? I guess I like the latter meaning better than the former.
I don’t know how I feel about our beloved country being the ‘biggest mission field.’ I know it is certainly A mission field. About that, there is no doubt. I have a friend who says that no one should be allowed to hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once. I don’t totally subscribe to this; however, it is an interesting line of thinking. And what do you do with Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5?
Seems to me that Evangelical America spends enormous resources to share the gospel with people who have already heard it again and again and again…. While there are 1000’s of people who die everyday having never even heard it even once. Like I said, I don’t have any answers….only questions.
Do you think the established church teaches people that the central theme of our faith is being a good church member?What if we all lived like we Jesus lived? Or at least like he called us to live? I guess the big question is…what would that look like? I don’t know. I do know that if we lived like this then we wouldn’t even have to use words like ‘missional.’ We wouldn’t have to have discussions on how to market the church. We wouldn’t have to rely on churches and parachurch organizations to organize service opportunities. People wouldn’t know that we are Christians by where are car was parked on Sundays and Wednesdays, they would know we were Christians by our love.
This is a little dramatic, but maybe we should let the organized American church die so we could start over. It seems to me like we’ve strayed pretty far from Acts 2. (I’m sure there is a good illustration to use here. Something about a plant that comes back stronger after it lays dormant, or a sports team, or bug, or the church in China… something, but I’m too jetlagged to come up with anything…sorry)Maybe I’m just being naive. Maybe I should have worked all this stuff out when I was 19. Maybe the millions of believers who do nothing more than occupy a pew once a week are right and I’m wrong. I don’t know.Like I said, no answers, just questions.
Local church….hope of the world?
I don’t have any answers Rick….only questions….and it is driving me crazy. I keep rolling a Bill Hybels’s quote around in my head. Hybels says, “The local church is the hope of the world.” What is the hope of the local church?I honestly didn’t know what you meant when you said ‘our biggest mission field is the one we live in.’ Did it mean the biggest mission field is the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave?’ Did it mean that the biggest mission field is the one that surrounds you wherever you are? I guess I like the latter meaning better than the former.
I don’t know how I feel about our beloved country being the ‘biggest mission field.’ I know it is certainly A mission field. About that, there is no doubt. I have a friend who says that no one should be allowed to hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once. I don’t totally subscribe to this; however, it is an interesting line of thinking. And what do you do with Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5?
Seems to me that Evangelical America spends enormous resources to share the gospel with people who have already heard it again and again and again…. While there are 1000’s of people who die everyday having never even heard it even once. Like I said, I don’t have any answers….only questions.
Do you think the established church teaches people that the central theme of our faith is being a good church member?What if we all lived like we Jesus lived? Or at least like he called us to live? I guess the big question is…what would that look like? I don’t know. I do know that if we lived like this then we wouldn’t even have to use words like ‘missional.’ We wouldn’t have to have discussions on how to market the church. We wouldn’t have to rely on churches and parachurch organizations to organize service opportunities. People wouldn’t know that we are Christians by where are car was parked on Sundays and Wednesdays, they would know we were Christians by our love.
This is a little dramatic, but maybe we should let the organized American church die so we could start over. It seems to me like we’ve strayed pretty far from Acts 2. (I’m sure there is a good illustration to use here. Something about a plant that comes back stronger after it lays dormant, or a sports team, or bug, or the church in China… something, but I’m too jetlagged to come up with anything…sorry)Maybe I’m just being naive. Maybe I should have worked all this stuff out when I was 19. Maybe the millions of believers who do nothing more than occupy a pew once a week are right and I’m wrong. I don’t know.Like I said, no answers, just questions.
Local church….hope of the world?
Friday, January 27, 2006
straining at gnats and swallowing camels
This week two seemingly disconnected events took place on the world stage that accentuate the need for the advance of the gospel. Stay with me here.
The first was a lawsuit brought against the Catholic church. From cnn.com:
An Italian court is tackling Jesus -- and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago. The case pits against each other two men in their 70s, who are from the same central Italian town and even went to the same seminary school in their teenage years. The defendant, Enrico Righi, went on to become a priest writing for the parish newspaper. The plaintiff, Luigi Cascioli, became a vocal atheist who, after years of legal wrangling, is set to get his day in court later this month.
"I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the Church, the bearer of obscurantism and regression," Cascioli told Reuters.
The fact that this lawsuit even gets traction in the seat of Roman Catholicism is telling enough.
The second signficant event was the rise to political power of Hamas in the Palestinian territory. For those who have any question about the platform of this terrorist organization, take a look at their charter:
The Islamic Resistance Movement strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine... Therefore our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious...The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, killing the Jews. When the Jews hide behind stones and trees, they will say ‘O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him...’ Resisting and quelling the enemy is the individual duty of every Muslim, male or female. A woman can go out to fight the enemy without her husband's permission, and so does the slave: without his master's permission...”Thus, there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Ji’had. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with...The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion... It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary, and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions...
Again, no explanation needed here.
Mark Steyn has written an excellent piece in the Wall Steet Journal in which he points out that the west might as well get used to a major democraphic shift toward radical Islam. There are now more muslims who attend mosques in England than Christians who attend church. This is the trend all over Western Europe. Tim Keller points out that Christiandom is now a thing of the past. Western Europe ceded it's Christian roots in favor secular humanism and the Church never saw it coming. The church in Europe saw every other part of the world as a mission field without noticing that their own cities were becoming increasingly post Christian.
The same thing is happening in America. According to the latest Barna research, 80% of the unchurched in America are people who have just stopped going to church. The fastest growing group of unchurched are from (guess who) Baptists. And the youngest generation is bailing disproportionately.
Steyn makes a great case that the biggest mistake of the west is that we worry about all of the things that don't matter without worrying about all the things that do. He was talking about economics, but he might as well have been talking about missiology.
I agree with Keller who reminds us that the church in America can no longer see herself as the seat of Christiandom (a shrinking market), but must now make the switch to a missional appraoch. Increasingly, our biggest mission field is the one we live in. And the world is transitioning more and more away from the influence of the gospel.
In this new reality, the Church no longer has the luxury of majoring on minors and narrowing our fellowship over the non-essentials in our doctrine (Hear Jesus: "these you should have done and not left the other undone"). God in His providence will accomplish His purposes one way or another. The question is whether we will join Him or be left behind because of our gnat straining camel swallowing ways.
The first was a lawsuit brought against the Catholic church. From cnn.com:
An Italian court is tackling Jesus -- and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago. The case pits against each other two men in their 70s, who are from the same central Italian town and even went to the same seminary school in their teenage years. The defendant, Enrico Righi, went on to become a priest writing for the parish newspaper. The plaintiff, Luigi Cascioli, became a vocal atheist who, after years of legal wrangling, is set to get his day in court later this month.
"I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the Church, the bearer of obscurantism and regression," Cascioli told Reuters.
The fact that this lawsuit even gets traction in the seat of Roman Catholicism is telling enough.
The second signficant event was the rise to political power of Hamas in the Palestinian territory. For those who have any question about the platform of this terrorist organization, take a look at their charter:
The Islamic Resistance Movement strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine... Therefore our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious...The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, killing the Jews. When the Jews hide behind stones and trees, they will say ‘O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him...’ Resisting and quelling the enemy is the individual duty of every Muslim, male or female. A woman can go out to fight the enemy without her husband's permission, and so does the slave: without his master's permission...”Thus, there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Ji’had. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with...The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion... It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary, and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions...
Again, no explanation needed here.
Mark Steyn has written an excellent piece in the Wall Steet Journal in which he points out that the west might as well get used to a major democraphic shift toward radical Islam. There are now more muslims who attend mosques in England than Christians who attend church. This is the trend all over Western Europe. Tim Keller points out that Christiandom is now a thing of the past. Western Europe ceded it's Christian roots in favor secular humanism and the Church never saw it coming. The church in Europe saw every other part of the world as a mission field without noticing that their own cities were becoming increasingly post Christian.
The same thing is happening in America. According to the latest Barna research, 80% of the unchurched in America are people who have just stopped going to church. The fastest growing group of unchurched are from (guess who) Baptists. And the youngest generation is bailing disproportionately.
Steyn makes a great case that the biggest mistake of the west is that we worry about all of the things that don't matter without worrying about all the things that do. He was talking about economics, but he might as well have been talking about missiology.
I agree with Keller who reminds us that the church in America can no longer see herself as the seat of Christiandom (a shrinking market), but must now make the switch to a missional appraoch. Increasingly, our biggest mission field is the one we live in. And the world is transitioning more and more away from the influence of the gospel.
In this new reality, the Church no longer has the luxury of majoring on minors and narrowing our fellowship over the non-essentials in our doctrine (Hear Jesus: "these you should have done and not left the other undone"). God in His providence will accomplish His purposes one way or another. The question is whether we will join Him or be left behind because of our gnat straining camel swallowing ways.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
God of the fifth cast
Dann Allendar tells a great story about taking his son fishing the end result of which was one of those great moments dads dream about.
He had promised his son a fish.
In fact, more than promise, he guaranteed that before the morning was through, one or more fish would be in the boat (note to self- be careful what you promise your son!).
You have probably already guessed that after several hours they were bone dry. Not a fish, not a bite, not a ripple in the water. His son was crushed. "Dad, you promised." Every dad reading this knows this dreadful refrain.
"Just one more cast, and then we have to go." And so it went, for three, four more casts.
Nothing.
Allendar knew they had to give up, but his own dissappointment and the pleading of his son worked him into one more cast.
It was the one that caught the fish.
Allendar and his son rejoiced in the glory of his son catching his first fish. The morning was saved and the boys emotions were raptured into ecstacy. "My first fish!"
As they were rowing back to shore, his son said "Dad, I have just discovered a new name for God."
"Oh yeah, what is that son?"
"God of the fifth cast!"
Allendar, who is president of Mars Hill Seminary and a terrific Bible scholar and theologian, observed that in our simplist and most surprising moments, God teaches lessons that can sustain us for eternity.
These past two weeks have been tough.
My dads declining health (while dad was in the waiting room, my father in law was admitted)
The week from Hades on the IMB
A staff position I had worked on for many months fell through at the last minute
My nephew's baby was heliflighted to Oklahoma Childrens on Friday (He is doing much better).
All of this converged togther in a very compressed period. I know you can identify- as I have said many times, when we have struggles, that's just called life, when good things happen, that's called a blessing!
I have a had a big dose of LIFE the past few weeks.
Many of my casts have come back empty.
But it is the wonderful memories of how God has worked in the past that sustain me and even bring me great joy. I know that God is faithful. I know that His purposes are true and His paths straight. I know that He is leading us and that in His providence all things work out for His glory when we are called according to His purpose.
He is the God of the Fifth cast.
And for that matter, all the other casts that lead up to it!
He had promised his son a fish.
In fact, more than promise, he guaranteed that before the morning was through, one or more fish would be in the boat (note to self- be careful what you promise your son!).
You have probably already guessed that after several hours they were bone dry. Not a fish, not a bite, not a ripple in the water. His son was crushed. "Dad, you promised." Every dad reading this knows this dreadful refrain.
"Just one more cast, and then we have to go." And so it went, for three, four more casts.
Nothing.
Allendar knew they had to give up, but his own dissappointment and the pleading of his son worked him into one more cast.
It was the one that caught the fish.
Allendar and his son rejoiced in the glory of his son catching his first fish. The morning was saved and the boys emotions were raptured into ecstacy. "My first fish!"
As they were rowing back to shore, his son said "Dad, I have just discovered a new name for God."
"Oh yeah, what is that son?"
"God of the fifth cast!"
Allendar, who is president of Mars Hill Seminary and a terrific Bible scholar and theologian, observed that in our simplist and most surprising moments, God teaches lessons that can sustain us for eternity.
These past two weeks have been tough.
My dads declining health (while dad was in the waiting room, my father in law was admitted)
The week from Hades on the IMB
A staff position I had worked on for many months fell through at the last minute
My nephew's baby was heliflighted to Oklahoma Childrens on Friday (He is doing much better).
All of this converged togther in a very compressed period. I know you can identify- as I have said many times, when we have struggles, that's just called life, when good things happen, that's called a blessing!
I have a had a big dose of LIFE the past few weeks.
Many of my casts have come back empty.
But it is the wonderful memories of how God has worked in the past that sustain me and even bring me great joy. I know that God is faithful. I know that His purposes are true and His paths straight. I know that He is leading us and that in His providence all things work out for His glory when we are called according to His purpose.
He is the God of the Fifth cast.
And for that matter, all the other casts that lead up to it!
Saturday, January 21, 2006
hands on missions
A part of our missional strategy at CRBC is to send people on to the field to assist our SBC missionaries around the world. As a member of the personnel committee on the IMB I have noticed that the great majority of our missionary candidates were inspired into their life calling after actually spending a short time on the field. We have already seen many of our own members make lifetime commitments after one of these trips.
Last year we had some incredible experiences in distant places like Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Turkey. The picture above was taken in the Middle East on one of our trips. A little boy broke his jaw falling from the rocks above. Our missionary ran to help help him, and in the process was able to proclaim the name of Christ to an entire Saudi Wahibi Muslim family. It was an amazing experience. Most of the family had never met Christians before. Because of her care and love for their son, she made a great impact. She asked the father of the boy if she could pray for him. He said, "how do you pray?" She said "I pray in the name of Isis (Jesus)". The man said, "we have learned about him in our Koran, you can pray in his name."
It was amazing to watch her gather this muslim family around and pray for their son in the name of Jesus.
We are already planning our short term missions trips for this next year. I am very excited about how these plans are coming together. This next year Council Road teams will go to Mexico (three times), Portugal, the Middle East, West Africa, New York City and South Asia.
I would encourage you to begin praying now about taking some vacation time and do some global missions work hands on.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
how a question changes things
Sometimes a question clarifies an issue.
Consider some famous questions:
This was the case in 1848 when Southern Baptists were wrestling with the growing influence of landmarkism. The champion of this new and exciting teaching among Baptists was a man by the name of J.R. Graves. Graves was a dynamic and powerful preacher who loved debate and could hold a crowds attention for up to three hours at a time. He was a force to be reckoned with as a strong leader, teacher and publisher of his own Sunday School literature. His influence across the southwest was unquestioned. Graves hooked up with a famous preacher from Bowling Green Kentucky by the name J.M. Pendleton, who had written a popular pamphlet entitled "An Old Landmark Re-set".
Graves, Pendleton, Dayton and other "Landmarkers" believed like the followers of Alexander Campbell (Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ) that "there is no society but the Church of Christ". They argued a high church position that there was an unbroken chain of (Baptist) church succession down through time from the baptism of John the Baptist to the true church, the Baptist Church. They opposed the boards and missions organizations of the SBC as currupted by proponents of alien immersion and improper disciplines and doctrine. They attacked ministerial education as "dangerous" and taught that the ONLY true church was the Baptist Church, and that every other church was just a religious institution.
They held to these basic "landmarks":
Consider some famous questions:
- Can electricity be used to light a room?
- What role do germs play in infection?
- Did the the low temperature the morning of the Challenger disaster cause the O rings to shrink significantly?
- Does smoking cause lung cancer?
- Are the stars randomly spread in the sky?
- How do we decide the odds that a DNA sample came from a particular defendant?
This was the case in 1848 when Southern Baptists were wrestling with the growing influence of landmarkism. The champion of this new and exciting teaching among Baptists was a man by the name of J.R. Graves. Graves was a dynamic and powerful preacher who loved debate and could hold a crowds attention for up to three hours at a time. He was a force to be reckoned with as a strong leader, teacher and publisher of his own Sunday School literature. His influence across the southwest was unquestioned. Graves hooked up with a famous preacher from Bowling Green Kentucky by the name J.M. Pendleton, who had written a popular pamphlet entitled "An Old Landmark Re-set".
Graves, Pendleton, Dayton and other "Landmarkers" believed like the followers of Alexander Campbell (Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ) that "there is no society but the Church of Christ". They argued a high church position that there was an unbroken chain of (Baptist) church succession down through time from the baptism of John the Baptist to the true church, the Baptist Church. They opposed the boards and missions organizations of the SBC as currupted by proponents of alien immersion and improper disciplines and doctrine. They attacked ministerial education as "dangerous" and taught that the ONLY true church was the Baptist Church, and that every other church was just a religious institution.
They held to these basic "landmarks":
- Baptist Churches are the only true churches in the world.
- The true church is a local, visible institution.
- Baptist churches and the "Kingdom of God" are the same thing.
- There must be no affiliation with other non-Baptist churches
- Only a church can do churchly acts (such as Baptism and the Lord's Supper).
This movement grew and gained momentum in the mid to late 19th century. Baptists in the south were captivated by the idea that they were a part of not only THE Church but the ONLY true church down through the ages. In fact, it might have taken over the convention if it had not been for a good question that was asked. A question that framed the issue and focused attention on the natural conclusion of such erroneous thinking.
The question:
"Is the immersion of a person in water in to the name of the Trinity, upon a credible profession of faith in Christ, by a Paedo-Baptist minister who has not been immersed a valid baptism?"
Many Baptists in the south had in fact been baptized by itenerate Presbyterian ministers serving mulitple congregations. The answer given was by John L. Waller, champion of Baptist doctrine and editor of "The Western Baptist Review" in Kentucky. Read slowly and carefully:
If the validity of baptism depends upon the "baptizedness" of the administrator, then no one can be sure he has been baptized. If any link in the succession be broken, the most skillful spiritual smith under the whole heaven cannot mend the chain... An improper adminstrator twenty generations removed, is as fatal to the genuiness of the ordinance as such a one but one generation removed.
It was a question and an answer that turned the tide. Baptists soon realized that the hand of the administrator is not as important as the heart of the believer. Who was the questioner?
Richard B. Burleson of Alabama.
Interesting, isn't it, how a good question at just the right time can change things?
Saturday, January 14, 2006
trustee meetings in glass rooms
One of the things I have reflected on a lot for the past few days is the impact of the blogging world and the inner workings of the SBC. It was clear to me in our last IMB meeting that many were greatly concerned and even offended that so many people out there in cyberspace were sticking their collective noses in IMB business. "Blog" is the new four letter word on the trustee board. Several confessed they had never read, seen or heard of a blog until they were inundated with the emails from so many who had read them. The internet culture has now collided with the relative tranquility of the board room.
Is this a good thing? Or not?
Fortune (January 2005) features 10 tech trends to watch in 2005. Trend No.1: "Why you can't ignore bloggers" (irony?)
So I throw the question out to you, fellow bloggers. Should trustees blog? How are we going to handle SBC business in the future if trustees are running to their blogs after each meeting? How can we be exptected to conduct business if the whole SBC world is looking over our shoulder?
Is it a good thing? Or not?
Is this a good thing? Or not?
Fortune (January 2005) features 10 tech trends to watch in 2005. Trend No.1: "Why you can't ignore bloggers" (irony?)
So I throw the question out to you, fellow bloggers. Should trustees blog? How are we going to handle SBC business in the future if trustees are running to their blogs after each meeting? How can we be exptected to conduct business if the whole SBC world is looking over our shoulder?
Is it a good thing? Or not?
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
aslan vs. king kong
What was your take on the movie version of "The Chronicles of Narnia"? Did it come up to your standard for the original work by C.S. Lewis?
Listen to Michael Collendar's radio commentary on the irony of the Aslan character versus King Kong.
Listen to Michael Collendar's radio commentary on the irony of the Aslan character versus King Kong.
Monday, January 2, 2006
the inspired idea of cooperation
This picture was taken in South Asia on one of our "well team" mission trips this summer. The boy in this picture is the son of one of the men who came to Christ. I believe this boy and his entire family will grow up in a Christian home by the grace of God as a result of the phenomonal work of the IMB personnel and volunteers. In this boys region there were no IMB missionaries and very little Christian witness until after the tsunami. Today there are six house churches.This boys father is a key leader, a "man of peace" in his neighborhood and has already been instrumental in others coming to Christ. He was nearly stabbed to death shortly after we left. Our missionary there stayed with him around the clock and "convinced" some doctors to take care of him. Our church prayed and Christians around the world prayed and he was healed.
I tell you this because I had a front row seat on something that happens all around the world every single day as a result of missionaries who have left their homes and families here in the states and have relocated (often with small children) in order to serve in places we can't even tell you about. Hundreds of thousands are coming to Christ around th world because of the IMB.
And it is only possible because we cooperate.
That has been the strength of the IMB from the beginning. The money that has funded the organization by which this little boy and his family have made such a life change is the result of cooperating conservative Baptists from around th country putting their mission dollars together.
It is a missions organization that has no equal. I have talked to many full time missionaries with other organizations who agree. The IMB is the creme of the crop.
It is for this missions initiative that Southern Baptists first began their cooperative effort. What makes us unique, and by His grace so effective, is that we do it together. Though different in our application of scripture, we are united around the essential doctrines and our call to the nations. That is a gift and an idea for which all of us must take a stand.
Sunday, January 1, 2006
thoughts on worship leading
Worship is an end in itself. It is not a process by which we get to something else. It is the ultimate aim of eternity for the elect. We were made for worship. Our highest persuit is to seek joy in the joy of the Lord.
"Honor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name (Ps. 96:6-8)."
For the past several weeks we have been praying for and seeking our next celebration team lead. This is the person we put in charge of leading our worshp teams. It is an enormously important position for a fellowship of worshippers. We have been looking for someone who loves Jesus, loves His church, knows worship and can lead teams.
When I look for someone to come on to our staff, I use the following criterea:
1. Calling. I believe God calls people here. I believe in His providence in sending us the right person. I believe in the power of prayer and in God's perfect timing. I put a lot of stock in the constant and fervent prayer of His people in leading us to the right person. When a staff member doesn't work out, I just assume we were not praying as we should.
2. Competance. His or her gifts and ability should speak for themselves and should be obvious to all.
3. Character. Again, this is an absolute and should be obvious to all. People simply will not follow someone who has no integrity.
4. Chemistry. This may be the hardest to predict. Our leadership depends upon the trust and forward movement of the team in leadership. The stakes are too high for us not to have good chemistry. I spend a lot of time with prospective staff members to try to determine how they will get along with me and others.
"Honor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name (Ps. 96:6-8)."
For the past several weeks we have been praying for and seeking our next celebration team lead. This is the person we put in charge of leading our worshp teams. It is an enormously important position for a fellowship of worshippers. We have been looking for someone who loves Jesus, loves His church, knows worship and can lead teams.
When I look for someone to come on to our staff, I use the following criterea:
1. Calling. I believe God calls people here. I believe in His providence in sending us the right person. I believe in the power of prayer and in God's perfect timing. I put a lot of stock in the constant and fervent prayer of His people in leading us to the right person. When a staff member doesn't work out, I just assume we were not praying as we should.
2. Competance. His or her gifts and ability should speak for themselves and should be obvious to all.
3. Character. Again, this is an absolute and should be obvious to all. People simply will not follow someone who has no integrity.
4. Chemistry. This may be the hardest to predict. Our leadership depends upon the trust and forward movement of the team in leadership. The stakes are too high for us not to have good chemistry. I spend a lot of time with prospective staff members to try to determine how they will get along with me and others.
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