just because we disagree it doesn't mean we don't like you

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently published an article regarding the IMB's current status with Wade Burleson. The tone of the article is essentially straight forward, but I would add my two cents worth on two accounts.

IT'S NOT ABOUT TONGUES

First of all, the issue of the new policies is not about "speaking in tongues". We already have a policy forbidding the charismatic practice of public tongues on the mission field. Because the missionary is assigned to spread the gospel and to plant new churches, this policy is understandable and practical. The issue is "private prayer language." There is a difference. Rankin and others have repeatidly said that while they have a "private prayer language" they do not take that outside of their closet and into the public arena. I have found that many Baptists get a little twitchy when "tonques" are mentioned. The fastest way to get people to run to your side on an issue in Baptist circles is to tell them that you are the guy who is against the charismatic practice of speaking in tongues.

I fear that some people will read this article and think, "Oh, OK, that Burleson guy is the one who is for speaking in tongues." Not exactly.

It is hard to get all the facts into one article so I don't want to assign too much blame for this, but I do want to clarify the point for accuracy sake. Another point here to be accurate:

UNFLAPPABLE IS NOT THE SAME AS UNFRIENDLY

I was glad to read that chairman Hatley does not think that blogging is a problem. I have maintained from the beginning that I believe that a part of my responsibility as a trustee is to inform and inspire those to whom I have influence about IMB issues. My trust is to my church and to our convention as much as (more) than to the IMB BOD. As you know, this blog is my way of having an ongoing conversation with my church family specifically and a broader audience generally. It only makes sense that I talk about the IMB since I, as pastor, serve the board as a trustee. It would be the same if I preached a series of sermons about my work on the IMB for instance and those sermons were available to the public. Blogging is just a more direct form of communication that invites feedback and clarification. A gift to the church in my opinion.

I wish that many of my fellow trustees felt the same way about blogging. Without going into the sordid details, suffice it to say that the word "blog" was a new four letter word for many in our last meeting.

And it certainly seemed evident to me that Wade's blogging was a BIG PROBLEM for many. It in fact dominated discussion.

This is why I was a bit confused by this statement from our chairman,

"We are not against his blogging or anyone elses communication in public..." He described (the problem with Wade) generally as his "behavior toward his fellow trustees...just a general approach to his relationships on the board."

This is an interesting statement that I wish had better explanation. Again, I know that a short article cannot possibly exhaust all details and meaning, but I certainly would want to know what Tom meant by this.

I do not believe that there is another person on the board who can speak to this issue more thorougly than I can. I have been with Wade from the beginning, as we are good friends and fellow pastors from the same state. I have sat with him at all the meals, accompanied him to most of his meetings and have stood in the hallway with him in the normal discourse of fellowship between meetings. I have been with him when he has discussed difficult issues with fellow trustees and have heard his public statements to the board in plenary and executive session.

Believe me when I tell you that he has been gracious in his opposition. He has never lost his temper, blown his cool or discredited or disparaged others opinions that were different from his own. He has never shied away from an opportunity to bring closure to a disagreement. He has expressed his love and respect for others at every turn.

Wade may be guilty of being unflappable and unyielding and disciplined in his opposition, but from what I have observed, he has not been hard to get along with. He goes out of his way to show kindness and respect.

I suspect that what Chairman Hatley is referring to is Wades tendency to be resolute and to not bend when be believes he is right (even when he is greatly outnumbered). It is in his nature. When a man believes with all of his heart and soul that he is standing on the side of scripture, if it is his nature to do so no matter what the reaction or "vibes" he is getting in response, he will go to the wall with that conviction. This has been the dynamic at play, because Wade is one of those kind of guys. I am sure that some have been offended by this straightforward resolve.

Wade has told me on many occasions that he really does like many of these people who have voiced their anger and disgust at him. That is an admirable quality.

I love our diversity as Baptists. It is the essence of the cooperative program to invite others into a big tent that has been adequately defined by our confession. The BFM 2000 does that for us. To promote cooperation and to embrace diversity is to value dissent and open debate about issues of substance. In this environment, it is important to remember that just because we disagree it does not mean we don't like each other.

let's get on with it

Many of our church members have asked me about IMB issues. Of course, there has been enough public information lately to keep everyone interested. Instead of addressing it from the pulpit, I will address it in this venue.

I was pleased to see that that the IMB Executive Committee is now recommending to the full board that the motion to remove Wade Burlison be rescinded. This is the right thing to do and I do not believe there will be much of an objection to this recommendation from the full board. Despite what many may think, the IMB board is made up of men and women from around the country who absolutely want the best for the Kingdom and for SBC missions. I am sure that cool headedness will prevail in our next meeting.

As you know, I stand with Wade on these issues and my conviction has not moved one iota that the new policies adopted by the board last year are detrimental to our witness as Southern Baptists and to our strategy in world missions. I have heard from many missionaries around the world and from some of our own church members who serve with the IMB in foreign lands who have shared their concerns with me. I do not believe that it is the role of every trustee to be in full agreement with every policy passed by the entity. I know the argument that once a policy is passed, the board should stand as one. In most issues, this will be the case. But when a policy is especially divisive, I believe trustees have a responsibility to work within the system to see them changed and to communicate their concerns. I agree with Wade that once a policy is passed, it is a convention issue.

Speaking of Wade...

I believe the motion and vote to remove Wade was more kneejerk than malicious. There were many in our last meeting who had been worked into a frenzy by the high beam of blogger publicity that was egged on by some who felt indicted by his words. I think that now most trustees have had time to think, pray and reason about the issues involved, and the upcoming discussions will be more productive.

So what is wrong with the policies?

My main objection to these policies has always been that they are an infringement on the local church and are outside the theological parameters of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. I stated in my initial objections to these policies during trustee debate that I believed the result would be division in the SBC and the marginalizing of good conservative SBC churches around the country. I think the subsequent response to these policies has been evidence enough to this.

The new policies smack of landmarkism. This is an ideology that does not have a good track record in world missions and should not be tolerated by the board.

To be fair, I am still a virtual newcomer to the board and many of my cohorts have served for many years and the issues Wade and I addressed are ones they had hashed and rehashed many times. For those of you who wonder how this could have happened with this kind of emotion, the simple answer is that it was a lengthy process. On a board where new members rotate in every year, it takes a while to digest substantive issues with all the nuances of the arguments pro and con. It is a wonder that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often.

So what now...

Despite these objections and many others, my main concern now is that we as a trustee board stop straining at gnats and get on with the important work of world evangelization and church planting. Of course, some healthy discussion is in order. I am very hopeful that chairman Hatley will welcome and encourage this kind of discourse. We will need to have a heart to heart talk about the appropriateness of trustee communication outside the board meetings. I am talking about blogging AND trustee politicking in caucus groups. There are deep concerns about undo political influence from outside the board. I am praying that all that we have been through in recent weeks will serve to create a fresh new openness of communication among board members.

Let Rankin and his staff lead...

I am also praying that the ultimate outcome of this will be an open discussion of how a board should support it's leadership. Jerry Rankin was elected by our convention to lead the IMB. As a board, we should either get rid of him (if we have reason) or support him and his staff wholeheartedly and make life EASIER on him and not more difficult. Keep him accountable, yes, but otherwise find ways to assist him in the vision of New Directions and work with him to make it better. I am praying for the day that Jerry finds the board his greatest asset in advancing SBC Kingdom work. I think the convention is better served when this is the climate of the group that is charged to work with him.

In our church, our deacons are my biggest supporters and champions for our vision. They are also to keep me accountable. I cannot imagine a situation where I could not count on them to be behind me in the challenge of mission advancement. They are on the front lines WITH me, not shooting at me from behind the lines. If my deacons have a problem with me, they know that they have the freedom to come to me any time to work it out.

My feeling is this: Let's support Rankin or give the board reasons to get rid of him. If nothing can be found to fire him, get to the front lines to support him. The convention has spoken and he is the man whether we like it or not.

This will make us better...

Someone said the other day that they long for the day when the convention was more congenial. Oh yeah... when was that? The Cambellite controversy of the early 1800s? Landmarkism in the mid 1800s? The revivalism and Sunday School board controversy of the early 1900s? The education crisis of the mid 1900s? The conservative resurgence? When you read the history books you will find that we have always had periods of disagreement. When you put people of differing passions and gifts and personalities in the same room, you've got chaos. And chaos is absolutely necessary for kingdom growth and church health. Our struggle and our diversity makes us better. This controversy should cause you to embrace the convention even more! We are a dynamic and diverse people. I worry about a couple that doesn't argue and I don't trust a Body of Believers that always agrees.

And I am not just talking about the SBC. Start with the Jerusalem council and read forward to disputes between Paul and Barnabas, the Corinthian and Galatian church etc and you will find that Kingdom work is messy business.

But somehow all things work together for the good. God on His throne continues to use us in spite of ourselves and the miracle of it all is that it is often because of our hard times and petty struggling and infighting that His best work in us emerges from the rubble.

So...let's get on with it.

i've been tagged

Kiki tagged me so here goes:

Four Jobs I've Had:

1. T-Shirt shop screen printer
2. Waiter (for about 2 weeks)
3. Construction gopher
4. Youth Pastor

Four Goals I Set This Year:

To stop setting goals (carryover from about 5 years ago- I've started working on "preparations" instead)

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:

I'm with Kiki on this one- I can't watch anything more than once.

Four Places I've Lived:

1. Waco Texas (sic em bears)
2. Albuquerque New Mexico
3. Columbia South Carolina
4. Wichita Falls Texas

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:

Sports Center, Fox News, UFC, and History Channel Bios

Four Vacation Spots:

1. Israel
2. Alaska
3. Greece
4. Sri Lanka (Just kidding Vicky)


Four Websites I Visit:

1. CRBC
2. MSNBC
3. Blogs
4. Amazon

Favorite Foods:

1. Cheeseburgers
2. Steak
3. Fajita
4. Chili

Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:

1. Wherever the olympic snowboarding was last week
2. Breckenridge Colorodo
3. My buddy's hunting cabin in South Texas
4. Sitting in a cafe on Benahuda street in Jerusalem

I tag:

James Hunt
Jayme Thompson
Chris Wall (because if he doesn't blog soon he's out of my neighborhood)
Kristina P

joining God in his redemptive work

This week our staff has been working on vision and direction. We have been faithfully praying and dreaming together seeking God's heart and hand as we move into the next 18 months. In the words of Blackaby, we don't want to tell God what we are doing and then ask Him to bless it, we want always to see where God is already moving and jump on board. As we have sought scripture and looked at what God is doing, here are some of the conclusions we have come to:

1. Our vision has been too small. Our goals should not be about reaching x number of people or having x number in attendance in the building. Instead, we must join God in His redemptive work in our city. We must ask ourselves, "how can we be used of God to change our city!" Some answers:

2. We must teach the essentials of our faith effectively. As Tim Keller says, "We must teach people to 'think Christianly'. The erosion of a Christian world view in our culture has had obvious impact. We must not assume that people know the language and doctrine of scripture. It is not cultures job to teach them...it is our job. We will teach the Bible with conviction and boldness and clarity.

3. We will seek to become a congregation of missionaries. The church is not to be a congregation of consumers. We are not a business, we are a family. We must seriously minister to our community with the love of Christ. We call it our LP2C formula. We will agressively pursue outreach ministries to the poor, the displaced, the addicted and the outcast. We will adopt elementary schools, apartment complexes and nursing homes in low income areas. We will start more ministries to the homeless and the working poor through Celebrate Recovery, Men's Fraternity and the ROC clinic. These ministries will not be the "end all" to our ministry endevours, but only the entry points to a way of life and a beginning place as we present the gospel and find more effective ways to love our neighbor.

4. We will continue to focus on outreach to our community through the CUBE. In just one week, we have registered 1800 new contacts through our community facility. We will seek new and better ways to develop relationships with people in our community who are not connected to the Church and who don't know Christ.

5. We will greatly expand our community group ministry, with the ultimate goal of putting community groups in every neighborhood of western Oklahoma City. Biblical community is key in spreading the gospel. These groups will become bastions of prayer and community outreach. Each small group should be an "open door" to friends who don't know Christ.

6. We will continually utilize the arts as an effective way of connecting to culture. The arts spring out of culture and are therefore a natural way of creatively communicating the gospel message. While the arts are benign and contain no spiritual content in and of themselves, they can be used of God to draw people to Him. Council Road has always valued the arts; we will build on that tradition and continue to build this ministry and invite new generations into it.

7. We will become more and more a people of prayer. We will emphasize the need for more concentrated prayer in our lives together in biblical community, as well as in our personal prayer discipline. We will continually call the church to times and seasons of prayer throughout the year.

8. We will employ an Acts 1:8 model of reaching the nations for Christ. We will not focus just on our "Jerusalem" but will lift our eyes to what GOd is doing around the world as well. This year alone, we are planning 11 short term mission trips in some of the most remote parts of the earth. We will continue to strengthen our International missions initiative as we become more "missional" at home.

9. We will seek more effective ways of engagning our culture with the gospel message, utilizing natural times of sustained interest such as Christmas, Easter and back to School. As the apostles stood in the Temple Collonade during the Jewish holiday, we will proclaim the message of Christ most assertively when the opportunity is ripe.

10. We will continue to emphasize the biblical vision God has called us to in loving people to Christ and helping them on their journey with God and others as we celebrate the goodness of God, connect to the truths of God's Word, engage in biblical community as we pursue His purposes of grace in our great commission cause.

I agree with Bob Reccord (President of the North American Mission Board):

A missional church is one with intentionality to equip its people with an authentic biblical faith and a desire to incarnate an Acts 1:8 lifestyle as a corporate body and as individuals alike. They are opening to ever changing methods to deliver an unchanging message in a relevant manner to the context in which they find themselves. Style does not become a hang up for them as they realize the issue is substance. They clearly understand the mission is not about them, but about Him and His Kingdom and are willing to stand side by side with others of like Biblical conviction on the historic tenants of the faith to accomplish the mission of taking the gospel to the world.