Welcome to the drive-by media of the SBC.
Thank you Baptist Press. You have given Southern Baptists more reasons to read blogs than ever before. Keep up the good work.
19 thoughts on “Baptist Digress”
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Welcome to the drive-by media of the SBC.
Thank you Baptist Press. You have given Southern Baptists more reasons to read blogs than ever before. Keep up the good work.
Comments are closed.
There description reminded me of the White Horse Inn during the reformation. It’s almost funny that they would throw Dr. Ware into the mix.
It seems that they want to add “ACTS 29” to the arsenal of labels to discredit people. Emerging, CBF, Calvinist, Drinker – now add “ACTS 29” maybe even “church planter.”
How is all this labeling supposed to help the “rank and file” Southern Baptist understand the issues?
And for good measure some guy quotes 2 Chronicles 7.14 using nation to refer to the confederacy.
Tim, long time, no comment…here’s my opinion: Beer is delicious; it tastes good. But so does pizza, hamburgers and a zillion other things people consume. Big deal.
I also enjoyed the BP’s snapshot of post-modernism: “a focus on sense-making through the various mediums of culture”…huh?
I’m reminded of a statement made by Ravi Zacharias at last week’s Ligonier National Conference. When he was getting attacked for speaking at the Mormon Tabernacle he said that he doesn’t mind fighting the battle for the truth on the front, but it’s hard to do when you are getting attacked from the back. It seems like this is what continues to happen in our denomination. I am SBC and currently going throught the application process to become an Acts 29 church planter. I love Piper and Driscoll. Well, I guess that makes me a heretic. Speaking of the White Horse Inn, their interview last week with Driscoll was excellent stuff!
After I posetd this, I read through the article a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t missing something. As I read, the biggest question that came to my mind was, “Whose side is Baptist Press on? Are they trying to shoot their own?” They emphasized NBC’s Today show as gospel truth without qualification and challenged the truthfulness of everything Darrin Patrick (et al) siad.
If you look past the propagandist rhetoric, what you find is a church actually reaching the lost world with the gospel.
What you find is a leadership facilitating theological discussion and development (whoah!).
What you find is leadership passionate about church planting and leading the SBC at that.
But of course, we can’t see the Kingdom through the clouds of series of guilt-by-association and the anti-alcohol dogma.
Most unfortunate indeed.
Allow me to point you to two articles:
Steve McCoy:
http://www.stevekmccoy.com/reformissionary/2007/03/reasons_why_i_h_2.html
Tom Ascol:
http://www.founders.org/blog/2007/03/emerging-assessments.html
Tom makes some excellent points. I don’t expect Baptist Press to carry his article, though. Be looking for an upcoming article from Joe Thorn soon on the issue.
I asked my wife this afternoon if the SBC had done anything but talk about alcohol for the 8 0r 9 months since Greensboro. It doesn’t seem like they have. Maybe I’m wrong. This certainly qualifies as missing the forest for the trees.
Scott,
Well, for the most part I think you are right. BUT, there are some folks who are carrying the conversation where it needs to go, talking about the issues that matter, and forging a renewed commitment to cooperation and baptist identity. Two men that come to mind immediately are David Dockery and Bill Curtis. After them, I think of Tom Ascol, Frank Page, Thom Rainer, and Morris Chapman.
If the SBC is going to survive and better yet carry over into the next generation, the leadership is going to have to decide who the voices will be that will have a listening audience, and whether those voices are reliable truth-tellers. That right there (said with an Alabama twang) is where its at.
I realized my statement was too general in its scope. Frustation kicking in. Yes, there are those in the SBC that are carrying the torch so to speak. Thanks for the reminder.
FWIW, BPNews whole site seems to have crashed. I keep timing out…..
I’ve now found a Google cache. Part of me wants to say that if we don’t capitulate on the sufficiency of scripture, we won’t be able to make more important changes, such as integrity & accountability in church membership.
Like the Jerry Vines talk yesterday. When Mohler asked him an audience question about whether Calvinism is a threat to the sbc, his answer, which included, “Only militant Calvinism” seems to amount to a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on calvinism. Nice Calvinists keep it to themselves.
I wince as I anticipate San Antonio. I frankly see this BP article as an attempt to whip up an anticalvinist frenzy. Do they even know what Bruce Ware teaches? He is one of the greatest defenders of biblical christianity living today. He has spearheaded the defense of the faith against one of liberalism’s most sneaky attacks yet.
I think that the point that continues to be missed by the SBC anti-alcohol crowd is that the issue is not really about alcohol at all, but rather about Sola Scriptura. I for one am simply not willing to impose something on someone that Scripture doesn’t impose on them.
In fact, most of the people that I know in the Reformed camp who hold to this view don’t actually drink alcohol, they just have a high view of Scripture. I like beer, but I don’t drink either because my pastor has set a policy that staff members are not to drink in public (which obviously procludes purchasing).
Guillaume,
Do you know if the Vines luncheon was recorded? I would be interested in obtaining the audio. I have laid low with Vines on campus given the sensitivity to his coming to campus.
I would be interested in knowing what “militant Calvinism” is. Could that term be defined? To me it is like saying a hyper-Calvinist is someone who really believes in the doctrines of grace. A true Calvinist is a confused Calvinist. Indeed, the only politically correct version of Calvinism in the SBC is one who is ashamed to be one and should not be allowed to speak of it in public. The good news is that day is dawning, and a new day is rising where the anti-Reformed rhetoric will hopefully be a by-gone era as these elder SBCers leave the landscape. The recovery of the gospel is logical outworking of the recovery of a high view of Scripture, thanks to the likes of Vines, Rogers, and others.
It’s a shame with BP, Roger Moran, and Norm Miller are doing with Bruce Ware. They have no idea what they are talking about or what they are doing. If they did, they would see Dr. Ware for the gift he is to our Convention. He actually brings us the credibility while these other guys are producing incredulity about the SBC.
Gavin,
You said: In fact, most of the people that I know in the Reformed camp who hold to this view don’t actually drink alcohol, they just have a high view of Scripture.
Brother, you are exactly right. This really has nothing to do with alcohol. It is prescribing your preferences as binding on others. It is also the elevation of a nonessential to essential, as some have made it a litmus test of cooperation in the SBC. To make matters worse, there is a push to make alcohol a doctrinal issue and matter of orthodoxy. The Bible, its sufficiency for faith and practice, has long been sidestepped for the emotive appeals by our culture warriors. This is fundamentalism at its finest.
One more thing on a lighter note…I find it amusing that that two of the outspoken critics of “Sippin’ saints” are named “Vines” and “Welch.”
LOL. And don’t forget that the author of that article’s last name is “Miller.”
I liked the “Calvinism ala John Piper” line the first time I read it from Scott McKnight at JesusCreed.org. He wrote in response to the Young, Restless, Reformed article by Christianity Today the follwoing:
“First, one heart of this movement is the singular, clear, and heart-felt vision of John Piper.”
Does that mean the BpNews gets its talking points from the Emergent Church? 😉
Big Al,
I don’t know if I can answer that question. What I can tell you that is characteristic of drive-by media outlets is the usage of terms and labels without qualification and name-dropping without research or context. I could go on, but I will just leave it at that. 😉
All this fuss over one little ol’ church and a pastor who no one ever heard of less than a year ago! Members are accused of being drunkards and hanging out with sinners. The rumors do sound familiar, reminiscent of what some accused about God Incarnate. Sarcasm aside…
Thanks to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch for bringing this flurry of attention on Darrin Patrick and The Journey to the forefront of what seems to be the whole nation. Suddenly, people far and wide have something to say about The Journey and Acts 29, much of which is inaccurate (e.g. the church is all about beer. Whatever.). I have yet to read comments made by people who actually attend The Journey, LIKE MYSELF, who have been a member of this church three out of the four years of its existence.
All I can say is see God at work. All the media attention has caused our Sunday attendance to swell by hundreds in the last 2-3 months. My message to The Journey’s critics: stop your worldly gossiping and help us start harvesting, because the workers indeed are few. Folks with astonishing spiritual needs are coming to our church in droves, and we are bent on sharing the gospel of Jesus with them.
I know how things are–my husband and I were Southern Baptists right up until we joined The Journey three years ago. So thanks, Timmy Brister, for trying to bring some balance to this out of control controversy.
Letitia,
Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, The Journey has been the bull’s eye for a number of SBCers who have an agenda far greater than The Journey itself. I agree that under God’s providence, things might turn out to draw sinners to Jesus and encourage other churches (and leaders) to do the same.
You know, the $200,000 that many in MBC are making a big deal about is (from what I can tell) money well spent as many are being impacted with the gospel. I wonder how many thousands of SBC monies are lost in the bureaucratic machine of the SBC that facilitates attacks whether it be funding the Executive Committee or Baptist Press. Personally, I would rather have my money in the hands of a church planter and pastor who is passionate about the gospel than a Baptist bureaucrat and politican in a committee or new column. As often is the case, it’s all about perspective. 😉