Why I am hopeful about the GCR movement

Over the last several months I have repeatedly been asked why I support the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) and the broader impetus that led to its formation. A full explanation would include some necessary nuances and caveats that transcend the limits of a blog post, but the main reasons can at least be summarized here. These are, quite obviously, my opinions.

I believe:

1. The SBC is unhealthy to the point that if it does not significantly change, it will become irrelevant beyond recovery within a few years.
2. There are many who share my concerns--some of whom have already checked out of convention life while others are headed that way if things don't change for the better.
3. The SBC represents loads of potential for being an instrument of great good in the kingdom of God. It has been such in the past, and still is in some degree at present, but the potential is greater than anything we have seen thus far.
4. There are some in the SBC whose vision for what the convention should be is theologically naive and missiologically counterproductive.
5. There are others in the SBC who don't think about theology and missiology at all.
6. There are still over 6000 unreached people groups in the world--2000 years after our Lord commissioned His church to make disciples of all peoples.
   
7. The leaders who are at the helm of the call for a GCR are trustworthy men. I disagree with them on some doctrinal issues. But I do agree with them on the most important points of doctrine and I believe them to be men of integrity who will not kowtow to political pressure, even if it causes them to stand against men they esteem and love.
   
8. The GCRTF could--and should--come back with radical, convention-shocking recommendations that are rooted in a vision to marshal our resources to reach the nations.
9. The call for a GCR could be the greatest hope of this generation to unite churches around the gospel, under the sovereignty of God, to give our utmost energies to making disciples of the nations.
   

I am 52 years old. I have zero interest in investing one more dime or one more minute in any religious organization that does not serve churches in the mission to reach the nations. Our church is ramping up our efforts and sharpening our focus in this area and we want to partner with other churches that have a similar vision. We want to be challenged, encouraged, strengthened and linked with like-minded churches with whom we share core commitments.

I believe that at least many on the GCRTF share these concerns and believe that the SBC can become a far more effective vehicle than it currently is to assist churches in their efforts to enlarge the kingdom of God. If these concerns are courageously addressed in the GCRTF recommendations, then the SBC will be challenged to pursue a path that could lead to our most useful days.

I have been around long enough to have been adequately disabused of any denominational naivety. Programs come and programs go. Bravado and superlatives seem almost endemic to SBC life. Some may be tempted to speak of the GCR and the GCRTF in such ways. I am not in that number. I am hopeful, but I am not naive. I pray for Ronnie Floyd and his committee every day and I encourage you to do so, as well.

We desperately need what the best declarations coming from those involved in the GCR movement are calling for. So I have been and remain supportive of the effort and praying that the Lord will use this to awaken, empower and unite Southern Baptists for the renewed purpose of "eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the denomination for the propagation of the gospel."

Charles Simeon, Calvinism, Arminianism and Cooperation

Charles Simeon was an Anglican who served Trinity Church in Cambridge, England for 54 years. The story of his life and ministry are fascinating and challenging to modern pastors who tend to be soft and too quick to retreat in the face of opposition and trial.

Simeon tells the following story from his early years of a meeting that he had with the venerable John Wesley. A young, largely unproven Calvinist engages an older, much revered Arminian. The conversation--and heart behind it--is instructive for us today as we contemplate how brothers should relate to those with whom we disagree on important doctrinal points. Too often we allow our disagreements to eclipse completely the fundamental beliefs that we hold in common.

Danny Akin and Bruce Ashford have recently addressed the issue of Calvinists and non-Calvinists working together in the Southern Baptist Convention. What they write is helpful and exudes the kind of spirit that should characterize all of us who genuinely want to see spiritual and doctrinal renewal in the SBC, hopefully through efforts to promote a Great Commission Resurgence. Tim Brister has added his reflections to the conversation as well, reminding us that while we should not allow secondary or tertiary concerns unnecessarily divide us in gospel enterprises, we must never lessen our insistence that primary, fundamental issues be firmly and clearly held.

Now let's allow Charles Simeon join the conversation (he writes about his experience in the third person perspective). He has something to teach us. May the Lord grant us a double portion of his spirit today.

A young Minister, about three or four years after he was ordained, had an opportunity of conversing familiarly with the great and venerable leader of the Arminians in this kingdom; and, wishing to improve the occasion to the uttermost, he addressed him nearly in the following words: "Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions, not from impertinent curiosity, but for real instruction." Permission being very readily and kindly granted, the young Minister proceeded to ask, "Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved, that you would never have thought of turning unto God, if God had not first put [it] into your heart?"--"Yes," says the veteran, "I do indeed."--"And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by any thing that you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?"--"Yes, solely through Christ."--"But, Sir, supposing you were first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?"--"No; I must be saved by Christ from first to last."--"Allowing then that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?"--"No."--"What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms?"--"Yes; altogether."--"And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto his heavenly kingdom?"--"Yes; I have no hope, but in him."--"Then, Sir, with your leave, I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is, in substance, all that I hold, and as I hold it: and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree."
The Arminian leader was so pleased with the conversation, that he made particular mention of it in his journals; notwithstanding there never afterwards was any connexion between the parties, he retained an unfeigned regard for his young inquirer to the hour of his death.
(Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible, Vol. 1: Genesis-Leviticus Preface, pp. xvii-xviii)

SBTS Panel Discussion on Multi-Site Churches

Al Mohler led a panel discussion hosted by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary two days ago. Greg Gilbert is the lone opponent of the practice among the panel members. Other participants are Kevin, Ezell, the lead pastor of High View Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky--one church meeting in six locations, Gregg Allison, professor of Christian Theology at SBTS and theological consultant to Sojourn Church, another Louisville church that has recently started multi-site services and whose founding pastor, Daniel Montgomery, also participated on the panel.

The conversation is very helpful. I am grateful for Southern's willingness to address it. I am particularly grateful to Greg Gilbert's insistence that Scriptural justification cannot be assumed. Important questions are raised that demonstrate the necessity of carefully studying New Testament ecclesiology.

Resolution of support for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force

Tonight, at the annual meeting of the Royal Palm Baptist Association in southwest Florida I submitted the following resolution. It was unanimously approved and the moderator asked that it be sent to all the churches in the association. If you want more information on the work of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, check out this website.

Resolution of support for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force
Presented October 20, 2009

Whereas many Southern Baptist leaders have called for a Great Commission Resurgence within the convention, and

Whereas last June Dr. Johnny Hunt, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, appointed a task force to study how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission, and

Whereas that Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has asked Southern Baptists to pray for their work, and

Whereas the task force is to give a full report with recommendations at the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention scheduled to meet in Orlando, Florida,

Be it therefore resolved that the messengers of the Royal Palm Baptist Association, meeting in its 51st annual meeting in Ft. Myers, Florida, call on all the churches of the association to pray for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and its work;

Be it further resolved that the churches of our association be encouraged to pray for an outpouring of the Spirit of God in reviving the churches across the Southern Baptist Convention and beyond for the sake of the extension of Christ's kingdom;

Be in finally resolved that the pastors and churches of the Royal Palm Association be encouraged to recommit themselves to the comprehensive work of making disciples according to Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

USA Today on banning evangelical faith from sports

Tom Krattenmaker thinks that religion and sports don't mix. At least certain kinds of religious conviction shouldn't be allowed in the realm of athletics.

With the release of his book on the subject, Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers, Krattenmaker looks to extend his peculiar views of religious discrimination to a larger audience.

His recent article in USA Today has has already begun that effort by taking aim particularly at University of Florida's Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow. Krattenmaker acknowledges the value of having some "moral guidance" infused into sports through religious, particularly Christian, sportsmen. But that good is outweighed by the bad that comes when kind of Christianity being espoused is Tebow's type--the conservative and evangelical kind.

The problem, as Krattenmaker sees it, is that "civic resource know as 'our team'--a resource supported by buying, game-watching and tax-paying--is being leveraged b a one-truth evangelical campaign that has little appreciation for the beliefs of the rest of us." Despite acknowledging that "Jesus-professing athletes are among the best citizens in their sector" who "commit good deeds daily in communities across this country" he is deeply concerned about a "shadow side" of their influence that comes from the exclusivity of their faith.

(read the rest of this article)

Spiritual Warfare on Pilgrim Radio

On October 19, 2009 Bill Feltner and the good folks at Pilgrim Radio will begin broadcasting a series of sermons I preached last year on spiritual warfare. The station is located in Nevada and its programs can be heard in the southwestern United States as well as on the internet. Check the links for more information.

International Blasphemy Day-A Christian Response

Today is International Blasphemy Day, sponsored by the Center for Inquiry. The Center's mission is "to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist value." As part of the day's celebration the CFI is sponsoring a blasphemy contest, inviting people to submit poems, phrases and statements that are blasphemous.

I have written a brief article about this for a more general audience at Examiner.com that you can access here.

While the creation of this "holiday" may tempt believers to become indignant and to feel persecuted, I don't think those are the best responses that we should have. Al Mohler gets it just right when he counsels Christians to "take no offense" at the establishment of this day.

Refuse to play into the game plan of those sponsoring International Blasphemy Day. The Lord Jesus Christ was and is despised and rejected of men. Our Lord bore the scorn heaped upon him by his enemies. Christianity is not an honor religion. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not commanded to defend his honor, but to be willing to share in the scorn directed to him. Is the servant greater than his master?

Rather than offense, we should take pity--genuine pity. The kind that Jesus had for Jerusalem when He looked over the city and wept because of their unbelief. "How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing" (Luke 13:34). Sometimes we get lulled to sleep about the true spiritual condition of those outside of Christ. With the increasing secularization of our culture, events like the International Blasphemy Day ought to rouse us from such delusions.

A second response we ought to have is hope. Not the kind of hope that arises out of unbelief that something will or could happen, but biblical hope--the kind that is confident about the future because of the past. Hope that is biblical takes the promises of God and makes them present blessings because in Christ--through His life, death and resurrection--every last one of them is "Yes!" and "Amen!" (2 Corinthians 1:20).

The hope that belongs to every Christian on Blasphemy Day is this: First, we are confident that blasphemers can be converted. They can be conquered by grace and swayed by the gospel to become loyal followers of Christ and servants of God. Such was Paul. Such was I and, if you are a Christian today, such were you. So don't hate blasphemers or dismiss as hopeless. They aren't! God can change them. He has been doing so throughout history.

Secondly, we are confident that one day every blasphemer will bow to Jesus as Lord. Either they will do so while there is still opportunity to receive forgiveness and new life in Him through faith, or they will bow in terror and endless sorrow on the day of judgment. But we can be sure "that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).

Christ will not be undone by blasphemers. He will conquer them either by His grace or His justice. This is our hope--our confidence. And we should live as those who are thus assured.

Southwest Founders Conference, September 24-26

I am looking forward to participating in the 2009 Southwest Founders Conference next week, hosted by Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas (just outside Ft. Worth). The theme is, The Foolishness of Preaching. I am scheduled to speak 3 times. If you are in the area, try to catch some of the sessions. It begins Thursday, September 24 and concludes Saturday.

Andrew Nicewander will provide liveblogging during the conference. Check out his blog to get summaries of the messages. I'll undoubtedly be tweeting during conference. ;)

Logos for Mac

I have used Apple computers since an IBM salesman talked me into buying a Macintosh SE in 1988. Both he and his boss were using Macs. I have never regretted that decision even though it put me in the tiny minority of computer users and subjected me to paternalistic expressions of pity displayed by owners of "real" computers. In fact, I couldn't even talk computers with my PC buddies because I didn't know their language (backslash, colon, reboot, blue screen of death, etc). All I knew was English. Fortunately, my Mac understood me just fine.

The only major downside to living in the Mac world was the hesitancy of software developers to write programs for the Macintosh platform. Only a few programs were written exclusively for Macs and those typically were related to the field of desktop publishing. It as simply part of the Mac experience to do without certain software that was readily available in the PC world.

Over the last 10 years the one software package that I most wanted for my Mac was Logos Bible Software. Whenever the opportunity arose I would make my appeal to the good folks at Logos. In March 2005, when they announced a Mac version was in the works, I got excited. After several delays the product was released last December. Two upgrades later, version 1.2 is currently available and is well worth the consideration of anyone looking for a Bible software program for a Mac.

As with any good program, Logos performs quick and easy searches of the resources that come with the program (although "quick" is relative, based on the number of resources that are being searched). What makes Logos stand out is the number of resources that are available. Over 700 titles (including dozens of Greek, Hebrew and English biblical texts) come with the Scholar's Library: Gold edition and over 10,000 titles are available.

Having access to so many books electronically is the single greatest feature of Logos. Their commitment to increasing their offerings is evident in the new titles that regularly appear on pop up windows when the program is launched. The ability to search for words or topics across any or all of those resources is a valuable time-saver.

The second most impressive feature is the way that Logos facilitates footnoting. Nine styles of citation are available, including, Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA and Turabian. All you have to do is copy and paste to your document any material you wish to include from a Logos title. The citation is automatically formatted and placed on the page.

I have used Accordance software for several years and have been very satisfied with it. It continues to be my default Bible study program, but I have found it easy to get up to speed on Logos. If I were not already heavily invested in Accordance I would certainly consider making Logos my primary Bible software program. It is expensive (from $259.95 for the basic Bible Study Library to $1379.95 for Scholar's Library: Gold edition) as far as programs go, but the resources that come with it and are available to add on are a fraction of their hard copy counterparts.

One final word of commendation. The staff that supports Logos have been very professional and helpful. I have needed technical support twice and each time talked to a technician who was patient and responsive to my questions. The company website is also easy to navigate and filled with helpful information.

I recommend both the company and the product.

Calvinist vs. Arminian evangelism

These caricatures are funny. To adapt a phrase from my friend, Voddie Baucham, if you can't laugh, you oughtta say ouch! Enjoy.