DownshoreDrift

By heritage, birth, and address, I am a Southerner. I have only lived 3 years of my life outside of the South. I went to college at an SEC school (Miss. St., but am a huge LSU fan) and totally get college football. I love Southern cooking, Southern history, and fell in love with a Southern girl. All of my children have Southern accents. I am a distant relative of Robert E. Lee (but, aren't all Southerners?) and a direct descendent of 5 brothers who rode with the 17th Mississippi Calvary in the Civil War. I get misty eyed when I hear "Dixie," still emotionally regret that we couldn't get the job done at Gettysburg, and think that Sherman was quite the jerk for burning up the South on his march to the Atlantic. I am a Republican and am quite conservative politically. I love Elvis, blues, and pork bbq. I am a Southern Baptist and have been raised on white-hot, revivalist religion my whole life and I love the way that there is a major focus on children and family in the South.

I'm saying all of this to say that I get the Southern thing. I get the culture, the people, the values, and the expectations. I understand that we have this inferiority complex because we are the only Americans to have ever been defeated in war and occupied and we still can't get over it. The whole Civil War thing is transferred to discussions about whether SEC football is better than Big Ten football and we all cheer when Alabama beats Notre Dame or Florida beats Ohio St or we happen to attract a foreign auto plant. We always seem to have something to prove to ourselves and everyone else and it comes out through bragging about our accomplishments and an "everyone's out to get us" and, "they just don't understand" attitude. 

I also get that we have lots of problems. We have a pretty miserable track record on the race issue, and it seems to be something that we just want to put behind us instead of dealing with it in constructive ways. After the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's - 1970's, an uneasy truce has been brokered and everyone just wants to move on. But, are we making progress? Sometimes yes, other times, absolutely not. We also lead the nation in divorce, alcoholism, crime, incarceration per capita, and many other negative social indicators. On most national lists regarding education, income, healthcare, state government, etc., the bottom of the rankings are predictably filled by Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. A few years ago, there was a tax initiative in Alabama that was voted down. The purpose was to relieve the tax burden off the poor and bring more equity to the system, since there is little property or state income tax. The surplus was to go to state infrastructure and to education, both of which are woefully underfunded. The slogan of the opposition was "We're Taxed Enough!" Alabama is 50th in taxes paid by citizens in the U.S. Oh, and the opposition was led by the state's Christian Coalition on a "family values" platform.

Which leads me to my question: How is religion, particularly the Baptist faith, bringing change to the South? How is the South becoming more God fearing and righteous because of our presence? How are we making a difference? Have we become so enculturated that we are no longer able to bring change? It seems to me, from my experience here, that we are eaten up with materialism and a "live for the present" mentality. We have bought into the Suburban American Dream and we are lapping it up as quickly as possible. When I talk with most people about Jesus, they already claim to know Him or have prayed a prayer and are saved. But, their lives are no different and they don't see any need to connect with a church. Sunday's are spent at the lake with family. As long as people are "good" or "moral" we seem to have no problem with them, and we save our ire for liberals or Hollywood. I live in a state where 77% agreed with Roy Moore over the Ten Commandments, but only around 30% go to church. Why the disconnect?

I wonder if we have presented a gospel that is so based on personal experience and decision that we have led people away from a TRUE relationship with Jesus and into real danger? Have we inoculated people against the gospel by presenting them a "gospel" that so reinforces our culture that people see no real difference in us? And, I am not talking about the "sinful" Hollywood culture. I am just talking about the world system that we live in here in the South (make money, be happy, live a good life, have fun, protect yourself from "those kinds of people," be upwardly mobile, be independent, live for yourself, etc.). Are we capable of bringing about change in people's lives, in our communities, and in our region? What would revival really look like? What would happen if there was true racial reconciliation? What would happen if people who claimed to know God, but never gathered with His people, changed? What would happen if our churches started treating the epidemic of divorce in our communities as a real problem, instead of just glazing over it? What would happen if, instead of propping up much of Southern genteel society and culture, we actually began to confront some of our hypocrisies and inconsistencies?

I fear that we have lost our prophetic voice in our own land and it happened a long time ago. With a church on every corner, what would have happened if Southern Baptists had been convicted by Scripture and the Holy Spirit and had led the way on the race issue, instead of coming behind, kicking and screaming? Would the social rebellion of the 1960's have happened? Would we have lost our voice and had to have aligned ourselves with a political party to be listened to? Would be be trying to "take back America," or would we have ever lost it? There is a price to pay for being on the wrong side of history, especially on moral issues, and we are paying it now. Maybe the problem isn't with the news media, Hollywood, Gays, Democrats, or the Big Ten. Maybe the problem is with us. Maybe we have become so comfortable in our Southern, religious cocoon with our mega churches, conferences, Lifeway's, and Christian radio, that we have failed to realize that our influence for Christ has shrunk to negligible levels. Everyone thinks that they know Jesus, and when they look at us, they don't see a huge difference. So, why should they change? Why repent? We don't have a compelling answer, except that our theology is right and they had better believe it, or else.  It seems that the early church had a bit more going for them than that.

Maybe these are just some ramblings on a Friday afternoon. Admittedly, this is not a very well thought through essay, but more of a stream of consciousness type thing. But, as I continue to try to be a Christian and lead a church in the Deep South, I find that our cultural accomodation really hampers us from being the prophetic witness that God has called us to be. What will it take for revival to come? We desperately need it. Maybe we need to look at the cultural and spiritual rot in our own region before we wage Culture Wars against others.

What do you think? More later . . .   

Dearth: noun; lack, a scarcity of something.

I am not implying that we do not have enough "American Christianity," but that, regarding what we have, it is lacking something.  I know, I know. Just about every book you read on the present state of the church starts with, "10 Reasons Why the Church is Dying," or, "We're Losing Our Nation for God," or, "Everything's Falling Apart and It's Probably Your Fault." It's a great hook that Christian writers use to get you to read their book. They start with several chapters about what is wrong with the church, culture, theology, or you, and after you have gazed at the horizon from the top of their particular soap box, they then guide you through the shelves of their solution oriented merchandise. In about 250 pages they have identified the problem and have properly led you to their tidy fixes. Authors, pastors, and speakers are constantly hawking their magic potions to restore our marriages, churches, witness, and effectiveness in a myriad of areas. I am regularly being told how I should be doing more in every area, what I should do to help my church to grow, how I can be a better person, and how I can solve all my problems. When Scripture is used, it is used to show me what is possible and how far away I am from that goal. Again, the opening chapters tell me what the problem is, and the latter chapters point me to the solution. Well, I know that there is a problem, and I don't need Dr. So and So's book for $17.95 to tell me so. But, sometimes the search for solutions IS the problem.

I understand that the methods these authors and speakers use are basic rules of rhetoric and they are how we have learned to advance our arguments. These tactics also seek to asuage the nagging feeling within us that there is something not right by comforting us with a simple diagnosis and prescription for the problem. Dr. Danny Akin of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary sought to do the same thing for us regarding the problems in the SBC when he gave us "The Eight Theological Essentials for Southern Baptists in the 21st Century." Here they are:

1. The non-negotiable of a regenerate Church (John 3; Rom. 3; 2 Cor. 5; Gal. 3)
2. The essential nature of believers baptism by immersion with a biblical appreciation for its significance. (Matt. 28; Acts, Rom. 6)
3. The recovery of the lost jewels of church discipline and genuine disciple-making as essential marks of the Church.
4. The emphasis and practice of a genuinely Word-based ministry (2 Tim. 4:1-5)
5. The vision for a faithful and authentic biblical ecclesiology (Acts. 2; Eph. 4; Pastorals)
6. The continued nurturing of a fervent missionary and evangelistic passion that is wedded to a healthy and robust theology (1 Thess. 1; Eph. 4:11-16; Jude 3-4; Rev. 5)
7. The teaching and preaching of a 1st century biblical model for church planting (Acts 17)
8. The wisdom to look back and remember who we were so that as we move forward we will not forget who we are

These points are elaborated upon on Tom Ascol's blog. Don't get me wrong, I think that these are all great things and I am fully in favor of them. We need to faithfully practice all 8 of these points, because they are right and Biblical. But, the implication, whether it is intentional by the speaker or not, is that these steps will fix our problems.  And underlying all of our best intentions, methods, and approaches to life and ministry, the question must be asked from time to time: Why are we doing all of this?

Over time, I've come to believe that our motives are almost always mixed. I feel like that to be properly understood here I have to give a thousand qualifiers, like, "We should do evangelism," or "Happy marriages are important." But, I'm going to just save some time and skip it. I am fundamentally beginning to believe that what lies behind much of our effort and energy to be holy, have a great marriage, build a great church or a powerful evangelistic ministry, take our nation for Christ, and have revival is a profound insecurity and desire to have things our way so that we will be satisfied, safe, and justified in our "rightness." At least that is much of what I see in the South. In that, we are not much different from the Pharisees of old.

The Pharisees during Jesus' day were all about purity and separation. They wanted Israel to be holy and to completely obey the Law. The idea of blasphemy or idolatry or Law breaking was anathema to them, and they fully prosecuted anyone who got close to doing so. But, lying behind their pious intentions was a blatant fear that God was going to punish them and a belief that if they did everything right, then their autonomy as a nation from the Romans would be restored. The lesson that they learned from the Babylonian Captivity was that worshipping idols causes you to lose your nation and become slaves, therefore, you should not worship idols. But, the greater commandments such as loving God and others were lost upon them because their primary focus was their own security, safety, and happiness. I think that it is often the same with us.

Do we really focus so much on evangelism and missions because our hearts are broken for the lost and God's love is pulsing through us, or because we want to see our churches full so that we'll feel better about ourselves and our success, and so that we can have confidence that God is pleased with us and is blessing our ministry? I've been in churches where everyone was excited and really worshipping God when there were a lot of people there, but when the crowd was low, everyone was depressed. Why is that? I think that large crowds and a big following for our ministries make us feel like we are significant and like God is pleased with us. As if there were not other ways that we could know that (Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.").

In Dr. Akin's Eight Points, I see no mention of Jesus or relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."  - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Paul pretty much lays out the impetus and power behind his ministry. Yet, I have NEVER heard that text proclaimed as a truth that we need to focus on. Is it too difficult to focus on and fall in love with Jesus? Is it too difficult to have a passion for God be our focus? Do we tell people to ONLY preach Christ crucified? What does that mean? What if our ministries ended up like the prophets of old, or even like Jesus' when he died on the Cross? We are so focused on size, results, power, and effectiveness that we have forgotten what it is to truly walk with the Lord. People are not coming to our churches because we have nothing to offer them. If a walk with the Lord is described by most preachers, it is generally described in terms of what sins we are not to committ, rather than in a positive nature of having our hearts filled with the wonders of God. If trouble comes, there is an immediate fear that we have done something wrong, rather than an understanding that this world is difficult, sin plagued, and full of death and we happen to live in it. We will suffer, but we have a Savior! We are giving people a Christianity that is focused on our needs, happiness, and contentment, while training ministers to put their faith in methods, structures, and right behaviors as though we could call down God's blessing through our effort and ability, instead of through a dependence upon the Spirit's power. Are we broken over our self-sufficiency? Are we yearning for God and the pleasure of His presence? Are we broken over the lostness and emptiness of the people around us? What are the motives that lie behind our actions?

As we near Easter, I have been thinking a lot about the Pharisees and the Jews of Jesus' day. And, I have realized that I am just like them at times. I have tried to use God to get my way, gain significance, and be happy and fulfilled. I have wanted Him to bless what I am doing and I get my worth from revelling in that blessing. I have often wanted to be first in relationships and the Kingdom, instead of following Jesus' words when he said, "For he who is the least among you all - he is the greatest" (Luke 9:48). But, God will not be used - He will only be worshipped. He will tear everything out of us that we have relied upon Him for, until we only desire Him. He is not our "God in a box," that we can bring out whenever we want something and so that our lives will be alright and our churches will function properly. He is God and there is none like Him.

The dearth of American Christianity is that the Jesus of Bible is rarely seen. The power of the Gospel that transforms selfish sinners into selfless saints has been exchanged for easy steps to Heaven and Your Best Life Now. And, this is even true in our very conservative churches that focus on expository preaching and church discipline if those things are just a means to some other end besides Christ. We desperately need Jesus, yet we always seem to run to something else that is good, but is one degree off of The Center. Over time, that one degree takes us miles away, and we wonder why we are so parched, weak, and worn out. The answer is not found in a new method, strategy, or blessing, but in returning to a place of affection and dependence upon our Savior for everything, with His glory as our desire and a sacrificial love for others as our activity. Colossians 1:17 says, "He is before all things and in Him all things hold together." Do we really believe that?

I know that I've been preaching in this post, and few of you have probably read this far (I understand that I broke most of the rules for blogs by writing a really long post). Fewer still will leave comments because we rarely take time to process such things. But, I want to encourage each one of us (I think I write more for myself to have the right focus than anything else) to focus on Jesus, live for His glory, and really think about what it means for us to be the least amongst the brothers, to suffer and join in with others who are suffering, and to take the worst seat and to be a servant to all. That might be considered to be a given, but it is a given that we rarely talk about anymore in our desire for effectiveness, happiness, and growth. So, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Heb. 12:2,3).

What do you think? Better yet, what will you do?

Our church has finally paid off our mortgage (we had it for years!) and we have formed a building team to help us explore what kind of building we can build that would meet our needs as well as enable us to minister to our community. We don't want the building to be just for us. Our only classrooms are in 3 old trailers that were used when we bought them almost two decades ago. They are literally falling apart and have to be replaced. While we pray and work toward a plan regarding our future building, I have been really paying attention to what other churches are doing in this area and I am trying to learn from them. I don't really know how to do this, but I so appreciate the faithful witness of so many churches that trust God and step out in faith to His glory. Some churches are doing some great things by being wise stewards of God's resources and are building functional buildings that meet a variety of needs at the same time. I applaud the vast majority of churches that have done it and are doing it right. Sometimes buildings are necessary, and as much as we do not like to invest a ton of money in them, once your church has some land and a building, you kind of have to keep going with it, or sell it all and move to a local high school. When you build, you have to be really careful to make sure that you aren't just begging your people for money, but they know that you are building a building for Kingdom purposes, instead of your own gain.

But, some churches are not doing it right, in my opinion. Many churches hire outside fundraising companies to come in and raise money from the people, regardless of their economic state and with little reference to vision, mission, or Scripture. It can often border on becoming immoral and unethical (did I mention that these companies get a percentage of the money raised?). Over the weekend, I read some literature from a church in the midst of a building campaign. Obviously, I won't state the name of the church, but it is a large one. This is clearly from a fund raising company that the church has contracted with, but it is shocking to me.

In the introductory paragraph of a letter that gave "Creative Ways to Give to the Campaign Without Taking a Second Job," they tried to disarm the people by saying, "Many people hear a phrase like 'Not Equal Gifts, but Equal Sacrifices' and say, 'If they only knew how little money I have, or 'I'm giving all I can, I can't give anymore,' or 'I'm single, going to school, and I'm in debt up to my ears; I can't give much,' or 'I'm a single parent and I can barely feed my kids. There's no way I can give to the campaign.' (emphasis mine) Believe me, we understand the concerns and empathize with you. That is why we have come up with a list of creative ways to give that you may have overlooked. Each one requires sacrifice on your part, but like King David said, 'I will not offer up to the Lord anything that costs me nothing!' "

Here are some of their ideas:

• Skip a meal each week as a family. Missing one meal a week at an average of $20 per family to devote to prayer or fasting is $3,120 over a three-year period.
• Commit your income tax refund check to the Lord for the three year period.
• Commit an estimated raise in salary to the Lord for the next three years.
• Adjust your vacations. For one or more of the years, do something close and inexpensive like day hikes, picnics, or take a three day vacation instead of a week and save on the airfare and hotel costs. This can save $1,000 to $2,000 easily.
• Continue a bill payment. If you will be paying off a car or school loan in the next year, commit to continue to "pay the bill" by redirecting the money to the stewardship campaign after the bill is paid off. A $100 payment per month over three years is $3,600.

There were other ideas like increase a dollar per week, clip coupons, drink only water in restaurants, don't go to movies in the theatre, but wait for them to come out on video, get rid of your cable, quit drinking Starbucks, put off major purchases and give the money to the building campaign instead, etc. Most of those weren't bad ideas, but here is my issue with all of this: The letter says that it is targeting people who are in debt and can barely afford to feed their kids. Maybe those folks do have extra money that they do not realize, but should we really be going to folks and giving financial counseling just so the church can build a new building? This is why most discussions about stewardship in churches are really a thinly veiled stab at fundraising, instead of really equipping people to be stewards of their resources for Kingdom impact.

How about going to the single mom who barely has money to feed her kids and helping her get on a budget so that she CAN feed her kids and take care of them a little better than she has been able to, instead of telling her children to skip a meal? How about going to the single person in school and in debt up to their ears and helping them find extra money to pay off their debt and give to others in need? I don't have a major problem with going to people who have money and are blowing it on themselves and challenging them to help the church build a building, but are you seriously going to tell a struggling young family to give their raises for three years to the church building fund? To keep paying a bill to the church? To forego a decent vacation after you work hard 60 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, and you want to spend some quality time with your family?

If we're going to call people to sacrifice like that, how about if we consider the starving in Africa or those who are dying from preventable diseases? What about the persecuted church or indigenous church planters who are skipping meals because they have to, not because they want to? I understand the need for new buildings at times (our church needs one, remember?), that we should all sacrifice for such things, that the money has to come from somewhere, and that early Christians gave out of their poverty, but does this strike anyone else as a bit crass? When the building is built and the pledges roll in, will the church that is flowing with money help that struggling single mom put food on the table? In some circumstances, perhaps, but I think that there must be a better way. How is this much different from the TV preachers fund raising gimmicks?

I know that sacrifice is necessary, and as Americans, we are not used to it. But, what if we go about it by calling people to sacrifice for the local and global expanse of the Kingdom? How about if we use our resources to care for the poor and the hurting? If a new building is a tool to do those things, then great, and I'm not saying that churches who build buildings don't do these other things. But, we really need to think about what kind of message we're sending when it appears as though we are asking poor single mothers who don't know where money for food is coming from to fund our building programs in this way.

And, this is all coming from a pastor of a church who is entering into a building program. I know that quite a few people in my church are going to read this, but you can't sacrifice who you are as a church to build a building. Either it gets done the right way, or it doesn't get done. I have a problem with the approach of a lot of churches, but I guess that I am really writing this as a marker to remind myself of where not to go with our people. The heart can be deceitful and wicked, and I don't want to pretend like I am immune to this type of behavior. But I just think that if we are doing God's work, we don't have to plead and squeeze nickels out of our folks. I have to believe that God will speak to their hearts because it is right and they will obey because they love the Lord, if it is God's will that the church build a building. I have to believe that it can still work like Scripture says, so that our people "excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in this grace of giving." - 2 Cor. 8:7.

I'm really not trying to be hard on churches who go this route. But, I can just tell you how a letter like this would hit me if I got it in the mail from my pastor. I would feel like he and the church leadership couldn't give a rip about me and they had no idea what daily life was like. I would also lose all motivation to give to the building program. But, maybe that's just me. Am I alone? What do you think?

I got a call this week from a reporter at the Montgomery Advertiser, our local newspaper. After already being misquoted in the Dallas Morning News, I was a little hesitant to be interviewed. But, this was for an entirely different reason. Someone in our congregation thought that what is going to happen Sunday night is newsworthy, and I guess it is. We have invited Family Life Bible Fellowship, a predominately black church, to join us for our annual Christmas party, the Christmas Extravaganza. The reporter thought that this was interesting, because it is rare to see black and white churches working together this way. He asked me if I thought that was significant.

Well, I guess it is. But, it shouldn't be. And, Pastor Slater and I are not doing this because we are tying to prove some type of racial unity point. We're doing it because we're friends. We've come together before and it just seemed like it would be fun. Unity is much easier when you are actually in relationship with someone, instead of it being contrived.

When I think about the difficulties that we addressed at the Roundtable discussion in Arlington on Tuesday, and I think about this event coming on Sunday, I understand more and more that I am not unified with others just because we have Baptist on our name. As a matter of fact, if there is no relationship, it doesn't matter what your name is - we're probably not going to be real effective working together. Unity first comes from being a like minded believer in Christ. Secondly, it comes from love. Thirdly, it comes from being in relationship. You have to be friends to trust one another and work together. This has been one of the benefits of the blogs: it has been a forum for building relationships and friendships with other pastors that I never would have met otherwise.

Perhaps our racial problems in the U.S. have more to do with a lack of friendship and understanding, than anything else.

Perhaps our family problems have more to do with a lack of time spent together in mutually edifying relationships and friendships, than anything else. The same can be said for many of the problems in our churches.

Perhaps the problems in the SBC have far more to do with the fact that we don't have strong relationships, than it does with a lack of giving to the Cooperative Program.

Christ is the basis for our unity. Nothing else. If you are in Christ, you are my brother. You are my friend. And, because He lives in me, sacrificial love is there for even my enemies. During the Christmas season, lets try and share that love with family, neighbors, co-workers, friends, and even enemies. Maybe God will surprise all of us!

This is the last in my series on Evangelicals and the Holy Spirit, particularly in relation to the continuation of Spiritual Gifts, and especially speaking in tongues. I will attempt to answer some questions regarding the role and purpose of speaking in tongues in this post. As you read this, think about whether or not you think this is a reasonable teaching, or as SWBTS says, it is a doctrine harmful to the churches.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Prayer

(Please note: Jesus said a great deal about prayer that is not germane to this discussion on speaking in tongues. This is in no way meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject of prayer.)

Let’s turn our attention to Romans 8:26-27: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.”  So, what happens here?

1. The Spirit helps us in our weakness
2. We do not know what to pray for
3. The Spirit intercedes for us with unutterable groans
4. The Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will

After talking about presuppositions and foundations, it is time to move to the direct issue of speaking in tongues. This issue is important because the boards of trustees of the International Mission Board (IMB), the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) have all made statements and policy against this practice.  In doing so, they have gone beyond the Baptist Faith & Message2000, our confession of faith.  Where do Baptists and Evangelicals stand on this issue? Where should we stand? It is not that we should embrace speaking in tongues, or private prayer language (ppl) as many have called it. It is not that we should promote the practice. But, should we eliminate from missionary service and leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), those who do engage in this practice? Is it that big of a deal, or is it a non-essential that can be overlooked? Is there room enough in the SBC for both the pro and con positions on this issue to exist side by side? Time will tell, but I wanted to put my two cents into the debate.

In my previous post on this issue, I dealt with the idea of the origins of cessationism (the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit have ceased). I believe that cessationism is directly related to the skepticism of the Enlightenment and resulting modernism and has more in common with liberalism than with Biblical conservatism. The cessationist claims to follow Scripture as his foundation and guide, but in reality, he is taking built in presuppositions that derive from an anti-supernatural bias to the reading of the text.

This is the first of a several part series on Evangelicalism and the Holy Spirit. This post sets a very superficial context from a cultural and historical view that is needed, I feel, to truly understand the issues. It is longer than most blog posts and will be the longest of this series by far, but I believe it will be beneficial to the subject later in the week. So, grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s explore some issues in depth.

To rip off Al Michaels call when the U.S. beat Russia in hockey in the 1980 Olympics, “Do you believe in miracles?”  Every Bible believing Evangelical Christian would say yes, but there would be a lot of caveats offered for some. Some believe that, while God can do anything, the Age of Miracles have ceased and the miraculous gifts of the Spirit that were operative when the New Testament was being written are no longer given to the churches. These people are called cessationist (gifts have ceased).  Others believe that God continues to pour out his gifts  and perform miracles today. These people are called continualists (gifts have continued).  With the building controversy in the SBC over the restriction of missionaries who speak in tongues and the strong stance that Southwestern Seminary has taken against the practice, I feel that we are heading for a collision of worldviews in both the SBC and the evangelical world.  There are streams of thought (the cessationist view vs. the continualist view) that have run together for some time, but now seem to be diverging. Is this to be expected? Is it more important to stay unified or to follow what we believe the Bible to be teaching? How did we become divided? What are the solutions? I want to explore some of these questions over the next several posts and point to some possible solutions.

Yesterday, I ran across an interview that outgoing SBC President Dr. Bobby Welch gave after the convention in Greensboro (HT: John Stickley). As many of you know, there was a resolution that was passed against the consumption, use, manufacturing, and sale of alcoholic beverages.  Obviously, every Baptist is against drunkeness and agrees with the Biblical prohibitions regarding that issue. That is not what the debate has been about. The debate has concerned whether it is permissable for a Christian to have even a glass of wine on a rare occasion. The resolutions says "No."  Many have countered the resolution by pointing out that there is no Biblical injunction against having a small amount of alcohol in moderation and even Jesus turned water to wine. Anyway, it has been a big debate and I have been kind of bored by it because everyone just snipes at each other and no one really listens, it seems. I have tried to stay out of this debate to follow the admonition of Romans 14: 19-23 that tells us to do what leads to peace and mutual edification and to not cause your brother to stumble. It also says that whatever you believe about such matters you should keep to yourself so that you will not be condemned by what you approve of and that everything that does not come from faith is sin. So, I see little benefit in coming down on one side or another of a non-essential, unless it becomes a gospel issue, which at times it has. 

But, when I read the words of Bobby Welch in an interview he gave on June 27, I had to take issue, not over the alcohol issue, but over bearing false witness against your neighbor. The Ninth Commandment in Exodus 20:16 says, "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." I believe that Bobby Welch did so. Here are his words:

Michael Spencer at internetmonk.com totally blew me away with The Tactics of Failure: Why the Culture War Makes Sense to Spiritually Empty Evangelicals.   This was one of the most interesting posts I have read in some time. If you read anything this week in the blogosphere, take a moment and read this article.  Spend some time with it. THINK! PROCESS! PRAY!  Here are a few excerpts to get you going:

Both families and churches struggle in turning out disciples. American churches specialize in an consumerized, gnostic, experiential Gospel that is increasingly inseparable form the culture in which that church exists. American evangelicals have become as much like the dominant culture as it is possible to be and still exist at all. In fact, evangelicals continue to exist, in large measure, because they have mainstreamed the culture into their religion so that one’s Christianity hardly appears on the radar screen of life as any in any way different from the lives of other people. We are now about values, more than about Christ and the Gospel.

Evangelicals should come to terms with this: they are in every way virtually identical to suburban, white, upper middle class American culture. They are not as bad as the worst of that culture, but they are increasingly like the mainstream of that culture and are blown about by every wind of that consumerized and materially addicted culture. In fact, go to many evangelical churches and the culture is so present, so affirmed, preached and taught that one would assume that there is nothing whatsoever counter cultural about the affirmation that Jesus is Lord.

AND,

Spiritual formation is no longer interesting to most evangelical churches. Pentecostals want experience and megachurches want activity and support. The point at the end of it all is the expansion of the churches themselves and the ability of individual Christians to live in support of the church as the proper end of the earthly Christian life. The missional goal of most evangelical churches in America is the further growth of the church.

Eugene Peterson has written for years on the loss of the pastor as one who directs the spiritual formation of Christians through the Word, prayer, community and the sacraments. He has lamented the ascendancy of a “pastoral” model that is, in reality, a church growth technician, not a spiritual leader. Peterson has been a true prophet, and we can only hope that younger evangelicals are going to reread and finally hear his warnings now that they have all come true. (One truly trembles at the prospect of many younger pastors actually having to explain scripture, conduct a funeral or counsel someone on an issue of spiritual importance. Rabbi Feinberg, check your messages.)

My Conclusion

I am suggesting, therefore, that the increasing interest in the culture war among evangelicals is not an example of a reinvigorated evangelicalism remaking its culture. Instead, I believe the intense focus by evangelicals on political and cultural issues is evidence of a spiritually empty and unformed evangelicalism being led by short-sighted leaders toward a mistaken version of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The Culture War makes sense to Christians who have little or no idea how to be Christians in this culture except to oppose liberals and fight for a conservative political and social agenda- an agenda often less than completely examined in the light of scripture, reason, tradition and experience.

So, what do you think? Is he right? While I despise the culture war, I am still adamantely pro-life and support pro-Christian values in the public sphere. However, the political and "power" approach that we are taking doesn't seem to be working very well (see Ralph Reed) and I can't really find it in the Bible anywhere.  So, again, what do you think? Where is God at work in all of this? How can we stand for what is right and still keep our integrity as GOSPEL people? More on this later . . .

BTW, PLEASE read the Eugene Peterson article referenced above by Spencer, called Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons. Shattering. I think I'm going to be posting excepts from this soon with some commentary, but read ahead.