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Saturday Video - “Letters From War”

Quotable - Patrick Henry

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.”

Patrick Henry, Patriot - 1776

Success As Measured by the New Testament

I’ve been reading a wonderful little book entitled, Small Churches Are Beautiful. It somewhat dated as it was published in 1977, however, many of the principles cited are still valid.

One point the author makes is we must measure success by biblical principles, not worldly principles. Here’s a quote:

“Large churches have been perceived as better and more desirable than small ones, especially small, rural congregations. Large churches can afford to pay their pastors more and are usually more willing to do so. Large churches are likely to have a pool of trained leaders. Large churches are likely to have a significant number of professional people and executives whose life-styles and experiences are closer to those of educated ministers. Many pastors feel more at home with the well-educated than with others. In a society in which influence is based on bigness and money, large-church naturally have more influence and status than their small church colleagues. Large churches have usually been more profitable outlets in terms of mission dollars. In short, the large church approximates society’s definition of success better than the small one.

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You Make the Call - Episode 4

You make the call … on Cooperative Program support by denominational employees …

Here is our imaginary scenario:

A prominent, tenured, full professor at a Southern Baptist seminary, generously salaried through Cooperative Program dollars, also serves as a full-time pastor of a large church near the seminary.

The yearly Cooperative Program report of his state convention reveals that his church gave only $100 through the cooperative program during the past year. A study of the reports from previous years shows a similar pattern of CP giving.

How would you respond? How should Southern Baptists respond, especially in light of the plethora of calls from almost every Southern Baptist entity for local churches to increase Southern Baptist Cooperative Program giving?

What is “Fair” Compensation for Ministers? … And Other Issues.

By far one of the worst arguments I ever got into with my Dad was over the issue of minister compensation. My Dad is a long time deacon and church treasurer who has “seen them come and go.” The context of our discussion was during the mid-eighties during the Jim Bakker scandal with the luxury cars and the dog penthouse - and it just so happened that we were in Nashville, headquarters of opulence of that bureaucracy called Southern Baptist .

He was taking a “contrary” position, advocating the complete humiliation and humbling of every Baptist Pastor, “what was good for Jesus is good for them all” - you know, “no pillow for the head” - a life of complete poverty where no vow was necessary.

I was not for the Jim Bakker’s of the world mind you - just the idea that one did not need to have bear threads for clothing in order to serve the King of Kings. I threw in (just for spite) the fact that his favorite country and western artist we had just seen the day before in concert showed off to the world and everybody his brand new Rolex Presidential studded with diamonds. Consistent with his position, my Dad had the audacity to respond “He deserved it,” … as if every minister of the gospel did not work hard enough to deserve to wear such a watch.

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Patriotism & Worship

Last month, police in DeLand, Fla., began a criminal investigation after a Baptist minister who removed the American flag from his sanctuary was harassed. The Rev. Sean Oliver Allen took a month’s leave after getting anonymous notes at his home mailbox and in his hymnal at church. “Resign this Sunday or else,” one note stated, according to a news account in the Daytona Beach News-Journal…

Brent Walker of the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty said sanctuary flags are appropriate on special occasions such as Memorial Day. His worry is that permanently displaying the national flag in worship space might suggest that God and country are co-equal. “There’s a tendency, particularly in wartime, to meld piety and patriotism to the point that you can’t tell them apart,” he said. “If there’s ever a time not to do it, it’s 11 a.m. on Sunday in the sanctuary.” To Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, flags are a fitting display of a congregation’s patriotism. But he also emphasized that, for Christians, “our ultimate allegiance belongs to God, not to America.”
[Steven G. Vegh, The Virginian-Pilot, © June 14, 2008]

Perhaps the reason a song like “America the Beautiful” persists in worship among evangelicals is a simple, but deeply rooted problem: We- the church- don’t know who we are. We have lost our identity, and in the world in which we live, it is always easier to take hold of national identity than to live out the identity of God’s people.
[From the blog, internetmonk.com]

“The most important feature characterizing our Church is patriotism. It has always been together with the people and defended the Fatherland,” Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, January 2008 in an address at Cathedral of the Holy Ghost in Minsk.

In most of our Southern Baptist churches and in hundreds of houses of worship of every persuasion, today and next Sunday are times to celebrate not only the Savior who gives us life, but the country in which we live. I, like many of you, grew up in a church which had an American flag on one side of the podium and the Christian flag on the other. Every summer in Vacation Bible School we said the pledges to each of these in unison, followed by the pledge to the Bible. Several services a year recognized or honored our country, our soldiers or our political leaders, and it never bothered me when I was a kid that these shared billing and glory with Jesus in our worship services. And yet, in the last 30-odd years, as my faith and love for God’s Word has grown I have found an increasing discomfort with patriotic displays, songs or themes in worship.

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Saturday Video - A Word From Eloise

The Value of Kingdom Collaboration

When I attended COMIBAM 2006, the 3rd Latin American – Iberian World Missionary Conference, in Granada, Spain, one of the main topics dealt with was that of Strategic Partnerships. I believe that the whole question of how we can most effectively join together with different groups of believers from around the world to make a more strategic impact for the completion of the Great Commission is one of the most important issues for the future of world missions.

It is my hope that we, as Southern Baptists, can continue to stay “in the thick” of what God is doing today around the world. The following downloadable PowerPoint presentation put together by Strategic Partnership expert and author Phill Butler is well worth the 5 minutes or so it takes to view it. As we think through how we can be the best stewards possible with the Great Commission resources God has commended into our hands, I think a careful consideration of the ideas presented here should be HIGH PRIORITY.

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A Contract With Southern Baptists - Part 3

Dave Samples, a Southern Baptist pastor in Colorado, continues his seven-part series entitled “A Contract With Southern Baptists.” His first two installments were excellent, as was his coverage of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Now on to part three of Dave’s “contract.” Interact and enjoy.

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Baptists must be …

Based in Humility - A necessary foundation. (Part 1)

Authorized by Scripture - A necessary standard. (Part 2)

Powered by the Holy Spirit - A necessary energy. Exodus 31:1; Isaiah 61:-3; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Luke 24:49; Galatians 3:2-5, 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:21; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6; James 4:5-6

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Undermining the Family

People across North America are outraged at the thought of government interference in the raising of children. The story involves a 10-year custody battle, a willful child, meddling attorneys, and a father who “feels like he’s lost his daughter”. You can read more about this story from Quebec in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and in an AFP news article.

The short version of the story is that a 12-year-old girl defied her father when she was grounded from the internet. Dad then told her she could not attend a camping trip sponsored by her school. The child appealed to her attorney who convinced a judge to allow the trip. Now, bloggers are outraged that a father’s authority has been undermined by the courts.

One of my favorite bloggers, Al Mohler, wrote: “For years, we have been warned that the courts were poised to usurp parental authority.” Hinting that the courts in Canada are out of control and we may be next, Mohler warns: “America’s parents had better look north and take notice. This judicial atrocity hits very close to home.”

The biggest threat facing the family is not judicial interference. (Nor - as I’ve written before - is it same sex marriage.) The biggest threat to marriage and the family is divorce.

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