sbc
What do you think of the apology from Paige Patterson concerning admitting a Muslim student to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary? See his full convention message and his apology starting at 6 min and 30 sec. Seems to me it's both an apology and a defense, and I'm not sure how it can be both.
"Dear God, I violated a policy, but I didn't want to stand before you with blood on my hands."
Dear white, Puritan-loving Southern Baptist leaders,
Important voices are chiming in on Propaganda's "Precious Puritans" -- from Thabiti Anyabwile's post on The Gospel Coalition to David Murray's comment (prof at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary!) to Anthony Bradley's post as well as several comments and tweets, and more. They realize this is a big issue. Where are the voices of our white, Puritan-loving Southern Baptist leaders, and seminary presidents, and deans, and entity leaders, and prominent pastors?
We need your voices on this.
Steve
Some people think that what Joe Thorn & I did at the 2006 SBC Annual Meeting in Greensboro, NC (scroll down) is unique. But we didn't start the fire.
James MacDonald says church congregational government is from Satan. His main points are...
Go read his whole post and explanations. What do you think?
Is this what we want to hear from the head of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Kevin Ezell? Do we really want to compete with other groups (Acts 29 specifically was mentioned)?
As a denomination we have admitted that church planting has not been a priority and we are now changing that, but that's why so many have looked for that help elsewhere.
We are in the early stages of building a network, a support group, that will be the first choice of church planters everywhere, not just Southern Baptist. We will and can compete with other groups. (via)
My take: Partnerships, not competition. Playing a role. Being a part. Locking arms. I don't like this quote. It seems to me to be the same old SBC approach where we are the one-stop shop.
Are you reading this the same way as me? Seriously, would love your thoughts.
My review of Tempted and Tried by Dr. Russell Moore is up at The Gospel Coalition...
Temptations are quick and sexy. Overcoming them takes discipline, wisdom, and meditation.
Dr. J.D. Payne is the Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism and Director of the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting at SBTS. He was brand new when I was finishing up my Masters of Divinity in Missions and Evangelism. I took him for a church planting class knowing nothing about him.
I liked that he was doing some fresh thinking. He challenged my views of planting rather than just going through the motions. It's been a privilege to stay in touch here and there since I've left SBTS, and I jumped at the chance to get a look at his new book, Evangelism: A Biblical Response to Today's Questions.
I love books on evangelism, have read dozens, and frequently go back to reread or review notes and highlights in them. A huge encouragement to me. I find most every book on the subject helpful in some way, even when not good on every subject. J.D. Payne has added a completely helpful book of substance to my library with this volume.
Some evangelism books give you a particular approach or model. Some are written in a certain era and are flavored with how the church views evangelism at that time and are dated. A few stand the test of time and become a resource for a long time. JI Packer's Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God is one of those. I believe Evangelism will be one of those.
It has 33 short chapters answering basic questions about evangelism moving toward more complex questions. There's a fiction dialogue at the beginning of each chapter between Roberto and Mark, to set up the chapter. For someone in my church who hasn't done much evangelism, those dialogues will be quite helpful.
The true greatness of JD's book is that it's a dialogue on evangelism. Even if you skip the Roberto and Mark discussion, it's treated as a progressive discussion where the next logical question is posed and answered. It's answered biblically and theologically, yet simply. That's a good word for this book. Simple. Or, straightforward, plain, without confusion or distraction. It's a non-flashy, to-the-point, solid book on evangelism. And I'm thankful for it.
Looking at my bookshelf with dozens of evangelistic books on it I realize that this may be the most helpful volume to give to a growing Christian in my church to lead them toward what a life of personal evangelism should be. And thankfully, as is so often absent, it has a couple of indexes in the back for easy reference.
I very much like this book and will recommend it to my church. I wish it dealt with a few things of particular interest to me (evangelistic preaching, open-air issues), but almost no books deal with those. That said, I know it will be a handy reference and refresher for me on a number of issues on evangelism in the years to come. If you are looking for something new and trendy, this book isn't it. Evangelism is as serious as the Gospel and as practical as a conversation. Pick up a copy.
My friend, Freddy Wyatt, leads Gallery Church in New York City. Is your church doing the 2011 Big Apple Adventure Vacation Bible School? You can support this new work in NYC through your VBS Missions Offering. Would love if some of my readers' churches could help out this good brother and good work in the Big Apple! Check out their videos, starting with the one below...
Until we come to grips with the fact that there is one unchanging God who has always hated sin and deals with it with the utmost severity, we're not anywhere close to revival. We're going to have to accept the fact that when God is grieved He turns himself and becomes his peoples' greatest enemy.
I still hear people saying, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" But that's not the issue right now. The issue is, "If God is against us, what does it matter who's for us."
Richard Owen Roberts, 2010 Forum on Revival at SBC (original source)
