Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church - Overall Post

As I mentioned in a previous post, the church where I serve as Pastor - Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury - is hosting Evangelist Ron DeGarde and his family this week for a week of special meetings.

I try to be careful in using my terminology, so I do not call these meetings "Revival Meetings" as revival is a moving of God that cannot be scheduled and does not come just because you bring in an evangelist with his truck and trailer.

Anyway, we started off our meetings on Sunday with a Community Awareness Day. This day was originally planned as a test for a modified version of the "Phones For You" program, but due to some miscommunication the majority of the planned phone calling did not occur. I am still hoping to use the "Phones For You" concept, but there are some things I need to work out before we will be ready to try it again.

We did have a good turn-out, as almost all of our regular attenders were there and a few guests came as well. As was my practice when this blog was still in its infancy and we hosted Evangelist Mark Kittrell for Special Meetings back in October of 2005, the blogging for me this week on A Thinking Man’s Thoughts will consist of reports of the meetings and messages from this week of Special Meetings. Feel free to comment and ask questions on the reports and messages as well as on any other previous post, but be aware that other than the quick March Madness scoring update, the rest of the posts for this week will likely be concerning the Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church.

Evangelist DeGarde hurt his ankle pretty badly last week playing basketball in North Carolina. He is supposed to be having an MRI on his ankle on Wednesday. Due to the injury, he is needing to be seated while preaching. I can imagine that if Ron is like me - or like most evangelists I know - this must be pretty difficult. He is doing a good job in a tough situation, though. I wonder if this is what it was like in Pastor Jesse Boyd’s latter days at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

Rather than start off with a report of a message this far into the post, I will use this post to link to all the posts in one spot and update this post as I update the reports.

Sunday School Message - The Incredible Wealth of God’s Word - 2 Timothy 3:15-17

Sunday Morning Message - The Power of Sin - Hebrews 3:13

Sunday Evening Message - A Person Who Deserts Deity - Revelation 2:1-7

2007 NCAA Tournament Update - After Round 1

Rond one of the 2007 NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament is in the books. (Is it really not allowed to use the term "March Madness" anymore?")

It seemed to me that the first round went a little tamer than normal. Both of my favorite teams took a first-round dive - in games that they could have won. Illinois had the lead against Virginia Tech and then couldn't even move the ball the last few minutes of the game. Arizona seemed like they gave up a little too early against Purdue.

After one round of the 2007 Thinking Man's Tourney Time, the leader in the clubhouse (to mix sports) is . . . Frank Sansone (2) with a score of 125 points. Ron Bean (who was influential in a young Greg Linscott's life and currently serves at a church formerly pastored by my former pastor's father-in-law) is at 124 points - one point behind me, but having gotten two more games correct than I did.

Brother Bean, as well as Sam Knisely, both got every game right in the South bracket.

So far, the only ones that have lost any of their final four teams is Scott Bothwell (who needed a strong showing from Creighton and Arizona and did not get it) and my heart picks (I had indicated that you could do two sets - one from the head and one from the heart - and my heart picks had Arizona winning it all).

So, after one round the top five standings are:

Frank Sansone (head) 125 points
Ron Bean 124 points
Brian Morris 116 points
Frank Sansone (heart) 112 points
Andy Rupert 108 points

My prediction - Brother Bean wins it all.

Brian, you are doing a good job. Introduce yourself if you get a chance.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference Workshop Report and Comments - When A Small Church Becomes a Bigger Church (Part 1)

2007 National Leadership Conference Workshop Report - When A Small Church Becomes a Bigger Church #1 by Pastor Greg Wahlberg

As most of you are aware, I have gradually been making reports, evaluations and comments on the 2007 National Leadership Conference held by Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania in February. To find the other reports so far, you should be able to hit the "conferences" label at the end of this post. (This is part of the "new" blogger and I have not done much with the labels, yet. I probably need to clear up my template and add labels on the sides instead of my make-shift labels that I did previously.

The first workshop I attended this year at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary’s National Leadership Conference was a workshop by Pastor Greg Wahlberg of Calvary Baptist Church in York, Pennsylvania. I am writing this as a report and then at the bottom will be some of my thoughts, comments, and suggestions regarding the material presented.

Pastor Wahlberg’s encouraged us that if you are going to help your church go through the transitions that come as a smaller church becomes a bigger church you need to have two things:

I. You Need a Proper Perspective
II. You Need a Personal Plan

Regarding the Proper Perspective, he dealt with the Lord’s promise to build the church and laid down some agreed upon theological groundwork - that God is the one who builds the church and we must be content to let God do what He is going to do while we do what God requires us to do.
Pastor Wahlberg discussed three "essentials for any successful ministry" - God’s Power, God’s Protection and God’s Peace.

God’s Power is needed because "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." (Psalm 127:1). This same truth is indicated in John 15:5 and 1 Corinthians 3:6-7. The best farmer cannot make a seed grow! He can do much to prepare, to water, to weed, to nourish, etc., but the growing is of God. The same is true regarding the growing of a church.

God’s Protection is needed because the watchman can stand guard all night, but the city is not safe unless the Lord "keep" (guard) the city. Because the church is a voluntary organization, there is no (I would say "very little") obligation to keep coming except the Spirit of God’s leading. "We are dependent upon the hedge that the Lord places around His work and His people."

God’s Peace is needed because the work is never done. Pastors need to be careful that the we do not allow the legitimate care of the church to become anxious care, which is sinful. We need to be able to rest in the work that God has given us, not thinking that we have to individually win the whole world for Christ.

Pastor Wahlberg commented "God often adds or subtracts form his church in ways that are different from our own choosing... Be content with the people God brings to you to minister to." Later, he quoted some advice a layman gave him when he started in the ministry, "A pastor needs to concentrate more on the full pews rather than on the empty ones."

Pastor Wahlberg also commented in this section that "unless a pastor learns how to deal with disappointment, he will not survive very long in ministry."

In regards to Pastor Wahlberg’s second major point - You Need A Personal Plan - he dealt with three stages of a church as it moves from a small church to a larger church.

When a church is new and small, it has what Pastor Wahlberg refers to as a Family Atmosphere. At this stage, the church is a lot like an extended family (in some churches this is almost literal!). People who come to a church in this stage generally do so because they have often have family or friends in the congregation. If they don’t make friendship ties with someone in the congregation quickly, they will generally move on pretty quickly. As a church grows from this stage, it will test the people’s desire and determination to reach other people. The new people who are coming require extra attention from the pastor and others in the church and some may begin to feel envy or jealousy.

When a church reaches between 50 to 150 people, there will often emerge two or more "families" or "cells" in the congregation. Pastor Wahlberg refers to churches at this size as having a Pastoral Focus. In this stage, the church is generally still to small to hire a "full-time paid assistant" and the people and the pastor expect the pastor to be involved in just about everything. When their is a new visitor, the pastor is expected to call upon that visitor (both the visitor and the congregation expect this). When there is someone in the hospital, the pastor is expected to take care of this. New visitors will often "bond" with the pastor first and the people may find that the pastor is spending less and less time with those who are already "in" the church.

The key to progressing through this step of ministry is to develop lay leadership. We should be doing this anyway - Ephesians 4:12, etc. To move through this stage of ministry, we should develop some leadership training materials (or find some we can use) and be serious about training the leaders.

The third stage that Pastor Wahlberg dealt with was what he termed as having a Ministry Focus. This is essential in churches where the attendance reaches 150-400. In a church this size, the Pastor cannot adequately attend to all the people or the programs going on. More work must be delegated. Assistants are often added to oversee some of the ministry (depending upon what skills different lay people possess and use in ministry). To maintain a church of this size requires the Pastor to spend more time training, supervising, administering, and coordinating the work of others. His gifts of organization and leadership, as well as his ability to delegate are put to the test at this stage.

A caution at this stage is that the "old timers" may become discouraged about how little time comparatively the Pastor now has to spend with them. The Pastor at this stage will not be doing all of the visiting of the new visitors, the shut-ins, hospital visits every day, etc.

New members at this stage are often attracted to various parts of the church (youth group, a Sunday School class, small group, choir, etc.) rather than to the church as a whole, because the size of the church seems so large and impersonal.

An organized and planned method in dealing with visitors and new members is crucial so that the they do not get lost in a church this size. People in the church must be encouraged to make friends with new families in the first few months if they are to stay.

Pastor Wahlberg’s church has developed a "Ministry Manual" that lists and describes the different areas of service and ministry in their church. This allows people to see what areas are available for them to minister in. This manual shows what opportunities are available, what kind of requirements and time commitments are expected, who they see for training and who oversees the particular ministry.

Pastor Wahlberg also commented that "I have had to grow in my leadership skills and abilities as our church has grown."

Other than the fact that this session was in the main auditorium with no mic and a little difficult to hear, there is definitely some useful things in this session.

Even though we are still a small church, there are some things that I could identify with in this presentation (perhaps that is because I have been on staff in all three sizes he covers).

His comment about the fact that the Lord often adds to subtracts from his church in ways that are different from our own choosing is something that I have already in seen in my brief two years here. There are times when there is someone that, humanly speaking, you think, "It would be GREAT if that person kept coming or started coming," yet they only come for a visit or they have other plans - or they don’t make the move to the area and move to somewhere else instead (for instance, we had a family think about moving down to the area that I have known for years - he was a deacon at one of my former churches and the whole family would have been a great asset in a number of ways down here, but they moved to New York instead). God knows exactly who He wants here and He is in control and sometimes the family that God moves on may not have been a good fit and the family that God brings in may be the family that really needs the church at this time.

I also understand how easy it is to get caught up in being concerned about who is missing each week. Now, I believe there is an appropriate concern there (after all, it is hard to "watch for their souls" when they are not there and it is our responsibility to know why they are not there and see if there is a need that we can help meet, etc.), but it is also easy to get into a mode of frustration or disappointment when people are gone - and to do so in such a way that it becomes a detriment to the church. I remember hearing of a Pastor who was always harping on faithfulness (admittedly, a needed topic), but he did so on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, etc. In other words, he was preaching on faithfulness to the crowd that was already faithful!

I like the emphasis on training the lay leaders - although I believe this should be at least a desire from the start. I also note that there was not a lot said here about "how to" do this. One thing I am finding is that people’s schedules are so busy that it difficult to schedule much that would be a help in this area. I have been thinking and praying about ways to implement more of this in our church, but I don’t have any brilliant ideas, yet. (I am open to suggestions of what your church does or what you would like them to do or what you have seen elsewhere in this area.) The reality is that men (and women) in our congregations often lead a number of people in their secular work environments and we should not act like they need to be coddled to take care of something in the church. Now, there is obviously a need for some spiritual discernment and development - especially depending upon the task, but I firmly believe that God’s people have all the ability to do what God wants done in and through His church as Christ works in and through them.

I never thought about the differences about what attracts people and holds people to a church like Pastor Wahlberg mentions. It makes sense to me, though, and it gives me some ideas of things I need to encourage as we seek to reach out as a church. While we are still in the "family atmosphere" stage, there is still a big part of the "pastoral focus" stage that is taking place as well. Our church right now is a very friendly church, but I wander if there needs to be more of a purposefulness about this at this stage or if we are still okay with the natural friendliness and warmth. I have often thought of people being attracted by the "parts" of the church, but as he indicated, at this small stage it is still the overall ministry that attracts. The "parts" are mere complementing elements at this point, not a selling point in and of themselves.

I also thought the comment about hiring staff depending upon what skills and ministries of lay people in the church was interesting. I have often heard Pastors comment that Position X should be the first position you add when you reach the point of bringing on a second man. However, this seems to fail to take into account the abilities of godly laymen already in your church. I like the way that Pastor Wahlberg mentions considering the skills already present in a ministry as part of the hiring process (even though it was really just written in passing).

I also thought his comment about needed to grow in his leadership skills and abilities as the church grows. One of the concerns I had as I was seeking God’s will for a ministry a few years ago was that I wanted to be where God put me, but I also thought that this would most likely be a smaller church to start. I recognize that some people are thrust into larger ministries while they are young, but, while I was open to that possibility, I was a little wary of that as well. I think there is wisdom in the way that God helps us along as parents - we get to start off with babies, instead of teenagers! As those babies grow, our parenting abilities should also grow so that we have developed a relationship and some wisdom when it comes time to deal with the more difficult stages of life. I think the same tends to be true in regards to pastors and churches. Many of the men that I consider the best pastors who pastor larger fundamental churches were actually in those same churches when they were not so large and grew in the leadership abilities as the church grew in size.

Some practical advice to take away from this presentation:

Think about why people come to your church and why they stay or don’t stay

Minister to those you have instead of moaning over those you don’t have.

Develop a training plan for lay leadership if you don’t already have one

Think through the ministries of your church and develop a ministry manual

Just some thoughts,
Frank

Blog Searching?

One of the interesting things that I like to do in regards to blogging is to see how people find my site. In my case, most people either come here directly, through a service such as bloglines or through a google search for some word, person or expression that I have mentioned in a post. I also get some that come here from a link on someone else’s blog or a link from my signature or a post I have made on SI.

Tom Mount, Jr. of Mounty’s Corner used to do a thing in which he would monthly review and comment on search terms that led people to find his sight, although I have not seen him do a post on this for awhile now.

Sometimes the search terms that lead people to my site are kind of interesting. While I still get a significant number of hits from people who are looking for information regarding Pastor Jim Schettler and Pensecola Christian College (for those of you who stumble upon this post looking for that information - see this post regarding Dr. Schettler’s whereabouts). I imagine that these hits will slow down now that Pastor Schettler’s new church has its own web-site.

I did have some search engine hits recently that I thought were interesting lately (but this could just be me.)

Someone recently found my site by searching for "ugly Joel Tetreau". As far as I can find, I never called Joel ugly, but apparently someone has some different thoughts on the matter.

I also had someone looking for "actor Don Johnson now a Baptist pastor." I hope the person was able to find Baptist Pastor Don Johnson’s site over at http://ebaptist.blogspot.com, but I imagine they may have been disappointed if they were looking for him to be the same guy who starred in Miami Vice back in the 1980s.

Recently, someone found me looking for "Billy Graham’s view on The Lost Tomb of Jesus." I would guess that this is the first time someone considered me a spokesman for Billy Graham. I wonder if I get paid consulting fees?

What has been the strangest search that you have noticed make it to your blog?

Just my curious thoughts,

Frank

It's The Most Wonderful Time ...

It is that time of year again. That time of the year when the chirping of athletic shoes becomes a roar. That time of the year when coach's sons from Little Podunk U become household names. When 19-year old kids throw a leather ball in the air hoping that it may indeed be "one shining moment."

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is upon us. Later today the selections will be announced and shouts will be made and tears will be shed. Starting this week, the greatest spectacle in college sports - yea, the greatest three weeks in all of sports - will be upon us.

It has been a tradition of mine for years to do a March Madness contest with those around me. When I was a teacher and a youth pastor, this often took the format of having the students fill in brackets and keeping track of those brackets by various scoring rules.

In the online world, last year I tried for the first year to get a little MM contest running, but I had a smaller readership and I started too late to get much action.

Last year's human winner was Andy Rupert of Isle Kerguellen. (Although I think that a coin flip brackett actually beat us all if I remember correctly.)

Anyway, if you would like to participate this year, you may do so by following this link - http://athinkingmansthoughts.mayhem.sportsline.com/e . If you already have a CBS Sportsline user id and password, use that and then it will ask your for the group password (which is "tourney"). If you do not already have a CBS Sporsline user id, you will need to create one to join. (I usually use my "junk mail" email account for anything like this that I sign up for online). After you are registered, it will ask you for the group password - enter "tourney."

This is (of course) a free game just for fun. The registration is also free. The scoring system is that the weight of each round increases per round and that a bonus of the seed to each winner is added to the weight to get a pick's score (thus a victory by a 12 seed in the second round is worth 14 - 2 for the round plus 12 points for the seed).

I would love to have you join us.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Fellowship Baptist Church hosting Special Meetings with Ron DeGarde on March 18-22

In one week, Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, Maryland will be hosting a Community Awareness Day as an outreach to our community.

This day will feature special music, good fellowship, refreshments, and good preaching from Evangelist Ron DeGarde. Community Awareness Day will also serve as the "kick off" for our Spring Special Meetings with Evangelist Ron DeGarde and his family.

If you are in the area, we would love for your to visit us for any of the services.

Sunday School - 10:00 a.m.
Morning Worship - 11:00 a.m.
Evening Service - 6:00 p.m.
Monday - Thursday Evenings - 7:00 p.m. each night

If you do not live in the area, pray that God would use these meetings for His glory.

For more information, see this page: Ron DeGarde Meetings

In Christ,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference - Overall Evaluaton

For those who have been waiting on pins and needles (yea, right) for me to return to my reports on the National Leadership Conference at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, I beg your pardon for the delay.

Awards and Evaluation

Best General Session Presentation:

Our Unique Gospel by Dr. Dave Doran of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary for
Thursday morning’s general session. (I discuss this presentation in this
post.)

Best Workshop Presentation:

Mentoring the Next Generation of Leaders by Pastor Andy Counterman of Anchor
Baptist Church of Millersville, Maryland. This selection probably also reveals a
little of my bias due to my burden for this particular topic.

Workshops I Most Wish I Had Attended:

Academic - Varieties of Interpretation in Dispensational Theology by Dr. Dave
Burgraff and Very God of Very God by Dr. Kevin Bauder

Practical - When a Small Church Becomes a Bigger Church by Pastor Wayne Burgraff

Most Pleasant Surprise of a Workshop:

Strategic Planning for Dummies by Ron Clark. It started off a little
slow, but the session was actually pretty good with some helpful things for this
young pastor.

Most Humorous Moment:

During the Panel Discussion on Friday, Dr. Bauder was making a point about how
the Bible is sufficient for all that we need, but not necessarily all that we
want. In doing so, he gave an illustration about falling from an airplane and
having the parachutes fail. The Bible is sufficient in answering the questions
about "how should I face death?", etc., but it is not designed to answer how to
survive a fall from an airplane. At that time, Dr. Doran opened up his Bible
over his head as if he was using it as a parachute. Maybe you had to be there,
but it was pretty funny.

Most Humorous Moment 2:

Dr. Bauder’s comment about not having the privilege of pastoring a large church like Calvary where he could put so many people to sleep all at once

Most Humorous Private Moment:

The Hardingville crew and Pastor Matt Jury and I ending up eating at a dainty ladies diner on Wednesday after the restaurant Matt was taking us to ended up being closed. The ladies who ran the diner scrambled for tables and we ended up eating things that were fit for a rabbit. Pastor Franklin and I both had ordered an open-faced turkey sandwich and Pastor Franklin commented that I had the other half of his sandwich.

Evaluation and General Comments:

I think that Dr. Harbin did a good job in keeping the National Leadership Conference a profitable conference.

On the positive side:

• I appreciated the fact that the notebook included almost all of the notes from all the worksop sessions again.
• I liked the Panel Discussion on Friday.
• I liked the idea of having the small group discussions, although this could
  use a little adjustment. Perhaps having some starter questions written out or
  something along those lines would help.
• I liked the overall mix of academic and practical. This year I tended to
  gravitate towards the more practical, but other years I have enjoyed the more
  academic presentations.
• I liked the refreshments being available in the display area after the
  Wednesday and Thursday night services.
  

On the "needs improvement" side:

• There were not as many workshop sessions this year as in previous years. Last year, for example, both Wednesday and Thursday there were four workshop sessions each. This year, there were only four workshop sessions total.
• Using the main sanctuary for workshops sessions without a microphone did not work well. It was difficult to hear in that room due to the lack of amplification in connection with all of the other activities going on around. This actually contributed to me choosing not to attend Wayne Burgraff’s workshop When a Small Church Becomes a Bigger Church.
• I was a little disappointed that a number of songs that we were encouraged to sing congregationally would be considered "on the edge" or "borderline" for many of us. Even if that is where you are as a church, I still think in a mixed multitude such as shows up at a conference like this, it would be more appropriate to sing the good old hymns that will not bother anyone - especially for congregational singing since you are asking those attending to participate in this activity.
• I still have hesitation about celebrating the Lord’s Table in a setting like this.
  

Overall, I enjoyed the 2007 National Leadership Conference. Dr. Harbin, Dr. Jordan, and the staff at the church and seminary did a good job.

In addition to the actual help from the conference itself, I enjoyed spending some time with Pastor Matt Jury and his aunt and uncle during the week. I also enjoyed seeing folks that I do not get to see very often - although I was surprised that the place seemed void of most of the bloggers that were there last year (no Greg Linscott, Jason Janz, Bob Bixby, Tom Pryde, Joel Tetreau, etc.).

As the week progresses, I plan on posting on the individual workshops.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

The Lost Tomb of Jesus - Does a physical resurrection really matter? A response to Steve H.

Part of me hesitates to even discuss this topic further since the media firestorm preceeding the documentary has quieted due to the extremely speculative nature of the production.

One commentator wrote:

Do you remember when Geraldo Rivera did a live broadcast in the 80s at the site of Al Capone's vault and when the wrecking balls broke through, there was nothing inside the vault? Well, 'The Lost Tomb Of Jesus' was sort of like that, only less credible.

In my recent post on The Lost Tomb of Jesus in which I discuss some of the factual and logical difficulties with this over-hyped "documentary" by James Cameron, I received a comment from a visitor named Steve that I think is worth addressing in a regular post rather than just in the comments section.

Since it is sometimes difficult with the new blogger to be able to read the comments of others, I will reprint his comments in this post as I address the issue that he has raised. So here are his comments and then some of my comments to his comments.

One of my favorite verses of scripture is the "we see as through glass darkly". If we consider that verse to contain wisdom, then cant we consider the factual narrative of Jesus in the bible to be the best we could put into language given that dark glass barrier prevents a more thorough understanding?

Im not suggesting that the story of Jesus doesnt represent the divine message from God. Im actually suggesting that maybe the divine reality is too far over our heads to attempt to understand with mere human language and ability to conceptualise.

Theres a saying that the best things cant be told. And the second best are too often misunderstood. So its the third best things that we talk about.

If we somehow found empirical evidence that Jesus in fact did not rise from the grave, i dont believe it would make the story any less important as far as revealing transcended divinity to those of us still on this side of the glass.

SteveH

I appreciate Steve stopping by and asking his question. I think it is a good question, yet I also think that there is an underlying premise in this question that needs to be addressed.

Steve starts his post by referring to a verse that speaks of seeing through a glass darkly. The verse which he is referencing is 1 Corinthians 13:12, which reads, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

I understand and agree with the first part of Steve’s point - namely, that there are a number of things about which are understanding is limited, especially a number of things in the spiritual realm. I also rejoice in the truth in the last part of that verse, that there will come a time when I shall "know even as also I am known."

So, while I agree with this truth, I will have to disagree with the conclusion that Steve seems to draw from this point:

If we somehow found empirical evidence that Jesus in fact did not rise from the grave, i dont believe it would make the story any less important as far as revealing transcended divinity to those of us still on this side of the glass

For while it is true that there are many things that we cannot understand, there is a difference between not being able to understand the details of something and being misled about the thing itself. While there may be some things about the details of the resurrection of which we have limited understanding and can only see darkly, the fact of the resurrection is not one of those things. The Apostle Paul tells us that this truth is a critical truth.

Paul tells us plainly in 1 Corinthians 15, that "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain" (v. 14). He goes on to say that this would make the Apostles and other who claim to have witnessed the resurrection would then be false witness and that "if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins."

In Luke 24, after Jesus rose from the grave, He told His disciples to touch Him so that they would understand that He had risen bodily. Lu 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

At the start of the Fundamentalist - Modernist Controversy near the beginning of the 20th Century, many times the liberal theologians (called "modernists" in those days) would state that they were attempting to "rescue" Jesus from the Scripture. In their attempts to do so, they would deny the clear truth of God’s Word and come up with alternate explanations. In reality they were not "rescuing" Christ, they were denying Christ. It is through the Scripture that we know Christ - not apart from the Scripture. Therefore, the reliability of the Bible is essential to our faith - and this is especially evident in a case such as the resurrection. If Christ be not raised from the dead, then we are left with a dead Savior, a dishonest book inconsistent with a God of truth, and no hope for a future resurrection. To me, this is important.

Now, thankfully, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most well-attested to events in ancient history. Books upon books have been written on this topic over the years. The disciples went from scared and scattered to bold and courageous. There were multitudes of eyewitness - including over 400 at one time. Paul’s life was transformed when he saw the resurrected Jesus. The enemies of Christ had their mouths stopped by truth of the resurrection.

I do not have the time to get into all of the details, but suffice it to say, it should take much more than a flashy Hollywood documentary to shake the faith of any Christian who understands what the Bible teaches about this central doctrine.

Some further resources on the Resurrection are listed below.

Just my thoughts,

Frank


A couple of articles that can be accessed via the internet:

Is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ true?

Why should I believe in Christ’s resurrection?

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

Many of you have seen media coverage regarding a new documentary being broadcast on the Discovery Chanel called The Lost Tomb of Jesus and directed by James Cameron (of Titanic and Terminator fame). This "discovery" (which was actually made over 20 years ago and is primarily based on a book entitled, The Jesus Family Tomb) is one more in a line of attacks by those who seek to attempt to undermine the credibility of God’s Word, but in the process reveal their own ignorance. The Bible tells us that Jesus arose from the grave on the third day, that he was seen of many witnesses (including over 500 at one time) and that he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

The information that is being put out by Mr. Cameron and others reveal their own ignorance and bias. This is the tomb of a wealthy family - Jesus had not where to lay his head. The supposed "DNA Evidence" is simply that the two bodies they claim are from Jesus and Mary Magdalene are not related and that therefore they must have been married. There is not DNA Evidence that could substantiate in any way that this body is the body of Christ - they would need to have some undisputed DNA from Jesus that they could use to compare with the DNA in the ossuary.

The tomb is from a well-off family, yet the Bible tells us that the Jesus had not a place to lay his head. The supposed family tomb is located in Jerusalem when Jesus’ family was from Nazareth or Bethlehem (depending upon whether you are going where his ancestry was from or where he grew up). The "documentary" fails to understand enough about the subject that they claim to be documenting - namely, the truth about Jesus Christ as presented in the most reliable of documents - those New Testament documents that were written by eye-witnesses of the events about which they wrote.

In addition to all of the problems with the "documentary," think about this for a moment: If the body of Jesus was indeed in a marked tomb like this, it would be very hard to explain the growth of Christianity. The enemies of the Gospel during the era of the spread of the church would have surely produced the body. The believers whose lives were changed because they saw the resurrected Christ would not have experienced that change. The leaders of the early church would not have submitted to all of the torture and cruel forms of death that they experienced for what they knew to be a lie.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

P.S. For some further information about this, see the following resources (as always, inclusion of a link does not mean that I agree with everything that is said in the link or with the group/person who is being linked to or anything else on their blog :) ):

Archeological Identity Theft: The Lost Tomb of Jesus Fails to Make the Grade

The Lost Tomb of Jesus: A Response to the Discovery-Channel Documentary Directed by James Camaron

Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus' Family Tomb, What Do They Share?

The Jesus Tomb? 'Titanic' Talpiot Tomb Sunk From The Start

Funny Headline

For those of you looking for more reviews and comments regarding Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary's 2007 National Leadership Conference, I plan on resuming with a summary post early in the week (probably Monday) and then begin to discuss some of the specific workshops.

In the meantime, I thought that this headline was the funniest I have seen in awhile.

Swiss Troops Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein

You've got to hate it when that happens :).

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Thoughts about the term "Fundamentalist" - A Response to Ken Fields

Over at The World from Our Windown, blogger Ken Fields has asked an interesting question: "Should I Continue to Embrace the Fundamentalist Label?"

Similar comments have been made for various reasons over the years. Even Dr. Bob Jones, III asked the question about the term in one of his columns in a BJU Review a few years ago.

However, Ken's comments are not geared so much in regards to the term as it is in regards to the Fundamentalist movement. (For some of my previous comments along these lines, see my article, "The Best and the Brightest: The Idea of Fundamentalism and the Movement of Fundamentalism.")

I have chosen to respond here to his post, rather than just in the comments section of his blog for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I have found that sometimes long comments get lost in the comment sections of blogs and I did not want to spend time on this only for it to disappear. A second reason, however, is that I don't believe that Ken is the only one with these thoughts and I thought I would attempt to address at least the main points of his thoughts here.


I would also like to clarify that I have nothing against Ken and this is not meant to be an attack upon Ken. I do not know Ken except through his blog. He seems to be a smart guy with a desire to please Christ and he is a much better writer than me.

Ken comments that he has been thinking about this for several months, and has decided to "articulate my concerns over the tendencies of those who embrace the Fundamentalist term."

Ken has every right to take whatever label he feels like he should take and I am not arguing that he should keep the label. In fact, I would encourage him and others who do not like the label to abandon the label, but that is a completely different issue. I think there are entirely too many people who claim the Fundamentalist label but don’t hold to its principles (on both sides of the label). I am not saying that Ken necessarily fits into this description, since I know little about Ken other than reading his blog occasionally. I do not have time to address everything in his post. I would, however, like to briefly address some of his reasons that he gives for asking that question.

The first reason Ken gives is that the label (and movement) is unpredictably liquid.

Ken states it this way:

From the lengthy treatise that commenced the movement ('The Fundamentals'), to prohibitionism, to dispensationalism (which many of the original 'fundamentalists' were not), to KJV-onlyism, to the de-pantsing of women, to the nixing of mixed bathing, to third and fourth degree separation ... fundamentalism seems to change with the latest cultural and ecclesiastical fads and tides, as does its very definition.

A little later, he adds:

It is a sad fact that many who embrace the term cannot agree on an accepted definition. Some describe themselves as fundamentalists simply because they ascribe to the five aforementioned statements. Others find it necessary to add a separation clause. Still others claim secondary separation (others even go further) is a must for any and all who embrace the fundamentalist label.

I will agree with Ken that it is often frustrating that there is no standard definition of fundamentalist that all will agree upon. Part of that is the problem of those who intentionally choose to hijack the term and part of that stems from those who would use the term out of ignorance.

The reality is that there is no "fundamentalist pope" to be able to lay down the law regarding the definition of the term. While this may lead to frustration (I know I have often been frustrated with needing to clarify that I do not identify "that person" or "that group of people" as Fundamentalists - or that I am not "that kind" of Fundamentalist).

However, the nature of language and labels is such that there is no authoritative language police that can dictate a terms meaning - as much as we may wish that were the case in some areas.

However, to abandon the label "Fundamentalist" because it is "to liquid" leaves us with a question about other labels as well. If this is a valid reason to ditch the label, can not the same argument be made regarding the term "Christian"? Surely there are a multitude who use the term "Christian" to describe themselves who would not come close to matching an accurate reflection of what the Bible says is true of a Christian. The same thing could be said of many other terms, such as "Evangelical" and even "Reformed".

The second reason that Ken gives is that the term seems to be characterized by an elitist attitude.

Ken’s comments here include the following:

Too often fundamentalists have elevated secondary doctrines to the level of primary doctrines. Do we separate from those who practice paedo-baptism? Do we
break fellowship with those who may be of differing eschatological persuasion?
Should I invite a trichotomist to preach in our church, or how about one who
believes in three dispensations rather than seven? And what if he supports the
Gideons or Samaritan's Purse? Why are present day Fundamentalists not able to
differentiate between primary and secondary doctrines and practices? An
unwillingness to do so emits an aroma of superiority. It smacks of elitism. It
needlessly ostracizes. It divides the body of Christ.

I actually agree with part of what Ken is saying here. There is definitely an aspect of any type of separation that comes across as elitism. After all, if we refuse to have fellowship with someone, we are generally saying that we believe that they are wrong in the particular area of doctrine or practice that has led to this separation. Many would say that being a Christian who believes that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to heaven is elitist - in fact, this is so true that many supposed spokesmen have compromised the truth on this very question when faced with it in public venues such as Larry King Live (see the LKL interviews of Billy Graham and Joel Osteen in the last couple of years).

It is interesting to me that this same charge of elitism is one that I have often heard that same argument used (wrongly, imo) against the very Reformed doctrines that Ken holds to so dearly. (Again, for clarity sake, I am not criticizing him for holding to these doctrines.)

Traditionally, there has been latitude in Fundamentalism regarding eschatology, mode of baptism, church government, and many other issues. Existence of such groups as the American Council of Christian Churches show that these are not areas where the disagreements exclude one from being a Fundamentalist.

It is ironic to me, however, that Ken speaks about a failure to differentiate between primary and secondary doctrines and practices when he seems to have a similar fail to understand the difference between different levels of fellowship. I will grant him that there are some who do focus on the secondary issues (the IFBx groups seem to be particularly skillful at this), but judging by some of Ken’s other posts, part of the problem he has is that more narrow groups of fellowships (such as a fellowship of churches) will not allow the same latitude in their membership that is permitted in broader Fundamentalism. I think Greg Linscott has done a good job at trying to point out this issue in some of his comments to Ken in various posts, but it does not seem to me that Ken "gets" what Greg is trying to say. Perhaps what I am reading as a failure to understand Greg's point is merely a disagreement with Greg's point.

If a church or a group of churches chooses to join together, they often do so because they have similar doctrinal, theological, denominational or philosophical views. For instance, Ken is attending the upcoming Founders Conference. If Ken chooses to be a part of this movement and have his church listed on their website, he must click a button declaring that he wholeheartedly subscribes to some particular confessions that are listed on their website. The nature of the fellowship would not only make it acceptable to refuse fellowship with Ken in that level if he did not agree with those confessions (say Ken was a thorough-going Arminian instead), but would actually make it necessary for them to refuse Ken fellowship at the level of being listed on their website. This does not mean that the group would be declaring Ken as unsaved, but rather would be acknowledging that on this particular level of fellowship they do not walk together.

It seems to me that some of the frustration that Ken speaks against often stems from the fact that a particular group that have joined together for fellowship is not as broad as Ken would like in some areas (see his recent post on Edwards, etc.). In my view, a fellowship has the right to set their own guidelines for inclusion and a person (or church) has the right to reject that fellowship if they disagree with those guidelines.

The third reason that Ken gives for possibly abandoning the label is that the label and movement seem to be characterized by an unhealthy reactionism.

Ken states this:

Does it not seem ironic that fundamentalists are known (and this is a reputation they have brought upon themselves) for what they are against rather than what they are for? The clarion call of the original fundamentalists was an affirmation of five clear and concise theological statements.

The reality is that Fundamentalism has always been a reactionary movement. Even in Ken’s own article he makes a couple of comments that indicate this in regards to the early Fundamentalists.

For instance, he states:

It is my understanding that the fundamentalist movement began in response to the modernist's higher criticism (emphasis added)

He also quotes from Wikipedia (an interesting source that is in need of some revision in regards to its article on Fundamentalism).

A movement in American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20th century in reaction to modernism and that stresses the infallibility of the Bible not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical record, holding as essential to Christian faith belief in such doctrines as the creation of the world, the virgin birth, physical resurrection, atonement by the sacrificial death of Christ, and the Second Coming.

Notice the words that I have highlighted in both of those quotes. Fundamentalism has always been reactionary - and that is okay - and that is also why there has been a legitimate shift in some areas over the years. As new problems arose and new departures from the faith take place, there is a need for a reaction against those departures.

When Ken speaks of "current fundamentalist infatuations," I take exception to both the terminology and the list that he uses to qualify the terminology. While I may actually be fairly close to him on some of those issues, I object to his list and terminology here for a few reasons.

1. I don’t think it is fair to describe them a "current fundamentalist infatuations." Most of these issues are much broader than Fundamentalism. Think about it - the "big debate" that never came was not between Fundamentalists. The King James Version Debate by Carson was not written to or for Fundamentalists.

2. I think that some of these issues are legitimate reasons to have a lack of fellowship at some levels, although I will grant that there is a lot of extremism in some of these issues as well.

3. I don’t find mainstream Fundamentalism (such as the AACCS or the ACCC) making these official areas of separation.

I would also comment that to say that the Fundamentalist framers did not deal with the "current fundamentalist infatuations" is to be anachronistic. To say that these men did not have/would not have had concerns in some of the areas that are "current fundamentalist infatuations" just because they lived in an era when these things were not issues is to unfairly read back into history our own views. Would Spurgeon have issues with some of the modern church music? I believe he would have, but we cannot know because the issue was not an issue in his day. You cannot argue that the Fundamentalist founders would not have taken a strong stand on some of the issues raised today just because they were silent on them back then. For instance, I cannot imagine Machen remaining quiet against Open Theism if he were alive today.

I not expect my post to change Ken's mind, but I did want to at least attempt to answer some of his comments.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference - Panel Discussion

In my last post regarding the National Leadership Conference I wrote about the Panel Discussion that was held on Friday morning.

As I mentioned in the last post, the members of the Panel were some of the General Session speakers. Dr. Dave Doran of Inter-City Baptist Church and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Kevin Bauder of Central Baptist Theological Seminary (MN) , Pastor Ron Jones of Faith Baptist Church of Sellersville, and Pastor Danny Brooks of Heritage Bible Church of Greer, South Carolina. Dr. Sam Harbin, conference co-ordinator and President of Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary served as the moderator and questioner for the Panel Discussion.

A question was asked near the end of the Panel Discussion that I wanted to highlight as its own separate post.

Dr. Harbin asked the panelist (specifically addressing the three Senior Pastors - Pastor Brooks, Pastor Jordan, and Pastor Doran) about what kind of schedule they have on a typical week and what kind of planning do they do.

Over the last year or so, I have heard similar questions asked of a number of men and the responses have been interesting to me. For instance, Jason Janz has asked this question in some of his interviews at SharperIron. It has been interesting to me to hear some of the answers. For instance, I was surprised to hear from the interview that he did with Dr. Mark Minnick that he does much of his preparation for Sunday night on Sunday afternoon. (Having sat under many of those Sunday night messages when I attended Mt. Calvary, I would never have guessed that these messages could have been completed in the time between Sunday morning and Sunday evening.)

Pastor Dan Brooks commented that one of the great things about expository preaching is that you know what you are going to be preaching next week. He also commented that he tends to block out his mornings for study. He also commented that a good secretary who can keep away unnecessary interruptions is a great help.

Pastor Jordan also commented that he is also a firm believer of expository preaching and that to do this well will take work and time and times of significant effort. He also indicated that if you believe that it is important, you will get it done - you will find a way. He also comments that he likes to have a block of significant time at the beginning and again at the end of the week for study.

Pastor Doran then asked the question that I was waiting for - what is a typical week? The reality is that those animals don’t tend to exist. He did comment that with planning there is an ideal that is different than reality.

Dr. Doran also made a comment that I had not thought about previously. He said that he started some time ago to think in steps or stages of sermon development. While you may not have the time you need for extended study, you can often do sections of sermon preparation in smaller sections of time. For instance, he said that you can identify the theme of a passage anywhere you have a Bible. I have occasionally found myself doing this, but not intentionally. (In other words, I have found myself studying out particular terms in what I knew was going to be a limited amount of time or what became a limited amount of time.) I think the idea of thinking of this preparation in stages can be especially helpful in situations when you recognize that your study time is going to be spread out rather than concentrated in a particular week.

He also commented that he tends to work in three Sunday segments. If I understood him properly, this would indicate that three weeks before the message he is working on the theme of a passage. Two weeks before the message his is working through interpretational issues. The last week before the message he is pulling together the sermon homiletically.

Dr. Bauder, who does not currently Pastor, has been a Pastor previously and he added some thoughts as well. After commenting that he never had such a large congregation as the other Pastors on the panel (he said that he never had a big church like Calvary where this many people can fall asleep all at once), he did address the issue that a lot of guys are leaving the seminaries and are expecting a larger staff and a larger church when this will not be the reality for most.

Dr. Bauder also addressed the question of how long it takes to prepare a sermon - 30 years.
He also commented that those who are concerned about mentoring in the context of a small church. Sometimes guys wonder about who will mentor them if they go to a small church, when in reality they will be mentored by the people in the church and will find themselves mentoring folks in the church.

It was also discussed (I did not write down by whom) that there are some additional issues of time that come up due to technology. For instance, the ease of communication has made unnecessary communication a bigger distraction. In the old days, for instance, you had to get on a horse and ride or walk a distance to even see a Pastor, so, unless it was something serious, you did not generally make that trip. Now, it is easy to "drop by" or call, etc.

Another issue that came up (again, I did not write down from whom) was the issue of the fear of men. Many times we find ourselves ministering out of a fear of man. This is seen when we respond to needs with the mentality of "if I don’t visit this person, it is going to put me on the wrong side of them or their family, etc." Sometimes this mentality causes us to have a schedule that is not best for us or the church.

Anyway, I find hearing from these men about their schedules is encouraging to me - and sometimes provides a little help in my own scheduling.

Well, I need to go for now.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference - Final Day

On Friday, the National Leadership Conference is only a half-day. This actually works really well since it allows most people who come from the area to get back to the office a little on Friday afternoon for things that need to be done during business hours.

Since Friday is only a half-day, there are no workshops, there are just general sessions instead (and a panel discussion this year).

The First General Session on Friday was one by Pastor Ron Jones, who serves as an Assistant Pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Sellersville, Pennyslvania. Pastor Jones, in keeping with the nature of the general sessions, preached on "Our Unique Community" from Colossians 3:1-17.
Pastor Jones dealt with three ways that we are a unique community.

I. We are a Unique Community because we hold an eternal perspective and focus

Our living here and now must reflect where we are going.

Where the Head is, there the members must be.

He used an illustration about visiting his grandmother - there is evidence you are there, but there is also evidence that it is only temporary. The same thing should be said in regards to our sojourn here.

II. We are a Unique Community because the transformation of our character

We are to make a corpse of our life.
If we have a transformed character, why do we have so much covetousness, which is idolatry?
People ought not to see covetousness in the lives of Christians.

III. We are a Unique Community because of the unique character we display

The new man that we put on is drastically different than the old man.
The new man understands that we are one community - neither Greek nor Jew, etc.

After the 1st General Session, there was a short break and then a Panel Discussion. The members of the Panel were some of the General Session speakers. Dr. Dave Doran of Inter-City Baptist Church and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Kevin Bauder of Central Baptist Theological Seminary (MN), Pastor Ron Jones of Faith Baptist Church of Sellersville, and Pastor Danny Brooks of Heritage Bible Church of Greer, South Carolina. Dr. Sam Harbin, conference co-ordinator and President of Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary served as the moderator and questioner for the Panel Discussion.

Many of the questions that Dr. Harbin asked were related back specifically to points and comments made by the speakers in their General Sessions and the questions covered a pretty wide range.

Pastor Ron Jones (who is African-American - a fact only mentioned because it is relevant to the question) was asked about diversity in our churches. He commented that we have made some good progress, but that there are still some hurdles that we need to clear.

Pastor Tim Jordan, who had started off the conference with communion, was asked about the practice of "tacking on communion" to a service, which he does not like. He also commented that the Lord’s Table is one of the few commanded aspects of worship and that we should take it more seriously. (By the way, for a great communion hymn, our church uses "We Gather to Remember" written by Pastor Scott Annoil of First Baptist Church in Rockford, Illinois. The stanzas deal with different aspects of communion - the body, the blood, examine yourself, etc. I would link to it, but the site is temporarily down for maintenance.)

In regards to expository preaching, Pastor Dan Brooks commented that since God’s word is quick and powerful (Heb. 4:12), we need to get out of the way and let God’s word do its work. He also commented that we are merely table waiters delivering what God has prepared for His people.

In regards to a question about dealing with people of this post modern age, a comment was made by a panelist about establishing an understanding of the Bible as God’s Word and Dr. Doran jumped in with "I am a thorough going presuppositionalist" (which got a good response). He also commented that when Paul referred to the poets (for instance), he did not do it to gain credibility, but he did so in the sense, "You already know you don’t have the answers." He also added, "I don’t see any Biblical warrant for us to use external evidences as part of pre-evangelism."

In dealing with a question on the nature of Scripture, Dr. Bauder pointed out that the sufficiency of Scripture does not suggest that the answer to every question is in the Bible, but that all we need is in the Bible.

He illustrated this concept by talking about jumping out of an airplane with a bad parachute. The Bible does not address the question of "how do I survive this fall?", but it does address the issue of being prepared to die, etc. (There was a humorous moment in this that I will share in my overall evaluation post to come later.)

When asked about staying in touch, Dr. Doran spoke about the fact that exposition is key - it allows you to unfold the Word of God so that the various needs are met. We should remember that the transformation of the mind is a slow process. Even if people don’t remember specifics, if we are expositional in our preaching, they can see that the base is in the Bible and know where to go.

Dr. Jordan commented on the need to getting to know more and more of your people and Pastor Brooks reminded us that the point is that their faith would rest in God, not in the Pastor.

In regards to pastoral authority and to preaching a comment was made (by Doran?) that the two keys of a pastoral authority is exposition and example.

Dr. Doran commented that "the best preaching is the extension of extended reflection on the text" and listed some key developmental questions. These developmental questions included "What do I need to explain?" "What do they need to be convinced of?" and "Where does this show up (in living)?

There was also a pretty good discussion in regards to planning and schedules that I will include separately (since this is getting so long).

The Last General Session of the day was by Professor Doug Finkbinder of Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary and dealt with "Our Unique Story."

Dr. Finkbinder commented that a lot of what could be said in this session had already been covered by Pastor Brooks in the session on "Our Unique Savior" and by Pastor Doran in the session on "Our Unique Gospel."

The emphasis on Dr. Finkbinder’s presentation (which, unlike the other General Sessions, included a full set of pre-printed notes - 6 pages worth) was upon the idea of using God’s story line in our presentation of the God’s Story. He dealt with the idea of the Creation, Fall, Pursuit and Culmination and the way these things work together. Since these notes are available (or will likely be available) for downloading, I won’t bother to rehash the specifics here.

One of the challenges that Dr. Finkbinder mentioned in this presentation is one that I may actually do - preach a series on Major Movements in God’s Story. (To be fair, I have been thinking along doing something like this after reading about how Don Johnson’s "through the whole Bible" series that he mentions on his blog.) He also challenged us to consider getting up and telling the whole Bible storyline in one message and to connect the text to the Bigger Story.

There was a closing song and things were wrapped up for the conference. I have two more general posts (an overall evaluation post and a post on the planning and scheduling section of the panel discussion) before getting into specific workshops.

Just my thoughts (feel free to add your own),

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference - Day 3

As I mentioned on my last post, Thursday started off with Dr. Dave Doran’s presentation on "Our Unique Gospel."

Thursday also included two other General Sessions and some workshops.

The second General Session of the day was a presentation by Dr. Kevin Bauder of Central Baptist Theological Seminary (MN) on "Our Unique Authority."

As Dr. Bauder himself acknowledged, there was nothing new in this presentation, but he did do a good job of some important ideas for review.

His proposition was "We must submit ourselves to God’s Word" and he gave three reasons why we must submit ourselves to God’s Word from 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

I. The first reason we must submit to God’s Word is because God breathed it.

Key term: Authority

Whatever is Scripture is the product of God’s creative breath and therefore has God’s authority.

"You cannot claim to be loyal to God if you are not loyal to what He says."

The doctrinal implication of this truth is that everything that Scripture affirms must be true.

The label for this, of course, is "Inerrancy"

It is not that the Bible contains the Word of God or that the Bible becomes the Word of God, but rather the Bible is the Word of God.

While there is no division of authority in the Bible, not all of Scripture is equally relevant in answering the same questions.

II. The second reason we must submit to God’s Word is because it has the Power to change lives.

Key term: Profitable
A doctrinal implication of this truth is the perspicuity of Scripture

When you knock down the perspicuity of Scripture, you knock down the authority of the Bible.

The power and utility of Scripture is seen when we grasp it.

The Holy Spirit is capable of illuminating the text when we don’t understand it.

An implication of this is that the Bible is not useful and powerful when we let it sit on the shelf.

III. The third reason we must submit to God’s Word is because the Word of God gives us all that we need.

If we were going into a physical battle, we would want to be as equipped as possible. In the spiritual battle, we need the Bible if we are to equipped for battle.

A doctrinal implication of this deals with the Sufficiency of Scripture.

The Bible is our sole authority, yet people will turn to all kinds of external authorities today.

While he did not use this term, it is important that we understand the difference between sola Scriptura and noda Scriptura. While the Bible is our sole authority, it does not tell us everything about the world in which we live. It is not the sole source of information.

As an illustration of this point, he gave an illustration of a woman feeding arsenic to her husband. "The Bible does not say you ‘no arsenic’ - you legalist!" (You probably need to hear the presentation to appreciate this comment in its context.)

Dr. Bauder dealt with a familiar text and familiar topic, but, as usual, did so in an excellent way and this session is also worth listening to if you can.

Thursday Evening’s General Session was more of a testimony than a General Session. Evangelist Mike Redick, who is a graduate of International Baptist College in Tempe, Arizona and serves as a missionary evangelist in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Redick gave some incredible testimonies and connected them loosely to Matthew 9 and the idea that "the harvest is plenteous." He also stated that there must be an Acceptance of the Promise (I know this is probably nitpicking, but it seemed that Mr. Redick was indicating that the idea that "the harvest is plenteous" as a promise, rather than a statement of fact, but maybe I misunderstood him.) He also stated there must be an Awareness of the Problem - the problem is not the harvest or the seed, the problem is with the harvesters.

One thing that I that I thought was interesting in regards to the testimonies that Mr. Redick shared was that after the Gospel meetings that they held in the Philippines many of the converts were immediately part of a two-week discipleship camp. The first week of the camp focuses on teaching the basics of the Christian life. The second week of the camp focuses on teaching the new believers how to present their new faith. Having two weeks of intensive training for new believers would seem to be a great blessing and I wonder if it is part of the reason for the apparent effectiveness of some of the ministries of which Mr. Redick spoke.

Tomorrow I plan on adding a post (or two) regarding Friday (including the Panel Discussion) and then a general summary before moving on to individual workshops.

I hope this information is helpful to others out there.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference - Notes from Dave Doran's Presentation - "Our Unique Gospel"

And now we return to our regularly scheduled program - reports on the National Leadership Conference at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

As I indicated on my last post, Thursday at the National Leadership Conference started off with a great presentation by Dr. Dave Doran of Inter-City Baptist Church and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

Dr. Doran’s text was 1 Corinthians 15:1-6 and the topic was "Our Unique Gospel."

Dr. Doran started off by reminding us that "the easy targets are not the dangerous ones" and that "it is the erosion of the Gospel that poses the greatest threat to our commission."

Considering a recent discussion over at Pastor Chris Anderson’s My Two Cents (here - including the comments - especially the interraction from Pastor Mark Perry), I thought Dr. Doran’s take on the issue of the nature of this passage provided some helpful clarity. Dr. Doran commented that since Paul is dealing with a specific departure from the Gospel - namely, false teaching regarding the resurrection - the passage starts with a summary of the Gospel before focusing on the area of the departure.

The following are some additional notes from the presentation:

I. The Priority of the Gospel - "first of all" (v. 3)

A. It is a message of Essential Content

There is a departure today that would claim that we should take the Bible
and put it aside and go after Christ instead. However, what we know about Christ
we know through the Bible and when you put aside the Bible to go after Christ,
you are not going after Christ. Christ is revealed for us through the Bible.

Repeatedly, our faith is linked to the word (e.g. Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy
3:15, etc.)

We must have a Gospel full of Gospel truth.

B. It is a message of Eternal Consequences - "by which ye are saved" (v. 2)

"The faith that saves is a faith that clings to Christ."

"Either you have the Biblical Gospel or you don’t have the Gospel at all"

"As a Pastor, I must give my life to guarding that Gospel and proclaiming it and teaching it."

II. The Purity of the Gospel

A. The content of the Gospel

Dr. Doran pointed out that while there is a summary statement in the beginning of this chapter, it is simply a summary statement and that summary statements must be expanded and explained to arrive at a full understanding.

Paul is not writing a systematic theology in these verses, he is doing pastoral work.

Dr. Doran also commented that the idea of Brian McClaren that someone can become a follower of Jesus without becoming a Christian is a departure from the faith, not a
defense of the faith.

It is essential that we do not assume an understanding about Scriptural truth on the part of the people to whom we witness. How can we say "trust in Christ" without defining Who Christ is? What sin is? etc.

B. The character of the Gospel

1. Apostolic
2. Scriptural
3. Historical

C. The context of the Gospel

The context of the Gospel is man’s alienation from the true and living God - Our Creator.

Again, we cannot assume that our hearers have this context, so there must be an announcement of man’s rebellion if the call for repentance is to have any effect.

D. The center of the Gospel - Jesus Christ

In Philippians 1:12-18, Paul weds "gospel" and "preaching Christ"

Repeatedly in Acts "preaching Christ", "preaching word", etc. are intertwined.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the O.T. promises. This includes details regarding the life, death, and resurrection and culminates in the exaltation of the Lordship of
Christ, etc.

Other selected approximate quotes.

"We must not take a reductionist stance on the Gospel."
"We take the Gospel and drop it down to a sound bite and wonder why it never bites."
"We cannot ignore threats to the Gospel."
"We must strive to make the Gospel central to fellowship."
"We must do more than just argue about the Gospel, we must give it out."

*All quotes are approximations. I tried to get things as accurate as I could, but I have three pages of notes from Dr. Doran’s presentation and there was so much said that was good that it was hard to write down everything that I wanted to write down. I have ordered the CD from CBTS, but the quotes are from my notes, not from the CD. (Of course, I recommend that you go over the www.cbs.edu and order your own copy of this presentation. :) ).

National Leadership Conference Reports to Resume after Sunday

For those of you visiting to read more of my reports on Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary's National Leadership Conference, I plan on resuming them after the weekend. (Sometimes life and ministry get in the way of blogging - go figure!)

Anyway, my comments on the National Leadership Conference so far are found in the following posts:

2007 National Leadership Conference at Lansdale
National Leadership Conference - Day 1
2007 National Leadership Conference - Day 2
2007 National Leadership Conference - Get this Presentation!

For those who want to look at some of last year's comments while you wait for me to continue the 2007 National Leadership Conference Reports (I am sure you are sitting their on pins and needles), last year's reports that I completed are found in the following posts:

National Leadership Conference
One More Quick Lansdale Note
Separation from Professing Brethren
Shaping the Future - Pastoral Internships

Reading over my initial post from last year's conference reminds me that there were a couple of things that I really wanted to discuss that I never got to - at least one of them is still in blogger in "draft" mode.

Anyway, I hope to have more stuff by Monday night at the latest.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference - Get this Presentation

I hope to post a full report about Thursday at the National Leadership Conference soon, but I wanted to briefly state one simple thing:

I would urge everyone to purchase either a CD or an mp3 of Thursday morning’s General Session at the National Leadership Conference. Dr. Dave Doran of Inter-City Baptist Church and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary gave the opening session on Thursday morning on"Our Unique Gospel" and the message was dead-on.

I will try to add more details later, but I wanted to at least post this the first time I had internet access.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadersip Conference - Day 2

This is the second in a series of posts regarding the National Leadership Conference at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, PA. The first report can be found here.

For those of you who have never been to a National Leadership Conference, Wednesday and Thursday are the two big days of the National Leadership Conference, with Tuesday only having an evening session and Friday only having sessions up until lunch.

One of the nice things about the National Leadership Conference is meeting up with other friends in ministry. For lunch, Matt Jury and I joined a group from Hardingville Bible Church including Pastor Mark Franklin, Pastor Dave Field and John and Rocco. We had an interesting meal. I won’t comment much regarding lunch because it was probably one of those "you had to be there to understand" type of moments, but imagine a group of six big men in a lady-like health food cafe and you will get the start of the picture of us at lunch on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the day began with a General Session by Dr. Doug McLachlan, Pastor of Fourth Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota, former President of Central Baptist Theological Seminary and author of Reclaiming Authentic Fundamentalism.

In General, the General Sessions are running around a common theme - Our Unique (... fill in the blank...).

Dr. McLachlan’s General Session focused on Isaiah 6:1-8 and dealt with Our Unique God in a presentation entitled: No One is Holy Like the Lord - a reference to the truth expressed by Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:2. Dr. McLachlan focused on five graphic stages regarding the encounter of Isaiah with "The Holy One of Israel."

The first stage dealt with "The Prophet’s Vision" and dealt with the fact that Isaiah saw God in His holiness - on His holy throne, with His holy angels, etc. He also reminded us that John 12 indicates that Who Isaiah saw was Jesus. (Kind of interesting considering a recent online conversation I had in which a lady was trying to claim that Allah and Jehovah God were the same.)

The second stage dealt with "The Prophet’s Conviction" and dealt with the fact that seeing God’s holiness brought about in Isaiah a utter sense of his own sinfulness and ruin.

The third stage dealt with "The Prophet’s Confession" and dealt with the response of Isaiah in admitting his own sinfulness and confessing this before God. (It seemed to me that the second and third stage were very closely linked in the presentation so that it was hard to distinguish them - but considering the context of Isaiah 6, that makes sense.)

The fourth stage dealt with "The Prophet’s Redemption" and dealt with the fact that the solution to Isaiah’s problem was taken care of by God, not by Isaiah. "Once it was God’s holiness that kept us from God, now it is God’s holiness that brings us to God" - the Holy Sacrifice reconciled us.

The fifth stage dealt with "The Prophet’s Commission and dealt with what Isaiah pledged - that he would go and proclaim the unique God.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good presentation of a very familiar passage.

The second General Session was on "Our Unique Savior" by Pastor Danny Brooks from Heritage Bible Church in Greer, South Carolina. Pastor Brooks had one of those sessions that you never want to have as a speaker at a gathering like this - he had the dreaded after lunch session.
Pastor Brooks dealt with John 1:1- 18 and focused on the Uniqueness of Christ as Our Savior.
By way of introduction, Danny dealt with the three terms in his title - Our (which reminds us of the closeness of association we have with the Savior and with one another) Unique (one of a kind) Savior (someone who rescues from harm or danger).

As Dan continued his introduction, he reminded us of the uniqueness of Christ in regards to the founders of the various religions of the world and then began to deal with John 1.
The focus of the message was on the fact that Our Savior is Unique in His Person and Our Savior is Unique in His Ministry.

In dealing with His Person, he spent some time dealing with the fact that Jesus is God and Man.

In dealing with His Ministry, he reminded us that the Savior Who resides with man (v.14) ministers grace and ministers truth.

Pastor Brooks is one of those guys who always looks young. He still looks pretty much like he did back in the days when he was in The Printing. He also has a great memory. He still remembers my name even though I am a nobody who he has only seen on a few occasions since college and even in college I was a nobody in Inter Society Council when he was the President of ISC.

The presentation was well-done (despite the bad time slot) and the connection of the Person and Ministry of Christ reminded me of the connection to what Christ taught the disciples on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24 (regarding His Person and Work).

The evening General Session on Wednesday night was by Dr. Stephen Jones, the President of Bob Jones University (my alma mater).

I am not sure that I have ever heard Dr. Jones preach before. I sat next to him in chapel back when he was a Senior in the Academy and I was a Freshman at BJU and I have seen him at some other functions over the years, but I can’t remember having heard him preach.
Dr. Jones preached on Psalm 51 and did a good job of handling the text and encouraging us to consider the Merciful God that we serve.

After reminding us of the situation of David’s sin and the distance between David and God because of David’s sin, he encouraged us regarding God’s Great Mercy.

Psalm 51 points out for us the Sinner’s Appeal - David had finally come running back to God and his only appeal was for God to have mercy on him. David’s appeal was not based on David’s position or anything in David - but rather on the character of God and God’s lovingkindness.

Psalm 51 also points out the Sinner’s Acknowledgment - looking at the different meanings for the words "sin", "transgression", and "iniquity" in the passage and being reminded of the utter inability for David to handle things on his own.

Psalm 51 also encourages us because of the Sinner’s Restoration. David was to have his joy restored, his ministry restored, and his testimony restored.

Overall, the General Sessions on Wednesday all dealt with familiar passages, but were encouraging in their nature.

National Leadership Conference - Day 1

Tuesday night was the opening night of the National Leadership Conference at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

This is my seventh time attending the National Leadership Conference and I have been looking forward to attending. Mr. and Mrs. Rohe have been gracious hosts to me at their house about 30 minutes away from the conference. Pastor Matt Jury of Fairview Bible Church in Lewistown, Pennsylvania is their nephew and was gracious enough to be offer me the opportunity to stay with him at the house of his aunt and uncle.

One of the things that I enjoy about coming to the National Leadership Conference is that the material covered usually seeks to have a good balance between academic topics and practical topics. This year looks to be a little light on the practical, but it should be a good conference.
The theme of the National Leadership Conference this year is "Changeless Truths for Challenging Times." As I mentioned in my last post, this is the first conference in which Sam Harbin has been the Conference Coordinator.

It is still too early in the week to give any kind of overall evaluation, but there have been a couple of interesting things at the National Leadership Conference, so far.

When I picked up my notebook on Tuesday evening, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the notebook was once again filled with all of the workshop notes (or at least most of them - a few presenters apparently did not get their notes turned in on time for inclusion in the notebook). THIS IS A GOOD THING. Some of you may remember that I commented after last year’s conference that I was disappointed that they had done away with putting the notes in the notebook last year and it left me (and others) attempting to scramble for notes from the sessions that we did not attend. By having the notes in the notebook, it accomplishes at least a few important things - 1) it helps in our evaluation of which workshop we want to attend, 2) it helps in evaluating whether to purchase the CD/mp3 of a particular workshop, and 3) it makes the notebook a valuable resource well after the conference. (I generally like to keep my notebooks together, but in order to remind myself that I have a presentation on a particular topic in one of the notebooks, I slip a full piece of paper in the appropriate file folder referencing the workshop session and which notebook. For instance, when I get back to my office, I will add a sheet of paper that says, "No Other Gods: The True Nature of Idolatry Yesterday and Today by Steve Horine - National Leadership Conference 2007 - Workshop Session 1 #1" to my hanging file folder that is labeled "idolatry" so that I remember that I have it when I am working on a sermon or paper regarding idolatry.)

The opening general session on Tuesday night was a little different than anything I have ever experienced at a conference. Dr. Tim Jordan (Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church of Lansdale and Conference Host) led us in partaking of the Lord’s Table on Tuesday night. I am still evaluating that idea in my mind. I tend to believe that the Lord’s Table/Communion is to be done as part of a church service ("when ye are come together"). Of course, Dr. Jordan mentioned that this was still a church, but I tend to think of a church service and a conference hosted by a church are actually two different things. Anyway, it was definitely different. It was also interesting being on the other end of things since, as a Pastor, I am usually involved in the serving of the Lord’s Table instead of receiving the Lord’s Table.

Anyway, those are some initial things that I wanted to post about regarding the first night of the conference. I plan on doing a post regarding each day and the general sessions and then doing a series of posts regarding the individual workshops.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 National Leadership Conference at Lansdale

Today I leave for the National Leadership Conference at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. I have had the privilege of attending this conference for the last six or seven years and have found the conference to usually have very good general sessions and some very good workshops, as well.

Dr. Dave Burgraff did an excellent job with this conference over the years, but as he left to go to Clearwater Christian College in Florida, this year the conference (as well as the seminary) is under new leadership - Dr. Sam Harbin.

I am looking forward to the conference and I plan on making a number of posts regarding the conference.

If you can't wait until the reports from this week, you may want to check out some posts I wrote regarding last year's National Leadership Conference.

National Leadership Conference

Some additional comments about the National Leadership Conference

Separation from Professing Brothers (notes from Kevin Bauder's General Session)

Shaping the Future - Pastoral Internships (some comments about two sessions on Pastoral Interships - one by Pastor Mark Franklin of Hardingville Bible Church in New Jersey and one by Pastor Dan Brooks of Heritage Bible Church in South Carolina)

Because of the timing of the closing on our church building and moving into the new building last year, I did not go through and discuss each of the workshops and sessions like I had hoped to do. It is my hope that this year I will be able to give overviews and comments from more sessions.

If you are going to be there, I would love to meet you. If you are going to be there and would like to make some comments about things from the sessions, please feel free to do that, as well.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

All God's Children (Post 2)

Last week, I mentioned in a post that I was going to be posting some quotes from the book All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes. Below is today’s installment.

It may seem an extreme assertion at first, but I believe that the challenge
of living with popular culture may well be as serious for modern Christians as persecution and plaques were for the saints of earlier centuries. Being thrown to the lions or living in the shadow of gruesome death are fairly straightforward if unattractive threats. Enemies that come loudly and
visibly are usually much easier to fight than those that are
undetectable.

Living with popular culture is indeed a challenge for modern believers. I am frequently reminded that as believers we are to be "in the world, not of the world." I am also challenged by the fact that we are are to "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1John 2:15)

It seems that in many discussions we are finding that modern believers are advocating following popular culture and pursuing the world.

The temptations to follow the world are definitely strong. I don't know if those temptations really compare with the ones of saints under persecution such as Wycliffe, but I think that his point deserves attention.

When dealing with active persecution, it is easier to see the enemy. It is when the enemy is concealed that the fighting becomes more difficult.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes

No, I haven't gone suddenly contemporary or compromising.

All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes - Christians and Popular Culture is the name of a book that I have recently been reading. (I tend to read multiple books at a time, rather than going through one book and then starting another.)

I recently came across a book that feels like it is an essential part of the Scott Anoil library. Our Salisbury Branch of the Wicomico County Library has an area where they usually have a small selection (from ten to one hundred) of books that are available for purchase. The books only cost 50 cents for a hard back and 25 cents for a paper back, so I usually check the area whenever I am in the library to see what I might find that is work a quarter or fifty cents.

Recently I picked up a copy of a book entitled, All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture written by a Kenneth A. Myers. This book is part of the Turning Point Christian Worldview Series which is edited by Marvin Olasky. I regret to say that I know very little about those involved in this series and I have only read the first part of the book, but I find some of the comments being made by Mr. Myers (who produced and edited programs for All Things Considered on National Public Radio for eight years) to be very interesting.

The chapter titles alone tell you that this book is going to take you on an interesting journey. Here is a listing of the chapter titles.

1. Of the World, But Not in the World
2. What is Culture, That Thou Art Mindful of It?
3. Would You Take Jesus to See This Planet?
4. Popular Culture and the Restless Ones
5. Accounting for Taste
6. Better to Receive
7. Before the Revolution
8. Where Have All the Standards Gone?
9. Popular Culture's Idiom: Rock Around the Clock
10. Popular Culture's Medium: The Entertainment Appliance
11. Where Do We Go From Here?

As I make my way through the book, I am going to be occasionally posting some of the thought- provoking comments from Mr. Myers' book on this blog. In some cases, I will comment on the quotes. In other cases, I will simply post the quote and see what you think.

From the Introduction:

Christian concern about popular culture should be as much about the sensibilities it encourages as about its content.

...popular culture's greatest influence is in the way it shapes how we think and feel (more than what we think and feel) and how we think and feel about thinking and feeling.

Popular culture is in many ways a very trivial matter...but its triviality , while making it seem innocuous, also enables it to be extremely pervasive, and that is its most toxic quality.

What think ye, O ye thinking men (and women)?

Frank

What was preached on Sunday?

Over at My Two Cents, Chris Anderson used to ask folks about what they preached or heard preached on Sundays. Since he seems to have discontinued that practice, I guess I will start it up over here.

SOOOO, What did your Pastor preach about on Sunday? Post a topic, comment, or even outline below (for those who listen well to a Pastor who outlines well). If you are a Pastor or Preacher, what did you preach this past weekend?

Frank

Good service with the Bob Jones University Sacred Sounds Musical Ministry Team

Last night, Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, Maryland, the church where I serve as Pastor, hosted the Bob Jones University Musical Ministry Team.

While we were down a little in attendance, the service went very nice as the team sang, played their instruments, and gave testimonies regarding God's working in their lives. Mr. Jon Reddick also delivered a short sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 and the value of love.

I appreciate the fact that the various Fundamental colleges and universities are willing to send their teams to small churches like ours. Since I have been down here in Salisbury, we have had the privilege of hosting teams from Bob Jones University, Maranatha Baptist Bible College, and Northland Baptist Bible College. Each time they have come it has been a blessing to our church and they have all represented their schools well.

While some might say that because we do not have a lot of teenagers, yet, in our church that these teams are wasting their times (after all, surely the justification for teams like this comes in part from the fact that they help to recruit teens to their respective schools). However, I appreciate the fact that the teams have not given that impression, but have instead taken an interest and talked with our folks and took the opportunity to minister to those who were there.

While we do have a few teens (and I praying that God would lead them towards a good solid Fundamental college), the reality is that by coming to a church like ours with very few teens, these teams are also helping to form a positive view of their schools in the lives of the parents and younger children - something that may indeed help in their enrollment down the road.

Anyway, I just wanted to take the time to encourage Pastors out there to host these teams when they are in your area and I wanted to say "thank you for coming" to Jon, Deb, Katie, Kimmy, James and Joey. Have a safe tour.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Visit the New FFBC Blog

Today marks the official launching of the FFBC Blog. I have been working on this off and on for awhile now and I am glad that it is finally up and running.

The FFBC Blog is a group blog by Pastors and members of the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches. I have explained the concept in more details in my introductory post on the FFBC Blog - "Introducing the FFBC Blog - The Messenger for a New Millenium".

Please take some time to stop by and see what is up over there.

Just my thoughts,

Frank