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Archives For November 30, 1999

#angrybirds respond in tweets to Baptist sexuality summit

Meredith Flynn —  May 15, 2014

COMMENTARY | Meredith Flynn

The tweets came fast and furious. They poured in, at least a dozen every 30 seconds or so, throughout the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s April summit for church leaders.

By the end of its first day, the conference on “The Gospel and Sexuality” had become one of Twitter’s top trending topics.

Most of the posts were angry. One might have guessed the subject matter would cause a stir, and indeed, many of the objecting tweets came from activists and others who don’t believe the Bible is the ultimate authority for marriage and sexuality.

But not all the messages addressed what the speakers said. Some pointed out that the majority of the speakers were white and male. Out of two dozen personalities who would take the stage during the three-day conference, only two were women.

Amid the tweets about homosexuality and gay marriage came a different complaint: Where was the diversity?

The topics covered certainly were diverse: pornography, pastoring church members through sexual sin, teaching kids about sex.

The speakers handled their topics with sensitivity, encouraging church leaders that the best way to truly love people in their communities is to teach what the Bible says about sex and marriage.

Their messages echoed the ERLC’s current tone, described by President Russell Moore as “convictional kindness.” It’s what most Christians think when they hear the phrase “speak the truth in love.”

Or, as Moore told conference attenders, “A refusal to speak to consciences, clearly and openly, is a refusal to love.”

While men populated the platform, in the back of the room it was mostly female journalists who covered the summit. One of them blogged about the summit’s overall tone and applied it to the angry tweets about so few women at the podium.

Chelsen Vicari of the Institute on Religion and Democracy wrote that while she would have appreciated more female voices, “it cannot be disputed that the ERLC’s tone is shifting in a genuine attempt to mirror the Gospel and balance a message of grace, respect for all women and men, repentance and  reconciliation in a troubled post-modern world.”

But on Twitter, and for the outside world, a new tone wasn’t enough. The world is watching to make sure when we Baptists preach a Gospel for everyone, we really do mean everyone.

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Evangelism is an intervention

Meredith Flynn —  May 1, 2014

Mark_Coppenger_blog_calloutCOMMENTARY | Mark Coppenger

You know the scene: A troubled family member arrives at home only to find various loved ones seated in the living room. They ask him or her to sit down and hear what they have to say. One by one, they read prepared statements of love and admonition. The subject, eyes brimming with tears or flashing with indignation, endures as much as possible before caving in, pushing back or storming out.

The poor soul has bottles hidden around the house and in the flowerbed, and she can find another pint as soon as her prime stashes are blown.

Or there’s the trash addict who can’t throw anything away, even dead animals. (I was called in on a cleanup with some church members in my seminary days; we found a dead, dried out cat under matted stained clothes under stacks of newspapers in one of the closets.)

An intervention is very uncomfortable but worth it, whether the addiction is drugs or drink, clutter or cussedness. They’re ruining themselves, as those around them are grieving if not outright harmed. And they don’t much appreciate your suggestion that something is out of whack.

I know that people can come to Christ in a lot of tender ways. An immigrant wife is touched by her Christian neighbor’s shopping and language tips. A lost welder is disarmed by the warmth of a church softball team he’s been asked to join. A “singing Christmas tree” rendition of Joy to the World brings tears to the eyes of a cranky, unchurched parent who shows up to watch his high school senior perform.

But the Lord has also used Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and the chaste slap of a godly college girl knocking some sense into a unbelieving suitor, whose advances were unseemly, a jolt which caused him to reassess his secular worldview. Or how about Mordecai Ham’s scathing anti-alcohol parades, which salvifically grieved some drunks standing outside bars on the roadside?

God may well use a sequence of happy and scary events and items to lead an individual to Himself. (I think I once heard the late evangelism professor Roy Fish say the average was seven Gospel touches before conversion.)

So Bob may have been providentially prepped for salvation by, in order, a Vacation Bible School lesson he heard at age 8; a highway sign reading, “Prepare to Meet God”; a Jack Chick tract named Holy Joe; the stellar performance of a homeschooled spelling bee champ who thanked Jesus for helping her; five minutes of a Joel Osteen sermon; and a friend who repeated something he heard in an Alistair Begg broadcast.

Truth is, we risk looking silly when we declare, well beyond our competency and theological warrant, that all evangelistic approaches other than our own are tacky, pompous, dated, specious, trendy, dopey, sleepy, grumpy, sneezy and bashful.

That being said, there is an irreducible kernel of awkwardness and agony in conversion — repentance. I compare it to throwing up. I hate it. I fight it. (On a bucking airplane I close my eyes, turn the air full blast on my face, breathe deeply and sit very still.) I suppress it with every fiber of my being. But when it comes, oh, the relief — the blessed cooling of a sweaty brow, the relaxation of suppressed muscles.

Yes, it’s that gross, as is repentance, as we hurl up and out the poison and rot of self and sin and damnable, willful stupidity — the sort of thing you find in James 4:8-10: “Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

Sometimes we hear and say that a witnessing Christian is “just one beggar telling another one where to find bread.” I’d suggest it’s more like a formerly-suicidal fellow who was talked off the ledge trying to talk a currently-suicidal fellow off the ledge. Or it is like a repentant Taliban terrorist in Gitmo going on TV to dissuade current Taliban terrorists to cut it out.

Of course, most don’t think that a law-abiding, philanthropic citizen — working the NYT crossword in Starbucks on Sunday morning, sitting across from his wife Khloe enjoying a half double decaffeinated half-caf with a twist of lemon, beside their jogger stroller bearing little Nash — is a suicidal terrorist. But he is just as we were. He’s bound for a well-deserved sinner’s hell, indifferent to the godly stewardship of his life, harming innocents along the way by his passive, aggressive and passive-aggressive defiance of the Kingdom and its gospel of grace, Khloe and Nash being his prime victims as his “spiritual leadership in the home” couples them to his downgrading train.

And so we intervene. If, that is, we love the person, are convinced of his plight and are willing to risk the alienation of affection. It doesn’t take licenses or programs or eloquence, though those can help. It simply demands compassion, courage, a firm grasp of the hard truth and, yes, a life which reflects a better way.

Mark Coppenger is director of the Nashville extension center and professor of Christian apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. This column first appeared at BPNews.net.

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Pay it forward this Mother’s Day

Meredith Flynn —  April 30, 2014

Mothers Day Offering 2014COMMENTARY | Nate Adams

I remember my dad writing once about an Easter Sunday that came long after we kids were grown and gone. None of us were going to be home for the holiday weekend that year, so my mom suggested that she and my dad volunteer to work in the nursery that Sunday.

In case my dad had doubts, my mom was ready with her reasons. “There are likely to be several young families visiting our church that day. Those who work in the nursery all the time deserve a break. We’re available, and able. Oh, and by the way, others took care of our kids on Easter for years. Even this Easter, others will be taking care of our grandchildren.”

And so those two grandparents who hadn’t needed a nursery nor worked in one for quite a while sat and rocked babies that Easter Sunday. As they did so, they prayed for the families of those babies, and for their own family. I remember my dad saying it was one of the most memorable Easter Sundays he ever experienced.

There is something especially sacred it seems, about giving to others out of gratitude for the way that you have received yourself. In fact, as Mother’s Day now approaches, I think of the countless ways I have benefited from a godly, sacrificing mother. And I think of how blessed our own children have been by my wife’s investment in their lives.

One way to “pay it forward” to others in gratitude for the mothers who have blessed our lives is to give generously to the Mother’s Day Offering for the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS). Last year, BCHFS provided Christ-centered services to 1,417 individuals – 23% more than the previous year. Through residential care at the Baptist Children’s Home in Carmi, maternity services at Angels’ Cove, multiple Pathways Counseling offices, the Safe Families for Children program, and ministry to orphans in Uganda, BCHFS lives out this year’s Offering theme, “Families are Worth Fighting For!”

Sharing Christ is the central motivation for the services BCHFS provides. Of course they provide ministry and healing that help families through troubled times. But in doing so, the BCHFS staff also unashamedly shares the Gospel of Jesus with those they serve, and seeks to model His love daily to them. Last year alone, 16 children from the Residential Care program and from Safe Families made professions of faith in Christ.

The BCHFS does not receive state or federal contract for care funding, and does not receive funding through the Cooperative Program. Their ministry is completely reliant on the generosity of Illinois Baptist churches and individuals who invest in the lives of those they serve. That’s why the Mother’s Day Offering is so important.

From the BCHFS web site (www.bchfs.com) your church can download information and materials to help you promote this year’s Mother’s Day Offering. And if your church doesn’t receive an offering that particular Sunday, you can still use the web site to donate directly to BCHFS’s important ministries.

If you appreciate your own family, and especially your mom this Mother’s Day, I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate your gratitude to God and “pay it forward” than to support this important ministry to hundreds of hurting families. And remember, if your own family is facing challenges right now, the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services is there for you too.

Our family will be supporting the ministries of BCHFS this year, and I pray yours will too. Whether it’s thanking our children’s workers with a turn in the nursery, or thanking our mothers by giving to help hurting families, it’s a good, good thing to “pay it forward.” As Jesus said in Matthew 10:8 “Freely you have received; freely give.”

Nate Adams is executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association.

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Let’s go to the Christian movies (Or should we?)

Meredith Flynn —  April 25, 2014

Movie_postersCOMMENTARY | Mark Mohler

“Son of God,” “Noah” and “God’s Not Dead” each created a stir at the box office (and on blogs) already this year. And “Heaven is For Real” had a great opening weekend, coming in behind only “Captain America.” It’s been a busy season for Christian-themed movies, and everybody’s talking about them.

Your friends all saw “Noah.” Your small group planned an outing to view “God’s Not Dead,” and invited non-Christians to watch the movie with them. All this sounded like a great idea until you read a blog calling these movies heretical, warning Christians against worldly influences, and shaming you for supporting these blasphemous productions. Now what seemed like missional opportunities for fellowship, outreach, and redemptive conversations make you wonder if you are denying your faith and disappointing your Savior.

To complicate matters, respected Bible teachers are weighing in on the subject with no unifying voice to be heard. Your scales of decision teeter toward whichever opinion you heard most recently. As a Christ-follower you have the ability to make your own decision concerning the appropriateness of any faith-based movie. The following are suggestions to help you exercise your faith and reason when it comes to whether or not you should view these movies at home or the theater. But first, remember two things:

Some Christians are against everything. As you read reviews remember that overly cynical Christians speak out against anything and everything. They believe that godliness comes through pointing out the least hint of error, and they somehow serve the kingdom by warning others. If they spot a “non-biblical” moment in a movie, the entire movie should be cast into the abyss, along with the actors, directors, producers, and college student who brought donuts to the set. Beware – the cynic’s definition of non-biblical and yours may differ. For the cynic, non-biblical most often refers to a scene or line that cannot be found in the Bible. For most everyone else, non-biblical refers to a scene or line that stands in opposition to biblical material.

Some Christians embrace anything. The polar opposite of the cynic is the Christian who embraces anything and is enamored with what they call “new perspectives.” By new perspectives, they mean a new approach to telling the story of Jesus; by a new approach to telling the story of Jesus, they mean adjusting the story in order to suit personal tastes, agendas or presuppositions.

So, how do you decide? You are not a cynic, nor do you embrace anything stamped with the word “Christian.” You do wish to view biblically-based movies, making certain you do not open yourself to negative influences. The following are four questions to ask before, during, and after the movie.

1. Does this movie support or negate the need for a Savior? The Bible has a theme –God’s holiness confronts man’s sinfulness in love, redeeming him through the sacrifice of the Son. Scripture is clear that man is hopeless without God’s grace-filled intervention into life and eternity. Any faith-based movie must espouse the biblical motif of exclusive redemption. We tread into dangerous waters when a movie hints that man, apart from God, can better his life or eternity.

2.   Does this movie contradict Scripture, implicitly or explicitly? The Bible is our final voice of truth and authority. If a so-called faith-based movie contradicts Scripture at any point, we must acknowledge its folly.

Some faith-based movies include scenes or dialogue that the Bible does not. For example, in “The Passion of the Christ,” the character of Jesus “invents” the table and chairs (and his mother says she doesn’t think it will catch on). We know Jesus most likely did not invent the table and chairs, but does this make the movie blasphemous? In my opinion, no. It does not contradict Scripture, nor does it teach a false belief affecting the salvation of others. In some ways, this is no different than a pastor postulating the words Jesus wrote in the sand just before declaring, “He who is without sin cast the first stone,” because there is no proof to support any opinion.

On the other hand many films do openly contradict the Bible. Case in point: NBC’s 1999 miniseries “Noah’s Ark.” The show is replete with contra-biblical material. Take for example the episode in which Lot (Abraham’s nephew) attacks the ark. Any student of the Bible knows that Lot appears generations after the flood and God promises to destroy everything except those on the ark. We must acknowledge this movie, and others like it, explicitly contradict Scripture.

3.   Is the goal of this movie to teach Biblical doctrine or rebuff Christian thinking?Is there a Christian who has not seen “Courageous”? Probably so. Should they see it? Probably so. I am not a paid actor, nor paid spokesperson, but “Courageous” is a very good example of a biblically-based, faith-based movie. From beginning to end, the movie affirms Scripture. Actors are portrayed as fallen and each success is connected to God’s grace and the Spirit’s activity. The movie teaches the biblical doctrine of integrity, while offering grace to those who fall short. There are moments of uncommon (or unrealistic) divine activity, but that is not outside the realm of biblical possibility.

But not all movies featuring Christian philosophies are meant to support those philosophies. Let’s go old school. Remember reading, then watching, “Inherit the Wind” somewhere around your sophomore year of high school? If you were a church kid, the movie about the Scopes Monkey Trial made you question your Christian faith. Had your pastor and Sunday School teachers ushered you into the world of idiotic, close-minded bigotry “Inherit the Wind” assigned your faith? The movie featured the Christian doctrine of creationism, but the intent was not to paint an objective presentation of the facts. Instead, the film was written with the sole intent of defacing the Christian belief of creationism, and should be viewed with the understanding that you are not interacting with facts, but a movie as one-sided as the belief it presumes to confront.

4.   Is the Spirit affirming this movie or rebuking it? The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit affirms that which is right and warns against that which is wrong. Jesus told His disciples that the Spirit would lead them into all truth. Believers enjoy the privilege of direct communication with the Father through the Spirit.

As you watch a faith-based movie (or one that claims to be), ask the Father to shed light into what you are watching. Pray that the Lord will affirm the truth, reject the falsehood, all while leading you to a Spirit-led conclusion about what you saw.

I’ve come to this conclusion about this season’s faith-based movies: I have determined to capitalize on Hollywood’s venture. If they choose to produce and release these films, the church should be part of the conversation that follows. Let’s forego the protests and boycotts in order that we might interact with those who have been exposed to the Bible at the movies, but need to hear the true gospel.

Mark Mohler is pastor of Second Baptist Church in Marion, Ill.

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The death of death

Meredith Flynn —  April 18, 2014

Charles_Lyons_blog_calloutCOMMENTARY | Charles Lyons

I wish you could meet Richard.* When our church moved into the hulking former Masonic Temple, squatting on a Kedzie Boulevard corner, the guy I would come to know as Richard hung out with a crowd of 20 guys in front of our building each evening.

This was their hood. This was their corner. Now, many years later, Richard has confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart the Lord Jesus.

He’s in my Grow Group that meets every Thursday night. The week after Easter we were bemoaning that Richard had to work the previous Sunday. He’s a security guard at a hospital, which has served this dangerous Humboldt Park neighborhood since the early 1900s.

He was recounting the hectic happenings at his ER security post on Resurrection morning.

“Yeah, we had two rape victims come in, then we had two other girls who were hit and run…” His hands were waving. “Then we had a shooting victim brought in.”

Right about here I interjected, “This is all Easter morning?”

“That’s right,” he affirmed, voice rising.

“Then the Monsters* (local gang whose turf surrounds the hospital) started gathering outside the ER door trying to get in to finish off the guy they shot but failed to kill. We had to put a call into CPD (Chicago Police Department) for some help. On top of that, two overdoses came in.”

While all that was going on, about a mile and a half north, Armitage Baptist was lifting praises to the resurrected Christ. We were declaring the good news that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is victory over sin and death. He’s in the life-transforming business. That very morning, almost a score of sinners
confessed Jesus as Lord in our services.

Cities are centers of death. The wages of sin is death. Cities … more sinners … more sin … more wages of sin … more death. I can’t help but think of the crime, the plagues, the fires, the wars that have wreaked havoc on cities throughout history.

Even natural disasters are more dramatic and more death-dealing when they hit cities. Think of the tornado in Joplin, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Biloxi, and Hurricane Sandy in Long Island.

Think of Jerusalem – ravaged, destroyed, blood soaks every square foot of its rocky soil. Several hundred years before Christ, the Babylonians decimated the city. Several decades after Jesus, the Romans brought great horror to the sacred city.

Jerusalem – The city. The city that is the center of the earth. The city central to God’s grand plan. On one dark Friday it is again the center of death. This death is the death of all deaths. Three days later death is conquered in a city, the city.

Could it be with all the devastation Satan has hurled at humanity in cities and through cities, that God chooses the city purposefully as the place where death will be conquered?

“O death, where is your sting, O grave where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55) The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks
be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Rosa,* new to our Grow Group, sat in stunned silence as Richard talked. Which, if you knew Rosa, was an awfully rare occasion. There had been a knock as our group assembled. The door was flung open. Richard entered the tiny living room seemingly filling it. Rosa told me later, “I recognized him right away! I don’t know if he recognized me, so I just introduced myself.

“Pastor, Pastor, he’s the guy who told my son that he was going to kill him!”

“When was this?” I asked.

“Over 15 years ago. Right out in front of church!”

It seems Rosa’s then-teenage son had some kind of run-in with Richard. Rosa had literally feared for her son’s life, taking precautions to avoid the big guy that ran the hood.

Not having seen him for years, she had the spiritually jolting, emotionally shocking experience of sitting that night studying the Word of God with the very man, now her brother in Christ, who had threatened the life of her son. And doesn’t God often take it up one more notch? Rosa’s son now works at the hospital because Richard helped him get the job!

Jesus is the death of death in the city.

Charles Lyons has pastored Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago since 1974. This column first appeared in the Baptist Bible Tribune.

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Why I saw five ‘Jesus movies’ in three days

Meredith Flynn —  April 17, 2014

movie_filmstripCOMMENTARY | Meredith Flynn

Watching actors portray Jesus on film is a little like Goldilocks trying out chairs at the three bears’ house. This Jesus is too small (“Jesus Christ Superstar”). This one is too passive (“Son of God”). Or just too weird (“Godspell”).

Even when Jesus resembles the one you met in Sunday school, like in the 1965 epic “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” you still find yourself looking for the inconsistencies that prove this Jesus isn’t as satisfying as the one in the Bible.

And when his suffering is gut-wrenchingly authentic (“The Passion of the Christ”), you want to see this Jesus during the rest of his life, and not just the last few hours.

Movies can’t capture him, and they’re not the best way to connect with him. But there’s still a reason to watch. Jesus on film may be undersized compared to the real-life version, but the other humans in the movies are caught in brilliant living color.

Judas, Nicodemus, Barabbas and the others are fully life-sized, and watching them interact with the film version of Jesus is downright convicting.

See the shades of jealousy you’ve never noticed in the “Greatest Story” Judas, and his belief that he was actually doing what was right for his people. Or listen to him wail in “Superstar,” narrating the whole story in what he believes is the voice of reason.

Watch Nicodemus in “Son of God” draw close and then pull away, again and again, as he’s torn between this new gospel and what he’s always known.

Simon of Cyrene comes to life in “The Passion,” starting off skeptical and reluctant to help Jesus carry his cross, but defending him at the end of their long march. In the same movie, Mary Magdalene can’t turn away from the gruesome crucifixion scene, her current reality mixing with memories of how Jesus rescued her from the Pharisees.

Even in “Godspell,” the loopy 1975 musical, we watch the disciples have their world turned upside down as Jesus teaches them things that are the opposite of the status quo.

The filmmakers created some of the dialogue to fill in places Scripture doesn’t describe in detail, so we don’t know exactly what was said or felt. But Judas’ jealousy and Mary’s neediness and Nicodemus’ doubts are relatable all the same because we’ve been in their shoes.

There’s a young church in San Diego called Barabbas Road. The founding pastor picked the name because all redeemed Christians have walked Barabbas’ path, he said. In fact, one of their early promotional videos featured different church members each proclaiming, “I am Barabbas.”

These Jesus movies elicit the same reaction: I am Barabbas. I am Nicodemus. You are Peter. You are Simon of Cyrene. Watching Jesus interact with vividly human people like us is the most moving thing about all these motion pictures.

And as a bonus feature, these abridged versions of Jesus will drive many viewers back to Scripture for the full story.

Meredith Flynn is managing editor of the Illinois Baptist.

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Pierced, crushed, chastised: Embracing the offense of the cross

Meredith Flynn —  April 14, 2014

COMMENTARY | Jonathan Davis

Jesus_forpage1

WHAT A SAVIOR – “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Sculpture by Libby Morecraft of Harrisburg

Our culture loves blood. The latest vampire novel, graphic movies, every CSI crime drama, the nightly news – they’re all pictures painted in blood. Even the walking dead are promoting a bloody afterlife every Sunday night on cable. But our culture’s bloodthirst is biting into the wrong vein.

As God’s people, we also are to be marked as lovers of blood. Not because of an obsession with gore, but because of the Savior who shed his life’s blood
on our behalf.

Yet, for some reason, we often shy away from the bloody language of the cross. Our culture, so fascinated with blood stories, turns away from the most
important blood lines of all. Talk of the cross is offensive to many, and to bring up the blood as central to faith will bring many conversations to a halt. And
rather than offend, some Christians will stick to the more polite apologetic: Jesus loves you, and has a great plan for your life.

But that’s a bloodless Christianity. And a bloodless Christianity is no Christianity at all.

Flesh and blood isn’t just Easter language; it is Gospel language to be used at all times and in all places. We are to embrace the bloodiness of Scripture, for to do opposite is quite dangerous.

Our bloody theology

The Bible presents us with a robust theology of blood. Because Christ was crucified, we reap a multitude of benefits for His glory and our good.

• We once were people without hope, but have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:12-13).

• In Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins (Romans 3:24-25; Ephesians 1:7).

• We have been justified by Christ’s blood (Romans 5:9).

• We have peace with God by the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20).

From Adam and Eve’s first sacrifice outside the garden to our High Priest’s completed work, and everywhere in between, the history of God’s people is marked by blood. For several thousand years, it’s the blood of animals, offered as a covering for sins. And finally, it’s the once-and-for-all sacrifice that
washes whiter than snow.

When it comes to salvation, nothing but blood will do.

Maybe the most startling example of flesh and blood language in the Bible is found in John 6. Jesus tells his followers they must eat his flesh and drink his
blood. On the surface, it’s a revolting concept. “Is he advocating cannibalism?” they must be thinking.

Then, at his last meal with the disciples, Jesus enacts the teaching, tying together eternal life with eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus notes that
we are abiding in him when we do so. To commune with Christ is to embrace this bloody language.

Now, it’s not too hard for us to talk about the crucifixion and the blood this time of year, especially in our churches. At Easter, the person and work of Jesus
come to the forefront of our minds, and rightly so. This is the time of year we celebrate Christ’s crucifixion, and it makes sense that flesh and blood speech
is on our lips.

But what concerns me is our post-Easter language, and how we share the Gospel with people who don’t know Christ. Too often, we avoid talking about Christ’s suffering, and in doing so, we drain our faith of its very power.

Power in the blood

The next time you’re on break at the water cooler, try dropping this line from Jesus into the conversation: “Hey, did you know that Jesus said, ‘Unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’”

I can hear the crickets chirping.

The Corinthians felt the shame of flesh and blood preaching, and this led them away from boasting in the cross to boasting in worldly wisdom. Preaching
a crucified king sounded so un-wise that they forsook the very message they had heard and believed.

But Paul argues that crucifixion language is the very language the Holy Spirit empowers. He had come to the Corinthian believers in weakness and fear. His speech and message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Corinthians 2:3-4).

We must recover that kind of speech in our churches and as we go out into the world. Sin is serious, so serious that it warrants death. This is why there is
great danger in bloodless Christianity. To remove the bloody language of the cross is to remove man’s only hope of being made right with God.

The Gospel of the cross is the good news that God is holy, you are not, and the necessary sacrifice to make you right with God is found in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

As believers we have tasted and seen the goodness of salvation applied to our hearts, and our desire is to see the lost know this same salvation. Is talking
about the cross offensive? Yes. Is it difficult to speak? Yes.

But let’s not run from it. Rather, let us press into it, speaking Christ and Him crucified plainly and with conviction, trusting the Holy Spirit to draw the lost to the Father through the Son.

When we do, people will begin to understand there’s power in the blood.

Jonathan Davis pastors Delta Church in Springfield.

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Easter: It’s only the beginning

Meredith Flynn —  April 9, 2014

Nate_Adams_blog_callout_AprilCOMMENTARY | Nate Adams

In churches both here and around the world, so much preparation goes into getting ready for Easter. Of course, that’s as it should be. Easter is arguably the church’s greatest single day of celebration. Though surrounded by distractions like bunnies, egg hunts and new spring fashions, it suffers far less
secularization than Christmas. And because Easter is always Sunday, it gives every local church a special opportunity to shine in its own community. Yet, in an effective, evangelistic church, Easter is only the beginning.

Several years ago, I was part of a group that helped start a new church in the suburbs of Chicago. We decided to hold our first public worship service on Easter Sunday. We called it our church’s birthday.

Prior to that “launch Sunday,” we had prepared for a full year. For weeks, four families prayed and studied and planned. Then three neighborhood Bible studies grew into a core group of about 40. Then we met for weeks in teams to plan ministries and outreach strategies and worship services that would be relevant and inviting to our community.

In the days leading up to Easter, we stuffed envelopes, hung door hangers, and placed ads in the local papers. And on Easter Sunday, 182 people came to the grade school gym where we held our first Easter celebration.

But Easter was only the beginning. Because that first Sunday was our new church’s “birth,” we decided that birthday cakes would be great welcome gifts for all our first time guests. So we baked birthday cakes – dozens of them. And for hours after we packed up our portable church that afternoon, our core group delivered both a welcome and a friendly witness to those who lived in our Jerusalem.

Across North America, including right here in Illinois, new churches often still choose Easter to begin a new witness in a new Jerusalem. But even in churches like yours and mine that have been around a while, Easter can be preceded by special preparations that invite new people to come and meet Christ, and followed by tireless effort to make them feel welcome, both at church and in the family of God.

Do you feel comfortable, even enthusiastic, inviting your friends and neighbors to come to your church? Are you confident in what they will experience there? Is your church ready, not only to welcome and accept first time guests, but also to go the extra mile to understand their needs and questions, and respond with compassion to their imperfect lives?

It takes love and great intentionality to continually invite new people to church, and even more to be truly ready for them when they find the courage to come. The great thing is that Easter Sunday gives a church one of its best opportunities all year to welcome new people, and even churches that do little
inviting are often blessed with first-time guests on that special Sunday.

Let’s be ready this Easter. In fact, let’s be ready each and every Lord’s Day. Let’s be winsome and sensitive and compassionate and good listeners. Let’s
make sure we prepare and invite, and that the Gospel message is clear, and lovingly delivered in multiple ways. And let’s not let Sunday lunch be the end of it.

For the early church, Easter was not the grand finale; it was the start of something big. The risen, ascended, and returning Lord sent His Spirit to fill His
disciples with power, and with boldness. And He said they would be His witnesses, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

It’s the same for us today. The ends of the earth still really need the Gospel, and so do the people who live in our Jerusalems. Again this year, Easter is only the beginning.

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The Southern Baptist Convention’s new ‘traditionalists’

Meredith Flynn —  April 3, 2014

COMMENTARY | Eric Reed

If there is any swordplay between the dominant camps at the Southern Baptist Convention this summer, it will likely be in the vice presidential races. Reformed leader Al Mohler announced he will reach across the aisle and nominate for the SBC presidency Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd, who is not known as a Calvinist. So, dueling will be consigned to lower ranks. And the first candidate has stepped forward.

Clint Pressley of North Carolina will be nominated for first vice president. What’s interesting is that it was Pressley who nominated Mississippi pastor Eric Hankins for second vice president in 2012.

Hankins is the author of a document called “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” The document was a response to the rise of Calvinist theology in the Convention. That bubbling debate cooled only when Executive Committee President Frank Page invited Hankins, Mohler, and 17 others to join him in a study group seeking a peace between the sides and avoidance of a schism.

Hankins was not elected second vice president. He and another candidate were defeated by a surprise nominee, Iowa pastor and blogger Dave Miller. Miller’s nominator had posited him as a less divisive alternative.

Hankins exited the platform that year, but has remained active in the discussion of SBC polity and theology. Now, Pressley returns, not to nominate, but to be nominated.

That’s not at all surprising.

From a seat two rows behind them in Hebrew class, it was clear these young men were headed somewhere. Tall, sharp, and confident, in the football-player way, Hankins and Pressley went through college together as best friends. At seminary, they were a better-behaved version of Butch and Sundance. They were young men on life’s adventure as friends, role models, family men, pastors of ever-larger churches. And apparently, they were instrumental at the start of a movement to recapture “traditional” as a theological position worth holding and an identity worth upholding.

One started the race; we’ll see if the other can carry the torch on the next lap.

One more development on the traditional front: A group calling itself Connect 316 announced its first meeting to be held during the Convention. Offering their network as an alternative to “Calvinist-leaning” groups such as the Founders Ministry, 9 Marks, and Acts 29, they claim the theological tradition of Herschel Hobbs and Adrian Rogers. In other words, “traditionalists.”

A friend of mine is looking forward to the Convention in June. She wants to see if Pressley will again make an appearance in his seersucker suit. The summer staple of Southern lawyers was an old-time favorite of preachers, too. Could seersucker, and traditionalists, make a comeback in Baltimore?

Eric Reed is editor of the Illinois Baptist newspaper.

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Amid outcry, World Vision reverses policy change on same-sex marriage

Meredith Flynn —  March 27, 2014

But not before Christian leaders engage in heated debate online

COMMENTARY |  Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, announced this week that the Christian aid organization would allow the hiring of employees who are in a same-sex marriage. Then, on Wednesday, Stearns and Jim Bere, chairman of the World Vision U.S. Board, released a letter stating the new policy had been reversed.

“The board acknowledged they made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman,” the letter says.

“We are writing to you our trusted partners and Christian leaders who have come to us in the spirit of Matthew 18 to express your concern in love and conviction. You share our desire to come together in the Body of Christ around our mission to serve the poorest of the poor. We have listened to you and want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness.”

Stearns told Christianity Today on March 24 that World Vision was making the move to hire people in legal same-sex marriages as a way to defer to the leadership of local churches, and to promote unity within the church as a whole.

“It’s easy to read a lot more into this decision than is really there,” Stearns said then. “This is not an endorsement of same-sex marriage. We have decided we are not going to get into that debate. Nor is this a rejection of traditional marriage, which we affirm and support.

“…This is not us compromising. It is us deferring to the authority of churches and denominations on theological issues. We’re an operational arm of the global church, we’re not a theological arm of the church.”

But after many Christians decried the decision, World Vision changed course.

“World Vision has done the right thing,” tweeted Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore. “Now, let’s all work for a holistic gospel presence, addressing both temporal and eternal needs. Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy agency, was one of the first to post analysis about World Vision’s earlier move. Denny Burk, a professor at Boyce College in Louisville, Ky., also blogged his objections.

“Stearns says that ‘every employee’ must be a ‘follower of Jesus Christ’ even as he affirms that some of his employees will be living in open immorality,” Burk wrote at dennyburk.com. “What does this mean? It can only mean that he believes being a ‘follower of Jesus Christ’ is somehow compatible with being in a same-sex marriage…. Following Christ is not a choose-your-own-adventure story. King Jesus defines the terms of our discipleship. He is very clear that there is a narrow path that leads to life and a broad road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). The path of sexual immorality – including same-sex immorality – goes along the broad path (Mark 7:21; Rom. 1:26-27). Thus it is impossible to be a ‘follower of Christ’ while endorsing or participating in a same-sex marriage.”

Burk’s post drew criticism from popular blogger and author Jen Hatmaker, who wrote about the dangers of “reactionary, emotional attacks” in the wake of World Vision’s decision to hire employees in same-sex marriages. It’s an issue on which the church will never reach a consensus, she said.

“We do not need any more inflammatory soldiers in the culture wars; we need more thought leaders who are slower to publicly condemn their faithful brothers and sisters and quicker to invite reason and dialogue to the table. ‘A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion’ (Proverbs 18:2).” she wrote.

Burk then posted a response to Hatmaker: “I have no desire for Christians to destroy one another, nor is that the intention of my post. My aim mainly is to provoke Christians to think biblically about what is at stake.

“…Taking care of the needy is great, noble, necessary work. We must not flag in zeal for such work. But that work doesn’t somehow eliminate the treachery of rebelling against Jesus’ words about sexual morality and marriage (Matt. 5:27-32; 19:3-9; Mark 7:21). We must hold on to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not just the ones we judge to be most important (Matt. 4:4).”

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