How to Call a Meeting

Some weeks ago I read something complimenting President Carter about knowing how to call a meeting. The kudos went out over calling a national meeting that received nationwide press coverage and invited tens of thousands. It noted the speakers that were committed to come, President Carter himself, President Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore to name the most popular. Of course there were other political leaders and activist along with a few well known preachers such as Joel Gregory and Tony Campolo. All total, it looks as if 15,000 registered for the national event.

If this meeting means that President Carter really knows how to call a meeting, Don Cass is to be highly commended. Don is the director of evangelism for the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention and each year calls a meeting called an Evangelism Conference. This year the theme was When Time is No More and included various sermons dealing with themes around the second coming of Jesus and the end of the earth. As I search for news articles I am coming up short. Evidently Don didn’t know that you should publicize a Baptist meeting via the secular media. I have seen no reports of attendance but I do know the numbers were several thousand. Having attended for the last three years, it was easy to see the crowd this year exceeded previous crowds. The time has come to move to a larger venue. The facilities of First Baptist Church of Euless have been outgrown.

Imagine this; a meeting publicized within Baptist circles and not reported in the secular media drew several thousand perhaps 4000 or more. The SBTC today reports 2002 churches as cooperating. Let me see, that is close to 2 from each church based on pure guesses. Even if the attendance was half the 4000 it would still be 1 from each cooperating church. The NBC meeting boasted 30 Baptist Conventions as participating and it is plain that they did not draw any where close to one person from each church. As a matter of fact, the BGCT lists over 5000 churches and one from each of their churches would have likely doubled the attendance in many of the NBC meetings. Who knows how to call a Baptist meeting? I think Don Cass knows how to call a meeting.

Already Don is calling another meeting for next year. Having outgrown FBC Euless, the new home will be in the Tarrant County Convention Center. It will be exciting to see the list of speakers who come together to preach on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Now what do I choose? Do I choose to encourage the members of the church where God has allowed me to serve to attend a meeting about the environment or one that encourages evangelism? Well, if I believe the answer to man’s problems on earth can be solved by science I will go to hear Al Gore, if I want to see the souls of men saved in my community and the moral pollution cured, I think I will go to Fort Worth on Monday after the third Sunday in February of 2008.

Confused

I am confused. Nothing new here. I have been reading some of the news reports published by the New Baptist Covenant and they are either confusing or humorous. President Carter practically begs those in attendance not to speak critically of others. Now don’t get me wrong, those words are usually appropriate any time two humans get together whether they are Baptist or not. It is what he did not say that confuses me. Note this quote from their web site:
“For the first time in more than 160 years, we are convening a major gathering of Baptists throughout an entire continent, without any threat to our unity caused by differences of our race or politics or geography or the legalistic interpretation of Scripture," said Carter, who co-chaired the gathering with Mercer University President Bill Underwood.

President Carter raises some worthy issues, division caused by race, politics, geography and the legalistic interpretation of Scripture. Now pardon my bias, but some of the division has been caused by a liberal and unbelieving interpretation of Scripture. Speaking of politics and interpretations of Scripture, I believe it was Carter who walked away from the SBC over his disagreements.

I can not help but wonder; as I read the reports intended to promote the idea that the meeting was in unity, who was Campolo preaching to? Did he see some BMW’s in the parking lot when he drove in? What plane did Gore use to get to the meeting? Can you live in a mansion like Gore and fall into the classification Campolo placed those who drive BMW’s. Tony rarely pulls punches because of his audience and so perhaps he wasn’t preaching to those in were not in attendance but those who were in attendance. Yes he was preaching to most all of us in our lack of helping others.

Clinton’s reaching out to Southern Baptists was interesting. Was he sincere or hoping to pick up a few votes for Hillary? We will no know until his works are judged at the judgment seat of Christ as we won’t know even about some of our own until that day. His bias also came out:
Baptists who gained control of the SBC focused on "works" related to issues such as opposition to abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment and gay rights, he noted, while "more progressive Baptists" focused on fighting poverty, protecting the environment and providing housing for poor people, he said.
"I say this in good conscience: We all believe we are doing what we can. But so do they. They read the obligations of Scripture in a different way," he noted.
Calling for humility and respect, Clinton urged, "We should not let our response to the people who disagree with us be dictated by what they say about us or even how they treat people we care for. If there is any chance that this covenant can become an embracing one, that there can be a whole community, then there has to be a chance that we can find love."

You did catch the bias didn’t you? If you are not a Baptist Democrat, you do not care about the poor, protecting the environment of providing housing for poor people. President Carter knows better than this because even Republican Baptists have helped his poster organization, Habitat for Humanity.

“Grisham offered Baptists three suggestions for seeking unity: Restore their good name by respecting diversity, stay out of politics and ‘spend as much time out on the streets in ministry as in the church."

This was the most humorous of all. Grisham blasted anyone who would hold to a literal interpretation of Scripture while calling for respecting diversity. His funniest line in light of the other speakers was stay out of politics. If Gore is successful in his creation campaign it will be political. Marian Edleman is always political. The highlighted speakers come from political backgrounds.

Conclusion: When you are for something you are automatically against its antithesis. Baptists have never wanted to keep themselves out of politics. Leland would strongly object. Without the Baptist of the early colonies, we might not even have Bill of Rights. We just don’t want the government running the church. Baptists are not showing disrespect for diversity when they politically propose a moral agenda that departs from Grisham’s agenda.

We do know what the leaders of this meeting are against, at least from the press reports.
1. The war in Iraq
2. Tax Cuts
3. Literal and legalistic interpretations of Scripture.
4. Private Health Care
5. Poverty
6. Hungry Children
7. An overpopulated earth
8. Materialism
9. Consumerism


After the meeting, many went to a nice restaurant and ate an expensive meal, flew home on airplane emitting carbons, some drove BMW’s, Cadillac’s, Hummers, Lincoln’s, a few from Texas drove pickups, slept in expensive motel rooms just a few blocks from some homeless hungry on the street, and felt good about the call to save the environment and reduce poverty. I am amused and confused.

SBTC Convention 2007 Session 1

Juan Castro from Longview addressed the SBTC annual convention in the first theme interpretation Monday evening in the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, Texas. Juan brought a great challenge and his presence broke many stereotypes many Texas Baptist hold concerning Hispanic immigrants. Juan came to America from Honduras. He holds a graduate degree in economics and came to USA soil to work in the banking industry. After a time in the states he accepted a position at East Texas Baptist University teaching in the School of Business. Currently he teaches business courses at LeTourneau University in Longview. About three years ago Juan started a Hispanic congregation as a mission of Oakland Heights Baptist Church. In these three years the Lord has broken his heart for the Hispanic population among us.

Many times Hispanic immigrants are often stereotyped as poorly educated and granted some have not had the opportunity for an education. Juan holds a doctorate degree. Most Texans stereotype Hispanics as from Mexico, Juan is from Honduras and reminds us that immigrants are coming from all over Latin America. I thank God that He brought Juan to the states to influence our young adults in higher education and reach out to other immigrants with the Gospel. May his tribe increase!

2007 Bible Conference

In keeping with a commitment to Scripture, the SBTC Bible Conference preceding the annual convention was an uplifting time of solid biblical preaching. We were taught from the Word, we were challenged from the Word, and we were encouraged from the Word. Don Willis and committee brought a great conference together and we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

There is so much to take away from the conference biblically that I don’t have time this morning that I am short of time to do justice to each speaker. Two actions were taken by those present that are well worthy of note here. First, the attendees agreed to use the name Bible conference rather than pastor’s conference again next year and perhaps bring a motion next year to let that be a continuing name. This is a commitment that goes beyond pastors to include laity as well. This is a great move. The second was the election of Greg Matte, pastor of FBC Houston as the president of the conference for next year. Greg is a young enthusiastic pastor and his election should result in more youthful communicators and a higher attendance by younger pastors. Again, a great move. I am marking my calendar now to attend the 2008 Bible Conference of the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention that precedes the annual convention meeting.

Bible Conference

Challenging Encouragement

First Baptist Church of Fort Worth served as the host church for the Bible Conference held by the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention as a prelude to the annual meeting. The combined choirs from Tarrant County churches set the tone for what appears to be an encouraging time of worship filled with great music and strong biblical preaching.

Dennis Baw brought the first theme interpretation from Isaiah 43 reminding us that God will be with us through the waters. Joe Lightener brought a powerful message from 2 Peter 3 pointing out that global warming will be God's way of ushering in the new heaven and new earth. To close out the evening Earnest Easley challenged us all to stroll around in the fire just as did the three Hebrew children in the days of Daniel.

It was especially good to fellowship with ministry friends and evangelists we have had the privilege of serving along side over the years. The fellowship and spirit among the pastors attending brings great encouragement to fellow travelers.

The Bible Conference continues tomorrow with the business session beginning in the evening.

Biblical Insipiration

Prior to the gavel falling to begin the annual business meeting of the BGCT, many were attending workshops led by various convention leaders and seminary professors. One was led by Dr. Dan Stiver who teaches theology at the Logsdon School of Theology on the campus of Hardin Simmons Baptist University in Abilene, Texas. While reading the comment section of another blog yesterday, I saw where someone commented that Dr. Stiver was teaching open theism. Below you will find a paragraph from his soon to be released book that may have fueled the accusation.

A third issue is then to understand the historical development that takes place through the Old Testament and into the New Testament. A basically Christian understanding is that the fullness of God's revelation is in Jesus Christ. It implies that previous to Christ there was not the fullness of that revelation. While some would come to the Bible as a “flat Bible,” this is a very ahistorical and unincarnational way to approach the Bible. If we think in terms of what is called "progressive revelation," then we can understand that God is being revealed to people throughout the Old Testament in ways compatible with their ability to understand. John Calvin spoke of this as God “accommodating” the limitations of their understanding.10 At best, he thought, God speaks baby talk to us because of our limitations. We should always be aware, therefore, that revelation does not mean utter and thorough explanation, but it is accommodated to particular places and cultures and languages and translations and concepts. What this looks like is that there were places where there was dramatic understanding, and there were places where they pretty clearly did not understand the way God is later understood in light of the revelation in Jesus Christ. For example, polygamy seemed to be understood by many in the Old Testament as consistent with God's will. Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount that the understanding of divorce in the Old Testament was not really God's intention. Genocide, under the name of holy war, was understood to be consistent with the will of God in some of the Old Testament, which is difficult to reconcile with the perspective of Jesus in the New Testament. Unless we have some idea of God changing in God's basic character, which is almost universally considered unorthodox among Christian theologians, then it is difficult to think that what happened was that God changed; rather, what it looks like is that the understanding of God changed and developed over the course of time. This is the meaning then of progressive revelation. While this approach enables us to avoid seeming contradictions in the Bible and to make some aspects of interpretation quite a bit easier, it does represent a challenge. It puts a burden upon the believing interpreter to discern in light of the whole canon what is consistent with the nature of God and the purposes of God in places where it is not clear. For example, in the Old Testament, we have the commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5) and also “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18) It is fairly easy to see these as revelatory of God in the full and universal sense. It is much more difficult to see holy war, the practice of polygamy, or God hardening someone's heart (as with Pharaoh, Ex. 10:1) as consistent with the understanding of God conveyed in Jesus Christ. Another case is Psalm 137, where the prayer is that God will dash the enemy's children against the rocks. (vs. 9) In the context, there is no hint that there is anything wrong with any of this sentiment, and one can imagine someone taking from the Psalm that this is the kind of attitude that we are supposed to have. It is only in light of the wider message of the whole Bible that we would have a more critical perspective.

The article can be found in its entirety at the following link. http://www.bgct.org/texasbaptists/Document.Doc?&id=4408.

Others have mentioned this seminar in their blogs or comments.

See, Aaron on SBC Outpost as a comment on the story of the BGCT electing a female president.

See this note at Waves of Truth under his blog BGCT thoughts and concerns.

http://tree4lifetx.blogspot.com/

Is this a conservative approach, a moderate approach, or a neo liberal approach?

McBride and the Bull

How about that 90 point ride by Justin McBride to place third in the 4th round of the PBR finals? Justin leads in the point standings but had gone 0-3 in the first three rounds. Marchi and Mauney were closing in on his point lead. Tonight, they buck off and Justin places third in the round. Never count a champion out. Round 5 begins at 9:00 PM Eastern time and will be broadcast on VS. If McBride draws the bulls well he continues to be the favorite to win the world title.