A thread for those processing #sbc24

The issue about staying in the SBC is this: you’re committing to another 5-10 years of fighting and probably longer. What churches have to decide is if the mental energy, time, and financial investment is worth it. Will you make more kingdom impact in the next decade giving money and time and focus fighting the machine or perhaps elsewhere? Some have been conditioned to believe only the SBC churches can do better together.

This is patently false. And Biblically false.

Last night our church voted to stop giving to SBC's Cooperative Program. We are a theologically conservative rural SBC church in a politically conservative area of Arkansas. Our CP $ won't really be missed. Last year we gave $7,495 to CP. Not a lot in grand scheme of things. BUT: We reached a point where we felt we could not entrust the Lord's money with the leadership of the SBC. Entity leaders, trustee heads, presidents, institution leaders, etc have sought to move our convention toward egalitarianism, wokism, worldliness, etc

This Sunday is week 81 in our series through the book of Ephesians and we will be covering Eph. 4:25-27. Here is where we have been the previous 80 weeks. Not saying everyone should be doing it this way!

Here we go: 1.Losing All, Gaining Everything: The Apostle Paul (1:1)
2.How the Gospel Impacts a City (1:1)
3.Saints in Christ and at Ephesus (1:1)
4.Matchless Grace, Marvelous Peace (1:2)
5.Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow (1:3)

Yesterday I listened to a bit of @docanddevo talk about Pastor Gabe being banned from Twitter. I was really disappointed in @joethorn & @jfowler63. 1st, they dismissed Gabe saying “the death penalty” was him saying ppl needed to be executed. 2nd, they explored zero biblical texts 3. They accused him of being a theonomist. 4. Joe said “let’s be nuanced.”And that this was a poorly worded tweet (again without looking at any of the verses Gabe posted with the original tweet).

I believe the whole Bible. I believe in a literal 6 24-hr-day creation. That all the Bible from Genesis - Revelation is the inerrant, infallible, Word of God. That sin deserves death but that Christ died and rose again to give life tho those who repent and trust Him. I believe the Bible is sufficient to teach us how to live the Christian life. How to order Christ’s Church. How to reach the nations. How to do evangelism.

Those who stand steadfastly on the historic principles of the Christian faith will eventually be called extremists by the ones blown about by the winds of cultural change. They are going to say you should have toned it down. While they were doing varying sorts of idolatrous and sensual practices in the name of evangelicalism, you should have just been quiet about it.

There is an unprecedented crisis in America when it comes to pastors of conservative evangelical churches.

I am referring to churches that affirm, on paper, the inerrancy & authority of the Bible.

I will break this down into 5 categories: 1. Converted men pastoring who are not gifted to pastor

B/c of crisis of Christian manhood there are some men pastoring churches that are not gifted to preach. Good men. Godly men. But not Elders in terms of ability to teach.

This is the least of our issues IMO.

1/8

In this thread I’m going to respond to @BruceFrank1’s response to Mark Coppenger at #sbc22. To see the exchange start at around 54:53 in this video: 2/8

First, Mark makes the point that this report is like the 1619 project in the sense that it’s saying the whole SBC is stained. Bruce says 400 is just 3% of total and that’s just tip of the iceberg.

But 400 is 3% of 13,333.33. Let’s round that up to 15,000. And:

.@SEBTS requires students to sign this covenant which in part helps to keep unqualified men from graduating with a pastoral ministry degree from the institution. Good! It is a waste of time and CP$ to train unqualified ppl for the pastorate or to be missionaries, etc. So, while @DannyAkin is right here in that “we do not endorse anyone to ministry” that’s not the whole story. Seminaries rightly seek to guard the gate so to speak as evidenced in the student handbook.

1/

I don't have the motivation to write a post on this. So you'll have to settle with a thread. #sbc22 #sbc23

Today, @AdamGreenway posted with @BaptistPress on drawing the proper balance b/t cooperation and doctrinal commitments. baptistpress.com/resource-libra… I understand the argument and overall it's not like the thesis in and of itself is terrible. We would expect a seminary president to argue well. And at end of the day, we certainly will not agree on *everything*.

However, I have two main issues with the article:

Today is my 36th birthday. Given we are waking up in Anaheim, CA on eve of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, a crucial meeting for southern baptists, I thought I'd write a 🧵 a/b how my birthday has put @tomascol’s faithfulness as a pastor into perspective…

1/14 You see, in June 1986, in His providence, the Lord was coordinating two events that are quite important to me! One was my own healthy delivery in Killeen, TX. The other i wouldn’t know until a couple decades later: Tom Ascol becoming pastor at Grace Baptist in Cape Coral, FL.

As a pastor of a normative size SBC congregation, I can assure you that what those in the pew want more than anything else when it comes to the SBC is trust. They want to be able to trust that the money they give is being stewarded well according to conservative theology. They want to trust Lifeway and NAMB and the IMB and our 6 seminaries. They want to be able to trust that the churches we plant and the missionaries we send and the partnerships we have and the curriculum we us is all actually conservative in theology AND practice.

A🧵 for clarity:

When I say “liberal drift” I mean setting a course in a direction (intentional or not) that ends up denying the authority & inerrancy of the Scriptures altogether. Anytime we abandon the sufficiency of the scriptures we move that way, intentional or not. So, one says “well its okay to be on different sides about whether or not SSA is a sin.”

But if one denies the sinfulness of SSA, they are denying the Scriptures sufficiency to speak to the issue. And they are (intentional or not) moving in the direction of outright liberalism.

Last night our little Ella came up to me and said she has been converted to Christ after reading a short fictional book on John Bunyan's blind daughter, Mary. Ella can answer all the typical salvation questions correctly (which any child in a Christian home ought to be able to do). We do hold out great hope that she has been born again! At the same time, since she is still so young (10), it is prudent for us

Was the coming of Jesus into the world good? Absolutely.

Yet, there also was tremendous tragedy accompanying his arrival. Herod murdered children under 2 in Bethlehem trying to kill Jesus (Matt. 2:16).

Commentator Daniel Doriani notes, “Bethlehem and its environs had a modest population, so that perhaps no more than twenty boys were slain. Still, it was a great tragedy for those families and that town.”

In one sense it’s *because* Jesus entered the world that led to the murder of these children.

I appreciate Dr. Merritt stepping down from SEBTS. He should. I also appreciate Dr. Akin honoring that request to resign. A gracious departure is okay.

But, a big BUT, what’s not okay is the silence over *the* issue at hand.

Reminds me of: When @BethMooreLPM left SBC. She *should have* left SBC as she wasn’t southern baptist for a long time. And we didn’t need blog posts lamenting her departure. She left because she wasn’t southern Baptist. And it’s sad that wasn’t addressed by many in leadership positions.

BUT:

Like 10’s of thousands of the rural southern Baptist pastors, I missed a couple days in the study this week because of Thanksgiving. On top of that, I’m sure like thousands of others, I had pastoral visits, hospital visits, and a Saturday funeral to preach.

Why mention this? I mention this not to brag nor to complain but to simply say, no matter what the week may bring, we dare not “subcontract” our great privilege and duty of preaching God’s Word to our people on this coming Lord’s Day. No sermon team. No copying others’ work.

Instead,

I’ve seen some states, including Arkansas, posting open letters to the @SBCExecComm urging them to waive attorney client privilege. I have a few thoughts about this: First, it seems to me that the SBC is unequivocally on the same page about standing against sexual abuse. Let’s put that out there. I don’t know of a single Southern baptist that isn’t against abuse.

Ok. I just finished the @EdLitton interview from @SBCthisWeek. The following are some initial thoughts. I don't feel like writing a blog today, so you'll have to deal with a twitter thread.

Here we go: 1. @Jonathan_Howe had an opportunity on behalf of southern Baptists to ask gracious and yet forthright and pointed questions to Pastor Ed. What about the horse joke, driver's ed, Augustine comment - what about these minute details here? How did that play into the "research"?

I am thankful for people thinking through these issues. What @howertonjosh does not address is:

1. Litton is not a church planter. He’s a mega church pastor. His most important tasks are prayer and ministry of the Word. What’s he doing with all his time?

https://twitter.com/dandarling/status/1410310960007557120

2. This isn’t Litton borrowing a bullet for his gun. It’s him showing JD’s shooting range target score as if he’s the one that shot it.

3. This didn’t happen one time. There are 4 documented cases.

4. This isn’t borrowing thoughts or ideas but repeated verbatim verbiage.

Regeneration is a total change. It’s not a change into perfection of course. But it frees our will, changes our heart, gives us a new nature,
new affections, new desires. WE ARE MADE ALIVE!!! (Eph 2:5) Before regeneration we are the walking dead. Loving sin. Haters of God. Loving our own self. We think the world revolves around us. We are slaves to our passions. We follow Satan. We chase after the world.

BUT GOD.