SBCOutpost

As I continue writing and rewriting a book that I have tentatively entitled “The Red Bishop,” I have run across volumes of correspondence, articles, and personal memoirs that have helped me piece together a metanarrative of fundamentalist zeal gone awry.  I have watched with interest as SNAP and others have called for Paige Patterson’s termination.

One year ago next month I barnstormed the State of Texas conducting interviews with various Baptist leaders from recent decades.  I talked with fundamentalists and liberals, conservatives and moderates, the loyal and the disaffected.  At some point in every interview, the conversation steered toward Paige Patterson.

One particular interview occurred on March 28, 2007.  Here is an excerpt from that interview:

“Dr. Criswell had one meeting at First Dallas with all the leading voices in the controversy:  Charles Stanley and Adrian and Paige and Cecil Sherman and different people.  And interesting moment, though.  Criswell was saying that he would lead and say, “What can I do?  My convention is tearing apart.  What can I do to save it?”

One of those crazy moments I said, “Well, one thing you could do would be to fire that man right there, Paige Patterson.  He’s leading this assault on the convention.”

So Criswell kind of bristled a little, and Paige immediately said, “He can’t fire me.  I have my own board and I’m an employee of the board.”

At that time, he claimed to be an associate pastor and the college president.

“And so I’m not under his authority.  I’m under the authority of my board,” Paige said.

I was just looking at him like, “I could dismiss you in a moment.”

Afterward Criswell told me that he really couldn’t fire Paige.  He said he controls too much and it would disrupt the church . . .

After that there were a couple of attempts to fire Paige.  In fact, some of his deacons kept saying they were going to get rid of Paige Patterson and wanted recommendations that we could give . . . people to take his place.  But Criswell backed away from that for some reason or another; and I found it ironic that after he had talked to me about the need to fire Paige, that not too many weeks after that here was Criswell and Paige in a color photograph in the Dallas News as best friends, you know.”

SBCOutpost.com has just learned that Defendant Paige Patterson refused to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” at the beginning of his deposition Monday.  Conveniently, Southwestern Seminary’s president has determined that the New Testament forbids the taking of oaths.  Of course, we are curious if this encompasses all oaths (Boy Scout, Hippocratic, Presidential, etc.), or if it only applies to the kinds of oaths where your testimony could suffer impeachment at trial?

For further reading, refer to page 100 of Joel Gregory’s page-turning tome, “Too Great a Temptation.” An excerpt:

“When it comes to politics, Paige Patterson makes LBJ look like a candy striper.  I could always trust Paige to tell me the truth, but never all of it.”

Many of you are aware that SWBTS has a website of theological and historical resources available for instructing the church along with other SBC entities in Baptist principles and thought. If you need to know how to write a book review, what Malcolm Yarnell thinks of the LifeWay study on Private Prayer Language, why Bart Barber believes you should support the Southern Baptist trustee system, what Dorothy Kelley Patterson thinks about women pastors, or a number of other subjects, there are white papers for one and all.

There you can also access the Southwestern Journal of Theology and various historical resources. One such resource is a paper entitled Seven Guidelines for Church Planting Which Reflect Baptist Ecclesiology, Submitted for consideration by the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board from the Theological Studies Division, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is a brief two pages and proclaims itself to “detail the historical interpretation of Scripture by Baptists as embodied in articles 6, 7, and 8 of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.”

There are seven guidelines mentioned all of which are of importance in church planting both here in the states and overseas. I think it is safe to assume that following these guidelines would lead to a “true” church plant - a church reflecting all that is necessary to be considered a good Southern Baptist church filled with members who would generally be qualified for service in various capacities within the Southern Baptist Convention. However, this document guarantees no such thing.

Of particular note is point number five related to baptism. Certainly this point does, in fact, agree wholeheartedly with the Baptist Faith and Message. However, both are silent on the requirement that the administrator of a person’s baptism must believe in “eternal security” or that the candidate themselves believe such a thing, for the baptism to be “valid.” It appears that our NAMB and IMB church plants could follow the Baptist Faith and Message along with these guidelines developed by the best theologians from SWBTS and yet produce members who may well be unqualified to become missionaries sent by our own missions sending agencies.

Curiously this paper is also lacking a statement preventing a church from having members who believe, teach and/or practice a Private Prayer Language.

Further, there is a white paper at baptisttheology.org written by Dr. Thomas White entitled, What Makes Baptism Valid? In the section on The Meaning of Baptism there is no mention that a belief in eternal security is required for the baptism to be valid. Dr. White does state that, “The proper meaning is essential to proper baptism. Does the recipient have to understand everything in theology? No. However, the subject must understand that baptism is not salvific, grants no additional grace, and does not insure sinlessness. Because the subject must understand, the subject cannot be an infant. The subject should also accept that baptism is the public profession of faith, identification with Christ, and the door to the local church.” All that, but no requirement that the subject believe in eternal security? How strange. [Even more strange is his contention that it is “unwise” for baptisms to occur in a seminary. Perhaps he has not spoken with his President.]

Dr. White also discusses the proper administrator of baptism. In this section he twice states that the administrator does not determine the validity of the baptism. In fact, he argues that to say otherwise is to fall into the error of Donatism. Nevertheless, care should be taken in who administers baptism, but apparently not so much care that it is necessary to explicitly require that the person baptizing, nor the church sanctioning the baptism, believe in eternal security. This seems to be a rather odd omission in light of the policies guidelines now in force at the IMB. Apparently the quality of the theologians at SWBTS falls short of the quality of the theologians on the IMB board and at Mid America seminary.

So a Southern Baptist missionary/church planter could follow to the letter the practice outlined in the guidelines and white papers produced at SWBTS and still produce members who are not good enough for service with NAMB and/or the IMB. Are these guidelines lacking certain necessary provisions, or could it be that our mission sending agencies have made essential what our own theologians have not declared essential?

Last night curiosity struck and I decided to check out what those ever-loyal Joshua Convergers were up to. Much to my dismay, the Joshua Convergence is not maintaining an active website any longer, and it appears that they have closed up shop altogether.

Well, SBCOutpost.com is not so willing to let our younger leaders foil die the death of neglect. So in honor of those faithful convergers who descended on Orlando some eighteen months ago to reignite a Holy Ghost revival and rally the teeming masses of resurgent children to the aid of their faltering fathers, I am proud to repost the extant video clips from that momentous and prophetic meeting.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. this morning, in the conference room of a Fort Worth attorney’s office, Defendant Paige Patterson will undergo six hours of questions about his efforts to “bring Southwestern Seminary in line with the beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention” as they relate to women’s roles.

In related news, audio recordings and transcripts have surfaced from a conference in 2000, wherein Defendant Patterson explains the counsel he gives to battered women. To hear Defendant Patterson discuss the proper way for women to receiving beatings, click here.

An excerpt from the transcript follows:

I had a woman who was in a church that I served, and she was being subject to some abuse, and I told her, I said, “All right, what I want you to do is, every evening I want you to get down by your bed just as he goes to sleep, get down by the bed, and when you think he’s just about asleep, you just pray and ask God to intervene, not out loud, quietly,” but I said, “You just pray there.” And I said, “Get ready because he may get a little more violent, you know, when he discovers this.” And sure enough, he did. She came to church one morning with both eyes black. And she was angry at me and at God and the world, for that matter. And she said, “I hope you’re happy.” And I said, “Yes ma’am, I am.” And I said, “I’m sorry about that, but I’m very happy.”

And what she didn’t know when we sat down in church that morning was that her husband had come in and was standing at the back, first time he ever came. And when I gave the invitation that morning, he was the first one down to the front. And his heart was broken, he said, “My wife’s praying for me, and I can’t believe what I did to her.” And he said, “Do you think God can forgive somebody like me?” And he’s a great husband today. And it all came about because she sought God on a regular basis. And remember, when nobody else can help, God can.

And in the meantime, you have to do what you can at home to be submissive in every way that you can and to elevate him. Obviously, if he’s doing that kind of thing he’s got some very deep spiritual problems in his life and you have to pray that God brings into the intersection of his life those people and those events that need to come into his life to arrest him and bring him to his knees.

Once conservatives gained the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, they began using resolutions from the convention to express more conservative views on a variety of topics. Having opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, conservative leaders were intentional in their efforts to identify what, exactly, Southern Baptists believed about women — particularly about those with careers outside the home.

In 1983, the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, the resolutions committee appointed by Jimmy Draper brought forth a resolution on women. It reads:

WHEREAS, The Bible teaches that men and women share in the dignity of creation, both being made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27); and

WHEREAS, Our Lord Jesus Christ by his attitude and actions affirmed the worth and dignity of women; and

WHEREAS, The Apostle Paul set forth in Galatians 3:28 the principle of spiritual equality before God, declaring that in the grace of God “there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”; and

WHEREAS, Southern Baptist women have been and continue to be active, vitally involved, contributing members of the churches and of this Convention.

Therefore, be it RESOLVED, That we, the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention assembled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 14-16, 1983, express gratitude to God for the contributions made by Southern Baptist women in service to home, society, the missions enterprise, and the cause of Christ in general; and that we affirm those women who labor for the Lord and the churches in places of special service to which God has called them; and

Be it further RESOLVED, That for women who serve the Lord as homemakers, we affirm their special calling, honor them for their unique contributions to church and society, and support their right to financial security; and

Be it further RESOLVED, That for women who work outside the home, we urge all employers, including those Southern Baptist churches, institutions, and agencies which employ women, to seek fairness for women in compensation, benefits, and opportunities for advancement; and

Be it finally RESOLVED, That we encourage all Southern Baptists to continue to explore further opportunities of service for Baptist women, to ensure maximum utilization of all God-called servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the early days of the SBC Young Leader Initiative a person might be reading the comment thread over at Steve McCoy’s site and discover the handle, “iMonk.” Michael Spencer is internetmonk. On his site you may find this piece about Micheal, a 1984 graduate of Southern Seminary,

Internet Monk is the personal web space of missional communicator Michael Spencer. Michael is a missional thinker, communicator and writer living in southeastern Kentucky. “I am deconstructing and moving past my evangelicalism; rediscovering what it means to be vitally connected to Jesus. That process is always worth sharing.”

On Sabbatical retreat iMonk visited his alma mater. His reflections were recorded in a February 23rd post titled, The Empty Shelf in the Southern Baptist Bookstore. This post is offered here with permission. I am grateful.

The Empty Shelf in the Southern Baptist Bookstore

February 23rd, 2008 by Michael Spencer

I’m very interested in what current SBTS and other SBC seminary students have to say about your future in the SBC. Will you stay if Calvinism becomes a divisive, “lose your job” issue in the SBC? Would you prefer a Driscoll, Piper or Mahaney Network (T4G) to the current SBC?

CLARIFICATION: I’m a post-evangelical, and that applies to the SBC. But some of what I want to keep is stuff my tradition has in its attic! To be post-evangelical differs from being emerging in the sense that I want to keep my Baptist polity, historical (not current) view of the sacraments, cooperative missions vision and emphasis on missions.

Don’t stand too close to me in public. I’m going to blog your conversation. Yes, I’m that kind of writer.

After the Louisville Institute sabbatical orientation, I stopped at a few bookstores, including the large Lifeway Bookstore on the campus of my alma mater (’84), The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I’ve been visiting the SBTS bookstore since the late 1970’s. I’ve watched it change through the years as SBTS and evangelicals themselves have changed. Today’s Southern Seminary Bookstore is a cornucopia of Calvinism, reflecting a seminary that is leading the Calvinistic resurgence in the SBC. If you are a lifelong Southern Baptist who would have ever found it difficult to believe that pastors in your convention would buy bobbleheads of Martin Luther, busts of John Calvin or framed prints of various infant-baptizing, state-church sponsoring reformers, I have news for you: It’s big business. There may be a head of Lottie Moon in there somewhere, but the business of little statues and pictures is almost entirely a presentation of Luther, Calvin and the Puritan-influenced reformers. (Apologies to your Roman Catholic friends can be sent directly to the IM post office.)

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a catholic Christian and I benefit from the gifting of the Holy Spirit to the church as a whole. But I was brought up in Landmark Baptist dispensational fundamentalism, and part of me is still a little rattled to see just how far the Calvinist resurgence has come in the SBC. I applaud its good fruit and pray for more, especially in the health and theology of churches. God bless The Founders, 9 Marks and their work. I also have many questions and concerns about what will happen in the SBC in the immediate future as thousands of Calvinist students make their way into a very evangelical, revivalistic, Arminian-leaning denomination.

Back to my evesdropping. I was standing at the “New Releases/Popular Authors” section. “Popular authors” these days include SBC Calvinists like Mark Dever and Al Mohler, alongside non-SBCers such as John Piper, John Macarthur and C.J. Mahaney.

Regular, Nashville published, fully Cooperative, SBC saved, trained and ordained authors? Not many. In fact, there were very, very few. A relatively empty shelf of significant influences and books, so to speak.

The subjects of my evedropping efforts were two students discussing Redeemer Presbyterian pastor Tim Keller’s new apologetics book. Keller, the rising star of the PCA and of conservative evangelicalism in general, has written the kind of book Southern Baptists have largely failed to write or promote in the last fifty years. Apologetics is just one area where the shelf of Southern Baptists is largely empty.

I don’t doubt that some Southern Baptist writers have written apologetic materials in the past, but for whatever reason, these materials passed quickly into oblivion, exerting little influence over the denomination that produced them. They are just one category of writing, thinking, teaching and publishing that find Southern Baptists largely awol. Aside from books on church growth, evangelism and the “popular” level of devotional literature, Southern Baptists have shown little interest in making major contributions to the evangelical conversation, including areas that it would seem SBCers would have taken up their pens and addressed.

Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of years ago as I would travel around the Baptist blogopshere I regularly ran across the comments of a guy that always seemed to say what I was thinking.  I met Alan Cross in Greensboro a couple of years ago and then was privileged to spend some time with him in Arlington, Texas for a couple of days and we got to hang out in San Antonio as well.  Alan is the real deal and many of you already know that.

Alan’s son Caelan has battled cancer for most of his very young life.  The last reports we’d gotten were all very encouraging - the cancer was believed to be gone.  It may be back.  You can read the details here.

Whether you think Paige Patterson is the embodiment of all that is wrong with the SBC or all that is right in the SBC, whether you think Frank Cox would be a wonderful president or whether you have your reservations, whether you live and breathe convention politics or hope the whole thing implodes, spend a few moments putting all of that in the context of the life of a two-and-a-half year old battling cancer and pray.  Pray for Caelan.  Pray for Alan.  Pray for his wife Erika.  Pray for their kids and their parents.  Pray with their church and pray with their friends.

May God grant Caelan life and health in the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

US District Judge John McBryde has denied Klouda’s motion for leave to amend her original petition.  Recognizing that “while leave to file amended pleadings should be freely given where justice requires, the court does not consider that there has been a showing by plaintiff that” would necessitate an amended pleading.

The Court’s ruling does not prohibit Klouda’s attorneys from deposing Defendant Patterson about his former actions and statements regarding women.  So far, the trial continues . . .

Court Order on Klouda’s Motion for Leave to File Amended Petition

Because SBCOutpost.com is often credited with having a deep-seated loathing for all things Southwestern, I have decided to put my creative genius to good work and develop an aggressive ad campaign to help our Fort Worth seminary in its climb toward record enrollment.
Here is the first installment. Not sure we’re there yet, but I’ll keep working.