SBCOutpost

Recently Nathan Finn wrote a fine piece alerting the SBC to the realities of the Internet. In an even handed manner Finn noted the mediums used to chart a new course in the SBC by those who used, “computer mailing lists” and the like. Some recall “Town Hall” styled meetings and “Whistle Stop” tours rallying troops to stand with the assertive new leaders to stem the tide of liberalism, rescue the denomination and ensure the authority of the Scriptures. Enter Al Gore’s “Internet” and look out. Conference calls and snail mail fliers cannot compete with the speed of a DSL connection, a chat program and yes, one’s own website.

These developments give anyone, including me, an occasion to opine about something, anything. Occasionally good questions will be asked and, though not often enough, healthy conversation ensues.

Yesterday while listening to KOSU, Sooner fans don’t excoriate me, an opinion piece was aired drawing attention to the influence of the postmodern mood on our culture. The speaker considers the incessant, and petulant, chasing after conspiracy theories to be something of an expression of the loss of truth to “my truth.” Critiques in our quarters, Southern Baptist that is, regarding postmodern philosophy and its influential mood often point up the loss of meaning for a given text. Or, to put it another way, rather than let the text speak we seem to practice the literary theory to have emerged from or within the postmodern shift, namely “Reader-Response Theory.”

The assumed meaning of the text shifted from what the author may have intended to the reader’s interpretive framework - preconceptions, psychological proclivities and long-held biases. Many who read here at the Outpost, and many who say they don’t but do, want very much to rest in the perspicuity of Scripture - that is, there is a plain meaning of the text. Authorial intent and its form hold what is needed. Yet, since words are on the screen you our faithful readers and detractors will decide for yourselves what is said and what is intended. It is always a risk someone will “mis-read” or “mis-interpret” what is being typed.

I recently wrote a piece here describing my thoughts on recent Lifeway research. One interlocutor determined I lay claim to “Kreskin” like skills and wrote a piece asserting I knew the hidden motive of another thereby questioning my motives. Imagine my shock and amazement, not to mention un-mitiaged belief, that same writer who finds the Outpost a great source of material, writes a response to the recent Rodney Hammer letter released by The Biblical Recorder snooping as it were among the paragraphs and sentences for a conspiracy to expose. That’s right, Rodney Hammer looks to bring down the IMB by making his opinion public and asserting the need to re-think policy. Having sought to express himself to the point of reprimand, he wrote to me, to us, to say “I am concerned.” If the best someone can do is come along and look for a conspiracy in accountability then said person has way too much time on their hands. Furthermore, if this is the best kind of defense, we in Okie land call it “mis-direction” recalling the bygone days of the amazing “Wishbone” era of Sooner Football, critics and the like have to offer then “Nashville, we have a problem.”

Let me make my motives clear. I hold no animosity for another who seems given to twist the obvious. I simply believe that when a man stands on his convictions and is willing to take the heat in the public square then we must listen to his words and not to the ruminations or imaginations of another. Yes, yes, dear reader you will comb the archives being sure to note every instance where we here at the Outpost may have done the same. So before you do it, “Shame on us.” If we have attributed motives to another without proper verification we stand under your scrutinizing eye. But, if we have knowledge of another’s motive and for whatever reason determine not to share it - yes, I am invoking the reality of anonymity here - you will have to take extra Rolaids at what will appear to you a contradiction.

My hope, read “motive,” is that we could really engage in honest, healthy conversation. Calling someone’s motive into question, assuming we know the strength of another’s “ecclesiology” based solely on a comment in a post thread, or ramping up our rhetoric charging ecumenism or the loss of inerrancy to hijack an otherwise honest attempt at dialog is in view. No hidden agenda here. No attempt to subvert what it means to be a Baptist.

Oh, and while I am at it, there is little credibility in slamming Ben Cole, or referring to him in dark terms. Your cries and laments fall helplessly on deaf ears when you claim to want to engage in honest conversation. For our dear critics, like a good addict, you return driving site statistics with your curiosity as to who will slam Ben next or what “juicy” post will follow. Posts offering thoughtful ideas and interjections into the future of the SBC, denominations and the like to you are as boring and uneventful as watching paint dry. So, let’s, in the motive of this post, have an honest conversation. We like to read the tabloid stuff. Our leaders were masters of the invective. They could rally the troops with just the right euphemisms whether or not they accurately described the situation and or person or not.

So, the motive of this post - call attention to Rodney Hammer’s words. Read them understanding his concerns only serve as a tip of the proverbial iceberg. Southwestern Alums recently received their fund-raising letters asking for contributions to keep the lights on. Is it increasing or decreasing enrollment? We here at the Outpost often receive communiques from the mission field noting a lack of resources for “evangelism” and matters they are not to speak of but are certainly causing a great deal of discomfit and interruption in service. Let’s not spin this one. No amount of posturing is going to solve our dilemmas. Open and honest conversation will be the way forward.

I hope I have illustrated that. With that, I point you to Hammer’s letter.

The Biblical Recorder posted the full letter from Rodney Hammer which had been leaked in “bits” around the Internet according to the Recorder. We direct your attention to the letter with no commentary on the content.

[UPDATE]: The Outpost is saddened to learn the wreckage and bodies have been found.

TAMPA - Searchers found the wreckage of the Rev. Forrest Pollock’s plane and the bodies of the popular pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church and his 13-year old son, Preston, about 20 miles southwest of Asheville, N.C.

The plane was in rugged terrain more than two hours on foot from the nearest access point.

The Rev. George Thomasson, associate pastor of Bell Shoals, stood inside the sanctuary where Pollock normally delivered sermons and, fighting tears, told about 100 staff and church members the grim news.

More information at Tampa Bay Online.

Additional update from Baptist Press:

Pollock was to have been a featured speaker at the Southern Baptist Convention’s June 10-11 annual meeting in Indianapolis. He also had been appointed to serve on the convention’s Committee on Committees.

In 2006, Pollock nominated Frank Page to serve as SBC president during the annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., and he was a member of the Resolutions Committee that year.

[/UPDATE]

Be in prayer for the family of Forrest Pollack, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida. He has gone missing while flying his own plane to a conference. From Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida:

Please be in earnest prayer for Pastor Forrest. On Sunday afternoon, Pastor Forrest left (flying his own plane) for North Carolina, a quick stop before going to a conference in Texas. He reached his destination in North Carolina; however, after leaving from there early Monday morning for Texas, we have learned that Pastor has not yet reached his destination at the time of this writing.

Everything humanly possibly is being done to locate Pastor’s whereabouts. We are, however, appealing to all of our church family to pray earnestly for God’s supernatural intervention. The new Worship Center is open for prayer and will remain so until further notice.

Updates are being provided at the church’s website.

Here are the most recent updates:

5/13/08 7:05 AM Posting
Two additional aircraft have joined the search this morning. Ground teams are being replenished as the search continues. Crews are working on refining the search area based on the radar track. A second command post has been opened closer to the search area. Clear weather is expected as they continue to search.

5/13/08 12:35 AM Posting
A search plane is currently in the air nearing the area of the emergency signal. Weather had prohibited earlier air search attempts. Fourteen crews will be on the ground throughout the night attempting to locate the signal source.
Dawn Pollock is doing well given the circumstances. Please continue to pray for God’s intervention for Pastor and Preston and for Dawn and the children as they await further news.

5/12/08 11:35 PM Posting

Multiple ground search teams are currently investigating an emergency transmitter signal about 30 miles from the Rutherfordton, NC airport where Pastor Pollock departed at around 4:10 AM this morning. The signal was first picked-up around 11:00 AM this morning. The initial timing of his departure and the reception of the signal did not lead authorities to believe it was the pastor’s plane. It is possible, however, that the mountainous terrain could have impeded the emergency signal. Air search crews will begin searching at first light.

Jonathan Merritt has compiled an impressive list of signatories to launch a new effort among Southern Baptists to speak reasonably about the environment.  Go check out the declaration here.

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.

Elizabeth Ulrich with the Nashville Scene, an independent news magazine headquartered down the street from our own Southern Baptist Convention offices, has hit the presses with a feature story entitled What Would Jesus Say?

In her lengthy treatment of sexual predators and the Southern Baptist Convention, Ulrich provides extensive coverage and analysis of the way SBC leaders are seeking to balance ecclesial autonomy and moral responsibility when it comes to protecting God’s children from victimization.

The story covers the sad saga of Debbie Vasquez, who was repeatedly molested by her pastor more than thirty years ago. The narrative is gripping and graphic. The consequence of our bureaucratic inability to stop this sort of thing is troubling. As with all news stories, we can presume a certain embellishment for readability and interest. Numerous SBC leaders figure prominently in the story, many of whom are surely as grieved as we at SBCOutpost are about this terrible tragedy.

Of particular interest to readers of SBCOutpost, however, will be the correspondence Debbie Vasquez had with Defendant Paige Patterson. When asked by Vasquez about his involvement in the Darrell Gilyard case, Defendant Patterson replied:

“Debbie, what more did you want me to do? Would you feel better if I shot [Darrell Gilyard]? I am not a detective, a judge, a jury, or an executioner.”

Read the whole story here.

Pastor Dwight McKissic was welcomed this past Wednesday to the program “Praise the Lord” on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. His appearance, archived here, has caused some consternation among the blogging brethren.

Therefore, Dwight McKissic has released a clarification and amplification of his remarks on TBN. We at SBCOutpost are pleased to reproduce those remarks here:

I’m disappointed that some bloggers have misrepresented what I said on TBN. Thank God that the video recording vindicates me and documents the fact that I in no wise advocated moving the SBC to “a open charismatic position”, unless you consider the positions of the late SWBTS professor Dr. Jack Gray, Dr. Jack McGorman, Dr. Ken Hemphill, Evangelist Billy Graham “to be an open charismatic position.” The position that I stated on tongues is the position I’ve always stated at SWBTS Chapel, KCBI Radio interviews and debate at the SBC in San Antonio, on my blog and elsewhere. Please don’t hold me accountable for what any other guest on TBN might have stated or how they prayed. I stand by what I said 100%. I said nothing that I have not already stated in numerous SBC venues. Unless one considers the results of the Lifeway poll which indicated that 50% of Southern Baptist Pastors who believe that a private prayer language is a legitimate gift of the Holy Spirit is inaccurate, then I was advocating a Baptist and biblical position, not an “open charismatic position.”

My “ just do it “ comment was in reference to praying in the Spirit, which I clearly expressed that I’m not convinced that all believers must pray in tongues in order to pray in the Spirit. Whether one defines praying in the Spirit as praying with words understood under the influence and control of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20), or praying with words not understood under the influence and control of the Spirit (I Cor. 14:2) or even without words under the influence and control of the Spirit which would include silence, meditation, groans, moans or sighs(Romans 8:26,27; John 11:33,38)—my answer to the host question regarding the necessity of all believers to pray in the Spirit was—“Just Do It”, meaning, praying in the Spirit based on any one of the three ways I defined it above. I believe when persons pray in English or their native tongue under the influence of the Holy Spirit they are praying in the Spirit. I do not believe that it is necessary to pray in tongues in order to pray in the Spirit and I made that clear. Unfortunately, some have chosen to misrepresent my viewpoint.

There was no attack by me or anyone else on the panel from my vantage point on Dr. Paige Patterson. Here again, I’ve been falsely accused. There was simply a restating of the facts—no attack. Certainly if you don’t consider Dr. Patterson’s press release stating that my chapel message was “harmful” to the churches was an attack on me, then I don’t understand why my referencing his public press release would be an attack on Dr. Patterson.
The only desire that myself and the panelist on TBN have for the SBC is that we experience a revival in America likened unto the 1^st and 2^nd great awakenings. I hope that bloggers would correct their posts or take them down—because they simply are not true. Finally, one of the problems with this subject matter is the fact that the SBC has no official position on praying in tongues in private. I believe it is high time that the SBC adopts an official position and that would settle the controversy in the SBC surrounding these issues.

I close with quotes from two men in the SBC that I value and respect dearly who addressed the issue of tongues long before the current IMB tongues controversy. However, I find their comments relevant today. Dr Billy Graham stated:
“Although there is honest disagreement among Christians about the validity of tongues today. I personally cannot find any biblical justification for saying the gift of tongues was meant exclusively for New Testament times … Indeed, tongues is a gift of the Spirit …

Today there are Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists, as well as Pentecostals, who speak or have spoken in tongues.” ( Billy Graham, The Holy Spirit (Dallas: Word, 1988), pp 226,234.
Dr. Jimmy Draper stated in The Church Christ Approves regarding tongues:
“Primarily a private gift.—The restrictions on the public use of this gift are such that the primary use has to be private. Paul said, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue” (I Cor. 14:18-19). He apparently spoke in tongues in private, but in public he preferred to speak his natural language.” (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1974) p. 57

Dr. Draper also stated in The Church Christ Approves:

“Only the sovereign Holy Spirit has a right to forbid or command in personal devotions!” (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1974) p. 55

As it relates to the issue of tongues in SBC life today, many who serve on our trustee boards and post or comment on blogs have taken on the role of in Draper’s words “a sovereign Holy Spirit.” How unfortunate for the SBC.

There are those who have been warning against the increasing spirit among us to narrowly define the terms of our cooperation as Southern Baptists. Critics cry “poppycock!” One example that has occasionally been given is the issue of Calvinism in the SBC. In case the example that Florida Baptists received anti-Calvinistic literature/media with John Sullivan’s blessings isn’t sufficient we now offer exhibit “b”. A letter has been drafted by the DOM of Oklahoma’s Arbuckle Association and sent to members of the SBC’s Executive Committee, the Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and the Board of Directors of the BGCO recommending that the topic of Calvinism not be considered a legitimate topic of debate or disagreement among faithful Southern Baptist, but that it be actively and publicly opposed.

Ah, the spirit of non-cooperation at work. If you are a Southern Baptist Calvinist it is once again time for you to duck.

[HT: The ever-ducking Tom Ascol]

The Arkansas Baptist Convention almost garnered the 2/3rds vote necessary to roll back the Landmarkist elements of their state constitution.

Read the story in Associated Baptist Press.

Trustee Rick Thompson (OK) published on Sunday a rather foreboding post on his blog, “The Road We Travel,” in which he questions the frequency of board meetings, the number of trustees, and the “crisis creators” who perennially commandeer the work of the International Mission Board away from its primary task. Thompson also called for “logical, good sense, steady-handed leadership,” to keep the board focused.

We at SBCOutpost bemoan the fact that trustees like Rick Thompson are in short supply at the IMB. With appreciation to the next victim of John Floyd’s blogger-vendetta, we reproduce Rick Thompson’s article in full, after the jump.

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