“The influence of confessions of faith has been largely dependent upon the use which has been made of them,” stated James E. Carter in his review of confessions of faith for the Baptist History and Heritage series. Three years after messengers overwhelmingly approved the 2000 revision to the Baptist Faith and Message, nearly two-thirds of state conventions have affirmed the revised doctrinal statement and all Southern Baptist entities are operating with those guidelines in mind.

The first two Southern Baptist doctrinal statements were written to deal with controversies arising out of the seminaries. The 1925 statement failed to satisfy the anti-evolution sentiment voiced by a strong segment of the Convention much like the 1963 statement failed to satisfy Southern Baptists concerned that many seminary professors were teaching outside the mainstream of Southern Baptist life.

1963 statement keeps profs under the radar

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Charles S. Kelley observed that in the days surrounding the 1963 statement professors and publishers were introducing a new perspective intentionally in a very subtle way to keep it under the radar of most Southern Baptists. In his convocation address in the fall of 2000, Kelley said, “Language was being given one meaning in many SBC classrooms, but a different meaning in the churches.”

He quoted from former Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Ralph Elliott’s reflection of the earliest years of controversy in a book titled The Genesis Controversy. Elliott wrote that “professors and students learned to couch their beliefs in acceptable terminology and in holy jargon so that although thinking one thing, the speaker calculated so as to cause the hearer to affirm something else.”

Kelley asked, “How could the advocates of the new theology affirm the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message statement which, quoting directly from the 1925 statement, said the Bible has ‘God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter?'”

He concluded, “Obviously something must have been added to this historic language in 1963 that opened the door for a dramatically different theology to enter Southern Baptist life. It became apparent over the years that rather than serving as the expected course correction for the inroads of neo-orthodox theology in SBC educational institutions, two phrases added to the Baptist Faith and Message in 1963 were instead used to justify a radical departure from what most Baptists had always believed about the Bible.”

Kelley cited the addition of the description of the Bible as being “the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man.” He said, “To professional theologians this is a classic statement of neo-orthodox theology.” He explained that the phrase on the Bible having “truth without any mixture of error for its matter” is interpreted as referring only to those portions of the Bible that are revelation, a dramatic departure from what 2 Tim. 3:16 teaches, he added.

“The problem this perspective creates is in how to know which parts of the Bible are revelation and which are merely the background record. Interestingly enough, not even neo-orthodox theologians could agree on what in the Bible is revelation and what is not.”

Kelley also cited the addition of the phrase “the criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ” as having provided “another neo-orthodox statement that would take Southern Baptists in a significantly different theological direction.” He explained that many “professional theologians” could affirm the statement but “use Jesus as the spotter for separating divine revelation in the Bible from the human record.”

“This new theology says my answer to the question ‘What would Jesus do?’ carries more weight than the clear teaching of the Bible. The Christ of my experience becomes the final authority for theology rather than the Bible.”

Midwestern missions professor Ron Rogers who also has taught theology as well as observing the influence of neo-orthodoxy while a Southern Baptist missionary to Brazil, asked, “Did the architects of the 1963 BF&M know what they were doing?that is, did they purposely insert the language about Christ being the ‘criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted’ to satisfy the so-called ‘ignorant’ critics and to ‘umbrella’ the seminary elite?

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President L. Paige Patterson who in 1999 formed a committee to propose a revised BF&M, seems to find that the case. “The 1963 Baptist Faith and Message contained ambiguous language which was readily seized by neo-orthodox theologians and employed as loopholes to dismiss biblical materials which they believed to be intellectually unpalatable or politically incorrect.”

Criterion language

“I would hope that we have learned that the SBC’s true treasure is not our ‘intelligensia’ or our bureaucrats who keep the SBC running. Rather, our true treasure is our ‘grassroots’ people. Trust the ‘grassroots’?they are not as ignorant as some have tended to think.

“We academics are prone to elitism. We are susceptible to intellectual snobbery. Those of us who are conservative are no less open to such a sinful attitude. Knowledge puffs up. The Elliott controversy reminds the scholars/academicians among us to add humility to our knowledge, and to submit our knowledge to the scrutiny of our Lord and His Word. I think it is very interesting that when the chips were down, the elite at the top tended to try to protect each other instead of protecting the truth.

“We learned that we cannot trust the elite always to maintain vigilance over our doctrinal integrity interests. The 2000 statement of faith and its use indicate that we are learning much in this area. I think some of the unwillingness to sign the 2000 statement or to request ‘oral’ support for truth instead, is in part a throwback to the era when we tended to trust folks who were entrusted with the stewardship of the truth and to take them at their word when they assured us they were orthodox and historic Baptists. We have learned that our primary trust must be in the truth itself and that we must be willing to acknowledge our allegiance to that truth as encapsulated in a confession of faith.”

-Ron Rogers

Midwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary missions professor

“Higher critical methodologies such as source, form, and redaction criticism (which Ralph Elliot used) were not products of Protestant Liberalism as such, but were particularly attractive to liberals and “progressivist” evangelicals because of their attempts to go “behind” the texts of Scripture to some supposedly more pure or more original religion underlying extant writings. Such procedures opened to door to the demythologizing of Rudolph Bultmann in which he, like other liberals, claimed to recover the nut of the pure gospel from the husk of mythology. The nut however ended up looking too often like the results of man’s own projection of his highest hopes, dreams, and fantasies into the metaphysical realm as Ludwig Feuerbach had charged and Barth had warned.

“The point is that the higher critical methodologies which held themselves out as objective, scientific, dispassionate quests for the historical truth soon displayed their subjective captivation to the proclivities, idiosyncrasies and blind spots of the particular scholar employing them.”

-Mark DeVine

Midwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary theology professor

Thumbs Up

• Thumbs up to Wal Mart for removing some of the soft porn magazines from their stores. Whether it is convictional or savvy marketing, Wal Mart is responding appropriately to broadly-accepted community standards.

?Thumbs up to Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio and other sponsors of “Laci and Conner’s Bill” in the U.S Congress. Named for Laci Peterson and her unborn child who were murdered in California, this bill would recognize a separate identity for an unborn child harmed in the commission of a crime. Abortion advocates are shrilly denouncing the bill for recognizing what all pregnant women already know, somebody is alive in there. They’re right to be alarmed. This is a step (small) toward righteousness in U.S. law.

IRVING, Texas – For the first time in its five-year history, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention exceeded $1 million in Cooperative Program gifts. In April the new Texas convention received $1,784,740.54 in undesignated funds, of which 52 percent was forwarded to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. In addition to 52 percent of the undesignated Cooperative Program line-item, the convention forwarded SBC designated Cooperative Program gifts of $75,958.57. In total, gifts to the Cooperative Program from Texas Baptist churches through the SBTC equaled $1,004,023.65.

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards, said the gifts of Texas churches demonstrates a missionary spirit. “When the SBTC was founded the churches emphatically stated that the primary focus should be evangelism and missions,” Richards said. “With the tremendous gift of one million dollars in one month to the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBTC testifies of the strength of cooperative ministry.”

As reported by the Executive Committee, receipts from the SBTC for 2001-2002 totaled $4,471,960.68. For October 1, 2002 through April of this year, gifts totaled $4,676,538.81. These figures do not include the recent gift of $1,004,023.65 to the SBC.

It was January, 2003 when a Colonoscopy procedure revealed that I had Colon Cancer. On February 14 a cancerous tumor and 12 lymph nodes of which four were malignant were removed at the Texas Cancer Center of Arlington, Texas where I spent over two weeks.

A serious infection made a second surgery necessary. Another week was spent in a hospital, this time the Medical City of Dallas where longtime family friend Dr. Ramón Quiñonez picked up my case during some very trying times. I have since been improving and it appears that we can look towards the next several days for my incision to heal. I will then submit to a Chemotherapy program consisting of six months once the program is begun. I will be free to minister as the Lord allows when I am not undergoing therapy and my strength permits. Our sincere thanks go to the Medical team that has been diligent in attending to my needs.

His right hand has sustained me for which we give thanks. The journey has been challenging. Your prayers, visits, calls, email letters and other contacts have been a source of encouragement to my family and me. Some have sent love offerings for our ministry. Our few regular contributors have been faithful in sending your regular gifts. These have been a blessing during these times when we generate little or no income. I must tell you that we have wanted for nothing. Our church and pastor Domingo Ozuna in Grand Prairie have most graciously been by our side. Men in the church have assisted me in my daily exercises and other personal needs and the ladies have assisted my wife in her home needs. Those with whom I had been committed for meetings have been understanding as we made quick adjustments with the least inconvenience to all concerned. Thank you all a thousand times.

We have been blessed with Contacts from the SBTC Staff, the SBC Executive Committee and agencies, from Lifeway Christian Resources, from Seminary Presidents, from long-time friends as well as new friends, from brethren related to the BGCT and who are dear to our hearts, and many others, have sustained us during these trying times. To my colleagues in Evangelism from Texas and throughout the SBC, my, what a blessing you have been to us. Thank you dearly beloved.

Easter Sunday another miracle occurred when I was able to return to the pulpit for the first time in four months. Although I have been homebound, I recovered enough strength to preach under our tent in Bonham to a crowd representing Hispanic Baptist churches from throughout the North Texas area. At altar call 16 year-old Eilene Reyes, daughter of Mrs. Gracie Reyes who had volunteered to serve as my private nurse during the Crusade asked Christ into her heart. Although Mrs. Reyes had been a Christian only two years herself, she delivered a powerful testimony prior to my message. Had Eilene been the only convert during the meeting it would have been worth it all. Yet others had come as our son Ruben preached the first two services in my place prior to flying to China on Special assignment. Mario, taken to the Crusade from Durant Oklahoma, also accepted Christ. One doesn’t know how far the Lord will reach out to bring men and women to himself.

Please continue to pray that I might be able to respond to the different aspects of the recovery procedure.

Thank God we can anchor ourselves on THE ROCK. Our love for our precious Lord has increased during these days of prayer and reflection. He is what he says he is and does what he says he will do. I cannot but bow down in lowly, yet manly reverence before him who paid the supreme price for our redemption. And we thank him for giving us brothers and sisters like you, especially during these challenging times.

We thank those of you who, having heard of our physical challenges have stayed in touch with us during this journey. Your contacts have been so much appreciated. It would be impossible for us to personally write each of you as you deserve. Please accept this as our grateful response to your many expressions of love and commitments of prayer on our behalf.

PHOENIX (BP)–Too often, Christian leaders have personal problems but feel they have no place to turn, Mac Brunson says.

But the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas has helped put together a ministry to some of those hurting leaders. This year’s Pastors’ Conference, headed by Brunson, will join with Focus on the Family and Hope for the Heart to offer free Christian counseling to Southern Baptist pastors, staff members, missionaries and their families Sunday and Monday, June 15-16.

To ensure anonymity, the counseling will take place away from the Phoenix Civic Plaza. Focus on the Family’s H.B. London Jr. and Hope for the Heart’s June Hunt will lead a team of what Brunson calls “perhaps the best counselors you could find in America.”

Confidential appointments can be made by calling Hope for the Heart at 1-800-488-HOPE (4673) between 8:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. Central Time. Names are not required; registration numbers will be assigned. Appointments will be made in the order they are received.

The ministry adds to what was already a family oriented event. The theme of the Pastors’ Conference will be “Building Kingdom Families,” and the first-ever Kingdom Family Rally will take place Monday night, June 16.

“It adds a dimension that I’ve never known the convention to have before,” Brunson told Baptist Press. “That is, you don’t come just to do business [and] you don’t come just to hear somebody preach…. Here, you can literally be ministered to.”

MORRISTOWN, New Jersey ? Ten churches affiliated with the New York Baptist Association gathered at Madison Baptist Church in Morristown, New Jersey for a Vacation Bible School training clinic hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, May 2.

As a part of its partnership with New Hope, New York, NAMB Strategic Focus Cities, the SBTC provided staff and laypeople to equip 60 New York Baptists, including VBS directors, small group leaders, and Bible study teachers, to lead VBS in their home church.

The May 2 clinic was one of 25 training events the SBTC has offered throughout Texas and other states, said Jim Wolfe, SBTC church ministry support director.

“Our prayer is to enhance the kingdom,” Wolfe said, noting that VBS is one of the most effective evangelistic tools in church ministry. “We want to see churches in every state grow as a result of children being reached for Christ.”

VBS statistics for 2001 boast 100,000 professions of faith. Additionally, 47,000 people enrolled in Sunday School as a result of VBS.

Although VBS is a ministry traditionally considered only for children, Marshall Johnson, associate pastor of Woodlake Baptist Church in Carrollton, believes VBS is a ministry for the entire family.

“VBS is not something for our kids to do. Kids are already busy enough. If it’s just for our kids in our churches, then we are missing the point,” Johnson said. He was one of four team leaders sent by the SBTC to the training clinic. “More people have come to know Jesus through VBS than any other church event.”

Johnson also noted that according to 2001 statistics, about 6,000 people surrendered to full-time ministry at VBS while 25 percent of baptisms in Southern Baptist churches last year were the result of VBS.

While VBS is a “fun-filled spiritual adventure for boys and girls,” featuring Bible study and life applications, Johnson added that “the intention of VBS is to reach all people of all ages leading them to know and respond to Jesus Christ.”

The VBS theme for 2003 is the Great Kingdom Caper: Cracking the Character Code. Children (sleuths) will investigate the Word of God and find clues on how to live in Christlikeness. Following the lead of Colossians 3:12-14, character traits to be investigated during VBS include compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, endurance, forgiveness, and love.

“This year VBS talks about character traits people should have in their lives,” Johnson said, noting that these characteristics are not normally apparent in humanity. “This happens as the Lord moves into our hearts. Once we get into God’s Word and get into a relationship with him, he changes us. That’s what the Great Kingdom Caper is all about. It follows the theme of digging into God’s Word and finding the truths it has for us.”

Vickey Bloodworth, of College Baptist Church in Big Spring, acted as children’s training leader for the clinic. With a VBS career of 28 years, Bloodsworth has directed VBS for five years in Texas, Mexico, Idaho, and Missiouri.

Although Bloodworth led a small group for teachers of kindergarten through the age of nine, she believes “no matter what age sleuth you teach, the Great Kingdom Caper will help him or her discover some very important truths about Christian character.”

“The Bible content for VBS will help boys and girls learn how God wants them to live,” she said, noting that both boys and girls need to learn the spiritual foundations available in the Bible. “We as Christians have to go an extra mile to get [children] excited about the Word of God.”

Children and VBS participants will not only be exposed to Christian character, but as a part of VBS activities, they will have an opportunity to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. While many churches set aside a specific time for their pastor to share the message with children, teachers and team leaders should also be prepared to share their testimony, Johnson said.

Among the many questions Johnson and other team leaders fielded during the day-long clinic, the veracity and how-to’s of child evangelism topped the list.

Johnson noted that because children are social beings and eager to please adults, some who desire to make professions of faith during VBS might not fully understand the gospel message.

“We need to be careful when we are working with children that we don’t encourage them to do something they aren’t ready to do,” he said, noting that one way to determine the validity of a child’s response is to ask the question “What is sin?”

When Forest Cove Baptist Church wanted to plant a church in the developing Northeast Houston area, the number of volunteers showed the church’s passion to reach the unchurched of that location. Nathan Lino, leading a team of 118, began Northeast Houston Baptist Church last summer, and God has blessed the church all along the way.

Lino was born in South Africa and moved to Kingwood, Texas, at the age of 11. The son of a pastor, Lino first heard God’s call to ministry in seventh grade, but resisted because of all the hardships he knew pastors face on a regular basis. However, Lino finally accepted God’s design on his life in his sophomore year at Texas A&M University. After graduating last year with a degree in speech communications, he enrolled at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and planned to pastor a church.

However, Lino and his wife, Nicole, found difficulty in locating a church. “We were getting nervous at the end,” he remembers, “because it was April and the Lord had said, ‘No,’ about several established churches.”

Lino would not be joining an established church, however. In May, the search committee of Forest Cove Baptist Church decided to call Lino to lead a new church start in Atascocita, in the northeast portion of the Houston Metro area. After planning and organizing the church for a couple of months, Lino and his team held the first service of Northeast Houston Baptist Church on September 8 with about 300 people in attendance.

From the beginning, NEHBC organized its ministry in a unique way. Instead of utilizing paid staff to perform the ministries, the church relies on volunteers and employs only Lino and a secretary, despite growing to a regular attendance of about 430 per week. The entire ministry of the church takes place through ministry teams. The pastor compares this delegation of service to the equipping of the saints for ministry as described in Ephesians 4:12.

“I put a lot of faith in my team leaders,” Lino says. “They put in a lot of hours and go above and beyond the call of duty.”

NEHBC centers its entire ministry around three pillars: Prayer, Bible Teaching, and Evangelism. As new ministries are started at the church, each must revolve around those aims.

To accomplish this first of the church’s “pillars,” the congregation holds a prayer meeting on Sunday nights and receives prayer requests throughout the week via the church’s web site. Requests may be viewed online at the moment they are received, allowing the church to constantly pray for others’ needs and the needs of the church as a whole. Lino gives all the credit for the church’s success to God’s movement in response to prayer. “We just pray and pray and He keeps moving,” says the pastor.

Meanwhile, Lino’s expository preaching is one way in which Bible teaching takes place at the church. Beginning his teaching from the book of Matthew on the church’s first Sunday in September, Lino plans to spend about four years in that gospel. “Our people are eating that up,” he says.

Other such teaching on Scripture and doctrinal issues is planned, as well. The church, which resides in an area with a heavy Mormon population, has scheduled a conference on cults for the fall. “Christian Life University” will also begin around that time on Sunday nights. Each class in the “university” will be a one-semester elective, complete with syllabus, that discusses practical issues, such as having a healthy marriage, or in which attendees participate in small group discussion of materials like Experiencing God.

The third “pillar” of Northeast Houston Baptist, evangelism, is accomplished with similar gusto. Unlike in many areas, the church has found door-to-door visitation to work well in this highly unchurched region filled with young married couples. Over 200 houses are visited each week, and these brief encounters primarily include invitations to the church. However, when the open door of a home leads to an open door for evangelism, visitors take that opportunity, as well. An upcoming “tailgate party” hopes to attract two or three thousand people from the area, some of whom will be shuttled in by buses picking up at nearby grocery stores.

While NEHBC’s new building is certainly large enough to hold a baptistry, the church actually baptizes at the local YMCA. Immediately following the morning service on selected Sundays, members commute a mile or two in order to celebrate recent decisions for Christ. Reserving a corner of the YMCA pool, Pastor Lino may baptize over a dozen individuals in one such outing. “We do that so that we can baptize in front of lost people,” he explains. “Everyone’s in their church clothes so it draws a lot of attention.”

Northeast Houston Baptist looks to the future with the same kind of unique vision. Phase One of the church’s growth plan included the purchase of thirty acres of land and the new building, which opened its doors on Easter Sunday to 760 people. Several more buildings are planned for future years, including the addition of an athletic facility on site.

One department through which the church hopes to draw more of the many local families is the children’s ministry, which presently attracts about 80 children each week.  Mrs. Lino led this ministry in its first several months, and the church hopes to acquire a fulltime children’s staff member soon.

For missions, NEHBC has acquired several partnerships to aid its members in experiencing missions firsthand.  The locations of these partnering churches are at varying degrees outside of the “comfort zones” of NEHBC’s many previously unchurched individuals.  Thus short-term trips are planned for New Hampshire, Mexico, and Estonia.  Lino describes this structure as “a stair step program to get people comfortable going from Texas to Southeast Asia,” and area on which the church hopes to concentrate its missions efforts in the future.

 While Lino and his team look to the future, they are excited about God’s work in the present, too.  “The Lord’s been blessing,” Lino simply says.  And he and the staff are dedicated to letting God work no matter what changes might need to come to present agendas.  “Nothing we do is set in stone, as far as becoming tradition,” Lino says.  “We are willing to do whatever to bring lost people.”