Month: February 2006

Another report?

Last month two reports were given to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee about the Cooperative Program. Both of them were positive in nature and emphasized the importance of Southern Baptists working together. There were nine recommendations for individuals, churches, state conventions and the SBC. Let me point those out and give you my take.

1. That we commend the Ad Hoc Committee for its excellent work and affirm this report as an outstanding plan for advancing stewardship and the Cooperative Program in the Southern Baptist Convention.

It is about time! Prior to 1979 conservative Southern Baptists were concerned about their CP dollars going to liberals and a bloated bureaucracy. The CP was criticized as a “sacred cow.” During and following the Conservative Resurgence and the restructuring of the bureaucracy in the 1990s, little has been said about the Cooperative Program. It is time to realize the Cooperative Program is the “sacred HOW.”

2. That every segment of SBC life be encouraged to reaffirm our commitment to biblical stewardship and to our cooperation in the Great Commission/Acts 1:8 mission.

There are two parts to this statement. The first deals with a unified enthusiasm to accomplish biblical stewardship and the Great Commission/Acts 1:8. From headquarters in the local church to the association, to the state convention and finally at the SBC, everyone must be on the same page for us to accomplish what God has set before us.

Secondly, there is a functional side. For over 125 years Southern Baptists viewed missions as something for the vocationally called. It was like the commercial showing a driver taking a car through a treacherous course and the voice over says, “Don’t try this yourself. Leave it to the professionals.” Giving was essentially the only way church members participated in missions.

Now, the trend is hands-on. Many in the church are going. Unfortunately, the trend is substituting going for giving. Missions is both Giving and Going.

3. That we strongly encourage each believer to tithe of his financial resources to his local church and encourage all Southern Baptist churches to adopt a missional mindset as they contribute at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program to local and global missions.

As a percentage, giving is at an all-time low among Baptists. The average is just a little over 2% of individual incomes. The average was over 3% during the Great Depression. Churches as recently as 1990 averaged giving 10% through the Cooperative Program. Today SBC churches are averaging less than 7% of their budget through the CP. What would the 3% difference make? The added funding would enable a significant strengthening of our efforts to reach the unreached people groups of the world.

Rather than set an arbitrary percentage, I would simply ask every SBTC church to consider what you are doing through the Cooperative Program and seek to increase participation.

4. That we encourage the election of state and national convention officers whose churches give at 10% of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program.

Steve Swofford is pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Rockwall, Texas. He is the president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. He is a wonderful model of leadership in Cooperative Program giving. His church gives 18 percent through the CP.

Bobby Welch is pastor at FBC, Daytona Beach, Fla., and is SBC president. His church gives 15 percent. Leaders like these show how God works through Going and Giving.

Again, rather than setting an arbitrary percentage, I think leaders should be those who are seeking to be more involved through the Cooperative Program on a consistent basis.

5. That each state convention have a plan for forwarding an increasing percentage of receipts to SBC mission causes through the Cooperative Program with the Cooperative Program Advance Plan being one possible model.

Space does not allow for an explanation of the Advance Plan, but it is simply an incremental increase of giving. Maybe something like the Advance Plan ought to be the model for churches and leaders.

I found it interesting that an arbitrary percentage was placed on churches and leaders but not on state conventions. Maybe a 50-50 allocation would be a good goal. The SBTC is the only state convention that has ever given away more than it retains in Cooperative Program operating budget funds.

New Orleans is back, Baby?

We all love the plucky people, the underdogs who fight back against impossible odds. Maybe that’s why otherwise sane people are heralding the return of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Of course it’s a big week for the tourist industry (restaurants, bars, emergency rooms, etc.) and it is the event for which the city is best known, but is that a good thing?

Visitors to the city as it was anytime of year found it hawking beads and voodoo paraphernalia as well as excess in the consumption of food and drink. On a weekend, the party never ended. Did that have anything to do with the deep poverty and general dysfunction of the pre-Katrina city? Is that the New Orleans we want back? Is this what we paid for?

I don’t think so. The New Orleans we rooted for and helped was also trade and education and families and churches. The annual pre-Lenten riot works at cross purposes with that more solid foundation. Even if they do make some money during Mardi Gras, part of it is lost again in the costs of extra and overstrained law enforcement, injuries, and destruction that accompanies even a temporarily dissipate community culture.

In a nutshell, that tradition should die. New Orleans couldn’t really afford it before Katrina and they can’t afford it now.

It is also a bit unseemly for a city or a person to quake in terror before a storm, beg for mercy, beg for help, and then, after those prayers are abundantly answered, to run naked through the street yelling, “Laissez les bon temps rouler!” If a seedy section of your city blows away in a tornado, are you going to celebrate the return of the Kitty Kat Klub? New Orleans was best known for being the bad side of town for the entire South. I’m disappointed that Mardi Gras was the big roll out for the city in recovery.

Yes, I know, I’m a Baptist and we don’t know how to have fun. But are you ever troubled by the idea that we need places with legal prostitution and gambling (Las Vegas) or seedy strip joints (the margins of any large town), or an annual Bacchanalia (New Orleans) before we can have fun? Fun doesn’t have to come with disease, poverty, crime, pain, and a host of other bonus features we somber Baptists are left to help clean up in the lives of the participants and victims.

I’m for New Orleans. I’m not for the clueless goobers who think casinos and bars will suddenly be the solid foundation for a revitalized city. It never has been and it won’t be now. We Baptists have a lot we could teach our neighbors about how to have a good time–a good time where we could bring the kids without fear or shame.

Re-thinking church planting

Church planting in the SBTC has come of age. Most of us recognize the need for more new churches of a variety of styles, models, sizes, cultures, affinities and languages. New SBTC churches have a healthy survival rate, a baptism ratio of three to one over established churches, and are becoming multiplying churches themselves.

Our statistics show that things are going quite well. Some occasional reminders of what church planting is all about, however, are certainly healthy. Ponder these:

Church planting is not the end, but a means to make disciples. The Great Commission is to make disciples, not to plant churches. Still, we plant churches because they are the local and culturally appropriate expressions of the church, which is the agent and sign of the kingdom. Local churches, we believe, are the best means for making kingdom-minded disciples of Jesus. Therefore ?

Planters must first be missionaries. Yes, planters must be pastors, teachers, evangelists, organizers, counselors and leaders. They must, however, first be missionaries in their communities and to their people. They must first study the community and the people they are called to reach and ask, “What will a biblical disciple of Christ look like here and now?” The planter, therefore, must be willing to jettison all predetermined methods, strategies, and models until he knows his community thoroughly. Therefore ?

Model and style follow missiology and ecclesiology. That is, ecclesiastical form follows ecclesiological function. The first question is “How will we make disciples from among this people/community?” The planter should be able to describe what a disciple will look and act like in his own cultural context. He should be able to describe how Jesus’ commands to worship and pray, love and serve, know and do, give and go apply to the disciple’s life and to the local congregation.

The Bible, after all, is relevant to?and judges?every situation, culture, and time. Can the planter say how this is so in his unique context?

The second question relates to form. Here is the tricky part. The ecclesiology?nature, characteristics, ordinances, mission of the church?must be biblical (see BF&M 2000, Article VI for the essentials).

The ecclesiastical form, that is, the methodological shapes, styles, models, systems, processes, programs, relationships, and ministries must be culturally appropriate. This is inevitable. Every church reflects a culture, but not always the appropriate culture. Whether jeans, suits, sandals, cowboy boots, ties, guayaberas, hymns, praise songs, coritos, piano, guitar, Stamps-Baxter, Third Day, Sunday School, home groups, communion crackers, loaf of bread, pews, chairs, pulpit, stool, steeples, multi-purpose, committees, teams, door-to-door, bulletins, websites, or any other form, they all reflect somebody’s culture from some point in time.

Everything we do in church, even the biblical functions described in Acts 2: 43-47, is wrapped in cultural expression. If this is the case, then ?

Let’s be careful not to make church an idol. That is, let’s not make our expression, our form of church, an idol. Whatever the cultural expression the question should be, “Are we making disciples of Jesus?” If anything gets in the way of that commission, it is an obstacle if not an outright idol. When we criticize how others are doing it, we sin. Hold to doctrinal purity; be flexible in method and expression. Consequently, we arrive at this conclusion:

We need to agree on a church-planting ethic to practice. Here’s a list:

1) An absolute commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible and to the teachings that flow from it. The SBTC is a confessional fellowship. All our churches and church plants are affiliated according to their affirmation of our doctrinal foundation.

2) No criticism of style or method. A healthy debate and an honest critique of methods and style are certainly acceptable. We learn from these. What we do not want to do is to offer dismissive criticism of what others are doing differently from us. Let God determine and correct if it is ineffective. Let God bless and honor if it is biblical and effective. We need all kinds of churches and all kinds of approaches to fulfill the Great Commission.

3) An appreciation for what others have done, are doing, and will do. No planter or church has the corner on the market of effectiveness. What a church, new or established, is doing may certainly be out of my comfort zone, but if God is being glorified and disciples are being made, I need to get over it.
We need to remember that we all stand on the shoulders of saints who paid the price long before we came along. We also need to remember that we are all only a short decade away from being criticized by the next generation.

4) A commitment to pray for, encourage, and cooperate with what others are doing, both through giving and going. Too often we talk about “kingdom work,” when what we really mean is “my piece of the kingdom work.” Can we commit to pray for others even if they are doing something really different from us?

5) A focus on conversion growth that leads to disciple making. Whatever the style, model, or method, if disciples are not being made then legitimate questioning is warranted. Perhaps the wrong model is being imposed. Perhaps the focus has been on attracting believers from other churches.

Whatever the case, the planter must start with the clear understanding that the church is to glorify God, exalt Jesus, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit, all for the purpose of leading lost people to become disciples of Jesus. Again, a missiological thrust must drive church planting.

Church planting is sweeping the country. Most denominations are making it a priority. Planting networks are springing up globally. Greater numbers of men and women are being called to be planters. Better assessment and training systems are being developed.

It is all very exciting … and risky. Still, there is no better way to fulfill the Great Commission. Let’s all celebrate together what we are all doing cooperatively in the SBTC.

Trustees, who needs them?

I heard a quip once that since nine of 10 people who die do so in a hospital, one might lengthen his life by staying away from hospitals. That’s a problem with statistics — they are open to interpretation, or misinterpretation.

I thought of that this week as I considered the current dust ups at our mission boards. The crises at the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board are distinct but related in that they are both centered on the trustees of those two organizations. As with hospitals, I don’t think it’s fair to blame trustees for all the troubling things that happen in their midst.

The trustees’ role in controversy is more obvious at the International Mission Board at the moment. The board seems to be in disagreement with the administration and, to a lesser degree, with itself. IMB President Jerry Rankin’s candid talk with a group of Baptist editors underscored the differences he has with recent board decisions regarding missionary candidate qualifications.

The trustees voted by a better than three-to-one margin to implement a policy to disqualify missionary candidates who speak in tongues or use a “private prayer language.” Dr. Rankin argued against the policy before and after the vote. But the vote wasn’t even close. Neither would it be close if the entire convention voted on that same matter. The trustees, in this case, represent what Southern Baptist churches do and think. That representation is what Southern Baptists need trustees to stand for.

But the North American Mission Board trustees are also on center stage in their own way.

A major report in The Christian Index, the Georgia Baptist Convention’s official news journal, alleged significant problems in the way NAMB does business. Some think Bob Reccord, the agency’s president, is the culprit. Others blame the reporter for what is admittedly a flawed and unfair report in many ways. The real criticism is of the agency’s trustees, though. They are responsible for setting NAMB policy and employing executive leadership.

The critical report has been broadcast very widely, far more widely than NAMB’s effective response. Regardless, enough questions have been raised so that the trustee board needs to address them.

These stories are developing, but my point is that the best hope our mission boards and seminaries have for resolving a crisis is through the trustees. They speak for the owners (SBC churches) and help the employed leadership of the agencies discern the will of God on the most important decisions they make.

Admittedly, trustee boards can be less than the sum of their parts. I’ve served on boards and served under boards in several settings. A body made up of outstanding and godly people is sometimes less than glorious as a whole. Internal politics, the fog of public deliberation, and the relative ignorance of individuals who only come to town two or three times each year?all conspire to diminish the potential of their governance.

What’s the alternative for the SBC, though? Imaginable options include either an imperial executive (absolute power with all its potential for good and evil) or a committee made up of a larger body (the convention) even more susceptible to confusion. Some of us seem to lean toward the latter option.

What do we do when we are unhappy with an agency’s leadership? This happened when Southwestern Seminary’s board fired their president in 1994. Students were mad at the board, as were alums, newspapers and faculty members at Southwestern and beyond. Some called for firing the board and one motion was submitted at the SBC to accomplish that.

The response at that time was very similar to the current response by some to the disagreement between Jerry Rankin and his board. Some want the board fired by a committee of the whole convention and others want Dr. Rankin to have his way. We are quick to reject the trustee system when we disagree with their actions. Why not reject it?

Accountability.

The executive of a denominational entity is accountable to the messengers of the churches that make up the SBC. The most immediate way this is implemented is through the convention’s elected representatives. Long term, the convention votes with its feet and money. An organization not truly accountable to its constituents will die slowly. So accountability expressed through a rotating and diverse board of constituents is a useful reality check for those whose ministry sometimes insulates them from the owners/consumers.

Counsel.

There is often wisdom in the perspective “outsiders” bring to plans and policies initiated by staff members. The counsel might be part of that reality check when a good idea is not a realistic one. It is also a means God uses to reveal his will for the agency. Important matters are more often revealed to us corporately than individually. Spiritual gifts, our experiences, and our different roles are given largely for the benefit of those around us.

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EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: HEAVEN OR HELL?

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EULESS–Christians want people to be saved because life as a believer provides ultimate purpose, abundant life, and heaven–all good reasons, Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch told the Empower Evangelism Conference crowd Feb. 7.

“But beyond that,” Welch reminded, “we want people to be saved because we do not want people to go to a place called hell!”

In a year when he has challenged the SBC to witness to, win and baptize a million people, Welch preached from the Luke 16 story of the rich man and Lazarus and their respective views from damnation and paradise.

“There are only two places: you either go to heaven or you go to hell,” said Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla. “Hell is forever … it’s forever, it’s not just for a day or two.”

The annual conference, sponsored by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, was held Feb. 6-8 at the First Baptist Church of Euless, drawing around 2,800 people on consecutive nights.

Attendees also heard from nationally known pastors and evangelists such as Steve Gaines of Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn., the successor of the late Adrian Rogers, and from musical recording artists such as gospel trio Greater Vision and soloist David Phelps.

Welch began his sermon by telling the story of a Chicago mobster who was gunned down after serving many years in prison. Welch said a newspaper, speculating on the motive, wrote, “The mob knows the rule and it’s this: Dead men don’t talk.”

“The only problem with that is, it isn’t true. Dead men do talk. Dead men talk. And it just so happens that in the Scripture we have here, you will see two dead men telling their stories after they died. Dead men talk.”

Noting Luke 16:19-31, Welch said, “I want you to look at two men, two places, and two preferences, all of which point to why you and I want to be in this plenteous harvest right now.”

Reading Luke 16:24, which tells of the rich man begging Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue because of his torment in the flame, Welch stated calmly, “May I tell you that every time we read that as a preacher we do a great injustice to the Scripture.”

“This actually should be read this way: ‘And the man cried out,’ Welch said calmly, then he raised his voice to a tormented scream. “Father Abraham, oh, oh, Father Abraham, I’m tormented … I’m tormented in this place!”

“There are only two places. … If you have Jesus Christ, you go to heaven,” Welch said. “If you do not have Jesus Christ, you go to hell. And the sorry, sad part about it is, hell is forever.”

People sometimes describe human suffering on earth as hell, “but you and I know that’s not really hell. Hell is a place being described here in the Bible.”

Quoting from the late preacher Hyman Appleman’s book “Born Again,” Welch said, “Hell is a place without hope. … Beyond God forever, beyond Christ forever, beyond the Spirit forever, beyond the Bible forever, beyond eternity forever … forever, forever.”

“You don’t want your sons and daughters in hell. You don’t want your grandchildren in hell. You don’t want your neighbors in hell. You don’t want your uncle in hell. You don’t want your fishing buddy in hell. You don’t want the beauty shop lady in hell. You don’t want to see anybody go to hell, nobody go to hell.”

“You might say, ‘Oh, Bro. Bobby, you’re preaching to the saints tonight.’ I’m telling you if the saints don’t get hell on their minds and get hell on their hearts again” … they won’t keep anyone from going there.

Welch said it is noteworthy that the rich man went to hell not because he was rich but because he was poor in the things of God. The poor man, however, went to heaven not because he was poor but because he was rich in the things of God.

“Don’t ever get that confused. Rich people don’t go to hell because they’re rich. They only go to hell if they aren’t saved. Poor people don’t go to heaven just because they have a hard life here on earth. They only go to heaven if they get saved. And there are only two types of people and both of these are clearly spotlighted.”

One, the rich man, had not repented,” Welch said. “Notice that he isn’t in hell 30 seconds until he becomes a soul winner.”

Reacting to low rumbling of chuckles across the audience, Welch stated, “That would be funny … but is it possible there are more soul winners in hell than there are in the room tonight? Are there more soul winners in hell there are in our churches tonight? I’ve got a feeling everybody in hell is a soul winner, wishing that nobody would com there.”

Noting the influence believers have on their families, Welch said Luke 16:27 shows that the rich man immediately thought of his unrepentant brothers.

“He didn’t want them to go to his stockbroker, he didn’t want them to go to the country club. He didn’t want them to go to the high-brow people he’d been running around with. He wanted them to go to family.”

“Don’t let them end up in a place like this,” Welch said paraphrasing the damned man. “Don’t let them come here.”

Welch admitted he isn’t very successful at winning converts, but he said he continues to try with some success, noting that he recently heard about the baptism of the grandchildren of a woman he’d helped along the side of the road in Mississippi more than 30 years ago. That night, the woman attended a revival service where Welch was preaching and got saved, changing her family’s direction.

“You see, everybody influences somebody if you’re faithful to share.”

“There is a way in God’s economy of work that he has chosen to put men and women as the connector” between heaven and men. “We are the ones who are called,” Welch insisted. “We have a part in it. … That’s your job. That’s your job. That’s your job. And oh, what a wonderful job it is.”

Welch said in the New Testament’s 27 books there are 234 warnings about eternal torment. If those 27 books were 27 miles of highway with 234 road signs that warned, “Stop! You’re going the wrong way … you’d think any fool would stop with that, don’t you?”

“The trouble with it, ladies and gentlemen, is that people who are going to hell are not on this road. They’re not reading those words, the New Testament. It’s mine and your job to acquaint them with the gospel. That’s our job in evangelism, soul winning.”

The gospel is hard work, Welch noted, “but if we don’t share this gospel, it won’t get shared. It’s our job to do it.”

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Texas evangelists challenged to be fearless, persevering




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EULESS?Those attending the Conference of Texas Baptist Evangelists (COTBE) at First Baptist Church of Euless Feb. 6 were exhorted to walk by faith, finish well the task God gives them, and to maintain undivided hearts toward God.

The COTBE session preceded the Empower Evangelism Conference.

Preaching from 1 Chronicles 28, evangelist Alan Buchanek of Longview explained how David commanded his son, Solomon, to “Be strong and do it” as he explained God’s plan for Solomon to oversee the temple’s construction.

David promised God’s blessing and care over Solomon until he had faithfully finished the work.

“He said ‘Be strong and do it’?twice,” Buchanek noted.

“God’s not impressed with the quitters, whiners. God is looking for good finishers. It’s not how well we start; it’s how we finish that matters most to God.”

Buchanek said most entrants into the rigorous Iron Man Triathlon don’t compete to win the race but rather to finish well. He told of a distance runner at the 1968 Olympics who was injured during a fall and yet refused to quit, limping across the finish line several hours after the other runners.

“My country didn’t send me here to start this race,” Buchanek said, relaying the runner’s comments to reporters. “My country sent me here to finish it.”

Buchanek added, “That’s God’s word to us.”

Dennis Erwin of Edgewood, Texas closed out the COTBE session, preaching from Hosea 10 and urging his listeners to seek revival by bearing the fruit of God’s presence, and worshiping God authentically with undivided hearts.

Erwin said ancient Israel at Hosea’s time was full of religious activity, “but it was all wrong” and included idol worship and a people with divided hearts.

“When we quit being faithful to the house of God, we’ll find other gods to worship,” he said.

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Houston minister: Make home the center of discipleship or face extinction

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EULESS, Texas–In America, biblical Christianity is dying because the home has lost its place as the center of evangelism and discipleship, Voddie Baucham told the Empower Evangelism Conference Feb. 7.

Baucham, a Christian apologist and author from Spring, Texas, near Houston, cited recent studies by the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life and LifeWay Christian Resources, showing that somewhere between 75-88 percent of students raised in church are leaving the church by their freshman year in college.

Lamenting the generation gap in the SBC, Baucham stated: “There are a lot of you in here who are upset with the Emerging Church movement. You’re upset with Brian McLaren and some of the theology that he’s espousing. I don’t like a lot of the theology that’s coming out of the Emerging Church movement, but can I tell what the impetus is behind the Emerging Church movement. Twenty-somethings are gone. The Emerging Church movement is saying, ‘What do we do to recapture this age group?’

Compounding the danger is that for the first time in history the American birthrate–1.9 children per family–is below the replacement rate?2.1 children per family–and the birthrate among evangelical Christians is similar.

“What that means is we’ve not having enough children for our culture to continue to survive. Our culture is dying one generation at a time.”

The French birthrate of 1.5 children per family, for example, is not only below the replacement rate, it is overshadowed by Muslim immigrants, who average six children per family.

“Which means in two generations France will be a Muslim nation by sheer numbers alone,” Baucham said. “Why? Because they want prosperity more than they want children. And it’s the same for us.”

The unwritten rule among Southern Baptists and others is two children per family.

“We despise children in the Southern Baptist Convention. You don’t believe me? Find a woman who has six or seven children and follow her into a Southern Baptist church and watch the way we mock her. Watch the way people who don’t even know her come up to her and say, ‘Haven’t you guys figured out how that happens yet?'”

Baucham noted that there are 16 million Southern Baptists–“on paper,” he said, an obvious allusion to the many inactive members on church rolls.

At the current birthrate, Southern Baptists will number about 250,000 in three generations. Increasing evangelism efforts alone will not suffice, Baucham said.

“In order to replenish those numbers by evangelism alone, we would have to reach three lost people for every one Christian. Currently, we only reach one lost person for every 43 Southern Baptists,” Baucham noted.

“Now let me make it plain and bring it home: Christianity in America is dying one generation at a time, one home at a time. Christianity is dying.”

Among the Jewish community the same thing is happening, according to researchers Anthony Gordon and Richard Horowitz, Baucham said.   Intermarriage, declining birthrates and inadequate Jewish education “continue to decimate the American Jewish people,” Baucham stated, reading from their report.

“We’re right behind them,” Baucham insisted.

“Our answer has been to divorce ourselves from the issue and hire youth pastors to make it better.”

The last 30 years has seen the greatest number of specialized youth ministers, youth resources and parachurch youth ministries and an unprecedented decline in youth baptisms.

Preaching from Ephesians 6:104, which speaks of children obeying parents and parents gently training their children in the Lord, Baucham said the predominant youth ministry model not only lacks biblical foundation, it is antithetical to Scripture and it doesn’t work.

“Or do I need to say it again? Seventy-five to 88 percent is our current failure rate.”

“I want to show you through the Scripture the centrality of the home in the discipling and evangelizing of the next generation,” Baucham said. “God has a plan for multigenerational faithfulness. That plan is the family.”

Many church youth ministries have as their mission to evangelize teenagers, to disciple them, and to equip them to reach other teenagers.

“Two problems with that. Number one, nine times out of 10 we never mention parents. And number two, it’s not your job. Whose job is it to evangelize my children? The church? No, it’s mine. Whose job is it to disciple my children, the church? No, it’s mine. Which means that any youth ministry that’s going to exist at all had better have a mission statement which says ‘We exist to equip and assist parents as they do what God called them to do and not the church.’”

Many youth ministry programs are moving toward ministering to youth and their families.

“That’s still the wrong answer,” Baucham maintained. … The problem is that “for 30 years we’ve been telling (families), ‘We’re trained professionals. Please don’t try this at home. You don’t understand your kids. Your kids don’t like you. Trust me, just drop them off, now.’ And now (parents are) mad because they’re doing what we’ve taught them to do for 30 years.”

The context of Ephesians 6:1-4 depends on Ephesians 5:15-18, which speaks of walking wisely, being filled with the Spirti, being worshipful, thankful and submissive.

“What he’s saying here is this: ‘Show me a child who is not submissive to his parents’ authority and I’ll show you a child who is not a yielded to the Spirit of God.’ Which means if we want to lead a child toward being Spirit filled, we don’t lead them toward a youth pastor, we lead them toward mom and dad.

“I’m not telling you all to go fire your youth pastors tomorrow.   That’s not what I’m saying here.   But we have to completely revamp our philosophies.

“Disciple your children. ‘Can I get someone else to do it?’   No, it’s your job. You do it.”

Current evangelistic efforts amount to filling up a bucket with a hole in the bottom, Baucham said.

According to Barna Research, the Nehemiah Institute and the National Study of Youth and Religion, less that 10 percent of professing Christian teens operate from a biblical worldview and less that 5 percent are “theologically born again.”

“By that, I mean they say they are born again and they say they trust Christ as savior and Lord of their life. But they’re wrong on the deity of Christ. They’re wrong on substitutionary atonement. They’re wrong on just about every important theological issue related to salvation. Only 5 percent of them have the information they need to be saved.”

Baucham said the answer lies in Christians having a biblical view of children as blessings from God, revamping youth ministry to help parents disciple their children, and “we have to adopt a biblical view of church leadership.”

He said it is a biblical imperative that the pastor be able to teach and be able to manage his household well. “The Bible says if you are not discipling your children in an exemplary fashion, you’re not worthy of being called a pastor.”

 

 

 

 

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Women at conference encouraged to carry fragrance of Christ into the world

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EULESS–Those attending the 2006 Empower Evangelism Conference Women’s Session at First Baptist Church of Euless were encouraged to share “the most effective tool of evangelism a woman can have.”

Susie Hawkins, wife of Guidestone Financial Resources President O.S. Hawkins and a part-time instructor at Criswell College, told the women: “I’m convinced that the most effective form of evangelism for a woman is to live her life with a fragrance for Christ,” Hawkins said. “There is nothing as powerful as a life that is fully sacrificed to the Lord Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and lived obediently walking with him.”

Hawkins explained that throughout history, fragrance has been considered a powerful source of communication. And in the Bible, fragrance is frequently mentioned as a worship experience.

“Our sense of smell is 10,000 times more powerful than our sense of taste,” Hawkins said. “Your sense of smell is stored in the same part of your brain as your memory. That’s why so many smells trigger your memory.”

She stated that the fragrance of Christ results from three sacrifices in the life of a believer: physical, financial, and spiritual. “It may be financial, praise, prayer, or your own life,” she said.

Hawkins encouraged the women in attendance to sacrifice in all areas of their lives to please the Lord and bring others to Christ.

She concluded, “Preach the gospel at every opportunity. When necessary, use words. The finest apologetics never brought people to Christ. They were drawn to God by the fragrance of Christ.”

North Carolina speaker and author Angela Thomas shared the story of her awkward childhood (and her desire to become an astronaut), her teenage years discovering the reality of life, and how she came to call herself the “Jesus girl.”

A divorced mother of four whose life took an unexpected turn, Thomas said she grew up in a Christian home, and found her passion as a young adult in teaching the Word of God to others. After college and then Dallas Theological Seminary, she began ministering to high school girls in her church’s youth group, eventually got married and had children.

According to her website, “she seemed to be living the life every woman dreams of having. But on the inside, Thomas was keeping all the balls in the air and going through the motions, eventually pretending and becoming what she calls ‘a church lady.'”

It was through her divorce–something she never thought would happen–that she said she became empowered by God to share her story and what God taught her in those dark times.

“Life caught up to me,” Thomas said. “It was beyond anything that you could have imagined could come to you. It was the most awful day when my perfect Jesus-girl dream broke.”

According to Thomas, she began to better understand the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5 in her brokenness. She said, “Growing up, I heard all of these things in this list … and it seemed like [I had] to be all of these things in one woman. I asked myself, ‘How could you be all these things?'”

But she soon realized that people in the Bible came to Jesus in their disappointment, brokenness, aches, and wounds, and he looked into the truth of their humanity and spoke words of comfort.

Thomas said, “The Lord took me through a season of dire brokenness and I asked, ‘Lord, what do you do with a woman who is broken into a million pieces when the wounds are paralyzing and the consequences make living almost impossible?’”

“What I’ve come to know about the Lord … is that he’s not afraid of broken people or broken lives or broken hearts,” Thomas said. “If we will stay in his presence, he can work with that. I just don’t know how many people know that about the Lord. It took the most devastating life circumstances for me to know that.”

“When you come with the truth of who you are into [his] presence, he will come in with the covering of his blood and add the blessing. … The Lord in his sovereignty took an ordinary broken-down Jesus girl and …[covered me] with his blood and raised me up.”

Thomas concluded, “You can’t bring it until you’ve been somewhere to get it, so you’ll have something to bring. Jesus said, ‘When you come and you abide in my presence and you stake your whole life on the truth, then that is enough and I will add the blessing to your meager offering.”

Closing out the session, LaDonna Gatlin, sister to the legendary singing trio The Gatlin Brothers, entertained the crowd with her testimony and singing. A resident of Frisco, Gatlin has been speaking to audiences, writing and performing for many years. She encouraged those in the audience to value the blessings that cove from unexpected trials in life.

 

 

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Hispanic session weighs ‘Da Vinci Code’ against Scripture, historical evidence

EULESS?Biblical and extra-biblical evidence shows the claims of the blockbuster book “The Da Vinci Code” are purely fiction, despite subtle suggestions by the author that he has mined the truth about the historical Jesus.

That’s one of the messages Carlos Fernandez Silva of FaithSearch, a Chaska, Minn., Christian apologetics ministry, is spreading to Hispanics in the United States and Latin America.

Silva brought his message about “The Da Vinci Code” to about 35 participants in a workshop during the Hispanic Session of the Empower Evangelism Conference Feb. 6 at First Baptist Church of Euless.

The book’s author, Dan Brown, has written “The Da Vinci Code” in a way that combines history with fiction and leaves unwitting readers struggling to parse the truth, Silva said.

The story portrays Jesus as married to Mary Magdalene, whom he plans to install as leader of the church. The couple has a son and Mary and the child flee after the crucifixion. From Jesus and Mary Magdalene a line of European royalty is produced, according to the book. Over the centuries an elite group that included famed painter Leonardo Da Vinci guards the secret.

The book contains numerous and noteworthy fallacies, Silva told conference participants. Aside from the claims of a married Jesus, the book asserts that the early church did not view Jesus as God and the Scripture as infallible until 325 A.D. when the Roman emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea, which produced the Nicene Creed.

Brown claims the Nicene Council sought to canonize an infallible Bible and proclaim Jesus as divine to increase the power and riches of Rome.

As Silva noted, history shows the early church fathers referred numerous times to New Testament passages in their own writings. For example, Clement, a pastor in Rome writing in A.D. 96, cites 11 different books from the 27 that Christians view as the New Testament. Additionally, Ignatius, writing in A.D. 110, cites 24 New Testament books. And in 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter cites Paul’s letters among “the rest of the Scriptures.”

In fact, there was general agreement, based on extra-biblical sources, about the New Testament canon 200 years before Nicea, Silva said.

Moreover, the basis of the flourishing early church was the deity and resurrection of Jesus, Silva added.
What history does show is that the Nicene Creed?in response to heretical views spread by Arius of Alexandria?helped clearly state what the Scriptures teach about God as eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It did not invent Jesus as God; the early church believed in the deity of Jesus from the resurrection on, Silva stated. Furthermore, archaeology and extra-biblical writings attest to this, he said.

Silva said a Spanish language version of the book “Breaking The Da Vinci Code” by Dallas Theological Seminary professor Darrell L. Bock is now available.

Later this year “The Da Vinci Code” will hit the big screen in a movie starring Tom Hanks.

The Hispanic Session included a Feb. 5 rally that drew around 550 people to Primera Iglesia Bautista in Garland. Sessions on Feb. 6 included a series of morning seminars that drew 180 people and an afternoon worship service that exceeded 230, said Mike Gonzales, Hispanic Initiative director.

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Bellevue pastor: Finish the journey

EULESS?Using the biblical story of the faithful servant seeking a bride for Abraham’s son Isaac as his text, Steve Gaines of Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn., exhorted those attending the Empower Evangelism Conference in Euless Feb. 6 to finish the journey God assigns.
Gaines, successor at Bellevue to Adrian Rogers, who died late last year after retiring from his legendary pulpit, said the story found in Genesis 24 is one of a man of submission, prayer, worship, focus and completion.

Gaines said that like Abraham’s servant, when believers accept Christ they get a master, Jesus.
“I’m not in Memphis because I wanted a bigger church,” said Gaines, who left a 16-year pastorate in Alabama. “I’m in Memphis because God wanted me there.”

Additionally, Christians are under government authority and pastoral authority. A wife is to submit to her husband’s lead; children are to obey parents.

Genesis 24:12-14 also shows that Abraham’s servant was a man of prayer and if churches are to thrive in reaching the lost, “Let God’s house be a house of prayer again,” Gaines said.

Moreover, Jesus’ disciples learned from the master of prayer, Gaines said. “They knew the Lord met early in the morning with the father in prayer.”

Gaines said prayer is integral in a minister’s life.

“You don’t have any business speaking for God, preacher, until you have prayed,” Gaines stated. “Pray.
Make prayer the priority of your life and preaching the priority of your ministry.”

Further, Genesis 24:15 shows the servant was a person of worship.

Gaines said authentic worship must be central to the individual and to the church. He also criticized church services geared toward the unchurched.

“I want you to never again plan a church service to attract people.” Gaines insisted, noting that worship is the central purpose of the church. He said if true worship is offered, the unchurched will find it.

“Don’t tell me location is the issue,” Gaines said. “Jesus in the house is the issue.”

“The worship service is not for us,” it’s for God, he said.

Gaines closed by noting the servant was focused on his goal of finding God’s bride for Isaac and he finished the journey by completing his task.

“Finish what God is calling you to do.”

DANNY FORSHEE

Danny Forshee, a professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the Lord does amazing things through his people when they simply trust him.

Forshee, preaching from the Matthew 14 account of Jesus walking on the water and calming the wind, said it is imperative for the believer to live his Christian life in the same manner by which he entered it: by faith.

“We need passionate, courageous, bold men and women of God who will do anything and everything that the Spirit of God calls us to do.”

Peter, who walked on the water with Jesus until he began to fear, was prone to judgment errors but he also had passion and great faith, Forshee noted.

“When Jesus Christ walked on that water, that was Almighty God passing by,” Forshee said. In fact, the “It is I” in Matthew 14:27 is literally understood as the “I am” is passing by.

Forshee said three important lessons can be taken from Matthew 14:27, which reads, “Immediately Jesus spoke to them. ‘Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.'” (HCSB)

The first lesson is “Stop being afraid,” he said.

“Some of you tonight are paralyzed by fear. ? Maybe it’s attempting something great for God. Maybe it’s witnessing to your neighbor. Maybe it’s going on some mission trip. Or maybe it is something that you need to stop doing tonight.”

“What is it tonight that’s holding you back? Unless you slay this monster called fear, you will not accomplish the things God wants you to do.”

The literal rendering in Matthew 14:27, Forshee said, is a present imperative, “Stop being afraid.

“You’ve got to get out of your boat of fear, of passivity, of mediocrity.

“It takes no courage to stay where it’s comfortable. But there are times in life when God is going to give you the desires of your heart. And it’s going to be your time to shine. You’re going to say, ‘OK, Jesus, I’m tired of being afraid. Lord, out of the boat I go.'”

GREG MATTE

In an age when reality television shows abound and seemingly everyone seeks his proverbial 15 minutes of fame, Christians should stand in contrast, urged Greg Matte, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Houston.

Preaching from Colossians 1:3-5 of Paul’s praise for the faith, love and hope of the believers in Colosse, Matte said the Christian should pursue the fame that pleases God.

“It used to be materialism. It used to be power. Now it’s just fame” that people seek most. “They want to be known. They want somebody to wear their t-shirt with their name on the back. They want their name on the back. They want to be famous.”

Unfortunately, Matte lamented, one of the greatest threats to God-honoring churches is competition among churches?the antithesis of love.

“We want God’s vision as long as we get credit for it being our idea,” Matte said.

“The way to be famous for the right things is, number one, not to count your blessings but to count other people’s blessings. See, being famous is to count other people’s blessings, not yours.

“We’re so competitive, and it comes from our desire to be known.”

Paul is a great example, Matte noted, because he had not his own glory but God’s glory on his mind.

“It’s having the spiritual maturity to say, ‘I’m so excited about what’s happening down the street. I’m so glad about what God is doing down there.” A mature Christian says, “‘God, I want your fame so badly I don’t care who you use. Just use somebody.'”

Matte also encouraged the audience to be heavenly minded.

“Heaven is a hope for the believer ? not a conditional ‘I hope’ and if it happens we’ll be glad. It is a hope that is centered in the soul so deeply that it is an expectation. Not some type of hopeful crutch and preference. And this expectation and this realization and this understanding that there’s a hope of heaven thrusts us forward to deep faith, deep love, and to be famous for the right reasons.”

Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, Matte said, “As you read history you will find the Christians who made the biggest difference in this present world are the ones who spent the most time thinking about the next.”

BOB PITMAN

“He took my sin, and he gave me his righteousness. Now you talk about a deal. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Bob Pitman, pastor of Kirby Woods Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., told the crowd.

“He gave me his righteousness. And I stand before God today declared not guilty, cleared of all guilt in the matter. I’ve been declared to be innocent.”

That’s the meaning of justification, which God declares for the new believer, said Pitman, who preached on the meaning and method of salvation.

Pitman said the biblical prophet Hosea and the wayward woman he married, the prostitute Gomer, are a picture of the redeeming God and the redeemed sinner. Hosea sought Gomer, finally finding her on the slave block after she fled and had grown old and haggardly.

“Before Jesus came into our lives, we were enslaved. People may not think they are enslaved, but they are.”

Believers, however, are “no longer on the slave block” because of the blood of Christ, which Pitman, citing Hebrews 9:25, compared to the blood that covered the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies of the ancient Jewish tabernacle.

Because of the sufficiency of Christ’s blood sacrifice, “As God comes through those books, he comes to my name but he doesn’t look. He just passes over ? and he withholds the judgment that should be mine because of Jesus Christ,” Pitman said.