HOUSTON (BP)—Members of an advisory committee on Calvinism say that with their report now issued, the “next step” in cooperation and unity is up to individual Southern Baptists.

Twelve of the 19 members of the committee appeared together June 10 in the exhibit hall’s Cooperative Program booth, answering questions from messengers. The 3,200-word report, which urged Southern Baptists to “grant one another liberty” and “stand together” for the Great Commission, was unanimously approved and released in late May.

“It’s really up to all of you as to what happens with this,” committee member Tammi Ledbetter told an audience gathered around the CP booth. “We can talk it to death, and I think we probably have. What matters is what you do with your life in the way you relate to other people. And every time you have a conversation about this document or you have a conversation about a fellow believer … how you handle yourself will make the whole difference.”

The hope is that both sides will put the focus “back on winning people to Jesus,” added Ledbetter, managing editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN and a member of Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie.

Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and a committee member, agreed.

“So much of this comes back to what Tammi said — our own personal attitudes and dispositions,” Akin said, adding that Southern Baptists need to be “men and women of honesty and integrity.”

“If we will pursue those types of agendas in the days ahead, I believe we can come together for the very purpose on which we fought the conservative resurgence — that is, standing on an inerrant Bible to get the gospel to every person on the planet.”

The advisory team — not an official committee of the convention — was assembled by Executive Committee President Frank Page in August 2012 to advise him on developing “a strategy whereby people of various theological persuasions can purposely work together in missions and evangelism.” The committee was composed of Calvinists and non-Calvinists from different walks of life in the convention.

“There has been a lot of talking about one another, and I decided it was time to talk to each other,” Page said during the panel discussion, acknowledging he “had doubts” about whether the committee could come to an agreement on a report.

“I am not naive. I know there are still differences,” Page said. “There are people on this group that have strong wills, strong opinions. I am among that group. But I just want to see us work together so men, women, boys and girls can be won to Jesus.”

The writing committee consisted of Eric Hankins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Oxford, Miss., and R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Mohler is a Calvinist; Hankins is not.

There were “several drafts” written before the final report was released, said Union University President David Dockery, the committee chair.

“Everyone had an opportunity to participate in the final document,” Dockery said. “Everyone had an opportunity to make suggestions.”

Hankins said he wants Southern Baptists to “grant one another liberty” and “cut out the meanness.”

“We sought to have something that would call all Southern Baptists together around the gospel,” Hankins said. “We sought to have something that would clearly express that there were real differences [while recognizing] we still want to partner together for the cause of Christ and the announcement of the gospel all around the world.

“We hoped to have a document that would … return us to a time period that we were in not so long ago in which we shared theological differences, but the rhetoric wasn’t so harsh,” Hankins said.

Said Mohler, referencing the year of the Southern Baptist Convention’s formation, “If you go back to 1845, there were people like me in the room, and there were people like Eric Hankins in the room. And they wanted to be in the same room together, because they wanted to send missionaries together, and they wanted to do great things for the Great Commission together.”

Page said he sees a level of “anti-Calvinism” in the convention “that frightens me.” On the flip side, he said, a Calvinist friend recently told him that the “extreme Calvinists” were driving the friend “crazy.” There is “vitriol” on both sides, Page said.

“It was my opinion that we need to deal with this because I think we’ve come to the point where trust is hitting a new low,” Page said. “We need to act on this to say, ‘We’ve co-existed for a long time, but it will only work when we do what we’ve said [we should do] — talk to [one another], not at, not about.'”

Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and a committee member, said, going in, he wanted to see the document reflect the strong belief that both sides are responsible for and “involved in winning people to Christ.” He also wanted it to urge “honesty” on the part of potential pastors for church leadership roles. The report met his goals, he said.

“Just be honest. Be forthright, up front,” Patterson said, speaking to those who submit resumes for church positions. “The document calls for that. All of us agree to that. We have tried to model that to the best of our ability.”

David Allen, dean of Southwestern’s school of theology and a member of the committee, said that when discussing the subject of Calvinism, it’s important that neither side “misrepresent one another’s positions.”

“It’s very important that we respect what someone says they believe and allow them to define what they say they believe,” Allen said.

Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and a committee member, said one way to have dialogue with “someone you disagree with” is to get together and “try to state things [you think] the other person agrees with you on.”

“You come around to having to understand what the other person says,” Dever said.

During a question-and-answer time, the panel was asked if both strands of theology can exist in the same church or whether a church needs to take a stand on one particular side.

Steve Lemke, provost and director of the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, noted that both Calvinists and non-Calvinists teach at NOBTS. Lemke served on the committee.

“There is a natural tendency for people who are likeminded to share together,” Lemke said. “So probably the direction and interest and theology of the pastor is going to affect the sort of persons that join that church.”

But there are churches that have a “great deal” of theological diversity, Lemke added, and who have Calvinists and non-Calvinists among their staff and congregation.

“I think it’s possible [for both sides to exist] within the same fellowship,” Lemke said. “That may cause some tensions. But I think it’s a good thing within the body of Christ to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.”

Stephen Rummage, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., and a committee member, said the report “can really serve as a model for local churches” to “navigate through how we think about these issues and how we relate to one another.”

“We’re not going to treat one another as though we have deficiencies or as though we are somehow less because we have this position or that position,” Rummage said.

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SBTC churches are energized by local and out-of-state volunteers

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NEW CANEY—“I want to be forgiven, but I don’t think I can,” said a young homeless man at the Open Door Mission in Houston.  He was only in his thirties, but looked much older due to a lifestyle of excess and addiction.

Professor Bobby Worthington and five students from Criswell College ministered to the man, sharing that forgiveness is possible, no matter what a person has done. “I shared scripture with him,” said Worthington. “He thought God couldn’t forgive him because he had done too much. We prayed around him and he accepted Christ.  You could see the Holy Spirit helping him to understand.”

The annual Crossover evangelism practicum at Criswell College takes students out of the classroom and brings them to the Southern Baptist Convention host city to give them practical evangelistic experiences, helping them take classroom theory into the real world.

This year Worthington, who serves as director of Applied Ministry Projects, director of Urban Ministry and adjunct professor of evangelism, brought five students to Houston for the practicum.  The group worked with Pastor Ron Rogers at Forestwood Baptist Church in New Caney. “We try to work with alumni of Criswell,” said Worthington.

The group began its work by going door-to-door.  “We canvassed 160 homes in two days, helping the church reach out,” said Worthington.

In addition, the team ministered at the Open Door Mission in Houston where they saw five professions of faith.  “I wanted the students to experience ministry to the middle class as well as to the poor.” Students led worship and preached at two different services at Open Door.  “They led. I guided them,” said Worthington.

Trey Holmes was one of the Criswell students who preached at Open Door and had the opportunity to lead a man to Christ.  Holmes shared The Parable of the Wedding Banquet from Matthew 22. “I read the Word and preached the Word,” said Holmes. The man, who was at Open Door for rehab, approached a Criswell team member. “He said, ‘I realized I am the guy who is going to be kicked out of the banquet.’”

Holmes shared the plan of salvation with the man and asked if he was ready to repent.  The man said yes and gave his life to Christ.

“All the glory goes to the one who really does it,” said Holmes. “You get excited, but it is a serious thing. I have hope and he grasped hope tonight. It was exciting to see a new creature birthed right in front of us.  That’s what I’m here for.”

Brice Johnson, another Criswell team member, also had the opportunity to lead a man to faith in Christ. Using his own testimony, Johnson shared how God radically changed his life. He was approached by a young man in need. “He was in a place where he was really broken,” said Johnson.  The man struggled with alcohol, drugs and criminal activity.  “I shared my story and he prayed to accept Christ.”

Johnson was touched by the encounter. “It’s encouraging in the sense of seeing these guys – the idea of rock bottom.  They have nowhere else to go. They are pointed to Jesus.” Johnson was also challenged by the heart of Christ. “I was reminded that Jesus spent the bulk of his time with the poor and outcast. It’s easy to be around people who know the right things to say. It’s refreshing to see the humility and eagerness to hear what we have to say. It helped me develop a deeper heart for the lost and broken.”

Worthington believes the Crossover Evangelism Practicum provides a valuable opportunity for his students to see ministry in different contexts, preparing them for their futures. “They learn theory in class and then have practical ministry experience,” said Worthington. “It’s one thing to talk about it in the classroom. It’s another to do it in the field.”

MOORE, Okla.—Wayne and Ann Barber didn’t start out to be storm chasers but it seems to have worked out that way.

The SBTC Disaster Relief volunteers deployed to Moore, Okla., from their East Texas home in Jasper on May 26. Last Friday (May 31), they found themselves “hunkered down in the hallway” of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, riding out the second wave of tornadoes to strike the Oklahoma City area in two weeks, Wayne Barber told the TEXAN.

Five tornadoes were confirmed in the Oklahoma City area on Friday, NBC News reported. At last count, nine adults and five children died in that day’s storms. One of Friday’s tornadoes turned south and swept through Moore, the area ravaged 11 days earlier by a massive EF-5 tornado that killed 24 people.

One of Friday’s tornadoes passed over Southern Hills Baptist Church, just a couple of miles north of west Moore, Wayne Barber said. Southern Hills was hosting the SBTC DR volunteers.

The clouds Friday afternoon seemed threatening, prompting DR workers and others to seek shelter, Wayne Barber said.

“One of the tornadoes went right over the church. It destroyed a little bit of the steeple. People started banging on the church doors. A lot of people were caught in this. We let people in,” he said.

Some 75-80 people sought refuge in the church, including DR workers, people from the neighborhood and stranded motorists, Wayne Barber explained.

“We heard there were four tornadoes within a 10-mile radius of the church,” he added.

One of the tornadoes crisscrossed the area where SBTC DR workers had cleared debris through the week. The tornado scattered much of the debris, which had been stacked up.

“We got home [to Jasper] on Saturday. We decided we had had all the tornadoes we wanted and we were coming home,” he quipped. The couple approached Dallas only to find tornado warnings in effect. They continued south to Jasper, where early Sunday morning a storm hit, knocking out electricity.

“It’s been a rough week,” Wayne Barber said. 

But it was a fruitful week as well.

On Monday, two people accepted Christ. Ann Barber led a 15-year-old girl to Christ and later that afternoon Wayne Barber led a man to Christ who lived across the street from the girl.

The 54-year-old man’s wife had died two years before. “He said that his life was just empty. He had nothing,” Wayne Barber related.

“If the Lord had taken you home during this storm, do you know where you would spend eternity?” Wayne asked the man, whose name was Tracy.

“I’ve been thinking a bunch. No, I wouldn’t,” Tracy replied.

“Would you like to know?” Wayne Barber asked.

“Yes, I’ve been thinking a bunch about that, too,” Tracy answered.

“He was just ready. He was ready to be picked. The Lord just sent us there. We just shared with him. He went with us to share with his neighbor. He was so empty and exhausted; now he was full. He was totally different,” Wayne Barber related.

The Barbers gave Tracy a Bible supplied by their home church, Hillcrest Baptist of Jasper. He confirmed that he had begun reading it enthusiastically, according to the Barbers.

Stories of faith that was confirmed and even rekindled abound as well.

Another man told the Barbers he hadn’t prayed in 42 years. The man, Tracy’s neighbor, told DR volunteers he had accepted Christ at age 7 but an unfortunate experience with his parents on the mission field left him bitter towards God, he said.

When the tornado struck, the man and his wife got in their bathtub. The storm damaged the tub but spared the couple. During the tornado, the man who hadn’t prayed in four decades asked the Lord to forgive him. “He told us he said, ‘Lord, if you want to take me, please take me fast and easy. But if you don’t, I’ll turn to you from now on,’” Wayne Barber stated.

“He was ready to share the Lord. He was so glad we had come by. He could not wait to share his story with us.”

Wayne said he also got to pray with an 83-year-old biker known for being cantankerous. The biker and his wife sought refuge in a closet during the May 20 tornado. “Their home was totally destroyed and they were under all of the debris,” Wayne Barber said. A neighbor rescued the couple.

He asked the crusty gentleman about his faith.

“He said that when he was 21 years old, he had accepted Christ as his savior but he never read his Bible and had never gone to church. He had never worshiped God or served him until now. We gave him a Bible and he was excited about that,” Wayne Barber said.

“He may have already been a Christian, but he is a stronger Christian today,” Wayne remarked. “He was proud of his new Bible; he was protecting that.”

The words of one tornado victim, a middle-aged believer who had also survived the 1999 tornado that devastated Moore, inspired Ann Barber, who said the couple lost everything then and again this time.

The two-time victim’s response of faith was simply this: “I feel fresh and renewed. It’s like being saved. The past is washed away and we are going to start afresh and anew and not worry about all the things we have lost,” Ann Barber explained in quoting the woman.

“We also prayed with a lot of the policemen who were there,” Ann Barber said. “Quite a few told us they were Christians. They said, ‘I couldn’t do this job if I didn’t know Christ.’”

The Barbers haven’t been home much lately. They volunteered after the fertilizer plant explosion in West, assisting SBTC efforts to aid victims there. They spent a week at DR training before deploying to Oklahoma.

The couple even celebrated their 48^th wedding anniversary in Moore on May 28.

“Two people had accepted Christ that Monday.  We thought that was the greatest anniversary present we’d ever had,” Wayne Barber said.

SBTC DR teams were continuing their work with Baptist groups in the Moore area this week. Chaplains, clean-up/recovery and chainsaw teams have rotated in and out.

Meanwhile, the lights were back on at Southern Hills Baptist Church following Friday’s storm. The church held only one service on Sunday, but VBS began on Monday.