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NOVEMBER 2010 | Vol. 28, No. 11 | baptiststoday.org $3.95

Reading the Bible BillBill LeonardLeonard onon BaptistBaptist identityidentity differently pagepage 1010 JapaneseJapanese challengedchallenged AA conversationconversation withwith missionary’smissionary’s assumptionsassumptions LeonardLeonard SweetSweet pagepage 44 pagepage 3838 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 2 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 3

BAPTISTS TODAY NOVEMBER 2010 | Vol. 28 No. 11 John D. Pierce Executive Editor Baptists Today serves churches by providing a reliable source of unrestricted news coverage, thoughtful analysis [email protected] and inspiring features focusing on issues of importance to Baptist Christians. Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor [email protected] Julie Steele PERSPECTIVES Chief Operations Officer > Common challenges face church leadership ...... 7 [email protected] By John Pierce Tony W. Cartledge Contributing Editor > Realizing grace and truth ...... 8 An autonomous national [email protected] By Stephen N. Johnson Bruce T. Gourley Baptist news journal Online Editor > ‘Noisy’ Baptists continue debate over identity ...... 10 [email protected] By Bill J. Leonard Vickie Frayne Art Director > The ‘other’ was us ...... 16 By David T. Ngong Jannie Lister Office Assistant > When atheists and Baptists agree ...... 17 Walker Knight Jack U. Harwell By Rachel Held Evans Publisher Emeritus Editor Emeritus Board of Directors > My evil plan to overthrow church-membership practices...... 25 Gary F. Eubanks, Marietta, Ga. (chairman) By Amy Butler Kelly L. Belcher, Spartanburg, S.C. (vice chair) > The ‘myth’ of a Christian nation...... 26 Z. Allen Abbott, Peachtree City, Ga. By James A. Rudin Jimmy R. Allen, Big Canoe, Ga. Nannette Avery, Signal Mountain, Tenn. > Embracing the radiant center ...... 27 Thomas E. Boland, Alpharetta, Ga. By Leroy Seat Huey Bridgman, Columbus, Ga. Mary Jane Cardwell, Waycross, Ga. Robert Cates, Rome, Ga. Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. IN THE NEWS Photo by John Pierce. Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. Long-time missionaries to > Who are the Baptists? ...... 12 Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. Japan, Calvin and Harriett David Currie, San Angelo, Texas By Tony W. Cartledge James M. Dunn, Winston-Salem, N.C. Parker, live in Mars Hill, N.C., R. Kirby Godsey, Macon, Ga. > Baptist historian affirms individual conscience ...... 13 where Calvin continues to William B. Greenhaw, Macon, Ga. > Young Christians seek community among the poor ...... 14 write insightful books. Ben Gross, Chattanooga, Tenn. Story on page 4 Leslie D. Hill, Lexington, Ky. > Unbelievers know the most about belief ...... 15 Michael M. Massar, Tyler, Texas J. Thomas McAfee, Macon, Ga. > Keithen Tucker completing service with Baptists Today ...... 24 Michael G. Queen, Wilmington, N.C. Lee Royal, Greensboro, N.C. > Civil-rights advocate Mac Bryan remembered ...... 24 Mary Etta Sanders, Dalton, Ga. Charles Schaible, Macon, Ga. > Muslims ask: When will blame game end? ...... 30 Macon Sheppard, Folly Beach, S.C. Walter B. Shurden, Macon, Ga. > Top religion reporting, Gus Niebuhr honored...... 31 Charlotte Cook Smith, Raleigh, N.C. David M. Smith, Houston, Texas > Mormon president says church needs more missionaries ....31 Leo Thorne, Valley Forge, Pa. Sarah Timmerman, Cairo, Ga. > Empty pews at Sunday evening services ...... 32 David Turner, Richmond, Va. Heaven’s Rain Clement H. White, St. Petersburg, Fla. Winnie V. Williams, Seneca, S.C. FEATURES A story of pain and Baptists Today (ISSN 1072-7787) > Spirituality, consumerism mingle at Meyer conference...... 33 forgiveness is published monthly by: Baptists Today > ‘What would Andy do?’ ...... 35 P.O. Box 6318 > Dedicated following keeps shape-note singing alive ...... 37 Macon, GA 31208-6318 34 | Subscription rates: > Reading the signs: A conversation with Leonard Sweet ...... 38 1 year, $20 2 years, $35 1 year groups of 25 or more, $18 1 year groups of less than 25, $20 1 year Canada, $35 1 year foreign, $50 IN EVERY ISSUE Periodical postage paid at Macon, Ga. 31208 and additional mailing offices Quotation Remarks 6 Classifieds 23 POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: Editorial 7 Lighter Side 28 Baptists Today P.O. Box 6318 ChurchWorks! 18 Reblog 29 Macon, GA 31208-6318 Bible Studies 19 Media Shelf 34 © 2010 Baptists Today. All rights reserved. In the Know 23

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FEATURE STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOHN PIERCE Reading the Bible differently

The Japanese challenged Calvin Parker’s assumptions

MARS HILL, N.C. — Calvin Parker’s latest book, The Good Book Is Better Than It Used To Be: Eighty Years with the Bible, is fairly small but not a lightweight. It is an honest rendering of one bright Baptist’s mind and heart about Holy Scripture and the most challenging issues facing Christians today.

he scholarly missionary to Japan (1951-1989) said his extensive experi- T ence in East Asia significantly changed the way he views the Bible. “They challenged a lot of my assump- tions,” Parker said of his 38 years of living, worshipping and learning among the Japanese people. “They helped me realize that my Western way of thinking unduly Friends in Japan ship a favorite treat to long-time missionaries, Calvin and Harriett Parker, who influenced my reading of the Bible.” have lived in the mountains of North Carolina since 1989. Parker said he arrived in Japan with an Aristotelian logic that assumed “if A is Arguments such as the one Baptists with his wife of 62 years, Harriett, has called greater than B, and B is greater than C, then often engage in over the “inerrancy” of the the mountain setting of Mars Hill, N.C., A is greater than C.” That was not the Bible hold little interest for Parker, he said. home since 1989, said he has never been Japanese way of thinking, he learned quickly. The so-called “domino theory” — that if one aggressive in trying to change the minds of Although he had studied Latin, Greek minor point in the biblical text is inaccurate others. and Hebrew, Parker said his “breakthrough” then the whole gospel truth might fall — is “My calling to is to be a Christian wit- came when he began to think and dream in tied to an old way of thinking for him. ness,” said Parker. “I’m not an activist like Japanese. “Inerrancy once made sense to me,” said some of my friends.” “The language affects how you do Parker, who was ordained to ministry by the However, Parker does have strong opin- logic,” said Parker. “The Japanese can’t First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., in ions about how some people use — or, in his possibly interpret the Bible as we do.” 1947, “[but] it no longer makes sense to me.” opinion, misuse — the Bible to justify partic- Parker said his early experiences in Japan But Parker said he avoids the discussion ular causes such as the invasion of Iraq and turned his mind from a rational approach to since “there’s not much room for compro- the subjugation of women. logic based on Greek philosophy to a rela- mise.” “If that’s the kind of mind you’ve got, “It is a Good Book if used in a good tional model based on biblical thought. That, then that’s the kind you’ve got.” way,” said Parker. “I want to put in a good in turn, impacted his approach to Scripture. The soft-spoken missionary who, along word for it.”

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FEATURE

LEARNING ABROAD TELLING STORIES prison for threatening a grocer. Yet he was fired by the American Baptist Missionary While some people may think of missions in For those who cannot experience Japanese Union after just one year. terms of exporting truth, and often Western life firsthand, Parker has several varied and “He never was able to overcome his culture, Parker said he learned a great deal insightful books that are available at temper,” said Parker. “He really hurt the about faith and ministry from those with www.amazon.com. (Search for “F. Calvin missionary cause in one sense.” whom he worked in Japan — in addition to Parker.”) However, Goble did translate the a different approach to interpreting the For example, his book, Christ in a Gospel of Matthew into Japanese — the first Bible. Kimono: Christian Beliefs in Japanese Dress Bible translation. And he, unlike some early “They taught me to be more tolerant of (2003), gives insight into how the Christian missionaries, adapted Japanese architecture other people’s views,” he said. gospel is understood and takes hold in to churches rather than using Western styles. He credits Japan Baptist Convention Japan. Parker, who studied Goble’s life and leader Shuichi Matsumura with teaching “I was so infatuated with Japanese cul- influence for 14 years, said, “He had a lot of him to “put people to work in the church ture,” said Parker of his interest in writing insights but his character was always in and then win them to Christ.” An American this book and of finding ways to connect the question.” approach to logical persuasion is ineffective, gospel story to the daily lives of the Japanese Parker has also written a book about he said. The first step in reaching a person is people. the first Japanese Baptist convert — known to create a family for them. “In my preaching, I tried to use as “Sam Patch” — who was brought to New “You cannot talk these people into Japanese illustrations and Japanese commen- York by Goble and baptized. being Christians,” he said. “You have to taries,” said Parker. “Using these sources Parker has also written and published a expose them to it over a long period of helped me see that I could cast a light on the biography of his wife: Hallelujah Hale: The time.” gospel by showing how it fit into their Story of Harriett Hale Parker, Missionary to Parker said he also discovered Christian world.” values and behaviors in those who did not He has also written a groundbreaking Japan (2009). profess to be Christians. For example, he biography of Jonathan Goble, the first A NEW HOME said the Japanese judicial system is based on American Baptist missionary to Japan whose showing mercy and redeeming someone. As influence was wide including being credited Floridian Calvin Parker and his Tennessean a result, a smaller percentage goes to prison. with inventing the rickshaw. Parker first wife settled into the small, college town of Japanese Baptists also gave Parker a new learned of Goble in a missions class at Mars Hill, outside Asheville, N.C., after perspective on the role of women in church Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. retiring as missionaries 21 years ago. He had leadership that he had not experienced back “If I’m going to be a missionary to never been there before. home. Japan,” Parker recalled thinking as a semi- They are active members of Mars Hill “In the first service we attended in narian, “then I should know more about the Baptist Church — “which has some out- Tokyo in 1951, the offering was taken up by first Baptist missionary to Japan.” standing women ministers,” he noted. four women and the prayer was offered by That quest became a long and deep The mountain setting is similar to one of them,” Parker recalled. “I’d not seen one. He discovered that little had been writ- where they lived in Japan, and thanks to that before.” ten about Goble — and used his first three modern technology they keep up with many He was also surprised to discover that furloughs from the mission field to do Japanese friends. Some even ship their this Baptist church had women serving as research including time spent at Harvard favorite snacks to them. deacons and that the male-dominated and the University of Tennessee as well as in After a 12-year battle with cancer, church leadership he had experienced at New York State where Goble had been Parker has given up preaching but still home was not worldwide. raised. teaches Sunday school. He thought his book “In seminary [in Japan], I taught many Parker picked up the work of an unfin- on the Good Book would be his last, due to women who became outstanding pastors,” ished biography and eventually gave his first health concerns, but is not sure now if he said. lecture on the controversial mission pioneer. something else might come to print. So one can imagine the alarm Japanese “That established me as an authority on Whether or not more writings follow, Baptists and the longtime Southern Baptist Goble,” he said with a smile. Parker has provided a wide-ranging collec- missionaries there felt, he said, when James His book, Jonathan Goble of Japan: tion of books about the Bible, the gospel it Merritt, president of the Southern Baptist Marine, Missionary, Maverick, was pub- contains, and those who have sought to Convention in 2000-2002, visited Japan and lished in 1989 and is aimed more toward share it in different times and cultures. told women pastors that God could not call American readers, he said. In Japan, Goble is And he remains a strong advocate for them without “contradicting his Word.” famous for his part as a Marine in the 1853 the Bible, which he said is best understood Also, Parker said he and other Baptists Perry Expedition. Goble’s journal was not as a life jacket rather than a straight jacket. in Japan discovered great benefits in working confiscated by Perry — and his recordings “We need not abandon it any more with Christians of other denominations. made front-page news in Japan. than we need to abandon God,” he writes in “It has been a great, great experience,” Parker gives an honest appraisal of the closing chapter of his book. “We only he said of their long missionary service in Goble who was converted to Christianity need to read it with spiritual discernment, to Japan. and affirmed a call to missions while in distinguish the gold from the dross.” BT

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PERSPECTIVE quotation remarks

“It’s a little like giving Lindsay Lohan “I don’t want to write a book, and I “It’s incredibly sad that so many the Women’s Christian Temperance don’t want to start a“ movement after Christians place such a” huge focus Union’s ‘Woman of the Year Award.’” my name. I just want to get this on the physical and the external, as —Communications Director Joe Conn of Americans done.” though whether you’re up on your United for Separation of Church and State on the —Kevin Ezell who left a Louisville pastorate to feet is the definitive evidence of Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious become president of the troubled Southern Baptist whether or not your faith is strong.” Liberty Commission presenting its John Leland North American Mission Board —Disability advocate and artist Joni Eareckson Award to Alan Sears who directs the Alliance (The Christian Index) Tada, a quadriplegic who is being treated for breast Defense Fund (The Wall of Separation blog) cancer, on those who connect physical challenges to some hidden sin or lack of faith (RNS) “We have done a perverse “Idlewild has always maintained the highest safety standards in all our twist on the old saying, “When a breakdown of trust and church activities.” ‘What is good for General empathy has occurred in science, —Brian McDougall, executive associate pastor of Motors is good for America’ religion, or some other realm, a new Tampa’s Idlewild Baptist Church, to the Tampa and unwelcome character often and tend to act as if ‘What’s Tribune, after a Florida jury ordered the church to appears on the scene in the form of pay $4.75 million to a young man injured as a teen good for America is good the fanatic.” on a 2003 youth ski trip (ABP) for God.’” —Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, in Building Cultures of —Davis Byrd, architect and theologian, “Part of the cost of doing ministry in Trust (2010, Eerdmans Publishing) in Living by the Word of God a dangerous world is preventing, (2010, Parson’s Porch Books) minimizing and preparing for these “The movement for religious liberty threats — that is, risk management.” would succeed in America because “We believe that people have the —Baptist minister Phill Martin of the inter- evangelicals, rationalists, and deists denominational National Association of Church freedom to worship and to express fought for it together.” their faith and to have houses of wor- Business Administration on helping ministry leaders —Thomas S. Kidd, associate professor of history to foresee potential for liability, injury, abuse and ship in the places where they live.” and senior fellow at the Institute for Studies of theft that places congregations at risk (ABP) —Southern Baptist ethics leader Richard Land Religion at Baylor University, in God of Liberty: A speaking in support of “victimized” Muslims Religious History of the American Revolution “Background checks do not predict seeking to build a new mosque in (2010, Basic Books) the future or expose harmful behav- Murfreesboro, Tenn. (ABP) iors from individuals who have never “If the average Southern Baptist been caught. But checks can help “Local officials may also need to be knew that only about 19 cents of organizations learn of volunteers or reminded that the fact that some every dollar winds up on the inter- employees who have documented have committed terrorist acts in the national mission field, I believe they criminal pasts.” name of a faith is not a justification too would feel a need for a radical —Jennie Taylor of LifeWay Christian Resources, for denying others who claim that reprioritizing of missions giving.” which has found more than 600 felony offenses since faith their free exercise rights.” —Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant the Southern Baptist publishing arm began offering —Melissa Rogers, director of Wake Forest Divinity Wright of Marietta, Ga., whose church directly discounted criminal-background checks to churches School’s Center for Religion and Public Affairs funds international missions, on the allocation of and other organizations in 2008 (ABP) (Report from the Capital) Cooperative Program funding (Baptist Press)

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PERSPECTIVE editorial Common challenges face church leadership By John Pierce

highly respected and long-tenured to pastoral ministry are revealed in the ordi- Duplication of the past is neither possible pastor called to talk about some of nation and interview processes. Completely nor probably desired. A the issues he was facing in leading different questions are being asked of minis- Never underestimate the creativity his good and healthy congregation. He said ters and potential ministers than in the past, within a congregation to shape new chal- pastoral ministry had never been more chal- he said. lenges into effective ministry opportunities. lenging — with issues on the table that were He recalled his own experience with an And, despite the many cultural shifts and not imagined earlier in his career. ordination council some 30 years ago when hot-button issues, ultimately, most church This effective pastoral leader wanted to he was asked about his members still want to know that God and know if the challenges being encountered by views on Christian theol- God’s people are there for them in their his congregation were unique to their setting. ogy and the church’s greatest times of need. He mentioned financial issues — ordinances. Now, he said, And in the fast-moving, often-uncaring especially as they related to budgeting for prospective ministers — culture that swirls outside the church walls congregational needs and determining the for ordination or a new there exists a greater need for Christian com- best course for supporting missions beyond church calling — are passion and community than at any point in the church. Then he wondered aloud about quizzed about more divi- most of our lifetimes. Therefore, the church’s addressing staff concerns: how many and sive issues such abortion, unique mission to nurture faith and fellow- what kind of ministries need professional homosexuality and worship style preferences. ship — despite all odds — deserves our best leadership over volunteers? In such cases, there is rarely an answer that attention. BT Worship planning, facilities maintenance suffices. and use, changing demographics, and com- So, along with many other challenges of peting factors in the community and other church leadership today, ministers are being subjects were added to the informal list as pushed onto an obstacle course of controver- I want to our phone conversation unfolded. And after a sial and highly emotional issues to be subscribe today sigh, he mentioned that a new, high-tech, navigated. It is easy to get tripped up by high-energy community church on the edge those expecting only answers that align with Please fill out this form and return it to Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208- of town was pulling members from every their own politics and theology. 6318, or call 1-877-752-5658. congregation around regardless of denomina- In many church settings, it is not tional affiliation. enough to provide pastoral care, administer I have enclosed a check in the amount This seasoned and gifted Christian the church business effectively and offer bibli- of $ ______leader did not sound defeated, just perplexed cally based, relevant messages on Sunday Name ______by the multitude of “stuff” piling up on the morning. Pastoral leaders are often expected pastor’s desk. Then he asked: “Do you know to carry the water for those whose personal Address ______if other churches are dealing with these “cause” dominates all else in their lives. ______issues?” Indeed, church leadership today comes City ______State _____ “Yes,” I responded quickly and with a with many challenges. Yet few are unique to soft, hopefully reassuring laugh. “Just about any one congregation. Zip ______every church I’m aware of is dealing with Lay leaders do well when they acknowl- Phone (______) ______those same issues.” edge — in the ministers’ hearing — that Email ______Whether or not that acknowledgement their work is not easy in these changing times created any comfort, I don’t know. Perhaps and assure them that they are not being held Church ______ministry loves company. to an unfair standard based on a time when print subscription With no doubt or hesitation, one can people and money flowed more freely. ❏ 1 year $20; ❏ 2 years $35 affirm that church leadership is very challeng- Yet, despite the many new challenges, all ing today. Expectations are higher, and church leadership — clergy and laity alike — online subscription competition — though we don’t often name needs to be reminded that the work being ❏ 1 year $15; ❏ 2 years $25 it as such — is stronger. done is unique in purpose and highly needed. Another experienced pastor commented These new challenges to congregational min- to me about how some of the new challenges istry can be faced with faith and optimism. November 2010 • Baptists Today | 7 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 8

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Editor’s note: This is the 11th in a yearlong series of articles on “Healthy ministers for healthy churches,” produced in partnership with the Center for Congregational Health and supported by a gift from Henry V. Langford. Realizing grace and truth By Stephen N. Johnson

It may appear a truism — not to seen God at any time; the only begotten think they can barge into our church just as God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he they are and fraternize with the good people. mention arrogant — to say that has explained him” (John 1:17-18). No WWJD bracelet for “them”! both ministers and congrega- For John, Jesus “explained” God to us, This is why “… young people are quick and what he “explained” is that — above all to point out they believe that Christianity tions need to understand the else — God is a God of “grace and truth.” is no longer as Jesus intended. It is un- gospel of the grace of God. This is the good news the church is to Christian,” according to Kinnaman’s embody in the world. But is the grace and research. Perhaps it’s not as axiomatic as truth of Jesus the message of the church In 1517 the church had forsaken the it seems. today? simple truth of the gospel of God’s amazing Not according to the latest research. grace, and Martin Luther called the church ldous Huxley wrote in The Perennial The Barna Group’s president, David to reformation. Have we done so again, and Philosophy that familiarity with Kinnaman, in his groundbreaking book is it time for a new Reformation? A Scripture can lead to “a reverential unChristian, reveals The church must again embody the insensibility, a stupor of the spirit, an inward “that Christians are best truth and grace of Jesus Christ, the message deafness to the meaning of the sacred words.” known for what they are of God’s unconditional love, forgiveness of The sacred word “grace” has fallen vic- against. They are per- all sin and acceptance for all humanity. tim to “a reverential insensibility, a stupor of ceived as being How can the church today effectively the spirit, an inward deafness to the mean- judgmental, anti- communicate the truth and grace of Jesus? ing.” We sing about grace, use it in sermons, homosexual, and too First, grace means that the love of God even hear it in secular conversation. political.” is unconditional. God does not love us if or Do we, however, understand how radi- The same year when or but or however. God loves us cal, how outlandish, how amazing grace unChristian was published (2007) the period. truly is? Baptist State Convention of North Carolina There is nothing we can do to cause Nothing will bring health to both voted to expel a church from its membership God to love us more; there is nothing we ministers and congregations like a clear because that church welcomed gay and les- can do to cause God to love us less. Love is understanding of the nature of New bian persons. The same thing occurred a few God’s character, not a response to our Testament grace revealed through the life years earlier in my home state of Georgia. performance. and ministry of Jesus Christ. There can be no question for those who After a lifetime of contemplating the The church is “the body of Christ” — know the Jesus of the four Gospels that he life and ministry of Jesus, John wrote the Paul’s favorite metaphor for the church. Just would have welcomed and dined with them, most profound statement in the Bible: “God as Jesus is God incarnate in this world, so but not the Baptist conventions of North is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). the church is Christ incarnate in this world. Carolina and Georgia. These are not isolated The greatest ministry the church can As such, the church is to embody Christ in instances of the church rejecting those have is to embody the grace of God — God’s the world. It has no other reason to exist. whom Jesus would accept. unconditional love to everyone. To tighten In a world fractured by wars, crime, What message does the church of Jesus the screws even more, this must include radi- violence, social upheaval, political acrimony, Christ send to the world — or for that mat- cal Islamic terrorists (Remember Jesus saying economic recession and ecological disasters, ter to those in the pew — when it rejects the something about loving our enemies?) and does the church have anything worthwhile very persons Jesus welcomed and for whom any others with whom we radically disagree. to offer? It does: God’s grace. he died? There can be no exceptions. John concludes the prologue to his We may sing with fervor “Amazing Second, the church is commissioned to gospel with these words: “For the law was Grace,” but we let many persons know that proclaim the gospel of grace, not to given through Moses; grace and truth were we expect them to clean up their act before enforce the public morality. The public, the realized through Jesus Christ. No man has we clasp them to our bosom. They needn’t politicians and often the church don’t get

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this. They expect the church to regularly threaten the population with sanctions tem- poral and eternal; it helps keep people in line. When the church, however, sees as its primary task the proclamation and enforce- ment of laws, the gospel is always lost in the process. The message of the church becomes “thou shalt not” rather than “your sins have been forgiven.” As Kinnaman documents in his book, unChristian, the church today is known for what it is against, not for the gospel. Both pulpit and pew need a renaissance of the Good News. Third, take sin seriously, but take grace more seriously. How serious is sin? Look at the cross. Then look again; because, according to the Apostle Paul, Jesus has “forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out (“erased, obliterated”) the … debt … and has taken it out of the way (“born clear away;” perfect tense: results are abiding), having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). God resolved all issues with us and our sin in Christ on the cross. We are forever forgiven. Jesus didn’t come to make us non- sinners (if so, he failed); he came to tell us that we are forgiven sinners. This is outrageous, of course, but this is the “truth and grace” of the gospel. FIVE GOOD WAYS When the church does not grasp the rad- ical nature of God’s grace, it has nothing to to support Baptists Today offer the world that cannot be offered as well or better by others. Its salt has become taste- Subscribe for a friend Make a three-year pledge to the less and is good for nothing but to be cast out, or two, and we’ll get Keystone Fund to support the which, according to Kinnaman, is pretty much 1 the subscriptions 2 ongoing ministry of Baptists what the majority of young people and young going right away. Today, a 501(c)3 non-profit adults (ages 16-29) are doing with the church. organization. The church must once again grasp and embody pure grace, unalloyed with cultural Make a gift of $450 or more to expectations and ecclesiastical traditions. create a group subscription Encourage your church When it again takes possession of the out- for your church or another to include the First 3 congregation. Freedoms Project that landish truths of God’s grace, it has a pearl 4 equally supports three without price: the power of God that can First Amendment-focused transform human hearts. Consider making Baptists Today national ministries — Associated The church — and no other entity in the a part of your estate planning Baptist Press, the Baptist Joint world — has been called to embody, proclaim to ensure an autonomous and Committee for Religious Liberty and dispense the transforming grace of God. 5 unrestricted news voice and Baptists Today news journal The church has no other reason to exist. BT continues into the future. — in the annual budget.

—Steve Johnson is a veteran pastor who FOR INFORMATION on doing any or all of the above, contact currently serves as president of Reformation Julie Steele at 478-301-5655 or [email protected]. Ministries, Inc., based in Macon, Ga. He can be reached at [email protected].

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PERSPECTIVE BY BILL J. LEONARD Constructing confessions ‘Noisy’ Baptists continue centuries-old debate over identity

“Very noisy.” That’s the way the •Biblical authority and liberty of con- From the beginning, Baptists have main- science. Perhaps the genius of the Baptists is tained contradictory theologies inside a set of 18th-century Virginia Baptist the idea that the people can be trusted to common beliefs and practices. interpret Scripture aright in the context of pastor John Leland described community, under the guidance of the Holy • Religious liberty and loyalty to the state. the activities of the revivalistic Spirit. A believers’ church is the foundation of the Baptist affirmation of freedom of conscience Separate Baptists of his day. • Priesthood of all believers within a com- and religious liberty. Faith must remain unco- munity of faith. Baptists affirmed Martin erced by state or state-privileged religion. e was right. Indeed, “very noisy” Luther’s idea that “we have no priest save God alone is judge of conscience. may be an appropriate designa- Christ himself,” that each person may come Baptists long affirmed their citizenship, tion for much of Baptists’ directly to Christ for salvation. Such faith was but reserved the right to dissent should the H 400-year history. confirmed in the community of believers, the state require an obedience that contradicted Given the current loss of denominational church. Early on, new converts were required faith and conscience. The separation of identity and the increasing disengagement of to testify to their experience of grace, which church and state is centered on the necessity many persons from religious communities, was then voted on by the congregation. of religious freedom for orthodox believer, we might even celebrate the fact that many heretic and atheist alike. Baptists remain passionate about ideas and • Congregational autonomy and associa- issues that both unite and divide. Recent tional cooperation. Baptists insisted that the • Inevitably confessional and selectively divisions over confessional statements for the authority of Christ was creedal. Many 17th-century Baptist groups Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North mediated through the wrote confessions of faith to describe their Carolina illustrate the passions that are believing community. views on Christian doctrine and Baptist prin- evoked in continuing conversations. (See Each congregation is ciples. Other groups have drafted similar related story on page 13.) responsible for the direc- documents across the years, often differing on Differences over Baptist identity were tion of its ministry and how to apply such confessions. there from the beginning. While the earliest the extension of its Some use them to set boundaries of faith Baptists quickly developed a shared set of dis- Christian identity. and practice; others see them as guides for tinguishing marks, they often disagreed over Yet congregational shaping Baptist identity. Some hesitate to use the boundaries of their broad spectrum of autonomy did not mean them at all lest they convey an authority beliefs. independence. Early Baptists soon formed beyond Scripture or substitute doctrinal The Baptist movement began in 1609 associations of churches for spiritual fellow- assent for a personal experience of grace. amid the religious upheavals that included ship, doctrinal mediation and interchurch Others suggest that Baptist tradition is Puritans, Separatists, Independents, cooperation. “confessional, not creedal,” meaning that Anabaptists, Levellers, Ranters and other confessions are guides to beliefs while creeds sectarians. They were second-generation • Theological diversity and contradiction. are imposed — a clear interference with free- Protestants, born almost a century after Baptists share many common doctrines and dom of conscience. Most Baptist groups find Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses practices: Believers’ church, baptismal immer- ways to articulate basic beliefs, sometimes on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. sion, congregational polity, associational pressing certain doctrines in ways that seem From their passionate commitment to a cooperation and religious liberty. Yet their decisively creedal. believers’ church — the belief that all who theological diversity is extensive. claimed membership in the body of Christ Historically, General and Free Will CONTINUING SIGNS should attest to an experience of grace — Baptists stress Christ’s death for all persons OF DIVERSITY early Baptists created a spectrum of ideas that (a general atonement) and the “cooperation” Even the briefest survey of contemporary at best were balanced by congregations and of saving grace and individual free will in the Baptist confessions of faith reveals the continu- individuals, and at worst fostered continuing process of salvation. Particular and Primitive ing diversity of such documents in content and debate, even schism. Baptists emphasize election and predestina- interpretation. I am currently completing work tion, insisting that Christ’s death applies only on a new edition of William L. Lumpkin’s clas- The continuum of Baptist identity includes to the elect, chosen by God before the foun- sic work, Baptist Confessions of Faith, the last the following: dation of the world. edition of which was published in 1969.

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PERSPECTIVE

The publisher, Judson Press, asked me to “Perhaps the genius of the • How will confessional documents be used add an additional chapter that includes more by Baptist groups, churches and individu- recent documents. For example: Baptists is the idea that the als? • What kind of dissent would be possible for • The Confession of the Nigerian Baptist people can be trusted to inter- those who disagree with certain elements of Convention details basic Christian doctrine pret Scripture aright in the any confession? with extensive emphasis on the “Spirit-filled • Who would adjudicate differences of opin- Life,” Satan, Demons and “Deliverance” — context of community, under the ion? issues that are significant in Nigerian culture. • What options might be available for guidance of the Holy Spirit.” remaining in cooperation amid sincere dif- • The Baptist Union of Southern Africa uses ferences between confessional identity and a 1924 confession with 11 statements on personal conscience? classic Christian doctrine. A sentence added • The Evangelic Baptist Church Partage • What is the relationship between conscience in 2000 reads: “That God has ordained mar- (Sharing) in Perpignan, France, a member of and civility of discourse? Can differing riage as a heterosexual relationship between a the Federation of Evangelical Baptist approaches to common identity be pursued natural man and a natural woman.” Churches in France, begins its confessional without the language of suspicion or accu- In 1987 the Union added a “Statement statement by noting that historically, Baptists sation? of Baptist Principles,” including priesthood “link themselves in the tradition that goes of all believers, lordship of Christ, congrega- back to the Apostles and that in the course of Like their “noisy” forebears, 21st-century tional autonomy, believer’s baptism and time has stressed the primitive faith as it is Baptists face the challenge of saying what religious liberty. expressed in the Scriptures, in terms of the they believe and then living out those beliefs renewal of the Spirit (Middle Ages), of the individually and communally. When confes- • In 2001 the Japan Baptist Union approved a Reformation (XVI and XVII centuries) and sions won’t hold, Baptists may even follow brief statement of basic doctrine on God, the missionary effort (XVIII and XIX their ancestors in another well-known Baptist Church, salvation and Scripture that concludes centuries).” tradition: multiplying by dividing. BT with these “additional remarks”: “The Japan The church’s confession ends with the Baptist Union is a body which respects the inde- Apostles’ Creed, the only confession I have —Bill J. Leonard teaches church history pendence of each local church. Therefore, this found that uses a historic creed in its official at Wake Forest Divinity School where Declaration of Faith does not intend to limit the document. autonomy of local churches. We pray that the local churches, by sharing this Declaration, will • The Baptist World Alliance has used the confirm for each other what JBU stands for and Apostles’ Creed in worship services, but not where it is going, and that the fellowship among in its confession of faith. That document — churches will be deepened.” approved at the Baptist World Congress in Birmingham, England, in 2005 — surveys • The Preamble to the Statement of Faith of traditional dogmas related to Christian and the Hong Kong Baptist Seminary describes Baptist ideals. the use of confessions of faith, noting that, It concludes: “Now, at this centenary “Historically Baptists have opposed creeds, gathering these things we declare, affirm and but have through the years issued a number covenant to the Lord Jesus Christ and to each of confessions of faith. The basic purpose of other, believing the truth found in Him and a confession of faith is to express what one revealed in the Scriptures. We, recognising group of Baptists believes at a given time… that this is a partial and incomplete confes- Individual freedom and congregational sion of faith, boldly declare that we believe church government lie at the heart of this the truth is found in Jesus Christ as revealed refusal to impose an external authority.” in the Holy Scriptures. Because we have faith and trust in Him so we resolve to proclaim • The Baptist Bible Fellowship and demonstrate that faith to all the world.” International, a group connected with Independent Baptist churches, has a lengthy Contemporary confessions clearly demon- confession of faith that contains this state- strate similarities and differences among ment on the nature of Scripture: “By ‘The 21st-century Baptist groups. As Baptists write Holy Bible’ we mean that collection of sixty- and utilize confessions, questions abound: six books, from Genesis to Revelation, which, as originally written does not only contain • What types of confessional statements are and convey the Word of God, but IS the very needed to clarify Baptist identity in a post- Word of God.” modern era?

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INFORMATION STORY AND PHOTO BY TONY CARTLEDGE, Contributing Editor Who are the Baptists? Nagaland:the most Baptist place on earth

Two hundred years ago, the Naga tribes living in the northeast corner of what later would become India would not have seemed likely candidates for the gospel: they had a reputation as fierce headhunters who expected young men to prove their courage by venturing out and returning with the decapitated head of an enemy for display in the village skull house.

hen American missionaries came to Nagaland, however, they won W the trust of the Nagas and found them surprisingly receptive to the gospel mes- sage. Although Baptist converts were baptized as early as 1847, significant efforts did not begin until 1868, with the arrival of Edwin Clark and his wife. The Clarks’ focus on learning the Naga language and culture enabled them to make significant inroads in evangelism, a task the Nagas quickly took upon themselves. Although the number of foreign missionar- ies remained small, indigenous preachers spread the gospel throughout the tribes and villages. The groundswell of faith resulted in a majority of the population coming to faith in Christ. By 2001, according to census figures A choir from Nagaland sings during the 2010 Baptist World Congress in Honolulu this summer. published by the Indian government, 90 per- cent of Nagaland’s 1.98 million residents was halted and the building dismantled. An Nagaland that have caused considerable were Christian, and about 75 percent of them official with the Nagaland Baptist Church bloodshed. BWA representatives and other were Baptists, giving Nagaland a higher con- Council said responsibility lay with the U.S. Baptists recently participated in helping centration of Baptists than any state in the Anatangre Village Council rather than with to broker a peace accord signed by leaders of world, including those in the southern U.S. Baptists. three rival factions on Sept. 18. Baptists became so predominant that Baptists have long sought to promote The Nagaland Baptist Church Council is some town councils adopted ordinances peace among armed political factions in an active member of the Baptist World declaring that only Baptist churches could be Alliance (BWA), reporting 484,174 members built. That policy came to light in July 2010 in 1,400 churches. A men’s choir from when Naga Baptists were accused of anti- Editor’s note: This is the second in a series Nagaland was among the featured performers Catholic bigotry after construction of a of articles introducing readers to member groups during the 2010 Baptist World Congress in Catholic church in the village of Anatangre of the global Baptist family. Honolulu, Hawaii. BT

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BY BOB ALLEN, Associated Baptist Press INFORMATION ‘Recurring themes’ Baptist historians group affirms ‘individual conscience’

ATLANTA — A group of Baptist century share a distinct identity that arises from common and still relevant historical historians that meets annually to themes in our four centuries of existence.” read and discuss early Baptist The statement said this year’s study of writings endorsed a statement selections from 17th-century English Baptist writings particularly affirmed “the role of indi- Sept. 27 affirming the role of indi- vidual conscience, especially when voluntary vidual conscience in Baptist life. faith was threatened with coercion or compul- sion.” ourteen members of the “Baptist The foundation for all the Baptist princi- Classics Seminar” group cited “broad ples they enumerated, the scholars said, was and recurring themes” found in orig- “the belief that the Bible alone, neither creeds F inal Baptist sources written between nor tradition, is the authority for religious 1610 and today. faith and practice.” Those affirmations include, according to a “In our tradition we find both the per- Bruce Gourley, executive document released by the group: “believer’s director of the Baptist sonal and communal elements of biblical faith; baptism, personal ‘heart’ experience of God, History & Heritage Society we find a believer’s church that preserves a the priesthood of all believers, personal and place for unfettered individual conscience,” the communal devotion to God, a commitment to religious freedom with language from the scholars said. the church as the body of Christ, the autonomy Apostles’ Creed, an early statement of The historians renewed their commit- of each local church, congregational polity, the Christian beliefs used for liturgical and ment to “the vibrant Baptist witness of regular practice of ordinances (baptism/Lord’s teaching purposes in a number of Christian freedom that is responsive to the authoritative Supper), voluntary cooperation among denominations. Scriptures and under the Lordship of Christ” churches, and strong voices for religious liberty Members of the task force proposing the and to “the relevance of Baptist identity for and the separation of church and state.” new North Carolina document say the intent the 21st century.” “We believe these themes are still relevant is not to abandon principles of individual free- Endorsing the statement were Sheri and should continue to inform our Baptist dom, which are articulated in values shared by Adams of Gardner-Webb University’s School heritage and witness,” the statement said. the national and state CBF, but rather to iden- of Divinity, Loyd Allen of Mercer University’s Bruce Gourley, executive director of the tify Baptists not only by what separates them McAfee School of Theology, Rosalie Beck of Baptist History & Heritage Society, said in a from other Christians but also by what they Baylor University, Jimmy Byrd of Vanderbilt background statement compiled in consulta- hold in common with the larger church. University, Pam Durso of Baptist Women in tion with three other members that the group Critics of the proposed changes say the Ministry, Jerry Faught of Oklahoma Baptist frequently shares its findings with the larger North Carolina statement tilts toward a University, Gourley, Carol Holcomb of the Baptist community through classrooms, “Bapto-Catholic” school of thought drawn University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Glenn preaching and teaching in local churches, from the writings of a few early English Jonas of Campbell University, Sandy Martin of publications and other venues. Baptists. Scholars articulated the view in a the University of Georgia, Rob Nash of the This year, a controversy over proposed “Baptist Manifesto” in 1997 that affirmed Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Brent Walker changes to foundational documents of the Bible study in “reading communities” rather of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North than relying on private interpretation and Liberty, Doug Weaver of Baylor and Mark Carolina “made us realize just how important following Jesus “as a call to shared discipleship Wilson of Auburn University. our studies are to the larger Baptist commu- rather than invoking a theory of soul compe- Later signatories to the document include nity,” Gourley said. tency.” Baptist historians Walter B. Shurden, Bill The North Carolina CBF is currently While “not a direct rebuttal” of the Leonard, Glenn Hinson and Leon McBeth. holding listening sessions about a proposed “Baptist Manifesto” movement, Gourley said The full statement can be found at statement that replaces references to Baptist his group’s statement is “a reminder to the http://www.baptisthistory.org/bhhs/ concepts like the priesthood of believers and Baptist world that we as Baptists of the 21st affirmationbaptisttheme.html. BT

The historians renewed their commitment to “the vibrant Baptist witness of freedom that is responsive to the authoritative Scriptures and under the Lordship of Christ.” November 2010 • Baptists Today | 13 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 14

INFORMATION BY STEVE BEAVEN, Religion News Service Young Christians seek intentional community among poor persons

RESHAM, Ore. — In the two years They wanted to dive in, 24/7. Barberry Village is not an easy place to raise a since David Knepprath and Josh With guidance from a nonprofit called family. There’s no playground equipment, G Guisinger moved into the rough- Compassion Connect, they moved with and Jenn doesn’t always feel safe. and-tumble Barberry Village complex, roughly friends into an apartment, putting two sets of “Sometimes,” Dan said, “my wife doesn’t a dozen young Christian men and women bunk beds in one room and using the other want to walk by the main entrance when have made Barberry Village their home. two bedrooms as an office and a closet. there’s a dozen scruffy-looking guys out there.” Their goal: Create a sense of community Still, they remained outsiders who could Guisinger hasn’t been bothered by the in a chaotic neighborhood overrun with live in almost any neighborhood they chose. crime. He previously worked in street min- drugs, prostitution and gangs. They had to strike a delicate balance; they istry and, when he was a kid, his parents Their work mirrors, in some ways, the didn’t want to come on too strong and alien- invited in strangers who needed help. Living “new monasticism” movement, in which ate their neighbors. among the poor, however, was something Christians move into urban or rural areas to So while they were open about their he’d never experienced. work with the poor. Christianity, they didn’t plunge into conversa- “I wondered if I would be able to It’s not an easy way to live. Some neigh- tions about their faith. Nor did they move in relate,” he said. “I grew up in a wealthy fam- bors have been suspicious. Safety is an acting as if they could solve the social ills at ily; I never lacked a meal or insurance or ongoing concern. And some of these urban Barberry Village. anything like that.” missionaries have burned out on a project “We were very conscious of that,” said Knepprath lived at the complex after he that can be a 24-hour-a-day burden. Knepprath, who has since moved out but got married but moved recently to be closer Yet they’ve been so successful that other remains active in the ministry. “Our perspec- to his job. Guisinger and his friend Jared complex owners have asked them to replicate tive from the start was that we’re not here Simons now have two new roommates. Even their efforts. Congregations have volunteered with all the solutions, or even thinking we after nearly two years, Guisinger has no plans their services. A woman from Virginia is know all the problems.” to move. moving to the Portland area so she can do So they walked door to door, handing Instead of staying holed up in their similar work in another neighborhood. out chocolate-chip cookies. A letter explained apartments, neighbors now go outside and Now, at least once a month, churches their purpose and faith. They invited resi- get to know one another. They invite each cook meals for the residents at Barberry dents to the first community meal. other over for dinner. It’s more like a neigh- Village. In early August, children were invited A few people shut the door in their borhood than an anonymous apartment to a three-day Bible camp. faces. One guy answered with a Taser gun. complex. Guisinger and Knepprath and their But others accepted the cookies in the spirit Jesse Danner, a former heroin and friends have also helped people move. they were offered, and the first seeds of cocaine addict who’s been clean for three They’ve thrown birthday parties for neigh- friendship were sown. years, arrived in April 2009 with his wife and bors. And they cleaned up one woman’s It’s not unusual for Christians to move their children. flooded apartment. into impoverished areas to work with the He was worried about moving into the Police officers are still dispatched to poor. But movements like new monasticism complex, given its reputation. But he met Barberry Village on a regular basis, sometimes have gained momentum in recent years. Knepprath and Guisinger when they invited more than once a day. But many neighbors Dan Brunner, who teaches Christian his- his family for a community meal. Later, say the complex is safer, friendlier and better tory at George Fox University, is part of a new Danner’s wife started going to church and for children. A former manager called the monastic community in Portland. Members was baptized on a camping trip. Now Danner young men and women a “godsend.” tend to be young and left-leaning, Brunner goes to church, too. “I hope they continue to do this,” said said. Some don’t work with churches at all. One day last October, Knepprath came Eugenia Swartout, who lives at the complex “Most of the ones I know are pretty over and asked Danner for some help with a with her family. “It gives us some safety and active in their communities,” Brunner said. computer. They walked across the parking lot security knowing there are kind people out “They want to cooperate with local churches.” to a friend’s place. But Knepprath didn’t here and not just bad guys.” Dan Johnson moved into Barberry really need help. In the beginning, it was just a group of Village with his wife, Jenn, and their infant “They actually threw a birthday party guys sitting around and talking about their son in early 2000. They needed an inexpen- for me,” Danner said. “It’s the only one I’ve faith. Knepprath and Guisinger were buddies sive apartment because Dan works for ever had.” BT in their early 20s, looking to create a ministry himself, and were intrigued by the work that that went beyond church walls. Knepprath and Guisinger had started. —Steve Beaven writes for They didn’t want to dabble, though. The couple now has two children. But The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.

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BY ADELLE BANKS, Religion News Service INFORMATION Unbelievers know the most about belief WASHINGTON — Who can best The average number of questions answer questions about religion answered correctly by different in America? Based on a new groups (out of 32 total) was: survey released Sept. 28 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, it’s your atheist or agnostic neighbor, followed by the Jew or Mormon down the street.

significant percentage — four in 10 — of Roman Catholics did not A know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used at Communion become the body and blood of Jesus during Mass. The survey also found that graduates of private schools did better than students in public schools, but religious school gradu- were raised in a faith, including three- That total includes an oversample of ates didn’t fare any better in their ability to quarters who were reared as Christians. Mormons, Jews and nonbelievers. Smith answer questions about the Bible, world Mormons’ high levels of religious said the high number of correct responses religions or the role of religion in public life. knowledge can be credited to four years of from those groups was not due to the over- “Our survey certainly shows that there early-morning classes in the Bible, the sample. Those additional interviews helped are lots of things that Americans do know Book of Mormon, and Mormon church ensure a reliable analysis of groups that about religion — most Americans have a history during high school, said Terryl account for a small share of the overall certain familiarity with the Bible for Givens, a professor of literature and reli- population. instance,” said Greg Smith, a senior gion at the University of Richmond. Stephen Prothero, author of Religious researcher at the Pew Forum. “But, at the Likewise, Jews have a strong emphasis Literacy: What Every American Needs to same time, there are important things that on education, he said. Know — And Doesn’t, said the findings people don’t know as well.” “I think probably as with Mormons, reflect Americans’ tenuous grasp on the Overall, agnostics and atheists, Jews Jews have learned that in order to operate world’s religions, preventing them from and Mormons scored the best on a quiz of ... effectively within a larger dominant cul- having significant interfaith conversations. 32 questions — from citing the first book ture, one has to be bilingual ... in their “Yes, there is a kind of ‘Jeopardy’ quality of the Bible (Genesis) to naming a preacher own and the host culture,” said Givens, to this,” said Prothero, a religion professor at from the First Great Awakening (Jonathan author of several books about Mormons. Boston University who consulted on the sur- Edwards). Most Americans are somewhat familiar vey. “But I think these kinds of simple David Silverman, president of the with the Bible, Smith said, but responses questions indicate the deficit that we have as group American Atheists, said he wasn’t to the poll’s nonbiblical questions reveal a a country in understanding the religions of surprised that atheists answered more ques- lack of knowledge on certain traditional the world and our own religions.” tions correctly than others, and hopes the beliefs. For example, just 16 percent cor- Although the average respondent findings will help people realize that athe- rectly said that Protestants — not answered just half of the answers correctly, ists understand the religious beliefs that Catholics — have taught that salvation researchers opted not to give anyone an they reject. comes through faith alone. “F” or an “A.” “It certainly underscores the fact that The poll results were based on tele- “It’s not as if the American public has atheists are not atheists due to ignorance,” phone interviews with 3,412 adults taken a semester-long religion course and he said. nationwide between May 19 and June 6, are now being tested on topics with which In fact, Smith said, eight in 10 of the with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 they should be familiar,” Smith said. atheists and agnostics polled in the survey percentage points. “That’s why we don’t assign grades.” BT

Mormons’ high levels of religious knowledge can be credited to four years of early-morning classes in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Mormon church history during high school.

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PERSPECTIVE guest commentary The ‘other’ was us By David T. Ngong

eidou Ibrahim, Mohammad Ibrahim, “Growing up, my understanding of Growing up, my understanding of what Adamu Ibrahim. These are the names it meant to be ecumenical was not limited to what it meant to be ecumenical was S of my cousins, or more appropriately, dialogue with other Christians who we my brothers. not limited to dialogue with other thought were wrong about what they My mother’s younger sister, Mero, who I Christians who we thought were believed; it included living in harmony call mother, not aunt, married a man from with the African traditionalists, Muslims, our village who converted to Islam. So I grew wrong about what they believed; it and those of other faiths and ideological up living together with siblings who were included living in harmony with the commitments. Muslims. In my experience, difference has been We ate together and slept in the same African traditionalists, Muslims, emphasized by politicians or those in power beds when we were growing up. While I read and those of other faiths and for their own benefit. It has been used to gar- the Bible and prayed to God through Christ, ner support from one group of people against Adamu and Seidu, with whom I spent much ideological commitments.” other groups for purposes of power. time, read the Quran and prayed five times a So Paul Biya, President of Cameroon, day to Allah. pits his Beti people against other people in I do not remember not grow up in a home where we feared the the country. Osama Bin Ladin pits some that the table was a par- “other.” I grew up in a home where we ate, Muslims against other Muslims and a ticularly important place slept and played with the “other.” homogenous West. Tutsis are pitted against around which we did Perhaps this was because the “other” was Hutus and vice versa in Rwanda. Some community. In fact, we us. My father was an African traditionalist Christian preachers pit the West against Islam did not regularly eat at who never became a Christian. My mother and vice versa. Men are pitted against women tables. was, and still is, a Baptist Christian. and vice versa. Baptists are pitted against Sometimes we sat My cousins such as Adamu and Seidou Catholics, and so on and so forth. on the floor in a circle were Muslims. Perhaps it is easier to believe I do not want to give the impression with the food in the middle for all to share; that the “other” is you when you are so close that I grew up in a paradise where difference sometimes we sat on short stools beside each to the “other.” made no difference. Rather, I want to say other as we ate. My interaction with the “other” at home that I grew up where we knew that in order There was one table at home, and that was reinforced by what was going on in our to live with ourselves we needed to live with was our father’s table. Children were not society in general. Many Cameroonians lived the “other.” In fact, the “other” was us. BT allowed to eat on Father’s table. As the head with relatives who belonged to different ideo- of the house, Father had the table to himself. logical and religious persuasions. —David Ngong, from Cameroon, teaches To eat at Father’s table was presumptuous — The first president of Cameroon, African Studies and Religion at declaring oneself to be heir when Father was Amadou Ahidjo, was a Muslim. The prime Baylor University. He shared this message still alive. minister, who is the current president, Paul at Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, So my reflection is not so much about Biya, was a Roman Catholic. The end of during “Table Talk,” a time in the worship table fellowship as it is about fellowship with Ramadan, just like Christmas, is celebrated as service when a member shares about the the “other.” To put the matter bluntly, I did a public holiday in Cameroon. value of table fellowship.

Baptist News, Baptist Views BAPTISTS TODAY online An autonomous national Baptist news journal www.baptiststoday.org

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PERSPECTIVE guest commentary When atheists and Baptists agree By Rachel Held Evans

believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that When it comes to science, atheists Mohler would be wise to consider the the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old. words of St. Augustine, who, (centuries before and Baptists have remarkably I This position routinely puts me at odds anyone had heard of common descent), said with two groups of people — atheists and similar worldviews: Both have this of his interpretation of Genesis: “In mat- Baptists. arrived at the conclusion that ters that are so obscure and far beyond our In fact, over the past few months I’ve vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages been criticized by both Ken Ham (the Baptist accepting the science behind which can be interpreted in very different ways behind the Creation Museum) and Hemant evolutionary theory will inevitably without prejudice to the faith we have Mehta (the atheist behind the Friendly Atheist received. In such cases, we should not rush in blog) for urging the evangelical community to render Christianity extinct. headlong and so firmly take our stand on one adopt a more nuanced approach to the evolu- side that, if further progress in the search for tion/creation debate. Both wanted me to give truth justly undermines this position, we too something up — Ham, my belief in evolution; liked to tell the story of how, as a sophomore fall with it.” Mehta, my belief in God. in high school, he had dreams of becoming a By the grace of God, I found this quote That’s because when it comes to science, scientist but could not reconcile the theory of before my faith completely fell apart. However, atheists and Baptists have remarkably similar evolution with the creation account found in many of my peers did not. They believed the worldviews: Both have arrived at the conclu- Genesis. So one night, he took a pair of scis- Baptists and the atheists and made the choice sion that accepting the science behind sors and a newly purchased Bible and began that their intellectual integrity demanded. evolutionary theory will inevitably render cutting out every verse They left the faith. Christianity extinct. As a result, one group has he believed would have If Mohler wants to see a new generation essentially made a religion out of naturalism, to be removed to believe of evangelicals survive to carry on the tradi- while the other has avoided serious considera- in evolution. tion, he’s got to stop presenting evolution as tion of the scientific data. By the time he was incompatible with Christianity. He’s got to While not all Baptists are young-Earth finished, he said he make room in his theology for both an old creationists, one of their most esteemed leaders couldn’t even lift the earth and a loving God. recently took a strong stand on the issue. Bible without it falling He’s got to stop agreeing with the apart. That was when Responding to criticisms that he misrepre- atheists. BT sented Charles Darwin in a June 19 speech at he decided, “Either Scripture was true and the Ligonier Ministries conference, Albert evolution was wrong, or evolution was true —Rachel Held Evans is the author of Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist and I must toss out the Bible.” Evolving in Monkey Town, a memoir about Theological Seminary, declared on his blog That story had such a profound effect on growing up in Dayton, Tenn., home of the that “the theory of evolution is incompatible me that when I left the evangelical bubble and Scopes Monkey Trial. This commentary from with the Gospel of Jesus Christ even as it is in began studying evolution on my own, I nearly Associated Baptist Press is adapted from one direct conflict with any faithful reading of the lost my faith. From the fossil record and DNA that first appeared at On Faith, a website Scriptures.” sequences, to ice rings and biodiversity, I jointly sponsored by The Washington Post Mohler’s words were all too familiar to found the evidence in support of evolutionary and Newsweek. me. Growing up in the apologetics-driven theory compelling and reasonable — which, evangelical subculture of the ’80s and ’90s, I according to both the atheists and the Baptists, spent most of my life convinced that the meant I could no longer follow Jesus. Baptist News theory of evolution had been concocted by What leaders like Mohler fail to realize is godless scientists intent on undermining the that they are setting young Christians up for Baptist Views authority of Scripture. failure. They are inadvertently orchestrating We were locked in a battle with these the very exodus that they fear. In presenting BAPTISTS “enemies of the faith,” I learned. Only one faith and science as a choice, the Baptists have side could win, and if it wasn’t ours, the essentially conceded that the atheists are right TODAY Christian faith would be lost. after all — and, as a result, they are losing This idea was reinforced at my Christian some of the brightest young minds in college, where one of the science professors Christendom to a false dichotomy. 1-877-752-5658

November 2010 • Baptists Today | 17 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 18

RESOURCES 2010 Brought to you this month ChurchWorks! by Jeremy Colliver Good ideas for effective ministry Questions for transforming teens into leaders

sit behind our youth on Sunday morn- To help our youth learn to think of 3) “How do I know who I am?” ings and every time we sing the hymn leadership, and in the end to think about Establishing a sense of self while part of a I “We Are Called to be God’s People,” I their identity in Christ and their call, each group is always difficult, especially as a feel an extra tug as to how I am to represent year we pose six key questions to them. youth already struggling with self-identity. Christ to the youth with whom I minister. (These questions can be asked as part of a Thus, we challenge the group to create a As I look at them, I am reminded that they series or used as the basis for a retreat.) We yearbook to show how each person is too are continuously being called to be invite our freshmen and sophomores to focus connected through his/her uniqueness. God’s people and not the people the viral on these over the course of the school year. videos on YouTube or the me-centered We meet once a month as a large group 4) “Why do I need others?” commercialism are calling them to be. and then follow up with the youth individ- We all are connected, but sometimes we I constantly struggle with the best way ually as needed. Each month one of the need to know why we are connected and to minister to the youth. I’m attuned to questions is posed as a tension, and the what that means for our group. The chal- what other people are doing in their min- group wrestles with that tension until their lenge for this question is to create a group istries to weave the elements that will desired product is created. The sophomores covenant that reflects the importance of effectively work with the youth I am cur- help facilitate this process, honing some of these connections. rently called to serve. Through all this the leadership skills they developed in the weaving there has been one core thread — past year. 5) “Where do I come from?” Here are the six questions and and that is our model for leadership. Examining the foundations that have been challenges we present to the youth: Leadership has become one of the set, the question becomes: “Can I build buzzwords added to book titles, speakers’ from here or do I need to tear down some 1) “How do I experience God?” tag lines and blogs to grab people’s atten- stuff first?” To help members of the group The way in which we view God becomes tion. But of all the different aspects of learn about themselves, we challenge them the filter for living. But it is not only what leadership I have read about, there seems to to create or enhance an alumni youth we believe about God to be true, but also be something different about cultivating group. the way in which we experience the truth. leadership in people of the church. We challenge the youth individually to for- This difference comes to mind when mulate “I believe” statements and then 6) “When do I act?” reading Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 collectively to determine what they believe We are called to be. Being is not only exis- and when singing the first line of the hymn as a group. With the composite list they tence, but also activity. The challenge for mentioned above. The difference is that we create a representation of those beliefs that this question is to create a ministry event in all are called to be leaders in the body of may turn into a statement of declaration or which the group will invest time over the Christ. We are not called to be “the one” a work of art. next year. This becomes the basis for what who will lead all others to being followers the youth do in their sophomore year. of our way or what we espouse. Our head 2) “How am I equipped?” has already been established in Christ, and Sometimes the hardest thing is to deter- The leadership model that emerges is based we are called to lead others in continuing mine what our own gifts are because they on relationships and sometimes seems to be the creation of the Kingdom of God. The come naturally and do not seem “special.” more of an art than a science. It is about way we lead and where we lead may be Therefore, we present an activity that chal- empowerment and evoking the person God completely different, but each of us can lead lenges each person to determine how has created the youth to be. Our hope through the different gifts and talents with his/her gifts will be used to help facilitate through this model is that each person will which we have been blessed. the larger group’s activity. discover how he or she leads. BT

ChurchWorks! is provided by the Congregational Life office of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in partnership with Baptists Today and for those dedicated lay leaders working in the educational ministries of local churches. This month’s page was written by Jeremy Colliver, minister with youth at Faith Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ky. More ministry resources are available at www.thefellowship.info/News/subscribe and www.thefellowship.info/Resources/Church-Resources/Baptists-Today-resource-page.

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LESSONS FOR: Sunday, Nov. 28–Dec. 26, 2010

Written by Jason 2010 Loscuito, chaplain and director of religious life at Converse College in Bible Studies Spartanburg, S.C. These lessons follow the adult Formations studies from Smyth & Helwys Publishing www.helwys.com

Nov. 28, 2010 played in both the Senate chambers and the children of God through faith. As many of House of Representatives. At the end of the you as were baptized into Christ have Heirs according to interview Colbert asked Westmoreland to clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:25- “name the Ten Commandments.” After 27). the promise pausing for a few seconds the Congressman Baptism, not circumcision, marks one’s Galatians 3:23-28 began to recite some of the different com- membership in God’s family. It is through In February 2001, Alabama Supreme Court mandments. Ultimately, he could only recall baptism that we are clothed with Christ. Justice Roy Moore began making plans for a three of the Ten Commandments. At age 13, I was baptized at the First monument to the Ten Commandments, rea- Throughout the history of America, Baptist Church of Middleburg, Fla. It was a soning that the Alabama Supreme Court Christians have used the Ten Command- special event to me because my father was building required something grander than a ments as both a moral guide and as a wedge also baptized at the same time. I remember wooden plaque. His final design involved a issue in politics. While they are one impor- standing in the changing room, putting on 5,280-pound granite block, 3 feet wide by 3 tant piece of our Christian heritage that the white robe and trying to quell my anxi- feet deep by 4 feet tall, covered with quotes provide a strong moral foundation, they and ety. As I walked up the slippery stairs toward from the Declaration of Independence, the the other laws found in the Hebrew scrip- the pool, I saw my pastor reach out to take National Anthem, and various founding tures are inferior to the justification offered my hand. Standing in the pool, I could feel fathers. The crowning element would be two through the life, death and resurrection of the eyes of each person in the congregation Christ. large carved tablets inscribed with the Ten looking at us just as I could feel the pastor’s Reflect: What role do the Ten Commandments. High-grade granite from hand on my back. He asked me if I had Commandments play in your daily life? Vermont was ordered and shipped, and Judge decided to accept Jesus Christ as my personal In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Moore found benefactors and a sculptor to savior and Lord of my life. I responded that I Paul addressed a controversy that surrounded complete the job. had. He lowered me down into the cool the expansion of the Christian movement On the evening of July 31, 2001, despite water and brought me back up, washed some initial installation difficulties and con- into the Gentile community. The question anew. After the church service, my father and cerns regarding structural support for the arose among the Jewish-Christians as to I drove to the movie theater. As we got out monument’s weight, Moore had the com- whether or not the Gentile converts had to of the car and began walking across the park- pleted monument transported to the state undergo circumcision in order to be consid- ing lot, he turned to me and asked, “Do you judicial building and installed in the central ered true followers of Christ. Paul provided a feel any different?” It is a question that has rotunda. clear answer: challenged me since that day. The next morning, Moore held a press “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Reflect: Do you remember your baptism? conference in the central rotunda to unveil Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is Where did it take place? Who was present? the monument. In a speech following the justified not by the works of the law but unveiling, Moore declared, “Today a cry has through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have What did the minister say? What did your gone out across our land for the acknowledg- come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we family and friends tell you afterward? Did you ment of that God upon whom this nation might be justified by faith in Christ, and not feel any different? and our laws were founded. … May this day by doing the works of the law, because no As we begin the Advent season and mark the restoration of the moral foundation one will be justified by the works of the law” anticipate the arrival of the Christ child, let of law to our people and the return to the (Gal. 2:15-17). us all remember our baptism and decide that knowledge of God in our land.” Paul’s opponents were concerned with we will no longer be enslaved by those who Several years later Stephen Colbert, host who was and who was not a part of the call us to follow the laws that are chiseled of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy family. For them, circumcision was the dis- into the hard, lifeless granite, but rather let Central, interviewed Congressman Lynn tinguishing mark of one’s membership in us seek to follow the living and life-giving Westmoreland from Georgia’s 8th District. God’s family. Paul countered: “But now that Emmanuel, God with us, who set us free and Westmoreland co-sponsored a bill that would faith has come, we are no longer subject to a makes us “heirs according to the promise” require the Ten Commandments to be dis- disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all (Gal. 3:29).

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship provides these Bible study resources to church leaders through this supplement to Baptists Today. For more information on how CBF is “serving Christians and churches as they discover their God-given mission,” visit www.thefellowship.info or call 1-800-352-8741 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 20

BIBLE STUDIES

start a family of his own. I have to believe that God moved and worked behind the Dec. 5, 2010 Dec. 12, 2010 scenes in his life, just as God did in the life of In the fullness of time Jesus, to bring about the circumstances until He named him Jesus the time was right for Jesus’ birth. Galatians 4:1-7; Matthew 1:1-17 Reflect: Have you ever examined your Matthew 1:18-25 As I gaze at the black-and-white photograph, family genealogy? What surprised you about I have a recurring dream that infiltrates my he looks back at me with a slight grin on his the people you discovered? Is there anyone that sleep every now and then. There are times face, displaying the immense pride he felt. He you are proud of or ashamed of in your family when some of the details are different, but the is surrounded by his loved ones. His wife, son tree? theme always remains the same. The dream and daughter pose with him in front of the The writer of Matthew’s gospel was usually goes like this: truck he drove around the city collecting peo- addressing a Jewish-Christian audience, so he I am back at my high school in small- ple’s discards in hopes of finding a treasure. It understood the importance of beginning his town Florida but am my current age. Either I was a long way from that small village in book with Jesus’ genealogy. For first-century am at a football practice trying out for the Sicily. Jews, a genealogy was the way of remaining team or standing on the sidelines during a His story is not that unusual. The town connected with their ancestors and ensuring game waiting for the coach to call my name he grew up in didn’t offer him much of a the purity of their race, heritage and member- for a field goal attempt or a punt on fourth future. His older brother had already left for ship in the nation of Israel. By including down. The call never comes. I stand and the “Promised Land” — America — to find Jesus’ genealogy, Matthew shows that Jesus is watch, feeling foolish as the other players run work, so that he could send money back to the fulfillment of Israel’s purposes and hopes; through practice drills or make plays in the his family. Now it was his turn. Barely old that God’s purposes are inclusive, extending game, wondering why I am waiting to play a enough to shave, he made his way down to to men and women of all nations; that the high school football game as a 36-year-old. the docks and found a ship heading to New genealogy begins with Abraham and includes When I wake up, I replay portions of the York City. The letter from his brother was his women and Gentiles, those considered outside dream, trying to decipher a deeper meaning I map to a new life. It included instructions for the covenant; and that Jesus is the royal can apply to my current stage of life. I have him and names of people to look up once he Messiah. He describes Jesus as “the son of even shared this dream with colleagues and made it through customs. I wonder what David,” which makes him the royal heir to friends who claim to have experience in dream went through his mind as he peered over the the Davidic throne. interpretation, but have yet to hear a satisfac- railing and saw the lady standing in the har- He shows God as the hidden actor. God tory explanation for this recurring dream. bor, beckoning people to her shore? is active in the entire story from Abraham to Eighteen years ago, I was finishing my The customs official couldn’t speak Jesus, from the initial promise to the ultimate senior year in high school and had aspirations Italian, so he anglicized the last name to fulfillment of that promise. God works of playing football at the college level. I was Lemon and stamped his papers. He had a new through the ordinary lives of ordinary people recognized as one of the top players in our name to go along with his new country. He to bring into being the people of Israel repre- conference and received some letters of inter- met up with his brother in the Dakotas and sented by the descendents of Abraham. est from some Division III schools located in worked with him and the other immigrants The author of Matthew wants his readers remote parts of the country. I also decided laying railroad track for the empire spreading to understand that God originates and guides that God was calling me to prepare for voca- west. I don’t know how long he stayed there, the events of Jesus’ life within the context of tional ministry, so I met with my pastor and but he eventually made his way to Israel’s history. Jesus is God’s chosen agent mentor about the next steps I needed to take Mississippi. It was there that he fell in love who will manifest God’s saving presence in a in my life. My pastor encouraged me to visit with a woman who spoke no Italian, but they sinful, imperial world. The genealogy empha- his alma mater, Samford University, where I got married anyway, and were able to make sizes God’s purposes rather than Jesus’ could take classes that would prepare me for their marriage work for more than 50 years. biological connections by highlighting the vocational ministry and would also provide me He died when I was a boy. I have only a covenant relationship with Israel and putting with an opportunity to play football as a walk- few memories of him … the wooden barrels the birth of Jesus within the context of that on. I scheduled a visit and sent a highlight that contained his homemade wine he made covenant. film to the recruiting director. During my from grapes bought in Michigan and the The apostle Paul also reminds us that the visit, he encouraged me to walk-on and to smell of cigars that hung on his clothes. birth of Jesus opened the way for those outside participate in two-a-day football practice. Questions arise in my mind when I think of the covenant to “receive adoption as chil- I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the about the courage he had to have to board dren” of God (Gal. 4:6). Our adoption also team. My teammates were my community. We that ship so long ago. What if he had turned makes it possible for the spirit of Christ to practiced together, ate together and worked out back and gone home, content to live out his enter into hearts to cry, “Abba! Father!” together. It all came to a screeching halt for me life in that small village? Would I have reminding us that we are no longer slaves after our season was over, however. Our head existed? I am grateful that he did not turn under the law. Now we have a familial connec- coach called a team meeting to tell us he was back, but decided to board the ship and leave tion to God through our brother, Jesus the taking another coaching job at a Division I behind his family so that he could eventually Christ. school. Soon after the announcement was

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made, a new coaching staff arrived and we in that region of the world during that time. called a church, and a minister came from that began spring practice. I thought I had done a Jesus’ common name united him with humans church, and they went away together. good job during the spring practice, but the of this world. He is the eschatological deliverer There are people who would say, “See all new special teams coach informed me I was of the people of God who relinquished his the foolishness of those scholarly meetings? no longer needed on the team. I was shocked position of authority, humbled himself, took Anybody there probably couldn’t even answer and angry. I was convinced that it had been the form of a slave, and was born into human the woman’s question, ‘What must I do to be God’s plan for me to attend this specific uni- likeness, so that all humanity could be saved?’ All that stuff is nothing. What they versity, but now I was unsure if I even wanted redeemed back to God (see Phil. 2:5-7). He is need is just somebody to answer the question.” to come back in the fall. Emmanuel, the God who is with us. My response to that it is ‘phooey.’ That During the summer I worked a job and Reflect: What step(s) is God calling you to scholarly work is extremely important; other- practiced football in the late summer after- take? What barriers are holding you back? How wise the good ship Zion would be so covered noons. One day, as I was preparing for bed, I do you respond when you hear that God is with with barnacles of prejudice and sentimentality had an overwhelming sense that I needed to you? it’d sink! But somebody’s got to answer that focus on my classes and to prepare for voca- woman’s questions. In the church, you see, tional ministry. I decided to stop pursuing my both the critical community and the confess- Dec. 19, 2010 football dream and to listen to what I felt was ing, evangelizing community are extremely God’s call on my life. It wasn’t an easy deci- Where is the child? important. sion, and there are still times when I wonder what would have happened had I decided to Matthew 2:1-12 There are times when the church, like the join my teammates back on the practice field Fred Craddock relates the following experience Society of Biblical Literature meeting, can serve in mid-August. I am grateful, though, that in a collection titled Craddock Stories (Graves more as a barrier than as a conduit to those God is gracious and works with me as I and Ward, ed., Chalice Press, pp. 129-130): who are seeking Christ. Like the Magi, people attempt to make decisions that coincide with are searching for and asking, “Where is the God’s plan for my life. Years ago, near here in Los Angeles, the child who has been born King of the Jews?” Reflect: Do you have a recurring dream Society of Biblical Literature, scholars from all Reflect: What was it like the last time you that infiltrates your sleep on occasion? What is over the world, gathered and read papers to were a visitor at a church? Does your church your dream about? Do you think God is trying each other. I was present at the meeting. adequately welcome those who are seeking to communicate something through the dream? There were over 3,000 scholars from many Christ? What physical or cultural barriers has If so what? countries of the world. Between papers — and your church erected that insulate you from those Joseph had a tough decision to make. you can imagine the level of the papers, very who are different from you? What role does the Should he go through with his commitment detailed and working on little words and “critical community” and the “evangelizing to marry Mary, or should he divorce her phrases and all of that; it took a lot of energy community” play in your congregation? quietly so that she would not face the conse- to listen to the papers — I went for a coffee The Magi, or astrologers, traveled a great quence of death (Deut. 22:23-27)? He was break. I went down to the lobby of the hotel distance to Jerusalem so that they could wor- wrestling with a conflict of kingdoms. Joseph where we were meeting, and a woman, a ship the “King of the Jews.” Their arrival and was a “righteous man,” which means he did plain-dressed woman, I would guess her to be announcement about worshipping this new his best to follow the Mosaic Law. He could 40, came up to me and said, “Are you attend- king put Herod and all the residents of have easily gone to the priests and told them ing the meeting here of Bible people?” Jerusalem on edge because in Herod’s mind what had happened and they would have I said, “Yes.” there was now a viable threat to his kingdom. dragged Mary to the town gate and stoned her She said, “Can anyone come?” Like the Magi, those among us who seek to death. This was what the Law prescribed, I said, “Well, to some of the sessions, Christ may come from places and back- but Joseph did not obey the letter of the Law. yes.” grounds that put us on edge because they are While Joseph was fitfully sleeping, unsure “Well, I want to come.” different from us. The church must be aware of his decision, God sent a messenger into I said, “Why?” of the ways it sustains a certain cultural and Joseph’s dream, who said, “Joseph, Son of “I have walked the streets of Los Angeles socio-economic status that keeps people who David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your since I was 16 years old, selling myself. The do not fit at arm’s length and be intentional wife, for the child conceived in her is from the other night I caught my daughter, a teenager, about welcoming those who are seeking Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20). Those comforting beginning the same life. I would like to be a Christ. words, “Do not be afraid,” are the words we Christian.” She had a Bible, an old Bible with Caryll Houselander, an English laywoman need to hear when we are forced to make hard a zipper. mystic who lived through the ravages of World decisions in our own lives. They have the I couldn’t think of a session for her to War II, writes in A Child in Winter (Sheed power to help us move forward, even when we attend. I said, “Sit down,” and we sat down and Ward, p. 128): are unsure of the next step, because we know and drank coffee, and I unzipped her Bible — that God is with us each step of the way. it had not been unzipped I think — and read “God changes everything. God sends us The messenger instructed Joseph “to her some of it, and talked with her. We had a to where God wants us to be; among those name him Jesus.” This was a common name word of prayer. Then I went to a phone and whom God wishes to be among; to do that

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which God wishes to do in our lives. around us, machine guns trained: the tradi- the small child. “God brings to the Bethlehem of our lives tional ceremony. Three victims in chains — I imagine that the parents of the children those people to whom God wishes to show the and one of them, the little servant, the sad- who were slaughtered in and around Infant Christ in us; those who are to give us eyed angel. Bethlehem also questioned God: “How could something for him, just as God brought The SS seemed more preoccupied, more you have let this happen?” “Why did the angel whom he would to Bethlehem: animals, disturbed than usual. To hang a young boy in only warn Joseph and not other families?” angels, shepherds and kings. Unlikely people, front of thousands of spectators was no light “Why didn’t Mary and Joseph wake their proving that, though there are distinctions matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. neighbors and urge them to come with them between different kinds of people in the All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, to Egypt?” world, when they come into Christ’s presence almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw People ask difficult questions during there is to be no distinction, no selection; the its shadow over him. times of tragedy and unfortunately they are rich and the poor, the ignorant and the This time the Lagerkapo refused to act as often given glib, “biblical” explanations for learned, the laborer and the king, must kneel executioner. Three SS replaced him. why the tragedy befell them. Because many together to the Infant Christ. The three victims mounted together onto tragedies are beyond human understanding, it “With all the ingenuity and all the sincer- the chairs. is unwise to try and offer an explanation. It is ity in the world we cannot arrange our lives as The three necks were placed at the same better to patiently wait for a resolution even if God can to ensure that we give the Infant moment within the nooses. we don’t receive an answer during our lifetime. Jesus his necessity in us, not our goods or our ‘Long live liberty!” cried the two adults. In the foreword (pp x-xi) to Night thoughts of him, but ourselves. But the child was silent. Francois Mauriac, describes his meeting with “Our humanity is to clothe him. Our love ‘Where is God? Where is he?’ someone Wiesel and the difficulty he had in how to to be the four walls that shelter him. Our life behind me asked. respond to his story: to sustain him.” At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over. “And I, who believe that God is love, Reflect: Where is God calling you to go? Total silence throughout the camp. On what answer could I give my young ques- Who does God wish you to be among? What the horizon, the sun was setting. tioner, whose dark eyes still held the reflection does God wish to do in your life? ‘Bare your heads!’ yelled the head of of that angelic sadness which had appeared the camp. His voice was raucous. We were one day upon the face of the hanged child. weeping. What did I say to him? Did I speak of that Dec. 26, 2010 ‘Cover your heads!’ other Jew, his brother, who may have resem- A voice was heard Then the march past began. The two bled him — the Crucified, whose Cross had adults were no longer alive. Their tongues conquered the world? ... Zion, however, has in Ramah hung swollen, blue-tinged. But the third rope risen up again from the crematories and the was still moving; being so light, the child was charnel houses. The Jewish nation has been Matthew 2:13-23 still alive … resurrected from among its thousands of dead. In his book, Night (Bantan, pp 61-62), For more than half an hour he stayed It is through them that it lives again. We do Elie Wiesel recalls a horrible memory from the there, struggling between life and death, dying not know the worth of one single drop of time he spent as a prisoner at the Buna in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to blood, one single tear. All is grace. If the concentration camp: look him full in the face. He was still alive Eternal is the Eternal, the last word for each when I passed in front of him. His tongue was one of us belongs to Him. This is what I “One day when we came back from work, still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. should have told this Jewish child. But I could we saw three gallows rearing up in the assem- Behind me, I heard the same man asking: only embrace him, weeping.” bly place, three black crows. Roll call. SS all ‘Where is God now?’ And I heard a voice within me answer We are not called to explain evil. Rather, him: ‘Where is He? Here He is — He is hang- we are called to enter with empathy into the Baptist News ing here on the gallows … lives of those who have been harmed. By That night the soup tasted of corpses.” entering into another’s pain, we become the Baptist Views presence of Christ to them, even if we don’t The previous story and our text are not offer any words of comfort. Those who have BAPTISTS the traditional stories we tell during the suffered deeply often do not need explanations Christmas season, but they both serve as as much as they need compassion. TODAY poignant reminders that we are not immune Reflect: Recall a time when you experi- to tragedy and injustice. Ultimately, for enced a tragedy in your life. Who offered you An autonomous national Baptist news journal Wiesel, his experience in the concentration compassion? What did that person or persons camp caused him to stop believing in God. say or do for you that brought you comfort? Are For him, a loving God would not allow the you aware of someone who is living through a 1-877-752-5658 chosen people to be murdered at the hands of tragic event right now? How can you minister the Nazis. God died on the gallows along with to them during this dark time? BT

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CLASSIFIEDS

Senior Pastor: A historic, downtown CBF church Or, mail your résumé to: Minister of Christian in the in Kentucky’s capital city seeks a senior pastor to Education Search Committee, 1712 Willow Dr., lead a multigenerational congregation. The church Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Binkley Baptist Church is has an average Sunday school attendance of 170 affiliated with the American Baptist Churches know and an annual budget of $800,000. We are a very USA, American Baptist Churches of the South, The mission-oriented ministry. We operate a free Alliance of Baptists, the Association of Welcoming medical/dental clinic and clothes closet onsite in and Affirming Baptists, the Baptist Peace Keeping up with addition to a satellite mission center in Appalachia, Fellowship of North America, and the NC Council together serving hundreds in need each month. of Churches. Regardless of economic status, race, people, places, & events We practice traditional worship with a multi- age, political affiliation, national origin or sexual faceted music program and extensive programs orientation, all are welcome at Binkley. for all age groups. For more information, visit Bill Ireland is pastor of First Baptist Church www.fbcfrankfort.org. To apply, send résumé along with references by Jan. 15, 2011 to: Pastor Search Executive Director/Minister: The District of of Dalton, Ga., coming from the pastorate of Columbia Baptist Convention is seeking an execu- Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, Committee, First Baptist Church, 201 St. Clair St., Frankfort, KY 40601. tive director/minister to serve as the principal N.C. executive officer of the Convention administering all funds, programs, and ministries under the direc- Gerald Keown was named to the Bob D. Minister of Christian Education: Valuing the tion of the executive board and the executive importance of religious and spiritual formation, the committee. Applicants must be an ordained minis- Shepherd Chair of Biblical Studies at Gardner- Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church of Chapel ter with a degree from an accredited seminary, Webb University’s School of Divinity. He has Hill, N.C., seeks a minister of Christian education able to be an effective pastor to pastors with lis- served as Old Testament professor since 1996 to coordinate the church’s educational ministry. tening and coaching skills, and able to work with and as associate dean since 2006. Special emphasis is on ministry to children and all Convention affiliations and partners. For a families. The minister will be a full partner on the comprehensive list of the position qualifications Eric Spivey is pastor of First Baptist Church Binkley ministry team and will work with the and responsibilities, see www.dcbaptist.org/ Board of Christian Education and volunteer mem- ministry.php. Please send inquiries, letters of appli- of Cornelia, Ga. He previously served as asso- bers of the church. The position is currently funded cation and résumés by Nov. 30 to: Dr. Ella ciate pastor and minister of Christian at 4/5 time. Consequently, a creative and flexible Redfield, Chair, Search Committee, DC Baptist formation and missions at The Baptist Church schedule is encouraged and is to be negotiated at Convention, 1628 16th Street NW, Washington DC of Beaufort, S.C. the time of employment. For more information 20009, fax to (202) 667-8258, or email to about the church and the Christian education posi- [email protected]. Indicate tion, visit www.binkleychurch.org. Click on “Executive Director/Minister Applicant” in the Lucius Walker Jr., an American Baptist pastor Education Minister Search to submit your résumé. subject line. and activist, died on Sept. 7. Walker was per- haps best known for his opposition to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba. Baptists Today adds new directors ADVERTISE WITH By John Pierce University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where BAPTISTS TODAY he was a long-time chemistry professor and MACON, Ga. — Five new members of the department chairman. He is active in Board of Directors for Baptists Today, Inc. Chattanooga’s First Baptist Church. Print Display Ads began three-year terms in September. The Lee Royal, another active Baptist layman, Black-white / color autonomous, national news journal is guided was elected as a new director. He lives in • Back cover $2200 (color only) by a self-perpetuating board that is committed Greensboro, N.C., and is a lifetime honorary • Full page $1400 / $1800 to freedom of the press and historic Baptist trustee at Mars Hill College. He built an principles. expansive Manpower temporary employment • 2/3 page $1000 / $1325 Toni Clevenger, a lay leader in the First service franchise in the Carolinas before retire- • 1/2 page $775 / $1000 Baptist Church of Pensacola, Fla., returned to ment in 1986. • 1/3 page $500 /$ 650 the board. She is author of the church’s history Also joining the board is David Turner, • 1/4 page $375 / $500 and is active in various Baptist organizations pastor of Central Baptist Church in Richmond, • 1/6 page $250 / $325 including the Baptist History & Heritage Va. He was a member of the inaugural class Society. of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Print Classified Ads Jack Causey, retired pastor of the First Theology and currently serves on the national Baptist Church of Statesville, N.C., joined the coordinating council of the Cooperative Baptist • line: $1.50 per word board. Currently, he works with ministerial Fellowship. • 1/3 page: $450 placement through the Cooperative Baptist Three directors completed six years of • 1/6 page: $225 Fellowship of North Carolina and in mentor- service each on the Baptists Today board and ing younger ministers through the Center for were recognized: Ann Beane of Richmond, Va., Details, ad reservations: Congregation Health at North Carolina William Neal of Stone Mountain, Ga., and [email protected] Baptist Hospital. Ella Prichard of Corpus Christi, Texas. The board, which meets twice annually, currently 478-471-9274 Ben Gross was also elected to the board for the first time. He is retired from the has 33 members. BT

November 2010 • Baptists Today | 23 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 24

INFORMATION Keithen Tucker completing service with Baptists Today

MACON, Ga. — Keithen Tucker is leav- promote the work of this unique publica- ing his position with the autonomous news tion.” journal Baptists Today at yearend. He has Tucker, 59, described his work with served as director of development and Baptists Today as an “adventure in faith” in marketing since April 1, 2002. which he discovered great appreciation for A native of Albany, Ga., Tucker served honest reporting, editorial freedom and a as pastor of North Carolina churches for forum for exploring issues of importance to 22 years and then as church-relations direc- many Baptists. tor for Wingate University before joining “I have had the privilege and honor to the staff of Baptists Today. visit either in person or by phone so many “Keithen has the ability to strike up of the Baptists Today family,” said Tucker. good relationships by simply calling our “You have been a blessing, and I appreciate supporters and thanking them for their the support you have given to me and our gifts to Baptists Today,” said Executive organization.” Editor John Pierce. “He has also encour- Tucker was honored at a meeting of aged those who send a single gift to make a the Baptists Today Board of Directors on three-year pledge that sustains the ongoing Sept. 24 in Macon, Ga., where the news work of this news journal.” secure the news journal’s future. journal is based. Under Tucker’s leadership, two suc- “For many friends of Baptists Today, “I will miss the relationships I have cessful campaigns have been launched, an Keithen’s voice and face have become quite built and friends I have made as a represen- endowment fund has been established and familiar,” said Pierce. “His effusive person- tative of Baptists Today,” he said. “Thank several faithful supporters have included ality will be missed both in our office and you for allowing me to be a part of your Baptists Today in their estate planning to throughout the places he has traveled to lives over these many years.” BT

Long-time professor and civil-rights advocate Mac Bryan remembered

By Bob Allen religion and ethics. Often controversial and Voices in the Wilderness — subtitled Associated Baptist Press an agent of change, Bryan and others Twentieth Century Prophets Speak to the mounted a campaign to integrate Wake New Millennium — included Bryan’s auto- WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A long-time Forest in 1963. biographical reflections of his experiences Wake Forest University religion professor He also taught in South Africa — with five influential people he knew, includ- active in the Civil Rights Movement died where he was an early opponent of the ing Martin Luther King Jr. and Clarence Sept. 29. McLeod Bryan, 90, is being country’s segregationist apartheid regime — Jordan. remembered not only for his own work for and at the He wrote a total of 13 books, including peace and justice, but also for influencing International Baptist These Few Also Paid a Price, a compilation countless others through the years. Theological Seminary of testimonies of 30 Southern whites who “I’m always running into people who in Ruschlikon, participated in the Civil Rights Movement told me, ‘Your dad changed my life in Switzerland. juxtaposed with the white majority’s intense class,’” Bryan’s son, George, told the Like other out- opposition to any change in the racial status Winston-Salem Journal. spoken whites active in quo. The North Carolina native received a the Civil Rights Bryan is survived by his wife of 65 B.A. (1941) and M.A. (1944) from the Movement, Bryan was years, Edna, four children, eight grand- Mac Bryan school — then known as Wake Forest often vilified. His son children and two great-grandchildren. College — and a B.D. (1947) and Ph.D. said job opportunities were withheld, and A graveside service was held Oct. 1 at (1951) from Yale University. crosses were burned on his father’s lawn. Bryan’s boyhood church, New Bethel Bryan was pastor of Olivet Baptist In a preface to Bryan’s 1999 book, Baptist Church in Garner, N.C. A memorial Church in New Haven, Conn., from 1945 Voices in the Wilderness, author and fellow service was held Oct. 3 at Wake Forest until 1948. He taught at Mars Hill College white Baptist civil-rights advocate Will Baptist Church, where he was a member, in and Mercer University before joining the Campbell said Bryan “fits unquestionably Wait Chapel on the Wake Forest campus. religion department at Wake Forest in 1956. within the line of prophets.” Despite his Memorials may be made to the Bryan stayed at Wake Forest for 37 academic achievements, Campbell said, G. McLeod Bryan Caring Award at Mars years, championing racial justice and human Bryan always preferred to be called “Mac.” Hill College or Wake Forest University rights while teaching his students about Published by Mercer University Press, Public Engagement for Religion. BT

24 | Baptists Today • November 2010 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 25

GUEST COMMENTARY

Statement of Ownership, Management My evil plan to overthrow and Circulation 1. Publication title: Baptists Today 2. Publication number: 1072-7787 3. Filing date: Oct. 1, 2010 church-membership practices 4. Issue frequency: monthly 5. No. of issues published annually: 12 6. Annual subscription price: $20 U.S. By Amy Butler $35 Canadian $50 foreign 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: n the tradition of Jon Stewart and Stephen rolls every year. Yup. January 1, the church P.O. Box 6318 Macon, GA 31208-6318 Colbert, I would like here to officially membership number goes down to 0. You Contact person: Jackie Riley I announce the unveiling of my plan to over- heard me. Telephone: 478-301-5655 throw current church-membership practices. Then, as an act of worship, let’s all pub- 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: You heard me right. licly commit ourselves to church membership 988 1/2 Bond St. It’s not that this thinking is new to me; it for the year ahead — with full awareness that Macon, GA 31201 9. Full names and complete mailing address of publisher, editor and actually started long before that church council we are committing to the life of this commu- managing editor: meeting several years ago where the council nity in the ways I mentioned. And then, let’s Publisher: Baptists Today, Inc. P.O Box 6318 heatedly discussed whether or not people agree to hold each other accountable while we Macon, GA 31208-6318 should be erased from church membership if pray as hard as we can for God’s help. Editor: John D. Pierce Baptists Today they are dead. I am not so naïve that I don’t know this P.O. Box 6318 But every time I teach a new-member sort of membership pol- Macon, GA 31208-6318 class, fill in a form asking for church-member- icy may present some Managing Editor: Jackie B. Riley Baptists Today ship numbers, or approach the long-anticipated problems. For one thing, P.O. Box 6318 season of stewardship each year, I think about the number of delegates Macon, GA 31208-6318 10. Owner: Baptists Today, Inc. (nonprofit) this again … and again and again and again. that we can send to asso- P.O. Box 6318 And I officially declare that I am done ciational meetings is Macon, GA 31208-6318 thinking about it. It’s time to take some radical based on our member- Gary Eubanks (chairman) P.O. Box 1788 action. ship numbers. No matter Marietta, GA 30061 Here’s the thing: I have given this speech that we can never find Kelly Belcher (vice chair) 1055 Partridge Rd. innumerable times, to the point that our dea- enough people to go anyway, but I guess I Spartanburg, SC 29302 con chair once asked me to tone it down, as I could see how a reduction in our allowed John D. Pierce, (executive editor/corporate secretary) could be scaring people. representation might be ... sad? P.O. Box 6318 Macon, GA 31208-6318 I have written about this in the church And then, of course, if we publish accu- 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders newsletter so much, the editor is starting to rate membership numbers every year, all the owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: suggest new material. people out there who were under the impres- None I have even preached about this, as preach- sion that Calvary was a megachurch will know 12. Tax status: The purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax pur- ing is often good for addressing a captive the truth. poses has not changed during the preceding 12 months audience. Honestly, the only real objection I can 13. Publication title: Baptists Today Here’s what I say: In short, being a church think of is that a membership policy like this 14. Issue date for circulation data below: member means you show up regularly, in per- might prove unpopular with people who move September 2010 15. Extent and nature of circulation (average/Sept. 10) son at little events like, say, worship; you offer away but want to maintain their ties to this Total number of copies: *9,850 **9,450 your voice to the ongoing conversation of how specific church. I can see how this could be Paid and/or requested circulation we’re following Jesus around here; you give hard; it’s always hard to live through transition (1) Paid/requested outside-county mail subscriptions stated on Form 3541: *9,693 **9,284 your money (seriously, I think everybody and change. But if we define church member- (2) Paid in-county subscriptions stated on should tithe and I am not kidding); you com- ship as being present and invested, then we Form 3541: *— **— mit yourself to a personal discipline of faith, will have taught our people well if they move (3) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales and other non-USPS paid distribution: *— which means tending to your own spiritual away and find a new community of faith in **— health and praying for the health of this com- which to plant their lives. (4) Other classes mailed through the USPS: *— **— munity; and you actively help newer members Frankly, I would much rather be sending Total paid and/or requested circulation: *9,693**9,284 Free distribution by mail and visitors find their place here. out prophetic, committed Christians to other Outside-county as stated on Form 3541: *— **— As I always say, anybody can be a part of faith communities than have a super-inflated In-county as stated on Form 3541: *— **— our life together. Really, everyone is welcome membership number that is not reflected in Other classes mailed through the USPS: *— **— to participate. But I feel a conviction that the actual life of our community. Free distribution outside the mail: *100 **66 being a church member is a different thing So, that’s it: my secret plan to overthrow Total free distribution: *100 **66 Total distribution: 9,793**9,350 altogether. current church-membership policies. I think Copies not distributed: *57 **100 And after years of worrying about being it’s high time we shake things up a bit around Total: *9,850**9,450 too demanding of people, I am scared no here. Who’s in? BT Percent paid and/or requested circulation: *99% **99% longer. Church membership is a big deal, 16. Publication statement of ownership: Publication required. Will be printed in the November 2010 issue of this publication. because the health of our community, not to —Amy Butler, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church *Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months mention the work of following Jesus, is a big in Washington. D.C., blogs at talkwiththe- **No. copies of single issues published nearest to filing date deal, too. preacher.wordpress.com. This column is So here’s what I propose: Let’s clear the distributed by Associated Baptist Press.

November 2010 • Baptists Today | 25 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 26

PERSPECTIVE guest commentary The ‘myth’ of a Christian nation By James A. Rudin RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

The late Sen. Daniel Patrick some legal documents and diplomas. Legislature. There is not, however, any constitutional Thanks to the efforts of Jefferson and his Moynihan is credited with saying authorization for the establishment of any reli- allies, Henry’s tax legislation failed, and the that “everyone is entitled to their gion in the U.S. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. following year, 1786, the Legislature adopted Article Six rejects a “religious test” for public Jefferson’s Statute of Religious Freedom by a own opinions, but they are not office, and the First Amendment prohibits the vote of 74 to 20. entitled to their own facts.” establishment of religion while at the same The Statute has had an extraordinary time providing for its free exercise. influence upon American history for 225 ome leaders of the religious right There were demographic factors at work, years. It provided that: would have us believe that America as well. By 1776, the U.S. was already reli- “No man shall be compelled to frequent S was founded as a “Christian nation.” giously diverse, with several Protestant groups, or support any religious worship, place, or The facts, however, say otherwise. minority Catholic and ministry whatsoever ... nor shall otherwise suf- While the Founding Fathers, with their Jewish populations, and fer on account of his religious opinions or diverse Christian backgrounds, had every a large number of belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, opportunity to make the fledgling United African-American slaves, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in States into a “Christian nation,” the factual some of them Muslim. matters of religion, and that the same shall in record reveals they consciously refused to do so. James Madison, a no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil And it was not, as some opine, a mistake Presbyterian attorney capacities.” or an oversight. from Virginia and a Those are facts. And now my opinion: Their reasons were a combination of his- future president, pre- Had Henry’s church tax become law, it is tory, demography and the Founders’ shared dicted a “multiplicity of likely that other states would have followed belief that they were creating something sects” in the U.S., similar to diverse political Virginia’s lead and adopted similar measures. unique in the world. parties. We see now that Madison was, and Had that happened, it would have been a far They remembered the Church of remains, correct. different America for every citizen, whether England’s persecution of religious minorities, Even so, the question of whether the U.S. religiously identified or not. including the Pilgrims and Quakers. The would officially become a “Christian nation” A Henry victory in 1785 would have Founders were also haunted by the ghosts of was in doubt until a titanic struggle was waged made it much more difficult to write the Europe’s Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) when in Virginia between Thomas Jefferson and Constitution two years later without including huge numbers of Protestants and Catholics Patrick Henry in 1785. specific religious language and/or a provision killed each other in the name of God. Henry, the state’s governor and an to approve a church tax and an established The text of the Declaration of Anglican (today he’d be known as an state religion. Independence contains just four theological Episcopalian), wanted residents to pay a church Thanks to Jefferson’s victory in the references: “nature’s God,” “Creator,” tax to support religious institutions. Because of Virginia Legislature, that did not happen. It’s a “Supreme Judge of the world,” and “Divine Virginia’s population at the time, most taxes historical fact — not an opinion — worth Providence.” There is not a single specific would have gone to the Anglican Church. remembering. BT mention of either Jesus or Christianity. The Supporting the tax was John Marshall, another Declaration, reflecting the signatories’ collec- Anglican and a future Chief Justice. —Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish tive thinking, was carefully written and edited; Jefferson, who was also raised in the Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is words were included, or not, for a reason. Anglican tradition, strongly opposed the pro- the author of the forthcoming The U.S. Constitution, written in 1787, posal, and he enlisted Madison and Baptist Christians & Jews, Faith to Faith: has only this religious wording: “in the year of minister John Leland as allies in the bitter Tragic History, Promising Present, our Lord,” a common phrase still used on campaign to defeat the bill in the Virginia Fragile Future.

The U.S. Constitution, written in 1787, has only this religious wording: “in the year of our Lord,” a common phrase still used on some legal documents and diplomas.

26 | Baptists Today • November 2010 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 27

PERSPECTIVE guest commentary Embracing the radiant center By Leroy Seat

Are you a fundamentalist or a lib- I certainly agree with those who seek heat (passion and compassion) and light of to escape the “monster” called fundamen- the teachings of Jesus Christ and the gospel eral? Since either/or thinking is so talism. Still, I also see the danger of fleeing about Jesus.” It radiates out “to warm and common (most people seem to the threat on the right only to be gobbled enlighten everyone within its scope.” like simplicity), many seem to up by liberalism, the “monster” on the left. Proposing such an attractive center Those who seek to navigate the nar- position doesn’t mean that all other think that Christians are either fun- row channel between the two may well Christians will necessarily affirm such a damentalists (or at least narrow argue that the monster on one side is not stance or flock to it — although I hope as dreadful or as destructive as the monster more and more will. Those on the right, conservatives) or liberals. But this on the other. And some may see the mon- the rigid fundamentalists, will see the radi- is clearly a false dichotomy, so I sters as being so ant center as being too “liberal” and will unequal that they are criticize it for abandoning some basic advocate a position that is neither willing to risk being doctrines and/or emphases of their fundamentalist nor liberal. captured by the lesser understanding of Christianity. monster so as to not Those on the left will see that center y dislike for Christian funda- be devoured by the as being too conservative and will continue mentalism is fairly strong. In other. to advocate a position that is more in har- M fact, I wrote a whole book under But shouldn’t we mony with the ethos of secular humanism the title Fed Up with Fundamentalism. So, ardently try to escape than with the historic Christian faith. naturally, many people have assumed that I both the Scylla of fun- Being in the middle always opens one to am a liberal. Recently, one of my Facebook damentalism and the Charybdis of attacks from both the right and the left. “friends” referred to me as a “proud liberalism? But the radiant center is not a small or liberal.” While working on The Limits of limiting position. It is large enough to But does opposing fundamentalism Liberalism, I came across a delightful book include Christians with various emphases make one a liberal? I think not. by a dynamic, (relatively) young Methodist and understandings of the Christian faith. My recently published book is titled pastor. Adam Hamilton titled his book The radiant center doesn’t seek uniformity The Limits of Liberalism. In it I give exam- Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White. or unanimity. It realizes the vitality of hav- ples of several leading liberal theologians While I largely agree with the centrist ing different interpretations and the whose position, in my opinion, is an over- position Hamilton takes on most issues, I dynamism of constant dialogue. reaction to various problems within decided I did not like to talk about that The radiant center is the place where fundamentalism. Sometimes the opposite position as being gray. Generally, gray is those who reject fundamentalism as well as of fundamentalism is liberalism. not a very appealing color. those who recognize the limits of liberalism Opposition to fundamentalism, how- Perhaps, instead, we can seek a posi- meet. Among the many who congregate ever, doesn’t necessarily lead to liberalism. tion between the extremes of black and there are those who realize that one doesn’t There should be — and can be — a suit- white that is composed of brilliant blues, have to be a fundamentalist to be a good able stance in between. But that middle gorgeous greens and rousing reds. “Maybe Christian as well as those who understand position is not easy to find or to maintain. the future of Christianity does not have to that one doesn’t have to be a liberal to As is commonly known, in ancient be just some shade of gray, but a rainbow reject fundamentalism. Greek mythology Scylla and Charybdis of colors with many hues blending together were two sea monsters situated on opposite to produce a form of the faith that is more —Leroy Seat of Liberty, Mo., is a retired sides of the Strait of Messina between appealing than one that is black or white missionary to Japan. He is the author of Sicily and Italy. Those fearful monsters — or gray.” Fed Up with Fundamentalism: A Historical, were located close enough to each other So even though I like Hamilton’s posi- Theological, and Personal Appraisal of that they posed an inescapable threat to tion, and even though I found his reference Christian Fundamentalism (2007) and The sailors who sought to pass between them: to the “radical center” appealing, I decided Limits of Liberalism: A Historical, avoiding Scylla usually meant passing too to call the desired middle position the radi- Theological, and Personal Appraisal of closely to Charybdis and vice versa. ant center. That center “glows with the Christian Liberalism (2010).

November 2010 • Baptists Today | 27 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 28

PERSPECTIVE the lighter side The flag that doesn’t fly over Milton’s head By Brett Younger

n the Sunday before Veterans Day, statue of Mary on the communion table? “No, that’s ridiculous.” Milton was thinking about the flag The pastor could mention Reina, the “So you’re telling me that the absence of a O while his pastor was preaching about Japanese exchange student living with the flag over your bed isn’t an indication of your following Christ or commitment to God alone Petersons for a year. Reina’s parents are lack of patriotism.” or something like that. Why couldn’t they put Buddhist. What message will she get if there’s “No, of course not.” some bunting on the pulpit? Wouldn’t it be an American flag in the only Christian place of “Why do your refuse to put a flag over great to sing “I’m Proud to Be an American” worship she’s ever visited? If Baptists believe in your bed?” instead of the “Doxology”? What would be the the priesthood of every believer, doesn’t that Milton’s face was red, white and blue. “I harm in saying the Pledge of Allegiance include the believer who isn’t American? What don’t refuse to put a flag over my bed. It just together? does it mean if a flag in a church represents doesn’t belong there.” Milton thinks of himself as a war hero. only a portion of believers? Milton is a proud “Milton, I’m disappointed that you’re not He spent the last three months of the Korean graduate of the University of Georgia. Would more patriotic. A flag in your bedroom will War at Fort Benning, Ga., cooking breakfast he also like a UGA pennant in the sanctuary? tell everyone that you’re an American and — powdered eggs, grits, toast, sausage and, on What if the chair of deacons pushed for an proud of it.” Saturdays, pancakes. He lives in fear that peo- NC State banner? “Wait a second, pastor. You’re missing the ple will forget the sacrifices he made. The pastor could have raised any of these point.” Milton didn’t usually get in line to shake serious questions, but then the oddest thought “When you are in bed, the flag will remind the preacher’s hand, but he decided to hang popped into the pastor’s head and out of his you and Lucille that you’re not just committed around today. He listened as people offered the mouth before he could stop it: “Milton, do to each other, but also to the United States of usual comments: “I enjoyed the service,” “You you and Lucille have an American flag over America. I’m ready to pay for it.” really stepped on their toes today,” “Nice your bed?” “Just forget it. We’ll talk again on weather we’re having,” “Better luck next “What?” Memorial Day.” BT time.” “Is there an American flag pinned to the Most people tried to say something ceiling over your bed?” —Brett Younger is associate professor related to the sermon, but Milton had some- Milton was confused, “No.” of preaching at Mercer University’s McAfee thing important to get off his chest: “Pastor, “Is it because you don’t love our country?” School of Theology. we need a flag in our sanctuary. We need it now. I’m ready to pay for it. We need a flag to tell everyone who comes to our church that we’re Americans and proud of it.” The pastor’s mind races to possible responses. He could try to explain again that Baptists were founded on the ideal of the sepa- ration of church and state. For 400 years Baptists have refused to allow loyalty to any country to be on equal footing with loyalty to Christ. Milton had been around for a pretty significant portion of Baptist history. He should know this by now. The pastor could talk about the symbols at the front of their sanctuary — a commun- ion table, a baptistery, a Bible and a cross. Did any country’s flag — even their favorite coun- try’s — belong with the emblems of a faith that knows no borders? Milton loves NASCAR. Would he want a picture of Dale Earnhardt in the baptistery? Christians love Jesus’ mother. How would Milton feel about a 28 | Baptists Today • November 2010 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 29

REBLOG — Selections from recent blogs at BaptistsToday.org PERSPECTIVE

Of time and bus stops

By Tony W. Cartledge the same bus driver (Mr. Jinks Goldman) Posted Sept. 8, 2010 for the entire stretch. www.tonycartledge.com In my first-grade year (1956), the bus looked like something out of a cartoon. It t’s well before full daylight when was short and rounded, with big black ISamuel walks down to the bus stop fenders surrounding the narrow nose. It each morning about 6:20 a.m. When I was No. 6. A few years later, we got a follow a little later, giving the dog a new bus (No. 21), and shortly before I morning romp, Samuel and his com- graduated, yet another one (No. 26). patriots are quite a sight. We didn’t have to meet the bus Priests tire of Three boys wait at the same bus until 8:00 a.m., as school for all 12 stop, all high school freshmen, but they grades started at 8:25 a.m. and let out rarely say a word. Rather, each one at 3:15 p.m. If we were late getting out all-about-me stands or sits apart, earbuds in place, of the house in the morning, we could with faces glowing in the light of their count on Mr. Jinks blowing the horn as he weddings respective iPods as they play games or came down the hill well before reaching search for favorite tunes. our driveway. By John Pierce During the first eight days of school, I started out alone at the stop, with Posted Sept. 21, 2010 they had three different bus drivers who my younger brothers joining me three www.johndpierce.com arrived on different buses, before the and five years later. We tended to banter school system finally found a driver who while waiting, usually in good-natured iles Fraser, a priest at St. Paul’s is capable of following the route cor- fashion. G Cathedral in London, told a BBC rectly and arriving at somewhere near In cold weather, we admired the ice radio audience recently, according to the expected time. crystals growing from the red clay, then Religion News Service, that some Samuel is fortunate: this is only his stepped on them. Small transistor radios weddings can feel like “an overblown third school, as he was able to go the had come out before I finished high vanity project.” distance at both his elementary and mid- school, but it would never have occurred Many clergy, he said, prefer con- dle schools. This is his first year riding to me to plug in the earphone and take ducting funerals that “still have a the bus. it to school. beauty, a quiet dignity and a moral Times have changed. Back in the Samuel and his friends carry giant seriousness that is quite absent from day and the place where I grew up, we backpacks, but for some reason the many of the weddings.” went to the same school for all 12 notion of a backpack or book bag was The Rev. Fraser and others who grades (no kindergarten then) and had unknown in our county. We stacked up endure such weekend extravaganzas our books and carried them under one have heard enough about “my special arm, if they would fit, or in both hands. day.” According to the RNS report, I remember using a green rubber strap to the Anglican priest said “the problem keep mine together (it fit right in with with the modern wedding is that it’s my nerdy glasses and pocket protector). too often a glitzy stage-set, overly When homework time comes, concerned with the shoes, the flow- Samuel pulls out a slick TI-83 Plus calcu- ers, the napkin rings and performing lator that has more computing power to the cameras.” than the entire University of Georgia had As a top priest at St. Paul’s, when I started there in 1969. I consid- Fraser doesn’t have to look far to see ered myself technologically advanced where some families might have got- because I got a slick yellow Pickett slide ten the idea of turning weddings into rule my senior year. high-dollar, attention-getting events. Times change — but fortunately the Prince Charles and the late Princess basic rules of algebra and the classic Diana were married there in the authors remain the same, so I’m not yet grandest of styles in 1981, drawing a useless when it comes to homework. TV audience of some 750 million. Give me a challenging word problem, So while brides are saying yes to and the smell of chalk and purple spirit the dress, it seems some clergy are masters come rushing back. saying no to the excess. If only the equations came as I’ll take a bet on who’s going to easily … BT win this one: mother of the bride. BT

November 2010 • Baptists Today | 29 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 30

INFORMATION AN ANALYSIS BY OMAR SACIRBEY, Religion News Service Muslims ask: When will blame game end?

hen will the blame game end? That’s the question many Muslim W Americans are asking, as contro- versies simmer over the role of Muslims in American public life, such as where they can pray, and how Islam is depicted in textbooks. Many U.S. Muslims say the battles are not just about the right to practice their reli- gion, but also about a lingering sense that they are, and will always be, held responsible for terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam. Whether fellow Americans see them as dis- tinct from Islamic terrorists will no doubt shape the future of generations of American Muslims. Thus, for many Muslims, life in the U.S. requires maintaining a delicate balance between asserting their constitutional rights, getting along with fellow citizens, and distanc- ing themselves from acts of terrorism — without seeming to accept blame for them. For instance, agreeing to move Park51, the proposed Islamic community center near Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan says fellow Muslims should not appear to take blame for terrorist attacks committed in the name of Islam by making concessions to their religious freedom, such Ground Zero, is not just a matter of ceding as moving a planned Islamic community center proposed near Ground Zero. (RNS photo.) religious rights, but also about accepting guilt for the actions of the 9/11 hijackers and other Connecticut chapter of the Council of “The stereotypes must be recognized and terrorists. American-Islamic Relations, said he fought a deconstructed through education and enforce- To be sure, not all Muslims feel that way. decision by the president of the Hartford City ment of civil rights,” said Sahar Aziz, a civil Moving Park51, “does not mean we must Council to uninvite two imams from praying rights lawyer in Austin, Texas. “The bias held accept the false premise that Islam is responsi- before council meetings after citizens protested. by portions of the public is fueled and justified ble for 9/11, and it does not mean sacrificing “You’re caving in to people who say all when they see their government mistreating one’s rights to the populist, neoconservative Muslims are complicit in 9/11, and you’re giv- Muslim Americans.” and religious fundamentalist voices that seek ing legitimacy to that view,” said Dhaouadi. Collective guilt is a question that has chal- to transform the issue into a new clash of “We can’t accept this.” lenged different countries for centuries, from civilizations,” wrote Tariq Ramadan, a Council president rJo Winch said she had Germans and Japanese after World War II to controversial Swiss-Muslim scholar. no intention of assigning collective guilt to Serbs and Hutus more recently. Some foreign The differences are often generational. Muslims, but was respecting opposition views, policy experts have noted that one of “The people who seem to feel most even if some were intolerant. Americans’ biggest enemies — Osama Bin uncomfortable with the idea of Park51 and Other Muslims believe they can reject col- Laden — ascribes guilt to all Americans for the feel some collective guilt for a lot of the vio- lective responsibility but feel guilt individually. perceived crimes of America against Muslims. lence that’s happening tend to be the first “Allah makes it real clear that we’re stuck Despite the current difficulties, Meer said generation immigrants,” said Ameena Meer, with each other, like family,” said S.E. Jihad she does not fear for her daughters’ future in who lives near Ground Zero and was two Levine, a blogger and journalist who was raised the U.S. “I believe that it’s temporary, and also blocks from the first tower when it fell. She Jewish but converted to Islam in 1998. “You because I believe, when push comes to shove, believes the proposed Islamic center should may not like your brother or your sister or your most Americans are pretty tolerant.” not be moved, and has started a Facebook in uncle, but they’re blood. And when you’re Levine, who said she has experienced support of the project. Her mother disagrees. Muslim, how could you not help but feel any harassment as a Jew and as a Muslim, isn’t so “In my mom’s mind, it would be like guilt, with what some of these Muslims do?” sure. “It causes a little fear in me. I definitely stopping all the drama. But in my mind, mov- Observers say collective guilt of Muslims have my passport current,” she said. “When ing it would be, one, an admission of guilt, and has been amplified by the wars in Afghanistan something else happens here, it’s not going to two, it wouldn’t solve anything,” said Meer. and Iraq, as well as terrorism threats coming be pretty.” This concern has been prevalent on from other Muslim countries, from trouble The only way for Muslims to fight collec- Muslim blogs and Internet chat rooms, and in spots like Somalia and Yemen, to more stable tive guilt, Levine said, is to get out in their newspaper articles and interviews. but authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia, communities so people know them as Mongi Dhaouadi, president of the Libya and Egypt. individuals. BT

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INFORMATION Top religion reporting, Gus Niebuhr honored

By Kevin Eckstrom Peter Smith of The Courier-Journal in reporting went to Interfaith Voices, followed Religion News Service Louisville, Ky., and Rachel Zoll of the AP by freelancer Genevieve Oger, Capital Public (honorable mention). Radio and Arun Venugopal of WNYC Radio DENVER — Religion reporters from The In the Cassels Religion Reporter of the (honorable mention). Washington Post and The New York Times won Year contest for small newspapers, first place The PBS program Religion & Ethics top honors Sept. 25 at the 2010 Religion went to Melissa Burke of NewsWeekly swept all three television awards Newswriters Association’s annual awards the York (Pa.) Daily for work done by Kate Seelye, Kim Lawton competition. Record, followed by Ron and Deborah Potter. The RNA also honored former New York Cassie of The Frederick The Schachern Award for Multimedia Times religion reporter Gustav Niebuhr with (Md.) News-Post and Amy Reporting went to The Salt Lake Tribune, fol- its William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Umble of The Free Lance- lowed by Manya Brachear of The Chicago Award. Niebuhr, who left the beat in 2001, Star in Fredericksburg, Tribune, The Courier-Journal in Louisville, now teaches at Syracuse University. Va. and honorable mentions to Jenny Green of William Wan of The Washington Post The Cornell Religion The Ottawa Citizen and The Wichita Eagle. Gus Niebuhr won first-place in the Supple Religion Writer Reporter of the Year The Chandler Student Religion Reporter of the Year award, followed by Michael award for mid-sized newspapers went to Jenny of the Year went to Evan Pondel of the Paulson of the Boston Globe and Eric Gorski Green of the Ottawa Citizen, followed by University of Southern California, followed by of The Associated Press. Peggy Fletcher Stack of The Salt Lake Tribune Jeremy Blaney of Michigan State University, Veteran religion reporter Laurie and Bob Smietana of The Tennessean in Tiffany Stanley of Harvard University, and Goodstein won the reporting award for The Nashville. Kate Shellnutt of Northwestern University New York Times, followed by the AP’s Gorski, Awards of excellence in radio religion (honorable mention). BT Mormon president says church needs more missionaries By Peggy Fletcher Stack Mormon Temple in The Salt Lake Tribune “The primary reason for Nauvoo, Illinois. Photo changes in missionary by Peter Merholz. SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) — Despite an impressive number of men and women numbers is the fluctuating preaching the Mormon gospel across the population of available globe, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints needs even missionary-age members.” more missionaries, LDS President Thomas S. Monson said. A two-year mission is a universal expectation for every “worthy, able young man,” Monson said Oct. 2, speaking to more than 20,000 Mormons in the LDS Conference Center and millions more watching the church’s 180th General Conference via satellite. Young women don’t have the same obligation to serve full-time, but can make “a valuable contribution as missionaries,” Monson said. “We welcome your service.” And to retired couples, the LDS Mormon family had so far produced 49 mid-1990s. The decline is due in part to leader said, “we need many, many more such missionaries and encouraged every the LDS Church “raising the bar” on mis- senior couples.” member to share the faith with his neigh- sionary qualifications in 2002, LDS Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum bors, friends and Internet connections. spokesman Scott Trotter said last February. of Twelve Apostles repeated Monson’s The push for more missionaries may But, Trotter said, “the primary reason message, saying, “We need more reflect an awareness of the church’s shrink- for changes in missionary numbers is the missionaries.” ing proselytizing force, which is down to fluctuating population of available mis- Nelson mentioned that his large about 52,000 from a high of 62,000 in the sionary-age members.” BT

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INFORMATION BY MATT VANDE BUNTE, Religion News Service Empty pews at Sunday evening services

RAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Doug De worship are ignoring their spiritual inheri- Vries describes Sunday evening wor- tance. The retired seminary professor calls Gship as “a lot less formal” than the the trend “plain evidence of the great apos- morning service at Plymouth Heights tasy that Christ has predicted.” Christian Reformed Church. Engelsma said evening worship in the It’s also a lot less crowded. Dutch Reformed tradition dates to the 16th Plymouth Heights is in step with a century, when ministers taught from the larger trend of declining evening attendance Heidelberg Catechism. Engelsma’s Protestant in evangelical denominations that long have Reformed Church, which split from the CRC cherished a heritage of worshiping twice on in 1925, still turns out en masse for Sunday Sunday. Some evening services are more inti- night services, he said. mate; others have been cancelled or replaced “Basically, it’s the same today with us as by an alternative. it was back in The Netherlands in the “It’s a business question that has been 1500s,” said Engelsma. “When a parishioner asked,” said De Vries, the church’s minister of sits year after year under the regular instruc- music. “People are spending time with their tion of the Heidelberg Catechism, he is going family (on Sunday nights) or using that time to be knowledgeable of and grounded in the to get together in small groups. We were con- truths, the doctrines and the teachings of the cerned that we were squandering resources to Christian faith.” put the evening service together.” Others, including Ron Rienstra, a Plymouth Heights’ 5 p.m. worship serv- professor at the Reformed Church in America- ice continues, with about 25 percent of the affiliated Western Theological Seminary, are people who attend the weekly Sunday morn- concerned that Christians may be chipping ing service. Christianity are not typically accustomed away on the one day a week that God com- That mirrors data from across the CRC, even to weekly worship a single time. So to manded to be set aside and kept holy. based on survey results presented this sum- put forward some kind of a community-based “The two services is a way to frame the mer to the church’s annual Synod. The survey expectation that you do this twice a Sunday whole day as belonging to the Lord,” found evening worship attendance is “plum- would be extraordinary.” Rienstra said. “The decline of Sunday meting,” down from 56 percent of members At Roosevelt Park Community Church evening worship is a marker alongside many in 1992 to 24 percent in 2007. in Grand Rapids, attendance at Sunday that our culture is becoming more popularly Researchers wrote that the data “seems evening services fell from as many as 175 secular. We’ve lost a sense of sacred time that to suggest evening service attendance has people in the mid-1990s to about 40 when is being offered back to God.” become optional.” the service was discontinued five years ago, Some churches have dropped the It’s not just the CRC. Officials at the said pastor Reginald Smith. evening worship but offered an alternative. Assemblies of God reported a 6 percent drop Ending the service has enabled the Grand Rapids’ Eastern Avenue CRC now in Sunday evening attendance, to 416,751, in church to put more energy into the morning meets every other Sunday night for a half- 2009 even as the overall size of the denomi- service, children’s programs and ministry dur- hour of worship, a half-hour of eating and an nation grew by 1.2 percent, to 2.86 million. ing the week. The result has been a bigger hour of small-sized “covenant groups.” There are different ways to interpret the focus on evangelism and relational ministries, More than 200 people took part in the trend: Some see it as harmless, while others Smith said. groups last year, a significant increase from see worrisome deviation away from doctrine. “We just saw incremental diminishing evening attendance that “literally became a For others, the decline is a natural outcome returns (in attendance),” Smith said. bit embarrassing,” said Fred Sterenberg, of the historically Dutch church’s aspirations “Younger families were much busier with all church administrator. to evangelize a broader demographic. the humming and bumming of life and they “The decision (to end the service) almost “Many churches are substituting evening found other ways to refresh themselves. made itself because very few people were worship and putting their energies into other “The evening service was a wonderful coming,” he said. “If we’re talking tradeoff, things,” said Jeff Meyer, pastor of Crosswinds thing back in its heyday, but it cannot con- (the covenant group alternative) is a pretty Community Church, a 4-year-old CRC con- tinue to function in the same form that it has good tradeoff.” BT gregation in Holland, Mich., that, like many historically. For a lot of churches, that’s really new churches, does not conduct evening a harsh reality.” —Matt Vande Bunte writes for The Grand worship. The harsh reality, in David Engelsma’s Rapids Press in Grand Rapids, Mich. “The people who are exploring view, is that churches that drop evening Whitney Jones contributed to this report. “Younger families were much busier with … life and they found other ways to refresh themselves.”

32 | Baptists Today • November 2010 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 33

BY TIM TOWNSEND, St. Louis Post-Dispatch FEATURE Spirituality, consumerism come together at Joyce Meyer’s conference for women

T. LOUIS — The scene near the inspiration, pampering and all-out con- Christianity into a commodity,” Lee said. concession stands resembled some- sumerism. If women came for Meyer’s “She proves that Christianity can compete S thing closer to a strip mall on Black preaching, they were also here for the stuff. in the marketplace.” Friday than the hour preceding a worship That included many of Meyer’s 80 Roby Walker, the ministry’s chief oper- service. books, or her $20 DVDs. Pamphlets offered ations officer, said the conference costs Hundreds of women lined up outside a “partnerships” — monthly donations to the “millions” to stage, and that total receipts temporary “boutique” with displays of $25 ministry bolstered by scriptural justification add up to “about $2 million to $3 million.” T-shirts and $40 hoodies emblazoned with for giving (“It is more blessed to give than The ministry says sales of the clothing messages like “Love Revolution” and to receive.” – Acts 20:35). in the conference “boutique” go to help “Think Happy Thoughts.” But in the face of such peddling, needy children. “Our goal is to cover the A staff member controlling the flow of women like Jennifer Lake, 41, of Festus, expenses of the conference and break even,” shoppers wondered aloud whether a bull- Mo., were anything but bothered. Lake was Walker said. horn would help. carrying a bag full of new Joyce Meyer pur- There’s a local benefit, too, officials Nearby, a crush of women lined up chases and saw no said. Walker noted that attendees booked three deep to pick up copies of DVDs and conflict between the 4,000 hotel rooms and spent money on books, most bearing the smiling face of collective spiritual local restaurants and shops between Meyer’s Joyce Meyer, the woman they’d all paid an sisterhood on display teaching sessions. average of $55 to see and hear. and the equally evident As she spoke about the parable of the It’s likely all of them had seen Meyer commercialism. Prodigal Son, Meyer paced the stage in on television, or heard her on the radio, “There are plenty black pants and a black leather jacket. A big before. And a good percentage had probably of women who can’t be diamond ring sparkled from her left hand also seen her live at one of the many confer- here this weekend, and and long earrings dangled from her ears. ences that Joyce Meyer Ministries puts on we can support them Joyce Meyer While much has been made of Meyer across the country each year. financially in this way,” she said. and money — the Senate Finance Many were veterans of the women’s Madl said, “I know where the proceeds Committee asked for copies of her financial conference that Meyer has convened annu- are going and the impact they have with the records back in 2007 — the women attend- ally in St. Louis for 28 years. The forum wonderful things this ministry does.” ing her conference looked beyond the grew from 65 women to a peak of 25,000 Ensuring women feel appreciated, sparkly jewelry toward the message at the and back down to 17,000 this year. They’d relaxed and comfortable is a big part of heart of Meyer’s preaching. come from all 50 states and 21 countries to Meyer’s annual conference. Women won God, Meyer said to hoots and cheers hear Meyers’ no-nonsense, populist version everything from free massages and Thursday, loves a party. The evidence is that of the gospel. makeovers to $250 Wal-Mart gift certifi- Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water to “In some way, shape or form we all cates to a home addition. wine at the wedding in Cana. “Jesus made have something in our lives we’re dealing “Part of our goal is to make everyone the party better,” she said, smiling. with,” said Michelle Madl, 45, from feel loved and special,” Ginger Stache, the Meyer looks and sounds like the Rhinelander, Wis., who was attending her ministry’s chief media officer, told the women in her mammoth, middle-class con- second women’s conference. “But we come crowd. gregation. She is their husky-voiced, sassy together here, as women, to meet new Meyer is known as a champion of the neighbor who speaks wisdom directly to the friends and to help each of us see we’re not so-called prosperity gospel, which ties finan- broken lives many of them lead. They rec- in this alone.” cial generosity and wealth to physical and ognize her vocabulary, her sense of humor, For many of the women, seeing and spiritual well-being. her demeanor of world weariness. hearing Meyer was worth the journey and Shayne Lee, a sociology professor at “We pray for all we left at home,” she money they spent on airfare, gas, hotel Tulane University and author of Holy said to loud applause as she welcomed her rooms, tickets and food. Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the flock to St. Louis. “We pray for the hus- “I watch Joyce on TV, and I’ve read lots Spiritual Marketplace, compared Meyer to bands, the kids, the baby sitters and all the of her books,” said Linda Donald, 46, of George Whitefield, the 18th-century British dishes left in the sink. We pray for it all.” BT Jackson, Miss. evangelist who toured the colonies preach- Her friend, Gwendolyn Sample, 42 of ing the gospel and becoming “the first —Tim Townsend writes for The St. Pickens, Miss., added that she was ready for a American celebrity.” Louis Post-Dispatch in St. Louis, Mo. “fresh word” from the tart-tongued evangelist. “What (Meyer) is doing is carving out This article is distributed by Religion The atmosphere is a mixture of humor, space in market share and converting News Service.

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FEATURE BY BOB ALLEN, Associated Baptist Press Heaven’s Rain A story of pain and forgiveness

OKLAHOMA CITY — A son of Southern Baptist missionaries who survived the home-invasion murder of his parents in 1979 and later went on to advocate for victims’ rights as Oklahoma’s youngest-ever state senator brings his story to the big screen in a newly released independent film titled Heaven’s Rain.

he movie, which premiered Sept. 9 in said. “Although we talk about it, I think for- Hollywood, tells the true story of giveness seems hard, painful. It’s something T Brooks Douglass, who produced, co- that we don’t want to do. I think it’s contrary wrote and appears as an actor in his first film. to most of our nature. I think it’s certainly Heaven’s Rain centers around one of contrary to mine.” Oklahoma’s most heinous crimes. On the The title Heaven’s Rain alludes to evening of Oct. 15, 1979, two drifters burst Matthew 5:45, where Jesus says that God into the home of Richard Holmes, who was causes rain to fall on both the just and the Brooks Douglass plays his father as a foreign then pastor of the 3,000-member Putnam missionary in Brazil sharing wise counsel with unjust. City Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. young Brooks played by Nicholas Braico. Douglass said people approached him in They bound the pastor and his wife, the past about making his story into a book Marilyn, along with 16-year-old Brooks, and where he forgave the triggerman who forever or movie, but he turned them down because forced the family to listen helplessly while altered his life. they wanted to tell it as a crime story. He they took turns raping the couple’s 12-year- “I have to admit that on some level I said he never dreamed that he would do it old daughter, Leslie. After tying the girl, the thought of myself as a happy person,” himself, but after 12 years in politics he two ate the family’s dinner while leisurely Douglass said in an interview. “I didn’t realize decided he wanted to become a screenwriter. discussing what to do next. until I was sitting in that room how angry I Six years ago he moved to California and Brooks Douglass plays his father as a was and how much I was carrying around.” enrolled in a class taught by Brown, a foreign missionary in Brazil sharing wise Douglass said he and director/co-writer screenwriter with past credits including the counsel with young Brooks played by Paul Brown didn’t set out to make a “mes- television shows The X Files and Quantum Nicholas Braico. sage” film. “We kind of let it tell itself, based Leap. After reading a couple of Douglass’ Finally, 24-year-old Glenn Burton Ake on what events did I feel like were pivotal in scripts, Brown asked him if he once worked told his accomplice, Steven Keith Hatch, 26, getting me where I am today,” Douglass said. for a senator. As Douglass told him the story to go start the car. Ake then shot all four of On the other hand, “I certainly felt like over coffee, Brown’s jaw dropped and he said, the family members, leaving them for dead as the message of forgiveness was one that “That’s what you need to write.” the duo made off with a little more than $40. couldn’t help but come through,” he added. Douglass answered that he didn’t think Richard, 43, and Marilyn, 36, died at the As the father of children ages 5 and 3, he could do it because it would be too scene, but Brooks and Leslie managed to Douglass said for him the film is also about painful, and Brown replied, “Where I come untie each other and drive the family car for the importance of parenting. Several of the from, that is exactly why you should write medical help. scenes were filmed in Brazil, where Brooks this, and probably no one else should.” After his election to the Oklahoma State portrays his father as a Foreign Mission As the writing began to wrap up, Senate in 1990, Brooks Douglass got land- Board missionary. The family was stationed Douglass balked at the idea of shopping the mark legislation passed allowing family there before being furloughed to the United script around to studios and production com- members of a murder victim to witness the States. panies, because if they bought it they would execution of the killer. He and his sister “The older I get, the smarter he gets,” have the right to rewrite it. became the first crime victims to exercise the Douglass said. “I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of right when they watched Hatch’s execution Douglass said Christians talk about for- having gone through all this, writing all this, by lethal injection on Aug. 9, 1996. giveness, but he doesn’t think most people and having somebody come in and take their Except for the murder of his parents, really understand what it means. own approach and own values and rewrite it however, Douglass says the most dramatic “You hear it in church a lot, but when the way they want it,” he said. moment of his life was his 1994 meeting you really get down to the nitty-gritty, I don’t The only other option was for Douglass with Ake at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, think we see that much of it in practice,” he to produce it himself. That meant hiring peo-

34 | Baptists Today • November 2010 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 35

FEATURE

Bible study asks,

ple and raising a budget. Douglass started ‘What Would Andy Do?’ spending his own money and raised some funds from people around the Oklahoma area By Kay Campbell who knew his story and wanted to help him Religion News Service make the film. Thanks to local support in Oklahoma, UNTSVILLE, Ala. — Say a group the crew was able to use the State Capitol, of immigrants want to build a governor’s mansion and the state prison free of H mosque in Mayberry, right next to charge. Panavision donated the use of four All Saints Church. expensive movie cameras, and Fuji gave them a WWAD: What Would Andy Do? price break on film. The question, of course, never sur- Most of the actors worked for the mini- faced in the beloved Andy Griffith Show mum scale. Several of the scenes are filmed that chronicled life in the bucolic town of inside the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma Mayberry, untouched by the battles of civil City. rights and war that festered in the 1960s. “People have been extraordinarily giving Tucked somewhere into the cool green and supportive, and that is how we were able hills of North Carolina, Sheriff Andy to get it done,” Douglass said. Taylor mediated minor feuds in the largely week small group class he taught and still The movie stars Mike Vogel, who cur- homogeneous hamlet, guided his son, leads from time to time at Twickenham rently stars in the CBS primetime show reined in the excitable Deputy Barney Fife, Church of Christ in Huntsville, Ala. Miami Medical, playing the young Brooks and set an example for common sense lead- The class received national Douglass. Taryn Manning, who co-starred in ership that still inspires today. attention and spawned his website, the 2005 movie Hustle and Flow, plays Leslie Joey Fann, a software engineer from http://BarneyFife.com, where he and others Douglass. Huntsville, Ala., who has written The Way share lessons and conversations about the A small budget also ruled out a huge mar- Back to Mayberry, a popular study guide show. keting campaign. Instead Douglass is renting for small groups in churches, wonders what In 1999, an editor from B&H theaters a week at a time — beginning in the calm lawman of Mayberry would make Publishing in Nashville contacted Fann to Oklahoma and Texas and with a goal of get- of America’s current collective agitation. see if he’d consider writing a book, and he ting into every major market by the end of the “What impressed me first about the felt as dumbfounded as Gomer would have year. series is the friendships between the charac- before a date. “I’m a software engineer, not “We want as many people to see it as we ters and the compassion Andy has for a writer,” Fann told the editor. can,” he said. everyone,” Fann said. “There are a lot of But he picked out 30 of the episodes While not an intentionally “Christian” values in that, even 50 years later.” that had stuck with him and wrote essays movie, the settings of a mission field in Brazil Fann, at 44, is too young to have seen on each, much as he would start a discus- and a pastor’s home and church mean that the show until it went into re-runs. The sion for one of his group meetings at faith messages play a central role. Douglass show lived on long past its run from 1960 church. Each short essay begins with a said some churches might want to sponsor a to 1968, and Fann thinks the gentle unfold- Bible verse that he sees illustrated by the showing, and he is willing to do that depend- ing of those basic values — which Fann also episode. ing on how close it is to other screenings finds in his Christian faith — are why. The show is reaching a new genera- scheduled around the same time. “Andy Griffith insisted that each show tion in his home. Fann’s 4-year-old Douglass said everyone was “astonished” have a moral,” Fann said. “And religion is daughter, Josey, loves to watch the episodes when the film received an R rating — mainly portrayed the way it fits into the life of with her father. Fann encourages other because some of the dialogue includes a char- people of faith: Just as part of everyday families to discover — or rediscover — the acter describing memories of being raped as a affairs and conversation. It’s a secular show, show to learn from the time-tested example 12-year-old girl — but he doesn’t believe that but you know these are church-going, God- of a town where everything was, in a loving will hinder Christians from seeing it. fearing people.” kind of way, black and white. Douglass said “99 percent” of the dia- Fann began to analyze Barnie’s antics “Any time you are talking about The logue was written from conversations that he and Andy’s tender shepherding of Andy Griffith Show, you are going to have a actually had, but he could have written much Mayberry while he was a student at good time,” Fann said. “Being a friend, more. His scene with Glenn Ake, for example, Churches of Christ-affiliated David being compassionate to people not like was lifted from an hour-and-a-half conversa- Lipscomb University in Nashville. It’s also you, taking responsibility, being a good dad tion but lasts a little over eight minutes on when he fell in love with Mayberry. — I think we all need a little Mayberry in film. BT Those conversations grew into a mid- our hearts.” BT

November 2010 • Baptists Today | 35 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 36

PERSPECTIVE the media shelf By Cecile B. Holmes, Religion News Service Books challenge consumer-driven church model

Two new books challenge congregations, arguing that faith loses its “I wanted to emphasize the everyday- flavor when watered down. life aspects in the book,” Reese said. “I Christians to restore their faith MacDonald says churches should wanted to get beyond the notion that you to its true mission and forsake remember the words and lives of people have to have a serious personal life crash in a consumerist mentality that like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin order to have a testimony... . I think we Luther King Jr., two 20th century martyrs have all faced the spiritual drama of every- some churches adapt in a bid who died when their public Christian day life. What it means to be a father, a to meet members’ needs. activism challenged the status quo. husband, a teacher, a friend — multiple “American history would have been situations.” hurches can better shape the completely different if Martin Luther King The rapid pace of modern life, com- “ faithful by recovering a sense had stayed inside his comfort zone,” he said. bined with people’s constant connection to C that the life of faith is supposed “He put himself at ulti- technology, limits essential time to with- to be a challenging experience,” said vet- mate risk and paid the draw and be still, Reese says. eran journalist G. Jeffrey MacDonald. “I ultimate price.” “The difference between work and think that this may start with a new con- University of Texas home is no longer there,” he said. “We’re sumer ethic for this new religious journalism professor so distracted in our world with demands marketplace.” Stephen D. Reese on our time. There are difficulties in MacDonald, an approaches the chal- pulling away from work to have some kind ordained clergyman and lenge from a more of Sabbath moment. That’s probably more a correspondent for personal perspective, challenging than ever before.” Religion News Service, but reaches similar con- Since the book’s publication, Reese takes on the con- clusions in his new book, Hope for the often finds himself speaking and reflecting sumerist gospel in his Thinking Christian. on the “traditional division between the recent book, Thieves in Reese, who’s active in Austin’s Oak Hill intellect and the life of the heart.” He sees the Temple: The United Methodist Church and is the author a lingering uneasiness within academia over Christian Church and of several academic books, pushes readers to such a conversation, despite “more accept- the Selling of the American Soul. He criti- explore what’s required for modern believers ance now of faith in the public square.” cizes the easy gospel doled out by some to discover an active, grounded faith. Both Reese and MacDonald highlight the world’s need for hope, and lay the responsibility for developing an intentional spirituality — ingrained in both Christian Be a voice to sustain Baptists tomorrow. and congregation — at the feet of the I am / We are pleased to make a gift commitment to Baptists Today of $______per year for three years. faithful. MacDonald worries that churches, TOTAL GIVING LEVEL ______pressed to please a fickle clientele, are fail- Name ■ Heritage Partners ($50,000 or above) ing their principle mission to edify, noting ______that the nation’s greatest social movements ■ Founders Circle (25,000-$49,999) ______— from 19th century abolitionists to 20th Address ■ Freedom Circle ($10,000-$24,999) century women’s liberationists — achieved ______their goals with roots in the church. ■ Visionary Circle ($5,000-$9,999) City “What we’re talking about here is ■ Editor’s Circle ($1,000-$4,999) ______State/Zip whether churches in America will be capa- ble of producing a prophetic voice in the ■ Circle of Friends ($500-$999) (______)______Phone present or in the future,” he said. “The ■ Patrons ($100-$499) ______muscles that the church has at its dispos- ■ Contributors (up to $99) Email able to shape people who know the heart of God and can bear witness in a prophetic Please fill out this form and return it to Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318 way, those muscles are being eviscerated by consumerism.” BT 36 | Baptists Today • November 2010 BT_Nov10_Nat_v4:2010 Baptists Today 10/14/10 8:18 AM Page 37

FEATURE Dedicated following keeps shape-note singing alive

By Greg Garrison Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The archaic sounds that fill the historic former church sanctuary echo, hauntingly, like a whispering ghost from the past. Inside the 1902 building that once housed the Second Presbyterian Church, the elaborate archways bounce back the sound of sacred harp singing. It’s a style of music that once dominated rural evangelical religion, in the days before the Civil War and church organs, when a capella singing was the norm. It’s never entirely died “We certainly don’t want it to die out,” old English dance tunes and carried from out, in part because of people like Tim Cook. said Emily Creel of Burleson, Ala., who carries churches in rural England by colonial settlers. “It was once common throughout the on her family’s generations-long love affair The tradition was carried to the South, South,” said Cook, a shape-note singing afi- with the music. “We do it to promote the where many churches continued the shape- cionado who brought his lessons to the former heritage and tradition of the music.” note a capella singing of the hymns with church that’s now part of the University of The Internet has helped create a revival complex harmonies. The songs may have Alabama at Birmingham campus. for shape-note singing, bringing singers archaic, cryptic names such as “Old Cook’s group of more than a dozen inter- together for events across the country. Hundred,” better known in many hymnbooks ested singers sat facing Cook as the song Cook says having the notes in different as the doxology; “Amazing Grace” appears in leader, holding wide-page hymnbooks filled shapes makes it easier to read and sing the shape-note books as “New Britain.” with notes in the shapes of open and solid music in four-part harmony. When pianos and organs became com- squares, diamonds, triangles and ovals. Participants sing the actual note sounds mon in churches, a capella singing began to Throughout the 1800s, the mournful har- first: “fa” for triangle shape notes, “sol” for disappear, along with the complicated har- monious sounds of a capella shape-note oval, “la” for square and “mi” for diamond- monies in the old hymnbooks. singing reverberated in churches throughout shape notes, instead of the lyrics. That’s just a Cook took up shape-note singing after the South. It’s now experiencing a renaissance tradition. Then they sing it with the lyrics. moving from Michigan to Atlanta in 1995, of sorts in Sacred Harp songbooks and con- The combination of archaic harmonies and now teaches it and leads singings. ventions. But while Sacred Harp singing has and old-style lyrics can be jolting to outsiders. “I’ve always liked to sing a capella, four- surged, the slightly more complicated seven- To others, it’s addictive. Many of the shape- part harmony,” Cook said. “When I heard this shape-note Alabama Christian Harmony note songs were written by English composers the first time, I said, ‘That is the voice of singing still struggles to stay alive. such as Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, set to heaven.”’ BT

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FEATURE STORY AND PHOTO BY TONY W. CARTLEDGE, Contributing Editor Reading signsthe A conversation with Leonard Sweet

UIES CREEK, N.C. — For more than whether one is born before or after 1973 The natives today are Googlers who have the 20 years, Leonard Sweet has been a (when the cell phone was invented). That cues and clues to what’s going on. B leading voice among those seeking to makes it really clear. What do immigrants to a new country help Christians relate effectively to a changing There is a technological component to do? They tend to create little ethnic enclaves world. An ordained United Methodist clergy- the divide, but part of the difference is that in and try to preserve the old country with its man, he currently serves as the E. Stanley Gutenberg culture, technology is a separate songs and traditions for as long as they can. Jones professor of Evangelism at Drew category. In a Google world, technology is in Many of our churches have become little Theological School in Madison, N.J., and as a everything. I use it to say there’s a significant Gutenberg ghettos. It’s time we got a mission visiting professor at George Fox University in shift going on in the ways people are moving for the world we actually have rather than the Portland, Oregon. and thinking. one we wish we had. Sweet has published more than 20 books, The modern (Gutenberg) world has been In So Beautiful, I introduced the idea of scores of articles, and upwards of 600 sermons shaped by books, print and paper. The Google churches having an interface and an operating in both print and digital formats, currently world is a digital culture. Print and digital system. The interface is morally neutral — the through wikiletics.com and sermons.com. Two media stimulate different parts of the brain, devil can use EPIC (Sweet’s earlier suggestion of his more recent books are So Beautiful: and actually cause it to be rewired. that church programming should focus on Divine Design for Life and the Church and When I was a pastor and tried to deliver a Experience, Participation, Images and being Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God fervent sermon in the same manner as Charles Connected). The interface needs an operating Who’s Already There. Wesley, I realized that it didn’t work in my day system to run it. Baptists Today contributing editor Tony as it did in his day. I use this to describe a par- Christianity has a divine design for Cartledge caught up with Sweet while he was at adigm shift in how you lead your church. We human life, and we need to get back to the Campbell University Divinity School to present are called to make disciples of all cultures, original system God planned for church. I the Reavis Ministry Lectures on Sept. 28. including Google culture. refer to it as MRI: Missional, Relational and The major cultural currency in a Incarnational. BT: Back in the 1990s, you were one of Gutenberg world is the word, which makes up Much of the fighting going on now, such the first to begin talking about the verses. We memorized and exegeted words and as the “worship wars,” has nothing to do with emerging postmodern era and how it’s verses. preserving authentic Christianity, but is really challenging the church … In the Google world there’s a new cur- about preserving Gutenberg culture. We have a rency: image and story. In a Google/TGIF bad default system I refer to as APC LS: Yes, but I don’t use that term (post- culture, people don’t think in words or verses. (Attractional, Propositional, Colonial), and we modern) anymore. To connect with this culture, you have to give need to move on to the MRI system so we can them stories. make disciples of all cultures. BT: Why not? And what term do you use? The church is the last one to get this. It’s still trying to communicate through words and BT: Using your acronyms, how do you LS: Certain words can become greasy over verses rather than images and stories. see MRI and EPIC working together in time when so many people use them, and use the church setting? them in different ways. It’s the same reason I BT: How does one lead effectively in a don’t use the word “emerging” any more. congregation that includes both cultures? LS: EPIC is the interface that connects us with I talk now about a “Gutenberg culture” culture. The operating system (MRI) can run versus a “Google or TGIF (Twitter, Google, LS: I start by getting Gutenbergers to realize many different interfaces. It’s the operating iPhone, Facebook) culture,” depending on that they’re immigrants in a Google world. system that can be attacked by viruses.

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FEATURE

Sometimes it gets slow and sluggish, and who continue to promote aggressive BT: I understand that you’re involved needs to be defragged. God has been defrag- propositional evangelism? with a Doctor of Ministry program called ging the church for the past 20 years: we have “Semiotics and Future Studies.” How needed a huge upgrade. LS: The major criticism of the book is that would a well-trained “Jesus semiotician” The church can work better, but it needs nudging doesn’t include an element of judg- function differently as leader of a to reboot. I believe God is rebooting the ment. Some people have written me, saying congregation? church to its original operating system. that witnesses need to make non-believers real- ize that they’re the “spawn of Satan” and need LS: Part of it is a belief in the present tense of BT: In your acronym MRI, you use the to repent or face judgment. They’re about Jesus. That’s a huge statement. I believe “We term “missional,” which has become one judgment; I’m about nudgment. serve a risen savior, he’s in the world today.” of those “greasy” words that can mean Part of what it means to be his disciple or different things to different people. How BT: In an article on “Twitter Theology,” follower is to read the signs of his appearing. do you define it? one of the five reasons you gave for lov- God’s finger is still writing on the wall; Christ ing Twitter is that it’s admittedly a is still present. The ultimate in spiritual illiter- LS: Being missional is not about church surface medium. You said one of the best acy is the inability to read the handwriting on growth. For me, it’s joining in God’s mission compliments you could receive is the wall. in the world. It’s not the church’s mission; it’s “Sweet, you do shallow well.” What do A semiotician helps people to read the God’s mission. you mean by that? signs of the spirit, and the ultimate sign is Christ. Then we can join Jesus in what God is BT: I’ve heard you, Alan Roxburgh, Henry up to. Blackaby and others talk about finding LS: (Concerning Twitter), it’s sound bytes that where God is working and getting on bite. I don’t talk about what I’m doing — BT: What would be different about a board. How does one determine where whether I’ve finished eating or brushing my pastor who does this? God is working? teeth — I try to lift up what I see that Christ is up to. LS: You’re never at a loss for what to preach. LS: The first half of my book, Nudge, intro- I live a lot of my life in academic circles, Every week you see signs of what Jesus is up to. duces semiotics, which is basically a Greek where people spend a lot of time in the depths You can be confident to move forward word that means the study of signs. Jesus and some people seldom surface. You surface into the future because you know where the knew how to read the signs. for relationships, to connect with people. If Spirit is leading, so you can stand before the Today most people are interested only in you’re not surfacing, you’re not connecting. people and say, “Follow me as I follow him the signs of the end time, not the signs of It was said of Jesus that “the common because this is where he is leading.” what Jesus is up to. The key is, “How do I people heard him gladly.” I don’t want to get This kind of pastor also turns the people read the signs of what he’s up to?” so sophisticated that the people can’t hear me. into semioticians so they can read the writing Jesus is the ultimate sign. We should be Still, this reflects my immigrant status. looking for signs of Christ’s presence. In every- My kids are tweeting and texting all the on the wall and no longer live in a state of body you meet, Jesus has already been trying time — they’re always hanging out with denial … Christianity no longer has the home to call that person to himself. So, how do you friends, even when they’re alone. I have to will court advantage. We’ve got to deal with it, get read the signs and encourage that? myself to do it, to think “It’s time to text” or over it, and get help. It’s not “show and tell” evangelism, but “It’s time to tweet.” For a native Googler, it’s “shut up and listen” evangelism. You have no like breathing. They don’t will themselves to BT: You use the word “interstitial” a lot. right to speak until you have discerned what do it. What do you mean by that, and the spirit is doing in the other person’s life. The trick is staying connected. The book how does being “interstitial” relate to Get them to tell their story, and as they’re is the most antisocial thing ever invented on semiotics? telling their story, you begin pointing out how the planet. That’s why the modern world cre- God is working in their life — get them to see ated individualism. We didn’t have that LS: The Gutenberg world said, “Go in.” The what God is up to and realize that’s Jesus at concept as we know it until the printing press. Google world tells you to “Go out.” It’s all work in their life. It may not lead to an altar Print enabled the “I” to become separate about being social; tries to connect. moment, but I’m here today because a lot of from the world, to make individual decisions I’m saying it’s between. God is amidst people nudged me. apart from the community. That’s what where two or three are gathered. The real dis- So then, you’re not connecting them to enabled Martin Luther to say, “Here I stand.” covery of God takes place in those spaces your story (what Jesus has done for me), but Now, however, it’s gone so far that every- between. That’s where real magic happens, to the gospel story. Being able to do this pre- one lives in a “you-niverse.” The Google world where miracles happen. supposes that we know the stories of the Bible, is a reaction against that. People are never God is a “midst” God. To experience God, but we don’t. That’s why I believe every without their friends, even when alone, we’ve got to get into the midst. It’s never clean, Sunday school should be reinvented as Bible because they are connected digitally. That’s comfortable or predictable. You have to risk U. — to learn the Bible in a fresh way, not as why it’s called social networking. some things to get there. We’re like lobsters, word and verse, but as image and story. That doesn’t mean it’s without dangers. [which] can’t grow unless they shed their shell I’m concerned that in Google culture we’re los- and become vulnerable while a new shell is BT: Do you have hopes that this book ing something, getting a hive mind, with no forming. We have to take risks and go through will make a serious impression on those independent thought apart from the hive. vulnerable stages if we want to grow. BT

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