Thanks to my in-laws, my family and I were given a wonderful opportunity to go to the house that Walt built: the one, the only . . . Disney World. Though it wasn't my first time at Disney World, it was my first time to try to think Christianly about my vacation there. Here's what I came up with. Let me know if you think of others.
This first list is nothing earth-shattering, but it's too important to leave out.
I should be thankful to God:
-for the opportunity to focus on my family. When else do I get to step away from other responsibilities for the sole purpose of focusing on my relationship with those that are closest to me?
-for the opportunity to receive happiness and bring happiness to my family. My wife and I aren't what you would call wealthy by Western standards, so it was nice to be able to do little things like let each kid pick a couple of souvenirs out or let each kid pick a treat for the day. Besides, when else do you get to meet movie stars like Mickey, Donald, and Pluto or Woody and Buzz (Toy Story)?
-for my in-laws for providing this opportunity. Apart from their generosity, it would have been a long time before we were able to afford this kind of trip.
-for the vision of Walt Disney and those who followed him. To my knowledge, Walt was not a believer, but how can you look at the amazing creativity, imagination, organization, and vision of the Walt Disney company and not believe that it all came from an amazingly creative, imaginative, and visionary God of order. Common grace is on display at Disney World from the flowers to the buildings, from the shows to the parades, from the -well, you get hte point.
But, I dare not just stop there:
-As I was surrounded by all kinds of different cultures, languages, and ethnicities, I had this thought: just as Disney world brings people from all languages, cultures, ethnicities, etc. the Gospel also unites people from all walks of life. The Tower of Babel (Gen. 11) began what will one day be resolved through the gospel in Heaven.
-We almost had too much fun if there is such a thing, but one lesson I have recently learned is that activities of fun, rest, play and leisure are merely shadows of the great rest we will one day experience fully in Christ. We are tempted to make the fun the focal point, but they are truly arrows pointing up to the giver of the fun.
-Another thing that I have noticed recently is that practically all of the Disney stories contain elements of the eternal desires of our souls. In each of us, God placed a longing for something more than the temporary things we see. We all have a longing for meaningful relationships -even for adventure. In the stories, there are almost always forces of good and evil at work and good ultimately triumphs over evil. All of this and more are reflections of the God given eternal desires of the human heart.
-About the fifth day, we were all pretty tired and I realized that we may take a vacation from some responsibilities, but the Lord does not allow us to take a vacation from all responsibilities. We can never stop walking with Him, witnessing to others about Him, or loving our spouse and children as well as others.
-Lastly, I am most thankful to the Lord because this vacation gave me an opportunity to see areas of selfishness that I would not have otherwise seen. As much as I wanted it to be, MY vacation was not all about ME. I have come back from vacation a humbler man because, like others, I tend to act like my problem exists outside of me. When most of those problems are taken away, I am forced to reckon with the fact that my problem is still there -because it exists INSIDE of me.
I still remember my first DiscipleNow as a middle-schooler back in the early 90's. For some reason, there was something really cool about taking my sleeping bag and sleeping in another family's living room for the weekend. Like last year, this February finds our students gearing up for another DNow. But I realize that some of you still may not know what a DiscipleNow Weekend is so:
Disciple Now (or DNOW) is an event within evangelical Christian youth ministry. Elements of the event vary from church to church, but some elements are usually common to all Disciple Nows. Youth are usually grouped together in small groups, and these small groups stay at the homes of adults within the congregation for one weekend. Leaders from other areas are often brought in by the hosting church to teach Bible studies in these small groups. Sometimes small groups may join together for worship services at a central location. Typically, these worship services are very high energy and often feature a worship band.
The theme of this year's DNow is Relationships and is based on the excellent book by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making. Our guest teachers for the weekend are my good friends, Jordan Begley and Brooke Shoemaker and our guest worship leaders are two of the members of Dust 2 Glory, the band that played at our Don't Waste Your Lock-In event on Jan. 1.
Full of plenty of games and activities, the weekend is sure to be a lot of fun. But don't be fooled into thinking the weekend is all about play. The weekend will be very teaching intensive and very challenging as students think through how the truth of God's Word affects their relationships. Please pray for our leaders and students in attendance at this year's DNow.
Come get some BBQ and help our students out at the same time!
Just in case you were waiting for a personal invite, here it is: Come eat some BBQ this Saturday and support our teenagers.
We currently have fourteen youth signed up to go to Xtreme this year. I personally can't think of a better way to send them than sell BBQ! Last year's BBQ fundraiser was my first exposure to the fine BBQ talents of our church men and though it wasn't the reason we chose to answer the call to come here, it sure didn't hurt!
Seriously though, come get some mouthwatering ribs, chicken, etc. to satisfy your tastebuds and show your support for our students. This Saturday beginning at 10:30 and continuing as long as we still have meat to cook.
As we finish our series on how to deal with the past Biblically, we'll continue to focus on that realm in our past in which we consider ourselves to be innocent. This is the area of our past that we have trouble with, not because we have done something, but because something has been done to us. We most often associate this type of difficulty with a deep level of pain. Often questions of, "Why?" or "Why me?" arise as we consider these areas of our past. In this, the last post in the series we'll discuss how to deal with the problem of trials due to living in a fallen world.
How to Deal with Times of Trial Due to Living in a Fallen World
"Why am I so fat?"
"Why did he have to die?"
"Why did she have to suffer?"
"Why couldn't I have done more to help?"
"Did we really have to lose everything?"
The answer to all of these, to one degree or another, usually has to do with the fact that we live in a cursed and fallen world.
The reality of our fallen world cannot be denied. In the past few weeks, I saw our pastor broken over the loss of a close friend; talked to my aunt who was on the verge of tears about her health problems, not to mention her grief over losing her husband almost a year ago; watched in amazement as more and more people around me became deathly afraid of the dreaded swine flu; talked with a neighbor about a friend (who has Alzheimer's) that may have cancer; talked with a church member about her sister who is in a hospital bed recovering from a car wreck, her employer who just returned from receiving cancer treatments, and her husband's friend who has gangreen; another church member whose mother has cancer in advanced stages; another church member that recently lost her uncle; and I could go on. Not to mention the fact that in the past three weeks, the areas of Southeast Asia experienced a monsoon, a tornado, and a tsunami. You cannot escape the nagging feeling that something is very wrong with our world.Things are not as they should be.
If you believe the Bible, than you believe that the reason for this reality of pain, death, and decay goes back to the onset of sin in our world. Ever since Adam and Eve's great blunder, we have lived under the consequences of their choice -the same choice that we all would have made, had we been in their "shoes." In order to show the awfulness of sin, God cursed the earth and all that dwells in it. This sin and it's effects touches all of us. We are living the horrible proof that life lived apart from God only leads to ruin.
Ultimately, however, this reality of sin is not the final answer. If you believe the Bible, then you believe in a sovereign God.
The reality of our sovereign Lord compells us to cry out for a better answer. How can a loving, all-powerful God allow so much suffering? The Biblical testimony of the total sovereignty of God over all things cannot be disputed. Isn't that the point of Matthew 10:29, not one [half-cent sparrow] will fall to the ground apart from your Father? It doesn't matter how sovereign you think the Lord to be, He is actually more sovereign than that. Everything that happens, whether the death of God's son, the decisions of a hard-hearted King, or flipping a coin to decide where to eat lunch has been ordained by the only one who controls all things.
Amos 3:6 Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?
But, this is not the end of the story. God is not only raw, unrestrained power. His power in sending calamity is always self-tempered by His love, grace, and mercy. Not only is the Lord great in power, but He is also slow to anger (Nah. 1:3). His goal in glorifying Himself is never divorced from His goal to glorify Himself through you and me. He is most glorified in us when we willingly give Him glory, and to take it a step further: we give him the most glory when we glorify Him in our trials. And God is loving to send us calamity so that we will look to him, As Francis Chan has said,
If God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn't draw us toward what was best for us (Himself)? If He didn't, wouldn't we accuse Him off being unloving in the end, when all things are revealed?
So, what kind of response does the Lord expect from us? Humble surrender to His will. If we would see more of God and if He would be glorified in us, than this is the only reponse we can have. And the irony is, this is the response that brings us the most joy (James 1:2)! Hershael York shared recently of Harold Bratcher, a career missionary to Brazil. In the '70's, he was enjoying a quiet river boat ride with his 11 year old son, Joel. Harold looked up from his Bible reading when he noticed his son was being unusually quiet only to find that he had disappeared. Three days later, Harold looked into the face of his son's dead body which had floated upriver. When Hershael went to Brazil to visit the Bratchers as a nineteen year old, he overheard Harold praying in the night, "if it means offering up my son for your glory, I would offer him up a thousand times over."
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Don't let your past cripple you in your present. Let your trials serve the purpose for which God intended them. Let them give you a greater dependance upon Him for His glory.
For this third post in our series, we will shift gears from discussing times in our past that we were guilty to times in our past the we are, as far as we can tell, innocent. There are two types of situations that people typically deal with when struggling with "innocent" issues in their past: 1. Times when a person has directly sinned against you and 2. Times of trial due to living in a fallen world.
When you have been directly sinned against, this is often the most difficult. God created us to live in communities such as families and churches and when the trust of those communities is broken it hurts us deeply. And then when you factor in our individualistic culture which tells us that we are often justified in harboring bitterness or withholding forgiveness when it is asked of us in such situations, it makes it even more difficult.
Hear me on this, Christian:
God never brings sinful choices of others to bear upon so that you will be crushed and defeated! He only brings them upon you so that you can bring His Kingdom of grace, love, and truth into this dark kingdom of lies, guilt, bitterness, and shame. When you excercise His grace to those around you, you become more like His Son and His Son is more glorified in the lives of those around you.
So, how does this work? How do we do it? Once again, a teaching outline from Faith Baptist Church is very helpful. Follow the thought process step by step and ask the Lord for the grace to live as a citizen of His Kingdom in this fallen world.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32
Last week, we saw how to deal with the areas in our past that can be placed in the category of our "unconfessed guilty past." This week, we'll look at how to deal with those areas from our past that can be categorized as our "confessed guilty past." As I said in the first post of this series, the original ideas for these posts did not originate with me. I gleaned these truths from the faithful teaching of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, IN where I was once a member.
How to Deal with the Confessed Sins of our Past Biblically
Within the church today, there is much confusion regarding confession of sin. Some people almost have a Catholic view, feeling that they must be granted "forgiveness" from their pastor. Others are plagued with nagging doubts over whether or not they can be forgiven for a sin that is "that big." Many feel they must torture themselves for a while, forcing themselves into excessive sorrow before they can truly repent and therefore experience forgiveness. A few even act as though grace gives them a license to sin and they go about committing and confessing the same sin over and over with little remorse and no repentance. Sadly, all of these responses, though very common are not the least bit Biblical or helpful.
True sorrow leads to true confession which leads to true repentance which leads to true joy! There is no room for prideful "buts" or "I had to's" in true confession.
Don't wallow! If we truly take God at his word (1 John 1:9), then we have no reason to wallow in our confessed sins. Whether they are sins engaged in prior to coming to Christ or after experiencing the new birth makes no difference. If Christ's sacrifice was truly enough to cleanse us of our sins (Hebrews 9:26), then we must view ourselves as God views us: forgiven. God is not impressed when we beat ourselves up over our past trespasses. We do no favor to our holiness and certainly no favor to God's Kingdom by thinking this way. To wallow in our sins is to doubt the very character of God and to call God a liar. To wallow in our sins is to rob ourselves of joy and to neuter ourselves of the power of victorious living God has called us to. Just as Christ restored Peter (John 21:15-19) after he denied Him (Matthew 26:69-75), just as Christ prayed, "Father, forgive" the very men who slaughtered him (Luke 23:34), so can Christ forgive and restore you and me. In short, to wallow in our sin is to commit the sin of STINKIN' THINKIN' which is as awful as it sounds.
Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
The great reformer of the church, Martin Luther could not get past the horribleness of his sins prior to his conversion, but once he understood the Gospel and was changed by it, he was the one who said, "Sin boldly!" This total forgiveness through the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice was what he was referring to.
Rejoice in God's forgiveness! If we were to catch just a glimpse of hell, we Christians would be a much more joyous people. The fact that our sins are forgiven and our names are permanently written in the Lamb's Book of Life gives us great cause for rejoicing! Christ came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) not just in eternity, but in the here and now! Jesus told his disciples to be more joyful about the fact that their sins were forgiven than about the fact that they had power over demons (Luke 10:20)! Just as the guilt of sin sucks the life out of us, the forgiveness of sin gives us a blessed existence. As the Psalmist sings, "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart (Psalm 32:1, 2, 11).
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. What a great promise!
Learn all the lessons you can! Many of us wish that "forgiven" meant we experienced amnesia regarding all of our sin. But in God's economy, nothing is wasted. Everything (even our sinful actions) serves a purpose (Romans 8:28). Don’t carry around a load of guilt regarding past sins. Instead, let God redeem those sins and show the good that He wants to bring out of them. Whether it’s ministering to someone struggling with similar temptations, learning humility (1 Corinthians 10:12), or just being more and more amazed at the Lord’s overwhelming grace, grab all that you can! Surely one lesson we can learn is that of being forgiving people (Colossians 3:13). We who have been forgiven much cannot help but also forgive. It is almost unfathomable to think that our God is even sovereign over our sin (so much so that he even uses sin to fulfill His plans for us!), but we cannot deny the fact that God uses sin to accomplish His good purposes. Look at the greatest sin ever committed: killing the Son of God. If you’re on God’s agenda, you won’t want to let any suffering go to waste.
Move on! When you are tempted to stay in despair, self-pity, or guilt –move on! To stay in that place keeps you from moving forward in your Christian life. Do what you must, but you must move forward. A few years ago, I began noticing that several sins that I had committed prior to coming to Christ were repeatedly coming back to haunt me. I knew this was not God-honoring so I sought the Lord to see if there was any wrongs that I had not yet (to the best of my ability) righted. Discovering none, I prayerfully wrote down every one of those plaguing sins on a piece of paper. I acknowledged my freedom from guilt over these sins and ripped the paper up into tiny pieces. I threw the pieces in the trash can and now I have a very difficult time remembering any of the sins on that list. I should be clear that this is in no way some sort of magic formula for “getting sin guilt off your back.” At other times, I have been convinced that I should confess sins to this person or that and ask them to forgive me or remind me that I am forgiven. Some of these sins were committed against that particular person and some of them were not. Sin breeds sin best when left in the dark. If you expose it to the light, it withers and dies. The old adage, “Confession is good for the soul” is true because the secret darkness in which sin thrives is dispersed by the blinding light of the gospel of peace through that confession.
James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Don’t add sin upon sin by not acknowledging the forgiveness that God has given you. Christ gave you freedom –walk in that freedom!
Our pastor shared with us this Sunday that we should not be defined by our past, rather our identity in Christ should define us. Sitting in the pew, I wondered, how many people mentally agree with that statement, but have no idea how that can be a reality in their life. In fact, it may be the case that more of us think thoughts like:
"If I could somehow erase my past, it would be much easier to serve God."
"I thought I was following God's will for my life. How could He let this happen?"
"If my spouse had not sinned against me in the past, I would be able to honor God in my marriage."
"Things would be better if I could just go back to the way things were."
"If I had never suffered abuse in the past, my future would be brighter."
"If I had never sinned in that way, God would be able to use me."
The fact of the matter is that every one of these statements is false. So, my goal in this blog post and probably the next few is to provide helpful material on how to put off the lies concerning our past and put on the truth concerning our identity in Christ. I should say upfront, that much of my material including the basic outline is not original with me, rather it is material I was exposed to while I was blessed to be a member of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, IN.
Everyone has a past -no one denies that. The problems with our past often come when we forget who gave us our past. God himself, the One who created time, who gave us a linear existence, and who gave us a memory -He is the One who gave us all a past. We can become obsessed with our past to the point that it renders us useless in regards to the present or the future. In fact, many believers buy the lie that the best way to deal with todays struggles centers on analyzing our past to death. While I certainly don't endorse this type of man-centered navel-gazing, I do believe that all of us have problems in our past that we must deal with. I also believe that since God gave us a past, and since God loves us, He must have given us a proven and sure way to deal with our past. And indeed He has -in His Word.
Our past can't really be handled in one big lump. We can usually separate our past into four different categories:
1. Our Unconfessed Guilty Past
2. Our Confessed Guilty Past
3. Our Innocent Past (in which we have been directly sinned against)
4. Our Innocent Past (in which we have experienced trials due to living in a fallen world)
For the remainder of this post, let's focus on number one, our unconfessed guilty past.
If we had the choice, I'm sure that all of us would choose to never sin after we have come "out of darkness and into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9), but the reality is that we all have sin still dwelling in us. The Bible calls this "the flesh" (1 Pet. 2:11) or "the old self" (Col. 3:9). Although we are repeatedly told to put off these evil desires, we repeatedly fail and plunge headlong into sin. This sin becomes part of our past and the sooner we deal with it, the better off we'll be. Indeed, the lack of dealing with it will make us feel the heavy burden of our "bones wasting away" and "our strength drying up as by the summer heat" (Psalm 32:3-4) due to God's "heavy hand" of conviction upon us (Psalm 38). We may try to move forward in our Christian walk, but our Father will continually be pointing His finger back to the point when we sinned against Him -telling us to deal with that sin. So, how do we deal with it?
First, we must recognize that Christ has already dealt with it for you. Our Father does not expect us to make payment for our sin, because it has already been paid for. (My wife just wrote an excellent blog post on this topic that I urge you to read.) All He asks of us is for us to confess our sin and repent from it. Jesus urges the church in of Ephesus to remember their past and to repent (Rev. 2:5). Indeed, one of the greatest promises that we have in all of Scripture is the fact that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Confession of sin should not be a one-time thing for the Christian. The model prayer prescripts us to say, "forgive our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12). As Believers, we have been forgiven much! And the incredible thing is that our Father is ready to forgive EVEN MORE! This is the reason we must forgive our debtors. How can we, who have been forgiven so much refuse to forgive others that God stands ready to forgive (see the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matt. 18:23-35). The fact that we have been forgiven by God himself should also give us confidence to confess our sins to others as well (James 5:16).
Lastly, if there is restitution that should be made, we must make it. Sadly, this is an area of the Christian life not often talked about. If this were not the case, there would be far less division in the church and far fewer accusations of hypocrisy launched against the church. Because we are forgiven, does not mean restitution should not be made. If you have wronged someone and it is within your power to take steps to make it right, you are compelled by your love for Christ to do it. The Old Testament law gave many specific instructions on how to "make things right" with your neighbor (see Exodus 22:7-15; Numbers 5:5-10; 14:20-23). The New Testament also supports this type of thinking. If it were not so, the book of Philemon would not exist (see verse 19; also Luke 19:1-9). If we have sinned against our brother -even if we are thought to have sinned against our brother, it is incumbant upon us to go and make restitution.
Unconfessed sins from our past can cripple our future, but it doesn't have to be this way. If you deal with these areas in your past and make this type of thinking a regular part of your Christian walk you'll be amazed at the freedom in Christ you'll begin to experience!
(Next: How to deal with the confessed sin of our past that comes back to haunt us.)
I had an awesome time of prayer with two great friends of mine last night. Both of them have been going through difficult times due to loss of loved ones. As I drove home late, this song was on the Indelible Grace cd I had been listening to. What comforting lyrics! I had been struck earlier that day by how much evil and suffering there is in the world. I took a walk in the fields behind my in-laws’ house and reached the same conclusion that Anne Steel reached when she penned these lyrics. I love how they do not by-pass the mind on the way to the heart -rather, they appeal to the logic of turning to Christ alone for our refuge. So, for my two friends and for others who are grieving, I invite you to be comforted by these lyrics as I am.
1. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel
2. But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust
3. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner’s prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there
4. Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet
Ready for Reformation? Southern Baptists and the Seminary Structure
from July 9, 2008
I’m well aware that one could easily get lost in the blog-maze of Southern Baptist Convention reform. It seems everyone with a computer sees themselves as a reformer these days. Well, I am probably much less qualified than most to add a twist or turn to this confusing maze, but maybe you will find this helpful . . .
Having attended one of our great Southern Baptist institutions of higher learning, I have a few thoughts about the seminary structure in the SBC. There are many reasons that I would spend time thinking and writing about the need for SBC Seminary reform. I could discuss the high cost of seminary for the students. Not just the tuition, textbook, and housing costs, but many must leave jobs that provide well in order to relocate away from the support structure of their church, friends, and family. I could even discuss a culture that often births in seminary environments that are filled with pride, one-up-manship, name-dropping, and a striving for accolades. Even worse, seminary often leaves students with a disconnect between their newly acquired head knowledge and practical ministry leaving damaged churches that have been experimented on crippled, dead, or dying. Yes, I would imagine all of these and more problems are too common in any seminary’s life. But, in my opinion, these alone are not worth all the trouble to reform a massive beast like the SBC’s six seminaries.
The greatest problem that exists in today’s seminary structure is that, try as they may, they do not give attention to the priority of the local church. Christ has promised to build His church and though the gates of hell try to prevail against it, they shall never succeed (Mt. 16:18). We too often think that this applies to our particular extra-biblical ministry -a seminary, for example. Christ never promised to build a seminary, a youth ministry, a recovery ministry, a retreat ministry, a printing ministry, or any other extra-biblical ministry. He promised to build His church. I’m crazy enough to think that a way to seek the blessing of God in our ministries is to get in line with His plan to build His church. What are the purposes of a seminary? Are they not the same purposes that the Bible gives to the church? It is through the church, after all, that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10). As Paul and Barnabas passed through Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, they did not send the leaders off to Jerusalem to learn from Peter, nor did they order them to accompany them so that they might go to Paul’s traveling missionary seminary. Instead, they appointed elders with prayer and fasting and committed them to the Lord (Acts 14:19-23). Paul and Barnabas did not look on the wall of these men’s homes for seminary degrees. Instead, they probably looked within the walls of their homes to see if they managed their own households well (1 Timothy 3:4-5) and outside of those same walls to see if they were well thought of by outsiders (v. 7). Our seminary degree culture in the SBC has blurred the lines of qualifications for eldership and removed the importance of a pastor being known in the area in which he is shepherding. I have a deep love and appreciation for those who serve faithfully in our denomination’s seminaries. I have profited spiritually from many of them. And most of them, I believe, probably have a deep love for the local church and this comes through in their labors. But I believe that we can do better. What follows are some suggestions.
1. Close 4 of the 6 seminaries. Think of the impact on our churches if the education is going on right in their midst rather than seeing their called and gifted young people leave to obtain their theological education. 2 Seminaries should remain open (SouthWestern or GoldenGate in the West and Southern or SouthEastern in the East) to ease logistics of suggestion #2. These remaining two campuses would be used to house offices, libraries, temporary student housing, host modulars, conferences, etc.
2. Offer only non-traditional classes. I am referring to on-location modular courses ranging from 1-6 wks at a time. I am referring to weekend simulcasts hosted churches, associations, or state conventions. I am referring to professors visiting these same venues once a week for the duration of a semester. I am referring to DVD and internet-based classes that students may take part in as a group at one of these venues or at home. I am referring to mail correspondence courses. Some, and maybe even all of these, are already being used by our seminaries, but there is no need for traditional classes in this day and age of technology and ease of transportation.
That’s pretty much it. Just 2 suggestions. Of course, this raises lots of questions. Questions, such as:
What about the other 4 campuses? There are any number of options. We could sell them and use the money to pay for expansion of the libraries at the remaining two locations, relocation costs, severance packages, purchasing new equipment to make the new class format necessary, or we could just give it all to missions. Another option would be to keep the buildings to use for ministry as another missionary learning center location, another retreat center, a hospital, or college.
What about the staff? Obviously, we would want to offer a healthy severance package for folks whose jobs have been eliminated. The professors would have plenty of options. Some would continue to teach full-time with modulars, internet, correspondence, and satellite locations. Others would opt for teaching part-time while teaching at another school (secular or Christian), writing for Lifeway, ministering vocationally at a local church or as a associational/denominational servant. Others may choose to teach full-time at a secular university.
There are surely other objections, like, “What about the importance of our tradition, heritage, history, etc?” “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” But I believe the benefits to the church far outweigh the difficult truths of these and any other objections.
Some of these benefits would include: Small churches located near the seminaries would be more likely to look for and find a long-term pastor. The minister as “professional” culture full of church-hopping, ladder-climbing pastors could conceivably diminish. Due to the professors’ and students’ involvement in more churches, local churches would have both better access to good teaching and more opportunity to see how God works in a church to raise up and develop leaders. These are just a few of the many benefits.
If Southern Baptists would seek a way forward, we must do it with the church leading the charge, not denominational servants, structures, or ministries. We must recognize that our commitment to voluntary cooperation, though solid must always be producing fluid and changing ministries. I once heard Al Mohler say that his goal was to work himself out of the job and put the job of the seminary back in the hands of the local church -I couldn’t applaud him louder. Now, let’s see some action.
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