SBC Follows CBF's Lead On Mission Field

From Vicki Brown of the Associated Baptist Press (September 2008):

ATLANTA (ABP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board will reorganize over the next year to focus more on local churches’ involvement in missions and provide flexibility to reach people groups across geographical lines.

At their Sept. 8-10 meeting in Atlanta, IMB trustees approved a reorganization of the missionary-sending agency and revised its vision, mission and core-values statements. The process will take about a year to fine tune and complete, according to an IMB news release....

But changes in the agency’s mission statement and core values also emphasize the local church’s role in reaching the world with the message of Christ.

“[T]he revised mission statement…reflects that the Great Commission is the responsibility of the local church and refocuses the efforts of the agency on assisting churches to fulfill that responsibility,” according to the IMB release.

The values statement, the release continued, shifts “the role of the agency from a primary focus on sending missionaries to one that serves the churches in their involvement in the Great Commission and the sending of missionaries.”

And from Patricia Heys via the Biblical Recorder (June 2007):

ATLANTA - Following a year of conversation with congregations, mission leaders and field personnel, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) will unveil a new vision and restructuring of CBF Global Missions at this year's General Assembly June 28-29 in Washington, D.C. The changes reflect a conviction on the part of CBF congregations and missions leadership that the 21st century will be the century of local congregations in global mission.

"The engagement of local congregations in global missions is one of the great seismic shifts among evangelicals in the last decade," said CBF Global Missions coordinator Rob Nash. "We want to do all that we can possibly do as a mission entity to facilitate that engagement and to work alongside congregations in being the presence of Christ in the world."

In light of the fact that some SBC leaders have recently questioned whether the CBF is truly Christian, it's quite interesting to see the International Mission Board of the SBC follow the CBF's lead in restructuring how they do Global Missions by putting the emphasis on the local congregation. The CBF must get at least a thing or two right for the SBC to follow the CBF's lead and copy part of CBF's vision.

As the old saying goes....

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Pray for Cecil Sherman

Thanks to Mike Ruffin for passing this on.

From Daniel Vestal:

We received word today that Dr. Cecil Sherman, founding coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. He is in M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for tests and possible treatment options. His wife, Dot, continues to be in failing health in Richmond. Please join me in prayer for Cecil and Dot as well as their daughter Eugenia Brown during this difficult time.

"Young" CBFers Issue Open Letter to Cecil Sherman

Here is the full text version of the Open Letter written about in the ABP article by Vicki Brown titled "Young CBFers, responding to Sherman, call for end to bitter anti-SBC rhetoric." Thus far, I believe I am the only person to post the full text of this document called an Open Letter. It's short and sweet. A few assertions are made but few facts are provided. I don't think a "misguided" analogy qualifies as a "conversation" that is "center stage" much less the focus of who [CBF is ] or what they do."

A group of young leaders within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship movement has issued the following statement regarding remarks by former CBF Coordinator Cecil Sherman at the 2008 General Assembly:

Open Letter to Dr. Cecil Sherman

Tuesday, June 24, 2008



Dear Dr. Sherman,


For your work and ministry, we are sincerely grateful. You helped harness the energy of those who chose to leave the Southern Baptist Convention when certain leaders were ousted through manipulative and unethical means. You helped to create a new family of faith, a new movement now known as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. We are grateful for your risk-taking and your leadership.

After receiving recognition for your recently published book last Thursday at the CBF General Assembly in Memphis, Tennessee, you juxtaposed our relatively small amount of pain – where no one was injured or killed – to the six million killed in the Holocaust. In our opinion and the opinions of many others, your analogy was misguided. These words are old rhetoric that we will no longer accept in our midst. The SBC has chosen one path and the CBF another. We no longer have energy to focus on this separation, but rather turn our attention to a suffering world.

Though the wounds of the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC are nothing in comparison to the Holocaust, we recognize those wounds are real. They are also wounds that need healing, and for some the grieving process is not over yet. We respect that and want to allow a place for conversations about our past. Of course remembering what happened will help us avoid repeating mistakes. But we will no longer wish for this conversation to have center stage – nor be the focus of who we are and what we do.

Young Baptist leaders are ready to embrace new opportunities for ministry and discipleship. Remembering the past but not dwelling on it, many Baptist are excited and enthusiastic about ministering with the most neglected people around the world. Some of these most neglected include descendants of those people-groups who were targeted for extermination in the Holocaust.

So with deep respect for your work and sacrifice for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, we invite you to lay down the pain of the past and join us as we focus on a future, bright with possibility.

Respectfully submitted,


David Burroughs, President, Passport, Inc.

Rev. R. Scott Ford, Associate Coordinator for Missions, CBF of Georgia

Rev. Nikki Hardeman, Associate Coordinator for Congregational Life, CBF of Georgia

Jeremy Lewis, Together for Hope Manager, CBF

Rev. Brent McDougal, Coordinator of Alabama CBF

Rev. Christina Whitehouse-Suggs, Associate Coordinator for Congregational Life, CBF South Carolina

Mike Young, Associate Coordinator for Missions, Tennessee CBF

CBF Keynote Speaker: Jesus is our bridge to Eternal Life

Last year, Lauran Bethell received the Whitsitt Society's Courage Award. This year Bethell was the keynote speaker at the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

If you're not familiar with Bethell, here is her bio:

Lauran Bethell is an American Baptist Churches USA global ministry consultant based in Prague, Czech Republic, where she helps mentor and facilitate ministry among exploited and abused women and children around the world.

In the late 1980s in Thailand, she helped to launch the New Life Center, which ministered among victims of human trafficking. For 14 years, she directed the center, which gave shelter to as many as 200 women and children at a time. The center became internationally recognized, and in 1995, Bethell was honored by the prime minister of Thailand for her efforts with the center. The center now has two locations and continues to aid at-risk children and women, as well as former prostitutes.

In 2000, Bethell moved to Prague to begin working as a ministry consultant. She has directed two international conferences about ministry with women in prostitution. In 2005, she received the Baptist World Alliance’s Human Rights Award.

And the video of her keynote address:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Meeting in Memphis, Tenn., for the first time in its history, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship focused on the theme of “Embrace the World: Building Bridges” during the 18^th annual General Assembly. Randy Hyde, chair of the Assembly steering committee and pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., welcomed about 2,000 attendees to the first full day of events June 19.

“There is hope springing from the silt of these Delta lands, and people who call themselves ‘Baptists’ are a vital part of that hope,” Hyde said. “Sharing the gospel means breaking barriers, and here on the banks of this great river we have more than our share ... which is why we have built bridges.”

American Baptist human rights advocate Lauran Bethell, who serves in the Netherlands, talked about bridging gaps in relationships as Jesus did with the Samaritan woman at the well. She challenged the Assembly to not become imprisoned by fear of crossing the bridges of culture, morality and gender.

“There are many Christians and … churches who … suffer from the fear,” she said. “It’s a fear of falling and a fear of failing … [or] a fear of the unknown of the other side.”

Bethell spoke specifically about ministry among prostitution and human trafficking victims, asking Fellowship Baptists to pray for victims, learn more about the problem and cross a bridge.

“This is God’s moment. Let’s cross the bridge of fear … risk … devastation … pain,” she said.

CBF General Assembly Pictures and Book Signing

An unfinished thesis kept me from booking a flight to Memphis. I've actually been finished with the thesis for a couple of weeks now but that didn't allow me enough time to get a flight for cheaper than the cost of three-months rent. So, I've been browsing the pictures online of the General Assembly here. Nothing too exciting. But I did enjoy this t-shirt:


This picture was taken at the Resource fair where BDW Sr. will be signing his new book:

In Search of the New Testament Church: The Baptist Story by C. Douglas Weaver

Dr. Jim West, I believe, is the first to review it. He wrote:

The last substantive history of Baptists was written by Bill Leonard and was titled Baptist Ways: A History. It was a decidedly useful volume, though at points a bit dense and a bit less readable than it otherwise might have been. C. Douglas Weaver's newly published volume definitely does not suffer that shortcoming. It is not only exceptionally well written, it is exceptionally readable. .....

Weaver, in sum, has done simply a brilliant job of reminding us all that Baptists have - in the past - been people of conscience. Whether we remain such, or bow to the pressures of a world which ever more summons us to conformity, is up to us. Get Weaver's book and read it diligently. It will reward you magnificently.

Vestal: CBF Exists to Further Mission of God

The General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship officially kicked off today at the Memphis/Cook County Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

The annual assembly began by commissioning 18 people to global missions service. You can read more about that event here.

Daniel Vestal, Coordinator of the CBF, delivered a message titled "Discerning Together." Here's the text and audio from that address.

And here are a few paragraphs from that keynote:

Discerning the Past: The Providence and Presence of God

1. Perhaps a good place to start would be to remember, rehearse and recite what we have experienced and reflect on the providence and presence of God in our shared story.

• This morning Harriet did a remarkable job in reminding us of the past 17 years in CBF
• There are times when I can hardly believe what has happened and how God has blessed us.
• But let me suggest that discerning needs to reach beyond those 17 years.

2. The reason Cecil Sherman’s book is so important is not that it is just a personal memoir but it is an historical record that chronicles our beginning.

• It is, I believe, important for us to acknowledge our roots in order to give thanks to God that, “through many dangers, toils and snares, we have already come.” Some would like to ignore our heritage, others reject it, and still others would like to re-interpret or revise it to fit their own prejudices.
• I suggest we embrace it for what it was and is, a mixture of good and bad and then thank God for his providence and presence in it.

3. Why is this important?

• Because we cannot discern the present and future without reflecting on the past.
• There are some among us who would like to “reproduce the past, i.e. to make CBF into the image of a reorganized SBC.”
• There are others among us who would like to forget the past, i.e. to make CBF “exnihilo” as if it had no connection to history or heritage.
• There are some who would like CBF to have little or no organizational structure and simply collect and distribute money to institutions with no connectionalism.
• There are some who would like for CBF to become an all encompassing denomination giving identity to individuals and congregations.
• There are others whose vision for CBF is simply to be a missionary-sending society or to be subsumed into some other Baptist organization.

4. Whatever CBF becomes will be determined by Providence. But my understanding of Providence is that we are asked to make decisions that have real consequences.

*picture courtesy of CBF (www.thefellowship.info)

The Death of Denominations & the Future of the CBF

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) has a blog called The Fellowship Portal that has become very active lately. The Fellowship Portal lists ten featured bloggers.

One of the featured bloggers is Robert Prince. Prince is the pastor of First Baptist Church, Waynesville, North Carolina.

His post is entitled, The Death of Denominations and the Future of the CBF.

Check it out below and bookmark/subscribe to The Fellowship Portal.

Denominations have defined Protestant Christianity in America for most of its history. They’ve included Congregationalists, Methodists, Episcopals, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists. But about 40 years ago, these denominations began a steep decline. It started with more liberal denominations, but spread rapidly to moderate ones. For example, the United Methodist Church has lost about three million members over the last 40 years.

Conservative denominations like Southern Baptists have appeared to be immune to this decline. But this may not be the case. Statistics show that the average weekly worship attendance in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is about 6 million. That’s down from slightly more than 7 million in 1980.

Where have the people gone? Many have quit going to church entirely, many have gravitated to chuches of other denominations, and many appear to have migrated to non-denominational churches.

I’m challenged by the fact that when I talk to our high school and college-age students, I find that they find no attraction on any particular denomination or to the idea of a denomination. They feel that denominational distinctives are unimportant. I’ve also noticed that once they get out on their own, they tend to go to non-denominational churches, despite my best efforts to make good Baptists out of them!

What does all this mean to CBF? I remember when I attended one of the early gatherings of what would become the CBF there was a lot of discussion about what the group would be. Would it be a split-off denomination, a network within the SBC, or what? I must confess that I was one of those who wanted to see the CBF become a denomination.

The CBF has developed into a kind of quasi-denomination and mission society. While that frustrates people whose organizational model is the SBC, I’ve reversed my opinion and think that’s a good thing. Why become a denomination when the denomination is a model of the past? Though there are many things about the structure of CBF that are frustrating to those of us who grew up in the denominational model, I think it’s the form of the future: a partnership of Baptist churches, individual Baptists, Christian institutions, and outside denominational entities that continues Christ’s work.

The CBF has many challenges ahead. But I think it’s better equipped to deal with the future than many other groups.

CBF General Assembly Coverage Round-Up

Below is my attempt at putting together a comprehensive list of links to CBF-related news stories. I will continue to update this list. Drop a comment if I missed something.

National News
America's Other Baptists (Washington Post)
Baptists To Read From Dallas Pastor's Famed Speech (Dallas Morning News)
Wrap-Up on Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Meeting (Dallas Morning News - Sam Hodges)

Baptist News
Hinson Emphasizes Need For Spritual Reformation (Biblical Recorder)
CBF Leaders Endorse New Baptist Covenant (ABP)
Women in Ministry report highlights progress, obstacles simultaneously (ABP)
Tar Heels Stand Out At CBF Meeting (Biblical Recorder)
Truett's Famed Religious Liberty Sermon Recreated At D.C. Event (ABP)
Baptist sex-traffic mission worker urges others to ‘show up’ for ministry (ABP)
CBF panelists urge Baptists to see ‘humanity’ of AIDS crisis (ABP)
Study Suggests CBF Churches Open To Women Pastors (EthicsDaily.com)
Evangelism About More Than Just Souls, CBF Moderator Says
CBF Commissions 18 Missionaries (Biblical Recorder)
CBF moderator McCall says God’s covenant gives Christians responsibility (ABP)
CBF Panelists Urge Baptists to see "Humanity" of AIDS Crisis (ABP)
Pundits Urge Pastors To Be Political, Not Partisan, in the Pulpit (ABP)

CBF Communications
Complete General Assembly Coverage
-includes audio, pictures, and over 20 articles.

SBC Related Publications
CBF Inflates Numbers of 'Represented' Churches at General Assembly (The Church Report)
CBF Workshops Explore Variety Of Topics (Baptist Press)
CBF lists churches 'represented' at assembly; declines to name partner churches (Baptist Press)

Blogs
And Now - Live from CBF (Melissa Rogers)
Podcast - Speeches from Baptist Unity Rally (Bruce Prescott)
Baptist Unity Rally - Memorable Quote (Bruce Prescott)
The Urge To Merge (Baptists Like Me)
Remembering Truett - Baptist Unity Rally For Religious Liberty (Don Byrd - BJC)
Pro-Separation Baptists Celebrate Religious Liberty (The Wall - Americans United)
Christian Ethics and Immigration Policy (Albert Reyes - Buckner)
Randall Balmer Calls On Baptists (Don Byrd - BJC)
What is Wrong With Baptist Press? (Brian Kaylor)
A Great Time Talking Faith And Politics (Greg Boyd)

Live From The CBF....

Enjoyed a nice (but pricey) breakfast this morning with Bill Leonard and BDW Sr. at the Renaissance Hotel. Always great to share a meal with the esteemed Historian. I even got some great advice/tips from Leonard (and Dr. Shurden just a bit ago) for my thesis on James Dunn that I'm working on.

It's hot and the walk back and forth from Hyatt to Convention Center ain't making it any cooler....

Not too much to say - other than the changes Dr. Rob Nash is instituting concerning the way CBF does Global Missions is pretty radical. His move from the old missionary model to the proposed missional church paradigm looks exciting but won't be without a handful or two of critics.

I've met one blogger thus far - Dr. Michael Ruffin - pastor of The Hill Baptist Church in Augusta (formerly a Religion Prof at Belmont). I hear Bruce Prescott live blogged the Ethics Conference yesterday with Campolo, Wallis, Boyd, and Rogers - although we haven't bumped into one another yet.

Lauran Bethell just received the Whitsitt Courage Award. Her ministry to prostitutes and pimps is truly remarkable. I'll have more to say about Bethell and the Global Sex Trade later on.

Tonight, the President of the Baptist World Alliance - David Coffey - addresses the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. My cousin works for the BWA here in DC so I'm interested to hear what Coffey has to say.

More later...

My CBF General Assembly Itinerary And Much More

Thursday marks the official beginning of the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. This year the General Assembly is being held in Washington D.C. And on Friday evening, the CBF and the American Baptist Churches USA will convene and worship together. For more on this historic gathering and celebration of Baptist unity - see here.

Since The Big Daddy Weave will be present for the Assembly and Celebration, I have provided a list of notable events and workshops sponsored by the CBF. To see a complete list of auxillary events and workshops - click here.

Wednesday, June 27

The Minister and Politics: How To Be Political Without Being Partisan

Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Greg Boyd, and Melissa Rogers (blog) will speak to this question at the upcoming The Minister and Politics conference hosted by Christian Ethics Today and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. For more details, please see my previous post.

Thursday, June 28

Morning Events

Freedom from Hunger and Poverty (sponsored by Bread for the World, CBF, Baylor)

We are called to be the presence of Christ for those who suffer from extreme poverty, hunger and disease. As a follow-up to last year’s HIV/AIDS Summit, we’ll hear from members of Congress, Hill Staffers, and religious leaders whose collaboration across party lines has created new and effective U.S. policies to address the root causes of hunger and poverty.

Alan Larson, former undersecretary of state, will join Congressman Artur Davis and Bread for the World president David Backmann on this discussion panel. For more info, see here.

The New Global Mission w/ CBF Global Missions Coordinator Dr. Rob Nash
Local Congregations and Mission in the 21st Century

Come share in an open and honest discussion of the challenges facing congregations as they seek to engage in global mission in the 21st century. As we enter into the “Century of the Congregation,” discuss implications for sharing the gospel with the world!

Nash is expected to unveil a new Global Missions strategy that will restructure the way that the CBF does missions. I'll be there. For more info, see here.

Prosperity Gospel: Revisiting Stewardship or Selling Indulgences?
w/ Bill Leonard

Explore the current “Prosperity Gospel” phenomenon and its implications for individuals, congregations and popular religion in postmodern America. Questions include: What is the “Prosperity Gospel,” how did it evolve, and what does it suggest about biblicism, materialism, and spirituality in today’s church? Not for the theologically squeamish!

It's Bill Leonard - better come early to get a seat...

Caring for God’s Creation
w/ Melissa Rogers

Discuss current threats to our environment and how these threats affect the poorest of the poor. Practical suggestions will be offered regarding the roles religious communities may plan in addressing these issues. We are all responsible for God’s created order!

Jim Ball, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network will join Melissa Rogers for a workshop on religious activism and environmental issues. For more, see here.

Afternoon Events

William Whitsitt Society – Ministry to Victims of Global Sex Trade

Everyone is invited to this meeting, which is sponsored by the Whitsitt Society. Lauren Bethell will be given the Whitsitt Courage Award, after which she will describe her ministry to victims of international sex trade and answer questions about the ministry.

Of course I'll be there since I did write an article for the latest issue of the Whitsitt Journal.

CBF HIV/AIDS Network and the Missional Church
w/ Ronnie Adams

Hear from individuals, churches and CBF field personnel who are working with HIV/AIDS communities around the world. Discover ways your church can reach out to the 39.4 million persons infected with HIV and make a difference in their lives and in your own. For more, see here.

The State of Women in Baptist Life 2006 Report
w/ Eileen Campbell-Reed and Pamela R. Durso

Attitudes about women in society, the professions and ministry have changed dramatically in the last 30 years. Hear survey results of Baptist attitudes toward women in society and the latest statistics about women’s leadership in the second annual State of Women in Baptist Life report commissioned by Baptist Women in Ministry.

You’re in Washington: Be an Advocate!
J. Brent Walker and K. Hollyn Hollman (Baptist Joint Committee)

Being an effective advocate requires planning, preparation and follow-through. Hear practical tips for making a difference on issues of concern (especially religious liberty) through contact with elected officials and other political activists. Read more about additional BJC events.

Friday, June 29

Morning Events

8 a.m. Baptist Unity Rally for Religious Liberty (sponsored by BJC)

In May 1920, George W. Truett, a Baptist preacher from Dallas, Texas, climbed the east steps of the U.S. Capitol to address a throng of some 10,000 onlookers. His purpose in addressing the crowd was to rally support for religious liberty and its constitutional corollary, the separation of church and state. Religious, political and educational leaders will celebrate our Baptist heritage by reading excerpts of Truett’s speech. Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, William Underwood, Pam Durso, Jeff Haggray, Stan Hastey, Daniel Vestal, Amy Butler, Julie Pennington-Russell, Curt Lucas and Rob Marus are among those scheduled to participate.

The event will be held at Fountain Plaza at Upper Senate Park, adjacent to the U.S. Capitol and Russell Senate Office Building, between Delaware and New Jersey avenues.

Last Friday I blogged about this historic event. Count me in.

The New Baptist Covenant Explained
w/ David Emmanuel Goatley and Alan Stanford

President Jimmy Carter has initiated a new covenant among North American Baptists calling them to work together across racial and organizational lines to express a positive and prophetic Baptist voice. Come learn more about it. Make plans for a historic gathering in January, 2008!

Christian Ethics and Immigration Policy
w/ Melissa Rogers

How should Christian ethics inform our understanding of and responses to immigration policy? What can our churches do? Join leaders who are expert in Christian ethics and immigration policy to discuss these questions.

The speakers at this workshop will be Albert Reyes, president of Buckner Children and Family Services and a member of Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform; Suzii Paynter, director of the Texas Christian Life Commission; and Jenny Hwang of World Relief. Melissa Rogers will moderate. For more see here.

BCE Film Series and Panel Discussion Always...Therefore: The Church's Challenge of Global Poverty
w/ Robert Parham

Learn ways Christians can engage in feeding a hungry world. The Baptist Center for Ethics is sponsoring a screening and discussion on this movie. Following the film, a brief panel discussion will explore the biblical mandate to feed the hungry and ways to be faithful to that mandate.

More info can be found here.

The Churches Response to Genocide
w/ Gregory Stanton

Hear a Christian response to genocide with a focus on genocide both past and present. You’ll leave with a motivation to be the presence of Christ to a world crying for help.

BCE Film Series and discussion Faith and Politics
w/ Robert Parham

The Baptist Center for Ethics is sponsoring a screening and panel discussion about authentic Christian values, how Christians should express their faith in politics and how to live faithfully in a pluralistic society and a world of competing interests.

Bono and Billy Graham: Ministering to All without Losing Me
w/ CBF Leadership Team

An intergenerational panel from CBF’s young leader organization will dialogue and share in Q & A. Where are young people in CBF life? How does the church need to change? Vocational direction, the importance of Sabbath, being single or married in the church, cultural issues, and many more issues will be explored.

CBF/ABC Partnership Work in New Church Starts

Come see what CBF and ABC are accomplishing together in the field of New Church Starts. Hear about current successful church starts and prospects for future work together.

Keeping Baptist Distinctives from Being Baptist Extinctives
w/ Bill Tillman and Stacy Conner

Baptist distinctives carry a soft underside which can be and have been exploited. Address of social issues and wholesome evangelism becomes stunted and perverted. Suggestions will be made toward a healthy projection of these distinctives.

And last but not least - come join friends of the Baptist Joint Committee as they celebrate religious liberty at the annual RLC Luncheon.

Author/professor Randall Balmer will deliver the keynote address at the annual Religious Liberty Council luncheon to be held in conjunction with the overlapping meetings of CBF and ABC USA in Washington, D.C. The event is scheduled for 12:15-1:45 p.m., June 29, in Independence Ballroom A at the Grand Hyatt Washington.

Balmer is a professor of American Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School and the author of Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament.

Stephen Fox of BaptistLife.com fame pestered me daily last Fall until I purchased Thy Kingdom Come. I admit - it was money well spent. My sister even made use of Balmer's work in her freshmen English essay about Michael Farris, the homeschool movement and reasons why we should fight to preserve our public school system. Needless to say, I'm excited about hearing Randall Balmer while enjoying yet another chicken plate.

Baptists and Religious Liberty

Baptists and others who love religious liberty will gather on the steps of the Capitol next weekend to to show support for the separation of church and state. This rally will be held in conjunction with the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and is sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee. Don Byrd of Blog from the Capital has more:

On a Sunday afternoon in May 1920, a 53-year-old Baptist preacher from Dallas, Texas, climbed the east steps of the U.S. Capitol to address a throng of some 10,000 onlookers in town for the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. His purpose — to rally support for religious liberty and its constitutional corollary, the separation of church and state.

The crowd heard a masterful call for true religious liberty, not the veiled contempt expressed in the “mere toleration” of others’ religious views. “Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right,” the speaker said.

That sermon delivered by George W. Truett has continued to have a profound impact on Baptists and others for decades, including Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who received the text of the sermon from a friend more than a decade ago. The sermon “haunted” and “inspired” Edwards and caused him to change his political priorities. Edwards is now one of the fiercest champions of religious liberty on Capitol Hill.

Edwards will be on hand, as well as Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Va., and a host of other religious and educational leaders representing an array of Baptists, as the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty hosts a Baptist Unity Rally for Religious Liberty at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 29. The event will be held at Fountain Plaza of Upper Senate Park, adjacent to the U.S. Capitol and the Russell Senate Office Building.

Leaders from across the country will celebrate Truett’s contribution to religious freedom and the Baptist distinctive of religious liberty for all by reading excerpts of Truett’s sermon.

For text of the sermon, titled “Baptists and Religious Liberty,” visit the Baptist Joint Committee Web site at http://www.bjconline.org/resources/pubs/pub_truett_address.htm .

Count me in! I'll likely be worthless and half-awake at 8am. But I'll be there.

The Minister and Politics

How to be Political Without Being Partisan?

Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Greg Boyd, and Melissa Rogers (blog) will speak to this question at the upcoming The Minister and Politics conference hosted by Christian Ethics Today and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

This exciting ethics conference will precede the CBF General Assembly and will explore the prophetic role of ministers in non-partisan politics.

A brief description of the event follows:

Set for Wednesday, June 27, from 1-5 p.m., the conference’s featured presenters are author and speaker Tony Campolo, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, Minneapolis pastor Greg Boyd and Melissa Rogers, former general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty.

"The conference is designed to assist religious leaders in the complex and difficult area of working for moral values and social justice," said Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today. "Christian Ethics Today has enlisted four speakers, widely sought and weekly quoted, who are considered by most to be the very best evangelical voices on this topic."

Campolo, a former Eastern University professor and founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, will speak to the overall conference theme. Wallis, CEO of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of "God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It," will talk about the minister’s role in social justice. Rogers, a Wake Forest University Divinity School visiting professor, will focus on the minister’s role in regard to church and state issues. Boyd, recent author of "Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church," will speak on the role of the pastor.

"These are four people who have spoken forcefully to this issue of the role of the minister in politics," said Philip Wise, president of the board of Christian Ethics Today. "It’s an issue that continues to challenge ministers. As a pastor myself, it’s a difficult line to walk. Ministers need help with this, and here are four people who are certainly qualified to talk about this."

Remembering Addie Davis and Sheri Klouda

In 1964, Addie Elizabeth Davis became the first woman to be ordained to the gospel ministry by a Southern Baptist congregation - Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina. At the time of her ordination, Rev. Davis was a student of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Not all Baptists in the Durham area took kindly to Davis' ordination. She received dozens and dozens of letters spewing with vitriol. One of these letters urged Davis to "learn from her husband." Davis never married. One man from Richmond, Virginia demanded that Davis renounce her ordination. Another man called her "a child of the Devil."

Unable to find a pastoral position in a Southern Baptist church, Davis had to leave the South in order to practice the vocation given to her by God. Eventually, Davis was called to pastor First Baptist Church in Readsboro, Vermont. According to David Stricklin, author of A Genealogy of Dissent, Davis' experience showed how people's attitudes are conditioned by what they observe. Davis "once noticed some children of the congregation she was serving in Vermont 'playing church.' When one of the little boys wanted to take his turn being the preacher, his older sister admonished him saying, 'You can't be the preacher; only women are preachers!' Such was not the attitude of most of the people from the region of her upbringing."

Upon Addie Davis' death in 2005, Pam Durso remarked that "what made Addie Davis so remarkable was not her place in history as the first woman to be ordained by a Southern Baptist church; it was her humility, her compassion, and her warm spirit. She faithfully followed God's calling, serving three churches as pastor or co-pastor. Her focus in those churches was on caring for the people and being with them in times of crisis." Throughout her ministry, Davis often encouraged other women to "keep on dreaming and cherish the dream God has given you!"

Southern Baptists LOVE Controversy - or so it seems. Recently, several self-described Southern Baptist "Reformers" have decided to revisit the women's issue. Well, kinda. At the center of the latest SBC Controversy is a woman named Sheri Klouda. Dr. Klouda served as Professor of Hebrew at Southwestern Theological Seminary's School of Theology from 2002-2006. Dr. Klouda was denied tenure and essentially fired by Southwestern's President, Paige Patterson, for one reason and one reason alone - Dr. Klouda is a WOMAN.

After being chosen as President of Southwestern in 2003, there were rumors that women would no longer be allowed to take classes with men. In an attempt to clear up these rumors, Patterson stated that not only are women prohibited from serving as senior pastor but they are also forbidden from serving in a teaching or ruling capacity over men.

Take a moment and consider the consequences if such a rigid belief was actually put into action at all Southern Baptist churches....

Southern Baptists should be outraged by the actions of Paige Patterson. But Southern Baptists should not be surprised. Remember the tenured Professor of Theology that Al Mohler forced to resign in 1994? The outrage that Southern Baptists are currently experiencing SHOULD HAVE extended to both inerrantists and non-inerrantists alike.

Inconsistencies aside, almost 43 years after Addie Davis was ordained Southern Baptists are debating whether a woman has the authority to "teach" a man Hebrew or friggin Sunday School.

Fortunately, many of the self-described "Reformers" like Wade Burleson don't share Paige Patterson's "spooky fundamentalist" beliefs concerning the role of women in church life. Nonetheless, these "Reformers" would not invite Addie Davis to share their pulpit on any given Sunday. Women like Addie Davis are still unable to answer their call to the gospel ministry in the Southern Baptist Convention. Instead, the Addie Davis' of this world are forced to seek refuge in organizations such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist Churches U.S.A, and the Alliance of Baptists.

Women such as Dr. Sheri Klouda should never ever be discriminated against because of their gender.

Same goes for these women.

Remember Addie Davis.