The Wartburg Watch » SBC pastors

Trouble in Mayberry: Southern Baptist Churches Leave Local Association

deb — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:56:41 +0000

"As for women writing books that expound the scriptures, my view is that this is also not teaching in the way that preaching in church would be. The dynamic of speaking before a community of believers, in which everyone listening is seeing one’s authoritative demeanor and hearing one’s authoritative voice, is a different dynamic than a book. Books can be picked up and put down, read, interacted with, discussed, debated, written and written against. Sermons don’t fit into that same kind of genre entirely. But I admit this is a difficult call, and some good scholars would say that there is no difference between the two." Daniel B. Wallace (Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary) Church in Europe (taken by Deb) I grew up watching The Andy Griffith Show, a nostalgic TV program set in Mayberry USA. For those who may not know, Andy Griffith grew up in Mount Airy, North Carolina and based the show on his hometown. (link) In case you haven’t heard, there’s trouble in paradise, err Mayberry . . . Last summer Mount Airy’s Flat Rock Baptist Church did something so offensive that it was quickly dismissed from the local Southern Baptist Association. What did the Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Dec 16 2011.

Categories: Gender Gospel, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention, Women and the church

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Andy Davis is Biblical; I’m Not

dee — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:12:55 +0000

"It could be a sign of pride in your life if a word of reproof or admonition is not able to be received with the same grace, whether it be given by the poorest of saints or the most educated person." John Bunyan Aurora Borealis over Norway-NASA TWW continues in the analysis of Davis’ “reformation.” I will state the bottom line up front. Unless you agree with his view of gender and authority and totally support his self- proclaimed “Biblical” view, you are most likely wicked and unregenerate. And I think this sort of thinking sounds like overreaching arrogance. Perhaps he did not mean for his article to be interpreted thusly. Unfortunately, he gave little reason for me to see it any other way. However, the real agenda is stated by him at the end of this post. And frankly, it is deeply disturbing. Do not miss it because it spells out how much trouble the post-evngelical church is about to experience. Please refer to yesterday's post for some background. Here is the link to Davis' article which was posted on the 9 Marks blog. Did Davis announce his Calvinista leanings and view on gender prior to Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Thu, Dec 08 2011.

Categories: Calvinism/Calvinista, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention

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FBC Durham’s Andy Davis: Electing a Woman Deacon Is “Wicked”

dee — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:34:57 +0000

“What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God's eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.” CS Lewis Pandora's Cluster-NASA Recently, TWW received the following email from a reader. It has been changed to hide any identifying features. "Thank you so much for the article on Idiot Sheep. I cried as I read it because that is exactly how I was reared in the church. I think maybe God was trying to tell me something thru your article because for a second I actually felt his love. It is so hard for me to get the strict, punishing God out of my head & heart. I pray to God and struggle with this and assurance of salvation. Was I repentive enough, did I really mean it, if not did I really want to repent, etc. I am tired, worn-out. Your web site gives me hope and helps me to see I am not alone. " It is for hurting people like this Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Wed, Dec 07 2011.

Categories: Calvinism/Calvinista, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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Rewriting History: SGM/SBC Style

deb — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:56:07 +0000

"Those who tell the stories also hold the power." Plato The Colosseum (taken by Deb) Five months ago many were surprised by the reconciliation of C.J. Mahaney and Larry Tomczak. LARRY WHO? We would imagine that this was a typical reaction of newcomers in Sovereign Grace Ministries. Kris over at SGM Survivors recently explained: (link) "Prior to early 2008, there was NOTHING anywhere online (except for the comments to that one now-defunct blog post where the subject of SGM had come up) that connected SGM to Larry T. All of SGM’s carefully sanitized history made it sound like PDI sort of popped up in the early 2000s as a fully-formed “family of churches” that had been founded by CJ alone." (Comment 109) Sidney, who sometimes comments on the SGM Survivors blog, chimed in with this startling remark: "I just checked with one of my “peeps” who’s still at CLC. They told me that at some family meeting this summer, the question was asked about Larry being “removed” from history. Josh said that he was, that was wrong and that he would be put back in history and they won’t be doing that anymore. Good move, CLC pastors, for having Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Dec 05 2011.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Larry Tomczak, New Reformed Theology, SBC pastors, SGM, Southern Baptist Convention, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Does the SBC Fear Women Pastors More Than The Molestation of Children?

dee — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 02:12:15 +0000

Truth is the most valuable thing we have, so I try to conserve it. -Mark Twain Pillars of Creation-Hubble Telescope Today, an SGM pastor posted an apology of sorts over at SGM Survivors here. But, I have had enough of the SGM saga for today and will proceed with my planned post. Deb plans to do a post about Mark Dever and CJ Mahaney on Monday. That should provide enough fodder for a maelstrom. Although we find the SGM story compelling, we want to emphasize that we are not an SGM, SBC, or any other group watch blog. We just follow trends in the panoply of the post-evangelical thicket. Also, we have been alerted to a number of sexual abuse issues over at the Calvary Chapel nondenominational denomination. (Same sort of nonsense as SGM). The stories were so disconcerting that we have postponed trying to place them within this post and will plan a series within the month. Calvary Chapel appears to be very similar to the SGM organization and should provide our readers with a sad sense of déjà vu. However, for those of you who have followed us for a while, you know that our Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Fri, Aug 12 2011.

Categories: SBC pastors, Sexual offenders/pedohilia+the church, Southern Baptist Convention

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SGM Leadership Coming to an SBC Church Near You?

dee — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:02:09 +0000

The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. -Oscar Wilde We have been asked why we follow Sovereign Grace Ministries since neither one of us (and we are rejoicing in this fact) have been members of SGM. According to them, this kerfuffle has nothing to do with us or any other Christian group for that matter. These people couldn’t be more wrong. We thank a regular commenter, Janna, for bringing this to our attention. None other than Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the mother ship of the SBC, rushed to comment about CJ Mahaney stepping down from SGM for a period of “self-examination.” There is something very intriguing about the emphasis of his response.LINK “Mohler added: "Any time you’re going to take on the role of leadership, you’re going to have critics." Mohler also supported Sovereign Grace’s highly centralized leadership structure in its churches, with "very strong pastoral direction" and internal discipline. "It’s something clearly called for in the New Testament," he said. Mohler said he knew this practice has had online critics for years. "Basically there are people who are very uncomfortable with the strong kind of spiritual Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Mon, Aug 01 2011.

Categories: Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Is Racial Solidarity Really Possible in the SBC?

deb — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:24:05 +0000

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair. -G.K. Chesterton There can be no doubt that the Southern Baptist Convention plans to increase its membership roll in the coming years by adding more color, as in skin tones (and we applaud this long overdue strategy). Even before the SBC Annual Meeting took place, seminarians made public pronouncements that the next president of the convention should be African-American. Here is how it was reported in the Associated Baptist Press: “A seminary professor says the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention should be an African-American. Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said via Twitter that he thinks Southern Baptists should elect Fred Luter next year when the convention meets in New Orleans.” The article later states: “In his own Twitter feed, (Danny) Akin indicated that he agreed with Moore that Luter would be a good choice to make history as the first black president of the convention formed in 1845, a split with northern Baptists over slavery.” And as previously reported, Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Jun 27 2011.

Categories: Role of women in the church, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention

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Making History at the 2011 SBC Annual Meeting

deb — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 04:18:48 +0000

"John Calvin claimed church succession came through the Baptists." Bishop Bossuct in a letter to Calvin LINK The 2011 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is now HISTORY, and there can be no doubt that the SBC has indeed made history in three significant ways at this two-day event. Low Attendance First, the 2011 Annual Meeting in Phoenix had the lowest attendance since 1944 when SBC messengers met in Atlanta, Georgia. The 1944 attendance was 4,301. In case you are wondering how large the SBC membership was back then, Ed Stetzer has provided a graph of membership growth in the SBC beginning in 1950. According to that chart, the Southern Baptist Convention had approximately 7 million members in 1950. As reported by Bryant Wright, president of the SBC, the total number of messengers certified at the 2011 Phoenix gathering was 4,065 when the first order of business took place. By the end of the first day, that number had grown to 4,780. Perhaps they used the old SBC busing tactic to increase attendance. When the vote for the 2nd vice president took place the second and final day of the meeting, attendance Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Sat, Jun 18 2011.

Categories: SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention

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Can the SBC Ever Recover from Its Downward “Trajectory”?

deb — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:03:55 +0000

"For years, Baptist college and seminary professors taught ministers to maintain confidentiality at all costs…to maintain silence as much as possible." -Jan Daehnert, director of minister/church relations, Baptist General Convention of Texas, 2002 Hear ye, hear ye! The 2011 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention will now come to order… Yes, the SBC’s two-day business meeting kicks off tomorrow, and it will be interesting to see how leaders address the declining numbers regarding conference attendance, baptisms, and membership, which clearly indicate the denomination is in BIG trouble. As happened last year, you can watch it live by going to this link. How Low Can the Numbers Go? As Southern Baptists gather in Phoenix to conduct business, a logical question would be – how many Southern Baptists will be there? Wade Burleson predicts that around 5,000 will attend. (link) Burleson made the following statement in a recent blog post: “Attendance at this year's Southern Baptist Convention will be the lowest in nearly five decades, struggling to reach 5,000 in attendance.” Peter Lumpkins has also estimated attendance to be around 5,000 (link). That’s extremely poor representation for a denomination that claims to have more Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Jun 13 2011.

Categories: SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention, Wade Burleson

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Spiritual Abuse: The Public Speaks Back and the Church Just Whines

dee — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:32:45 +0000

@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } "In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, [Lucifer] could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige." CS Lewis A Preface to Paradise Lost freefoto.com Pain. That is what surprised me. So many people have experienced unrelenting pain that began at the hands of callous pastors and Christian leaders. Naively, many of those hurt had once thought that the church would be a loving family that would love and support each other in the pursuit of the faith. And many churches encouraged this sort of thought process. “ Come to church, find Jesus, and find a family.” Some groups even refer to themselves as a “family.” However, because sin is always present, both in the members AND the leaders/pastors, this ideal has been shattered for many. For some, church becomes the first place in which new Christians experience heartache. Years ago, I had no idea that churches could cause such pain. But, experience and personal reports have convinced Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Fri, Mar 04 2011.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Blogging and the church, Ed Young Jr., Ergun Caner, SBC pastors, Southern Baptist Convention, Spiritual abuse

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