What is the BGCT? November 29, 2007

So, I understand that not everyone who reads this blog is Baptist.  I am incredibly grateful for that.  I also understand that many of the Baptists may not care about reading posts regarding Baptist life. 

It certainly is not my intention to make this blog about Baptist life (although it might improve my blog stats!  ha), but there seem to be lots of important conversations going on around the state of Texas concerning the future of our state convention, the Baptist General Convention of Texas.  Whether you are Baptist or not, I think you will gain something from what my uncle, Ken Hall, wrote on his blog concerning what the BGCT is. 

 It is a great post of what the purpose of our Conventions and larger Baptist entities are. 

Young Baptist Discussion November 28, 2007

A good and insightful discussion is going on at the BGCT’s blog. 

It concerns Ken Wiliam’s article that was written last week in the Baptist Standard. 

It concerns the views of young Baptists today.  As a young Baptist I think it is a healthy discussion and I am glad it is happening. 

If you are not a young Baptist, you should check it out and join the discussion.  I have joined the discussion and left my thoughts, you should as well on the BGCT Blog.

Thought Provoking November 27, 2007

I spent this morning visiting a church member in the hospital.  On the way back to Marble Falls I stopped at a Barnes and Noble in Bee Caves. 

One table of books were labelled “Thought Provoking”

On this table were around 25-30 different books. 

• A few were of cultural interest. 
• 12 were about new or possible developments in some area of science
• Six were books on economics
• Seven had God as their subject.  All of these seven discussed the myth of God, atheism, the falsehood of deity. 

I find this…thought provoking. 

Paul Potts November 25, 2007

This is a clip from the BBC’s “Britain’s Got Talent” program.  It is the initial audition of a cell-phone salesman named Paul Potts. 

It very much affected me as I listened to it in my office early this morning and I shared about it in Church this morning.  Please watch this clip. 

The subject of my sermon this past week surround how we are fed by God.  It was the second of two sermons on John 6.  Last week I preached on the Feeding of the 5000 where Jesus provided physical bread for the hungry people and intentionally drew comparisons between himself and Moses.  Throughout the rest of the chapter Jesus reveals himself not only as a divine supplier of physical sustenance but as the Bread of Life, as spiritual bread that once eaten, will allow us to never grow hungry.  It is a beautiful chapter.  It reveals who Jesus is and what He is here to do and how we can be a part of it. 

In church we talk a lot about, “being fed.”  At times, we overemphasize “being fed” to the detriment of putting our faith in action.  But still, the importance of being fed remains.  One cannot put action to faith without being fed.  To be healthy physically healthy requires a balance of action, or exercise and eating.  It is much the same spiritually. 

But how exactly are we fed?  How do we tap into this source so that we will never go hungry?  How can we not only be fed, but find the satisfaction of this bread that lasts forever? 

We are fed by encounters and experiences with Christ.  We are fed when we worship, when we practice spiritual disciplines, we are fed through fellowship with one another, we are fed when we serve and live on mission. 

We are fed in the expected and sometimes in the most unexpected of ways.  I found myself fed by watching Paul Potts early Sunday morning.  A most unexpected of meals. 

So this week, be aware of both the expected and unexpected encounters and experiences with Christ.  Be aware of those times when you find yourselves fed.  Revel in the miracle that you are promised to never go hungry.  Put your faith into action.  All that feeding is not meant to get you fat.  We are perpetually fed so that we may also perpetually serve. 

Enjoy Paul Potts.

The Gods Aren’t Angry November 21, 2007

                                     

I got a call last week from my good friend Ken, who is the youth minister at Sunset Canyon Baptist Church in Dripping Springs (I’m learning to refer to this town as “Drip” like a true Marble Fallsian).  He invited me to accompany he and his wife Meredith to hear Rob Bell speak on his, “The Gods Aren’t Angry” Tour. 

If you are not acquainted with Rob Bell I encourage you to do so.  He is a gifted writer but in my opinion a much better speaker.  He is the pastor of Mars Hill, is the featured speaker of the Nooma video series and has written the books Velvet Elvis and SexGod.  Check him out, especially Velvet Elvis and the Nooma’s. 

 Anyway, I have been trying to articulate the experience appropriately since Saturday night.  The tour is billed as, “Part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction – this is new material that Rob hasn’t taught before, exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better.” 

I didn’t know what to expect going in.  What I got was a sermon that was over 1 1/2 hours long but throughout was engaging, interesting, and compelling.  Meredith, Ken, and I are typical jaded, cynical seminarians and even we, in spite of ourselves, found ourselves somehow lighter and freer as we left. 

As Meredith stated on her blog, to restate or summarize his sermon simply would cheat you out of the experience.  IF you have viewed a Nooma before, it was like an incredible, 1 1/2 hour, live Nooma complete with music.  Unfortunately the tour has left Texas, but I’m sure it will come to DVD and I will buy it and distribute it generously when it does.  I’ll let you know. 

But for a preacher, for a sinner, for a follower of Christ is was an incredible evening of worship.  The preaching event still can be relevant, challenging, engaging, and transforming.  The young, overwhelmed, in-over-his-head preacher can still be moved by the sermons of others.  Three friends can be drawn together in community through shared worship.  The Bible, even for jaded seminarians, still is fresh, and True, and speaks in new ways to each of us.  Transformation does occur.  A better life is available.  My relationship with Christ is dynamic. 

It is 1:00 AM and I can’t sleep.  And life is rich. 

New Website November 17, 2007

Check out Fellowship’s new website.  I’d love to hear your critiques.  Myself and a few ladies from our church did all the content and our collective capabilities are limited at best.  I’d love to hear some suggestions if you have them.

 Fellowship Baptist Church (http://www.marblefallsfellowship.org)

Divorce November 16, 2007

Take the time to read this article that was in Christianity Today last month on Divorce.  It is more than worth your time. 

 The author makes a compelling argument for the biblical grounds for divorce being these:

Adultery (in Deuteronomy 24:1, affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19)

Emotional and physical neglect (in Exodus 21:10-11, affirmed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7)

Abandonment and abuse (included in neglect, as affirmed in 1 Corinthians 7)

It is a fascinating interpretation and exegesis of scripture which brought much clarity to my mind on what both testaments have to say on the subject of divorce. 

Most of the interpretations of the Bible’s teaching on divorce that I have heard in the church are more a product of hearsay and isogesis (the practice of taking one verse or group of verses out of their overall context and inferring meaning into the text that isn’t there) and narrow thinking that doesn’t sqaure at all with modern-day experience. 

Jesus Christ is the means through which we are to interpret scripture, not our own culture or our own presuppositions and this reading of scripture squares with the Jesus I know.  Granted, I am aware of the danger of referring to the, “Jesus I know,” or “my Jesus” because other readings can square with someone else’s Jesus which may or may not be Jesus at all. 

Ok, this post has rambled a bit.  I’d be interested to hear some reaction either way to this article.  For me the implications of this article have muchto do with leadership in the church.  Hopefully most churches have gotten past spurning those who have been divorced.  But in light of this interpretation of scripture, does the door open wider for the ordaining of divorce’s as deacons and for ministry? 

In case you care… November 15, 2007

In case you care…here are the answers to my fun (or not so fun) little Baptist quiz from yesterday. 

If you are young and read this blog and also have to be Baptist and read this blog, over the coming weeks I encourage you to check out the blog I mentioned yesterday.  It is my hope that over the coming weeks we young Baptists can have some good discussion as to why in the world we chose to go against the post-denominational wave of our generation and remained Baptist. 
…a Baptist pastor established the first form of governance in America that provided complete religious freedom for all

ROGER WILLIAMS

…the first Baptist missionaries from America were not Baptists when they set sail for the mission field but became Baptists on the way to the mission field

ADONIRAM AND ANN HASSELTINE JUDSON

…the first Baptist pastor on English soil was imprisoned by King James I (of King James Bible fame) for insisting that all persons should have freedom to worship

THOMAS HELWYS

…the first elected president of the Republic of Texas became an outstanding Texas Baptist layman

SAM HOUSTON

…some of the earliest Baptists practiced baptism by pouring and not by immersion but soon determined that the Bible taught immersion is the correct way to baptize

EARLY GENERAL BAPTISTS

…some early Baptists in America were publicly whipped for including singing in a worship service because such singing was viewed as unspiritual and unbiblical.

BAPTISTS IN COLONIAL AMERICA

…the first Baptist missionary from the United States to another country was an African-American who had been a slave

GEORGE LEILE

…a Baptist pastor from Texas preached a sermon from the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington D. C. on religious liberty

GEORGE W. TRUETT

…A Baptist pastor in Virginia met with James Madison to encourage an amendment to the Constitution of the United States guaranteeing freedom of religion

JOHN LELAND

…the best known evangelist in the world is a Baptist whose church membership is in Texas

BILLY GRAHAM

…that the first person baptized in the Gulf of Mexico as a Baptist when Texas was still an independent nation founded a major milk company

GAIL BORDEN JR.

…that a former President of the United States of America and a Nobel Prize recipient is a Baptist layman Sunday School teacher

JIMMY CARTER

…that a generous Baptist businessman was the first to develop an effective process for pasteurizing cheese.

JAMES L. KRAFT

…that the author of the widely used devotional book My Utmost for His Highest was a Baptist from a devout Baptist family, his father and brother being Baptist pastors

OSWALD CHAMBERS

Baptist Pop Quiz Hotshot November 14, 2007

I see this morning several people have visited this blog from the new blog for young Baptists in Texas.  Welcome newbies.  Stay classy and Thanks for stopping by. 

Our Wednesday night prayer group is starting a study this week on “What Baptists Believe”  I have a wonderful Texas baptist book put out by Baptistway which gives us some good insight on what Texas Baptists believe and how we do church.  But Baptist polity is much broader than our state and region and I will ATTEMPT to bring this out during the course of the study. 

Almost all the blogs that focus on things Baptist are full of fighting and bickering and political maneuvering.  I will not jump into this, but I will attempt each week during our Wednesday night study to write some reflections on what it means for me to be a Baptist and would love some dialogue with any and all of you on why in the world you choose to be a Baptist.  That is what our study will be tonight, just telling the stories of why we choose to be Baptists (disclaimer:  The reason, “Because my spouse is” doesn’t cut it)

I also am going to do a bit of early Baptist History.  Here is what I thought to be an interesting quiz on some Baptists throughout our history. 

For you young un’s who come across this, know that my wife ridiculed me mercilessly for being so excited about finding this.  I realize I am not cool.  I accept this but think this quiz is neat anyway. 

For example, did you know……a Baptist pastor established the first form of governance in America that provided complete religious freedom for all

…the first Baptist missionaries from America were not Baptists when they set sail for the mission field but became Baptists on the way to the mission field

…the first Baptist pastor in England was imprisoned by King James I (of King James Bible fame) for insisting that all persons should have freedom to worship

…the first elected president of the Republic of Texas became an outstanding Texas Baptist layman

…some of the earliest Baptists practiced baptism by pouring and not by immersion but soon determined that the Bible taught immersion is the correct way to baptize

…some early Baptists in America were publicly whipped for including singing in a worship service because such singing was viewed as unspiritual and unbiblical

…the first Baptist missionary from the United States to another country was an African-American who had been a slave

…a Baptist pastor from Texas preached a sermon from the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington D. C. on religious liberty

…a Baptist pastor in Virginia met with James Madison to encourage an amendment to the Constitution of the United States guaranteeing freedom of religion

…the best known evangelist in the world is a Baptist whose church membership is in Texas

…that the first person baptized in the Gulf of Mexico as a Baptist when Texas was still an independent nation founded a major milk company

…that a former President of the United States of America and a Nobel Prize recipient is a Baptist layman Sunday School teacher

…that a generous Baptist businessman was the first to develop an effective process for pasteurizing cheese

…that the author of the widely used devotional book My Utmost for His Highest was a Baptist from a devout Baptist family, his father and brother being Baptist pastors

These “did you know” statements are interesting (there will be more information on them in subsequent articles in this series) but they do not indicate what beliefs and practices characterize Baptists. If someone were to ask you, “What is the one thing that distinguishes Baptists from other Christian denominations?” what would your answer be? Or if you were asked, “What difference does it make being a Baptist Christian?” what would you say? In the coming weeks, this series of articles will explore such questions.

If you dare, propose some answers to some of these questions.  Tomorrow I’ll post the answers and let you know how the people of Fellowship Baptist Church scored. 

Two-legged walking desires for God November 13, 2007

          

Disclaimer:  I wrote this for Fellowship’s newsletter this week.  To catch you up on what’s happened, we had a Land Dedication this past Sunday for the land we have recently purchased.  The theme of the morning was the consecration, setting aside as holy,  of both our land and ourselves for God’s use.  It was a wonderful Sunday and an incredible experience of faith and prayer at our land dedication.  That should catch you up if you aren’t a member of Fellowship.  Enjoy!

           I am currently reading The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May.  His book explores the writings of Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross and their experiences of what John calls, “the dark night of the soul.”  By this dark night they refer to the times in life where God’s presence or working in one’s life seems obscure and hard to see.  Much like the recently highly publicized darkness experienced by Mother Teresa as she confessed for much of her life she had trouble sensing God’s presence.  Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross both state that these desperate times are necessary for authentic spiritual growth and vital to our experiencing both joy and freedom. 

            I read this passage this morning, and in light of our wonderful experience of worship and consecration this most recent Sunday, I wanted to share it with you and extrapolate it a bit for our purposes.  May writes,

 

“ […] Each soul is a living desire for God.  God is love, and God creates every person out of love and because of love, for the purpose of love.  We may be unaware of it, but we are all born with a natural and lifelong yearning for the fulfillment of love.  ‘At the end of the day,’ John says, ‘you will be examined in love.’  Inasmuch as the whole person is an embodiment of love’s desire for fulfillment, each aspect of the person, each sense and faculty, is also filled with that desire.  To use John’s language, each sense and faculty of the soul is an ‘appetite’ for God. 

   Thus every part of us is, at its core, a desire for love’s fulfillment.  Though we seldom recognize it, our senses seek the beauty, the sweetness, the good feelings of God […]  Human beings are two-legged, walking, talking desires for God. Ultimately, it is only God’s very self that can truly satisfy our deepest desires and liberate our love for all of life.” 

            Sunday was undeniably a wonderful day in the life of our family of God.  We consecrated ourselves and our land for God’s use.  We celebrated this together in worship.  Over 75 of us gathered up at our land and prayed together and took part in an intentional act and time of consecration. 

         

   Why was this so good?  Why did I leave the land Sunday feeling connected and loved and like my life was interwoven into the fabric of the family of Fellowship?  Because together Sunday we experienced beauty, sweetness, and the good feelings of God.  We saw manifest in our midst and experienced in our actions the edges of the love of God and such manifestations and experiences resonate with our soul. 

          

  Whether we were looking for it or not, faith was not simply belief, it was experience.  Faith was being lived in our midst.  In such moments as Sunday we find ourselves unexpectedly and mysteriously fulfilling our purpose of love. 

        

    How do we describe such moments?  It is as if at the point where we are most deeply and truly our self, (this point is our soul and is also the point where we are most deeply and truly God’s) through feelings with power beyond explanation, God inaudibly and inexplicably shares with us the essence and experience of love itself.  And when such moments are experienced alongside one another as a family of God, we are inextricably fused in loving relationship with one another.  Sunday was such a moment. 

           

   It is the bonds that are formed in such times that allow us to function as the body of Christ.  Without such times our differences, divisions, and arguments threaten to overwhelm and destroy us.  With such times we gain the love to overcome and move forward for God’s kingdom. 

 So go out this week and live in the knowledge that every part of you is a desire for love’s fulfillment.  Go out this week and live in the knowledge that you are a two-legged, walking, talking desire for God.  Get out of your own way, stop working at cross-purposes with yourself and allow yourself to fulfill your purpose to be love to our world.