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While I am surely not an expert at it, I want to offer assistance perhaps to some in blogdom who very much enjoy surfing the blogs and leaving a few fingerprints along the way in the form of comments. As I said, I am by no means posing as an expert. Not to mention that, examining my own fingerprint record one may find on many blogs, it may actually be undesirable to heed any advice I offer. There easily exists an entire chorus of protests in and around Blogburg who... Read more →
"Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him." (Matthew 3.13) For us, baptism has ever been a symbol that our sins were washed clean and we stood in new relation to God and men. And while it would be impossible for Jesus’ act of baptism to be symbolic of cleansing from sin (for He possessed no sin from which to be cleansed), being baptized did indeed symbolize a new relationship in His role as Messiah. Baptism served as a doorway, if you will,... Read more →
On June 6, Tom Ascol, at Founders, posted a blistering indictment of Dr. John Sullivan, Executive Director, Florida Baptist Convention. It appeared Dr. Sullivan sent out, as a gift, a set of sermons by Dr. Jerry Vines which dealt with issues Southern Baptists face today. The sermon in the series that splattered the soup really good--especially for our Calvinist brothers--was "Calvinism: The Baptist and His Election." According to Dr. Ascol, Dr. Vines spewed and totally botched the Doctrines of Grace. What remained was little less than propaganda. Other Calvinists were... Read more →
Two important votes were made at this year's SBC in San Antonio: The decisive election of Jim Richards as First Vice-President of the SBC and the adoption of the Executive Committee Statement on the use of the Baptist Faith and Message. The former flexed the hefty muscles that, regardless of the neo-moderates' tireless efforts to tarbaby the entire Conservative Resurgence as now misguided, Southern Baptists definitively said "NO" to their revisioneering of the SBC. The latter, while personally offering me no real satisfaction since I possess an undeniable spiritual gene... Read more →
Jim Richards presently is Executive Director of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. His experience includes longtime Pastorates, Director of Missions and his present position. After my time with Mac Brunson recently, when I asked him why he thought Jim was the right man for First Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention, I was able to track Jim down and hear his heart. From Dr. Brunson's words, I came to like Jim Richards. Now, after personally hearing Jim share his heart, I admire Jim Richards more. And, I think, after... Read more →
On Tuesday, June 12th of next week, the Southern Baptist Convention will convene for the 2007 annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. It promises to be an awesome event. Indeed what could better describe a meeting of 10,000+ Southern Baptists--one of the greatest expressions of historic Christianity on the globe--than awesome? One particular slice of business that is surely noteworthy is the election of the First Vice President. Thus far, there are two candidates: Jim Richards, Executive Director, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the other, Southern Baptist missionary and... Read more →
Last year, Dr. Jerry Vines, longtime Pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL was asked by his Pastor, Dr. Johnny Hunt, to preach a series of sermons on contemporary issues facing Baptists today at what is now, Dr. Vines' home Church, First Baptist Church, Woodstock. And preach them, he did. Among the many topics with which Dr. Vines dealt was Election. Immediately, our Calvinist brothers, including Dr. Tom Ascol, of Founders Ministries, fired off critiques. Understand: there is nothing wrong whatsoever in critiquing sermons. However, the standard rhetorical charge toward... Read more →