peterlumpkins.com

A Passion Week Meditation by Peter Lumpkins

"The whole life of Christ was a continual Passion; others die martyrs but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as his cross at last. His birth and death were but one continual act, and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day" (John Donne, 1573-1631) Read more →

SelahV: Servant Ministry or Blogging-Mania? by Peter Lumpkins

SelahV just posted an interesting challenge to Tony Kummer at SBC Voices. She writes in her latest post, “I think it would be a great thing for the final four SBC bloggers who were honored enough to be listed in the competition, to declare Michael Spencer the Honorary winner of SBC Voices blogging this year. What about the prize? Maybe Tony, the SBCVoices blog owner, could solicit that the WTS bookstore donate $200 to Michael's wife, Denise, in honor of the InternetMonk” (//link) A bold challenge, SelahV. I wonder if... Read more →

"Whosoever Will" Getting Good Press by Peter Lumpkins

As I posted late last week, Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism edited by Drs. David Allen and Steve Lemke and published by B&H Publishing Group is already on backorder (//link). More good news is, reviews are beginning to come in with positive results. The Southern Baptist TEXAN has two reviews, one by TEXAN correspondent, David Roach and the other by Editor, Gary Ledbetter (respectively here and here). Of the volume overall, Ledbetter concludes: “Some who read articles by members of the Founders’ movement or hear messages from... Read more →

Love Being Pops by Peter Lumpkins

Children are a double blessing from the Lord... Grandchildren are easily a triple... What a thrill being "Pops" With that, I am... Peter Read more →

Whosoever Will: Off to a Good Start by Peter Lumpkins

Looks as if Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism edited by Drs. David Allen and Steve Lemke and published by B&H Publishing Group is already on backorder. I'm told the first printing of Whosoever Will sold out in two weeks. B&H is scurrying to get a second printing. It appears the wait time is 4-6 weeks. Whosoever thinks the young, restless, and Reformed coddling among Southern Baptists is not getting the attention of the grassroots Southern Baptist Convention may need to rethink their proposition. Our congratulations to Drs.... Read more →

Troy Gramling Responds by Peter Lumpkins

Raul Palacios, Executive Pastor, Flamingo Road Church (FRC), Cooper City, Florida, and husband to Heather Palacios, teaching Pastor at FRC, posted a link to Lead Pastor, Troy Gramling’s response to questions raised concerning the recent announcement about his nomination to presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastor’s Conference. We thank Pastor Palacios for furnishing us with this link. Furthermore, we’re grateful Pastor Gramling took seriously the questions raised toward his nomination, even if the questions were being raised by those outside the sphere of leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention.... Read more →

0.18% CP Giving and Women Pastors: This is a Very Big Deal by Peter Lumpkins

Some believe Vice-President Joe Biden puts the curse on anything he touches. Literally. Introducing the President, Biden’s euphoria overshadowed his brain by expressing a profanity even national TV still abhors and bleeps—the F-bomb.... Scripture teaches us to both respect and pray for our “higher powers” (Rom. 13:1; 1 Tim.2:2). Admittedly, the latter is much easier to perform than the former when you have men serving as “higher powers” like Mr. Biden (and, of course, it goes much deeper than his foul mouth, I assure). What Biden was doing, however, was... Read more →

The Conservative Resurgence, Girly Men, and the Southern Baptist Convention by Peter Lumpkins

I could easily make a list of the Conservative Resurgence leaders who placed it all on the line beginning in 1979 to stand for a principled position they believed in—The Flag of Biblical Inspiration, Biblical Inerrancy. Men like Paige Patterson... Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, Jerry Vines, Morris Chapman, James Draper, and a host of other men rode through enemy territory, courageously absorbing the pounding cannons of our critic’s heaviest artillery fire. They believed in something. They stood for something. Believed and stood for something when it cost them. And we... Read more →

The SBC Pastors' Conference: Nominations Begin by Peter Lumpkins

Well, the nominations just started for president of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastor's Conference. Off the line first--Troy Gramling, lead pastor of Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City Florida (//link)... . According to the Florida Baptist Witness, John Cross, pastor of South Biscayne Church in North Port, and president of the Florida Baptist Convention, announced March 18 (yesterday) he intends to nominate Gramling to be president (//link). Unfortunately, from my perspective, Troy Gramling’s nomination, if successful, may represent the quintessential dissolution of the Southern Baptist Convention. I propose two reasons.... Read more →

Alcohol & The Church: A Three Part Series by Peter Lumpkins

I wanted to connect the readers at SBC Tomorrow to a mini-series I wrote, and Baptist Press picked up. And, since Baptist Press is the official news wire service of the Southern Baptist Convention, other news and editorial web communities select many of the articles and post them on their websites, making the potential readership in excess of 5 million.... My thanks belongs to the editorial staff at Baptist Press for publishing the much needed series. And, despite the new wave of moderation advocates among Southern Baptists who view consuming... Read more →

Spike and Little Chester: The Perfect Picture of James White & Founders Ministries by Peter Lumpkins

What do Hyper-Calvinist James White (pp.95-96, footnotes 103-105) and Founders Ministries have in common? It's hard to put in words. But the little cartoon below says bunches. Enjoy... With that, I am... Peter Read more →

Seminary Enrollment: Do the Numbers Reveal Decline? by Peter Lumpkins

I just finished scanning the student enrollment for Southern Baptists' six seminaries beginning in the academic year, 2005-06. Honestly, I am unsure what the numbers finally reveal. However, some of the statistics I found remarkable. For example, the "head-count" enrollment for four of our six seminaries was less in the 2008/09 academic year than in the 2007/08 academic. The two exceptions are New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS)*, which rose from 3,509 students (2007/08) to 3,570 students (2008/09), and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) which climbed from 1,006 students to... Read more →

The Great Commission Task Force Report: The Debate Begins by Peter Lumpkins

As most every other Southern Baptist who has kept pace with the happenings in and around the Southern Baptist Convention for the past few years, I watched with anticipation Chairman Ronnie Floyd’s presentation of the progress report to the Executive Committee last week. I had some initial responses I thought about sharing. However, I got side-tracked with another thingamajig which popped up on my radar screen with which I needed to deal. It’s just as well. I then had some time to make some calls to a precious few confidants... Read more →

Does Southern Cooking Produce the Worst Obesity? by Peter Lumpkins

We southerners often get dubbed as lard-belly fat boys because of our unhealthy obsession with southern fried chicken, hog jowls, salt pork, ham-n-biscuits, sweet potato pie, buttery cornbread, and three-pound BBQ sandwiches. I mean, come on. Can we not enjoy any of the pleasures of life as Christians? Well now all us southern, middle-aged tubbies can say a hearty ‘in-yo-face’ to those who have wrongly discriminated against us for our greasy spoons. I’m referring to the latest Gallup findings which list the 10 most obese metropolitan areas in the country.... Read more →

Isn't "Reformed" Baptist Just a Modern Rendition of "Primitive" Baptist? by Peter Lumpkins

Last week, I wrote this statement: "Particularly, two influential blogging Calvinists appear to have made it a life-mission to smear Ergun Caner’s life and ministry in the mud-hole of deception: Tom Ascol, Southern Baptist pastor and Executive Director of Founders Ministries, and James White, Primitive Baptist preacher and Reformed Baptist apologist from Phoenix, Az." (//link) In that post, I identified hyper-Calvinist James White* as both a "Primitive Baptist" and a "Reformed Baptist." Was I being redundant? While I've hinted at equating the two theological labels before, Mr. Bob Ross at... Read more →