The Calvinists are here: a guest editorial by Gerald Harris

UPDATE: the word is LifeWay is preparing a detailed response to Gerald Harris' essay and is scheduled to post this evening on Baptist Press. I'm anticipating precisely what facts in the essay LifeWay intends to dispute.

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Below is the current editorial in The Christian Index, the Georiga Baptist Convention's state paper. Dr. Gerald Harris has served as editor of The Christian Index since May 2003. We happily publish by permission Dr. Harris' latest editoral, "The Calvinists are here"  >>>

SBC Tomorrow welcomes Gerald Harris as guest contributor*

John Calvin (1509-1564) was an influential French pastor and theologian during the Protestant Reformation. He is best known for his “doctrine of predestination,” which became the foundation of his theology – suggesting that God predestined certain individuals to be saved.

Calvinism is known for its five basic tenets summarized by the acronym TULIP. Those five points of Calvinism are (1) Total depravity of man, (2) Unconditional election, (3) Limited atonement, (4) Irresistible grace and (5) Perseverance of the saints.

There are some Calvinists who suggest that unconditional election means that God chooses, or “elects,” His children from before the foundations of the earth – that God does not just “know” what decision people will make, but that God causes them to make the decision to seek Him.

There are also those who hold to Reformed theology who believe limited atonement means that the death and resurrection of Christ is the substitutionary payment for the sins of only those who are God’s elect children, but not the entire world.

Many who embrace Reformed theology are motivated to allow it to influence their church polity by substituting congregational church government with an elder system of church government. While that works well for some churches, James MacDonald, a self-proclaimed Calvinist and member of the advisory board for LifeWay’s new Sunday School curriculum, writes, “Congregational government is an invention and tool of the enemy of our souls to destroy the church of Jesus Christ.”

Calvinism also influences other areas of theology and ecclesiology, but newspaper real estate prohibits a further exploration of all the facets of Reformed theology.

In 2007 Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., who has served as chairman of the Trustees at Southern Seminary and is one of the most notable Calvinists in SBC life, wrote a series of blog posts titled, “Where’d All These Calvinists Come From?” In his blogs Dever listed ten reasons for the blossoming of Reformed theology’s TULIP within evangelicalism.

Frank Page, chief executive officer of the SBC Executive Committee, was quoted in SBC Today, saying, “I think the challenges confronting the SBC today are different than they have been in decades past. I think one of the issues, which is a tremendous challenge for us, is the theological divide of Calvinism and non-Calvinism.

“I think the challenges confronting the SBC today are different than they have been in decades past. I think one of the issues, which is a tremendous challenge for us, is the theological divide of Calvinism and non-Calvinism.”

“Everyone is aware of this but few want to talk about this in public. The reason is obvious. It is deeply divisive in many situations and is disconcerting in others. At some point we are going to see the challenges ensuing from this divide become even more problematic for us. I regularly receive communications from churches who are struggling over this issue.”

Former SBC President Jerry Vines was also quoted in SBC Life, proclaiming, “Theologically, will the issue of Calvinism create further division in the SBC? I have been an SBC preacher over 50 years. I have worked quite well with my Calvinist friends, many of whom I invited to preach for me. “I have no desire to run all Calvinists out of the SBC; I think it would be divisive and wrong. But, current attempts to move the SBC to a Calvinistic soteriology (doctrine of salvation) are divisive and wrong. As long as groups and individuals seek to force Calvinism upon others in the Convention, there will be problems. There is a form of Calvinism that is militant, hostile and aggressive that I strongly oppose. “I have stated before, so it’s not new news, that should the SBC move towards five-point Calvinism it will be a move away from, not toward, the Gospel.”

So, apparently the Conservative Resurgence and the Great Commission Resurgence has been joined by a Reformed Resurgence. The Calvinists are here. Their presence is evident in many phases and places in Southern Baptist life.

Many great preachers and theologians have embraced Calvinism through the years, but today some greet the rising tide of Calvinism with delight, others with disdain.

The Economist reports, “Since 1990 the [SBC] has been losing ground, relative to America’s population, to other evangelical churches. So cadres of Young Turks are looking back to the 16th century for fresh inspiration.

According to LifeWay Research, the SBC’s, statistical arm, 10 percent of all SBC pastors now identify themselves as Calvinists and a third of recent graduates from SBC seminaries espouse Reformed doctrines, with Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, a particular source.

It would be surprising if The Gospel Project, a Sunday School curriculum for all ages that LifeWay will soon be rolling out, were not marked by an unmistakable Reformed theology.

Trevin Wax, who works at LifeWay Christian Resources as managing editor of The Gospel Project, admits that he has been influenced by Reformed pastors and authors like John Piper, Mark Dever, J. I. Packer, C. J. Mahaney, Jerry Bridges, Sinclair Ferguson, Tim Keller and others.

The advisory council and writers for The Gospel Project (including D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, James MacDonald, Eric Mason, Joe Thorn, Juan Sanchez, Collin Hansen, former North American Mission Board missionary to the Internet Afshin Ziafat and Geoff Ashley – for the most part looks like a Who’s Who of Reformed theologians.

The average Baptist who sits in a Sunday School class or a small Bible study group has depended on LifeWay to provide Bible study materials that are true to the Word of God and representative of historic Baptist theology. However, for bane or blessing LifeWay President Thom Rainer seems to have led the SBC literature-producing agency to become more and more Reformed in its theological content.

North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell has a goal to plant thousands of churches over the next ten years, but there seems to be a shortage of church planters. According to a LifeWay study in 2006 nearly 30 percent of SBC seminary graduates between 1998 and 2004 now serving as pastors describe themselves as Calvinists. Since the LifeWay study is now over five years old the number of Reformed pastors has doubtlessly increased by now. The most recent NAMB On Mission magazine highlights several church planters, two of whom could be seen as Reformed in their theology.

Won Kwak has planted Maranatha Grace Church in Fort Lee, NJ. North Shores Baptist Church in Bayside, NY, Kwak’s mother church, has developed a ministry called Doctrines of Grace Church Planters. On their website they proclaim, “Sovereign Grace Church Planters exists solely for the purpose of planting sovereign grace churches in and around the New York City area. “Reformed leaders James White and D.A. Carson endorse this church-planting ministry. The second church mentioned in On Mission magazine is City on a Hill in Brookline, MA, in metro Boston where Bland Mason is pastor. I had the privilege of meeting Bland in December and really like him. He is also the chaplain of the Boston Red Sox, which makes him particularly special to me.

“We plant Southern Baptist churches that adhere to the Baptist Faith and Message and support the Cooperative Program.” Kevin Ezell, president North American Mission Board. Some have been critical of City on a Hill being featured in On Mission because it is also included on the Acts 29 Network website as one of its churches.

NAMB President Kevin Ezell recently explained that Mason’s church was recommended for inclusion in the magazine by the leadership of the Baptist Convention of New England, that Mason is a soul winner, and that the church is an ardent supporter of the Cooperative Program.

Some contend that churches associated with the Acts 29 Network are anathema because of their identification with the Network’s founder and lead visionary, controversial Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll. The Network is also admittedly evangelical, missional and Reformed in its approach to church planting.

Others will find it interesting that St Louis is targeted as one of the focus cities in Send North America. In St. Louis NAMB will encounter a Baptist association that has already launched 15 church plants, seven of which are listed as Acts 29 Network churches.

In an exclusive interview with Ezell in our June 2, 2011 issue titled “Filling the Blanks,” The Index reported, “Missionary participation (with the Acts 29 Network) does not concern Ezell one way or the other; he neither endorses nor criticizes such involvement. And since NAMB trustees have not set policy on the issue, he does not involve himself with the discussion.

Ezell emphasized, “We plant Southern Baptist churches that adhere to the Baptist Faith and Message and support the Cooperative Program.”

Although Acts 29 only has 288 churches in its network in the U.S., Driscoll seems to have a significant influence in the lives of some Southern Baptists. It should be noted that Mark and Grace Driscoll have written a book entitled “Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship and Life Together.” The book has shocked conservatives with its graphic sexual descriptions and alarmed liberals because of its degradation of women.

Writer and blogger Rachel Held Evans stated in the Nashville Tennessean that the Driscolls give too many intimate and specific details about sex. She added, “I don’t need my pastor to tell me whether or not I should use sex toys. I don’t feel like I needed all of those details.”

The Tennessean also reported, “In short, the Driscolls say sex is only for married couples, and that those couples should be best friends, have lots of sex and skip the birth control pill, using alternate sex acts that don’t cause pregnancy when necessary.”

Denny Burk, associate professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate arm of Southern Seminary, has reviewed the Driscolls’ book. Burk indicates that the book is sexually explicit in some ways, but the Driscolls’ offer a disclaimer by stating that anyone uncomfortable with the book’s content must be either a rube or uninterested in reaching the culture for Christ.

Call me a rube or a hick.

Burk adds, “To those with legitimate concerns, these remarks come across as dismissive at best and patronizing at worst.”

The book would hardly be worth mentioning except for the fact that Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin and his wife Charlotte endorsed it. In recent years Driscoll has been a chapel speaker at SEBTS and his influence at the seminary cannot be ignored.

There is a growing perception that Southern Seminary has become a seedbed for a brand of Calvinism that is quite different from the Reformed theology of its founder, James Petigru Boyce, and also a training ground for Reformed church planters. Therefore, it appears that some of our institutions and agencies are giving, at the least, tacit approval to Reformed theology or are, at the most, actively on a path to honor, if not implement Reformed theology and methodology in their institutions.

While most of the Reformed pastors and churchmen I know are gracious and godly people with a profound devotion to the Word of God, Southern Baptists must decide if they are satisfied with what I would call the presumable encroachment of Calvinism in SBC life.

By the way, Southern Baptists must also soon decide if they want to fulfill their ministry under another name. There are at least four possibilities: Evangelical Baptist Convention, Continental Baptist Convention, International Baptist Convention and Great Commission Baptist Convention. At least, those four domains were purchased through GoDaddy.com in September 2011.

I personally think the Great Commission Baptist Convention is more likely to be the recommendation of the SBC name change committee. Leaders may reason that Southern Baptists could no more reject the recommendation of the Great Commission Baptist Convention than they could reject the Great Commission Resurgence recommendations. The subliminal implication is “to reject the new name is to reject The Great Commission and Southern Baptists would never do that.”

If that is the suggested name and if we dare vote for it to be our new appellation we dare not defame it with half-hearted evangelism and church plants that wither away in five years.

Gerald Harris, Editor

The Christian Index 

*Gerald Harris has served as editor of The Christian Index since May 2003. Prior to joining the staff he served for nine years as pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta. Harris came to Georgia in 1990 as pastor of Peachtree Corners Baptist Church in Norcross, where he served for four years. He has served as pastor in North and South Carolina, and Mississippi. He is a native of Hickory, N.C. Harris has written for a variety of denominational publications, including devotions for Open Windowsand HomeLife magazines. He has also authored two books, Pardoned to be Priests and Olympic Heroes: World-Class Athletes Winning at Life. He has a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary

Comments

[peter lumpkins]

All,

I may have to be scarce today. I'll try and look in every chance I get...

With that, I am...
Peter

[Charles]

Peter,

It's an amazing editorial which has put The Flounders on the ropes. The underhanded Calvinist takeover has run into another brick wall.

Ascol's plan "A", the direct takeover of our churches, has been severely hindered by search committees who have wised up.

Ascol's plan "B", the takeover of churches via LifeWay literature and NAMB "Flounder-friendly" church plants, is now in serious jeopardy.

We now know the kind of churches that NAMB is planting with our money. I'm looking into who at NAMB under Ezell is actually handing out our money. Who are Ezell's key staffers?

Peter, you are doing the Lord's work.

Charles

[peter]

My brother Charles,

Thank you. One gets the impression--and this is only an impression--that Founders may come out into the open and argue their case. As for me and my house, we would welcome it!

Grace, brother.
With that, I am...
Peter

[Bill Pfister]

Charles,

Is name calling really called for here? Aren't we all brothers serving the same Lord in the same denomination?

Bill

[Mary]

No Bill Pfister, according to Founder's some of us have "lost" the gospel and are "anti Calvinist" I'll be looking for your admonition at Founder's blog about name calling.

[Jody]

Thank you, Bill. My thoughts exactly.

[lmalone]

"Aren't we all brothers serving the same Lord in the same denomination?"

Don't forget the sisters, Bill. But no, Mohler does not think we want to see the nations rejoice for Christ. He said so. He said other things that lead me to believe he does not think we are really saved. one could argue the nuances of what he said and they have ad nauseum. But he was very insulting to his non Reformed, non Calvinists brothers and sisters many of whom, incidently, pay his salary and allow him the freedom to do many non SBC things for the advancement of his career and celebrity. I would say that is quite the nerve.

But it is easier to come to this blog and rebuke. You probably would have trouble getting a private audience with Mohler and he does not take comments on his blog.

[Robert Vaughn]

"...Southern Seminary has become a seedbed for a brand of Calvinism that is quite different from the Reformed theology of its founder, James Petigru Boyce..."

I wonder in what ways the brand of Calvinism of Al Mohler and Southern Seminary differs from the Reformed theology of J. P. Boyce?

Thanks.

[lmalone]

"I wonder in what ways the brand of Calvinism of Al Mohler and Southern Seminary differs from the Reformed theology of J. P. Boyce?"

Defending slavery?

[Howell Scott]

For the record, I am intrigued by The Gospel Project and may even end up using it for our children, students, and even some adult classes. As I've stated before, I am an "inconsistent Calvinist" in theology, but am a cooperating Southern Baptist in faith and practice (oh, a Christian first for those who maybe snarky about the order of things), which is why I can partner together with folks like Peter who I may disagree with on some aspects of theology, but can ultimately cooperate with as Southern Baptists. Some folks still don't understand that.

Several questions continue to come to mind in light of BP's reporting, particularly Lifeway's Marty King's response and the earlier Voices interview with Trevin Wax (which BP referenced). First, King repeats what I have already heard, which is that Lifeway developed The Gospel Project as a "response to churches asking for a more in-depth Bible study curriculum." What churches were asking? How many churches were asking? How many churches does it take to ask for new curriculum that Lifeway would respond with the resources (financial and otherwise) to develop it?

Second, Trevin Wax (and presumably others associated with The Gospel Project) said they never asked whether any of the advisory board members or contributors were Calvinists. Why would one have to ask a question that he already knew the answer to? Were the theological leanings of the advisors/contributors such a secret that they would have to be questioned about it? I don't doubt Trevin when he says that he (nor anyone at Lifeway) asked about Calvinism, but, I simply don't understand why the question would even need to be asked in the first place.

Maybe I'm dense when it comes to these issues, but it seems to me that the responses of both Mr. King and Mr. Wax elicit even more questions than they answered. But, then again, maybe that's just me. Thanks and God bless,

Howell

[Mary]

The BP article of course doesn't address any of the points Harris made. It's just more of the "let's all cooperate" which really means "stop asking questions" of your betters. Of course everyone is patting on the back the naive people who seem to be blissfully ignorant or willfully ignorant of what the issues really are in the SBC. The elites would like very much to keep people ignorant and thus must smack down Gerald Harris et al by name calling - and even attacking his style of writing, thus distracting from the actual points he made in his article.

[Robert Vaughn]

lmalone, I figure that is a different, but am having trouble thinking that is what Gerald Harris meant in the context. The folks at Southern appear to feel they are walking in Boyce's footsteps, so it would be interesting to know how Harris thinks they are not.