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What’s at Stake in the Southern Baptist Convention for the backlash against Russell Moore? A Response

Jake Raabe is a student at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas and columnist for The Baptist Standard, the news service affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Raabe recently wrote an opinion column entitled "Voices: What's at stake for the SBC in backlash against Russell Moore?" arguing that it is a mistake for Southern Baptists to either silence or dismiss the views of the president of the Ethics and Religious Life Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention, Russell Moore. It would be naive... Read more →

J.B. Nicholson, Jr.: 'Confessions of a Zero-Point Calvinist'

Undoubtedly, one of the most well-known Brethren believers remains the late Dave Hunt (1926-2013) who founded The Berean Call. Hunt's specialty was in the area of sectarian Christianity (i.e. "cults"), broadly establishing himself as an expert in the field and often debating "cult" leaders of almost every theological stripe.1 Sometime in the early 2000s, Hunt entered the theological battleground outside his studied specialty of Christian "cults" and began to critique a movement making waves across the evangelical landscape, including causing quite a stir among Brethren believers.2 The theological movement was... Read more →

Is every issue a gospel issue?

Below is a sampling from a young but obviously erudite theologian from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Blake Newsom. In pursuing the question, What is the Gospel?, Newsom cuts through the literary wasteland in evangelical circles that tends to see all issues as "gospel issues" by flatly concluding "If everything is the gospel, then nothing is the gospel." Here's the entire contextual snippet: Of concern to this writer is that the gospel has become a buzzword in Evangelicalism. As is often the case with buzzwords, they lose their core... Read more →

Evangelical surprise: Billy Graham just may be a Calvinist!

On October 28, Dr. Rick Patrick, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Sylacauga, Alabama posted a piece entitled "25 Traditional SBC Heroes" at SBC Today. Patrick named as the top contender for the number one hero amongst traditional Southern Baptists the Rev. Billy Graham. While one might quibble whether Graham deserves the no.1 hero seed, few would question whether Graham should make the hero lineup for traditional Southern Baptists. Within the comment thread, however, some extreme Calvinists (and perhaps others not so extreme) actually raised the question as to whether Billy... Read more →

A real word on repentance by Chris Gilliam

There is much in the mind of religious people on the issue of a Christian's repentance. It has long been preached that the person repenting MUST confess ALL sins with specific detail to ALL people who are injured by the sin and to ALL who heard about it. There is a large group of people who will not give grace until all the nitty-gritty details are acknowledged, verbalized, restitution is made and reconciliation applied for. Some even demand a complete telling of ALL past sins before grace can be applied.... Read more →

Dr. CB Scott on Psalm 22

Dr. CB Scott, Pastor of Ailey Baptist Church, Ailey, Georgia and Vice-President at Brewton-Parker College, Mount Vernon, Georgia preached a moving message on Psalm 22, Easter Morning, 2014. Below is an extended exerpt of his message. CB Scott easter 2014 from Brewton-Parker College on Vimeo. Related articles Brewton-Parker College raises the bar appointing Dr. C.B. Scott Read more →

James Denney on the proper motive to missions

Below is an excerpt from a sermon entitled “Propitiation” preached at the annual meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society, April, 1911 by 19th century Scottish theologian, James Denney (1856-1917). Denney taught at Glasgow's United Free Church College, first as Professor of Systematic Theology and then from 1900, as Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, a post he held until his death in 1917. According to Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership lecturer, Jason Goroncy, it was during those final decades that Denney’s theology reached its full maturity – drawing... Read more →

Baptist scholar Alexander Carson--'by the Gospel no infant can be saved'

Certainly; if there were no way of saving children but by the Gospel, this conclusion [i.e. that infant salvation would be impossible] would be inevitable. The Gospel saves none but by faith. But the Gospel has nothing to do with infants, nor have Gospel ordinances any respect to them. The Gospel has to do with those who hear it. It is good news; but to infants it is not news at all. They know nothing of it. The salvation of the Gospel is as much confined to believers, as the... Read more →

"The Power of the Church": a sermon by Peter Lumpkins

Below is a sermon I preached some years ago entitled "The Power of the Church." Based upon Romans 1:16, it suggests four reasons why the church's power rests solely in Christ's gospel--the power of God unto salvation; namely, the gospel is the power of God because the gospel, bears the authority of God promises effectiveness from God designed for the entire world constitutes the singular hope we possess Even though I preached this message at a local congregation, I think it possesses broad merit for us today. Less branding strategies... Read more →

Jesus: "The Great Debate" or "The Great Commission"?

A commenter on a thread recently called to my attention what can only exist as a skewed focus some place on the importance of "debate" in establishing Christian truth. And, just coming off a recent challenge by a professional "debater" who appears obsessively preoccupied with using his friends and supporters (not to mention his own blog) to picket my blog with banner signs saying, as it were, "Debate me!" "Debate me!" I thought it fitting to post our Lord's Great Commission and contrast it with the skewed preoccupation many appear... Read more →

New Release by Free Church Press! The Secrets of a Great Church by Jerry Vines

Just in time for The John 3:16 Conference, The Secrets of a Great Church by Jerry Vines will be given free of charge to all registered participants. In addition, through the generosity of friends of Free Church Press and Jerry Vines Ministries, a complimentary copy will be available to messengers who drop by the booth at the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention in Houston, TX. Read more →

Must we define Mormonism as a cult? A Brief Response to Bart Barber

Dr. Bart Barber’s latest piece states the following proposition in its title: “Why Mormonism Is a Cult and Should be Called One.” Bart begins his piece by stating his principled disagreement with three Southern Baptists over the issue of whether “cult” is a proper and useful category in which to place Mormonism. He states >>> “I find myself today disagreeing with Richard Land, Ed Stetzer, and Peter Lumpkins… Mormonism is a cult, and if I read and understand these gentlemen correctly, they all agree with me on that point. Where... Read more →

An Open Letter to Franklin Graham: “Mr. Graham: Put that page back up!” by Peter Lumpkins

I've never been one for writing open letters. In fact, I don't recall ever writing one. But I can no longer say that. Albeit my full support and unshakable appreciation for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) since the late seventies of the last century, I continue to be stunned by their recent action in taking down a webpage on which a partial list of religious "cults" containing several sectarian groups were named. >>> Among those named as examples of heretical "cults" within the Christian tradition were "Mormons" (link to... Read more →

Calvinists react to Jerry Vines interview (part II) by Peter Lumpkins

Calvinists react to Jerry Vines interview Part I may be found here. Part II is below and focuses on Joshua Breland's piece on Jerry Vines >>> Part II A brief rejoinder to Breland’s “lengthy response” to Jerry Vines may be helpful. First, Breland criticizes Vines because “citing Calvinism as the reason for current division within the SBC is not helpful to the discussion.” Why? Because, according to Breland, since “Calvinism neither walks nor talks” but is a mere “system of theology”, Breland concludes “ Calvinism is not creating division in... Read more →

On sincerity in offering the gospel: is there a difference between Calvinists and non-Calvinists? by Peter Lumpkins

Below is a little parable I created about two men--Sam and Jack. Perhaps the parable may offer some insight into why many non-Calvinists frequently express that, in their view, strict Calvinism insincerely offers the gospel >>> Sam, Jack, and the homeless man Every morning Sam gets up at 6AM to do his morning walk. Inevitably, a homeless man sits at the end of his street with his cup. For reasons unknown to Sam, the homeless man has no use for him. In fact, he appears to hate Sam. Every time... Read more →

Is Dr. Russell Moore a 'fundamentalist evangelical schismatic'? Some evangelicals seem to think so by Peter Lumpkins

The Rev. Pat Robertson's recent bungling of a question pertaining to divorcing a spouse with severe dementia has been thoroughly discussed on Christian blogs. A few examples of dealing with Robertson's words by blogdom's biggest names include, Al Mohler, Denny Burk, Scott McKnight, Ed Stetzer, and Russell Moore >>> By far, it appears the most quoted critic of Robertson is Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He not only got a prime-time piece in Christianity... Read more →

Evangelism: A Biblical Response to Today’s Questions: A Brief Review by Peter Lumpkins

J. D. Payne serves as a National Missionary with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and an Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism in the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Evangelism: A Biblical Response to Today's Questions ($17.99 Biblica Publishing, 2011) answers questions about evangelism from an admittedly Calvinistic perspective (47) >>> Dr. Payne addresses 33 questions about evangelism in a decidedly conversational style. Each question is a chapter; and adding a Foreword (written... Read more →

Fullerism or Calvinism? by Peter Lumpkins

Recently, Baptist theologian Malcolm Yarnell put up a brief review of Fullerism as Opposed to Calvinism: A Historical and Theological Comparison of the Missiology of Andrew Fuller and John Calvin (hereafter “Fullerism”) by A. Chadwick Mauldin ($12.80 Wipf & Stock Publishers, Eugene, OR, 130 pages). With a Foreword written by Michael A.G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Mauldin offers an invigorating proposal to contemporary Baptists—perhaps especially to those Baptists among us who insist on making Calvinism proper the theological benchmark for orthodoxy within... Read more →

"Forsaken: A Meditation" by Peter Lumpkins

Our Lord enabled me to preach this morning on the excruciatingly difficult words of our crucified but soon to be risen Savior when He uttered the words Mark records...>>> "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"(15:34) Mark records the mysterious darkness descended upon Israel for a three-hour run (v.33), a darkness surely indicative of Israel's rejection of her prophesied Messiah. In John's words, He came to His own, but His own received Him not (John 1:11). Scriptural revelation shows darkness is indicative of separation. For example, in the... Read more →

"A Church in Debt" by Peter Lumpkins

I graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1990. In August of that same year, I preached at my home church in Madison, Tennessee from the text, Romans 1:13-17. During the course of the message, I rhetorically asked "Are Southern Baptists paying their bills?" I then answered my own question>>> I said: There exists an alarming shortage of those going to the mission fields. I'm told 95% of those called to ministry is preaching to 5% of the world's population. Some are suggesting that many are just not listening... Read more →

Everything You Know about Evangelicals is Wrong (Well Almost Everything): A Book-Look by Peter Lumpkins

Beginning in the last quarter of the 20th century, evangelicals rode their white horses to religious stardom. As Liberal and mainline denominational colleges and seminaries shrunk, evangelical student bodies swelled fat and prosperous. Fame was short-lived, however. While Newsweek proclaimed 1976 as “the year of the evangelical,” church historian Martin E. Marty predicted rough days ahead for evangelicals as early as 1989. Indeed, some theologians now question whether the term “evangelical” has not expended itself completely. For example, >>> Westminster Theological Seminary professor, D. A. Hart, suggested in his book,... 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 →

The SBC and The Gospel by Luke Liechty, Guest Contributor

I've considered for some time now experimenting with some new avenues on SBC Tomorrow. One such laboratory exercise is the addition of regularly scheduled guests who publish essays here. Keeping with such a vision, today's guest is Luke Liechty. Luke is not a stranger to Southern Baptist blogging, contributing to his site, Search Me O God, for almost two years. Luke is pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. Furthermore, he is a husband, a dad, and a lover of Classical music. Luke is especially in love... Read more →