peterlumpkins.com

Dr. Al Mohler: Opportunist or Convictional Southern Baptist?

According to credible reports from colleagues and close friends, Dr. Mohler abruptly switched "sides" during the Conservative Resurgence (CR) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Up until 1990, Mohler is said to have embraced the Moderate/Liberal theological wing in the SBC. However, after the 1990 New Orleans convention, Mohler reportedly informed one of his closest friends that "our side" is "doing very badly" in the struggle for the soul of the convention. Accordingly, Mohler is said to have gone back to Atlanta where at the time he was editor of... Read more →

Georgia Baptists Face Difficult Decision on Vice-Presidential Nominee

A week ago, I posted a piece concerning the public announcement in the Christian Index of four nominees for the office of Vice-President of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board to be elected at the 2019 Georgia Baptist Convention held at Fayetteville's New Hope Baptist Church November 10-12. The piece produced minimal chatter on Social Media. From knowledge recently gained, more chatter definitely took place privately rather than publicly. In the piece, I suggested that while all four intended nominees possessed undeniable qualifications and experience that could benefit Georgia Baptists, there... Read more →

A Necessary "FYI" to Georgia Baptists meeting for their annual session in Fayetteville, November 10-12, 2019

Like many other state conventions, Georgia Baptists plan their annual meeting in November each year. Fayetteville's New Hope Baptist Church hosts the meeting this year beginning with an Inspirational Rally Sunday evening, November 10th at 6 pm. The convention ends on Tuesday afternoon, November 12. Most likely, Georgia Baptists' 2019 annual convention will come and pass with few, if any, wrinkles. There is one particular item that should at least arouse the interest of most Georgia Baptists and, in many ways, ought to alarm them. I happen to be among... Read more →

New Orleans Baptist Association calls for censorship of Baptist state paper

On July 12, a group of eight Baptist leaders from the New Orleans Baptist Association (NOBA) who were apparently fed up with what they called "buzzard politics" from The Baptist Message, wrote, signed, and posted an open complaint on the NOBA website. Entitled "Which Way Forward: Unity or Division?" the eight men noted specifically, "We are troubled by the critical editorials in our state Baptist paper against SBC agency heads David Platt and Russell Moore." Making the complaints into a call for unity, the associational article indicated what appears to... Read more →

Must answers from the platform to questions from the floor of the Southern Baptist Convention be ostentatious?

pic source UPDATE: Arkansas Baptist News published a letter to the editor from John Wofford, pastor of Armorel Baptist Church in Blytheville, Arkansas, the messenger who questioned ERLC's president, Russell Moore, at the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention (video below). I appreciate my brother Arkansan's explanation and thank him for offering further context to his question. I also agree with Pastor Wofford that Dr. Moore failed to answer exactly the question he posed. Platform respondents are notorious for bloviating rather than speaking to direct questions. Indeed many times I've observed them... Read more →

Georgia Baptists pass resolution on social media, cyber-bullying and teen suicide

Meeting at Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon Georgia, the 2014 Georgia Baptist Convention passed among others a resolution on cyber-bullying and teen suicide. Allen Rea, pastor at and messenger from Dunn Memorial Baptist Church, Baxley, GA submitted the resolution to the resolutions committee for consideration. It passed without opposition. RESOLUTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND CYBER-BULLYING WHEREAS, The Bible is clear concerning affirming positive, Christ-like interaction with all people whether verbally in person or using modern digital means such as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter; and WHEREAS, the New... Read more →

Ergun Caner's first interview as president of Brewton-Parker College

DULUTH — The Christian Index recently interviewed Ergun Caner in order to give Georgia Baptists an up close and personal look at Brewton- Parker College’s new president. Just three months ago the BPC Board of Trustees voted unanimously to elect Caner as the 16th president of the 110-year-old institution of higher learning. Retiring BPC President Mike Simoneaux endorsed Caner’s presidency by stating, “Dr. Caner brings a wealth of experience to the presidency with more than three decades in Christian higher education, leadership, Biblical teaching, preaching, and apologetics. This appointment will... Read more →

The Christian Index—‘Brewton-Parker elects Ergun Caner as president’

Below is the latest article from The Christian Index about Brewton-Parker College's new president, Ergun Caner. Dr. Caner attended his first executive committee meeting this week and received a standing ovation when introduced as Georgia Baptists' newest institution president.* Brewton-Parker elects Ergun Caner as president MT. VERNON — Educator and author Ergun Caner has been elected as the 16th president of Georgia Baptist-affiliated Brewton-Parker College. Trustees approved the unanimous election Dec. 2, barely two months after President Mike Simoneaux announced his retirement effective Dec. 31. Simoneaux came to Brewton-Parker on... Read more →

Georgia Baptists adopt resolution on the sexual abuse of children, Kentucky and Alabama too

click for larger image The Georgia Baptist Convention met in Dacula, Georgia November 11-12. Without edit or opposition,1 Georgia Baptists passed the resolution I submitted to the resolutions committee for consideration in September of this year, a resolution almost identical to the resolution passed by the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention back in June.2 In addition, Kentucky Baptists adopted a very similar resolution submitted by Kentucky pastor, Jon Carter. Dr. Rick Patrick, pastor of First Baptist Church, Sylacauga, Alabama proposed a resolution on the sexual abuse of children which Alabama Baptists... Read more →

No Southern Baptist should be 'in limbo' over Infants dying and going to Hell! by Ron F. Hale

Dr. Gerald Harris, the editor of the Christian Index, asked a pressing question in a recent editorial concerning the report of the Calvinism Advisory Team.1 He asked, "What Southern Baptists are there who do not believe that those who die before they are capable of moral action go to heaven?" His query is based on a section in the report that says, "We agree that most Southern Baptists believe that those who die before they are capable of moral action go to heaven through the grace of God and the... Read more →

Will "Infant Damnation Presbyterians" spawn "Infant Damnation Southern Baptists"? Part 2

In Part 1, I reprinted an article from The Baltimore Sun, May 26, 1908, an article reflecting the turmoil between Presbyterians who desired to change the Westminster Confession because it taught the eternal damnation of some infants and those Presbyterians who insisted the Confession should remain as it was originally written. One of the leaders was J.B. Mack, a well-known Presbyterian pastor, theologian, church planter and evangelist appointed by the Synod of Georgia. Below is an article written by Mack and originally published in The Atlanta Constitution, December 23, 1900.... Read more →

Scripture silent on slavery and infant damnation

“Let no man oppose this movement by forbidding the holding of slaves, until he can produce divine authority for the prohibition” --J.L. Dagg, Southern Baptist Calvinist theologian in The Elements of Moral Science (1860, pp.346-347) “Let no man oppose infant damnation by forbidding the belief of burning babies in hell, until he can produce divine authority for the prohibition” --apparently, at least some Southern Baptist leaders entertain similarly this view Read more →

Will "Infant Damnation Presbyterians" spawn "Infant Damnation Southern Baptists"? Part 1

Below is an article printed in The Baltimore Sun, May 26, 1908. The article reflects the turmoil among Presbyterians who desired to change the Westminster Confession because it taught the eternal damnation of some infants and those Presbyterians who insisted the Confession should remain as it was originally written. According to Dr. J.B. Mack, a well-known Presbyterian theologian and evangelist in the south, those who wanted to retain the Confession as it was written by Westminster divines were called “I.D.P.’s” standing for “Infant Damnation Presbyterians” and those desiring to change... Read more →

Christian Index editor pushes for answers from Calvinism Advisory Committee about babies burning in hell

Below is the most recent editorial by Christian Index editor, Gerald Harris.1 Entitled "A New Kind of Calvinism" Dr. Harris shares his perspective on the committee report released prior to the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention by Executive Committee President Frank Page. In addition Harris recalls his concern over one aspect of the committee report, a concern he expressed during the official Q/A at the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention. Harris rightly asked about the committee's affirmation that "most Southern Baptists believe that those who die before they are capable of moral... Read more →

Louisiana's Message republishes "The Calvinists are here" by Georgia's Christian Index editor, Gerald Harris

The Baptist Message recently posted a series of articles on the purported issue over Calvinism at Louisiana College. I received permission from The Message editor to re-post the four articles in full on my site since many Southern Baptists outside Louisiana are watching with concerned interest the fiasco taking place on the Baptist campus. Yet since so few of us outside Louisiana subscribe to The Message, we were left completely in the dark as to the content of the articles. You may find the first and second articles linked after... Read more →

Truett-McConnell professor interviewed by Christian Index

Dr. Adam Harwood, Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at Truett-McConnell in Cleveland, Georgia was interviewed recently by The Christian Index. The interview appears in the latest edition. Below are answers to some of the questions1: Adam Harwood, assistant professor of Christian studies at Truett McConnell College, has written a book entitled “The Spiritual Condition of Infants.” Free Church Press has recently summarized the book into a 38-page volume, “Born Guilty: A Southern Baptist View of Original Sin.” Harwood will be addressing the John 3:16 Conference at North Metro First Baptist... Read more →

Headed to the Georgia Baptist Convention today

After taking care of some loose ends, I'm headed to the Georgia Baptist Convention held this year in Warner Robins at the Second Baptist Church where Jim Perdue serves as the senior pastor. Recalling last year's convention, my hunny asked me if I was taking my camera. I said, "Sure! It's a matter of principle." Her response--"Principle my foot!" After almost 40 years of marriage--a beautiful marriage I might add--she probably knows me fairly well, I'd say (smile). "To take or not to take: that is the question..." Perhaps I'll... Read more →

What about those who haven't heard the gospel?

The Inspired Apostle concluded, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom 10:17). One of the perplexing questions Christians often discuss revolves around those who never have and/or never will hear the life transforming gospel message >>> What constitutes an acceptable answer which remains biblically faithful to not only our understanding of God's merciful love and holy justice, but also to our unwavering commitment to soteriological exclusivism? Namely, the Lord Jesus Christ's redemptive work as the only begotten of the Father? Or, as stated... Read more →

New Resource: articles from Baptist media sources concerning Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention by Peter Lumpkins

I just put up a new resource--a page containing articles from Southern Baptist media sources concerning the subject of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. Sources will include Baptist Press and all available state papers. No commentary is offered. Nor is the resource intended as a polemical tool. If the article was published by a Southern Baptist news venue, it qualified for the resource. Check out the page (click here or look on the sidebar for a link there). It obviously is only a beginning. When it is finished, I... Read more →

Al Mohler vindicates Brad Whitt: "there is a creeping Presbyterianism amongst us" by Peter Lumpkins

Just about a year ago, Dr. Brad Whitt fired a shot heard in most sectors of the Southern Baptist Convention. Being a young South Carolina, Southern Baptist pastor, he just didn’t fit the mold of the young, restless, and reformed travelling around the country by the tens of thousands (literally) to hear all the cool, calm, Calvinist speakers at the latest Passion, T4G, TGC, SGM, YRR conferences >>> In his piece “Young, Southern Baptist and…Irrelevant? ” a piece picked up by several state convention papers as well as Baptist Press,... Read more →

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. ======================= 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... Read more →

Tom Ascol on Gerald Harris by Peter Lumpkins

I called to get permission to post Gerald Harris' latest editorial on SBC Tomorrow. The Christian Index graciously gave me permission to do so. It was scheduled to publish at 5:15 A.M on Friday. The reason for permission is two-fold: a) plain, old-fashioned courtesy; b) at the bottom of the editorial page there is a clear indicator I needed to get the permission. It reads: Even so, Tom Ascol, Director of Founders Ministries, put up a piece just a short time ago criticizing Harris' editorial including a full version of... Read more →

Will a Bandaid suffice when heart surgery is needed? by Gerald Harris

SBC President Bryant Wright, who serves as pastor of Marietta’s Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, announced to the SBC Executive Committee on Sept. 19 that he was appointing a task force to study the prospect of changing the Convention’s name. >>> SBC Tomorrow welcomes Dr. Gerald Harris as guest contributor* Wright made his announcement after speaking of the energy and unity within the denomination after the SBC annual meeting this past June in Phoenix. He reasoned that the Convention’s name is geographically regional, which he said could be a barrier to... Read more →

Al Mohler, homosexuality, and continued moral confusion (part I) by Peter Lumpkins

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, made headlines at the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix when he openly affirmed quoted words by Jonathan Merritt: "We've lied about the nature of homosexuality and have practiced what can only be described as a form of homophobia…We've used the 'choice' language when it is clear that sexual orientation is a deep inner struggle and not merely a matter of choice" (//link). In response to whether those words were accurately quoted, Mohler said: >>> "I'm thankful for the question, my brother, and... Read more →

Baptist Press Bias: Documented Reality or Disturbing Myth (part II) by Peter Lumpkins

I personally asked Dr. Gerald Harris, editor of The Christian Index (Ga), why he signed the letter Robert Simpson penned to the Executive Committee taking exception to the editorial written by editors James Smith (Fl), Marty King (IL), and Gary Ledbetter (Tx) . He responded: I am happy to respond to your question. There are several reasons why I signed the letter. First, I did not consider Baptist Press to be biased. I don't know that it was either for or against the GCR Task Force report. I didn't keep... Read more →

Baptist Press Bias: Documented Reality or Disturbing Myth? (part I) by Peter Lumpkins

Is Baptist Press (BP), the newswire service of the Southern Baptist Convention hopelessly biased? Some apparently think it is. In a stinging editorial composed by Baptist editors James Smith (Florida), Marty King (Illinois), and Gary Ledbetter (Texas) and published in the Florida Baptist Witness on June 12 of this year (just prior to the SBC), the trio left no doubt in the readers’ mind. They open the editorial citing “Concern about Baptist Press has arisen among some Southern Baptists” especially seen in recent months on coverage with the GCR. “BP... Read more →

Friday Mishmash by Peter Lumpkins

Below are some unrelated items of interest over the past couple weeks. No particular order. Just interesting--at least to me. 1 Last January, I committed an unpardonable sin in the eyes of some young Southern Baptists: I wrote a post which raised questions concerning what I still believe to be sub-Christian ministry methods of Mark Driscoll (//link). If you'd like an entertaining display of just how irrevocably passionate Driscoll lovers are, check out the short but revealing exchange I recently had over a simple quote I offered from Driscoll---- here...................... Read more →

Dr. Jerry Vines on Caveats and the Great Commission Resurgence

The Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) document has gathered more than 3,000 signatories, many of which are current or former Southern Baptist Convention leaders. Not all, however, were quick to sign their name on the dotted line. Drs. Paige Patterson and Jerry Vines, both of whom are past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, as well as key prophetic voices of the Conservative Resurgence, recently signed their names to the GCR. Yet their signatures uniquely bear a brand not found on other signatories—“with caveats.” The uninformed might immediately but crassly conclude... Read more →

Is Universalism Prevalent? "Not Until Someone Dies" according to Gerald Harris

Gerald Harris, Editor of The Christian Index, the Baptist state paper of Georgia, wrote a pastoral essay for Baptist Press that offers sober, practical counsel for pastors who inevitably minister at memorials for people who possessed no Christian testimony. He writes: "...some pastors are torn between integrity and compassion and in an effort to add comfort to the family they become universalists -– giving the family some hope that their loved one may have been granted eternal life by a gracious and benevolent God." Any pastor who has served long... Read more →

The Great Commission Resurgence: Biblical Mandate or Baptist Movement? Part II

The locus classicus impetus for global gospelizing is found in Matthew's record of Jesus' departing words: >>> "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:18-20). While some... Read more →