The Gospel Coalition

Kindle Deal of the Day: Don’t Make Me Count to Three! by Ginger Plowman. $1.99.

Do you find yourself threatening, repeating your instructions, or raising your voice in an attempt to get your children to obey? Are you discouraged because it seems you just can’t reach the heart of your child? Through personal experience and the practical application of Scripture, Ginger Plowman encouraged and equips moms to reach past the outward behavior of their children and dive deeply into the issues of the heart.

Mike Lee asks two questions about church members: Where are the Pioneers? and Should Pioneers Leave?

Where are the pioneers?  Where are those who can come into a church, see that their particular type of group is lacking or missing, and say, “We love this church.  It has a vision for reaching and discipling the lost.  We believe this is where our Lord would have us plant.  And we want to help reach others like us.  We know it might be slow going, but we want to invest our lives here and see what God builds.”

Media Continues to “Gosnell” Abortion Coverage. Why?

While abortion rights advocates and many in the media have suggested that Gosnell is an extreme outlier, pro-life media keep uncovering more and more stories that suggest the mainstream media is failing to highlight.

Map – More than half of humanity lives within this circle:

In yet another illustration of China’s and India’s enormous populations, Reddit recently surfaced the above population map, which claims more than half the world’s people live within a circle superimposed over a section of Asia.

Trillia Newbell – When Mother’s Day is Hard:

This Mother’s Day may come as yet another reminder to women everywhere that they don’t have something they desire. Another year of miscarriages, infertility, or even waiting for a child through the adoption process. Whatever the unfulfilled desire, it tugs at your heart and plagues your mind.

What happens when two of the most influential evangelicals of the 20th century don’t see eye to eye on an issue with important theological and practical implications? A public showdown. That’s what happened with John Stott and Billy Graham in the mid 1970′s regarding the role of social ministry in the mission of the church.

The year was 1974.

2500 evangelicals from 150 countries and 135 denominations were in Lausanne, Switzerland for the International Congress on World Evangelization. In his biography of John Stott, Godly Ambition, Alister Chapman describes the background for the confrontation:

The central purpose of the congress was to galvanize evangelicals to finish the task, to ensure that the gospel finally reached every corner of the earth. Its theme, emblazoned above the podium, was “Let the Earth Hear His Voice.”

By the time of Lausanne, Stott had come to the conclusion that God called his people to care about society and politics as well as evangelism. Many at Lausanne agreed with him, especially people from churches associated with the WCC (World Council of Churches), where social and political issues were high priorities. However, the belief that preaching the gospel was all that really mattered was still common, especially in the United States. Talk of social action brought to mind the dreaded social gospel, which many saw as a chief culprit in the theological drift of America’s historic denominations.

At Lausanne, Stott wanted evangelicals to take social action seriously. The twist in Stott’s message to the congress was his argument that the Great Commission itself demanded that Christians pay attention to people’s physical and social needs, as well as their spiritual ones. He did this by focusing not on the standard version of the commission, namely Jesus’ command to go and make disciples of all nations as recorded in Matthew’s gospel, but rather on John’s account of Jesus telling his disciples that as his Father had sent him, so he was sending them. And just as Jesus’ mission had involved caring for people’s bodies, as well as their souls, so should that of the church.

The Lausanne Covenant reflected Stott’s vision. It was primarily focused on evangelism, but included a secondary section on social responsibility. As time went on, however, it became clear that the committee tasked with continuing the work of Lausanne was not fully on board with the Covenant’s inclusion of social ministry.

… Stott discovered that the powers that be in this American-led movement had not really accepted the covenant’s dual emphasis on evangelism and social action… Stott was adamant that Lausanne should be about social action, as well as evangelism. The committee had already been stacked against him, however.

So, as Stott arrived in Mexico City in January 1975 for the first meeting of the continuation committee he knew it would be an uphill battle.

Billy Graham addressed the meeting on the first night. “What I counsel…” he said, “is that we stick strictly to evangelism and missions, while at the same time encouraging others to do the specialized work that God has commissioned the Church to do.”

Stott stayed awake for several hours that night, formulating his response to Graham’s proposal. By morning, he had decided to confront Graham, who was bankrolling the meeting and the movement. As business began, Stott stunned everyone by saying that he would resign from the committee if Graham’s vision for the movement prevailed. Stott demanded that the Lausanne Covenant’s emphasis on the social implications of the gospel be reflected in the organization’s ongoing work. Stott and Graham had known each other since Graham’s crusades in England in the mid-1950′s and they had become personal friends. But Stott’s challenge was still bold.

The committee was shocked. Many in the room disagreed. For them, social concern had occupied just one paragraph of the covenant and little of the congress’s discussions, whereas evangelism had dominated both. Many evangelicals still saw the world very much as Stott had done back int he 1950′s: caring for people’s physical needs was important, but getting them saved was much, much more so. But losing Stott would have been a big blow. Some felt he was blackmailing the committee.

How was this disagreement resolved? It wasn’t. Not totally anyway. Here’s what happened…

In the end, they locked Stott and Peter Wagner, a Fuller Seminary professor who wanted Lausanne to focus on strategies for evangelism, in a room and told them to come up with a compromise. The result was a weak reference to “the total biblical mission of the church” in the committee’s statement of purpose. Graham made sure that his relationship with Stott was not breached, writing to him in April to say that “there is no man that I respect, love, admire and would gladly follow more devotedly than I would you.” It was a mark of Graham’s humility that he did not use his enormous capital to press his point at the meeting at Mexico.

When I think of John Stott and Peter Wagner locked in a room, I only wish they’d locked a tape recorder in there with them. For more information on Stott’s life and ministry, I recommend Godly Ambition by Alister Chapman.

Kindle Deal of the Day: Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story. $3.79.

This is the true love story of Joni and her husband of 30 years, Ken Tada. A love story showing what it truly means for a man and a woman to live in love … in sickness and in health.

Ted Traylor lists the five great needs among God’s people in America, as observed by Bakht Singh:

During his first visit to America in 1969 he wrote of his observations. He sensed five great needs among God’s people in the USA…

Todd Engstrom tells small group leaders not to waste their summer:

What if your community continued striving to be a spiritual family this summer, rather than pushing pause?  In my experience, there are a few things that will help a community thrive in a season where many fade away.  Here are three ideas to consider implementing…

The Gay Marriage Campaign and the Despotism of Conformism:

In truth, the extraordinary rise of gay marriage speaks, not to a new spirit of liberty or equality on a par with the civil-rights movements of the 1960s, but rather to the political and moral conformism of our age; to the weirdly judgmental non-judgmentalism of our PC times; to the way in which, in an uncritical era such as ours, ideas can become dogma with alarming ease and speed; to the difficulty of speaking one’s mind or sticking with one’s beliefs at a time when doubt and disagreement are pathologised.

Jason Duesing adds some expanded commentary from Carl Henry’s autobiography regarding his infamous interaction with Karl Barth:

Barth became angry. Pointing at me, and recalling my identification, he asked: “Did you say Christianity Today or Christianity Yesterday?” The audience—largely nonevangelical professors and clergy—roared with delight. When countered unexpectedly in this way, one often reaches for a Scripture verse. So I replied, assuredly out of biblical context, “Yesterday, today and forever.”

The reality of common grace means there is truth to be found and lessons to be learned in all sorts of places. I recently read Winning, a business book with candid advice from Jack Welch (longtime chief of General Electric).

Here are a few highlights worth sharing:

1. Focus on concrete behaviors, not vague values.

“A good mission statement and a good set of values are so real they smack you in the face with their concreteness. The mission announces exactly where you are going, and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there. Speaking of that, I prefer abandoning the term values altogether in favor of just behaviors.”

2. The more candid you are, the faster you will be.

“Candor generates speed. When ideas are in everyone’s face, they can be debated rapidly, expanded and enhanced, and acted upon. That approach—surface, debate, improve, decide—isn’t just an advantage, it’s a necessity in a global marketplace.”

3. Leadership success isn’t about you.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

4. Don’t try to make everyone happy.

“You are not a leader to win a popularity contest—you are a leader to lead. Don’t run for office. You’re already elected.”

5. Clearly articulate the purpose of change.

“Attach every change initiative to a clear purpose or goal. Change for change’s sake is stupid and enervating.”

6. Don’t just ponder. Get moving!.

“If you want to win, when it comes to strategy, ponder less and do more.”

7. Give up the idea of a career plan and get ready for an adventure.

It is virtually impossible to know where any given job will take you. In fact, if you meet someone who has faithfully followed a career plan, try not to get seated beside him at a dinner party. What a bore!”

8. Try to find a job that challenges you.

“Any new job should feel like a stretch, not a layup.”

Kindle Deal of the Day: What They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary: 25 Lessons for Successful Ministry in Your Church by James Emery White. $3.99.

Veteran pastor James Emery White provides the kind of mentoring young pastors desperately need but cannot get from academia or leadership books. These “from the trenches” insights will help them transform their relationships with staff and parishoners, develop healthy boundaries, deliver hard truths, avoid spiritual pitfalls, use their time effectively, and much more.

Kirsten Powers – Abortion Rights Community Has Become the NRA of the Left:

Speaking as a liberal who endorses more government regulation of practically everything—banks, water, air, food, oil drilling, animal safety—I am eternally perplexed by the fury the abortion rights contingent displays at the suggestion that the government might have a serious role to play in the issue of abortion, especially later-term abortion. More and more, the abortion rights community has become the NRA of the left: unleashing their armies of supporters and lobbyists in opposition to regulations or restrictions that the majority of Americans support.

What Paul Miller Learned from a Year without the Internet:

He thought that real life was to be found offline but discovered that the lines are not quite so clear. There is value in connecting face-to-face and in being present offline. But much of the Internet is also relational. The Internet is people. He was as lonely offline as he had been online. Unplugging alone was not a remedy to relationship, to productivity, or to much of anything else.

Russell Moore – Do You Want to Be a Burden to Your Children?

None of us want to be an undue burden to anyone, of course. I certainly wouldn’t want my children, when I’m elderly, to have to suffer in caring for me in the throes of dementia or cancer or paralysis. But when I peel that back further, in my case, the real issue for me is simple: pride.

Alvin Reid – Student Pastor, Don’t Waste Your Summer!

Instead of joining the movement of leisure and checking out on learning, why not use the summer as a time to dig deep in the Word?

Sometimes, it feels like the Southern Baptist Convention has a low-grade fever. We hover around 99 or 100 degrees, worried the fever could spike at any time.

In my interactions with churches across North America, I don’t sense widespread division. But people do seem to be concerned, not about “bad guys” ruining the SBC, but about the presence of people who think there are “bad guys” ruining the SBC. I sense that many are concerned for the good of the Convention, that we hold it together and not splinter needlessly.

Every few years or so, the low-grade fever in the SBC takes on a new form. For a while, it was the church growth movement. Then, it was charismatic practices. Lately, it’s been Calvinism, Traditionalism and everything in between. Here are some personal reflections on our current situation.

1. We’re here because the Conservative Resurgence was successful.

This statement is true in two senses, one positive and one negative.

The positive side has often been cited as a sign of health. We are debating lesser issues because the central issues related to the authority of the Bible were settled during the Conservative Resurgence.

In other words, the reason we can spend time blogging about Calvinism or contemporary worship or differences in church polity or homiletics is because we are united on the first-tier issues related to biblical authority. Had the Conservative Resurgence not succeeded, our Convention would be debating homosexual clergy, the exclusivity of Christ, the authority of the Bible, etc.

And yet, there is a negative aspect as well. The Conservative Resurgence was so successful at excluding moderates from Convention leadership that many conservatives who once stood shoulder to shoulder are now suspicious of each other. In the post-CR era, we are less trusting and more suspicious than before.

Case in Point

At the Convention last year, I spent some time with a prominent signer of the Traditionalist statement on salvation. He told me the rationale for the document was to make sure that Traditionalists would not be forced out of Convention leadership and lose their place at the table.

I was stunned to hear this perspective. Most of my friends who are Calvinists harbor the same fear on the other side. Vastly outnumbered, they worry the Traditionalists would push them out.

I came to realize that everyone seems to distrust everyone. The Conservative Resurgence, which for some was an attempt to achieve “parity” became, for others, a movement to achieve “purity.” And while the fears of my friends on both sides may be exaggerated, any scenario seems plausible. The Conservative Resurgence was so successful that different kinds of conservatives are left looking around, wondering, “Are we next?”

2. We’re here because it’s easier this way.

A 99-degree temperature shouldn’t keep you from functioning like normal. You may feel lousy, but you’re going to be okay. Many times, however, we take the easy road and call in sick.

In the SBC, I wonder if one of the reasons for our low-grade fever is that it’s easier to deal with a small fever than to deal with the raging fires outside our holy huddle. It’s easier to debate small matters with people who see the world much like we do than it is to engage with a lost world that seems increasingly hostile to the Christian perspective.

Case in Point

I recently met with an SBC church planter. Our conversation never turned to SBC politics or the kinds of debates you find on blogs. He was burdened about how to reach the LGBT community in his city. How can we be unfailing in our love for lost people and uncompromising in our proclamation of the truth?

We talked about the difficulty of gaining a hearing for the gospel as antipathy toward traditional Christian teaching grows. We talked about being in uncharted territory, not knowing how to handle all the possible situations that could develop.

It was a tough conversation. We could have spent our time debating Calvinism or private prayer languages or alcohol, but that would’ve been too easy. The harder conversation is about getting the gospel to the lost in a world growing darker.

If, in the next generation, faithful Southern Baptists begin to go to prison for speaking the truth in love, I suspect we won’t be debating the finer points of soteriology or the role of elders on the way. We’ll be encouraging each other to stay the course, love the lost, and share the good news. So why don’t we do that now?

Looking Ahead

The theme of this year’s annual meeting is Unity. That’s encouraging to me. I’m looking forward to good conversations about important matters. But I hope we will not be so focused on ourselves that we lose sight of the world around us.

Watch someone dying with cancer and you’ll ignore your low-grade fever and give thanks for your health. It’s the same with the SBC. Once we stop taking our own temperature and start focusing on the lost and dying around us, I think our fever might go away.

Kindle Deal of the Day: Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff. $2.99.

Sometimes, we fall in love on mission trips even though we know we’ll break up when we get back. Sometimes, you have to shot block a friend’s prayer because she’s asking God to bless an obviously bad dating relationship. Sometimes, you think, ‘I wish I had a t-shirt that said ‘I direct deposit my tithe’ so people wouldn’t judge me.’ Sometimes, the stuff that comes with faith is funny. This is that stuff.

Keith Drury – 21 Skills of Great Preachers:

For most of my life, when sitting under a great preacher, I’ve taken dual sets of notes, including content on one list, and a separate set of notes on their communication skills. What have I discovered in these 40 years worth of notes? Here’s my summary…

Winning the Field, but Not the War:

One hundred and fifty years ago this week, more than 133,000 Union soldiers squared off against more than 60,000 Confederates in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Though the battle swung back and forth for several days, it ended with a decisive Southern victory. And yet the war ground on, for another two years. The war only ended when the devastation spilled off the battlefield, as Sherman and his army took the conflict to the farmland and cities of the South.

Why the PC(USA) Rejected “In Christ Alone” for Their Hymnals:

Its second stanza contained the lines, “Till on that cross as Jesus died / the love of God was magnified.” In the process of clearing copyrights for the hymnal we discovered that this version of the text would not be approved by the authors, as it was considered too great a departure from their original words: “as Jesus died / the wrath of God was satisfied.” We were faced, then, with a choice: to include the hymn with the authors’ original language or to remove it from our list.

Thabiti Anyabwile – Why You Should Not Listen to Me:

If you find yourself moved by an idea, by an argument, by some principled application, then know that you’ve been influenced by an idea. If you got it from me, that’s incidental. Everything I have I first received. Central is the grace of God and the truth of God.

Lord,
I want people around me to know
that I believe You are the light of the world.

I want to love You so much
that people can see in my life
– even if they never listen to my words –
that I believe You are the light of the world.

I know that making my witness visible
in and of itself,
is not enough.
I must have courage in the presence of my friends
to point to You and say clearly,
“Behold, the Lamb of God!
Behold, the light of the world.”

If I continue to walk silently
while others are walking in darkness, it is my own fault,
for You, Jesus, are the light of my life — of all life.

- Calvin Miller

A powerful poem about the dangers of fighting our brethren…

“Hold the line!” the captains call,
“We must not budge an inch!
For onward comes a righteous brawl,
For which we’ve dug this trench!
The muddy field will scattered be
With bodies of our foes!
The bloody yield emphatically,
Will glory as it grows!”

Thus through the age their minions war,
For this their sacred thought,
To follow those who’ve gone before -
Traditions deeply bought.
They know the truth which they defend,
But do they know their foes?
For when in shame this war shall end,
They’ll see their vicious blows,
Had never struck the enemy,
But only allies dear,
This war is far from Heavenly,
And founded in mans’ fear.

- Johnathan Schofield

I look forward to participating in a panel discussion about Christ-centered teaching and preaching at this year’s SBC meeting. We’re working on providing a bunch of book giveaways.

Details
2013 Southern Baptist Convention
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
George R. Brown Convention Center
Room 351A-F on Level 3
6:45 a.m. to 8:00 a.m

All attendees will receive a free breakfast and free resources on Christ-Centered Preaching and Teaching.

Register here (for free).