Dave Miller's Response to the GCRT Report

David Miller, a fellow Iowa baptist pastor, posts his response to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report:

• A Rock and A Hard Place: An Iowa Baptist Confronts Tough Issues in the GCRTF Report

Great Commission Resurgence Progress Report

The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force released its progress report on Monday, which can be viewed here. The Baptist Press reports here and here.

Al Mohler on the Future of the SBC

Al Mohler recently delivered a fascinating analysis and commentary on where the organization of the Southern Baptist Convention comes from and why it must change.

The Baptist Press has a summary here.

You may listen below.

The President’s Forum on the Future of the Southern Baptist Convention

Toward a Biblical Theology of Cooperation

I had the privilege of preaching last month at the 5th Sunday service of the Northeast Iowa Southern Baptist Association. So, I took the opportunity to examine the theme of "cooperation" as it develops in the storyline of redemptive history. It is now available on our website through the link below:

• Cooperation from Genesis to Revelation

My initial definition of Biblical Cooperation was:

Biblical Cooperation happens when God's people, under God's rule, trust God's promises and obey God's commission in the pursuit of God's glory.

My seven main points were as follows:

1. Cooperation was Founded in Creation.

2. Cooperation was Distorted in the Fall.

3. Cooperation was Foreshadowed in the Law but Failed in Israel.

4. Cooperation was Foretold by the Prophets.

5. Cooperation was Redeemed in the Gospel.

The result of the Gospel is Christian Cooperation: God's people (believers in Jesus), under God's rule (the Lordship of Jesus Christ), trust God's promises (believe the Gospel) and obey God's commission (the Great Commission, and all that Jesus commands) in the pursuit of God's glory (the display of God's excellence in Jesus Christ).

6. Cooperation is Applied in Local Churches.
7. Cooperation will be Perfected in Eternity.

CP Money Allocation Study

LifeWay Research just released the findings from a study on Pastors' Views on the Cooperative Program.

Tom Ascol offers his reactions.

Both are worth reading.

David Dockery on God's Initiating Grace

I've been (slowly) reading through David Dockery's Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal. I'm about half-way through, and enjoying the read. I'd encourage anyone involved in Southern Baptist life (whether a "thoroughly-experienced Southern Baptist" or one who is still green behind the ears) to read it. I'd gained a lot of insight from Dockery's personal reflections in the Introduction.

To give you a sample, here are a couple of paragraphs from later in the book, where Dockery discusses the Southern Baptist understanding of God's grace in conversion (83-84):

We do not or cannot deny that people on occasion seek and ask for God’s grace, but even the asking or seeking is a response to the gift of grace. God does not graciously accept us because He sees our change for the better, as if conversion were the basis for receiving God’s grace. Instead, the Bible pictures God coming into our lives, taking us just as we are because He is abundantly merciful (Eph 2:1-10). As E. Y. Mullins has said, “Grace always persuades and convinces and makes us willing to come, however mysterious and mighty it may be in its actions upon our hearts.”

We therefore maintain that God is the sole source and mainspring of all gracious and redemptive action, but He is not the sole actor. God is the sole efficient cause of salvation, but not the only causal factor in salvation. Secondary and tertiary causes also have to be taken into account. Salvation is from God and is not based on the human response, yet men and women must respond to God’s grace. Only persons who receive and are transformed by divine grace can make a favorable response to God salvific invitation, but only those who do respond are indeed transformed by grace. Thus we affirm the priority of initiating grace while emphasizing our responsibility to believe. The work of salvation is a work of the great Trinitarian God. Its origin is in God. Its basis is the grace of God in Christ, and it comes to us through the work of God’s Spirit.

SBC President: "All of us must be saddened..."

SBC President Frank Page calls for "Evangelism with integrity." Here is an excerpt:

All of us must be saddened by the fact that Southern Baptists claim more than 16 million members. One preacher once told me that the FBI could not find 5 million of them! I happen to agree with him. It is time to emphasize evangelism with integrity. No longer should we use manipulative methods that may bring about larger numbers when those persons' commitment to Christ is little or none. I cannot judge a person's heart. However, I do believe that the Scripture calls for a change when salvation occurs.