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Archives for 2013

Paedo Baptists: Is the SBC Abandoning a Doctrinal Cornerstone? (by Andy Hynes)

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Andy Hynes is a PhD candidate at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Follow him @ABHYNES on Twitter. This is a question I continue to have concerning the plethora of extremely young children being led by parents or church staff to “ask Jesus into their heart,” or “make a decision to follow Jesus.”  To be honest, what young child that is raised in a “Christian” home and church environment wouldn’t say yeah, “I want to do that?” The problem does not lie in the decision making of the child but the overeager, self-reliant parents and pastoral staff. Infants have historically been … [Read more...] about Paedo Baptists: Is the SBC Abandoning a Doctrinal Cornerstone? (by Andy Hynes)

7 Steps to Becoming a Heretic

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Heretics usually fall into the role. Seldom does a man wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, read the morning newspaper, put on his clothes, and then stare himself in the mirror and say “Today, thou shall become a heretic”. Heretics usually start by staring in the mirror and saying, “Today, thou shall be a difference maker”. Consider Sabellius. Sabellius became what is now known as a modalist. They were very concerned with maintaining the truth that God is one. They also wanted to maintain that Christ was fully God. Sabellius emphasized these two truths to the neglect of another … [Read more...] about 7 Steps to Becoming a Heretic

Expecting Easy in the Land of the Curse

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This past Sunday Night, I preached from Genesis 3:1-7 and addressed the idea of our having an active enemy. (For those of you with insomnia, audio is here.) However, in prepping for that sermon, I happened to read the rest of the chapter. You know, in the interest of context. Getting to the end of the chapter, something became clearer to me than it has been before. Let me walk you to that point: Often, especially here on this blog, we lament the current state of affairs. We have fussed and fumed across the miles about: 1. The inability of Southern Baptists to get along with each … [Read more...] about Expecting Easy in the Land of the Curse

Forum: Tell Me About Your Pre-Marital Counseling

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One of my closest ministry friends called me this week and asked me for advice about pre-marital counseling. What approach did I take? What materials did I use? Could I recommend books? Let me share a secret with you: After 31 years of doing weddings, I still feel like I stink (substitute the semi-inappropriate word that is more accurate) at pre-marital counseling. In my own humble but correct opinion, I am a Jedi master at funerals. I am okay at helping a couple plan, prepare and perform a wedding ceremony. But premarital counseling is a real struggle. It all started with one of my … [Read more...] about Forum: Tell Me About Your Pre-Marital Counseling

Discussion Forum, IMB Version: What Is a Gospel Presentation?

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Annually, the IMB gathers statistics and data from missionaries around the globe.  The proper departments in Richmond count and collate and conjugate and calibrate and masticate and all other sorts of other excitingly geeky verbs.  They analyze the information and produce reports that allow trustees and SBC churches to know and understand what their missionaries have been doing between coffee breaks. One subsection relates to the following question:  How many individuals received a gospel presentation? Simple enough, eh? Define for me, if you will, "a gospel presentation." When … [Read more...] about Discussion Forum, IMB Version: What Is a Gospel Presentation?

SBCJobs.net: A New Website for SBC Ministry Placement

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There is an interesting new website called SBCJobs.net (twitter - @sbcjobsnet; Facebook - here) to help churches and pastors find each other. I've wandered through the site to get a feel for it. It is well constructed, easy to navigate and very useful. If you are part of a church that has a job opening, I would encourage you to use the site. If you are in search of a ministry position, I would also recommend the site. Here is a press release from SBCJobs.net: SBCjobs.net Launches as New Premium Job Board for SBC Ministers, Churches, and Entities NASHVILLE, Tenn. — We are excited to … [Read more...] about SBCJobs.net: A New Website for SBC Ministry Placement

Do Associations Have a Future in New-Work SBC States?

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If you live in the south, your Baptist association is a different thing than it is here in Iowa. Our state convention has a little over 100 churches, most of which struggle to become self-supporting. Your association is probably larger than our state convention. Some associations in the south have more employees than our state convention, and perhaps larger budgets. Until recent priority changes from NAMB, our associations had missionaries funded through NAMB. In Iowa, we had 7 associations and 5 DOMS (they change the NAMB designation about every 3 weeks; I can't keep up with what the … [Read more...] about Do Associations Have a Future in New-Work SBC States?

5 Reasons Why Supporting Abortion Reflects an Unchanged Heart

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Before I give you these five reasons (and I could have given more), I want to give you a disclaimer.  I am not saying that if you are not pro-life that you are not a Christian.  I believe that I was not pro-life (not sure I was pro-choice either) for the first couple of years after coming to Christ.  God had changed my heart but He had not yet changed my worldview.  So, I do believe that one can still have faith in Christ and be mistaken on this issue. Though I could probably give more than five reasons why supporting abortion reflects and unchanged heart here are five: It … [Read more...] about 5 Reasons Why Supporting Abortion Reflects an Unchanged Heart