Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

The signs of sterling character in Jim Richards and in yourself.
 

I appreciate your transparency. I have to say, though, the energy that is being expended by our brothers to discount and misrepresent what calvinists beleive is sickening. How many heresies and distortions of doctrine should we be concerned about in our churches? Calvinism does not qualify. I think some of our non-calvinist baptist leaders should reevaluate who thier friends are... Maybe they're just upset with our rejection of "Wal-Mart Christianity" that has invaded our churches and held us captive to a consumeristic approach to evangelism.
 

Dear Brother Art,

Thanks. I'm not ready to put myself in the same category with him yet. Maybe in a few years, when God has had more time to work on me.

Dear Brother Travis,

Yes, the fact that so much time, money, and energy of the SBTC evangelism department was devoted not to evangelism, but to anti-Calvinism is distressing.

"Wal-mart Christianity"---that's a great term. I understand what I would mean by it. What do you mean by it, just so I'm sure I understand?

Love in Christ,

Jeff
 

What I mean is the expectation on the part of many Christians to go to a church that provides them with particular goods and services. If the music isn't like the church on I saw on T.V. or the last church I attended, if the children's programs aren't what I expect, or any other given set of variables, I'm not interested. It could be the expectation of a particular program- Purpose Driven Life, or something else.

It's not about how I can serve in this church or the vision God has given to this particular fellowship, or noticing whether the Pastor is effectively preaching from the Word of God, its secondary variables that are being emphasized.

Words like "relevant" are thrown around applied to everything. I don't say this because I'm one of those who likes to find an excuse the criticize contemporary worship styles. I'm not refering to that necessarily. It's just the overall drive that I see in some "growing" churches that is far from being Gospel centered.
 

I missed the main issue which was evangelism. We depend too heavily on witness training approaches that treat non-beleivers like robots or "units". Even though some of the approaches I have used in the past claim that the Holy Spirit should guide you, the approach does not acctually work that way. The confidence is found in sticking to the script and "closing the deal." I'm all for training people to share the Gospel, but I'm afraid our emphasis has been to many times on selling a product rather than "making disciples".
 

Dear Brother Travis,

Your Wal-Mart Christianity thing is great, well worth a Lifway book! Will you sign a copy for me?

Love in Christ,

Jeff