This ought to be one of those “duh” questions and among thoughtful evangelicals you will probably get that kind of reaction. We most certainly believe that conversion makes a difference…theoretically. But there tends to be a huge disconnect when our theory is measured against our practice. We know that…
The Baptist Faith and Message says some good things about the nature of a local church. It would be helpful if pastors and churches would take time to consider seriously the claims of this statement. Other Baptist confessions have more complete statements, but what the 2000 BFM says is…
From time to time others have publicly acknowledged the meaningless membership numbers that dominate Southern Baptist statistics. While every honest admission of the problem is commendable, what we desperately need is a willingnes to move beyond acknowledgment of the problem to a serious investigation of its root and cause….
The overwhelming majority of Southern Baptist church members give little or no sign of spiritual life. Countless studies of our churches’ memberships over the last 20 years all tell the same story. The recently compiled statistics from the Annual Church Profiles of SBC churches indicates that in 2004, we…
Dr. Lemke posted a letter to me and others in a comment on this blog. In order to highlight his gracious letter and my response, I am posting his letter and mine back to him in a fresh entry. -Tom*********************************************Tom and friends, Thank you for the careful attention you…
In 1995 the Home Mission Board (now known as the North American Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention issued a research report entitled, A Large Convention of Small Churches. It was authored by Philip B. Jones and employs standard statistical-analytical procedures to give insight into the reported membership…
I stopped my evaluation of Steve Lemke’s article (that Bobby Welch commended as a fine treatment of Calvinism and the Great Commission) primarily because the kinds of historical and theological mistakes that it contains tend to be repeated throughout the remainder of the 4th part of his paper. Others…
The Lemke/Welch misrepresentations of Calvinism and Founders Ministries have provoked responses in many different blogs. I have read some and had many more recommended to me. There are many excellent blogs out there that are worth reading. One of them is Locust and Wild Honey. Another is Words of…
More on Dr. Lemke’s article: Wise voices such as Adrian Rogers, Danny Akin, and Paige Patterson have warned about the dangers of unchecked hyper-Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. Granted, the three men mentioned are indeed wise and Southern Baptists owe a debt of gratitude to each of them….
Dr. Lemke’s 4th issue of concern relates to Calvinism…of a sort. He writes: (4) Hyper-Calvinistic Soteriology – Will Baptists change their soteriology such that persons are no longer seen as having any capacity to respond to God’s invitation to salvation? Will Baptists take a “hyper-Calvinist turn” than hinders missions…