October 2, 2000
Texas Baptist Forum
Telling labels
___What a telling statement in Randy Thomas' letter: "I am a Southern Baptist first, and a Texas Baptist second" (Sept. 18). It could as easily have been phrased the other wayaround by an anti-Southern Baptist Convention person.
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___Are we putting denominational politics ahead of trust in Jesus? Seems so. We ought to take to heart Jesus' prayer that we would all be one in him, as he and the Father are one.
___I wish denominational politicians would repent, get over themselves and get on with the Lord's work! Why would any unbeliever look at our denomination and want to be like us?
___ Kay Holloway
___ Lubbock
Overdue changes
___I wish to thank the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Seminary Study Committee. The proposed budgetary changes are long overdue.
___Many members of the SBC leadership seem to think the Cooperative Program is some sort of tribute--we pay it, and they spend it however they want. Though the SBC leadership wants BGCT money, the same group has vigorously excluded mainstream Texas Baptists from governance of the SBC. There is nothing unilateral about BGCT actions.
___In Baptist life, the jugular lies in the local church, not in a denominational authority. Let's start using our Baptist brains. Let local Baptists take responsibility for missions giving instead of sending it "back East" and hoping it "does some good." I hope Texas Baptists will continue the original vision of Bold Mission Thrust, to the glory of God, with or without Southern Baptist cooperation.
___ Timothy Heavin
___ Graham
Shallow study
___A two-week "whirlwind tour of the SBC seminaries" (Sept. 11) is a shallow investigation that can only lead to a shallow recommendation from the Seminary Study Committee.
___No church could survive operating under similar policy-making procedures, and no seminary professor would award a passing grade for such procedures.
___ Johnnie R. Jones
___ Blue Ridge
BGCT version
___Here's the Great Commission, BGCT version: "Go ye therefore, and teach all Texans, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
___ Ray L. Williams
___ Cedar Hill
Return seminary
___In light of the amount of funding provided for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary by Texas Baptists over the years, perhaps as a matter of ethics the SBC should give SWBTS back to the BGCT from whom it was received.
___ Barbara Kent
___ Fort Worth
Ironic life
___I read with interest the Sept. 18 Baptist Standard.
___On page 2 in the news, I read this: "Budget changes would defund the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and significantly reduce funding for the six seminaries and the SBC Executive Committee."
___On page 18 in the Sunday School lessons, I read this: "Giving is more about spirit than finances. ... God knows about more than just how much we've given. He knows too, how much we've held back. More significantly, he knows why. ... In the end, our giving and the spirit with which we do it are expressions of how seriously we take God."
___Life is indeed ironic.
___ Wes Wellborn
___ Miami
Not discouraged
___While I am saddened over the proposed changes in the BGCT budget, I am not surprised. My feelings are similar to those I felt when grieving over a loved one who has died after a lenghty illness. While I knew the end was near, I still wasn't ready for it.
___The recommendation is ironic in light of the fact BGCT leaders have repeatedly said, "We're not separating from the SBC." When you apply the old statement, "Put your money where your mouth is," the proposal is not consistent with previous statements of denial.
___If the messengers approve the changes, the BGCT stands to lose more than it will gain. God will more than make up what is lost from Texas, because he always supplies the needs of any church, seminary or denominational agency that stands on the truth of his word and is committed to helping Southern Baptist churches carry out the Great Commission.
___Therefore, while I am sad, I am not discouraged.
___ Mike Tignor
___ Baytown
Help for ministries
___Among other things, proposed revisions in the BGCT budget would increase the funding for the Hispanic Baptist Theological School and Hispanic ministries in Texas.
___Texas has the third-highest population of Hispanics in the United States. The Census Bureau estimates the state's Hispanic population increased by 1.7 million people in the past decade. Hispanics now total 6 million, or 30 percent, of the state's population and comprise at least 90 percent of the population in six Texas counties.
___The proposed spending plan for the Cooperative Program in 2001 would facilitate and enhance Baptist ministries to this growing, multi-cultural population, warranting the support of messengers at the October annual session.
___ Darlene Kirchner
___ Georgetown
Strong gesture
___As a student at Truett Seminary, I am thankful for the Seminary Study Committee proposal. It sends a strong gesture of support to the students of Texas Baptist seminaries who are preparing for a lifetime of ministry and service.
___My time at Truett has been invaluable. I interact daily with students who have come from around the nation and the world to study and learn the truth of God's word. I have been taught to think deeply about my faith and to communicate that faith to others. My personal spiritual growth has been nurtured by both the faculty and my fellow students; we are a family joined together by our passion for reaching the entire world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
___I thank God daily for the opportunity to learn in an environment free from the burdens of denominational conflict or political ideology.
___Support Texas Baptist seminaries as they seek to train future leaders and ministers who will faithfully proclaim the gospel to both the church and the world. We need your prayers and encouragement.
___ Keith Johnson
___ Waco
Distressing actions
___Two articles raise great distress in my mind. One concerns the actions of Oklahoma directors of missions (Aug. 28). The other concerns Southern Baptists of Texas scheduling a DOM meeting following the BGCT Executive Board (Sept. 4).
___The action of the Oklahoma DOMs to promote the adoption of an official statement of faith is an assumption of power that belies the office of the DOM. They are employed to coordinate and execute local mission objectives as perceived and adopted by an association of cooperating churches. Why should they become the autocratic promoters of a creedal statement of faith for the local church?
___A word to the DOMs: You have many incomplete and needed mission efforts to oversee in your association. Make them your first priority. The local church will make its determination about its faith and message statement.
___I hope it will be the association's stance to continue cooperation among the churches to search out and deal with local needs. It is in such leadership by the DOMs that our local church ministries speak to the concerns Texas Baptists have for human needs.
___ H. Harold Brown
___ Port Neches
Preach the word
___Recently I attended an associational pastors' conference. The speaker gave a real nice "talk" and explained, "You guy's don't want to hear someone come here and preach."
___No wonder our society continues to decline into a pluralistic, relativistic depravity and lack-of-truth bliss. No wonder socially sensitive seeker churches outnumber the sincere sanctification-seeking kind, when there is a perception or maybe a sad reality that pastors don't long for bold, convicting, expository, Holy Spirit-led preaching of God's word!
___Pastors, let Paul's exhortation to Timothy ring true from our pulpits, "Preach the word!" And I pray it would ring true when we gather together as pastors.
___ Wayne L. Miller
___ Bedford
Lifting holy hands
___I guess I am in real trouble. I have been a Baptist all my life (68 years) and an ordained minister for 35 years. I don't have a church to go back to, but I surely do enjoy lifting holyhands to the Lord and feeling the move of the Holy Spirit leading me to clap my hands and, yes, even move my feet a little. I just can't help it, I get excited about Jesus. I really feel sorry for the individual and for the church that cannot find that excitement.
___This "peace-be-still" church that Robert Taylor talks about (Sept. 11) has not been the root church of Southern Baptists. My mother and father talked about the church of their youth where people got excited and even shouted aloud sometimes.
___Don't be afraid to let the Holy Spirit move. He is on our side.
___Jerry M. Bullock
___San Marcos
A third way
___Churches may wish to explore a third funding option in the current Baptist war--kick out both the BGCT and the SBC.
___I recently worshipped with one of the casualties of this war, University Baptist Church
___As your church is recruited by both sides, remember your choice is not limited to two. This third option may release you to minister to all God's children in peace, integrity and freedom. Ultimately, that's the only cooperation that really matters.
___Brian Burton
___Dallas
Seminary has blessed me
___Recently I read that the B.G.C.T. proposed that some money given to the six SBC seminaries be redirected to other areas serving Texas Baptist interests. The proposal disturbed me when I read one reason behind such action: "Research revealed that practical
___ Must we believe our seminaries do not teach the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, the doctrine of the Trinity, or the deity of Christ? Does the principle that we can accept God's word as truth constitute heresy? Others could be mentioned, but space dictates brevity. It seems the mentality displayed is not unlike a child saying, "I'm going to take my marbles and go home!"
___ Hopeless people need the eternal promise of God's word, and these seminaries adequately train men and women called to the ministry to proclaim that promise. I should know; I am one of those students.
___For 15 years, I sat under the teachings of pastors who never expounded Scripture with authority, and this reflected in my spiritual growth. When God led me to seminary, he illumined my immaturity and lack of discipline in studying Scripture and enduring in faith. God has blessed my time here, and I know he will faithfully continue this in the lives of believers.
___ Kelly David
___ Kansas City, Mo.
Milk vs. meat
___ Today, as in the days of Paul, it's milk vs. meat Christians.
___ Milk Christians judge themselves superior by pushing rules. Acts 15 debates Catholic
___ Acts 21 tells how Paul's life was in danger because the milky majority thought he was against their rules. The suggestion by teachers of milkies put Paul in enemy hands. Their failure to stand for him at his trial caused him to die in prison. They never visited him. Paul concluded: "At my first answer no man stood with me. … I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge." That was Stephen's prayer. Was it the same crime?
___ Paul's words were interpreted by the Baptist Faith & Message for what he fought against. They believe God can call rocks to preach but forbid him to call women. How will they answer Peter's question? Will they make 1,600 Southern Baptist ordained women and their churches repent? They say our priesthood must conform to the group. They eliminated interpreting the Bible through the eyes of Jesus. If a pope interprets Scripture for the rest to follow, are we Catholic when a milky hand-picked committee does likewise?
___ Rex Ray
___ Bonham
What it means to be Baptist
___ Once again, Baptists of Texas have demonstrated what it means to be Baptist!
___ It means loyalty to Christ as Lord--without any earthly co-lords, as the new SBC leaders would have us believe.
___It means, since we are all saved by grace, through faith, equality of all believers and the priesthood of every believer, with no bishops, cardinals or popes, as new leaders of new SBC insist on being.
___It means faithfulness in missions, sacrificing self in order to share the gospel with all the world (not lavishing upon ourselves 98 or 99 percent of contributions to churches, givine a mere one percent, or less, to missions, as most of the SBC presidents of the past 20 years have done, and as one church (wealthy and multitudinous) does in giving only $6,000 per year to missions.
___It means the autonomy of churches and of fellowship organizations of believers (associations and state conventions). It means that state conventions are free and autonomous, free: not subject to any dictation from any other body or organization!
___It means, as God declared on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus is preeminent, superior to all, inherently all-authoritative, not an equal of Moses or Elijah (of the law or the prophets) but soley and absolutely spreme
___ Hooray for Texas Baptists being Baptist! Not Romanish as the present leaders of the new SBC, which isn't Baptist.
___ Joseph Underwood
___ Richmond, Va.
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