September 18, 2000

Texas Baptist Forum
Vine shaker
___"Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11).
___I met Hollis Peavy in the late '50s, while I was pastor of Liberty Hill Baptist Church,

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and we became lifetime friends. He invited me once to an afternoon squirrel hunt. When I insisted that squirrels don't "stir" that time of day, he mused, "Then let's make 'em stir."
___As we walked along a spring branch near Bland Lake, Hollis grabbed a hanging vine, yelled and yanked a couple of times. Two cat squirrels fled the tree in a wild frenzy. "Sometimes you gotta scare 'em out," he said.
___The Lord uses tender entreaty to rescue those lost in the world's viney trees. But if that method fails, he sometimes uses a different strategy.
___He shakes our vines.
___ Doug Fincher
___ San Augustine

SBC first
___Charles Wade said in his article (Sept. 11), "If your church decides they have to leave the Baptist General Convention of Texas in order to support Southern Baptist efforts, then you are left without the opportunity to support the causes of Christ in Texas that mean so much to us all."
___Our church voted to leave the BGCT in January, and we have made a tremendous impact on our city for Jesus Christ and are still supporting the "causes of Christ in Texas" in other ways. I don't want anyone reading the article to be scared about taking a stand. Our church since January has more than doubled our Sunday morning attendance. We are supporting and promoting the spreading of the gospel in Texas.
___The entire article seemed to be doing the same thing that Wade has accused Southern Baptist leaders of doing, "targeting churches that you are fearful are falling away."
___I am a Southern Baptist first, and a Texas Baptist second. Our church will continue to support the Southern Baptist Convention and its conservative leadership.
___ Randy Thomas
___ Corpus Christi

Thanks for work
___I am thankful for the difficult but necessary work of the Seminary Study Committee in their recommendation to change the way Texas Baptists relate to the six seminaries owned by the SBC.
___My father attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I also attended Southwestern Seminary for one year, the year Russell Dilday was fired as president. I transferred to Truett Seminary, and I have been thankful ever since for God's leadership in that decision.
___Texas Baptists deserve theological education that adheres to historic Baptist principles of faith and practice, and the funding changes recommended by the committee promise to make that a reality.
___No one likes conflict, but these changes are an important step toward ending conflict among Baptists in our state. As strange as that may sound, we must make hard decisions now, since it is apparent that Texas Baptists and the leadership of the SBC are on different paths.
___I urge everyone who approves of these changes to pray for those that agree with the direction that SBC leaders have taken, not out of a sense that they are ignorant, misinformed or close-minded, but out of a loving sense that we must find ways to work separately on the issues that divide us so that we can work together as separate entities (just as we work with other Baptist groups and different denominations) on those things we agree on.
___ Matt Cook
___ Rosebud

Think first
___I have been a Baptist in Texas for 43 years. I was born in Mississippi. My father was an alcoholic.
___Had it not been for the Cooperative Program support of Mississippi College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, I would have been denied higher education.
___I am eternally grateful to God for preparing a way to prepare my heart and mind to serve him. I have served my Lord through Texas churches since 1964. I never thought I would live to see the day when we turn our backs on those whom God has called.
___Please, my Texas friends, let's think before we react!
___ Ben Smith
___ Lewisville

Send a message
___I want to offer my support to the efforts Texas is taking to address the unjust treatment we have received for the past 20 years.
___The oligarchy now ruling the SBC has succeeded in excluding any of us from positions of authority in the SBC for 20 years but now screams foul when you review the unbalance in Cooperative Program giving.
___The presidents of the SBC seminaries and Morris Chapman of the Executive Committee just don't get it. I trust that you good people in Texas will continue to send that crowd a message.
___I live in the east and call up your paper each week. Incidentally when anyone asks me if I am a Southern Baptist I reply that I am a Baptist who happens to live in the South.
___Keep the faith.
___ Allan McCartney
___ Black Mountain, N.C.

Support seminaries
___I am a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and I want to urge you to continue your sacrificial support of all six Southern Baptist seminaries.
___Without the faithful support of Southern Baptists in all 50 states, the work of Christ's kingdom will be hindered. This is not a political issue; thousands of young ministers in training (like me) will be dramatically effected by your decision.
___I believe that Texas Southern Baptists have a vision for missions and church growth that extends beyond Texas. Please remember me and the thousands like me when you vote at your state convention this year.
___ Shane Anderson
___ Wake Forest, N.C.

No questions
___I hope New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley was misquoted in the article "BGCT study committee will propose major changes in seminary funding" (online, Sept. 8). The article quoted Kelley as saying, "No faculty member would be allowed to question the Baptist Faith & Message anywhere at anytime, not even in private conversation at an off-campus party."
___I was shaken when I read that comment. I can only hope his comments were taken out of context.
___How could he abrogate academic freedom in such a manner? How does he plan to enforce this statement? Maybe he will have the homes of all the faculty bugged or perhaps use informants in the classrooms. Does this mean that if a professor is asked a question in the classroom or in a local church, he or she could only respond with the party line?
___This sounds like some totalitarian regimes. It would seem that he believes the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message to be an inerrant document and not open to any questions.
___What a sad day for free Baptists! God help us.
___ Robert C. Ferguson
___ Mandeville, La.

Attend to worship
___In response to "Former habits" by Robert Taylor (Sept. 11), I was under the impression that I attended church in order to worship God, not be judged by my fellow church-goers as to how I do so.
___I raise my hands, as do several other members of my Baptist congregation, in praise and adoration of the Lord. How could this or clapping deter from anyone's enjoyment of worship? If you are worshipping God in spirit and in truth, why do you even notice how others express their love for him?
___Ah, but then there are the congregations who actually have the audacity to allow Methodists or Church of Christ to accept communion! I can't believe anyone had the audacity to write this as an accusation. How can anyone actually believe that their particular denomination is the only one approved of by God?
___I am a Baptist, so please don't take this as a jab at Baptists in general. We must come to the realization that we are all parts of the body of Christ. We have enough of a fight on our hands here on Earth without the infighting so prevalent in today's denominations.
___Let us put away our pride and prejudice and allow his light to shine to all the poor souls lost in the darkness of this life.
___ Danny Walker
___ Mount Pleasant

Mind your business
___Paul Kenley criticized directors of missions in Oklahoma (Sept. 4) for endorsing the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message.
___I was a pastor in Oklahoma for 34 years and have been a director of missions for seven years and have never received a "fiat" (order) from my state convention office, nor have I ever received one from the Southern Baptist Convention.
___I do not serve as a "bishop" nor have "episcopal hierarchy" and do not want them. I also do not like his implying that we are less than "true Baptists" by our action.
___Kenley would be better off spending his time helping to get the Baptist General Convention of Texas in line instead of talking about Oklahoma.
___I not only am a "true Baptist," but I am a "true Southern Baptist" and proud of it!
___ John E. Allen
___ Enon Baptist Association
___ Ardmore, Okla.

Keeping their jobs
___I don't find the action of the Oklahoma directors of missions to be particularly admirable (Sept. 4). They were just trying to keep their jobs by signing the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement.
___Our Southern Baptist Convention is becoming more and more a bureaucracy run by power lords requiring everyone to think and act like them.
___I hope the directors of missions of Texas still practice priesthood of believers and think and act as God leads them rather than how the SBC power lords dictate. The SBC is headed for destruction.
___ Gene Huskey
___ Dallas

No directive
___Paul Kenley complains of top-down rule from the Oklahoma directors of missions to the churches urging the acceptance of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message (Sept. 4). "Can anyone doubt that either the state or national SBC leaders were behind this?" he asks.
___Somewhere on my desk is a (1999) letter from Charles Wade addressed to every church in Texas urging them to reject the 1998 addition of the family amendment to the Baptist Faith & Message. Is this not top-down rule?
___All I read in Texas Baptists Committed material and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship material is reject this and reject that from their leaders.
___All I see is a lot of hypocrisy.
___We are free to purchase Sunday School material from the SBC or any other supplier. We can accept the Baptist Faith & Message in its entirety or disagree with it in part. We can participate in the SBC Cooperative Program, Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings or choose not to without jeopardizing the status of our association with the national convention. We have yet to receive any directive from the SBC.
___ Jim Thompson
___ Houston

A good-faith basis for disagreement?
___Conflicts often arise from lack of effort to see from the other side's perspective. Inerrancy demonstrates this.
___The brotherhood of believers cannot turn on everyone always agreeing. The issue rather should be determining whether the "opposition" is acting in good faith.
___Could there be a good-faith basis for someone's not believing in inerrancy? The answer is yes. Not that one side is right, but might there be a compelling reason to avoid pledging allegiance to inerrancy?
___My observation in this regard is not one of putting something above Scripture--science, archeology or whatever. Rather, it is due to comparing Scripture with Scripture.
___ Two examples will have to suffice. First, Matthew says that the Roman centurion whose servant was ill went to see Jesus. Luke says he did not. Second, the chronology of events of the cursing of the fig tree is disparate.
___ Certainly inerrantists have responses to these. But this must not be the issue. There are too many major disagreements on numerous issues to arbitrarily draw the line for fellowship and service at an acceptance of total inerrancy, when some legitimate doubt on the point is understandable
___ Let's try giving the other fellow the benefit of the doubt and see if healing is in the wings.
___ Thomas F. Harkins Jr.
___ Fort Worth



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