September 25, 2000

TBC rallies kick off with focus on Jesus
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___DALLAS--A personal relationship with Jesus provides the core of Baptist identity, speakers stressed at the first of 18 Focus on Jesus rallies, sponsored by Texas Baptists Committed.
___"The very essence of being a Baptist is focused on a relationship with Jesus Christ," Keith Parks told about 200 people at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas Sept. 14. And for the sake of generations to come, Texas Baptists must concentrate on introducing others to that relationship with Jesus, added Jim Denison.
___Texas Baptists Committed, a political organization designed to protect the Baptist General Convention of Texas from what its members describe as a potential "fundamentalist takeover," is sponsoring the Focus on Jesus rallies across the state between Sept. 14 and Oct. 17.
___"Texas Baptists are under attack like never before in our history," insisted David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, explaining the reason for the meetings. "We as Texas Baptists must stand together and keep our focus on Jesus and not be distracted by the attacks of fundamentalists."
___The meetings are intended to "encourage our leaders that so many Baptists are committed to serving God in cooperation with the BGCT," Currie noted.
___"We focus on Jesus Christ. We Baptists have always tried to do that. ... We want to be like him," said Parks, former president of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, who retired last year as global missions coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___That has been true for generations, Parks said, citing the foundation of the Triennial Convention, Baptists' first missions organization, in 1814, when "the primacy of Christ's authority" provided both the identity and impetus for Baptists.
___Unfortunately, some Southern Baptists have downplayed the role of Christ in the life of the Christian, replacing it with a legalistic interpretation of the Bible, Parks claimed. He pointed to the newest version of the Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement, approved by the Southern Baptist Convention this summer.
___Particularly, he noted, the new SBC statement places Scripture in a wrong relationship to Christ, because it omits a sentence included in the previous version: "The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ."
___Parks affirmed his devotion to the Bible. "Scripture is God-breathed, a living word, the revelation of Christ, what I study every day of my life," he said. "But the authority and supremacy of Christ is being diminished and a legalistic interpretation (of Scripture) is being imposed on the Southern Baptist Convention."
___That represents a significant shift away from the historic position of the SBC, and it should matter to all Texas Baptists, he observed.
___"This is not a triviality, a 'preacher fight' or something that has nothing to do with my church," Parks charged. Rather, it reflects what is being taught in SBC seminaries, how SBC literature is written and edited, and how the SBC sets its priorities.
___"Some people tragically believe that because the (SBC) name on the institutions remains and the name of the SBC hasn't changed, that giving to the Cooperative Program (the SBC's budget) still has the same effect," he said. "They are sadly mistaken."
___Rather than rallying around the cause of Christ by working to "elicit, combine and direct the energies" of Southern Baptists for missions causes, "doctrine is the controlling issue" for the SBC today, he declared.
___But from history and the mission field, a relationship with Jesus Christ--not a specific view of Scripture--is the central focus of Baptist identity.
___"On the mission field, we didn't introduce people to the King James Version of the Bible. They encountered the Lord Jesus Christ," he said. "Every singular (Baptist) belief is based on Jesus Christ--the priesthood of believers, the autonomy of the local church. ... But everything changes when you change the basic concept of what's supreme. It's a relationship to a person--Jesus--not ascent to a creed."
___Denison, pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, said the only reason for participating in the Focus on Jesus rallies is "because there will be people saved who would not be saved otherwise."
___"If we are traditional Baptists, more people will hear about Jesus," he stressed.
___Denison preached from Jesus' words to his followers, recorded in Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
___Four factors stand out in Jesus' promise, Denison said:
___First, Christian people--all of them--are to receive Jesus' power and share their faith, he noted. "This is not just for the pastor, but the people. Each is a minister. Each is a missionary."
___That concept supports Baptists' doctrine of soul freedom, he said. "Every one of you is a minister. That is strategic for spreading the gospel. ...
___"Sadly, in recent Baptist life, this central conviction that soul freedom is indispensable to kingdom work is disparaged and even rejected," he added. "I have heard it with my own ears: 'The pastor is the ruler of the church.'
___"But reaching the lost of Texas will not be done by preachers or programs. It will be done by the people if it is done at all."
___Second, the power by which the people accomplish Jesus' purpose comes from the Holy Spirit of God, he said.
___After the third century, the larger church "began to move from the power of the Spirit to the power of the church," he reported. However, traditional Baptists led the movement to return to the autonomy of the local church and its dependence for power upon the Spirit and not institutional religion.
___But now the new SBC Baptist Faith & Message statement has been defined by the committee that drafted it as an "instrument of doctrinal accountability" and proclaimed to be "essential to the Baptist tradition of faith and practice," he said, quoting the new document's preamble. It also limits the autonomy of the church by proclaiming, "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."
___The freedom of the local church under the power of the Holy Spirit is vital because "the only chance we have to get the gospel into the community is through church freedom," which enables the congregations to confront change and present the gospel to the needs of people in their communities, he said.
___Third, the purpose of Christians is to be witnesses to Christ, Denison related, noting that task is strengthened by the freedom to interpret the Bible in order to share the message of Christ more effectively.
___"You only have freedom when you have Bible freedom to tell others about Jesus," he said.
___That's why recent Baptist debates over whether or not Jesus is the criterion or measure for interpreting Scripture are so important, he added. "We must interpret all the Bible according to what Jesus taught, what Jesus did."
___Fourth, the priority is to spread the gospel, and that is done most effectively when religious liberty is preserved, Denison maintained.
___"Traditional Baptists champion a free church in a free state" so that Christians can freely "pronounce that God loves you and Jesus saves," he said.
___"Unfortunately, some Baptists have made churches into political machines," he added, warning that when churches seek to control government they wind up being controlled by government.
___The ultimate imperative is to reach people with the gospel of Jesus, Denison said.
___"More than half of Texas is lost," he explained. "What we are here to do is not about us, but about the future of God's kingdom."
___Currie urged Texas Baptists to practice good stewardship by being involved in their churches, associations and the BGCT.
___"We are at a major crossroads choice," he said of decisions to be made at the BGCT annual session Oct. 30-31. Those decisions particularly will revolve around how the BGCT provides funds to SBC institutions.
___"We are going to say, 'This is who we are as Texas Baptists,'" Currie said. "The mantle has fallen on us. If there is going to be a true Baptist witness in America, it's up to us. America needs an authentic Baptist witness, focused on Jesus."

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