July 9, 2001
Mason urges CBF to move beyond point of no return
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___ATLANTA--Christ calls Christians to fly in faith past the "point of no return" in commitment to him, George Mason told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly.
___Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, delivered the opening sermon June 28 at the Fellowship's 10th anniversary gathering in Atlanta. Baptists disaffected by fundamentalist domination of the Southern Baptist Convention founded the missions/ministry organization in 1991.
___Mason recounted a consistent theme of stories told by his father-in-law, a bomber pilotin World War II. The bombing crews had to watch their fuel carefully, for if they passed the point of no return, they could not return to base safely and would have to seek another place to land.
GEORGE MASON
___"There comes such a time in every life of discipleship--the point of no return," Mason said. "So it is with CBF. Ten years. If we are to go with (Christ), we have to make a decision. He calls us on still."
___Christian believers have struggled with the decision to cross the point of no return in commitment to Christ for 2,000 years, he said, pointing to the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Three believers consider the call to follow Christ, but at least two of them turn back, making excuses why the timing is not right.
___Christians must look ahead with their hearts--discerning spiritually, not rationally, what the Lord would have them to do, Mason said.
___Christ will speak through Christians' hearts "until we let go of our hold and go where he wants," he noted. "We like to say we're 'free and faithful' Baptists, but we're never one without the other. We're only free when we're faithful following Jesus."
___That's easier to say than to do, Mason conceded, observing that the excuses cited by the would-be followers of Jesus in Luke 9 have echoed through the ages. And physical circumstances have reinforced those decisions, he added.
___"If you knew following Jesus offered no creature comforts, no material blessings, only a life of danger and adventure, would you follow?" he asked.
___Sadly, too few young people today are taking up the call, he said, citing "a paucity of young ministers." People under age 35 represent only 8 percent of Baptist clergy today, he reported.
___"If the Baptist movement is to thrive, we're going to have to call out a lot more and a lot more will have to accept" vocational ministry, he said. While he affirmed the Baptist doctrine of the "priesthood of the believer," he underscored the necessity of calling out and equipping vocational ministers.
___"And let me commend the ministry to you," he said. "It's a wonderful calling--a lousy job sometimes, but a wonderful calling."
___The challenge is complicated today for ministers who "realize following Christ among Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-types will shrink your options," Mason acknowledged.
___Churches affiliated with the CBF represent a minority of Baptist churches, he explained, adding that some ministers fear affiliation with the Fellowship because they're afraid they might lose their churches, and others say they "don't see a future in it."
___"So, we're supposed to know the future. It's all about secure careers. Is that it?" he asked.
___Security wasn't the concern of Martin Luther, who launched the Protestant Reformation, Mason stressed. Security wasn't the objective of John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, religious dissenters who began the Baptist movement in the 17th century; nor of Roger Williams, who founded the first Baptist church in America and fought for religious liberty; nor of William Carey, whose efforts began the Baptist missionary movement.
___Christ still calls Christians to cross the point of no return, Mason insisted.
___"Jesus calls us to a single-minded devotion to the kingdom of God," he stressed. "There's a time to look back, but only so long as it is not an excuse to hold back.
___"Jesus calls us to plow forward ... no turning back."
___George Mason
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