A Pastor Expresses Concern for the FBC Jax Pastor's Conference

Jeff Haney is the pastor of Pinecrest Baptist Church in Corinth, MS. I have been reading his blog, Change Worth Making, since he wrote several articles recently on storehouse tithing addressing the criticisms of storehouse tithing expressed on this blog. He has commented on a few of the tithing posts here on this blog.

However his latest article, first baptist church, jacksonville, florida pastor's conference, I thought worth sharing with the WD readers as he expresses his support of, but concern for, the directon of the FBC Jax Pastor's Conference.

Jeff says he has made the trek to Jacksonville since 2004, and said his first time attending was like he had "died and gone back to seminary", and he loved the "Anti-Calvinistic, Loudly Conservative, and explosively fundamental" flavor of the conference.

But Jeff is concerned the conference, and perhaps FBCJ, is not heading in the right direction.

His concerns:

- the change in tone concerning Calvinism: Jeff points out that he could count on the conference having a very anti-Calvinist flavor, that is not so anymore with some of the speakers they have had (Jeff mentions Mohler and Nelson, although he didn't mention Chandler who was there last year).

- change in FBC Jax ministry methods: Jeff points out that he was impressed in years past with the FBCJ youth ministry under Calvin Carr and the strong stands Carr took against "Cotton Candy" youth ministry - and Jeff says some of the attitudes at FBCJ seem to have changed in recent years regarding ministry.

And Jeff praises the music under the direction of Jim Whitmire; no one would argue with that.

Jeff raises valid points. The conference was started back in the day when the SBC looked to FBCJ for leadership - pastors wanted to know what the FBCJ secret was, and they came to see and hear what was going on. There is no question the attendance is much down over the glory days of the conference in the 1990's and early 2000's. Is it because of concerns that others have about Calvinism, or is it something else?

"An iPhone is Many Things...a Bible is a Bible"

A question that I have:

Should a Christian bring a hard-copy of the Bible to church, or is it acceptable to bring an electronic copy on an iPhone or other PDA device?

Is bringing an electronic version of God's Word equivalent to a hard copy? Is the hard copy preferable to the e-copy?

Said Paige Patterson to his SWBTS chapel attendees last week (1/14/10) - emphasis mine:

"I am aware of the electronic era in which we live, and that many of you carry your bibles now on your iPhones or some other such way. I want to urge you to bring a written copy of the Bible with you in these days while we work through the book of Ruth. It is difficult with the best of electronic development to make notes and to underscore things, although I know that there are ways to do that. But it is not as easy still as it is with Bible in hand. Besides which, I want to urge you to teach your people to be a Bible loving, Bible bringing people. When you stand to proclaim the Word, when you are teaching it in the Sunday School class it is one thing to have it on an iPhone, but an iPhone is many things, a Blackberry is many things. A Bible is a Bible. And I hope you will teach your people to bring their bible to church. And I hope you will bring your bible to these sessions as we look at the book of Ruth."

Patterson implies that bringing an electronic copy of the Bible is not really "bringing your Bible" to church. I am a newly converted Blackberry user (having been a Palm PDA user since the late 1990's). I have had an electronic copy of the Bible on my handheld devices for 10 years. I sometimes bring my hard copy Bible to church, sometimes I don't. But I consider it a matter of preference and convenience, and that the Word of God on my phone is equivalent to that on paper. I like the electronic copy as I can in one stroke change translations, I can find verses much faster.

But Patterson is telling his future preachers to bring their hard copy Bibles (which is understandable if one is teaching), and if I understand him he is telling them to teach their congregations that they should bring their hard copies of the Bible instead of depending on an electronic device.

What do you think? What is your preference?

Matt Chandler Sharing His Journey

"After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy. Such bruising may help weaker Christians not to be too much discouraged, when they see stronger ones shaken and bruised. Thus Peter was bruised when he wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75). This reed, till he met with this bruise, had more wind in him than pith when he said, `Though all forsake thee, I will not' (Matt. 26:33). The people of God cannot be without these examples. The heroic deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the church so much as their falls and bruises do." Richard Sibbes, "The Bruised Reed"

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Last November I introduced Matt Chandler on this blog as perhaps a counterexample to the typical megachurch pastor - I was very intrigued by his sermon style and his Calvinist views as I heard bits and pieces of him during 2009. Then when I heard his 11/12/09 SBTS sermon, it blew me away. I gave a few quotes from his now infamous SBTS sermon, and have mentioned him in several posts.

Matt suffered a seizure on Thanksgiving Day, and a brain tumor was found. Surgery was quickly scheduled, and most of the tumor, which was found to be cancerous was removed in December.

Matt is now in the middle of a very intense six-week chemo/radiation treatment, after which another MRI will be taken, and then more chemo and radiation.

A few comments about Matt's journey thus far:

- I think it is wonderful that Matt is willing to share his journey publicly as much as he is able, through social media sites like blogs and Twitter. I wouldn't expect anyone to do this in such a public way, but Matt has said in his preaching that enduring this trial publicly and not privately was a matter of great prayer and dialogue with his family. This has allowed his church and Christians everywhere to be more direct and specific in their prayers for Matt. It is a very good thing for Christian to watch this high-profile preacher endure this struggle with faith and strength from the Lord. No doubt Matt's willingness to share and document his journey publicly will teach Christians for many years about how to handle the coming catastrophies in our own lives. Matt reads the quote from Richard Sibbes in the video blog that beatifully describes this.

- Matt has preached several times thus far in 2010, his sermons are available at the Village Church website. John Piper preached an incredible sermon on December 27, 2009 at the Village Church that beautifully put Matt's cancer and the suffering of the entire world through senseless tragedies like tsunamis and earthquakes into perspective. If you want to hear probably the best sermon you'll hear on suffering, made especially relevant since the Haiti earthquake, listen to Piper's sermon.

- Matt has talked and blogged and twittered about how the Lord has used his illness in various ways. As an example of this, here is a quote from Matt on 1/3/10. [Just some context: apparently at the same time the tumor was found the Village Church was opening a new campus]:

"I think one of the things that I have found through all of this, my heart being really grateful for, is that this happened when it happened. And what I mean by that is leaving the Highland Village campus, coming into this campus, going live stream, all these big markers in our church's life - and the Lord decided to do this at a time to show us all that this is His church, not my church, this is what He's doing, not what I'm doing, and that I am a piece of the puzzle just like everybody else here. And to remove me from that as all of that was going on and to let it be as seamless and as beautiful as its been, was just such a gift from God to us, to show that His power and might is not wrapped up in me, His power and His might is wrapped up in Him and He's going to accomplish His will. And that was a gift He gave us. That was a gift He gave us. It has brought me an immense amount of joy to think on that, to dwell on that, and to revel in the fact that God chose to do it like He chose to do it. "

I will continue to follow Matt's journey. In the video blog post above, Matt said that the next three weeks may be the most intense period of his chemo/radiation as the accumulative effect of the treatments start to affect his body more severely.

Keep Matt and his family in your prayers.

Pat Robertson - His Comments Reflect Poorly on All Christians

WATCH THE ABOVE SAT NIGHT LIVE CARTOON PARODY OF PAT ROBERTSON

One of the sad aspects of Pat Robertson's comments about Haiti's "pact with the devil" causing the earthquake, is how poorly they reflect on all evangelical Christians.

The morning's national news coverage of the earthquake included clips of Robertson's remarks, and the White House response.

Robertson is no Benny Hinn or Creflo Dollar - he is considered by most outside of evangelical Christianity to be a main stream evangelical - and when he makes a fool of himself the media will jump at the chance to showcase his stupidity.

I came across the above Saturday Night Live video from 2001 that demonstrates this. This was made just after Robertson declared that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke because he was "dividing God's land". I think the video does a great job of showing the absurdity of his theology.

This video is as much of a slap at Robertson's viewers and contributors - and maybe all evangelicals - as it is at Robertson himself. The audience to whom Robertson is dishing out his declarations of the judgments of God in the cartoon are small, gullible children and a red smurf-like object with a blank expression.

To those of us in the SBC: are Brunson's comments declaring the economic recession to be a judgment of God because of Christians who don't tithe any less ridiculous and irresponsible? I think not, but thankfully they aren't getting any national air time.

Donald Miller on Pat Robertson's "Pact With the Devil" Comment

Before today, I had not read anything written by Donald Miller, but today a WD reader sent me a link to his latest blog post responding to Pat Robertson's ridiculous statement blaming the Haiti earthquake on the Hatians themselves.

According to Robertson, the Hatians made a "pact with the devil" to get out from French rule. Robertson said "no one wants to talk about it" - as though he is the brave one appointed to remind everyone that the Haitians brought this on themselves. No one is talking about it, Pat, because it's NONSENSE. Yes, a pact with the devil says Robertson, and apparently Robertson was there when the deal went down because Robertson quoted the devil as saying, "Ok, its a deal."

Miller's article is worth reading for every conservative Christian outraged at Robertson's comments, especially those who follow this blog. He analyzes Robertson's statement in the larger context of controlling personalities in religion who seem willing to paint God as some vengeful tyrant, yelling in the pulpit at people who don't agree with them, surrounding themselves with yes men, and who seem fearful of allowing people to have a free will. Miller's post is a definite must read for WD readers.

"A Response to Pat Robertson's Comments About Haiti" - by Donald Miller

Also, if you didn't hear Robertson's comments, below is a link. His comments deserve to be thrown in the dumpster, but we'll put them here for all to see; especially since Robertson's website edited their clips to exclude the portion containing his diarrhea-of-the-mouth comments.


Pat Robertson on Haiti Disaster
by burghnews