Month: February 2006

Trustees, who needs them?

I heard a quip once that since nine of 10 people who die do so in a hospital, one might lengthen his life by staying away from hospitals. That’s a problem with statistics — they are open to interpretation, or misinterpretation.

I thought of that this week as I considered the current dust ups at our mission boards. The crises at the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board are distinct but related in that they are both centered on the trustees of those two organizations. As with hospitals, I don’t think it’s fair to blame trustees for all the troubling things that happen in their midst.

The trustees’ role in controversy is more obvious at the International Mission Board at the moment. The board seems to be in disagreement with the administration and, to a lesser degree, with itself. IMB President Jerry Rankin’s candid talk with a group of Baptist editors underscored the differences he has with recent board decisions regarding missionary candidate qualifications.

The trustees voted by a better than three-to-one margin to implement a policy to disqualify missionary candidates who speak in tongues or use a “private prayer language.” Dr. Rankin argued against the policy before and after the vote. But the vote wasn’t even close. Neither would it be close if the entire convention voted on that same matter. The trustees, in this case, represent what Southern Baptist churches do and think. That representation is what Southern Baptists need trustees to stand for.

But the North American Mission Board trustees are also on center stage in their own way.

A major report in The Christian Index, the Georgia Baptist Convention’s official news journal, alleged significant problems in the way NAMB does business. Some think Bob Reccord, the agency’s president, is the culprit. Others blame the reporter for what is admittedly a flawed and unfair report in many ways. The real criticism is of the agency’s trustees, though. They are responsible for setting NAMB policy and employing executive leadership.

The critical report has been broadcast very widely, far more widely than NAMB’s effective response. Regardless, enough questions have been raised so that the trustee board needs to address them.

These stories are developing, but my point is that the best hope our mission boards and seminaries have for resolving a crisis is through the trustees. They speak for the owners (SBC churches) and help the employed leadership of the agencies discern the will of God on the most important decisions they make.

Admittedly, trustee boards can be less than the sum of their parts. I’ve served on boards and served under boards in several settings. A body made up of outstanding and godly people is sometimes less than glorious as a whole. Internal politics, the fog of public deliberation, and the relative ignorance of individuals who only come to town two or three times each year?all conspire to diminish the potential of their governance.

What’s the alternative for the SBC, though? Imaginable options include either an imperial executive (absolute power with all its potential for good and evil) or a committee made up of a larger body (the convention) even more susceptible to confusion. Some of us seem to lean toward the latter option.

What do we do when we are unhappy with an agency’s leadership? This happened when Southwestern Seminary’s board fired their president in 1994. Students were mad at the board, as were alums, newspapers and faculty members at Southwestern and beyond. Some called for firing the board and one motion was submitted at the SBC to accomplish that.

The response at that time was very similar to the current response by some to the disagreement between Jerry Rankin and his board. Some want the board fired by a committee of the whole convention and others want Dr. Rankin to have his way. We are quick to reject the trustee system when we disagree with their actions. Why not reject it?

Accountability.

The executive of a denominational entity is accountable to the messengers of the churches that make up the SBC. The most immediate way this is implemented is through the convention’s elected representatives. Long term, the convention votes with its feet and money. An organization not truly accountable to its constituents will die slowly. So accountability expressed through a rotating and diverse board of constituents is a useful reality check for those whose ministry sometimes insulates them from the owners/consumers.

Counsel.

There is often wisdom in the perspective “outsiders” bring to plans and policies initiated by staff members. The counsel might be part of that reality check when a good idea is not a realistic one. It is also a means God uses to reveal his will for the agency. Important matters are more often revealed to us corporately than individually. Spiritual gifts, our experiences, and our different roles are given largely for the benefit of those around us.

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Re-thinking church planting

Church planting in the SBTC has come of age. Most of us recognize the need for more new churches of a variety of styles, models, sizes, cultures, affinities and languages. New SBTC churches have a healthy survival rate, a baptism ratio of three to one over established churches, and are becoming multiplying churches themselves.

Our statistics show that things are going quite well. Some occasional reminders of what church planting is all about, however, are certainly healthy. Ponder these:

Church planting is not the end, but a means to make disciples. The Great Commission is to make disciples, not to plant churches. Still, we plant churches because they are the local and culturally appropriate expressions of the church, which is the agent and sign of the kingdom. Local churches, we believe, are the best means for making kingdom-minded disciples of Jesus. Therefore ?

Planters must first be missionaries. Yes, planters must be pastors, teachers, evangelists, organizers, counselors and leaders. They must, however, first be missionaries in their communities and to their people. They must first study the community and the people they are called to reach and ask, “What will a biblical disciple of Christ look like here and now?” The planter, therefore, must be willing to jettison all predetermined methods, strategies, and models until he knows his community thoroughly. Therefore ?

Model and style follow missiology and ecclesiology. That is, ecclesiastical form follows ecclesiological function. The first question is “How will we make disciples from among this people/community?” The planter should be able to describe what a disciple will look and act like in his own cultural context. He should be able to describe how Jesus’ commands to worship and pray, love and serve, know and do, give and go apply to the disciple’s life and to the local congregation.

The Bible, after all, is relevant to?and judges?every situation, culture, and time. Can the planter say how this is so in his unique context?

The second question relates to form. Here is the tricky part. The ecclesiology?nature, characteristics, ordinances, mission of the church?must be biblical (see BF&M 2000, Article VI for the essentials).

The ecclesiastical form, that is, the methodological shapes, styles, models, systems, processes, programs, relationships, and ministries must be culturally appropriate. This is inevitable. Every church reflects a culture, but not always the appropriate culture. Whether jeans, suits, sandals, cowboy boots, ties, guayaberas, hymns, praise songs, coritos, piano, guitar, Stamps-Baxter, Third Day, Sunday School, home groups, communion crackers, loaf of bread, pews, chairs, pulpit, stool, steeples, multi-purpose, committees, teams, door-to-door, bulletins, websites, or any other form, they all reflect somebody’s culture from some point in time.

Everything we do in church, even the biblical functions described in Acts 2: 43-47, is wrapped in cultural expression. If this is the case, then ?

Let’s be careful not to make church an idol. That is, let’s not make our expression, our form of church, an idol. Whatever the cultural expression the question should be, “Are we making disciples of Jesus?” If anything gets in the way of that commission, it is an obstacle if not an outright idol. When we criticize how others are doing it, we sin. Hold to doctrinal purity; be flexible in method and expression. Consequently, we arrive at this conclusion:

We need to agree on a church-planting ethic to practice. Here’s a list:

1) An absolute commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible and to the teachings that flow from it. The SBTC is a confessional fellowship. All our churches and church plants are affiliated according to their affirmation of our doctrinal foundation.

2) No criticism of style or method. A healthy debate and an honest critique of methods and style are certainly acceptable. We learn from these. What we do not want to do is to offer dismissive criticism of what others are doing differently from us. Let God determine and correct if it is ineffective. Let God bless and honor if it is biblical and effective. We need all kinds of churches and all kinds of approaches to fulfill the Great Commission.

3) An appreciation for what others have done, are doing, and will do. No planter or church has the corner on the market of effectiveness. What a church, new or established, is doing may certainly be out of my comfort zone, but if God is being glorified and disciples are being made, I need to get over it.
We need to remember that we all stand on the shoulders of saints who paid the price long before we came along. We also need to remember that we are all only a short decade away from being criticized by the next generation.

4) A commitment to pray for, encourage, and cooperate with what others are doing, both through giving and going. Too often we talk about “kingdom work,” when what we really mean is “my piece of the kingdom work.” Can we commit to pray for others even if they are doing something really different from us?

5) A focus on conversion growth that leads to disciple making. Whatever the style, model, or method, if disciples are not being made then legitimate questioning is warranted. Perhaps the wrong model is being imposed. Perhaps the focus has been on attracting believers from other churches.

Whatever the case, the planter must start with the clear understanding that the church is to glorify God, exalt Jesus, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit, all for the purpose of leading lost people to become disciples of Jesus. Again, a missiological thrust must drive church planting.

Church planting is sweeping the country. Most denominations are making it a priority. Planting networks are springing up globally. Greater numbers of men and women are being called to be planters. Better assessment and training systems are being developed.

It is all very exciting … and risky. Still, there is no better way to fulfill the Great Commission. Let’s all celebrate together what we are all doing cooperatively in the SBTC.

New Orleans is back, Baby?

We all love the plucky people, the underdogs who fight back against impossible odds. Maybe that’s why otherwise sane people are heralding the return of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Of course it’s a big week for the tourist industry (restaurants, bars, emergency rooms, etc.) and it is the event for which the city is best known, but is that a good thing?

Visitors to the city as it was anytime of year found it hawking beads and voodoo paraphernalia as well as excess in the consumption of food and drink. On a weekend, the party never ended. Did that have anything to do with the deep poverty and general dysfunction of the pre-Katrina city? Is that the New Orleans we want back? Is this what we paid for?

I don’t think so. The New Orleans we rooted for and helped was also trade and education and families and churches. The annual pre-Lenten riot works at cross purposes with that more solid foundation. Even if they do make some money during Mardi Gras, part of it is lost again in the costs of extra and overstrained law enforcement, injuries, and destruction that accompanies even a temporarily dissipate community culture.

In a nutshell, that tradition should die. New Orleans couldn’t really afford it before Katrina and they can’t afford it now.

It is also a bit unseemly for a city or a person to quake in terror before a storm, beg for mercy, beg for help, and then, after those prayers are abundantly answered, to run naked through the street yelling, “Laissez les bon temps rouler!” If a seedy section of your city blows away in a tornado, are you going to celebrate the return of the Kitty Kat Klub? New Orleans was best known for being the bad side of town for the entire South. I’m disappointed that Mardi Gras was the big roll out for the city in recovery.

Yes, I know, I’m a Baptist and we don’t know how to have fun. But are you ever troubled by the idea that we need places with legal prostitution and gambling (Las Vegas) or seedy strip joints (the margins of any large town), or an annual Bacchanalia (New Orleans) before we can have fun? Fun doesn’t have to come with disease, poverty, crime, pain, and a host of other bonus features we somber Baptists are left to help clean up in the lives of the participants and victims.

I’m for New Orleans. I’m not for the clueless goobers who think casinos and bars will suddenly be the solid foundation for a revitalized city. It never has been and it won’t be now. We Baptists have a lot we could teach our neighbors about how to have a good time–a good time where we could bring the kids without fear or shame.

Another report?

Last month two reports were given to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee about the Cooperative Program. Both of them were positive in nature and emphasized the importance of Southern Baptists working together. There were nine recommendations for individuals, churches, state conventions and the SBC. Let me point those out and give you my take.

1. That we commend the Ad Hoc Committee for its excellent work and affirm this report as an outstanding plan for advancing stewardship and the Cooperative Program in the Southern Baptist Convention.

It is about time! Prior to 1979 conservative Southern Baptists were concerned about their CP dollars going to liberals and a bloated bureaucracy. The CP was criticized as a “sacred cow.” During and following the Conservative Resurgence and the restructuring of the bureaucracy in the 1990s, little has been said about the Cooperative Program. It is time to realize the Cooperative Program is the “sacred HOW.”

2. That every segment of SBC life be encouraged to reaffirm our commitment to biblical stewardship and to our cooperation in the Great Commission/Acts 1:8 mission.

There are two parts to this statement. The first deals with a unified enthusiasm to accomplish biblical stewardship and the Great Commission/Acts 1:8. From headquarters in the local church to the association, to the state convention and finally at the SBC, everyone must be on the same page for us to accomplish what God has set before us.

Secondly, there is a functional side. For over 125 years Southern Baptists viewed missions as something for the vocationally called. It was like the commercial showing a driver taking a car through a treacherous course and the voice over says, “Don’t try this yourself. Leave it to the professionals.” Giving was essentially the only way church members participated in missions.

Now, the trend is hands-on. Many in the church are going. Unfortunately, the trend is substituting going for giving. Missions is both Giving and Going.

3. That we strongly encourage each believer to tithe of his financial resources to his local church and encourage all Southern Baptist churches to adopt a missional mindset as they contribute at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program to local and global missions.

As a percentage, giving is at an all-time low among Baptists. The average is just a little over 2% of individual incomes. The average was over 3% during the Great Depression. Churches as recently as 1990 averaged giving 10% through the Cooperative Program. Today SBC churches are averaging less than 7% of their budget through the CP. What would the 3% difference make? The added funding would enable a significant strengthening of our efforts to reach the unreached people groups of the world.

Rather than set an arbitrary percentage, I would simply ask every SBTC church to consider what you are doing through the Cooperative Program and seek to increase participation.

4. That we encourage the election of state and national convention officers whose churches give at 10% of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program.

Steve Swofford is pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Rockwall, Texas. He is the president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. He is a wonderful model of leadership in Cooperative Program giving. His church gives 18 percent through the CP.

Bobby Welch is pastor at FBC, Daytona Beach, Fla., and is SBC president. His church gives 15 percent. Leaders like these show how God works through Going and Giving.

Again, rather than setting an arbitrary percentage, I think leaders should be those who are seeking to be more involved through the Cooperative Program on a consistent basis.

5. That each state convention have a plan for forwarding an increasing percentage of receipts to SBC mission causes through the Cooperative Program with the Cooperative Program Advance Plan being one possible model.

Space does not allow for an explanation of the Advance Plan, but it is simply an incremental increase of giving. Maybe something like the Advance Plan ought to be the model for churches and leaders.

I found it interesting that an arbitrary percentage was placed on churches and leaders but not on state conventions. Maybe a 50-50 allocation would be a good goal. The SBTC is the only state convention that has ever given away more than it retains in Cooperative Program operating budget funds.

Dallas pastor Mac Brunson may leave FBC Dallas for Jacksonville, Fla., church




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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.?Members of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville will vote on a new pastor for the first time in more than 65 years Feb. 19 when Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, will preach in view of a call, the Jacksonville congregation’s pulpit committee chairman announced Feb. 12.

The announcement comes only five days after Jerry Vines?pastor of First Baptist Jacksonville for more than 23 years? preached his final sermon to the congregation, which has been led by a series of co-pastors, starting with Homer Lindsay Sr., and continuing with Homer Lindsay Jr. and Vines.

Brunson, 48, has been senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas since 1999, and also serves as chancellor of the church’s Criswell College. He made announcements about the call of the Jacksonville church in each of the church’s three morning worship services Feb. 12.

Brunson expressed “great grief” that “the press and certain people have robbed me of a sacred obligation I have of talking to my congregation.”

Speaking to his congregation about the initial reports based on rumor, Brunson said, “That’s the press. That’s the mouth of people. You’re going to have that ’til Jesus comes and then Jesus is going to clear that up,” Brunson stated in the final morning service Sunday.

“Instead of grieving about the press or gossips,” Brunson asked his congregation to turn their attention to John 21 to discover that God “has a plan or purpose for your life individually, my life personally, and this congregation collectively. It centers around two words?follow me.”

Brunson told the Dallas congregation that he had declined an offer in 2004 to become co-pastor of a prominent church, without naming the church, and then explained that when the First Baptist Jacksonville pulpit committee contacted him, he initially declined to be considered, but began reconsidering later in 2005 because of the persistence of the committee. He decided he would not make a decision until after Christmas.

During a trip to the Holy Land, Brunson said he became convinced that God was leading him to Jacksonville. While traveling at night on the back of a camel up Mount Sinai, Brunson said he prayed for two hours that the God who spoke to Moses through a burning bush would offer him so much as a matchstick of light to direct his path.

“There were these two great congregations, the convention looking on and watching and I’ve got my family. I’ve got to know what your will is for my life,” Brunson said he told God. “Some of you folks think I’ve been plotting and planning this for the last five years?that it’s some great devious scheme of some kind. The fact is you’re just mistaken. You’re looking at a man who has wrestled and struggled with this and sought godly wisdom, godly counsel.”

Brunson was pastor of Green Street Baptist Church in High Point, N.C., from 1992-1999, and served previously in churches in Virginia and South Carolina. He was president of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference in 2003 and president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina from 1997-1999.

He was one of the featured speakers at this year’s Pastors’ Conference at First Baptist Jacksonville, and Vines called him out of the audience to pray at the beginning of the Feb. 7 service in which Vines preached his last sermon. While never mentioning any future plans, some viewed the act as an implicit signal of Brunson’s future call to Jacksonville after months of speculation in Florida and Texas that he would be Vines’ successor.




EULESS?Joe McKeever, director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, encouraged SBTC directors of missions to “pray big” at the 2006 Empower Evangelism Conference that took place at First Baptist Church in Euless.

McKeever, a minister for more than 40 years and an accomplished artist, has been on the forefront in helping rebuild churches and providing relief to residents in New Orleans and surrounding areas since Hurricane Katrina hit last fall.

Previously totaling 135 churches and missions in the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, McKeever said the association has either temporarily or permanently lost almost half its churches since Katrina.

But in the rebuilding process, McKeever said God is doing great things in the city and it’s “a fun time to be a Southern Baptist in New Orleans.”

He shared with the Texas DOMs several things he’s discovered about New Orleans since the disaster occurred last fall: Every person was affected by Katrina, and everybody is tired of the subject, and God is using it to work amid the devastation.

McKeever said, “One of our pastors [working with the disaster relief] said, ‘We have led over 600 people to the Lord.’ Before Katrina, Baptists were known for what we are against. Since Katrina, we are known by what we are for.”

He concluded by encouraging the SBTC ministers to “pray big” that God would take New Orleans back, that he would do a new thing in the city, and that it whatever happens as a result would be a “God thing.”

“When it’s all over,” McKeever said, “let us be able to say, ‘God did this.'”

SBTC board adds 2 ministry associates




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EULESS?The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Board unanimously elected two new ministry associates to the convention staff during a meeting Feb. 6 at the First Baptist Church of Euless, filling positions in evangelism and disaster relief.

The meeting coincided with the SBTC’s Empower Evangelism Conference.

The board elected Jack Harris of Grapevine as senior associate for personal and event evangelism, and Jim Richardson of Atlanta, Ga., as director of disaster relief. Both positions are new. Richardson is the first SBTC ministry associate to work exclusively with disaster relief.

SBTC Evangelism Director Don Cass introduced Harris as a longtime friend, having met him in 1978. He described him as a “soul winner” who practices what he teaches others to do.

Harris told the board about his conversion in the sixth grade in Lubbock and later his call to ministry in 1974 at First Baptist Church of Carrollton after he had begun a career in corporate finance. In 31 years of ministry, he has started and led evangelism programs in every church he has served, he said.

Harris said he and Cass would be assessing the needs of churches in equipping members for personal evangelism.

“It will take some time to get our feet on the ground and get a feel for understanding what the churches need and where they are,” Harris said. He said he has served mostly in larger churches, but he said he is eager to help small-attendance churches make the most of their evangelism resources.

“Without personal evangelism, we will not reach Texas and we will not reach our world,” Cass said.

“The world, the lost, do not attend our worship services,” he added. “We must take the gospel to them.”

The board also elected Jim Richardson as SBTC director of disaster relief?a newly created position. Richardson has held a similar post with the Georgia Baptist Convention.

Previously, disaster relief, chaplaincy and Texas Baptist Builders fell under the auspices of men’s ministries, led by Gibbie McMillan. Late last year McMillan took an assignment within the SBTC to coordinate hurricane recovery and relief. Other duties previously under the men’s ministry umbrella have been reassigned to other SBTC departments.

Texas Baptist Builders will work with the SBTC church ministries team in assessing projects, and through the missions team for construction. Disaster relief will work through the SBTC missions team, the church ministries team will coordinate men’s ministry, and the evangelism team will direct chaplaincy efforts.

Richardson spent 10 years with Georgia Baptists, helping develop the state’s disaster relief operation into one of the largest in the Southern Baptist Convention, he said.

We don’t print rumors. It’s happened several times in the SBC. A church or agency faces transition and there is speculation about who or where or why but no one will go on the record because it’s not appropriate. All that’s left is rumor — maybe accurate rumors in the end but nothing ready for publication.

But here’s what happens. In the rush to be the first, some news writer will publish the rumor after finding someone willing to say he heard it was true. This happened when Ken Hemphill left Southwestern. In another case, a prospective president of a Baptist college was named before the process was nearly complete. He withdrew his name after the embarrassing revelation. It happened again recently when Mac Brunson (of First Baptist Church of Dallas) announced he is going in view of a call to FBC Jacksonville, Fla. After that first guy trots out his gossip, other news agencies get calls from their editors to play catch up. Everyone piles on the story after that, even though it’s not ready.

In the SBC, a dissident news service called Associated Baptist Press and a few papers like to play “gotcha” with the convention. Sometimes they get the story first because they’re trying harder. Sometimes they only aggravate a sensitive time at the affected institutions. Being first sometimes is not worth being mischievous on other occasions. It’s just not that important.

I could hear the disappointment in Mac Brunson’s voice Feb. 12 when he spoke of being robbed of the opportunity to share the news with his church. The Dallas paper ran a speculative story based on the dissident news agency. The Fort Worth paper countered by saying the transition was a done deal. Maybe Dr. Brunson was naive to think that everyone in Jacksonville and Dallas would allow him that prerogative, but a desire for connection with even a mega-church congregation is one thing that makes him one of the good ones. He should have been allowed to announce things in his own time.

We could have published the rumor months ago. It’s been said that two people can keep a secret, so long as one of them is dead. With the search committee, church staffs, families, trusted friends involved in two large churches, word got out somehow that Mac Brunson was being considered to follow Jerry Vines. Hundreds of people had heard the rumor by Christmas. The TEXAN could have been first and maybe we could have even messed things up, but we don’t print rumors.

Standards should be higher in the press generally. Pressure to compete should not trump fairness to even public figures. Among Christians, the standard should be higher still. We learn things that need not be told. We hear things that we should not wish to be true just so we can make a splash or win a prize. The competition that keeps us sharp also tempts us to cut corners.

Let me be plain. The Associated Baptist Press story about Mac Brunson was based on hearsay from a church member who was not a church spokesman. The reason it was central to the story is that no church official?in Dallas or Jacksonville?would confirm the rumor. The people whose business it is to make that announcement wouldn’t, so someone else had to suffice. And ABP just had to use it so they could beat Baptist Press and maybe get quoted in some big city dailies. Mission accomplished.

There is no pressing need for jumping the gun on stories like this. There are some good and godly reasons to not do that. There are some even better reasons to avoid printing rumors.

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: HEAVEN OR HELL?

Other 2006 Empower Evangelism Conference Articles

EULESS–Christians want people to be saved because life as a believer provides ultimate purpose, abundant life, and heaven–all good reasons, Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch told the Empower Evangelism Conference crowd Feb. 7.

“But beyond that,” Welch reminded, “we want people to be saved because we do not want people to go to a place called hell!”

In a year when he has challenged the SBC to witness to, win and baptize a million people, Welch preached from the Luke 16 story of the rich man and Lazarus and their respective views from damnation and paradise.

“There are only two places: you either go to heaven or you go to hell,” said Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla. “Hell is forever … it’s forever, it’s not just for a day or two.”

The annual conference, sponsored by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, was held Feb. 6-8 at the First Baptist Church of Euless, drawing around 2,800 people on consecutive nights.

Attendees also heard from nationally known pastors and evangelists such as Steve Gaines of Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn., the successor of the late Adrian Rogers, and from musical recording artists such as gospel trio Greater Vision and soloist David Phelps.

Welch began his sermon by telling the story of a Chicago mobster who was gunned down after serving many years in prison. Welch said a newspaper, speculating on the motive, wrote, “The mob knows the rule and it’s this: Dead men don’t talk.”

“The only problem with that is, it isn’t true. Dead men do talk. Dead men talk. And it just so happens that in the Scripture we have here, you will see two dead men telling their stories after they died. Dead men talk.”

Noting Luke 16:19-31, Welch said, “I want you to look at two men, two places, and two preferences, all of which point to why you and I want to be in this plenteous harvest right now.”

Reading Luke 16:24, which tells of the rich man begging Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue because of his torment in the flame, Welch stated calmly, “May I tell you that every time we read that as a preacher we do a great injustice to the Scripture.”

“This actually should be read this way: ‘And the man cried out,’ Welch said calmly, then he raised his voice to a tormented scream. “Father Abraham, oh, oh, Father Abraham, I’m tormented … I’m tormented in this place!”

“There are only two places. … If you have Jesus Christ, you go to heaven,” Welch said. “If you do not have Jesus Christ, you go to hell. And the sorry, sad part about it is, hell is forever.”

People sometimes describe human suffering on earth as hell, “but you and I know that’s not really hell. Hell is a place being described here in the Bible.”

Quoting from the late preacher Hyman Appleman’s book “Born Again,” Welch said, “Hell is a place without hope. … Beyond God forever, beyond Christ forever, beyond the Spirit forever, beyond the Bible forever, beyond eternity forever … forever, forever.”

“You don’t want your sons and daughters in hell. You don’t want your grandchildren in hell. You don’t want your neighbors in hell. You don’t want your uncle in hell. You don’t want your fishing buddy in hell. You don’t want the beauty shop lady in hell. You don’t want to see anybody go to hell, nobody go to hell.”

“You might say, ‘Oh, Bro. Bobby, you’re preaching to the saints tonight.’ I’m telling you if the saints don’t get hell on their minds and get hell on their hearts again” … they won’t keep anyone from going there.

Welch said it is noteworthy that the rich man went to hell not because he was rich but because he was poor in the things of God. The poor man, however, went to heaven not because he was poor but because he was rich in the things of God.

“Don’t ever get that confused. Rich people don’t go to hell because they’re rich. They only go to hell if they aren’t saved. Poor people don’t go to heaven just because they have a hard life here on earth. They only go to heaven if they get saved. And there are only two types of people and both of these are clearly spotlighted.”

One, the rich man, had not repented,” Welch said. “Notice that he isn’t in hell 30 seconds until he becomes a soul winner.”

Reacting to low rumbling of chuckles across the audience, Welch stated, “That would be funny … but is it possible there are more soul winners in hell than there are in the room tonight? Are there more soul winners in hell there are in our churches tonight? I’ve got a feeling everybody in hell is a soul winner, wishing that nobody would com there.”

Noting the influence believers have on their families, Welch said Luke 16:27 shows that the rich man immediately thought of his unrepentant brothers.

“He didn’t want them to go to his stockbroker, he didn’t want them to go to the country club. He didn’t want them to go to the high-brow people he’d been running around with. He wanted them to go to family.”

“Don’t let them end up in a place like this,” Welch said paraphrasing the damned man. “Don’t let them come here.”

Welch admitted he isn’t very successful at winning converts, but he said he continues to try with some success, noting that he recently heard about the baptism of the grandchildren of a woman he’d helped along the side of the road in Mississippi more than 30 years ago. That night, the woman attended a revival service where Welch was preaching and got saved, changing her family’s direction.

“You see, everybody influences somebody if you’re faithful to share.”

“There is a way in God’s economy of work that he has chosen to put men and women as the connector” between heaven and men. “We are the ones who are called,” Welch insisted. “We have a part in it. … That’s your job. That’s your job. That’s your job. And oh, what a wonderful job it is.”

Welch said in the New Testament’s 27 books there are 234 warnings about eternal torment. If those 27 books were 27 miles of highway with 234 road signs that warned, “Stop! You’re going the wrong way … you’d think any fool would stop with that, don’t you?”

“The trouble with it, ladies and gentlemen, is that people who are going to hell are not on this road. They’re not reading those words, the New Testament. It’s mine and your job to acquaint them with the gospel. That’s our job in evangelism, soul winning.”

The gospel is hard work, Welch noted, “but if we don’t share this gospel, it won’t get shared. It’s our job to do it.”

EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Mohler: Stand on truth amid change

EULESS?Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. told those gathered at the annual SBTC Cooperative Program Luncheon Feb. 7 that amid rapid cultural decline and consequent challenges, Southern Baptists must stand on truth.

Mohler thanked the SBTC for its support of SBC missions causes and said when those in SBC entities think of friends, “we think of you.” He also thanked SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards for his support, stating that Richards “is one of the most forward-thinking and theologically minded leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Preaching from 1 Kings 18 and 19, which recounts Elijah’s confronting of Ahab and his subsequent flight from adversity, Mohler said standing on truth will eventually put you amid controversy.

“And if you’re going to stand there you are going to find yourself permanently fixed in some level of controversy.” Mohler said well-meaning Christians sometimes ask him: “How long are we going to be in this level of controversy? When are we going to get past it? Well, I think it is about the last chapter of the Book,” Mohler quipped.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah found himself in a controversy worth having, opposite the prophets of Baal, over God’s true identity.

Mohler noted that in 1 Kings 18:17, King Ahab accuses Elijah: “‘Is this you, you troubler of Israel?’

“It’s a wicked king who considers God’s prophet the troublemaker.”

“That’s where we are,” Mohler said. “We’re living in the midst of a wicked society that thinks God’s prophet is the troublemaker. Some things never change.”

Mohler said the problem of hesitating between two opinions, which Elijah confronted the people about in verse 21, is a real temptation for today’s pastors?even those who believe the truth.

“A denomination which hesitates between two opinions on key issues of truth and crucial issues of doctrine,” Mohler stated, “is a denomination that has swallowed the poison pill of accommodation and compromise and it will reap what it has sown.”

A church cannot be unclear about what it is truth and what is and is not the gospel. Likening double-mindedness to mental illness, Mohler said such thinking “is the affliction of our age.”

“If the Lord is God, follow him,” Mohler said, citing the text. “But if Baal, follow him”

Elijah thought he alone was left as the prophet of God; he was mistaken, Mohler noted.

After God called down fire and brimstone in awesome power, Elijah became fearful of Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, finally hiding himself in a cave, thinking he alone was left as God’s man.

“This (fear) is the pastor’s dilemma,” Mohler said. “This is the Christian leader’s predicament. Even denominations find themselves in very similar challenges,” Mohler said.

When God confronts him, Elijah again mistakenly states that he alone is left among God’s prophets. Instead, God informs him of 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

“One of the reasons for us to gather together is to remember that we are not alone,” Mohler reminded.
“We are not alone. There are faithful churches all over this country. There are faithful churches all over this state. It’s not our doing, it’s God’s doing. God has his faithful all over the world. But sometimes, in some contexts we can stand alone, but even then we’re not really alone.”

After the successes of the conservative theological resurgence, “We arrive in the year 2006 ? in a year in which it would be very tempting to hide in a cave,” Mohler said.

Referring to a news article that claimed Southern Baptists were scared of modernity, Mohler stated, “I’m not scared of it. But I do fear it. I see the worldviews taking captive soul after soul after soul. I fear the theological accommodationism that has taken denomination after denomination, church after church, institution after institution.

“I’m not intimidated by modernity. I just intend to fight that aspect of it with every fiber of my being.” Souls hang in the balance, he added.

Mohler said Baptists don’t have to be thankful for the theological controversies of the past, but they must be thankful for what God did through them.

“Your state convention is proof positive that there are people who will take a stand for truth and do the right thing.”