the humility of Christ is always lost to those who are determined to fight for their own rights.
-Thomas A’ Kempis
Archive for August, 2006
the humility of Christ is always lost to those wh…
Published August 31, 2006 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Simplicity: A while ago my friend Matt Creath commented about the lack of time we spend praying for our lost friends. I think he is right. We can have a lot of talk about orthodoxy, theology, etc, but at the end of the day I want my friends to know Jesus. Can I get an amen? I offer you this challenge: For the month of September: choose one friend you know that doesn’t follow Jesus and pray for him or her with all earnestly as though it were a life and death matter, because acutally it is.
more on this later.
I decided to take a daunting task and attempt a minor in Biblical Languages while at SBU. Thus, I am in Hebrew 1 this semester and will be in Hebrew 2 next semester. From there, I need two semesters of Greek and then I will have completed the requirements for the minor. I will say that after the first week of Hebrew, that it is very difficult, but yet fulfilling to now be able to recognize this ancient Biblical language. I have studied very much this week and the climax came today with our very first quiz. Honestly, I do not think I missed any on the quiz, but time will only tell when I get the score back. I am enjoying Hebrew in the midst of the frustration. I believe it is Dr. Bayers intent to weed out the slacker as of right now since we are going ast such a rapid pace. Dr. Bayer told me after class that the pace of the class will slow down after the first three weeks. Hebrew is extremely difficult and having to learn to write the new script is a challenge in itself. We read an article by former Southern Seminary greek professor A.T. Robertson over the importance of the minister knowing the original text and after going over the advantages of knowing both greek and hebrew, I am excited and overwhelmed to see what will come of my journey into language studies.
Alright, pictured from left to right are Josh Williams (from Mississippi), Me, and Joey Wilder(Eastern Kentucky). I think it was pretty unanimous amongst the Fuge staffers that we were very close. Josh is a senior at Delta State University and plans to attend Southern Seminary next fall. He was the lead guitar player for the praise band, and to be honest, may be the best and most naturally-inclined guitarist I have ever seen. Sgt. Joey as I called him just completed time in Iraq and is getting married soon. He is attending a community college as he plans to enroll at a Bible college in the near future and pursue full-time ministry. Oddly, as you prbably imagine, we are all soooooo different and to be honest, I had the usual stereotypes when I first met these guys. Josh is the deep southern type who I figured was rascist and had a fundamentalist outlook on scripture and such. I figured Joey to be the uber-conservative “let’s kill everyone” type after hearing he was in Iraq. And then there’s me, the narcissistic and pretentious metrosexual. Rather, Josh and Joey and I shared the same passions and the same attitudes on all areas of theology and life in general. Not only were the stereotypes wrong, they were almost complete opposites of who these guys really are. Needless to say, these guys broke the mold and they themselves have taught me a lesson. It’s odd how God can teach you a lesson just by getting to know people. Stereotypes are never good and of course, they are based on an assumption. I love these guys to death and pray that we will stay close friends in our lives, perhaps being able to share in our future ministries together.
Please click this link to go to an article that is very frightening and alarming to Southern Baptists. Should this ever happen, God help us.
Well, second semester has begun and I plan to blog on that by tonight, but for right now, I just finished reading the introducton to my Hermeneutics book and I am impressed to say at first because of their presuppositions to the Bible. As you may know, one of the greatest difficulties and questions I have about my faith is the Bible. I know right now I could probably have 75 questions about the Bible that I know there is no definite answer to. But anyway, after being emerged in a dialogue pertaining to the Bible as being first and foremost a “narrative,” I have found a new love for the Bible that breaks tradition with a fundamentalist perspective while at the same time still finds a grounding in infallibillity, inerrancy, inspirataion, and authority. Honestly, I hate using these terms because they presuppose what the Bible already is. We really do not need to use them because they already describe what the Bible to be and essentially is! For example, we know that truth is from God, so we do not need to qualify truth as “absolute truth.” Jesus did not say that, “I am the way, the absolute truth, and life.” I also dislke using these terms because of the political attachments tied to them and also how the Bible in the past has been used to subjugate tyranny and oppression. I would like to qoute what the authors of my hermeneutics book had to say,
“Admittedly, it can be daunting to face a voluminous Bible full of alien genealogies, barbaric practices, strange prophecies, and eccentric epistles. It would be so much simpler if the “experts” would simply assemble God’s instructions for us in a nice systematic list. But God himself did not provide a mere list of principles and practices. Dare we reduce the Bible to such a level? However much we might prefer that God’s revelation come in different form, we bow to his wisdom in giving us the Bible as it stands. We are convinced that when we understand that nature of the Bible and what God has done providing it, we will see that it cannot be reduced to a list of beliefs to espouse, attitudes to adopt, actions to pursue, nor the corresponding opposites to avoid. In his wisdom, God has given his people the kind of revelation he decided would be best for us. Our task is to understand and respond to what God has communicated in ways that demonstrate our obedience and faithfullness to that revelation. We have to come to terms with Bible as it is. And that is precisely what we intend to the help the reader accomplish.”
unfinished
One entry found for unfinished.
Main Entry: un·fin·ished 
Pronunciation: -'fi-nisht
Function: adjective
: not finished: a : not brought to an end or to the desired final state b : being in a rough state : UNPOLISHED c : subjected to no other processes (as bleaching (made pure by Christ and/or dyeing to myself) after coming from the loom
STAR POWER | A HIGHER CALLING: His message packs the house
Preacher electrifies audiences with a spiritual journey
July 30, 2006
America is discovering another home-grown Michigan star who wrapped up his first, triumphant North American tour this weekend — sort of like the breakout tours years ago by Madonna, Kid Rock or the White Stripes.
There are differences, though. This 35-year-old, curly haired guy, whose sold-out tour closed on Saturday at Indianapolis’ American Cabaret Theater, doesn’t sing. He does what might be called standup, but he doesn’t tell jokes.
He’s the Rev. Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, one of Michigan’s largest churches. Since late June, he’s been walking out on stages in a different city each night to preach the longest sermons that most people have ever heard.
Andy Imdieke of Ann Arbor arrived for Bell’s show at the City Theatre in Detroit on Friday and expressed some skepticism. “I’m Catholic and, if a priest speaks more than 10 minutes at mass, most of us start checking our watches.”
Two hours later, after Bell had preached about everything from the creation of the universe to the ultimate meaning of life, Imdieke shook his head in wonderment and said, “That didn’t seem like two hours, that’s for sure. It was such a refreshing look at our faith — I could have heard more.”
That’s generally what crowds have said throughout Bell’s nationwide “Everything is Spiritual Tour.” Bell’s gee-whiz style, laced with wry humor, has managed to link the book of Genesis to theories in quantum physics to an impassioned plea for the world’s needy.
As he talked in Detroit, he used a marker and whiteboard to sketch diagrams of molecules, planets, stars and God’s creation of humanity. Just in case anyone was feeling dizzy, he quipped, “Don’t worry. There’ll be aspirin in the bar afterward.”
Overall, Bell sold out 24 of 25 shows in bars, music clubs and theaters in a huge circle of the United States he made by tour bus. Tickets cost $10 and the nearly $45,000 in profits is going to Water Aid, a worldwide charity that provides safe drinking water to the poor.
Along the way, press coverage was glowing. A story in the New York Times quoted Andy Crouch, an editor at Christianity Today magazine, calling Bell “a central figure for his generation and for the way that evangelicals are likely to do church in the next 20 years.”
The Christian Century magazine went even further, reporting that “some people predict that Rob Bell … will be the next Billy Graham.”
The Chicago Sun-Times called him “a maverick minister who has discovered a revolutionary way to communicate the gospel to a new generation.”
There were even fresh twists on old jokes in the news stories, like: Did you hear the one about a pastor who walked into a bar — and sold it out? That’s pretty close to what the Houston Chronicle wrote after Bell packed a 350-seat bar called Numbers. So, is he a big star yet?
Before his show in Detroit, Bell laughed at such notions. “This isn’t about me,” he said. “It’s about engaging people with fresh and true ideas about spirituality.”
He’s aware that public reactions could turn against him, he said. The Sun-Times reported that “detractors have accused him of championing a postmodern fad, of relativizing scripture, of elevating form above substance.”
Those critics couldn’t be found in Detroit on Friday night, but Bell knows he’s regularly poking his fingers in the eyes of fundamentalists. In his road show, he dismisses creationism, the idea that the world literally was created in six days. And he argues that the Bible’s message is more about helping the world’s poor than about personal success.
Bell said that, even though his own nondenominational church is often described as evangelical, he doesn’t like to use that word anymore. “The word evangelical has been hijacked by people with a loaded political agenda.
“What got Jesus angry was poverty, institutional racism and religious people who were indifferent to suffering people,” Bell said. “And what got Jesus very angry were religious people going around proclaiming who was in and who was out of God’s kingdom.”
Such words aren’t likely to make friends among other evangelical leaders, but Bell’s Detroit crowd was an amazing array of Protestants and Catholics, including many who said they use his best-selling series of short movies, called “Nooma,” in their evangelical Bible study groups.
Bob and Melanie Kuntzman of Lake Orion own all 13 of his 11-minute films and have used them to spark discussions in Bible study groups with Catholic and Protestant friends.
Bob Kuntzman said he likes Bell’s no-nonsense style. “My favorite thing about him is that he drives home his points so clearly that, when he’s done, you can see an aspect of your life that God really wants you to work on next.”
Memphis Declaration
May 3, 2006
We, as men and women who share a heritage of Southern Baptist identity, declare that we stand together and confess Jesus Christ as the one Lord to whom we must reckon an account for our words and motivations in this gathering. We further acknowledge that the Word of God is the sole basis of our confession and cooperation, and we are confident that God has sufficiently revealed in it all that is needed to direct Southern Baptists in fruitful cooperation toward Kingdom ends that bring glory to Jesus Christ, who is himself the focus of divine revelation.
We publicly declare before all Southern Baptists that we believe the unity, mission, and witness of our denomination is seriously threatened by the introduction of narrowing cooperation through exclusionary theological and political agendas that corrupt the healthy and mutual fellowship we enjoy as Kingdom servants. We believe that the parameters of Baptist cooperation in missions and evangelism must be consistent with our rich theological heritage, and that all attempts to impose excessively restrictive criteria on participation in Southern Baptist missionary work are counterproductive to the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Because we desire to be and to remain faithful to our confession of Jesus Christ and his Word, we do not keep silent, nor shall we, since we believe that we have a common message to speak in this time of great need for unity and Kingdom focus in our convention. In view of this shared conviction, we declare the following:
We publicly repent of triumphalism about Southern Baptist causes and narcissism about Southern Baptist ministries which have corrupted our integrity in assessing our denominational bureaucracy, our churches, and our personal witness in light of the sobering exhortations of Scripture.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to a renewed pledge to integrity demonstrated by accountability in our denomination, both before God and each other, lest in preaching the meekness of our Lord to others we ourselves will be found guilty of wicked, sinful pride.
We publicly repent of an arrogant spirit that has infected our partnership with fellow Christians in the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, without the hearing of which men are incapable of conversion.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to a renewed pledge to partner with Great Commission Christians for the glory of Jesus Christ, who is proclaimed with power when his disciples are at peace with one another.
We publicly repent of having condemned those without Christ before we have loved them, and that we have acted as judge of those for whom Christ died by failing to live with a redemptive spirit toward them.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to engage culture actively at every level by living redemptively as the Body of Christ in the world.
We publicly repent of having forsaken opportunities to reason together with those who share our commitment to gospel proclamation yet differ with us on articles of the faith that are not essential to Christian orthodoxy.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to building bridges where there have been none, in listening more and talking less, and in extending the hand of fellowship to all who share our confession of Christ and our commitment to extend His Kingdom.
We publicly repent of having turned a blind eye to wickedness in our convention, especially when that evil has taken the form of slanderous, unsubstantiated accusations and malicious character assassination against our Christian brothers.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to confront lovingly any person in our denomination, regardless of the office or title that person holds, who disparages the name of our Lord by appropriating venomous epithets against our brothers and sisters in Christ, and thus divides our fellowship by careless and unchaste speech.
We publicly repent of having misplaced our priorities on the building and sustaining of institutions of secondary and far inferior importance than the local church.
Therefore, we renew our pledge to the local church as the primary focus of our ministry and service to advance the Kingdom of God and bring glory to his Son.
We publicly repent of having disrespected the sovereign grace of our Lord Jesus Christ by falsely presuming that our strength as a people of God is found in uniformity rather than unity within the parameters of Scriptural authority.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to honor our identity as people of one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, whose affirmation of biblical authority does not necessitate absolute uniformity on all matters of doctrine or practice.
We publicly repent of our inattentiveness to convention governance by not seeking to hold trustees accountable to the body which elects them to preserve our sacred trust and direct our entities with the guidance, counsel, and correction necessary to maintain the integrity of those entities.
Therefore, we covenant with one another to assist in the preservation of our convention’s sacred trust and fulfill our biblical responsibility to hold those trustees elected to serve our entities accountable, and to pray for them as they seek to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.
Finally, we believe the conversations that have begun in these days express our desire to preserve the Southern Baptist Convention should God, in his providence, so choose to sustain our witness and strengthen our commitment to these ends. We pledge, therefore, to one another that we will continue this dialogue by inviting others in our respective spheres of influence to participate with us by seeking to renew our commitment to denominational accountability, institutional openness, moral and ethical integrity, and properly prioritized Kingdom efforts.
