Baptist Politics or Evangelism?

There are many things in life that can distract us from what we are supposed to be doing.  How many times have we intended to do a project, only to see it falter and never get done?  The dirty window pane remains dirty cause we have “forgotten” that it needs to be cleaned and so years past without ever cleaning the window pane.

I think that is what happens when we mix politics and Christianity. It is not merely the politics of Democrats and Republicans I speak of, but Baptist politics. Here in Texas there is the ongoing battle of words over the “valleygate” stuff. There are a number of blogs out there stirring the pot of distrust and in some cases just pure hatred for many of the Baptist leaders in our great state.

As I have said and many others also, yes, some mistakes were made in the valley stuff. And many have lost their jobs over the mistakes. There are some that need to be brought to justice regarding the mess. Many of them never will.  God will deal with them in due time.

In the meantime, it is real easy to be distracted from our task by the mess in the valley. Yes, Mike, Rick, David–the mess is real and yes it was horrible and yes it was a lot of money. I don’t know the complete truth of what really happened and who is responsible. God will sort all of that out.  We must look to the future and leave the past stuff to God.

I know some of the bloggers will say something to the affect that I am naive or stupid or whatever. Fine, I am stupid enough to know that this whole “valleygate” thing is being used to pull many of us away from our task of reaching the lost for His kingdom. I am stupid enough to know that much time and energy has been spent “researching and investigating” Brothers and Sisters in Christ, trying to search out their “real” motives.  

Maybe I’m naive enough to know that “while Rome burns”, many are dying without Christ. I’m naive enough to believe that fighting this valleygate battle is only taking on tasks that belong to God. Oh, I know we are to point out the sins among our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Ok, that has been done. Are we to continue beating up and kicking dirt into old wounds waiting to heal? Yeah, I read where some believe in order to forgive we gotta know the whole story. Really, did Jesus tell us to forgive seventy times seven after we have heard the whole story and fully understood it and then forgive? 

Dr. Everett has proposed a new, ”campaign”, to reach the lost for Christ. Hope 2010 may just be the thing to pull us all back together.  Texas Baptist has been fractured for many years.   Hope 2010 may be the vehicle that moves us forward.  A renewed focus on evangelism and missions can pull us away from Baptist politics and see His name Glorified.

I say all this to say, I too have been distracted by all the valley mess. I have written on some blogs and on some occasions just about had my head chopped off for daring to question the legitimacy of those who choose to chase after the wrong doers. Fine go after them if you want. I choose to no longer deal with the “old things passed away” and focus on reaching the lost for His glory.

Don’t get me wrong I am not trying to sound all holy and greater than anyone else. I am realizing the error of my ways. As a pastor I find it real easy to get involved in Baptist politics and become passionate about issues only to find, at least for me, that I have forgotten my calling. Many years ago, I was called to evangelism. And right now that role is to pastor and in that position to do evangelism. I have not done that. Oh, I can come up with all kinds of excuses and justify why I haven’t.  In this confession of my soul, I have asked myself the hard questions of why I don’t evangelize.  I am distracted and choose not to.  Hope 2010 has stirred that passion again.

Moving On

Montoya is still on his kick. He seems to not be able to let go of the whole valleygate debacle. I truly think he needs to keep it alive for his own “ego” or self-esteem. I know that sounds harsh. But why else does somebody beat a dead horse for eight long years? Oh, I know, I know, he wants justice and the whole thing brought out in the open. And then if it is brought out in the open as he wants, will he then be satisfied? Probably not. Montoya will cry about all the information still not being out there.

I don’t think we will ever really know the whole story of what happened in Valleygate.  It is one big complicated mess. There may be layers upon layers of stuff that could be peeled back and much harm and pain would result from such revelations.  What and who will gain from such “revelations”?  Will the gospel be enhanced or harmed? Yes, corrections and punishment needs to be meted out, but that may never happen in our lifetime, but if we trust God, it will be taken care of.

It is kinda like some who seem to still hang onto the Kennedy assassination. They are still “researching” and claiming a conspiracy in the whole thing. They seem not able to let go of it and move on. And many say we will probably never truly know the whole sordid story of the Kennedy assassination.  So we move on.

In order for the BGCT to heal, we must be able to move on. Dr. Everett, may be the person leading us forward into new visions and dreams. He is focused on reaching all of Texas with the Gospel. He is not a backward looking person. He has put his hands to the plow and is moving us forward. He does not desire to look back and then lose focus.  Are we forwarding looking people of God or the farmer who is destracted and looks back only to find his Gospel seed planting was ineffective?

At my current church, I have looked at the past and the mistakes that were made. They were painful and hurtful times.  We have forgiven and moved on. We have learned from our mistakes. And now we are more focused than ever. We have chosen to leave the past behind and look to the future as we dare to share the Gospel in vital and powerful ways.

That is my heartfelt prayer for the BGCT. Let us put our hands to the plow and move forward planting the Gospel as we move ahead.  May His Name be praised.

 

To Read or not to Read Montoya’s Blog

That is the question I have been asking myself lately. I don’t care for his carping and complaining about everything that is related to the valley debacle.  Yeah, it was poorly handled and all, but gee whiz can’t we just get on past it? Some of my baptist friends tell me that they read some of his stuff but refuse to respond to him. They say that responding to him gives him a sense of creedance and importance. In some ways I see that point.

But then others tell me, that if he is left “unchecked” then people will tend to believe his stuff.  Some say they read his blog to “keep informed as to what is being said”. So in that sense I tend to read his blog.  Maybe it is kinda like slowing down to look at the car wreck, ya just can’t resist it.  When I worked for a delivery service, we called people that slowed down to look at accidents as “rubber neckers”, I guess in some ways that is me. I rubber neck over to David’s blog and then get ill and move on.

Seriously, I can only read so much of his stuff. After a while I feel like I have read something that is unwholesome and unflatering.  Kinda like seeing the cows and then stepping into a cow pie. You knew that was a real possibility but you looked at the cows anyway.  I know when I visit Montoya’s blog I will get some information that may be eye opening and make ya wonder.  But then the fire gets to be too hot and I need to move on.

I truly believe David Montoya’s original intentions were noble and Godly. He brought to light a number of things that needed to be looked at. It appears that the BGCT leadership did hear from Montoya on the matters in the valley.  It seems that Montoya wanted a different response from the leadership than what he got.  He became upset with the leadership and has since defamed as many of them as he can.

It is his attitude towards those in leadership that bothers me the most. Granted they made some mistakes and so do all of us. Some things are beyond our control. Is it the pastor’s fault when the deacons serving the Lord’s Supper mess it up?  Had a lady in my church jump me out and blame me for the lousy Lord’s Supper and that I ruined the worship service.

I have had the privilege to meet Charles Wade. Can’t say what kind of leader he is based on only a couple of chance meetings with him. But I will say I saw him as a kind and compassionate man. He didn’t come across as evil incarnate as Montoya seems to suggest with his blog.  I have met a few other big dogs from the BGCT and all of them had been to my mind Godly people. Maybe I am being somewhat naivebut I put all the leadership of the BGCT in God’s hands and trust God with them.

Maybe my concern is that I was taught to pray for those in leadership. Kinda hard to hate someone you pray for. Kinda hard to set down and write such stuff when you are praying for them.  I pray for the BGCT leadership. Theirs is not an easy job. Their job comes with much heartache and pain, just like many pastors deal with from day to day. 

David Montoya is a fellow brother in Christ. So are the leadership at the BGCT. His comments on his blog seem to imply that the BGCT leadership are not his brothers and sisters in Christ.  Gee, whatever happened to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Do we just white that out and move on? Oh, I know David will throw back at ya,  “Do unto those in the valley …..” yada, yada, yada. 

I have had much heartache in the ministry. I have had people do some really horrible things to me and my family. It still hurts but I have chosen to forgive and move on with my life. When I didn’t forgive, the situation with it’s many personalities, owned me. I actually developed stomach ulcers from it.  When we chose not to let go of it, it will destroy our health and eventually our spiritual health. 

I was not as effective in my ministry when I let the hatred eat me up. Don’t get me wrong, what happened to me was unGodly, but holding onto it was also unGodly. I am a free man now. I have been set free from the chains of the past. 

Montoya has been stewing on this thing for eight long years. Wow, that is a long time to be angry. Know that I am beginning to pray for him. I mean that in a sincere way. He is as someone else described him, “A bull in a china closet”.  I pray that God will soften his heart.

David if you happen to read this I don’t mean this as a disrespect, but as an honest desire for you to be set free from the last eight years. It has and will eat you up on the inside. You can be used as a very positive force in the BGCT. Right now your image is not positive with many fellow Baptist. Even some who have supported your cause have moved away from you.

I will probably swing over to Montoya’s blog once in a while. Might even respond.  I will pray that his blog will become a positive force for the Kingdom. 

It is just my opinion.

 

 

Being Baptist is a Gas!

Been a Baptist for almost 30 years now. Hard to believe it has been that long. Accepted Christ at a Baptist camp in the Texas panhandle and was subsequently baptized the following Sunday.  Attended a Baptist church in Amarillo for several years and then something happened.

I can’t pin it down, but at one point I  wondered about why I should remain a member of a Baptist church. So I checked out a number of different kinds of churches. I did so for several months. I came back to the Baptist church soon after the soul searching.

So why I am I still a Baptist? Good question considering I have been very disappointed in Baptist over the last 20 years or so. When the “battles” began in earnest, I was not the least bit happy with it. Didn’t fully understand it, just knew that many people were hurt over it.  I was hurt by it.

In my first semester of seminary, I was exposed to the nastiness of the Baptist battles, when students were recording classroom lectures in hopes of finding “liberalism” on campus. I couldn’t understand why someone would do such a thing. All of my professors were God fearing followers of Christ. Oh, that doesn’t mean I didn’t disagree with some of them, but they were followers nonetheless.

Up until I arrived at seminary I thought I had all of the theological battles whipped into a nice neat box. While in seminary I was challenged in positive ways to understand my belief system and not just spew out what someone else said about theology.  It was at this point that I began to formulate and reevaluate my own views on many issues. Nothing was taken for granted.

I soon found out that if I didn’t use certain buzz words then I was labeled and ostracized as a liberal. So I wondered about what and why I was still a Baptist.  I was taught that if you put three Baptist in a room you will get seven different opinions on any given subject. This was especially true on the non-essential “theological” stuff.

Knowing that working with the Baptist model was like trying to herd cats, I still believed that the Baptist way was the way I wanted to be. Still do.

Even with being a Baptist for 30 years, I still am embarrassed by the “unschooled” thought systems that many Baptist have. Some will call a tradition a Baptist teaching, even if they have no scriptural basis for such teaching. I get that more often that I care to admit.

I love being a Baptist. Ain’t nobody over a Baptist church, telling the church what they can and can’t do. When that happens this old boy will speak up and speak up loudly. No one speaks for Baptist, although many seem to act like they do. The BGCT doesn’t speak for Baptist and neither does the SBC. It seems in some ways, that the SBC wants to tell Baptist what theology etc. they ought to hold to in order to be a “SBC Baptist”.  Hence my frustration with the BFM 2000. I won’t sign it or the 63 BFM. Yet because I won’t, I can’t serve as a missionary within the SBC.  So that in essence is  “telling” Baptist churches and it’s members what they “ought” to believe.

Maybe that is why I get a little uncomfortable with statements from some who want to “take us back to the SBC”. Who left whom?  Most of the churches aren’t any different than they were before the battles, so who left?

I don’t cozy up to any group or organization that tells me what I must believe in order to cozy up to them.  I ain’t moved, who moved?  I think that is the same attitude most Baptist churches have toward any entity that says “Come on over here and set with us, but first we gotta know if you believe like we do”. 

Being Baptist means, I can study the Scriptures for myself and learn from the heart of God and draw my own conclusions on theology.  That is the joy of Priesthood of the believer/believers.  I don’t need a higher up person, someone over me, telling me which version of the Bible I should read and which theological viewpoint is correct and if I don’t believe that then I can’t be called of God to serve.

Baptist is about being stubbornly independent. I remember several years ago when some higher ups in the SBC “strongly” suggested that Baptist churches in Texas give to the higher up dudes a certain percentage in order to be in “good” standing.  The offices of said higher ups were inundated with thousands upon thousands of bumper stickers that said, “Don’t Mess with Texas!”. I thought it was funny.  Higher ups telling us lower types what and how we ought to do anything is arrogant at best and stupid at worst.

Yeah, being Baptist is a precarious kind of deal. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have had communion with many Baptist types. Some have some really strange views from the right and from the left. But that don’t matter, as long as we have and worship the same Savior.

Ain’t being a Baptist a gas!!