Texas Baptist Forum_71105

Posted: 7/08/05

Texas Baptist Forum

Regenerate church

There certainly are legends of Bap-tists on church rolls who have forgotten the church entirely, but we can't write off all missing Baptists as unregenerate (May 16).

The standard joke is that the CIA couldn't find these people. It's much easier than that. Go to the edge of just about any town, and you'll find your missing church members. Many are plugged in to a fast-growing typically nondenominational fellowship that is struggling to find room for everyone. There was enough attractive difference in the worship, Bible study and fellowship to move Baptists away from their roots.

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

"The opposite of faith is not doubt: It is certainty. It is madness. You can tell you have created God in your own image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people you do." Anne Lamott Writer and lecturer (Salon.com) "Patriotism can feel pride or shame at the behavior of the nation, depending on how each citizen perceives that behavior. Pride and shame should be in dialogue, for no advance in our common life has come without free and energetic debate. Patriotism rejects any stifling of debate, quashing of dissent or imposition of norms." Tom Ehrich Columnist and author of the forthcoming book, Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask (RNS) "If you can't tell somebody what you stand for in the space of a napkin, then you don't clearly understand the message you are trying to communicate." Jeff Harris Pastor of Gracepoint Church in San Antonio, speaking at a Southern Baptist rally for "young leaders" (BP) Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays Email Address

These churches are filled with Baptists. Thousands of them. Our Vacation Bible Schools and children/youth programs did a marvelous job of bringing them into the kingdom. Eventually our programs (and politics?) bored them, and they went looking.

Are they growing in the Lord? I certainly hope so. Do we have much to learn? Absolutely. A regenerate church would be a great place to start.

Steve Leftwich

Manchaca

Basic principles

Thank you for the very explicit, concise and yet highly informative presentation of Baptist beliefs (on the back page of the Standard each issue this year).

Although I have been a Baptist since the age of 13 and a deacon since my very early 30s, I do not recall seeing such a well-written collection of the beliefs which we hold dear as Baptists, and some most vital to our salvation.

It has been helpful to me to reaffirm those very basic principles which undergird my faith and the way Christ directs my life, though I seem to follow that direction very imperfectly.

Holt Irby

Garland

Treasured letter

In a letter dated July 26, 1923, former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President L.R. Scarborough wrote from Sweden to the seminary's business manager, C.M. King, concerning his feelings at the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Stockholm:

“We have come to the last day of the great Alliance. The attendance has run over 2,500. They have come from every land. The conference has been going off in a splendid way.

“Dr. (E.Y.) Mullins is elected president for the next five years, and the representatives from the South feel greatly honored in it. Dr. (George W.) Truett preached up to his highest mark a very great sermon, which deeply moved those who were able to understand English and evidently affected the others, as the spirit of the hour certainly went into all hearts.

“We are all constantly moved by the demonstration of the fruitage of the gospel as the messengers from every land show themselves in the conference and the speakers tell us of the triumphs of the truth and persecutions, difficulties and overwhelming odds. Around 11 million Baptists are represented here. The Swedish Baptists are a great people.

“There has not been so far any unsound utterance, as far as I have been able to hear, in the conference. There are a few radicals here, but the expressions have all been, as far as I have been able to understand, orthodox.

“I think we are making real progress towards the unification of Baptists on New Testament lines and the inspiration of our people to see the vision of opportunity and to feel the weight of responsibility for carrying the gospel to all peoples of the earth. …”

Bob King

Grand Prairie

Unwanted advice

The Southern Baptist Conven-tion resolution on religious freedom declares that messengers “will vote only for candidates and policies at all levels of government that will protect our religious freedoms and advocate traditional Judeo-Christian values.”

It appears the SBC lost the forced home-school agenda, and Disney thought they were “Goofy.” Now, they're going after the government itself.

They become more laughable with each year. They have demonstrated such an embracement and protection of my religious freedoms, and their total inclusiveness of all Baptists has evidenced such wonderful traditional values!

I do hope everyone uses total discretion in choosing government leaders and policy-makers. However, I don't believe we need the SBC to tell us how to vote.

Sandra Womack

Houston