EDITOR’S NOTE: The following counterpoint is published as part of our ongoing commitment to provide an independent spectrum of voices. Bill Jones, former executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, wrote the following response to a column written by Ross Shelton, pastor of First Baptist Brenham, and published by the Baptist Standard. 

A few days ago, the BGCT held its annual meeting. It was the second self-styled “Family Gathering” — now held every 5 years — in which the state’s Hispanic and African-American conventions meet simultaneously with the BGCT.

Last week, Ethics Daily published an op-ed by Jackie Baugh Moore, titled “New generation leads CBF toward other collaborations.” One sentence jumped out at me.

Moore wrote: “Fellowship Southwest (comprised of CBF ministries and initiatives in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and the West) began about the time many of us in Texas churches saw our Baptist General Convention of Texas taken over by political maneuverings and leadership that value dogma and exclusiveness over collaboration for a common purpose.”

News coverage of this week’s “Family Gathering” appears to confirm her observation.

BGCT leaders touted the unity and diversity reflected in the gathering; yet the unity was a reflection of conformity achieved at the November 2016 meeting by sending some of the “family” packing. As for diversity, I suppose so, if you consider diversity as only skin deep.

The four fragile freedoms of Baptists

But diversity is not just skin deep. Diversity for Baptists has always included what Baptist historian Walter B. Shurden dubbed the “four fragile freedoms” in his classic book, “The Baptist Identity.”

• Bible Freedom
• Soul Freedom
• Church Freedom
• Religious Freedom

According to these four freedoms — all of which are part of our DNA since the beginning of the Baptist movement in the early 1600s — Baptists take our marching orders from the Holy Spirit, not a denominational hierarchy.

In the 1980s, a political faction schemed to take power in the SBC. Once it took control, its power-hungry leaders dictated interpretations of particular scripture passages to be enforced on Baptists and their churches as a creed.

In recent years, the BGCT — fearing the efforts of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) to steal its churches — has begun traveling the SBC road.

September 2015

BGCT Executive Director David Hardage invited Paige Patterson, then president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and co-architect of the Fundamentalist takeover of the SBC, to speak to the BGCT staff during its weekly prayer time. Hardage later told me he heard from numerous pastors encouraging him to build a relationship with Patterson and Southwestern so students there would be agreeable to pastoring BGCT churches.

November 2016

BGCT messengers, encouraged by Hardage, vote to recommend the disfellowshipping of any churches deemed to be welcoming and affirming toward LGBTQ people. Three months later, the BGCT Executive Board affirmed this vote and removed three churches, including my home church in Dallas. We were no longer part of the “family.”

Legally, the BGCT has the right to decide what churches will be affiliated with it. Nevertheless, drawing the criteria so narrowly based on doctrines that are not essential to the nature of God, the deity of Jesus, or our salvation is unBaptist. It violates at least three of those “fragile freedoms” identified by Shurden (and religious freedom may be next). Now we understand better what makes them so fragile.

Reconciliation and reform another apparent SBC inroad to the BGCT

This week, the Baptist Standard published an op-ed written by Ross Shelton, pastor of First Baptist in Brenham, titled “How disconnected BGCT pastors can reconnect with national Baptist groups.”

Shelton’s prescription serves as further evidence that the BGCT is far down the SBC road. He proposes “four ways BGCT pastors, working together, may seek to reconnect with national Baptist life”:

• Reconciliation
• Reform
• Regional
• Rise

His treatment of the first two bullets is most revealing. Reconciliation refers to the SBC; reform refers mostly to CBF.

With respect to reconciliation, BGCT leaders are told they should:

• stop calling SBC and SBTC leaders and pastors “fundamentalists.”
• sponsor a conference in partnership with Southwestern Seminary.
• have “BGCT colleges and seminaries agree to hire at least a few professors who have been recently educated by an SBC seminary and/or who are supportive of the current direction of the SBC, thereby exposing students in BGCT colleges and seminaries to at least a few voices supportive of and connected to the current SBC.”
• develop a new doctrinal statement replacing both versions of the Baptist Faith & Message.

With respect to reform:

• In relation to CBF, “BGCT pastors will provide a reforming voice … [and] call the CBF to stop their current theological trajectory and return to evangelical roots.”
• In relation to the SBC, “BGCT pastors may function as a moderating voice on certain topics or issues.”

In other words:

• Make nice with the SBC and SBTC, and maybe they’ll stop trying to steal our churches.
• Despite the faithfulness of Logsdon and Truett Seminaries in teaching and adhering to Baptist principles through the years, we’re ready to partner with a seminary whose leadership has consistently thumbed their noses at those principles.
• Let the SBC infiltrate BGCT colleges and seminaries and indoctrinate our students with its theology. (Make no mistake about it, let the SBC dip its toe into your waters, and pretty soon it’s taken over the whole ocean.)
• Bible Freedom? Soul Freedom? Ha! BGCT leaders know what’s right and are God’s tool to “reform” anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Oops, make that BGCT-SBC-SBTC leaders!

Guess what, only one of those three parties will compromise, and it won’t be the Fundamentalists of the SBC or SBTC. You have only to look as far as the late, lamented “SBC Peace Committee” of the mid-1980s to know who is going to write the new Baptist creed.

What I fear may be the case about the BGCT

I wish I could believe Shelton’s article is just the fantasy of one isolated pastor. However, based on David Hardage’s overtures to Paige Patterson and Southwestern Seminary, along with the BGCT’s recent turn toward creed-based criteria for churches, I strongly suspect his article reflects a larger movement in the BGCT with broad support and momentum.

As I wrote in 2016 and 2017, I love the Baptist General Convention of Texas. There is so much I love about its people and its ministries.

Sadly, though, Jackie Baugh Moore is right. Dogma and exclusiveness, once the province of the SBC, have captured the BGCT, and the SBC is well on its way to doing so, too.

Bill Jones is the former executive director of Texas Baptists Committed and can be found at billjoneswritings.com.

Among the thousands of Baptist General Conventional of Texas churches in our state, many of their pastors connect to the BGCT simply because their churches are associated with it—not because they necessarily have a convictional reason for associating with the BGCT. Other pastors, myself included, associate with the BGCT as a matter of conviction.

• History: A long history of associating with the BGCT through all the ups-and-downs of the previous decades has created deep friendships and nostalgia, which shapes our association with the BGCT.
• Theology: The BGCT has sought to maintain a conservative, “non-fundamentalist” approach to the Christian faith. For many, the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message is a sufficient consensus document for Baptists, and other issues can be addressed through the convention process. For example, while the 1963 BF&M does not have a statement about marriage in it, the BGCT has affirmed through the convention process, and made a requirement for harmonious cooperation, the biblical view that marriage is a sacred union between a man and woman.
• Political: Many have associated with the BGCT in response to the battles in the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 1970s through 1990s. Many believed some people in the SBC used unnecessarily harsh political tactics to win the convention presidency and shape Southern Baptist institutions. The BGCT, opposed to such tactics, became a home for pastors who also opposed them.
• Loyalty: Some pastors connect to the BGCT out of appreciation for support received, whether financial assistance to attend a BGCT college or seminary, the way they were served by a BGCT institution, or the ministry and mission partnerships they have developed with or through the BGCT.
• Diversity: Many have connected with the BGCT because of the greater racial and gender diversity found in the BGCT as compared to other Baptist groups.

The challenge for pastors of state and national connections

Pastors associating with the BGCT for convictional reasons face a challenge. Many BGCT pastors do not feel at home in either the SBC or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the two national Baptist bodies connected to BGCT churches.

Concerning the CBF, the disconnect comes from concern that the CBF continues to move in a more progressive, or “liberalizing,” direction perceived by some to follow a similar pattern as mainline denominations. Many BGCT pastors never did feel at home in CBF, while others no longer feel at home there.

Concerning the SBC, many BGCT pastors do not feel at home there for the reasons articulated above. In addition to those five convictions, many BGCT pastors feel caricatured as liberal and a threat to the SBC. Many do not have relationships and networks within the SBC, which is especially true if a pastor did not attend an SBC seminary.

As a result of being disconnected from the CBF and SBC, many BGCT pastors have disengaged from serving within and connecting to national Baptist life. For BGCT pastors serving churches that generously support the SBC through cooperative giving and missions offerings and that think of themselves as “Southern Baptist,” the disconnect seems particularly acute.

Four ways for pastors to overcome the challenge of being disconnected

To overcome the national disconnect, I want to propose four ways BGCT pastors, working together, may seek to reconnect with national Baptist life.

Reconciliation: This approach primarily is directed to reconciling the relationship between the BGCT and SBC. In this approach, there would be an attempt to find symbolic and real ways to reconcile or, at least, make space for each other. Attempts at reconciliation might include something like the following:

• SBC and Southern Baptists of Texas leaders make a vow to stop caricaturing the BGCT and BGCT pastors as “liberal.” BGCT leaders and pastors commit to stop calling SBC and SBTC leaders and pastors “fundamentalists.” This may also include a commission to address hurts from all sides and to provide means for reconciliation.
• The BGCT sponsors a conference in partnership with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, encouraging strong attendance by BGCT pastors.
• The BGCT and SBTC, in partnership with the North American Mission Board, develop a goal to support a certain number of church plants, each plant receiving financial support from the BGCT, SBTC and NAMB.
• BGCT colleges and seminaries agree to hire at least a few professors who have been recently educated by an SBC seminary and/or who are supportive of the current direction of the SBC, thereby exposing students in BGCT colleges and seminaries to at least a few voices supportive of and connected to the current SBC.
• Initiate the development of a new doctrinal statement allowing people to move beyond some of the baggage associated with the Baptist Faith and Messages of 1963 and 2000.

Reform: In this approach, BGCT pastors will recognize they are a minority voice and will probably not win elections or be placed in important positions. Nevertheless, in this approach, BGCT pastors will provide a reforming voice. For example, in the CBF, BGCT pastors would call the CBF to stop their current theological trajectory and return to evangelical roots. In the SBC, BGCT pastors may function as a moderating voice on certain topics or issues.

Regional: In this approach, the focus is on building up the local church, strengthening the local Baptist association, and supporting the BGCT. Here, the BGCT pastor rightly believes the heartbeat of Baptist life is the local church and works to strengthen the connections closest to home. This approach is probably the one most pastors who support the BGCT for convictional reasons, myself included, have taken.

Rise:The final approach moves beyond the other three approaches and focuses on ways to raise something new in terms of national Baptist life. This is about moving beyond dichotomies to explore new ways for Baptist pastors, churches and groups to serve together for the cause of the gospel. In this approach, Baptists from different parts of the country, different groups, and different racial and ethnic backgrounds would gather together to find ways to partner for the advancement of the gospel around the world. Like Baptists have done in the past, sometimes the best choice is to begin something new.

Each approach presents seemingly insurmountable challenges. Nevertheless, I hope to provide here an opportunity for reflection, debate and discussion focused on the future rather than rehashing the past.

Ross Shelton is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Brenham.

Dear SBC (Southern Baptist Convention),

I spent this morning praying, asking God to please reveal Himself to the people I love, entreating Him to sift me, confessing my sins and thanking Him over and over again for His grace and mercy. I write this while on vacation, burdened again by difficult news coming from within our ranks.

I wakened with a sort of undecorated, plain grief, a kind of gray feeling that is worn out of hoping. I reprimand myself in times like these because hope is radical, and it is real, and as I spend every day reading the book of Romans in preparation for a book I’m writing, I know hope is one of the most assured and beautiful words in the Gospel. Hope does not disappoint, yes, but perhaps it’s better stated that my expectations are tired.

You already know this, but I am a woman. I am a wife to a man who empowers me and a mother to three world-challenging and world-changing adult children. I attend a large SBC church, and I am utterly grateful for the opportunities afforded me there. So my angst is not with them. Instead it’s directed toward the structures built within this denomination that have seemingly been bent toward preserving reputation and circling the wagons rather than authentic, biblical repentance when it comes to the treatment of women.

I don’t need to rehash what others have eloquently stated. But I can say this: I know I am one woman in a large denomination. I know there are many more noble and studied women in my midst. I don’t speak for all women; I simply speak for me. I also know this: I am flawed. I grew up longing to be noticed, so Jesus continues to redirect that childhood desire toward Him. While I don’t always live for an audience of One, I hope and pray that my life moves more and more toward that aspiration.

So I understand that being overlooked, unheard, dismissed, and relegated are hard for me. I have a prayer team that helps me sort through this, and they’ve been with me since before I published my first book.

When I emote online, when I write blog posts about the absolute devastation of sexual abuse (one of Satan’s greatest weapons against us all), when I speak up in cases of abuse of power within the church with its dismissal of victims and cover up of perpetrators and those who enable them, it is with this limping, this fear: that somehow my words would be about me and not about the issue. But the bigger fear which ultimately makes me click publish is this: that those who have been marginalized, dismissed, silenced, demeaned, made fun of, or called shrill would know that they are not alone.

Women make up more than half of all SBC churches. We love, serve, teach (in sometimes limited settings), pray, and help others. We see injustices and speak up. We make up a significant percentage of missionaries overseas. Yet we are often underrepresented in positions of leadership, influence, and service. While we all possess voices, many times those voices are dismissed or diminished.

Women, like men, are gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve the body of Christ. I believe we do better together rather than segregated into overly straight-jacketed roles. In Paul’s closing to Romans, he lists a significant amount of women (10)  holding various positions. He lauds them, encourages them. Consider Phoebe and Priscilla in Romans 16:1-5:

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me. Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches.Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.

I would love to be able to say my denomination welcomes each woman “in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people.” But after the past several months and years, the very public stances the SBC has taken reveals more disregard, far less honor. In light of all that, it’s my ardent prayer that the SBC leadership would collectively hit their knees, continue to seek God earnestly, and open-heartedly listen to the women in their midst–as fellow image bearers of the One true God.

I would love to see the SBC become a denomination where:

• All people felt safe in approaching their leadership about sexual assault or domestic violence, knowing that their leadership will report it to the authorities as required by law.

• Similarly, domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment would all be seen not simply as sins to be dealt with within our ranks, but crimes, best dealt with by the criminal justice system. (Romans 13 comes to mind).

• Public statements by PR firms, carefully crafted toward reputation preservation, would be replaced by genuine repentance and a plea for forgiveness when members are harmed or wronged by leadership.

• Women have a voice and are no longer dismissed, stereotyped, or relegated to sub-committees. Instead, they felt heard, dignified, and empowered.

• Sexual predators are no longer given cheap and instant grace, and survivors are no longer harshly scrutinized, silenced, and callously told to forgive quickly.

• Truth would be welcomed, no matter how difficult. (I believe our fear of ruining Christ’s reputation, or perhaps better said, mess with our bottom line, is unfounded. The world would welcome transparency and repentance far more than it tolerates our fearful coverups. For instance, if a church wrote something like “We discovered sexual misconduct, reported it, and are deeply sorry for the harm it has caused. In light of that, we are cooperating with authorities, and we’re working on solutions to provide counseling and help for the victims,” I believe many would stand and cheer. But as it is, we are deserving the world’s deeply entrenched mockery for our continued insistence on cover up, glossing over, and our unique ability to honor those (sometimes with standing ovations) who preyed on the innocent. I believe these words from Paul, though deeply sobering, are for the church today: “For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24).)

• Political power is no longer curried, but viewed with a Jesus-like skepticism. That we would embrace the beautiful truth that life change happens in small places through a paradoxical weak-is-strong kingdom.

• The Gospels would be revisited, particularly the Sermon on the Mount where we see the beautiful dynamic of the least being the greatest. That we would look again at Jesus who went out of his way to listen to and heal the masses, the hurting, the least, those living in the outskirts. May we be known as a church who loves the broken, welcomes the downtrodden, and winsomely stands against injustice–no matter how it may “harm” our reputation.

• The SBC convention in June featured more than 12 minutes of women’s voices from the platform, though I know that the schedule has been fixed.

I love my church. I love serving within its ranks. I am grateful to have had the opportunity as a communicator to author dozens of books, pray for many on my daily prayer podcast, and speak up for the broken–all while being encouraged by the leadership of my SBC church. So my letter isn’t meant to be mean spirited or punitive. Instead, my prayer is that we can see the recent news events as a wake up call from the Lord to reevaluate our hearts, listen to those who have left the church in anguish, and seek to be people of justice and mercy in a world in extreme need of both.

Praying,

Mary DeMuth

Mary DeMuth is the author of over 30 books and is a podcaster (Pray Every Day) and international speaker. A sexual abuse survivor, she often advocates for the broken and marginalized. She makes her home in Rockwall, Texas, where her husband Patrick serves as an elder at Lake Pointe Church. Married 28 years, they have three adult children.

This article originally appeared on Mary DeMuth’s website and does not necessarily represent the views of the Baptist Standard.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Southern Baptist Convention seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has relieved President Paige Patterson of his responsibilities.

Patterson’s status has been in question for weeks after reports surfaced that years ago he advised an abused woman to remain with her husband and forgive him.

Although he initially stood by his actions, Patterson later issued an apology and SWBTS’s Board of Trustees scheduled a special meeting after a letter, signed by thousands of Southern Baptists, was published that condemned Patterson’s actions, comments and ideology.

On Tuesday, while SWBTS trustees were meeting, The Washington Post reported on allegations that Patterson, then serving as president at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, told a student who had informed SBTS administrators she had been raped not to report it to the police and to forgive the alleged assailant.

Early Wednesday morning, trustees officially removed Patterson from leadership and released a statement regarding his status.

Yet, according to The Washington Post, SWBTS has provided him with a lucrative compensation package that includes housing accommodation on campus and the titles “theologian-in-residence” and “president emeritus.”

In the spring of 1994, I was on the campus of SWBTS as an aspiring student.

Growing up in very conservative churches in Oklahoma, I was astounded at the high level of education I was receiving from professors under the leadership of then president, Russell H. Dilday.

President Dilday was a well-respected leader and theologian that had a great rapport with students and admiration from the seminary faculty. Entering into my spring semester as a first-year seminary student, I was happy with my decision to attend Southwestern.

Then, everything changed when the trustees arrived on campus.

During their annual meeting, trustees gave Dilday a vote of confidence as seminary president. However, the next day those same trustees voted to fire Dilday for not offering enough support for a fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention.

As they voted to fire Dilday, they locked the doors of his office, escorted him to the president’s house with armed guards, and prohibited him from walking anywhere on campus. They treated him as a criminal whose crime was not being conservative enough in their eyes.

For those still confused about what the Southern Baptist’s wars were all about, you are now seeing first-hand the dark shadow moderate-conservatives, moderates and progressives saw rising from those who gained power in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Using the Bible as a tool to gain control over others, Patterson and other Southern Baptists leaders blatantly lied and misrepresented the truth about faithful Baptists in their quest for power and privilege. Nothing would stop their aspirations of reaching the highest levels of authority within the world’s largest Protestant denomination.

Once the Southern Baptist Convention was taken over by right-wing conservatives, they quickly began to put their “theological” convictions into practice.

While numerous issues were touted — such as biblical inerrancy, marriage between a man and woman, pastoral authority, and breaking down the wall of separation between church and state — the one issue that seemed to be at the forefront of the SBC’s predominately-male leadership was the submission of females to male authority.

Time and time again, Southern Baptist men passed motions and implemented policies that demeaned women and categorized them as second-class citizens in the kingdom of God.

From wives submitting to their husbands to women not being allowed to teach men, Southern Baptist leaders have waged war on women over the last four decades. In Southern Baptist seminaries, women professors have been fired and not granted tenure based merely on their gender and skewed interpretations of a few biblical texts.

Therefore, when the news broke about Patterson’s departure at Southwestern, I could not help but think back to that spring semester when I witnessed the evils of right-wing conservative theology on display.

While one of the kindest and thoughtful Christian men to ever walk on the campus of Southwestern was treated as a criminal for not being “conservative” enough, Patterson was ushered out the door with a golden parachute. Apparently, for Southern Baptist leaders, it pays well to keep the party line and keep women in their place.

As an alumnus (MDivBL, ’97) of SWBTS, I am appalled and ashamed of the actions the trustees took towards Patterson this week. While his removal as president was appropriate, the message trustees sent with the exit package they provided was crystal clear.

As far as Southern Baptist leaders are concerned, the reputation and well-being of their male leaders far outweigh the rights and lives of abused women everywhere, statements about condemning “all forms of abuse” notwithstanding.

Southern Baptists must correct this evil course they find themselves on today.

With stories like these, evil ideas and practices are warping the message of the gospel — the message of Jesus that seeks to liberate, protect and give salvation to every victim of sinful abuse.

When I read the Gospels, I am quite confident Jesus would have been ministering to the abused women and condemning the male leaders for their sinful behaviors.

For the sake of abused women everywhere — especially those suffering at the hands and oversight of Baptist leaders — I pray a groundswell of Baptists follow the words and actions of Jesus.

Faithful Baptists of all types — conservatives, moderates and progressives — need to rise up, condemn these actions, and demand equality for all people.

Baptists can no longer let misogyny be an acceptable theological practice. We must demand more from our leaders and champion an egalitarian theology that empowers all Baptists.

Mitch Randall is executive director of EthicsDaily.com. You can follow him on Twitter @rmitchrandall. This article originally appeared at EthicsDaily.com and has been reprinted with permission of the author.

If you ever want to be challenged about the realities of pastors and burnout, spend some time googling “pastor” and “burnout.” You will discover article after article about pastors’ experiences with burnout, lessons learned from burnout and ways to prevent burnout.

As a pastor, though, I do not have to read too many articles because I know what it is like to feel burnout.

My experiences were not debilitating, career-altering or requiring of hospitalization. Nevertheless, I have gone through seasons in all three of the churches I have pastored where I felt some telltale signs of burnout:

• Feeling lethargic and unable to feel rested
• Spending too much time anxious about or brooding over what was or was not happening
• Disillusionment with the church and/or being a pastor
• Daydreaming about quitting and doing something else

Burnout and your relationship with Jesus

From 2007 to 2012, I was part of a group of pastors who met once a year with retired missionary, pastor and Baylor University chaplain Milton Cunningham, in either Salado or Glen Rose, before he passed away.

As Milton would lead us through discussions, he would encourage and challenge us. One year, he began the conversation with us by saying, as best as I can remember, “I am tired of hearing about you pastors burning out. Burning out just means your relationship with Jesus is not what it should be.”

My first response to this statement was not positive.

I kept my objections to myself, but my internal debate with him was that burnout is a complex phenomenon involving external factors (church conflict, financial stress, etc.) and internal factors (physical, emotional, and spiritual health).

Nevertheless, as I debated Milton in my mind, I knew that he not only had an important point—which I have always remembered—but also had something I did not want but was needed.

Want vs. need

The reality is that when I have gone through experiences of burnout, what I want is for people to feel sorry for me and feed a kind of “martyrdom complex” that I sometimes develop.

What I need, though, is what Milton provided: (1) I need to be challenged, and (2) I need someone to point me to Jesus.

I need someone to call me out of my self-focus to the one who can shoulder my burden, enable me to serve and restore joy: Christ Jesus. Of course, this does not exempt the need for pastors experiencing burnout to, as needed, talk to a doctor, seek out counseling, begin eating better and exercising, etc.

For me, though, most of the times when I have experienced some of the realities of burnout, it’s because I’ve embraced a way of pastoring that is self-reliant and focused on what is or is not happening in the church, how I am being treated by some person or people, disappointment, and/or challenging circumstances.

There are few things more exhausting than trying to pastor in one’s own strength and being focused on someone or something else.

‘Joy and renewal’

When my attention, though, has been turned back to Jesus, I discover the joy and renewal of simply being with him. The result is that I can live and lead from overflow instead of depletion. When I return my focus to Jesus, I find him saying to me—to you—in Matthew 11:28–29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

These words from Jesus are not always what I want to hear, but they are always what I need to hear.

Ross Shelton is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas.

No doubt you’ve seen the news stories about the teacher walkouts in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Now, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallon is proposing to expand gambling in that state as a way of plugging a hole in its public-school financing.

Bad, bad idea.

The Oklahoma Lottery was proposed years ago to citizens of that state as a way of helping public schools. But in the years that followed, Oklahoma’s comparative ranking among the states went down, not up, and Oklahoma now ranks 50^th among the states in state education funding.

So much for rosy predictions.

The fact is that gambling revenue is an unreliable, ineffective means of financing public education. Gambling also carries high social consequences: increases in crime (especially financial crime), addiction, domestic violence and suicide, among others.

Increasing gambling for ‘education emergency’?

Texans’ interest in the topic became more direct recently when Andrew White—son of former Texas Gov. Mark White and current candidate for governor—proposed increasing gambling as a way of dealing with Texas’ “education emergency.”

To be clear, Texans Against Gambling/Stop Predatory Gambling neither supports nor opposes individual candidates for any office. We merely endorse or oppose ideas.

In this instance, we oppose the idea of expanding gambling as an attempt to increase tax revenues, whether for education or anything else. Besides the social consequences, it just doesn’t work—and our neighbors in Oklahoma are Exhibit A. And there are others.

Like Oklahoma, Texas voters passed a lottery largely on the promise of providing additional funding for public schools. But in the years that followed, Texas decreased state tax funding for public education, and lottery funds began to be used to replace tax dollars, not supplement them.

Proponents of the lottery correctly state that the Texas Lottery had funded education to the tune of a billion dollars, as of the 2012 Texas Sunset Commission hearings on the Lottery Commission. But the bottom line is this: The Texas Lottery has not contributed enough money to Texas public schools to buy so much as a pencil that wouldn’t have had to be bought anyway if the Lottery did not exist.

Public schools will be hurt, not helped

Another important link between Texas and the gambling industry in Oklahoma lies in the number of gambling operations in Texas that have been bought by Oklahoma Native American tribes.

Most notably, these include Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, a racetrack purchased out of bankruptcy in 2012 by Global Gaming LSP, a subsidiary of the Chickasaw Nation [of Oklahoma]. Since receipts from racing have declined nationwide, it doesn’t take much speculation to conclude that a major motive for the purchase was the hope that Texas could be persuaded to expand gambling.

If Texas expands gambling, public schools will be hurt, not helped. Just look at Oklahoma, but look also at states like Pennsylvania and Illinois that have gone all-in on legalized gambling. Their state budgets are, to put it charitably, a mess. Increasing legalized gambling creates a host of problems and solves none.

We do not have to guess what would happen if gambling were expanded in Texas. We have history—both ours and our neighbors’ north of the Red River.

To put it bluntly, those who want to expand gambling in Texas are the perfect customers for gambling enterprises.

They like to lose.

Rodger Weems is chair of Texans Against Gambling, a volunteer organization also known as Stop Predatory Gambling Texas. He is a Church of Christ minister.

I know that is a terrible title for an article, but hopefully you will hang with me on this one.

A young pastor friend of mine recently complained of too many senior adults in his congregation. Since I am myself a senior adult, I wondered why that was a problem. It seemed to me that he was missing a great opportunity.

While it is obvious that each church has its own context, it has been my experience that senior adults have always been an incredible resource in the life and ministry of the church.

‘A huge blessing’

The church I served as pastor was located in a coastal community at the end of the interstate highway. As a result, beginning in the 90s, we had an influx of retirees to our town. It continues even now as more and more ‘boomers’ head for the coast.

Of course, we already had a wonderful cadre of older members who had been a part of the fellowship for many years. All of this has proven to be a huge blessing for our church, all because we decided to ‘take advantage of the old folks.’

When my colleague in ministry, Jim Everette, joined our staff, I suggested that he should visit every non-profit ministry in town to learn what their needs were. While we both assumed that they could all use some extra money, what we learned was that they needed help—volunteers.

‘The results were amazing’

Another thing we learned was that all these retirees moving to town were looking for ways to connect and serve in the city that was to be their new home. We learned that many of them showed up with resources, expertise and time. So, every time a newly retired person or couple showed up at our church, Jim and I would engage them to learn their gifts and interests, and then we set about to connect them with one of the ministries in our city or our church.

The results were amazing for our congregation, for our non-profit partners, and for the newly retired residents of our city. We took advantage of the old folks . . . and they loved it.

‘Something good and important’

Now that I am ‘sort of’ retired, I was looking for some place where I might be of help. One of the ministries our church supports is a ‘half-way house’ for people coming out of prison. I had always been impressed by how that non-profit was able to stretch a dollar. While having coffee one morning with their Executive Director, Frankie, I asked if there was anything he needed where I could be of help.

He said, “As a matter of fact, pastor, there is. One of our men has called on us to form a men’s group, not a prayer or Bible study group, but a men’s group, where men can talk about men’s stuff.”

I told him if that was what he needed, I would give it a try. While talking with one of the recently retired deacons in our church, I told him about the group and he volunteered to help me. We have been at it for several months now, and I am not sure who is helping whom the most.

We meet at 6 p.m. every Monday evening. A different crowd shows up each week. The residents set the agenda and my friend, Don, and I are just members of the group. We don’t lead any more than the rest of them. There is usually a topic for the evening: trust, honor, family, self-confidence, selfishness, prayer and honesty to name just a few. There has been laughter, and there have been tears. But something good and important is taking place. Friendships are being established.

‘Take advantage’

This is but one example of dozens of opportunities that exist in every community and every church for life-changing ministry. So, rather than bemoaning the fact that there are a lot of older folks in the church, take advantage of them. They are busy, but they have more time to serve than ever in their lives. They long to make connections and to make a difference. The church that pays attention to its older adults and gives them good and important ministry to do will be enriched by their work.

Finally, it is also important to celebrate their service and to let them know just how valuable they are in the community and in the church. Let them have a time and space to tell the stories of their ministry and the people they have met and the lives that have been changed.

The Bible is filled with stories of older folk whom God called upon to do amazing things. It still happens. Every minister and every church need to “take advantage of the older folks.”

They are still changing the world.

This article originally appeared at the Center for Healthy Churches. Mike Queen is a consultant for CHC, the founder of Hopeful Imagination, and a recently retired pastor.

Since April 2015, Todd D. Still has served at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary as the Charles J. and Eleanor McLerran DeLancey Dean and the William M. Hinson Chair of Christian Scriptures, teaching and conducting research in New Testament and Greek.

From deep in the heart of one Texan, he shares his background and thoughts on leading Baylor’s seminary. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here.

Background

How long have you been at Baylor?

I came to teach New Testament and Greek as an untenured associate professor at Baylor’s Truett Seminary in the fall of 2003. I was granted tenure in 2006, promoted to the rank of professor in 2011, and appointed by then Truett Dean David E. Garland to the William M. Hinson Chair of Christian Scriptures in 2012.

At the conclusion of a committee-led national search, I was named the fifth dean of Truett by then Baylor President Kenneth W. Starr at the end of February 2015 and began serving in that role at the beginning of April 2015.

Where else have you worked, and what were your positions?

I have served Baptist congregations in Texas, North Carolina and Scotland in a variety of capacities over the years, including janitor, music minister, pastoral intern, youth minister, college minister, education minister, pastor and interim pastor.

My first full-time academic position was at Dallas Baptist University, where I served as assistant and then associate professor of New Testament and Greek from 1995–2000. Before coming to Baylor in 2003, I served as an associate professor of New Testament Studies and held the Bob D. Shepherd Chair of Biblical Interpretation at Gardner-Webb University’s School of Divinity in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and lived there for the first 12 years of my life. From ages 12 to 16, I lived in Meridian, Texas. Prior to my junior year in high school, I moved with my family to Waco, Texas, and have gladly and proudly called Waco home for the last 35 years.

How did you come to faith in Christ?

I entrusted my life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at the age of eight at a Vacation Bible School in Wichita Falls. One year later, I was baptized into the First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls by my childhood pastor, Dr. William M. Pinson, who would later serve as president of Golden Gate Seminary and as executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

After graduating from Midway High School in Waco, Texas, I attended Baylor University, from where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Greek and sociology in 1988. Thereafter, I enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and completed the Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages in 1991.

Then, in 1996, I earned the doctorate in New Testament Studies from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. I have also had occasion to study at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, the University of Cambridge, England, and the University of Exeter, England.

Ministry/Profession

Why do you feel called to your particular vocation?

Growing up, my father would sometimes say to me, “If you do what you love, son, then you will never work a day in your life.” I am blessed beyond measure because I love the work that I am privileged to do, the place where I work, the people with whom I work and the students, churches and organizations that Baylor’s Truett Seminary is honored to serve. To join hands with others in shaping those whom God is calling for ministry in the church and the world is simultaneously a sacred trust and a true pleasure.

Frederick Buechner once described vocation as “the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” Beyond gladness and need, however, I believe that God has led me to do the work that I am doing in theological education. It is this conviction of calling that encourages and sustains me in the midst of both joys and struggles inherent to my work.

Please tell us about your BGCT institution—the breadth and nature of its work, including its mission, measures of scope, etc.

As readers of The Baptist Standard likely know, Republic of Texas officials chartered Baylor University in Independence, Texas, in 1845. As such, it is the oldest institution of higher education in continuous existence in the State of Texas.

Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary itself is of relatively recent vintage. Established in 1991, Truett began offering classes in 1994 in the education building of First Baptist Church, Waco. In 2002, the seminary moved to its present facility at Baylor University—the beautiful Baugh-Reynolds campus, featuring the Paul W. Powell Chapel, the Paul and Katy Piper Great Hall, the Heritage Room, the Baugh Lecture Hall and the Reynolds courtyard.

Over the course of its short history, Truett Seminary has prepared roughly 1,500 graduates for gospel ministry in and alongside the Church, which is our institution’s mission. At present, an accomplished faculty and skillful staff of 40 serve a gifted, diverse student body of 350 students, who come to us from all over the United States and 13 foreign countries.

As one of Baylor’s twelve schools and colleges, Truett currently offers three masters degrees (M.Div., M.A.C.M., and M.T.S.), five “joint degrees” (M.Div./J.D., M.Div./M.B.A., M.Div./M.M., M.Div. or M.A.C.M./M.S.W., and M.Div./M.S.Ed. or M.A.Ed.), and one doctoral degree (D.Min.). Moving forward, Truett anticipates offering additional degrees, launching extension sites, and increasing collaboration with other institutions.

What do you like best about leading your institution? Why?

I suppose the thing I like most about serving as dean of Baylor’s Truett Seminary is the challenge and the variety that is part and parcel of the role. Recruitment, enrollment, placement, advancement and development are always before me. I am constantly asking how we as an “embedded seminary” can best serve our university, our students, our alumni and our constituents—not least our Texas Baptist churches.

Furthermore, theological education in the 21st century is no easy nut to crack. It sometimes seems that there are more schools offering training than there are students to train! Moreover, questions of affordability and accessibility persist and sometimes appear to compete with our twin commitments at Truett to both academic rigor and spiritual formation.

What aspect(s) of your institution and/or its mission do you wish more people understood?

Five things spring to mind immediately:

1. That Truett Seminary belongs to Baylor University and to the remarkably generous people, not least Texas Baptists, who have made and continue to make our school possible through their financial gifts and spiritual support.
2. That Baylor’s Truett Seminary is of, by and for the Church. We exist to equip God-called people for gospel ministry in and alongside the Church. At Truett, we love the Church and long to serve God’s people as we are asked and are able.
3. That we are far more affordable than some might imagine. Due to the generosity of our university and our donors, all of our students, whether Baptist or not, receive significant scholarship assistance, and most of our students pay less than 70 percent of “sticker price.” To think that the vast majority of Truett students can study with our world-class faculty in first-class facilities at a top-tier university among some of the most gifted ministerial students anywhere for what amounts to roughly $1,000 per three-hour course continues to amaze and delight me.
4. That Truett is a historically orthodox, broadly evangelical seminary in the Baptist tradition that seeks to instill in students, in the words of J. B. Lightfoot, “the highest reason and the fullest faith.” We are a seminary grounded in Christ, rooted in Scripture, which we regard to be authoritative for matters of faith and practice, and committed to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
5. The vast majority of our roughly 1,500 graduates are actively involved in faithful, fruitful gospel ministry in and alongside (Baptist) churches.

How has your institution and its mission changed since you began your career?

At Baylor in general, we continue to “double down” on our mission and on our aspiration to become a preeminent Christian research university in the Baptist tradition. Such lofty aims necessarily occasion change at every conceivable level. At Truett Seminary in particular, we continue to seek to be both appreciative of and responsive to the needs of our students and constituents, especially churches.

How do you expect your institution and/or its mission to change in the next 10 to 20 years?

Because of our mission to equip God-called people for gospel ministry in and alongside Christ’s church by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will have to continue to adapt. What that looks like is hard to say, but I do not think that questions of affordability and accessibility that continue to concern educators in general and theological educators in particular will go away anytime soon.

Name the three most significant challenges and/or influences facing your institution.

Enrollment is an ongoing challenge for Truett and other theological schools. The same may be said regarding revenue streams and perceived relevance by certain churches and the broader public.

What one aspect of your job gives you the greatest joy or fulfillment?

Helping others in ways that I am tasked, asked and able as they go about their professional pursuits and personal lives.

About Baptists

What are the key issues facing Baptists?

Increased polarization among and between congregations and unprincipled, and sometimes seemingly unwitting, accommodation to broader ambient culture.

What would you change about the Baptist denomination—state, nation or local?

Greater skill, efficiency and sensitivity in placing and replacing ministerial staff.

About Todd

Who were/are your mentors, and how did/do they influence you?

There are too many to mention by name; I have accrued incalculable debts along the way. It has indeed taken a village to raise this child!

Were I to name but a few of those who have selflessly and lavishly poured into my life, they would include the following: my parents (Willard and Betty Still), my wife (Carolyn Christian Still), Bill Pinson, Dawson McAllister, Richard Creech, Mark Wright, Mike Toby, Jerry Pipes, Louie Giglio, Kay Mueller, John Wills, Earle Ellis, Bruce Corley, Doyle Young, John Barclay, Herbert Reynolds, Gary Cook, Tim Trammell, Charles Wade, Wayne Stacy, Robert Sloan, Elizabeth Davis, Levi Price, David Garland, Paul Powell and Ken Starr.

Taken together, they have sought to teach me to take my work and witness seriously but to do so with joy and humility.

Other than the Bible, name some of your favorite books or authors, and explain why.

Beyond Scripture, I tend to read in my academic discipline of New Testament studies, particularly Pauline studies. I also enjoy reading sermons, poetry and biography, and, on occasion, I will allow myself a diversion into fiction, typically in the form of a John Grisham novel.

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

This hardly seems a fair question to ask a Bible scholar! Were I to pick but a single passage, it would be Philippians 2:5–11, where Paul calls the Philippians and subsequent recipients of the letter to embrace and exemplify the humble mindset and faithful life of Christ Jesus.

Who is your favorite Bible character, other than Jesus? Why?

Paul, due to his ardent devotion to Christ in life and death and the profound letters he composed that we are still privileged to read and interpret.

Name something about you that would surprise people who know you well.

Although I exercise for 45 minutes to an hour most every day, it is not necessarily something that I enjoy doing.

If you could get one “do over” in your career, what would it be, and why?

I would seek to spend at least a semester, if not a year, in a non-English-speaking context, preferably a Spanish-speaking or German-speaking country, and thereby be forced to speak a language and learn a culture other than my own.

Write and answer a question you wish we had asked.

Tell us about your family?

I am happily married to Carolyn Christian Still from Houston, who is also an educator, trained at Baylor and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and one of the three founders of Live Oak Classical School in Waco. We have been married for 27 years and have two sons—Samuel, a Baylor senior (and likely to be a Truett student beginning in the fall of 2018), and Andrew, a Baylor freshman.

Our family loves music, our pets (two dogs, a cat and a chinchilla) and offering hospitality to others in our home.

Over the years, there’s been a slow change in Waco, where I currently live.

More and more tourists are coming in and out. Thousands come to see renovated houses and eat at fancy restaurants. People can even pay $80 to go on a bus tour that just takes them to see houses and go to a coffee shop. A couple of weeks ago, over 100,000 visitors from all over came for Magnolia’s spring celebration.

All of this may seem like a good thing, but how is this really affecting the community?

The sinister reality of gentrification

I’ve had many conversations with people about the topic of gentrification. Many factors need to be addressed when it comes to that conversation. Broken welfare systems, systemic racism, broken business models, and many other contributing factors play into exactly why gentrification happens and why it affects communities.

My goal is not to explain the nuanced details. There are many books and articles related to the subject anyone can readily find.

My goal is to elevate the conversation for the church as a gospel issue.

Isn’t getting new businesses a good thing?

As people see new businesses come into town and change the landscape of a community, many think new businesses are a good thing. Yes, I believe it is a good thing to start new businesses that generate income for communities. However, what makes gentrification so sinister is that it gives the appearance that the fresh, new businesses are generating income for those who are less fortunate when, in reality, it only helps those who are already wealthy and pushes people out who are already there.

For example, a few years ago I went to London. There’s a community just outside the city called Brixton where a lot of Jamaican and African immigrants live. While there, a battle raged where wealthy tenants were thinking about raising the rent on these arches where people already owned and ran businesses. The only reason for raising their rents was new businesses, leading tenants to want to pursue higher rent because there more people were now willing to pay it.

Rethinking our understanding of poverty

Before moving on, it is important to look theologically at our understanding of poverty. Bryant Myers, a professor at Fuller and author of “Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development,” put forth a principle for holistic community development and helps to frame a theological understanding of poverty.

Myers argues that poverty is an outcome of broken relationships which came from the fall. He sets out a paradigm of four relationships that has been established since creation: God, others, self and creation. For Myers, God’s work in the world is to restore these four relationships.

The problem with gentrification is that it solely tries to solve physical poverty. Yes, this is extremely important, but, if we aren’t careful, it is easy to fix problems with money without seeing the bigger picture of what is going on.

The foundation for a biblical and theological vision of transformational development is relationship. People rush in with their new business ideas thinking it will help their communities — without building relationships with the people around them and asking what they need.

Forming our imaginations to a holistic ministry

A couple of years ago, I lived among refugees in Vickery Meadow, a small community of resettled refugees in Dallas. Changes have been made to the apartment complexes with recent renovations. I can only hope that the rent isn’t raised to the point where these refugees are displaced.

Is that the holistic vision of shalom God has set out for us?

God’s vision for his people is to participate in bringing people into right relationship with God, others, self and creation. Gentrification is only helping those who are already wealthy by providing resources only the wealthy can afford and pushing out those who can’t afford to stay.

A more biblical model would be to walk alongside those in poverty.

Ask them what they need.

Look for local businesses that are already there to help out.

Love them as Christ loves us.

Daniel Harris is an M. Div. student at Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary and recent graduate of Howard Payne University. He is interested in international missions and loves learning about different cultures, faiths and languages.

You are not your personality.

In “The problem with personality assessments,” Daniel Harris is right about that. Your personality is not who you truly are, but it is who you have become, whether you like it or not, and whether or not you know it.

The funny thing is, once you figure out your Enneagram number, you’ll never forget how it shapes you, and everyone else will see how those characteristics have shaped you on your faith journey.

We are all born with natural inclinations and then other traits have been nurtured in us, for better or worse. You don’t have to look at your friend group for long to notice some of them always tend to have an opinion, always seem to answer first, are among the loudest and offer to lead more quickly than anyone else. And then there are those who just don’t function that way. They are always quiet, slow to respond and reluctant to expend the energy to lead or speak up.

Try as you might, some of those things will never change. The quiet, reluctant thinker will never be the loud, engaged leader. And yet, as Harris writes, who they are is truly a child of God, made in God’s image, and redeemed in Christ.

However, the work of creation, redemption and transformation are journeys and not merely destinations in the Christian life.

A tool worth considering

To understand your journey, to have compassion for yourself and others, to understand God’s compassion and grace for you and to really allow these to take hold requires some reflection, prayer and discernment. That is all the Enneagram claims to offer.

The Enneagram is not really even a personality tool. It points to nine different ways of being in the world, nine ways of seeing the world around us and nine sins that prevent us from being all that God has created us to be, but it does not claim to be an assessment that names your identity.

In fact, Enneagram teachers claim that the assessment tests are faulty and your true identity is not in your number. However, knowing your number is a remarkable tool for helping you to be formed in the way of Christ that reflects not your personality type or your number but the unique creation God has made you to be.

The Enneagram is really just one tool for considering who God is making you to be and discerning how God is at work in your life. It is a really good one, but, with it being so trendy right now, we have to be cautious about how it is used. It is too easy to turn it into a party trick rather than a spiritual resource for discerning how God continues to be at work in our lives.

‘Self-awareness matters’

As a person with a Type Three personality, I know that I am formed more fully in Christ’s likeness when I am attuned to my feelings and the feelings of others. The Enneagram helped me learn that, and it has made me a better husband, father, minister and social worker.

My colleague and dear friend who has a Type Six personality helps me realize that about myself. Likewise, I help him see the ways he can really trust himself and God’s work within him more fully when making decisions. He has learned to speak what he knows to be true with more confidence as a leader formed in Christ. He is naturally more reluctant but is learning to step out. I am naturally, well, never reluctant, and I am learning to slow down and connect. This is Enneagram discernment.

Might we have learned this otherwise? Perhaps.

But I have been trained as a minister, and I have been seeking to be faithful to Christ for five decades. The enneagram helped me realize some things about my habitual patterns, deep underlying motivations and fears and a few other relational hang-ups in just a few months. It provided a mirror so that I could see some things in my life I just didn’t want to pay attention to.

We all have those traits that get us in trouble over and over again, but they are not the same for all of us. The Bible points out some wisdom about these, but self-awareness matters in ministry. You have to learn your own habits and hang-ups, and you have to walk with Christ in your own way for him to redeem these.

Why use the Enneagram?

As Harris suggested, we should take hold of Scripture for it helps us see who we are. But we have to have eyes to see and ears to hear. And there is so much to see and hear in who we are and how we are made. There is also so much to see and hear in how we struggle on life’s journey.

In Romans 7, the apostle Paul said he didn’t understand his actions. He asked why he always did the very things he did not want to do. Suzanne Stabile teaches that it’s likely because of his Enneagram type. Whatever our number, there are plenty of things we do that we do not want to do and other things we do not want to do that we keep doing.

Your Enneagram type can be your guide as you ask similar questions. It will teach you something about yourself that everyone around you likely already knows, that you may know without wanting to admit it, and that God is using to shape you if you would pay attention to it.

Jon Singletary is professor and dean of the Diana Garland School of Social Work at Baylor and may be reached at Jon_Singletary@baylor.edu.

Having been the pastor of small churches all over Texas and the Midwest, I can attest to the limitations that come with small church ministries. Typically, when I hear people talking about small churches, particularly leadership within small churches, the tone and language of whatever is being said is negative. Many leaders are even apologetic for shepherding small congregations, but almost all feel frustrated by one element or another.

The greatest sources of frustration for most small churches can be summed up in the word lack. Small churches often lack the finances needed to cover their basic needs for operation. They lack the volunteers to start new ministries. They lack the musical talent to play the new worship songs note for note, and they lack the pulpit talent to match up against the TV and radio preachers.

The value of a small church

The question we must ask ourselves is if small churches were merely unable to be useful to God’s kingdom, why is it that more than 85 percent of churches in America have 250 people or fewer? Are these churches wasting everyone’s time? Hardly. They may, however, not understand the tremendous value they bring to God’s kingdom.

If we are working under the assumption that God has preserved our small churches for a reason, then it might be to our benefit to know what those benefits are. In my experience as a small church pastor for over a decade, I see at least three advantages that small churches bring to the kingdom of God.

1. Speed

The first benefit that small churches bring to God’s work in the world is how quickly they can move. The phrase “small is fast” applies here.

When it comes to physical labor and ministry to our communities, small churches will never be able to compete with churches that have budgets in the millions and volunteers in the thousands. With that amount of size, though, comes bureaucracy and planning. Money has to be approved, volunteers have to be coordinated and all of those things just take a while. In contrast, where smaller churches are deficient in size, they make up for with speed.

A few months ago, one of my deacons told me about a man in our community who was about to come home from the hospital after leg surgery. This man would be stuck in a wheelchair for months, if not the rest of his life, and needed a ramp installed at his house. After a three-minute conversation, I was able to approve a budget and my deacon and another volunteer purchased the materials and built the ramp. From start to finish, a need was discovered and met within a 12-hour period. Small is fast.

Perhaps one wheelchair ramp isn’t going to make the front page of any newspapers, but, for one man, God’s people were able to be there for him in his time of need. If we can’t do more, then let’s do what we do with speed and efficiency.

2. Community

Pastors, in particular, are notorious for focusing on the number of people, or lack thereof, that attend their churches. Obsessing over church size is unneeded and unhealthy, but we must also understand that with large congregations comes the inherent challenge of getting people to connect with one another. As Ulysses Burley III said it, “It’s just virtually impossible to be in [a] relationship with 1000 different people.”

While larger churches are trying to crack the code of getting their people to connect, small churches have community in spades. It’s possible to know every single person in these churches. When people know us, it’s much more difficult to fall through the cracks.

When we get sick, people know. If we are struggling with something in our family life, people know. When we are struggling with anything, our whole church doesn’t just know, but they care. An entire church of people will pray for us, bring us casseroles, babysit our kids and probably mow our lawn.

3. Focus

The blessing of the large church is their global influence. They have the numbers to push a cause forward. With all of that influence comes difficulty in staying focused on where to fit within God’s kingdom. Do we just reach this city, or do we focus on missions, too? Should we have campuses, and, if so, where?

Do we focus on being a church that has dynamic worship or a great theater troupe? Maybe we’re the trendy church that’s taking liberal views on traditional church viewpoints, or perhaps we’re the church that needs to toe the line and keep the conservative values that have allowed Christianity to flourish? Who are we supposed to be?

Questioning the places to focus is not a challenge for most small churches. The limitation in options keeps the mission of the small church crystal clear. My church, for instance, strives to be a spiritual home for every man, woman, teenager and child in our town and surrounding area. We know we are called to our town because our size forces us to be. As such, everything that we do in some way contributes to the spiritual development of our people. Our laser focus allows us to worry about what we’re doing, not why we’re doing it.

The small church matters

As a parting encouragement to small church leaders, what you’re doing matters. It matters for today, and it matters in the eternal sense. When we compare ourselves to larger churches, we’re always going to focus on what they can do and what we can’t. President Theodore Roosevelt once famously said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

God has brought your small church into existence and has preserved it for a reason. Embrace the value that you bring to God’s kingdom. When it comes to the many local churches within the universal church of Jesus, there are none better or worse than any others. You are valuable to God’s plan in the world.

Be fast, embrace your community and stay focused.

Don McCaig is pastor of First Baptist Church Lipan in Lipan, Texas. Connect with him on Twitter @DonMcCaig.

Can we discuss the end times for a moment?

President Donald J. Trump’s decision to move the United States embassy to Jerusalem, thereby recognizing Jerusalem as the capital, set off another firestorm of debate this past week. Some supported this decision based on political reasons only. Others supported this political decision on theological grounds.

My concern in this article is not for the political reasons surrounding the decision, of which there are many complex factors, but the theological presuppositions of those Christians who have been pushing for this decision.

Many Christians rejoiced over this decision because they believe that the United States recognizing Jerusalem as the capital (which legally happened in the mid-1990s) is a sign of prophecy which will lead to the end times. There are definitely other interpretations.

You may be like me and find yourself troubled that decisions seemingly endorsed by the Bible and other Christians could lead to more violence and bloodshed.

Dispensing with Dispensationalism

Please understand — there are many different ways in which good Christians understand the end times. If you were to put the three leading twentieth-century Christian leaders in a room (Billy Graham, Herschel Hobbs and George W. Truett), they would all see the end times differently. They would all agree Jesus will return — but they held a different perspective on exactly how that will happen.

Good Christians can interpret the end of times in different ways. Disagreeing with one another concerning the end times does not make one outside of Christian orthodoxy. Jesus said we will not know the day or hour of the end (Matthew 24:36), so I am immediately suspect of the biblical knowledge and motives of those who claim to be certain on matters Jesus says no one (not even the angels) are aware of.

The belief that somehow Jerusalem must be recognized as a part of the end times prophetic fulfillment is actually a rather new development. In the 1800s, J. M. Darby and C. I. Scofield were proponents of a new way of understanding the Bible known as dispensationalism. It’s called dispensationalism because it assumes that God acts in different ways and has different rules during different eras (dispensations).

According to Dispensationalists, we live in the sixth dispensation, and the rapture/anti-Christ talk is from the seventh dispensation. They believe that the Temple will be rebuilt and animal sacrifices will be resumed.

Dispensationalism places a human-made system onto the biblical text, which is always dangerous. Some dispensationalists act smarter than the original authors, as the Bible is treated like a secret timeline.

Keep in mind, many Christians for over 1,800 years did not believe dispensationalism or the necessity of a literal nation-state of Israel for Christ to return. Dispensationalism and its political implications are a very new development, driven more by current politics than by biblical theology and certainly has not been upheld by theologians throughout the history of the church.

‘Contrary to the teachings of Jesus’

My concern with dispensationalism is that it requires supporting policies and practices that are contrary to the teachings of Jesus — which include more fighting, more injustice and pitting sides against one another.

In fact, dispensational theology can feed on divisiveness. If we want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Instead of being a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, where Jesus brings peace to the earth (Revelation 21:4), dispensationalism can become a self-fulfilling prophecy to massive conflict based on suspect theological assumptions.

Keep in mind John 3:16: God loves the whole world, and wants to bless America and France, Israel and Palestine (Don’t forget that there are Palestinian Christians, too!) Also, remember that Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

We can trust Jesus. He is coming back, and his kingdom, thankfully, is not a kingdom of this world.

Until then, may we share the Good News of God’s love that has been revealed in Christ Jesus and work toward peace for all.

John Whitten is lead pastor for the gathering at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene.