WINTER 2001 THE TIE VOLUME 69, NUMBER 4

W I N T E R 2 0 0 1 T H E T I E V O L U M E 6 9 , N U M B E R 4

Winter 2001 | Southern Seminary Magazine

The evangelical movement is in themidst of a massive identity crisis that threat-ens the integrity of conservative Christianityin America. As in Lord Shaftesbury’s time,the word is now applied to doctrinal posi-tions, institutions, and organizations thatbear little resemblance to the founding con-victions of the movement — and to the coreof doctrinal commitments central to evan-gelical identity.

A cadre of revisionists now seeks to rede-fine evangelical theology through a theologi-cal “megashift” that looks remarkably like theliberal theology evangelicals once rejected.Central doctrines such as Christ’s substitu-tionary atonement, verbal inspiration, the ex-clusivity of the Gospel, the reality of hell, andjustification by faith alone are rejected in fa-vor of a new evangelical paradigm.

The Augustinian and Reformation foun-dations of the evangelical tradition are tobe replaced with a new doctrinal platformcomplete with a wrathless deity and an un-necessary cross.

Advocates of this “megashift” declarethat the revolution is inevitable as youngerevangelicals reject the old doctrines. Theshift may be hidden by the continued useof traditional language, but the older wordshave been redefined.

A prime example of this redefinition isseen in the new concept of God’s omni-science promoted by those who championthe “openness of God.” According to thesetheologians, God’s omniscience has beenwrongly understood throughout the his-tory of the church. We are now to under-stand that God is truly wise and infinitelyresourceful, but not all-knowing in anygenuine sense.

God is open to the future, they argue.He knows all that can be known, but evenGod cannot know what free creatures willchoose in the future, and since these deci-sions determine the shape of the future,God is waiting with His creatures to seehow it will all work out in the end. God

knows all that can be known, and that is allthere is to say.

This is an ancient heresy in a new guise.This limited deity is not the God of theBible. This “openness theology” may fitcomfortably with modern metaphysics andcontemporary culture’s idea of a relationaldeity, but the God of the Bible knows allthings exhaustively, reigns over His creation,and is never depicted as a mere spectator —even an “infinitely resourceful” spectator.

The Evangelical Theological Society re-cently held its annual meeting. The Colo-rado Springs event brought togetherevangelical scholars and theologians fromall over the country. The controversy overopenness theology was on the agenda, andthe society adopted a resolution declaringthe openness view to be incompatible withbiblical inerrancy — the society’s foundingcriterion for membership. The resolutionpassed by a large margin, but only a minor-ity of members voted. Furthermore, advo-cates of the openness theology declaredthat they continue to press for full accep-tance of their views. The ETS vote washardly conclusive.

Identity crisis threateningevangelical movement

PRESIDENT’S JOURNAL

Evangelicalism’s identity crisis is an in-tegrity crisis. If “evangelical” can mean any-thing or everything, it means nothing. Ifevangelicalism is divided over an issue asbasic as God’s omniscience, it is headedinto utter confusion.

Every word requires a definition, andthe definition limits how the word canrightly be used. As Charles Spurgeon oncefulminated, “It is mere cant to cry, ‘We areevangelical; we are evangelical’ and yet de-cline to say what evangelical means.”

The founders of modern evangelicalismsought to identify themselves with the faithonce delivered to the saints, with the classi-cal tradition of orthodox doctrine, with anaffirmation of the total truthfulness and au-thority of the Bible, with the formal and ma-terial principles of the Reformation, with theexclusivity of the Gospel and the urgency ofconversionist evangelism, and with the boldpreaching that Jesus saves sinners.

None of these can now be taken forgranted among those who call themselvesevangelicals. We need a truth in advertisingcampaign if “evangelical” is to be saved frommeaninglessness. A failure of evangelicalnerve will lead to evangelical disaster.

As a movement, evangelicalism now en-compasses a vast array of publishinghouses, theological schools, colleges,magazines, mission societies, andparachurch organizations. The movementhas been a mighty force for Gospel witnessand a voice for righteousness in the cul-ture. Will this continue? Only time will tell.This much is clear — if evangelicalism is toregain its witness and momentum, it mustfirst regain its doctrinal convictions.

The Southern Baptist Theological Semi-nary is determined before God to be genu-inely Baptist and genuinely evangelical, andto hold these commitments with integrityas we are accountable to our churches. Ourfaculty is driven by this commitment; ourstudents are drawn by this determination;and our faithfulness will be measured bythis accountability. By God’s grace, we in-tend to teach and to demonstrate whatevangelical really means.

The late Earl of Shaftesbury once quipped, “I know what constitutes an

Evangelical in former times . . . I have no clear notion what constitutes

one now.” Lord Shaftesbury is hardly alone in his confusion.

CONTENTSF E A T U R E

A Conversation with Carl F. H. HenryBy Russell Moore

What does it mean to be an evangelical?Forum: R. Albert Mohler Jr., Daniel L. Akin, Bruce A. Ware

Christianity and Liberalism at Vacation Bible SchoolBy Russell Moore

D E P A R T M E N T S

Faculty Focus: Robert SteinThe author is king in biblical interpretation

Student Focus: Shawn MerithewLeading his flock with conviction

Alumni Focus: Greg ThornburyA sponge squeezes its water of wisdom

S O U T H E R N A C C E N T S

Southern Seminary News

A L U M N I N E W S

News from the lives of Southern Seminary alumni

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26The Southern Seminary Magazine (The TIE) (ISSN00407232) is published four times a year by The South-ern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2825 LexingtonRoad, Louisville, KY 40280, 1-800-626-5525.

Executive Editor: Lawrence A. SmithEditor: Peter BeckAssociate Editor: Michael FoustDesign Editor: Jared HallalAssociate Design Editor: John RogersContributing Writers: Russell MoorePhotography: David Merrifield, James Moses,Andrew RawlsProofreaders: Meredith Carter, Bryan Cribb

Winter 2001. Vol. 69, No. 4. Copyright © 2001 TheSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary. Periodical post-age paid at Louisville, KY. Postmaster: Send addresschanges to: Public Relations, 2825 Lexington Road, Louis-ville, KY 40280, or e-mail us at [email protected].

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A Conversationwith

Carl F. H.Henry

Dr. Henry, two names are at the fore-front of the contemporary evangelical

movement: Carl Henry and Billy Graham. As you know, BillyGraham recently completed a crusade here in Louisville, forwhich hundreds of our students and faculty members servedas counselors. From your perspective, what is the legacy ofBilly Graham for evangelicals in America?

Evangelicals will never replace Billy Graham.Unless the church finds a full recovery of the

evangelistic mandate, evangelicals will find the post-Grahamera to be costly indeed. We discover what Billy Graham hasalways known; that it takes more than money and publicrelations to carry forward this vision of the Gospel for a lostworld. I’m optimistic, though. It is good to see some of theseminaries, such as Southern Seminary with its Billy GrahamSchool, recovering the missionary duty of all believers.

The TIE: You and Dr. Graham were both present on SouthernSeminary’s campus just a few short years ago, at the inaugura-tion of President Mohler. He is only one of an entire genera-tion of Southern Baptists who have been influenced by yourscholarship as an evangelical theologian, firmly committed tothe authority and inerrancy of the Bible. In the early days ofthe postwar evangelical movement, you noted frustrationwith Southern Baptists because we were so reluctant to joinin cooperative efforts with the larger evangelical movement.Now, it seems that, in many ways, Southern Baptists are lead-ing the evangelical movement, or at least its more conserva-tive wing. To what do you attribute this turnaround?

Henry: Southern Baptists have been blessed with vast resourcesin their attempt to be obedient to the Great Commission. As amatter of fact, the resources of the Southern Baptist Conven-tion and the entire evangelical movement were not too dissimi-lar at one time. Evangelicals, however, were wary, as were

Carl F. H. Henry is the dean of evangelical theologians. He servedas the founding editor of Christianity Today and is the author ofover 35 books, including his widely influential six-volume work,God, Revelation and Authority.

Russell D. Moore teaches Christian theology at The SouthernBaptist Theological Seminary and serves as executive director ofthe Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement. TheHenry Institute cooperated with Crossway Books to makepossible the republication of God, Revelation and Authority in1999. It is now available from Crossway.

The TIE:

Henry:

conservative Southern Baptists, of the inroads of modernism inthe SBC seminaries, colleges and other facets of Conventionlife. The collapse of modernism and the reassertion of a com-mitment to biblical authority within the denomination are sig-nificant. It means that God has provided a new opportunity forevangelical renewal within the denomination and beyond. Thisis why you now see Southern Baptists proudly claiming evan-gelical identity, and taking on positions of national and globalevangelical leadership. The evangelical renewal among South-ern Baptists preserves the SBC’s historic biblical loyalties whileat the same time energizing its evangelistic fervor. For me, thisis seen clearly in President Mohler’s academic and evangelisticdedication to perpetuating the biblical ideals of the SouthernBaptist movement’s founders.

The TIE: We’ve used the term “evangelical” several times inthis interview, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to de-fine the word, especially when theologians of almost everyconceivable theological stripe seem willing to call them-selves “evangelicals.” Is it possible to define “evangelicalism”theologically?

Henry: In 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, the indispensability of biblical the-ology to a sound doctrinal foundation is placed beyond doubt. An

A Conversationwith

Carl F. H.Henry

By Russell D. Moore

Southern Seminary Magazine | Winter 2001 page 3

evangelical is one who is Scripture-accordant. Twice, the ApostlePaul stipulates faith “according to the Scriptures.” He said this is ina context that includes the substitutionary death and bodily resur-rection of Jesus Christ. Without this dependence on and submis-sion to biblical revelation, there is no evangelicalism.

The TIE: But, Dr. Henry, a newer group of “reformist”evangelicals, such as Stanley Grenz, have criticized your viewof propositional, verbal revelation. They believe it to be aleftover of Enlightenment rationalism. What are yourthoughts on the “communitarian” and postmodern visionsof revelation and authority that are being proposed byGrenz and others?

Henry: If evangelicalism is not defined on revelatory grounds, thenit wasn’t worth the effort. These critics of propositional revelationare quite subtle in the way they substitute one set of “revelatorypropositions” for others. In a half-generation or less, these viewswill be “also ran” ideas, questing for new alternatives. In fact,postmodernism, which expresses itself in a variety of ways, is al-ready looking for such alternatives to its failed proposals.

The TIE: Perhaps the noisiest advocates for evangelical “re-form” have been the “open theists,” such as Clark Pinnockand Greg Boyd. They deny that God knows the future freedecisions of His creatures, and they argue that God has lim-ited His sovereignty over His creation. Of course, you are inmany ways their foil, Dr. Henry, with your view of God, aview that very much reflects the position of historic Chris-tian orthodoxy on God and His attributes. What is at stakefor evangelicalism in this debate over the doctrine of God?

Henry: So-called “open theism” is nothing new. It is the latestamong many contemporary attempts at theism, which arewarped by modern speculative philosophies. A century ago, theaddicts of philosophical theism began to espouse modified doc-trines of God latched and bolted to a revelational doctrine ofGod only in certain respects. This is what the open theists havetried as well. Once the sovereignty and exhaustive foreknowl-edge of God are compromised, much else soon goes with it. Atthe end, one is not left with a doctrine of God at all. As I said be-fore, if evangelical theology is derived from speculative ratherthan revelational grounds, then this is the end result.

The TIE: Your 1947 book, The Uneasy Conscience of ModernFundamentalism, had a tremendous impact on the fledglingevangelical movement. In it, you argued against the olderfundamentalist tendency to withdraw from the world, seek-ing only to evangelize individuals and to live separated lives.The question of Christian social and political engagement isnow being raised again. Some even look to the public’s reac-tion to the Clinton scandals of a few years ago and concludethat evangelicals should withdraw from the public squareand tend to preaching our Gospel, raising our family, andplanting our churches. Should 21st century evangelicals stillheed the message of The Uneasy Conscience?

Henry: The mission of the church is to embrace both evangelismand cultural impact. To neglect either one is catastrophic. This isthe lesson of both Protestant liberalism and fundamentalism.

The TIE: But, how can evangelicals maintain this bal-ance? How can we be politically engaged without sub-stituting Capitol Hill lobbying campaigns for evangelisticcrusades? Or vice-versa?

Henry: The Scripture speaks of a new society and of new persons.A new society presupposes new persons whose sins have beenwashed in the blood of Jesus. This is what Protestant liberalismmissed. Only a regenerate mankind has the resources of the Re-deemer to transform humanity. This means a constant emphasis,not just on transforming humanity, but also on the new birth.

The TIE: So this means both Capitol Hill and the evangelisticcrusade?

Henry: Every way of not doing evangelism is wrong. EveryChristian—young or old—is called to evangelize. But the ques-tion of a good conscience must not be lost in the evangelisticquest. This means being salt and light in the world.

The TIE: How then, even in questions of personal morality,do evangelicals escape losing the culture war by joining theother side? In other words, how can we engage the world inwhat you once called the “twilight of a great civilization”without either unwittingly picking up the values and priori-ties of a darkening culture, or resorting to the kinds of legal-ism that characterized the older fundamentalism?

Henry: The Holy Spirit. For evangelicals to find the joy of obedi-ence to their Lord, and the spiritual reward of a walk with thecrucified and risen and returning Redeemer, there is no alter-native but a dependence on the work of the Holy Spirit. He isthe renewing agent of God’s distinctive people. The evangelicalchurches must once again emphasize the necessity of the workof the Holy Spirit.

The TIE: Dr. Henry, you have mentioned Southern Seminary’scommitment to the Great Commission. The Henry family is nostranger to world missions. In fact, your wife, Helga, hasauthored a fascinating book on her young life, growing up as aMissionary Kid across the ocean. Many of our Southern Semi-nary students will find themselves preaching the Gospel aworld away on the mission field. How should evangelical theol-ogy inform our understanding of the Great Commission task?

Henry: I cannot improve on the Apostle Paul. His theology wasa missions-minded theology. I would recommend that youngmissionaries and young theologians imagine what it wouldhave been like to spend just one day with the Apostle Paul.

The TIE: One cannot help but wonder as one looks at studentsat Southern Seminary, if, sitting among them, is the next greatevangelical theologian — the next Carl Henry. If that is thecase, what would advice you have for this young student?

Henry: I am very worried about the loss of the priority of themind among evangelicals. This is a matter of great importancein the struggle for evangelical fidelity. It must not be forgotten.I would recommend that an upcoming evangelical theologiantake a good course in logic, and spend some extensive practiceputting it to work. �


The Southern Seminary Magazineasked President Mohler and facultymembers of the School ofTheology to offer their expertiseand insight into the current state ofthe evangelical movement. Ourcontributors are Drs. R. AlbertMohler Jr., Daniel L. Akin andBruce A. Ware.

The TIE: What defines the word

“evangelical?”

Akin: That is a lot more difficult than it used

to be. The word has become quite elastic.

The safest and most sound way to define

the word is to allow Scripture to set the

parameters. 1 Corinthians 15: 3-6 is a good

place to start. Here the evangel or good

news is defined in terms of the person and

work of Jesus Christ accomplished by His

death on the cross and His resurrection.

From this core definition, Scripture

incorporates both an objective and

subjective aspect. Who Jesus is and what

Jesus did is the objective reality. Our

appropriation of His person and work is the

subjective component. Both elements must

be present for a completely biblical

understanding of the Gospel.

Ware: “Evangelical” is used of a

movement of Christian believers who

wish to make the Gospel — the

euangelion — central to and defining of

their deepest convictions and of the way

they choose to live their lives. An

evangelical, then, is someone who

believes the Gospel, that by faith alone in

Christ’s death and resurrection alone

may guilty sinners be forgiven of sin and

be righteous before our holy God.

Having said this, it is clear that this

straightforward Gospel conviction does

not stand on its own. Many other doc-

trines impinge on the integrity and truth-

fulness of the Gospel. So, evangelicals

also hold as non-negotiable those doc-

trines that are necessarily and inextrica-

bly tied to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ

– doctrines which, if not true, would

jeopardize and nullify the integrity and

truthfulness of the Gospel. For example,

evangelicals, uphold the inspiration and

authority of Scripture as essential, for

without this revealed word from God we

would have no absolute understanding

of the life, ministry, death, and resurrec-

tion of Christ, nor of God’s call to believe

in Christ to be saved.

Evangelicals also believe that the doc-

trine of the Trinity is essential, for it is the

triune God alone who saves, as the Father

“If evangelical means everything,

it means nothing.

There must be some specific content.

...what has distinguished evangelicalism

has been its clear articulation of the Gospel

and the principle of biblical authority.”

— R. Albert Mohler Jr.

Dr. Daniel L. Akin

Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.

Dr. Bruce A. Ware


sends his beloved Son to take on

our sin and receive the Father’s

wrath against him for our sin, and the Son

carries out this redemptive mission and is

raised to new life by the power of the

Spirit. Evangelicals also believe in the doc-

trine of the sinfulness of all humanity in

the one sin of Adam, condemning all and

requiring grace for any to be saved. Doc-

trines such as the redemptive purposes

and foreknowledge of God, virgin birth,

substitutionary atonement, bodily resur-

rection, final judgment – these, and more

– then, are necessary for the Gospel to

have integrity and to be true, so

evangelicals hold them with full convic-

tion.

Mohler: I would argue for an inherently

theological definition of what it means to

be an evangelical. Among evangelical

scholars, historians and writers there has

been an argument about what

evangelicalism means. The movement is

most closely identified with those leaders

who came out of fundamentalism after

World War II. What made them distinct

from the fundamentalist was not so much

theology but attitude. They stood with

the fundamentalists in contending for the

faith once for all delivered to the saints

demanding belief in biblical inerrancy and

the full authority and the inspiration of

the Scripture. But, what made them

distinct from the fundamentalist was the

fact that when the evangelicals looked to

the culture they saw a responsibility for

Christian engagement and not an

opportunity for Christian withdrawal.

So it was the radical separationism and

the cultural disengagement of fundamen-

talism that the early evangelical leaders

wanted to overcome. This is perhaps best

articulated by Carl F. H. Henry in his

book, The Uneasy Conscience of Ameri-

can Fundamentalism. By the time you

come to the late 1940s and the 1950s you

see the emergence of distinctly evangeli-

cal institutions and a movement that

included theological seminaries publish-

ing houses, colleges and it quickly under

Carl Henry, who also had a flagship peri-

odical which was Christianity Today, gave

voice to what evangelicalism was. But

no one doubted that this was essentially

defined by theological conviction and

cultural engagement.

The TIE: Are there “boundaries” for

evangelical doctrine? If so, who decides

what they are? How are they

“enforced?”

Mohler: One of the issues I deal with in

my writing on the issue is the fact that any

word must have a definition. And so the

word evangelical simply must have a

boundaried meaning if it is to be

understood, if it is to have any inherent

meaning. Our current controversy over

boundaries have been really prompted by

the fact that there are those who want to

claim the name of evangelical while

abandoning evangelical conviction. That

is something that we simply must not

allow. If evangelical means everything, it

means nothing. There must be some

specific content. Evangelicalism has been

a diverse movement from the very

beginning. As a matter of fact, it has

included persons from Reformed,

Lutheran, Free Church, even some

Charismatic and Wesleyan elements. But

what has distinguished evangelicalism has

been its clear articulation of the Gospel

and the principle of biblical authority.

Akin: I do believe there are boundaries

for evangelical doctrine. Jude speaks of

our contending for the faith that was

once for all delivered to the saints.

However, given our ecclesiology, these

boundaries can only be defined by

consensus, or perhaps better stated, by

confession. Hence, there can be no

unanimous consensus on every detail of

doctrine, though there ought to be

broad and basic agreement among all

those who affirm the Lordship of Jesus

Christ and the normativeness of

Scripture for establishing doctrine.

Ware: The clearest boundaries for

evangelical doctrine are set by the

doctrines internal to the Gospel itself,

and by those doctrines which, though

perhaps not central, are nonetheless

essential for the Gospel also to be true.

For example, the doctrine of the Trinity

may not seem to some to be central to

or internal to the Gospel itself, but in fact

the doctrine of the Trinity is essential for

the Gospel to be true. There can be no

substitutionary death for sinners if the

Son does not bear the wrath of the

Father in the power of the Spirit for our

sins. On the other hand, the question of

charismatic gifts is not central to the

Gospel, for one can hold that these gifts

have ceased, or that they continue in this

age, and neither view impinges on the

integrity or truthfulness of the Gospel.

One recent doctrinal dispute con-

cerns whether God has exhaustive

knowledge of the future. I believe that

those who deny exhaustive divine fore-

knowledge — open theism — have de-

nied a doctrine essential for the Gospel

to have integrity and to be true. If God

does not know that Adam will sin, He

cannot plan for the salvation of sinners

in the ways Scripture declares He does

(e.g., Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 1:20).

And, if the Father does not know

whether the Son will go to the cross, He

cannot have secured our salvation from

before the foundation of the world.

We do not have an official ecclesial

body to regulate such matters, however,

so we simply must make our case from

Scripture to the broader evangelical

community and seek for consensus and

widespread unanimity. Various ecclesial

bodies — denominations, churches, in-


“It is my own conviction that those who affirm an

open view of God have in actuality ceased to be

evangelicals, no matter how loudly they may

protest. I am absolutely convinced that to walk

down this road is to travel a course that will result

in a dead end theologically and evangelistically.”

— Daniel L. Akin

stitutions — will be responsible before

God to secure the integrity of Gospel

commitment and doctrinal agreement

among their various constituents.

The TIE: So the Bible itself then

enforces what an evangelical is?

Mohler: Well you know in theory that will

be true. The problem is that the actual

policing of evangelical identity has

become nearly impossible because there

is no evangelical magisterium like that

found in the Roman Catholic Church.

There is no evangelical police force and

there is no council of evangelical

theologians who define these issues.

Now there are organizations that have

attempted to take this on. As a matter of

fact, the tortuous issue of evangelical

identity has prompted probably more

conferences than anything else in

evangelicalism over the past 30 years.

This fall at the Evangelical Theological

Society, that society of evangelical

theologians sought to come to terms

with whether or not, for instance, the

openness of God as pronounced by

the revisionist theist is acceptably

evangelical. I have clearly argued that it is

not. It is a sub-evangelical or non-

evangelical perspective and it needs to

be identified as such.

The TIE: Where is the evangelical

movement headed in the future?

Akin: The future of evangelicalism is

uncertain. In fact, the foundations appear

somewhat shaky given recent trends

within the greater evangelical community.

Mohler: I think the biggest development

in evangelicalism of the last quarter

century has been its political awakening,

its re-emergence as a cultural force. This

has not always been pretty because

evangelicals have sometimes adopted a

very short list of concerns for their

worldview and cultural engagement.

This is still a good development, a

very positive development, in that

evangelicals have awakened from their

slumber. But, we need to move towards

a complete and comprehensive recovery

of the Christian worldview, a content for

Christian truth at every point where it

intersects with the culture.

Now in terms of where evangelicalism is

going, I fear that the younger generation of

evangelicals has a loose grip on those theo-

logical convictions that are at the core of


evangelical identity. I want to insist

that evangelicalism is not just a move-

ment, much less just a mood. It is a distinc-

tive model of theological conviction. The

bane and the blessing of evangelicalism is

that it is a populist movement. This is a

good thing in that it is rooted in our refor-

mation understanding of sola Scriptura and

the clarity of Scripture and the sufficiency of

Scripture and the fact that all persons are

called to personal faith and trust in the Lord

Jesus Christ. That personal relationship with

Jesus Christ is very important. But, the

populist dimension of evangelicalism has

also left it open to some of the most superfi-

cial expressions of faith. So, I also fear that

evangelicalism, at least as perceived by

American culture, is often identified with

American consumerism, materialism, and

entertainment-driven culture.

Ware: I am sad to say that the evangelical

movement is heading in the direction of

tolerating an increasing amount of

doctrinal variation, such that the Gospel

cannot but be implicated. Even now, we

see evangelical institutions accepting as

legitimate understandings of Scripture the

possibility of true conversion of sinners

who know nothing of the Gospel of

Christ’s death and resurrection for their

sins, the possibility of a general Gospel

proclamation to all people after their

physical death and before the final

judgment, the annihilation of the wicked

on the day of judgment, and, as mentioned

above, the denial of God’s exhaustive

foreknowledge. Some self-professing

evangelicals are proposing that masculine

God-language give way to a more

acceptable and sensitive expression, where

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is replaced

with Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

Some propose that evangelicalism is

composed of a big tent where there are no

definite boundaries. No movement can

hold together without commonly agreed

on and non-negotiable commitments,

however. Evangelicalism of the “big tent”

will soon splinter, and our only hope of a

unified movement is in our reaffirmation

of the Gospel and of those doctrines

essential to its integrity and truthfulness.

The TIE: So, in short then, there is a

danger of the word “evangelical” being

slapped on any number of things that

are in fact not evangelical.

Mohler: That is exactly right. And here

again I go back to the fact that there are

some people who identify evangelicalism

just as conservative Christianity in

America. Others, it’s kind of a mood of

thinking well of Jesus. And others have a

far more substantial understanding. The

problem is that there is no single voice

for evangelicalism to define what it

means. Given the cacophony of voices in

contemporary evangelicalism you can

find almost whatever you are looking for.

But, as problematic as the term is, it is

still indispensable. We can’t get away

from it because it is the one word that

best describes who we are to be as a

Gospel people. That is the evangel in

evangelicalism and that is just non-

negotiable.

The TIE: What are some dangers on the

horizon for evangelical theology?

Ware: In general, the greatest danger

in any and every generation is

accommodation of Christian faith to

those values and beliefs, antithetical to

Christian faith, that are most strongly

and urgently held within the culture at

large. For us, one of those sets of values

and beliefs is found in the secular

feminist movement. I do not view

evangelical feminists as having given up

the Gospel or as holding doctrines

antithetical to the Gospel. But, if secular

feminism continues its pull on the

evangelical community so that the

Bible’s own masculine God-language is

rejected for something more acceptable

to cultural sensitivities, this would mark

a clear departure from the Gospel.

Another dominant value of our culture

is human autonomy, and when our

evangelical theologians suggest that

human freedom is the central value God

has in creating human beings, one sees

theology’s accommodation to culture.

Our hope is that God will give courage,

winsomeness, and faithfulness to

evangelicals to hold the truth once for all

delivered to saints, and to do so with

conviction and joy.

Mohler: I think that the saddest obser-

vation of contemporary evangelicalism is

that in many ways, the theologians on

the evangelical left are just repeating the

same mistakes of the liberals now a half

century later. You go back and read the

liberals of the 20th century, and many of

our evangelicals who are promoting a

revisionist’s model of evangelicalism

sound very much the same. The same

temptations, the same theological

proposals warmed over for an

evangelical audience. That is very

dangerous.

Many of the concerns about the

exclusivity of the Gospel, the inerrancy

of Scripture, and classical theism, these

are issue that would have never been

open to debate or discussion among

evangelicals in the earlier generation.

They were the very belief that set

evangelicals apart from theological

liberals. But now we find some of these

same teachings among those who claim

to be evangelical. And again at the

popular level, the great danger is being

seduced by popular culture. This is

simply so pervasive a problem that it

is hard to get an adequate grip on it.

We are so much a part of American

culture that when you say “evangelical

Americans” or “American evangelicals,”


“Our hope is that God will give courage,winsomeness, and faithfulness to

evangelicals to hold the truth once forall delivered to saints,

and to do so with conviction and joy.”— Bruce A. Ware

it’s sometimes hard to know how to

distinguish the one commitment from

the other. We are so much a part of a

materialistic, consumer-driven culture

that many of the values most evident in

evangelicals at the operational level are

not convictions that are well established

in the Scriptures to say the very least.

Akin: I believe the most immediate

danger is the doctrine of God. I have in

mind particularly the new kid on the

block known as open theism. Persons in

this camp are attempting to redefine

God in a way that, heretofore, was never

conceived within orthodox, evangelical

Christianity. That God would be

understood as not knowing all things

past, present and future, actual and

potential, was inconceivable for the great

theologians of the Christian tradition. A

redefining of God of necessity will

require a redefining of other major

doctrines as well. It is my own conviction

that those who affirm an open view of

God have in actuality ceased to be

evangelicals, no matter how loudly they

may protest. I am absolutely convinced

that to walk down this road is to travel

a course that will result in a dead

end theologically and evangelistically.

Ultimately, the Gospel itself will be

redefined. As is often the case, our

greatest threat is not from without but

from within.

Mohler: At the end of the day, the word

“evangelical” is extremely problematic

but absolutely essential. With all of its

problems and associated meanings, the

bottom line is that the word continues to

be the one most indispensable identifier

of a conservative Christian who comes

out of the Reformation traditions and

holds to the blessed simplicity of the

Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. �

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the ninthpresident of The Southern BaptistTheological Seminary and Professor ofChristian Theology.

Daniel L. Akin is Vice President forAcademic Administration, Dean of theSchool of Theology and Professor ofChristian Preaching.

Bruce A. Ware is Senior Associate Deanof the School of Theology and Professorof Christian Theology.


By Russell D. Moore

It would be hard to imagine what Southern Baptist

life would be like today without the influence of a

man named Clark Pinnock. Over 30 years ago,

Pinnock was a conservative firebrand on the faculty

of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

His classroom was aglow with

passion for the complete

inerrancy and authority of

Scripture. The French Quarter

was abuzz with Pinnock’s

students carrying to the streets

the Great Commission they

found so emphasized in his

lectures. The moderate SBC

leadership in Nashville was

appalled as he traveled

around the country calling the

denomination to return to its

founding commitment to the

authority of biblical truth. If

there is any question about

whether Pinnock had an

impact, simply look at the

names of those who would lead

the SBC’s conservative resurgence in the 1970s

and 1980s. It looks almost like an alumni directory

of the 1960s New Orleans Seminary: Paige

Patterson, Jerry Vines, Adrian Rogers, and the list

goes on and on.

Russell D. Moore teaches Christian theology at The SouthernBaptist Theological Seminary.

But, for Pinnock, all of that has changed. He now

stands as a tragic “exhibit A” of the breakdown of evan-

gelical conviction. He has long since abandoned his previ-

ous convictions on biblical inerrancy. He now believes that

God does not know the future free decisions of His crea-

tures, a growing movement among evangelical theologians

known as “open theism.” He now argues that God some-

times changes His mind, moving from Plan “A” to Plan “B” as

God gains new information about the unfolding of history.

He now asserts that sometimes God is mistaken in biblical

prophecies, even arguing that Jesus

was wrong a time or two.

But Pinnock is not alone. He repre-

sents a larger trend in American

evangelicalism, as evangelicals un-

dergo a very public identity crisis.

Evangelical denominations now have

knockdown fights in convention halls

about whether or not God knows the

future. Evangelical theologians publish

articles arguing that God sometimes

makes mistakes. They say the Bible

tells them so. Evangelical publishers

print competing paperbacks debating

whether faith in Christ is necessary for

salvation. An evangelical singer-

songwriter announces that God is

leading her to divorce her husband,

and to marry another one.

But the questions over evangelical

identity are not ultimately about turf

wars over publishing houses or aca-

demic guilds. They are about one

question: Will evangelicals be able to

preserve an authentic Christian wit-

ness for the next generation?

In all of this, it is appearing more and more likely that the fu-

ture of evangelical conviction will not be decided in a denomina-

tional convention, or in a theological society meeting. It will be

decided at Vacation Bible School. The next battleground over

evangelical conviction will center at the place where it matters

the most, the local congregations. As such, these congregations

are going to be forced to sort though some of the most basic

questions of Christian conviction: the authority of Scripture, the

nature of God and the work of Christ in salvation.

“The nextbattleground

over evangelicalconviction willcenter at theplace where itmatters the

most, the localcongregations.”


Evangelical Convictionand the Evangelical Movement

Not everyone is surprised by the clumsy way in which the

evangelical movement now seeks to find itself. The current de-

bates over God, salvation, and the Christian life are, after all,

the natural outworking of the decisions of the last generation

of evangelicalism to leave the matter of biblical inerrancy as a

matter of evangelical “consistency,” rather than evangelical “au-

thenticity.” This is seen in Clark Pinnock’s 1987 con-

frontation with some of his former students at

the International Conference on Biblical In-

errancy held at the Ridgecrest retreat cen-

ter in North Carolina. After Pinnock

apologized for misleading his New

Orleans students with a view of “ra-

tional certainty” in an inerrant

Bible, a visibly saddened Adrian

Rogers offered a response.

Rogers appealed to Pinnock’s

argument that evangelicals should

simply unite on the basis of

their common salvation by the

blood of Jesus, and move be-

yond debates over the truthful-

ness of every word of Scripture.

Rogers asked how Pinnock was

certain that there indeed was

salvation through the blood of

Jesus? After all, Rogers argued:

Many existential theologians

today and in the recent past have

concluded that blood atonement is

repugnant to modern civilized man and

that the biblical materials on blood atone-

ment represent unfortunate syncretistic accre-

tions from Israel’s pagan neighbors. How do you

know as an evangelical certainty that they are not correct,

Dr. Pinnock? I suggest that your belief in blood atone-

ment is more a function of your conservative past than of

your current philosophical and theological methodolo-

gies. In short, you believe it because you want to believe

it, not because there is anything in your present

bibliology which mandates that you believe it.

Rogers’ words have a sadly prophetic quality about them, as

Pinnock has moved further and further from where he once

stood. But this warning also sounds an alarm against the

trouble brewing among evangelicals today. Evangelicals, who,

like Rogers, protested the downgrade of biblical authority in

the last generation, were ridiculed as employing a “slippery

slope” argument. It now appears, however, that even the most

conservative of evangelicals could not have imagined how slip-

pery the slope actually was.

The “battle for the Bible” took an unpre-

pared evangelical movement by surprise.

With biblical inerrancy once a near-con-

sensus for evangelicals of all confes-

sional traditions, many now lament

half-jokingly that it is easier to find

a creationist at Berkeley than an

inerrantist at Fuller Seminary.

Might it be that the future will

see an entire wing of evangeli-

cal churches teaching that

God stands helpless in the

face of evil, that he can be

wrong about the future, or

that faith in Jesus is not neces-

sary for those who never hear

the Gospel? Or might it be that

we are already there?

Christianity Today maga-

zine, once a stalwart of Christian

orthodoxy, now chastises the

Southern Baptist Convention for,

among other things, affirming the

foreknowledge of God in its confession

of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message.

“Though openness theism clearly runs

counter to historic Christian theology, it draws

on aspects of the biblical witness that not all main-

stream theologians have integrated into their teaching,” the

editorial claims. “The ongoing debate gives these teachers a

chance to make their theology more fully biblical while remain-

ing true to the tradition.” This critique left many confessional

evangelicals incredulous. After all, Christianity Today could

just as easily have noted that the SBC should not have explicitly

included he deity of Christ in its confessional statement, since

the debate with the “Jesus Seminar” has a great deal to teach


evangelicals about the humanity of Christ.

Similarly, my colleague Bruce Ware often notes some mixed

feelings about the proliferation of Four Views books by evan-

gelical publishers. These “point/counterpoint” projects can

serve helpfully to debate and clarify issues among Bible believ-

ing Christians of various denominational traditions. Should in-

fants be baptized, or only those who have come to faith in

Christ? Is the millennial reign of

Christ a future event for resurrected

believers or a current blessing en-

joyed by the disembodied spirits in

heaven? Should churches have one

pastor or several? Now, however,

self-proclaimed evangelicals debate

in print questions once rightly seen

as foundational to whether or not

one is a Christian, much less an

evangelical. Are those who never

hear the Gospel saved anyway? Is

God all knowing and all-powerful?

Is hell forever? Is there any such

thing as truth?

This is more than an identity cri-

sis. It is the same problem conser-

vative Christians faced at the

beginning of the twentieth-century.

In his famous book Christianity

and Liberalism, theologian J.

Gresham Machen warned his Pres-

byterian denomination nearly a cen-

tury ago that evangelicalism and

liberalism were not merely two

stripes of Christian faith. There is,

he contended, Christianity, and

then there is liberalism, and they

are two different religions. Many

dismissed Machen as a crusty

Princeton curmudgeon, a gloomy pessimist. He couldn’t un-

derstand that it isn’t gentlemanly to disagree in public. Machen

maintained, however, that the future of the church was at

stake. One look at the “Voices of Sophia” goddess movement

in the Presbyterian Church (USA) or the denomination’s cur-

rent debate over whether practicing homosexuals may serve as

pastors should clear up any confusion. Machen was right.

Evangelical Conviction and the Local CongregationThe evangelical “movement” seems content to dismiss

these questions for the sake of unity. At worst, these new ques-

tions are granted equal time with the historic Christian faith. At

best, they are dismissed as the benign thoughts of quirky

brethren with a slightly different view of the Bible, or of God,

or of truth, or of sexual morality, or what have you. The ramifi-

cations of this attitude for the local

congregation in the generations to

come, however, are breathtaking.

One shudders to imagine a

Southern Baptist pastor before an

open casket, reassuring the grieving

family members that God was just

as shocked as they are by the fatal

accident of their loved one. One

can imagine the young Baptist teen-

ager who goes off to college reli-

gion class, having been assured by

his Sunday school teachers in years

past that Christianity is “true for

us.” One can imagine the collective

yawn that greets the Lottie Moon

Christmas offering appeal by a con-

gregation of people who have been

told for years that those across the

world who never hear the Gospel

are “safe in Jesus.”

This means that the first line of

defense against the downgrade of

biblical authority is not an evangeli-

cal “movement.” The parachurch

evangelical movement is a blessing

to the church. There are thousands

of believers who would never have

heard the Gospel without Campus

Crusade for Christ. The Council on

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood counters the heartbreak of

feminism by educating evangelicals of many denominations on

what it means to be male and female, created in the image of

God. Focus on the Family strengthens the church of Christ by

calling on parents to shepherd the hearts of their children, and

to love one another in obedience to the Bible. Still, these min-

istries are the first to remind us that they are only as strong as

the churches they serve.

“Indeed, withoutthe evangelical

movement, it canbe legitimatelyargued, there

never would havebeen a

conservativeresurgence in theSouthern Baptist

Convention.”


The evangelical movement was once the bulwark

against Protestant denominations that were quickly de-

scending toward apostasy. When the denominations replaced

missions with a political agenda and evangelism with pluralism,

various parachurch ministries arose to fill in the gaps. Indeed,

without the evangelical movement, it can be legitimately ar-

gued, there never would have been a conservative resurgence

in the Southern Baptist Convention. This is easily seen by the

influence of conservative evangelicals such as Carl Henry,

Francis Schaeffer, and, yes, the young Clark Pinnock on the

new generation of SBC conservatives.

With evangelical identity now more and more confused,

however, the “movement” has no mechanism to reform it-

self. With such the case, more and more evangelicals are

realizing that though the evangelical movement is impor-

tant, it is not the first priority. The defense of the faith is

ultimately dependent upon something much more ba-

sic, and much more ancient: the preaching and teach-

ing of local churches. And yet this is perhaps the

most dangerous minefield of all.

Evangelical Conviction and the NextGeneration

An evangelical publisher recently released

a new Bible study curriculum based on The

Andy Griffith Show. The new material allows

evangelical Sunday school classes and small

groups to draw out the New Testament mean-

ings from reruns of the popular television

program. Despite the fact that most of the

show’s writers were actually Jewish,

and thus (quite understandably) did

not infuse Christian teachings into the

episodes, many are enthusiastic about

the prospects for Christian education.

In fact, it has been followed by similar

Bible studies based on The Brady

Bunch and I Love Lucy. “Mayberry was a good town with good

people,” says the founder of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun

Watchers Club. “It’s easy to find parallels with Christian teach-

ing and the story of Mayberry.”

One is not likely to find much about the coming judgment

and God’s provision of redemption in Jesus Christ in The Andy

Griffith Show. One probably will not find much about the om-

nipotence and omniscience of God. But the program might

teach us good old-fashioned values, like the ones they had in

Mayberry. And after all, isn’t that what Christianity is all about?

Philosopher Francis Fukuyama suggests that American reli-

gion is often less a truth claim about God than a strategy to en-

force the values of the community. “Religion is frequently not

so much the produce to dogmatic belief as it is the provider

of a convenient language that allows communities to ex-

press moral beliefs that they would hold on entirely secular

grounds,” he writes. In this, Fukuyama is consistent with

an entire heritage of Christianity’s cultured despisers.

Christians do not really believe that their God-talk is ob-

jectively true, they say, but the idea of an all-glorious, all-

seeing God of love and judgment keeps the morals and

manners of the masses in check.

Some evangelicals would have a hard time proving

Fukuyama wrong. Try to find an evangelical children’s

Sunday school lesson on the conquest of Canaan, the

destruction of Sodom, or the sinless perfection of

Christ. Generations past pressed into their children

the entire sweep of the biblical record. A Baptist

father might have taught his daughter, for ex-

ample, to memorize the answer to the ques-

tion, “Can God do all things?” Her answer

would be, “Yes. God can do all His holy will.”

This was because the family believed it was

important that she understand all of what

God had revealed about Himself. Knowing

God in Christ was a goal, not just a means to

an end.

Today, however, our temptation is

to use the Gospel as a prop for the

higher pursuit of “Christian values,”

for children as well as for adults. Too

often in our preaching and teaching,

we fail to communicate to our people

the preciousness, not just that the

Gospel “works”, but that it is true.

We can easily refer to the God who has redeemed us in Christ

in order to move on to the “more important” priorities of see-

ing our children share their Play-Doh, our teenagers avoid the

bar scene, and our adults support the building fund. Our evan-

gelical forefathers had a name for this. They called it liberalism.

And against this, they insisted on the need, not for mere self-

improvement, but for a new birth.

There is much in Scripture about a distinctive Christian


“Evangelicaltheology is not

ultimately aboutdenominationalfloor votes orcoffee shoptheological

arguments. It isabout the healthof our churchesand the heritagewe pass on to thenext generation.”

lifestyle. But this transformation is about more than joining a

subculture. It is because the Christian faith is objectively true.

The people of God were not just to be good citizens, or polite

neighbors. They were to reflect the character of their God.

Solomon understood that God’s

command for Israel to reflect God’s

righteousness and justice was “so

all the peoples of the earth may

know that the Lord is God: there is

none else” (1 Kings 8:60). Likewise,

the New Testament asserts that the

makeup of the church dramatically

pictures to the watching world the

moral attributes of the God who

called the assembly together by the

Spirit of His Christ (1 Pet 2:9-12).

If the Bible is just a rulebook for

a successful life, the next genera-

tion may well ask, then does it re-

ally matter whether it speaks

inerrantly about Mary’s virginity? If

the biblical God is simply the an-

swer to life’s questions, then the

day may come when the “open

god” may answer a few questions of

his own. If salvation is simply about

a moral, middle class lifestyle, then

how can I say that my Mormon

neighbors need Christ? If that day

ever comes, we might call ourselves

“evangelicals,” but we will no longer

be churches.

The ideas percolating around in

evangelicalism on Scripture, God,

and salvation may seem to be a

temporary theological fad for

evangelicals on their way out the

door, and they very well may be.

But, they might also be a harbinger

of a great time of confusion head-

ing for our churches. Not only

must we take it seriously and engage it biblically, but we must

build great congregations that are energized by the words of

our resurrected King: “And this is eternal life, that they may

know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you

have sent” (John 17:3).

This is really why Clark Pinnock’s story is so sad. His is

not just a shift from one ideology to another. It represents a

real and present danger to the churches. This is why the faculty

of The Southern Baptist Theologi-

cal Seminary is so eager to be held

accountable by our churches, sig-

naled by our signing of the Abstract

of Principles and Baptist Faith

and Message confessions of faith.

But, what if, in years to come,

we begin to drift into dismissing the

inerrancy of Holy Scripture,

downplaying the attributes of God,

or hedging on the exclusivity of

Scripture? What if, God forbid, we

ever start to play fast and loose with

the Gospel preached in the

churches that have entrusted us

with their future pastors and mis-

sionaries? Then we pray that South-

ern Baptists will love us enough to

confront us to our faces (Gal 2:11).

But more than that, we pray that

Southern Baptists will love the Gos-

pel, will love the next generation of

Baptists, enough to fire us.

While Clark Pinnock’s story is a

tragic one, it should not lead us to

despair for the next generation. Af-

ter all, Christ did not commit the

Gospel to any generic “movement,”

as helpful as it might be. He com-

mitted it to churches. Throughout

the nation, in congregations of ev-

ery size, the next generation, one

by one, is hearing an ancient and

glorious truth: Jesus is Lord. This is

why the current debates in

evangelicalism are of such great im-

portance. Evangelical theology is

not ultimately about denominational floor votes or coffee shop

theological arguments. It is about the health of our churches

and the heritage we pass on to the next generation. It’s about

Vacation Bible School. �


FACULTY FOCUS

By Jeff Robinson

It is washing over evangelicalism likethe violent waters from a brokendam and its tepid backwash

threatens to leave eternal damage in itswake: the reader-centered approach tointerpreting Scripture.

It often begins with innocent inten-tions, in, say, a Sunday School class ormid-week Bible study. The “teacher” —or perhaps more accurately, facilitator —reads a passage of Scripture. He or shefollows it with the question: “Now whatdoes this text say to you?”

And around the room it goes with dis-jointed responses coming like a merry-go-round off its axis: “This part whereJesus feeds the 5,000 says to me that weshould not be stingy and more like thelittle boy with the loaves and fishes.”

Or the textus classicus me-centeredus, “Philippians 4:13 means Ihave the power to be anything I want tobe and do anything I want to do becauseGod gives me that power.”

It is against this stream of fanciful sub-jectivity that Robert Stein has been swim-ming over the past 32 years. Stein, theMildred and Ernest Hogan Professor ofNew Testament at Southern since 1997,has established a hermeneutics programwhich he hopes to be his enduringlegacy within evangelicalism.

Stein teaches the author-centered ap-proach to Scripture and employs a spe-cific vocabulary in solving the question:“What is the author’s meaning?”

“I am really frightened by how manyevangelicals are buying into the reader-centered approach,” said Stein. “And if youreally believe that it’s not the author whodetermines the meaning then any doctrineof inspiration is ultimately irrelevant.

“If I’m the one that is inspired in read-ing the text and giving meaning to itthen you have to come down real lowwith a view of inspiration to fit that. Butif you believe that what the biblical au-thor — Mark or Paul or John — whatthey meant is the word of God and theyare inspired in writing this, then I wantto know what they meant. I want toknow what they meant, not treat the bib-lical text as kind of an inkblot that eachone of us, with good imagination, seessomething in it. I think that’s the key is-sue we’re facing.”

Stein is a veteran of the hermeneuti-cal battles. Prior to coming on staff atSouthern, the Jersey City, N.J., native

RobertStein

The author is king inbiblical interpretation

RobertStein

The author is king inbiblical interpretation


FACULTY FOCUS

spent 28 years as New Testament profes-sor at Bethel College and Bethel Semi-nary in Minneapolis.

And he has contributed many works— including a dozen books and scores ofarticles and reviews — to the body ofscholarly evangelical literature. Amonghis best-known books are Jesus the Mes-siah, published in 1996 by InterVarsityPress, The Synoptic Problem, first pub-lished in 1987 by Baker Books, and Play-ing By the Rules (Baker, 1994), thetextbook used in Southern’s hermeneu-tics classes.

In the latter work, Stein has devel-oped a very specific vocabulary to aidstudents in arriving at the biblicalauthor’s intended meaning. No studentwho takes his hermeneutics class willlikely forget the helpful terms such assubject matter, meaning, mental acts, sig-nificance, and the like.

Stein’s terms help to clear upmany foggy notions regarding thedifferent components involved inproperly interpreting Scripture. An-other helpful aspect of the user-friendly book is its discussion of thedifferent “rules” of interpretingScripture’s several literary genres.

“In our hermeneutics class wehave a very distinct vocabulary sothat students are able to work theirway through this [biblical text] us-ing a conceptual framework to whatothers are saying,” he said.

“I am appalled by how much dis-cussion of interpretation goes on inwhich terms are used very haphaz-ardly and with different meanings atone stage and another, so that’s why wedrill here on a particular framework thatwill be consistent in saying ‘by meaning Imean what the author wills to convey bythese symbols (words and letters) infront of me. Perhaps implications involvethose things of which he may not havebeen consciously aware of but fall withinthe paradigm he was teaching.’”

Though Stein is troubled by the“reader-is-king” approach to Scripture,he does see encouraging signs of lifeamong evangelical scholars. The pool ofquality scholarship among evangelicalshas deepened significantly in the pastthree decades, Stein says, to such a de-gree that evangelical scholars are nowbeing taken seriously outside the Chris-tian academy.

This has been a great shift sinceStein’s years in seminary — he graduated

“The greatest issue

that evangelicals will face

in the 21st century

is the location of the

meaning of Scripture.”

from Fuller Theological Seminary in1959, Andover Newton Theological Semi-nary in 1966, and received a Ph.D. fromPrinceton in 1968.

Said Stein, “When I went to seminaryin the late 50s, there really were notmany well-known evangelical theolo-gians. Most of the texts and books thatwe used in our classes were written bynon-evangelicals.

“In the latter half of the 20th century,there has been a remarkable increase inthe scholarship among evangelicals. Ithink evangelical scholarship is now rec-ognized. There’s a whole slew of veryfine evangelical commentaries. I think ingeneral, with articles and journals in thepast, it would have been hard to findmany written by American evangelicals,but that is not true today.”

Stein was reared in New Jersey, the

youngest of two sons to German parentswho immigrated to America in the roar-ing 20s. Stein’s brother is an attorney.Stein says his parents were uneducatedbut wise beyond knowledge that couldbe gained in the academy.

Their work ethic was such that it in-stilled in the two boys an integrity and gritthat would serve them well in their careers.

“My mom’s education is probably upto a fourth-grade level, my dad’s up to asixth- or seventh-grade level,” he said.“They had a lot of wisdom — commonsense wisdom. They had integrity — theykept their word, which was very special tothem. They worked very hard and gavetheir sons a model of hard work.”

Stein’s family attended an evangelicalUnited Brethren church during his for-mative years. He was converted just priorto beginning his undergraduate years at

Rutgers University. At Rutgers, Stein wasinvolved with InterVarsity fellowship andswitched his major from chemistry topre-Med. However, during Stein’s junioryear, God had implanted in his heart adesire for the ministry and he decided toattend seminary.

At Fuller Theological Seminary inPasadena, Stein met his wife Joan, anevent he calls “the second greatest thingthat ever happened in my life.”

They were married after his secondyear at the seminary. He served as a pas-tor in North Dakota for four years and anassociate pastor at a church in New Jer-sey during his Princeton years.

His decision to leave Bethel after nearlythree decades did not come without trepi-dation, but Stein said he wanted to helpput together a hermeneutics program atSouthern as “one last hurrah” of his teach-

ing ministry. He also teaches herme-neutics for the Seminary WivesInstitute.

“I wrote my Playing By the Rulesfor lay people,” he said. “I kept inmind that I was not writing this forother professors of hermeneutics, Iwas not writing this so that review-ers would know how smart I am,but I constantly thought of the layreader who would read this.

“I am very much angered by thosewho want to make hermeneutics socomplicated that people don’t knowhow to interpret the Bible. I thinkhermeneutics should be very down-to-earth and basically very helpful.”

Stein believes that evangelical-ism can be defined as a concern for

the spread of the Gospel to all personsand that it is distinguishable from funda-mentalism by degrees of separation fromsociety. Whereas fundamentalists stillseek to disconnnect from the larger soci-ety or even from fellow believers basedupon elements such as a particular viewof eschatology, evangelicals seek to en-gage the culture head-on, Stein said.

The greatest issue that evangelicals willface in the 21st Century is the location ofthe meaning of Scripture, Stein said.

“I don’t think what the evangelical isgoing to be struggling with over the next20 years is going to be how to interpretGenesis or creation or things of that na-ture. I don’t think it’s going to be an is-sue of inspiration. I think that was donein the 1970s and early-80s. I think the is-sue facing us is the issue of where is themeaning of the text to be found.” �


STUDENT FOCUS

By Michael Foust

Shawn Merithew knew God wasleading him to Southern Seminary.He just didn’t know how he was

going to get there.The year was 1994, and Merithew was

living in Orlando, Fla., preparing for hisfirst semester at Southern. Having just re-turned from an overseas mission trip —not to mention recently graduating fromcollege — Merithew was short on cash.

He was not, however, short on faith.Seeing that fall classes were just a few

weeks away, and realizing that he had nomoney for tuition, Merithew sold his car.

He traded one dilemma for another.Now, he needed a ride to Louisville.

“I just started calling people, saying,‘I’ve got to get to seminary. I just sold mycar to pay tuition,’” Merithew said, recall-ing his days as a single, 22-year-old.

God provided Merithew a way toSouthern, but there was a layover.Merithew hitched a ride with the Univer-

sity of Central Florida Baptist StudentUnion, which was travelling from Orlandoto Ridgecrest, N.C., for a college studentconference. As Merithew says now, itwasn’t Louisville, but it was “furthernorth” than Orlando. From Ridgegrest, hejoined up with the Indiana University-Southeast BSU, which was travelingthrough Louisville on its way home.

Merithew didn’t have much when theBSU dropped him off at Whitsett Hallthat memorable day in August — hebrought a briefcase, two suitcases and apillow — but he did have a great storyabout faith.

To top it all off, it was Merithew’s firstvisit to Southern Seminary. Ever.Merithew applied to the Louisville, Ky.,school following a recommendation byhis pastor.

“I had never been to Louisville before,”he said. “I had never been to campus be-fore. I was showing up to start classes. Ishowed up sight unseen. I knew this waswhere God was wanting me.”

A lot has changed in Merithew’s lifesince that first day on the historic cam-pus. He has since graduated with a mas-ter of divinity degree, and is set tograduate in the spring of 2002 with aPh.D. He is married to his teenage sweet-heart, the former Lisa Hubbard, and thecouple has a daughter, Grace. Merithew,29, is also pastor of Carlisle Avenue Bap-tist Church in Louisville, which recentlycelebrated its 90th anniversary and runsabout 350 in Sunday morning worship.

He has also become a voice for his-toric Baptist doctrine. Readers of theWestern Recorder — Kentucky’s Baptiststate newspaper — may know Merithewbest for his frequent letters to the editor.Merithew often finds himself playing therole of an apologist for the doctrine ofScriptural inerrancy, the 2000 BaptistFaith and Message and the SouthernBaptist Convention.

“Evangelicalism, at its heart, beginswith a high view of Scripture — with thebelief that Scripture is the inerrant, in-

ShawnMerithewLeading his flockwith conviction

ShawnMerithewLeading his flockwith conviction


STUDENT FOCUS

spired, holy Word of God,” he said. “Ithink that is one of the foundations ofwhat is true evangelicalism. I think evan-gelism disappears eventually when youforsake the inerrancy of Scripture.”

Merithew contends that while sincerepeople who discount inerrancy may claimto be evangelicals, it is only a matter oftime before they begin questioning keyorthodox beliefs — such as the miraclesof Jesus and the bodily resurrection.

“Once you forsake the truth of God’sWord, you open the Pandora’s box ofleaving behind a great deal of biblicaldoctrine,” he said. “One of the first doc-trines to go is the belief that Jesus Christis absolutely the only way of salvationand (that) explicit faith in him is neces-sary for salvation.”

Denominations that drift away fromthe doctrine of inerrancy also eventuallyabandon the exclusivity of the Gospel,Merithew said.

“History has proven that time andtime again,” he said. “We have to standby these truths if we’re going to truly beBaptists. We have to stand by God’sWord as the inerrant, inspired, holyWord of God.”

Merithew credits those in his homechurch — First Baptist Church Sweetwaterin Longwood, Fla. — for his deeply heldbeliefs. The church’s former pastor, BillHaynes, helped guide Merithew to con-servative, historic doctrine.

But it was two women close toMerithew’s heart — his wife and hismother-in-law — who figured promi-nently in leading him to Christ. Merithewmet Lisa when he was a 16-year-old highschool student. Merithew knew Lisa wasa devout Christian, but he didn’t know alot about her mom. He soon found out.

“Her mom had me over for lunch,and before I could even get many wordsout of my mouth she was saying, ‘Haveyou ever come to a place in your lifewhere you know for certain if you werestanding before God right now …’ — itwas the the E.E. (Evangelistic Explosion)presentation.”

Merithew knew he wasn’t a Christian,but he told Lisa he was saved so that shewouldn’t run him off.

“She would have never dated me ifshe had known I was not a Christian,” hesaid. “I lied to her and told her I was.”

But Lisa kept inviting him to church,and Merithew kept going. He was attend-ing simply to see Lisa, but the seeds forhis salvation were being planted. Over

time, by listening to the preaching andseeing the joy in Lisa’s life, Merithew sawthat he was lost and in need of God’sgrace. Finally, on July 8, 1990, Merithewaccepted Christ and joined that samechurch, First Baptist Church Sweetwater.He was 18 at the time and had knownLisa for two years.

The couple remained friends duringtheir college days at the University of Cen-tral Florida. They had been in college justa few short years when both of them feltGod calling them to full-time service inthe ministry. Not knowing if this wouldlead them down separate paths, they“agreed to just be good friends and seewhat the Lord was going to do.”

Merithew had already “signed offseven years” of his life to the Air Forcewhen he received his call into the minis-

try. During college he had taken part inROTC training and boot camp. At thetime of his call, he was only threemonths away from Air Force duty as asecond lieutenant. But God had otherplans, and Merithew began breach ofcontract proceedings. He was releasedwithout a hitch.

With that out of the way, and withgraduation behind him, Merithew left fora seven-month mission trip to Holland.Lisa, meanwhile, went on staff with Cam-pus Crusade for Christ.

The couple was separated, but not forlong. Merithew came back from Europeand enrolled at Southern. Campus Cru-sade sent Lisa to serve at Western Ken-tucky University in Bowling Green — justa short drive from Louisville. ForMerithew, it was just another confirma-

tion that this was whom God wantedhim to marry.

“It’s kind of amazing how Godbrought us both from Florida to Ken-tucky,” he said.

Merithew worked for three years asan assistant in the singles department inHighview Baptist Church in Louisville be-fore becoming singles minister at CarlisleAvenue. He and Lisa were married in1996. In January 2000, Merithew wascalled to Carlisle as pastor.

The pastorate, Merithew said, iswhere he feels called.

“My heart is really preaching,” he said.“That’s my passion.”

Merithew said he is committed topreaching expositorally, teaching historicBaptist doctrine and spreading the Gos-pel through evangelism.

“I thoroughly believe that expositorypreaching is the best form of preachingfor the church today,” he said.

Merithew recently preached throughColossians on Sunday mornings and Rev-elation on Sunday nights.

With expository preaching, churchmembers are taught to “to dig into theScriptures, to understand the Scripturesand to study the Scriptures. When youpreach expositorally, you’re basicallyforced to hit doctrines that might other-wise be avoided doing topical preaching.”

Teaching historic Baptist doctrine, hesaid, begins with teaching about “thesovereignty of God and a belief in theBible as the inerrant, inspired, holy Wordof God.”

Expository preaching and historicBaptist doctrine are directly related to astrong belief in missions and evangelism,Merithew said. That involves getting thecongregation involved in witnessing.

“We’re right there on the front linesdealing with family issues — divorce, al-cohol and drug-abuse situations,” hesaid. “I work with a wonderful group ofpeople and a wonderful congregation.”

Merithew is scheduled to graduatewith his Ph.D. next spring. During thesame ceremony, Lisa is also set to gradu-ate with a master of arts degree.

Merithew is not sure what the futureholds — teaching part-time at a seminaryand writing books are possibilities — but heplans on staying in the pastorate. He saidhe’s ready for whatever God has in store.

“My philosophy is (that) if God callsme to be a ditch-digger in Africa, I’mgoing to be at the hardware store buyinga shovel.” �

“We haveto stand

by these truthsif we’re going

to truly beBaptists.”


ALUMNI FOCUS

By Bryan Cribb

Ask Greg Thornbury where hereceived his formative ministerialtraining, and his reply might not

be what you expect. For the two-timeSouthern Seminary graduate, it’s not somuch a question of “where” but “who.”

And that who was R. Albert Mohler Jr.“When my students ask me where

I received my theological education,I reply with some seriousness, ‘WithDr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., in his personallibrary at 2800 Lexington Road,’” saidThornbury, a current Union Universityprofessor, who for five years served asMohler’s research assistant.

He adds, “Of course, I’m being face-tious, but not very.”

In the shadow of the almost 40,000volumes of Mohler’s basement bookroom– a hallowed locale which most Southernseminarians visit only once or twice –Thornbury absorbed wisdom like aneager sponge in an ocean-sized tub.

“In my five years working with thepresident, I had the remarkable opportu-nity to see a great theologian in action asa leader, teacher, intellectual par excel-lence, father and friend,” Thornbury said.“This experience was the singular honorof my graduate education.

Now as Thornbury plays the role ofteacher instead of pupil, the 2000 Ph.D.graduate harkens back to the myriad ofministerial and life lessons learned asMohler’s personal aide.

“Today I often find myself thinkingconsciously of Dr. Mohler’s example,”said Thornbury, who serves as assistantprofessor of Christian studies and direc-tor of the Carl F.H. Henry Center forChristian Leadership at Union in Jackson,Tenn. “As a professor, I aspire to hiskeen rhetorical sense. As a theologian, Idesire to emulate both his convictionand academic rigor. As a father, I hope tobe as attentive and caring for my daugh-ter as he is to (Mohler’s children) Katieand Christopher.”

It is that same professor/theologian/father role that Thornbury strives both tomodel and to propagate among his stu-dents at Union.

And in the theological mayhem ofpostmodern society, it is a role and voicethat increasingly needs to be played andheard, Thornbury said.

Perhaps his early experiences atSouthern best illustrate this urgency forbold conviction.

GregThornbury

A sponge squeezesits water of wisdom

GregThornbury

A sponge squeezesits water of wisdom


ALUMNI FOCUS

Thornbury arrived at Southern in1993 – a time of turmoil when Mohlerhad just taken the helm as president.

“The transition at Southern was less ofan introduction to evangelical doctrinalbattles than it was a baptism by fire,”Thornbury recalled. “In those days, takinga stand for historic orthodoxy placed onein a very small and unpopular minority. …

“Practically speaking, I learned the fol-lowing lesson from the reformation atSouthern Seminary. Being evangelicaldoes not consist merely in claiming to beone. The true Christian takes a publicstand when a decision must be made.”

In the theological tumult of the evan-gelical world – a world plagued by devi-ant doctrines ranging from open theismto open rejection of the authority ofScripture – Mohler has best modeled theloving, yet bold, conviction needed,Thornbury said.

“Every generation looks for a pro-phetic theological and cultural voicewhich rises above the din of routine reli-gious spokespersons. Previous genera-tions found theirs in the likes ofAbraham Kuyper, C. S. Lewis and Carl F.H. Henry. Our generation has R. AlbertMohler Jr.”

More public stands like Mohler’s arerequired, Thornbury said, and moretheological sentinels must be trained totake those stands.

In this way, he believes theologicaleducation can and must stem the tide ofthe across-the-board evangelical down-grade – hence his own calling to teach.

In instructing future theologians andpastors for the new age, Thornburystrives to combine biblical theologicaltraining with apologetics and methods ofcultural engagement.

“We do live in difficult times for faith-ful Gospel teaching and preaching,”Thornbury explained. “Theological edu-cators need to help future pastors under-stand that congregations are locatedwithin the context of a consumer andpopular culture which is highly insularand difficult to escape. …

“I try to help them own an epistemol-ogy and apologetic for truth which willhelp them both subvert and expose theunreal world of modern philosophy andculture.”

The Henry Institute – which Thornburydirects – is a principal means in instructingThornbury’s students in this task.

Named after the former editor ofChristianity Today and the theological

stalwart of the evangelical revival of themid- to late-1900s, the institute is one ofonly two academic centers – the other atSouthern – to which Henry has allowedhis name to be affixed.

“The Carl F. H. Henry Center forChristian Leadership at Union Universityserves as a visible manifestation ofHenry’s vision for cultural engagementand theological fidelity in higher educa-tion,” Thornbury said. “… The center isdesigned to equip Christians – specifi-cally within the Union University studentbody – with the worldview tools andleadership skills needed to achieve thegoal of effective Christian direction in ev-ery avenue of modern life.”

Yet, even as Thornbury trains minds in

the battle for the minds, he emphasizesthat hearts must also receive instruction.

“To be certain, the love and defenseof the truth characterizes the true Gos-pel minister,” Thornbury said. “Neverthe-less … as my father once put it, ‘It is onething to love the Word of God, and quiteanother to love the people of God. Thepastor must have both.”

Indeed, it was his father who also firstmodeled to him the ministerial idealThornbury is trying to teach.

“I grew up in the home of a faithfuland godly pastor,” Thornbury said of hisfather, who has pastored Winfield BaptistChurch in Winfield, Pa., for 36 years. “Myfather exhibits the wedding of head andheart that I find to be rare in the pastor-

ate today. He rises at 4 a.m. to read theBible in Greek and Hebrew. He carefullyprepares his sermons. And yet he isthere at the hospital, in his office coun-seling couples and in the pulpit leadingpeople to Christ.”

It was under his father’s preachingthat Thornbury was converted at agenine – though he said his mother alsoexerted a large influence on his earlyspiritual development.

“My mother, a faithful student of theScriptures, used to read me passagesfrom the Puritans while I ate breakfastbefore going to school,” he recalled.

The budding theologian soon fol-lowed in his father’s footsteps.Thornbury started preaching at his homechurch when he was only 14.

“I remember preaching to the youthgroup, the senior citizens group and theAnnual Sunday School Associationalmeeting,” he recalled. “I’m glad none ofthose were recorded!”

The solid foundation imparted to himat this early age continued to fermentthrough his training at Southern underits world-renowned faculty and, ofcourse, under Mohler.

This same foundation is exactly whatThornbury hopes to continue to impartto his own family with the help of hiswife Kimberly, who also serves at Unionas the dean of students.

And he hopes to continue to buildfirm foundations – like that which he ob-tained from Mohler in his library – for hisstudents as well. Through the labors ofthese equipped students, the evangelicalworld, the kingdom and the church willbe served and strengthened.

“As I teach philosophy, theology andapologetics to students at Union Univer-sity, I remind myself of this central les-son learned in part on Lexington Road —the Christian academy must see its workin service to the church,” he said.

Note: On March 7-9, 2002, UnionUniversity will sponsor a conferenceon evangelical foundations under theumbrella of revisiting Henry’s visionfor evangelicalism. Some of the mostnotable admirers of the Henry legacywill be speaking, including MillardErickson, R. Albert Mohler Jr. and DavidDockery. Other speakers will include C.Ben Mitchell, Paul R. House, MalcolmYarnell, David Gushee and Thornbury.Those interested in attending this con-ference may contact Thornbury directlyat [email protected]. �

“Being evangelicaldoes not consist

merely in claimingto be one.

The true Christiantakes a public stand

when a decisionmust be made.”


By Michael Foust

Extremists may kill innocent people inthe name of Allah, but that is not theultimate danger of the Islamic faith, saysR. Albert Mohler Jr.

The biggest danger, Mohler says, isthat Islam presents a false Gospel, a falsegod and a false salvation.

Mohler, president of Southern BaptistTheological Seminary, spoke about Is-lam, Judaism and the Christian faith dur-ing a chapel message titled “TheologyMatters” Oct. 17 on the Louisville, Ky.,campus. The message was part of Heri-tage Week, which is held each fall to cel-ebrate the nearly 150 years of Christianeducation at the school.

Preaching from Isaiah 44, Mohlernoted that in recent weeks theologians,media members and the general publichave been debating whether Islam itself isto be blamed for the attacks of Sept. 11.Mohler, though, said Christians should befocused on a different issue — the eternalconsequences of the Muslim faith.

“I’m no specialist in Islamic theology,”he said. “I’ll let those who are debatewhether or not there is that kind of mili-tancy and warrior culture within Islamictheology. But I want to say as a Christiantheologian, the biggest problem with Is-lamic theology is that it kills the soul.

“The bigger problem with Islam is notthat there are those who will kill thebody in its name, but that it lies aboutGod [and] presents a false gospel, anun-gospel,” Mohler said, acknowledging,“These are difficult things to say. This isnot polite.”

If the God of the Bible is to be be-lieved, Mohler argued, then Christianshave no choice but to speak the truthabout other religions, including Islamand Judaism. Mohler pointed to Matthew10:28, where Jesus said, “Do not fearthose who kill the body but are unable tokill the soul; but rather fear Him who isable to destroy both soul and body inhell.” Mohler also quoted John 14:9,where Jesus said, “He who has seen Mehas seen the Father.”

“It is often said — in fact it is now rou-tinely claimed — that Muslims worshipthe same God as the Jews and the Chris-

tians,” Mohler said.But, Mohler said, Christians do not

serve the same God as that of Jews andMuslims, for the Jews have rejectedChrist and the Muslims have replacedthe God of the Bible with Allah.

“That’s a very difficult statement,” hesaid. “We believe that there is one Godwho has revealed Himself in theOld Testament and the New Tes-tament. We must be very clearthat to reject Jesus Christ is to re-ject the Father. [That] is so politi-cally incorrect. It breaks all therules of American etiquette. ...But if the Christian church willnot be clear about the ChristianGospel, who will?”

The Christian God, Mohler said,is the only God, and he is knownsavingly through Jesus Christ, andJesus Christ alone.

“On what authority would wepossibly say such impolite things?”Mohler asked. “There is only oneauthority, and that is the authorityof God’s inerrant and infallibleWord. ... There is no arrogance inthis, for it is not ours. We aresaved by the grace of the LordJesus Christ. We live to His glory,we testify of His Gospel and welive under the authority of His Word.”

Mohler told the chapel audience theChristian church must be unequivocalabout its beliefs. While spiritual mattershave been discussed openly since Sept.11, much of it reflects religious plural-ism, which holds that all religions areequal and all paths lead to the same god.

“Theology’s back on the front pages,”he said. “It’s back in the headlines. It’sback in the news. It’s back on the street.Like the four horsemen of the apoca-lypse, theology came riding on four air-liners filled with human beings, filledwith hate and filled with fuel.”

For years, Mohler said, secularistshave argued that the more humans dis-covered about the world, the less theworld would need God.

“According to the worldview of thesecularist, theology will have less andless meaning,” he said. “The secularworld has been at least partially awak-

ened to a fact, and that fact is that theol-ogy matters.”

The prophet Isaiah, Mohler told theaudience, knew that theology mattered.Mohler read from Isaiah 44, where theOld Testament prophet poked fun at anidolater’s actions. The idolater took halfof one tree and made fuel for a fire —

with which he baked bread — then tookthe other half of the same tree and madean idol for worship.

“The prophet Isaiah minces no words,”Mohler said. “The passage is drippingwith obvious sarcasm. Isaiah looks at theidolaters, and is amazed that they cannotsee what they are doing for what it is — amassive exercise in self delusion.”

Much like the days of Isaiah, today’sworld presents many idols, but there isonly one God, Mohler said.

“There is a fundamental choice thatmust be made and will be made betweenthe God of the Bible — the one true andliving God — and the idols of this age,”Mohler said. “But if God is God, if theGospel is the Gospel and if this is God’sWord, we have no choice.”

This message can be heard onthe seminary’s web page at http://w w w . s b t s . e d u / n e w s / a u d i o /chapelfall2001.html �

Christians must speak clearlyabout Islam, Judaism, Mohler says

SOUTHERN ACCENTS

R. Albert Mohler Jr. speaks to a chapelaudience Oct. 17. Preaching from Isaiah 44,Mohler addressed several contemporary issues,including the relationship between Christianity,Islam and Judaism. "[T]o reject Jesus Christ isto reject the Father," he said.


Mohler radio show has new time,new Internet site

A radio show hosted by Southern BaptistTheological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr.has a new time, a new format and a new web page.“Truth on the Line,” which began airing in June,has moved to Wednesdays at 5 p.m. (ET) andexpanded to a full hour. During the show Mohlercomments on current events and interviewsprovocative guests. The new format also includes

phone calls from the audience.“‘Truth on the Line’ is designed to engage the culture – to confront modern

worldviews with the truth of the Gospel,” said Lawrence Smith, vice presidentfor communications at Southern Seminary. “The expanded format and the new‘drive time’ slot will allow us to do that even more effectively.”

The show airs on WLSY-94.7 (FM) in the Louisville area. Archived shows canalso be heard on a new Internet site, www.truthontheline.com. �

By Michael Foust

America is in the midst of a military battleoverseas, but Christian ministersworldwide are in the midst of a spiritualbattle with far greater consequences,Southern Baptist Theological SeminaryPresident R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Oct. 16.

Speaking at the seminary’s fall boardof trustees meeting, Mohler addressedSouthern’s business matters, but first spokeabout the seminary’s role in the world fol-lowing tragic events of recent days.

“The minister of the Gospel is going toface opposition far more intense [and] farmore dangerous than that faced by themilitary soldier in battle,” he said. “Thestakes are so much higher. In battle, lifeand lives are hanging in the balance. Inthe spiritual battle, eternity is hanging inthe balance. That is a sobering reality.

“We want to send out our studentsbetter armed than the soldiers beingsent to Afghanistan, better prepared andbetter trained because the stakes areever higher. They are the stewards of themysteries of God.”

Southern Seminary, Mohler told theboard, is in great shape to do such service.He reported that the school has an on-campus enrollment of 2,066 students, anincrease of 8.39 percent increase over thesame time last year. Mohler also said that

by the end of the year, the combined on-campus and off-campus enrollment shouldbe somewhere over 3,000 students.

The events of Sept. 11 present those stu-dents — and the Christian church as awhole — with a unique opportunity toshare the Gospel, Mohler said. People todayare “asking questions they would have beenembarrassed to ask before. They’re havingconversations with people they would havebeen hesitant to have had before.”

Mohler said much can be learnedfrom Augustine’s book “The City ofGod,” written in the fifth century duringthe fall of Rome. Augustine said therewere two cities: the city of God and thecity of man. At the end of time, only thecity of God will remain.

“I hope the graduates of SouthernSeminary make a difference in the city ofman,” he said. “I hope because of theirministries there is a difference made inthe city of man. But that is hardly ulti-mate. Our ultimate concern should bethat there are more persons in the city ofGod because the Lord — to His ownglory and by His own sovereignty —used our students to bring personsthrough faith to his Son Jesus Christ.”

The fall of the World Trade Centertowers should bring a sense of urgencyto all Christians, Mohler said.

“I wonder how many people were wait-

ing for the right opportunity to share theGospel with some of the people who werein those towers,” he said. “They werethinking that perhaps they needed to waitfor a prompting of the Spirit [and] just waituntil they thought somebody was ready tohear the Gospel. I wonder how many ofthose people died without hearing theGospel, when there was someone whocould have spoken the Gospel to them.”

Mohler said that this sense of urgencyextends to Southern Seminary.

“It’s a sobering reality for a theologicalseminary to think, ‘We better make surethat every single minute is rightly investedand not one moment is wasted.’ ... Weneed, on behalf of those who are dyingand know not that they are dying, to getas many people as possible out into theministry and mission fields of the worldand do so as quickly as possible.”

In business matters:• Trustees approved, in principle and

concept, a recommendation to reducethe number of board members from 65 to45. The action authorizes the president towork with the Southern Baptist Conven-tion Executive Committee to revise theseminary charter to provide for thechange. The revision will be consideredby the board of trustees in April 2002.

• Trustees approved a name changefor the seminary’s School of ChristianEducation and Leadership. The newname will be the School of Leadershipand Church Ministry. Mohler said thename change will reflect a more “specificmission that fits the churches’ needs inthis generation.”

• Mohler said the Rice and JudsonHall project, which will convert whatused to be dorms into a conference cen-ter with guest housing, is on schedule.Mohler said the plan calls for the fall2002 board of trustees meeting to takeplace in the new complex.

• Trustees passed a resolution honor-ing Craig Blaising and congratulatingSouthwestern Baptist Theological Semi-nary for his election. Blaising, a theologyprofessor and associate vice presidentfor doctoral studies at Southern, will jointhe Southwestern staff in January as anexecutive vice president and provost.Southwestern’s board of trustees electedBlaising to the position Oct. 16. �

SOUTHERN ACCENTS

Spiritual battles more consequentialthan military battles, Mohler tells trustees


The non-binding resolution stated thatthe society believes “the Bible clearlyteaches that God has complete, accurateand infallible knowledge of all events past,present and future including all future de-cisions and actions of free moral agents.”The resolution passed on a vote of 253 infavor to 66 opposed with 41 abstentionsafter a debate that lasted until well aftermidnight the night before.

The resolution takes issue with theconcept of “open theism,” held by evan-gelical scholars such as Clark Pinnock,Gregory Boyd, and John Sanders, whoargue that God cannot know what willhappen in the future, since future hu-man decisions have not yet been madeand thus do not exist to be known. Sand-ers, a professor of religion at HuntingtonCollege in Indiana, presented the opentheist case before the society, arguingthat an attempt to rule the idea out ofbounds could result in an evangelical“Taliban,” enforcing doctrinal orthodoxywithin the society.

Sanders’ view was opposed by a com-peting presentation by Bruce Ware, asso-ciate dean and professor of theology atThe Southern Baptist Theological Semi-nary. Ware pleaded with ETS membersto recognize that the denial of God’scomplete knowledge is a dangerous doc-trine that will damage the churches.Ware pointed to a host of Scriptures in

which God declares Himself to know thefuture, including passages in which Godcontrasts His knowledge of the futurewith the idols that have no such knowl-edge of future events.

“By its denying of God’s foreknowl-edge of future free creaturely choicesand actions, open theism is vulnerable tothe charge of commending as God onewhom the true God declares is false andworthless,” Ware said.

Ware said that the ramifications ofopen theism include the undermining ofthe Gospel itself, since God could nothave kept with certainty the propheticpromises of the OT, up to and includingthe crucifixion of Jesus. Nor, Ware said,can a God ignorant of the future guaran-tee the future success of His purposes.

Evangelical Theological Society rejects“openness of God,” affirms divine foreknowledge

SOUTHERN ACCENTS

By Russell D. Moore

After three days of heated debate, the Evangelical Theological Society

(ETS) voted November 16 overwhelmingly to affirm what almost

every Christian in the history of the church has always believed –

that God knows everything, including the future decisions of

His creatures. The organization, a professional society of biblical

scholars and theologians who affirm the inerrancy of Scripture,

brought the issue to the floor after a group of ETS charter members

charged that the “openness of God” view being articulated by

some society members is outside the boundaries

of evangelical conviction.

Ware took issue with statements by opentheists that argue that God has made mis-takes, including statements by Pinnockthat even Jesus was mistaken at least onceon a matter of predictive prophecy.

“The cost to doctrine and faith byopen theism’s denial of exhaustive divineforeknowledge is too great to be ac-cepted within evangelicalism,” Ware said.“Thoughtful Christians, particularlyChristian leaders, must speak out on theopenness proposal to say what the gloryof God, the truthfulness of Scripture,and our own consciences require.”

Before the debate on the resolution,Ware pleaded with open theists to repentof their teachings and reconsider the bib-

lical portrayal of a God who knows theend from the beginning.

“You don’t have to go this way!”Ware said. “I won’t say ‘I told you so.’I will praise God! Come back to thefold.”

Ware was joined by others fromSouthern Seminary in opposing theopen theist position. CharlieDraper, professor of New Testa-ment at Southern Seminary’sBoyce College, argued that a de-nial of God’s foreknowledge is adenial of the inerrancy of Scrip-ture, since a God who cannot

know the future cannot guarantee thetruth of a Bible that speaks to futureevents. Draper said the debate mightwell be “the issue of the century” forAmerican evangelicals.

“If this line cannot be drawn, no linecan be drawn,” said Draper. “If this viewcan not be said to be a denial of iner-rancy, then no view can be said to be adenial of inerrancy.”

The Southern Baptist Convention hasaddressed the question of open theism,first in a resolution offered by SouthernSeminary president R. Albert Mohler, Jr.,at the 1999 SBC meeting in Atlanta. Theresolution passed by the convention af-firmed that God knows all things, includ-ing the future. The SBC then addressedthe issue in the 2000 Baptist Faith andMessage statement, revising the articleon God to affirm that God’s “perfectknowledge extends to all things, past,present, and future, including the futuredecisions of His free creatures.” �

Southern Seminary’s Bruce Ware helpedlead the opposition to open theism atNovember’s ETS meeting.


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By Michael Foust

Some say that archaeologist Bryant Wood does

his research a bit backwards. He looks first to

the Bible, then tries to line up

the archaeological evidence with

the scriptural account.Wood, though, believes he is doing

God’s will. Best known as an archaeolo-gist with the Associates for Biblical Re-search, as well as the editor of Bible andSpade magazine, Wood talked about hisview of archaeology during a lecture se-ries Sept. 25-27 at Southern BaptistTheological Seminary. Wood lectured onsuch biblical stories as the destructionsof Jericho and Sodom and Gomorrah,then showed that archaeological evi-dence does in fact complement the bibli-cal accounts.

He acknowledged that he is in theminority among his peers.

“When there seems to be this discrep-ancy between the findings of archaeol-ogy and the Bible, almost all scholars willsay, ‘Well, archaeology provides us withscientific evidence, and so there must bea problem with the Bible.’ Thatgives rise to the idea that thebiblical story is some kind of amyth or legend,” he said.

But Wood argued that closescrutiny of archaeological evi-dence always shows that OldTestament stories are indeedhistorical fact. Wood holds tothe inspiration and inerrancy ofScripture.

“When the evidence is inand we have the archaeologicalfindings before us, they supportthe truth of Scripture,” he said.“Places that scholars said neverexisted, in fact existed.”

It is important to have conservative scholars within the ar-chaeological community, Wood said, because many archaeolo-gists discredit and mishandle Scripture. This elevation ofarchaeology above the Bible has led some scholars to suggestthat the Israelites never fled Egypt and never conquered

Canaan. In fact, these same scholars argue that instead of theIsraelites being one common people group — and descen-dants of Abraham — the Israelites were formed when severalgroups of people with common interests simply came togetherover a period of time.

“If the biblical account isn’t true, then how do we explainthe people of the Israel, the nation ofIsrael?” he asked. “... They, in fact, aresaying that there was no conquest, soright away you have to throw away thebook of Joshua. But if they didn’t comein from outside, [then] obviously thereweren’t any wilderness wanderings. Ifthere were not any wilderness wander-ings then there was no Exodus. Therewere no patriarchs. This emergencetheory as it’s called, really does [do]away with the first six or seven books ofthe Bible. Some of the greatest events inhuman history that are recorded there,these scholars are saying, are all mythol-ogy and folk stories.

“That’s why I think it’s very importantfor us as evangelicals to look at this ar-chaeology evidence, to analyze it and tocome up with a proper interpretation.”

Wood said he simply looks at boththe biblical account and the archaeo-logical evidence, then tries to line upboth sides.

“That’s what the Lord has laid on myheart — to correlate the findings of ar-

chaeology with the Bible,” hesaid. “Most scholars in archae-ology are very reluctant to dothat, because they’re accusedof trying to prove the Bible.That’s the last thing theywant, because then they’ll beconsidered a fundamentalist.

“I guess I’m the point manin this area, and I’m taking allthe flak when I do these kindof correlations. I think they’rereal and valid. We have thebiblical record on one hand— an ancient document thattalks about these things —and we have the archaeology

findings on the other hand. They fit and they relate and theyseem to go together.” �

The Bryant Wood lectures can be heard on the seminary’sweb page at http://www.sbts.edu/bryantwood.html

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SOUTHERN ACCENTS

An archaeologist who believesin the inerrancy of Scripture?

page 26 Winter 2001 | Southern Seminary Magazine

Archaeologist Bryant Wood poses fora photo during an excavation sponsoredby the Associates for Biblical Research.

Below, Wood talks to Stefana Dan,a Southern Seminary Ph.D. student,during a break at a recent lectureseries at Southern Seminary. Woodvisited the campus Sept. 25-27 todiscuss archaeological evidencefor various Old Testament stories.


SOUTHERN ACCENTS

By Michael Foust

There are few biblical stories as well-known as the one of Sodom andGomorrah.

Ask any believer or non-believer, andthey’re likely to know at least somethingabout the ancient cities’ wickedness andsinfulness.

However, some wonder if they reallyexisted. Were there actually two citiesdestroyed by God for their wicked acts?

Archaeologist Bryant Wood believesso. Wood, an archaeologist with the Asso-ciates for Biblical Research and the editorof Bible and Spade magazine, gave a se-ries of lectures Sept. 25-27 at SouthernBaptist Theological Seminary where heshowed archaeological proof for severalOld Testament events. One of the lec-tures dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah.

“Even people who don’t know any-thing about the Bible know somethingabout Sodom and Gomorrah and thewickedness of those places,” he said. “Didthey exist? Were they real? Did this reallyhappen? I think archaeology can providesome answers to those questions.”

Wood, who holds to the inspiration andinerrancy of Scripture, said evidence forthe ancient cities can be found in land thatis located southeast of the Dead Sea. In the20th century, archaeologists excavating inthe region found five ancient cities that arenow identified as Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira,Safi, Feifa and Khanazir.

While some archaeologists contendthat the remains of Sodom and Gomorrahnow lie underneath the Dead Sea, Woodargues that the aforementioned five citiesare indeed found in the Bible, only withdifferent names. He pointed to Genesis14:8, where five cities are mentioned:Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zoboiim andBela (also called Zoar).

Bab edh-Dhra, Wood said, was onceSodom; Numeira was Gomorrah. Hesaid that archaeological evidence atboth sites shows that the cities were de-stroyed by fire around 2,100 B.C., whichwould cohere with the biblical time ofSodom and Gomorrah’s destruction.Just as telling, geological evidenceshows that there was an earthquakeduring the time, as well.

“Everywhere the archaeologists dig

Sodom and Gomorrah were actual places, scholar sayswithin the site, they find the evidence fora massive destruction by fire,” Wood said.

The fire evidence is very detailed, hesaid. While excavating one ancient build-ing, archaeologists discovered “that thefire did not start on the floor of thebuilding, but rather on the roof of thebuilding. They found evidence for thecollapse of the roof. The roof beams hadburned first and then collapsed insidethe building.”

A cemetery located near the city wasburned as well, suggesting that the firewas not started by raiders. Cemeterieswere considered sacred.

Why would both the city and a localcemetery be burned?

“Basically, (archaeologists) have noexplanation for this,” Wood said. “Butthe Bible does give us an explanation,doesn’t it? It says that God rained downthis burning material on the cities fromthe sky. Not only the cities, but the areasurrounding the cities. Here we havegraphic evidence, that, yes, somethingfrom above came down onto thesehouses, setting the roof on fire and even-tually burning the entire structure.” �

By Michael Foust and Jeff Robinson

Beginning in Sunday school, children aretaught a catchy song about Joshua andthe battle of Jericho.

As the story goes, the city’s wall col-lapsed after Joshua and his troopsmarched around the city, blew theirtrumpets and let out a great shout.

Some scholars contend that it is simplya myth, but one Old Testament archae-ologist, Bryant Wood, argues that ar-chaeological evidence in the Palestinianregion lines up precisely with the Old Tes-tament story. Wood, an archaeologistwith the Associates for Biblical Researchand the editor of Bible and Spade maga-zine, gave a series of lectures Sept. 25-27at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The controversy surrounding Jerichois over the date of the city’s existenceand destruction. Biblical evidence wouldplace the city’s destruction at 1400 B.C.

However, some scholars argue for a ear-

lier date, leading them to conclude that thebiblical narrative is wrong. In the 1930s, ar-chaeologist John Garstang completed a digat the site of the ancient city and concludedthat the evidence pointed to the biblicaldate. Years later, British archaeologistKathleen Kenyon examined Garstang’s find-ings and dated the city’s destruction atabout 1550 B.C. — some 150 years beforethe time of Joshua. Kenyon based her con-clusions — which have established the stan-dard academic position — on a type ofpottery missing from the site.

But Wood said Kenyon’s revision ofthe dating was based on a superficialfoundation at best.

“She based her dating not on whatshe actually found, but on what shedidn’t find ... a certain type of potterywhich was not there,” he said. “So sheconcluded that nobody lived there [atJericho] in the 15th century but admittedthat the dig was in a poor [economically]part of town.”

Scholar: Archaeology supportsaccount of Jericho destruction

Wood, an expert on certain types ofpottery from this age, pointed out the un-likelihood of finding this particular type ofpottery in a poorer section of the city.

Pointing to other evidence, Woodcited Joshua 6:20-24, which depicts thecity as having been burned. Kenyon, hesaid, also found evidence of the city be-ing burned.

Archaeological evidence also exists forthe existence of Rahab’s home, Woodsaid. According to the Bible, Rahab andher family were the lone Jericho resi-dents allowed to live; her house was onthe city wall. Wood said German archae-ologists found evidence in 1907 that isconsistent with the biblical description ofher house.

Wood said both Kenyon and Garstangunearthed signs of an earthquake thattoppled the city walls. This order co-heres with the scriptural account ofJoshua in which the walls of Jerichotumbled down by an act of God. �


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SOUTHERN ACCENTS

By Bryan Cribb

Eric Graf worked feverishly to unearth hismission team’s jeep, mired in the mud of theKenyan back country. He was trying hard to findsomething redeeming about his situation. Andthe knowledge of approaching dusk andrainstorms were generating more frustrationthan evangelistic fervor.

Suddenly, the roar of engines interrupted hisgroup’s automobile recovery effort. Speeding towards them,internationally renowned World Rally race cars spurtedthrough the waterlogged road like frogs in a bog.

Graf pulled out his camera and began snapping pictures. ForGraf, it was the reason for his group’s muddy, but providentialplight. Eventually those photos — accompanied with a Gospel-centered story on the race — appeared in a Kenyan newspaper,as well as on several international race Internet sites.

But the redemptive moments from Graf’s summer missiontrip among the Maasai people were not limited to just this one.Graf, a Ph.D. student participating in the Calvary Road Minis-tries medical/evangelism team, experienced many excitingmovements of God throughout the group’s time in Kenya.

The task of the nine-member team was daunting. The semi-nomadic, pastoral people, who number more than a million insouthern Kenya and northern Tanzania, have many physicalneeds — illustrated by the fact that some walked 20-25 miles toreceive free medical care from the clinic.

“Our medical team saw almost 1,100 patients in nine days,”said Graf, from Indianapolis. “[About] $90,000 worth of medi-cine was donated by various corporations — most of whichwas used during this time.”

However, the team also and most importantly ministered tothe peoples’ greatest need — the Gospel.

“We shared the Gospel with each person who came to theclinic,” Graf said. “Some 167 of those were recorded to haveplaced their faith in Christ.”

The Maasai’s response is particularly remarkable consider-ing their history. They are a culturally proud people and untilrecently have been very resistant to any outside influence, es-pecially the Gospel, Graf said.

However, in 1972 the first Southern Baptist missionary be-gan working with the Maasai, helping to transform their per-ception of Christianity from a “white man’s religion” to theuniversal “good news” of Jesus Christ, Graf said.

“God is doing amazing things among the Maasai people,”Graf said. “The majority of believers are first-generation Chris-tians. The churches are all in infancy-to-beginning stages.”

Yet, even though young, the churches are thriving. And the tre-mendous growth of the churches and the accompanying churchplanting movement begun among the Maasai also gave Graf a sec-ond purpose for the trip. Working with IMB missionaries at theagency’s request, Graf began some initial work on a pilot researchproject aimed toward evaluating and facilitating a church plantingmovement among the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania.

“We’re doing a comprehensive research project on what

God has done in the Maasai community — whyhundreds of thousands of them have come toChrist in the past 20 years,” Graf said. “What[the IMB] wants to do is try to understand whatthe Lord has done in certain areas of the worldwhere they feel church planting movementshave taken place, [to] learn how to effectivelycooperate with the Lord in nurturing otherchurch planting movements around the world.”

The research will be accomplished throughquestionnaires and surveys among the people. During his twoweeks, Graf helped field test the research gathering strategies.

He will soon put what he learned during this initial researchproject to good use. Next summer, he will lead a team of sixSouthern Seminary students who will spend seven weeks inter-viewing some 600-700 Maasai.

And he can testify firsthand that time spent among theMaasai will be life-changing.

“Meeting the Maasai Christians, pastors and evangelists willdeeply affect your life,” Graf said. “They have been called outand are being used by God to build the church in remote, pio-neering areas.” �

Seminarian sees God work amongEast African people group

“We were created for God’s good pleasure and notfor our own good pleasure. We need to rememberthat. … We also need to remind people of that whenwe come into this place of worship. It’s not for ourpleasure, but it’s for the pleasure of the One who sitson the throne.”

John Pennington, pastor of First Baptist Church,Douglasville, Ga., speaking at Southern Seminary Oct.11, 2001. He was preaching on biblical worship.

“We have trouble on every side, yet we are notdistressed. We are perplexed but not in despair, perse-cuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. …It is our death to self – to worldly am-bition, to a life of ease – that is surelythe nature of our calling as pastors.”

Timothy Dudley-Smith,retired bishop of theChurch of England, speak-ing at Southern SeminaryOct. 9, 2001.

Said at SouthernSaid at Southern


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SOUTHERN ACCENTS

By Michael Foust

Barry St. Clair has been involved

in youth ministry for more than

30 years, writing some 20 books

on the subject. So when he

recently called most youth

ministry programs “a mile wide

and an inch deep,” he had quite

a few intent listeners.St. Clair, founder of Reach Out Youth

Solutions, spoke Sept. 22 at Boyce Col-lege, the undergraduate school of South-ern Baptist Theological Seminary, duringthe school’s annual Youth Vision Confer-ence. The audience consisted of currentand future youth ministers.

The Georgia-based speaker, who is aSouthern graduate, said the goal ofyouth ministry should be to “reach ev-ery student on every campus with thelife-changing message of the Gospel.”But too many youth ministries are fall-ing short of that goal, St. Clair said, be-cause they have the wrong emphasis —entertainment.

“Why are we not getting there?” heasked. “Because most youth ministriesthat I know in the local church — andI’ve been doing this for 30 years — are amile wide and an inch deep. I don’t blinkwhen I say that.”

St. Clair told the story of one youthminister whose youth department grewfrom 12 to 80 attendees in just a few shortweeks. There was only one problem —transformations were not taking place.

St. Clair read a testimony from theyouth minister who recounted, “Noone’s life was being changed. Then it oc-curred to me — I was completely foolingmyself [in] thinking I was doing anythingclosely resembling ministry. I was an en-tertainer, the ringmaster of a great showheld every Wednesday night.”

The current youth ministry emphasis,St. Clair said, began after World War II

when the population as a whole beganfocusing on adolescents.

“So churches mimicked what thesecular world provided for kids, startingin 1945 and 1946. And from that day tothis day we have continued to mimic thatsame, exact thing,” he said. “And youwonder why we’re a mile wide and aninch deep?

“You’re the product and I’m the prod-uct of churches that have operated onthe wrong paradigm. We’re the productof churches that have operated from thisparadigm mimicking secular culture.”

Too often youth programs containnothing more than activities to keepteenagers busy, St. Clair said. Those pro-grams, he said, often lack any spiritualcontent. Some teens end up living outhypocritical lives in front of their peers,while others often lack the spiritual bold-ness to impact their schools.

A “radical shift” in youth ministry, hesaid, is needed.

St. Clair pointed to Psalm 78:1-5, inwhich the Israelites are challenged topass on their faith to the next genera-tion. In a youth program, St. Clair said,this must begin with the passionate faithof the youth minister, although it alsomust include disciple-making throughrelationships with youth.

“If you’re going to have that kind ofyouth ministry, then it’s going to take apassionate faith on your part and [onthe part of] the people who are theleadership in your youth ministry,” hesaid. “It’s going to take a group ofpeople who are committed to relationaldisciple-making.”

After being discipled, teens willwant to share their faith with theirfriends, St. Clair said. The youth groupwill then grow because transformationsare taking place.

“Life-changing needs to be takingplace, and what that means is this — ev-ery student who comes under the influ-ence of your ministry has theopportunity to encounter Jesus Christ,”he said. “Not one time, but weekly.They should be discipled in a way thathelps them understand how day by day— even moment by moment — there isthis personal, passionate, loving rela-tionship with God, and that they canwalk with Him and know Him and fol-low Him and pursue Him in every singleaspect of their life.”

St. Clair called for youth ministers topray for a “Jesus-focused ministry” and tomodel their programs after Matthew9:36-38 reflecting Jesus’ compassion forthe people and His instruction to His dis-ciples to pray for laborers.

In a youth program, the laborers in-clude an adult leadership team.

“I take that leadership team and I be-gin to invest my life in that group ofadults,” St. Clair said. “The fascinatingthing is that most people who are calledto youth ministry are called to youthministry because they love kids. Youbuild this leadership team, just likeJesus did with His 12 disciples. He in-vested in those guys and poured His lifeinto them.”

Youth ministry, he said, isn’t as com-plicated as some have made it.

“It boils down to this: Leaders walkingwith God, creating an environment ofprayer, and in that environment ofprayer a leader gathers around himselfother leaders and invests in them,” hesaid. “Those leaders disciple kids. Thosekids disciple others. [Then] those kidsreach their friends.” �

Most church youth programsare spiritually shallow, speaker says

St. Clair, founder of Reach Out YouthSolutions, spoke Sept. 22 at BoyceCollege, the undergraduate school ofSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary,during the school’s annual Youth VisionConference.


The International Mission Board recently appointed Cal andPatty Walton McIntire to serve as missionaries in West Africa.Cal will serve as strategy coordinator for a people group, whilePatty will work in community outreach. There are few believersin the region.

The McIntires know West Africa well.For the past two years they have served inthe region through the IMB’s InternationalService Corps program.

Before serving with the ISC, Cal workedas a minister of music and youth at Plum

Creek Baptist Church in Taylorsville, Ky., and as a house parentat the Natchez Children’s Home in Natchez, Miss.

Patty worked as a teacher assistant in Taylorsville, in addi-tion to being a house parent at Natchez.

Cal earned his bachelor’s degree at the University ofMontevallo in Alabama and a master of arts degree from Missis-sippi College in Clinton. He graduated from Southern Semi-nary with a master of divinity degree. Patty earned herbachelor’s degree from the University of Montevallo.

The McIntires are members of First Baptist Church inTalladega, Ala. They also consider First Baptist Church ofNatchez and First Baptist Church of Columbiana, Ala., to be sig-nificant churches in their lives.

Two Southern Seminary couples appointed by IMBThe International Mission Board recently appointed

Ronnie and Gail Suratt Davis to serve as missionaries in SouthAfrica. Ronnie will teach assigned courses at the Cape TownBaptist Seminary and will assist in facilitating a church-plant-ing movement. Gail will be involved in outreach throughchurch and home.

Since 1999, the Davises have served inSouth Africa and with the International Ser-vice Corps. Ronnie previously served asminister of education at Black Creek Bap-tist Church in Mechanicsville, Va.

Ronnie earned his bachelor’s degreefrom Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and hismaster of divinity and doctorate degrees from Southern Semi-nary. Gail received her bachelor’s degree from Memphis StateUniversity.

The Davises are members of Black Creek Baptist Church inHampton, Va. Other churches they consider influential in theirlives are Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.; FirstBaptist Church in Kingsville, Texas; First Baptist Church inMemphis, Tenn.; and McLean Baptist Church in Memphis. �

ALUMNI NEWS

Each week, music ministers of alldenominations face the same dilemma:trying to select the music for Sunday’schurch service.

It’s a problem that requires careful at-tention, but one that can be solved byasking a simple question, Southern Bap-tist Theological Seminary professor TomNettles believes.

“Is the music we’re singing worthy ofteaching?” Nettles asked a group of semi-nary students Nov. 14 during a specialdiscussion on corporate worship. “Is itsomething that you could turn to yourneighbor and sing and think you’re in-structing them in truth? This is some-thing we need to look at carefully.”

Joining Nettles at the symposium wasCarl Stam, associate professor of churchmusic and worship.

Stam contended that the entirechurch service — including the sermon— should be viewed as a form of wor-ship. Too often, Stam said, pastors try tosplit the service into two parts — wor-ship and preaching.

“What they mean by worship is every-thing that happened on Sunday morningexcept the sermon,” he said. “They’ll say,‘In our worship this morning, we did this.’”

Both men contended that the averagechurch service omits certain elementsthat should be included, such as thereading of Scripture and the reciting ofhistorical confessions.

“We’re specifically told [in the Bible]to read Scripture,” said Nettles, professorof historical theology. “One of the thingsthat is so absent in so many of our ser-vices is just plain reading of Scripture. Ithink we should start worship serviceswith the reading of Scripture [so that thechurch can] set the focus on the author-ity right from the beginning.”

The reading of Scripture, Nettles said,would cut down on “the necessity of[the pastor] being a talk-show host andtrying to entertain people to try to gaintheir attention” at the beginning of theworship service.

Stam said that ministers should em-brace their “faith heritage” by teachingthe congregation historical confessions.This, he argued, would serve as a form ofeducation for the church members. Stamsaid that ministers should not ignore allof the teachings of a particular group inchurch history — such as the Puritans —simply because its members went astrayin one particular doctrine.

“What is it that we believe?” Stam asked.“Do we despise the work of the desert fa-thers, the Reformers and the early Puritans— who had so much of it right? Do we de-spise what our grandfathers and grand-mothers were doing in worship a hundredyears ago? ... We should embrace it. Weshould embrace what is good and true.”

Nettles mentioned a few statementsof belief that can be confessed, such asthe Nicene Creed, the London Confes-sions and the Baptist Faith and Message.Too many modern churches have omit-ted confessions simply because theydon’t view them as entertaining, he said.

“Lift out of them things that thechurch can confess together,” he said.“Preach on these things, and then alsogo into the literature of the church, getout hymns and songs and contemporarymusic that focus on these doctrines.”

Nettles contended that a pastor and amusic minister should plan church ser-vices with the education of the congrega-tion in mind. He said they should choosevarious doctrines — such as justificationand glorification — and have a goal ofteaching the members. The songs andthe sermon should then reflect the par-ticular doctrine. �

Songs ‘worthy of teaching’ needed, profs say


ALUMNI NEWS

50s C. B. Hastings (’50) designed a“Festival of Hymns andAnthems” for the choir at

Highland Park Baptist Church in Austin, TX.Earle Reeves (’56) has completed 51 years inmusic ministry as of April 1, 2001. HerschelSpivey (’58) recently retired from RingoldFirst Church (GA) after 10 years of service.Spivey’s 50 years of music ministry alsoinclude service at Hapeville First Baptist, andother churches in GA, TN, FL, KY and AL.

John Dever (’62) is a retiredSBTS professor and has beencalled as interim pastor at

Beechmont Church, Louisville, KY.

Ronald E. Johnston (’71) was therecipient of the Artie Award givenby the Virginia Shenandoah Area

Arts Council for outstanding achievement inmusic. Mac Weaver (’71) was honored byValdosta First Church (GA) for 30 years ofservice as minister of education andadministration. Valdosta Mayor JimmyRainwater read a proclamation honoringWeaver’s service to the church, family andcommunity. Weaver serves as chaplain of theValdosta High School athletic teams. C. OrvilleKool (’74) represented SBTS for the academicprocessional and inauguration of Dr. BruceMurphy, President of Northwestern College,Orange City, IA. Sid Nichols (’78) is the newdirector of missions for the CalhounAssociation (AL). Nichols and his wife,Barbara, have two children. Gerald V. Stump,Jr. (’78) was elected national chaplain of theDisabled American Veterans organization.Stump, and his wife, Sharon, have fourchildren and nine grandchildren.

Raymond S. Coleman Jr. (’80) isnew missionary for SymrnaAssociation (GA). He has

served since 1994 as pastor of Union Churchin Pitts, Little River Association (GA).Coleman and his wife, Glennis, have one son,Chris. Wilbur Ray Sullivan Jr. (’84) has beennamed assistant director of development forsouth GA for the Georgia Baptist Foundation.He comes to the state convention post froma 12 year pastorate at First Baptist ofWaycross. William N. Burkhalter (’84) hasbeen called as pastor to First Baptist Churchof Pine Castle in Orlando, FL. Burkhaltercurrently teaches at the Indonesian BaptistTheological Seminary. He and his wife, Joyce,have two children. Peter Huff (’84) has beencalled by Centenary College of LA to serve asT. L. James Associate Professor of ReligiousStudies.

Wayne Marshall(’87) was selected to write The BaptistRecord’s Sunday School commentaries forSeptember through November 2001.Marshall and his wife, Susan, have threechildren and one grandson. James J. Nelson(’87) has been called as pastor of ToccoaFirst Church after serving in Becks Church inWinston-Salem, N.C. He and his wife, Twyla,have three children. Susan Hooks Meadors(’88) has been called to Rolling Hills Churchof Fayetteville, AR, as associate pastor forspiritual development. Meadors has served asa Journeyman in Japan and as a staff memberof TX and MS churches. Troy Varnum (’88) isnow serving First Baptist Church, Lake City,FL, as pastor. He previously served as pastorof First Baptist Church, Jasper. He and hiswife, Latriva, have two daughters. Mark R.Hendricks (’89) received a master of theologydegree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Joe Farry (’92) began pastoralduties on July 1 at ParisviewChurch in Greenville, SC. He

and his wife, Jane, have three children: David,Ginny and Liz. R. Kevin Head (’92) has beencalled as pastor by First Baptist in Lumberton,NC. He and his wife, Amy, have two children,Jenna, 4, and Joshua, 2. Dr. John W. Campbell(’93) is now serving as full-time faculty atGeorgetown College, Georgetown, KY.Campbell had previously held a faculty positionat Gardner-Webb University. Kerry Walker (’94)will be writing the Family Bible series for theSunday School commentaries, Baptist andReflector, during September throughNovember. Walker is currently serving as pastorof Trinity Baptist Church in Manchester, TN.Don Albertson (’95) has been called as ministerof music and youth by First Church,Graniteville, SC. Richard J. Melson (’95) iscurrently serving as minister of music andworship at Dauphin Way Baptist Church inMobile, AL. He and his wife, Tammy, have twochildren, Jonathon and Hannah. Cherie Cruze(’96) has joined the staff of Virginia IntermontCollege in Bristol, VA, as chaplain. Romeo D.Manansala (’97) is currently the NehemiahProject Doctor of Ministry in Church Planting.Scott A. Blue (’98) is serving as adjunctprofessor of religion at the University of NorthCarolina-Pembroke and recently had an articlepublished in the June 2001 issue of the Journalof Evangelical Theological Society. RobertStrickland (’98) was licensed in Nov., 2000.Since June, 1999, he has been serving as youthminister at Smiths Station Baptist Church inSmiths, AL. Penny Cruse (’99) is serving as a

student evangelism missionary in Lexington,KY, where she is a regional collegiateevangelism coordinator. Tony Hayes (’99) isthe pastor of Gransby Baptist Church,Gransby, CO. Dr. Michael Thomas Rath (’99)has been called to pastor Eagle MountainBaptist Church in Lake Tamarick, CA.

Clay Anthony (’00) isserving as pastor ofRichmond Church in

Tupelo, MS. His previous places of serviceinclude Pilgrim’s Rest Church in CrystalSprings. Charles W. Parrott IV (’00) beganduties as pastor of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church(SC) on July 22. Bryan Howard Cribb (’01) ofSmyrna, GA, recently received the Broadmanand Holman Outstanding Seminarian Award.Cribb serves as campus editor of Towers, aweekly news publication of SBTS. He alsoserves as an assistant pastor of Rutledge RoadChurch in Louisville, KY. Charles Gregory (’01)is currently serving as pastor of First BaptistChurch of New Holland, PA. On June 23,Gregory married the former Kristina Dibbs.

Andrew Roby is the minister of music at FirstChurch, Shelby. Roby previously served aschair of the Department of Music at UnionUniversity in Jackson, TN, and as interimminister of music at Chapel Hill Church inMilan, TN. He and his wife, Mary, have twochildren. Michael Ray Saunders is the pastor ofFirst Baptist Church of Bunnell, FL. Hepreviously served as pastor of Second BaptistChurch of Ashland, KY, for 13 years. Saundersand his wife, Georgia, have two adult children.

Miss Peggie E. Harmon (’60) retired in Mayafter serving as a missionary in Brazil sinceNov. 1973. Bobby Blevins (’84) and his wiferetired as missionaries to Namibia, wherethey served in religious education. They nowreside in Paynesville, WV, where they havebegun a new Southern Baptist church onBradshaw Mountain. Douglas Yates (’00) andhis wife, Jonelle, are serving as missionarieswith the CeLT Team of the Southern BaptistInternational Mission Board’s BIIP. Douglaswill serve as the prayer coordinator andvolunteer coordinator.

Gerald Hicks (’88) and his wife, Leslie, havebeen blessed with their first son, KevinWilliams, Nov. 30, 2000.

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MISSIONS

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Joel O. and Amy Rainey have beenappointed to serve as missionaries inGreenville, S.C., where Joel is achurch planter intern and pastor.

Rainey, a nativeof Greer, S.C., is agraduate of NorthGreenville College andSouthern Seminary.He has been pastor ofMuldraugh (Ky.) Bap-tist church since1998, and previouslyserved as associate

pastor of minister of music forchurches in Louisville, Ky., Wellford,S.C., and Campobello, S.C.

Amy, also a Greer native, previouslyserved as a store manager, bank teller,and in retail sales. She has servedchurches as Missions Friends leader,children’s choir director, Sundayschool teacher, GA leader, women’sministry leader and choir member.

Leslie N. “Nelson” and Kelley E. Searcyhave been appointed by the NorthAmerican Mission Board to serve asmissionaries in New York, whereLeslie is coordinator for the New YorkStrategic Focus Cities effort.

Leslie, who con-siders North Carolinahis home state, is agraduate of Gardner-Webb University andDuke University, andis working towards adoctorate degree inevangelism at South-ern Seminary. He has

been a director of Purpose Driven inLake Forest, Calif., since February2000. He also has served as a cityevangelism strategist for The EpicGroup in Charlotte, N.C.; writer/

founder of SmartLeadership.com; avocational evangelist; pastor ofStowe’s Chapel Baptist Church inCharlotte; staff member of churchesin Forest City and Mooresboro; andowner of a computer business.

Kelley is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University and North CarolinaState University. She has been direc-tor of the Volunteer Center of Or-ange County in Santa Ana, Calif.,since April 2000. Previously sheworked as a program assistant andprogram manager at North CarolinaState University. She also has been alay women’s ministry leader.

Bryan K. and Kimberly R. McDonaldserve as missionaries in Apalachin,N.Y., where Bryan McDonald is achurch planter intern and pastor.

Bryan, who consid-ers Hawaii his homestate, is a graduateof Toccoa Falls Col-lege in Toccoa, Ga.,and has attendedSouthern Seminaryand New OrleansBaptist TheologicalSeminary. He most

recently has served as a student in-tern at Water’s Edge Church inCumming, Ga. He also has been awaiter, production supervisor, teach-ing parent and children’s homehouseparent.

Kimberly, a native of Toccoa, hasworked as an apartment manager,machine operator, preschool teacher,teaching parent and retail depart-ment manager. She also has taughtin Sunday school, vacation Bibleschool, and children’s church.

The McDonalds have two children:Benjamin, 10, and Rachael, 3. �

Anne Culley Enlow, former officer of the SBCPastors’ Wives organization, as well as retiredpiano teacher from Southern Seminary, diedAug. 21, 2001. Paul S. James (’33) pastor ofthe First Southern Baptist Church in NewYork City and first executive director of theBaptist Convention of New York, died Aug.15 at the age of 93 at the Florida HospitalFish Memorial in Orange City, FL. Twodaughters, a son, 10 grandchildren, and 19great-grandchildren, survive him. Laura E.Milner (’33) of Sherwood, AR, died on Nov. 6,2000. Hubert Tandy Wooten (’34) died Sept. 5,2001. Wooten was the first seminary-trainedSouthern Baptist missionary to Hawaii. Heministered for 30 years at Tullahoma LifecareCenter, Tullahoma, TN, before his death.Henry E. Turlington (professor ’44-’47 and 49’-’58; ’43 graduate) died Oct. 5, 2000.Turlington served with the SouthernSeminary New Testament faculty from 1944to 1947; and from 1949 to 1958. Prue HarveyKelly (’47), retired pastor and author, ofMarietta, GA, died June 14. He was 91 yearsold. Kelly held numerous pastorates andauthored two books, Reflections of a Lifefrom a Pastor’s Window and From theCotton Fields Back Home to the Pulpit.Charles L. Goss (’48) died Aug. 17, in White,GA. He is survived by his wife, Eunice, 3children, 5 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. William Mueller (professor ’48-’60) died April 24, in McAllen, TX. He servedas Professor of Theology and Philosophy ofReligion at SBTS. He was the author of “AHistory of Southern Baptist TheologicalSeminary” (1959). James W. Abernathy (’53)passed away on Sept. 20, 2001. Abernathypastored churches in KY, IN and TN, and wasan appointed missionary with the HomeMission Board from 1973 to his retirement in1990. He is survived by his wife of 55 years,Ellen, 3 daughters, one son, and 8grandchildren. Eleanor Anne Harwell (’64)died on Aug. 29 in Pine Mountain, GA.Harwell was a long-time minister of musicand music teacher in GA and other states.She died of a massive heart attack. Dr. ElmerL. Whiten, Jr. (’68) died April 9, 2001. KonawvJ. Holloway (’82) died on Aug. 24, 2001 in anautomobile accident in Tulsa, OK.

ALUMNI NEWS

North American MissionBoard appoints three

Southern Seminary couples

DEATHS


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IMPACT YOUR CITY,YOUR STATE, YOUR WORLD

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Luke 10:2

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WINTER 2001 THE TIE VOLUME 69, NUMBER 4

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