A Motion to Remember

One year ago . . .

Affirming the Acts 29 Network at the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting (or Teamwork Will Make the Dream Work)

During the three hour drive to Orlando for the 2010 SBC Annual Meeting, Josh Shank, Charlie Mitchell, and I began to think what contribution we can make to the business meeting.  Should we try to punk the SBC?  Nah, too controversial.  How about making a motion expressing appreciation and affirmation for the investment of the Acts 29 Network for their work in planting gospel-centered churches in the SBC?  Yeah, that’ll work.

So beat-boxing phenom Josh labored to help drain the hatorade so many of our elder generation of SBCers have been drinking with this little rap.  It isn’t much, but it is history making.  If you don’t believe me, just look at what the chief parliamentarian Barry McCarty tweeted to Josh the other day:

Below are the two videos of the historic motion.  To read the text of Josh’s motion, click here (what he read from at mic #6).  The first is from the video recording. The second is the one I took with Josh’s iPhone.  Though this is the first rapped out motion, it will not be the last.  Enjoy!

2009 Ambition Audio (Acts 29 Bootcamp)

The Acts 29 Bootcamp with the theme of Ambition held at Sojourn in Louisville was, in the opinion of many, the best bootcamp they have ever had.  The line-up was top notch, and the messages were excellent (including the breakout sessions).  I encourage you to download these messages and give them a listen, especially if you an aspiring church planting or seeking to have greater missional DNA in your church.

The Gospel & Ambition – Dave Harvey
Discipleship & Ambition – Bob Thune
Leadership & Ambition – Darrin Patrick
The Church & Ambition – Steve Timmis

Decoding your City & Ambition – Kevin Cawley
Church Planting & Ambition – Ed Stetzer
Speaking Past Demons: Christian Preaching as Expository Exorcism – Dr. Russell Moore
Ministry for the Long Haul & Ambition – Matt Chandler

Total Church – Day 1 – Steve Timmis
Total Church – Day 2 – Steve Timmis
Worship that is Missional, Contextual, and Gospel-Centered – Tim Smith
How Theology Can Kill Your Church – Joe Thorn
Pastor as the Resident Theologian – Daniel Montgomery
Church History – Greg Allison and Reid Monaghan
Revival: When God Comes to Church – Ray Ortlund, Jr.

Acts 29, State Conventions, and Acts 1:11 Conference

This week is a rather interesting week in the life of the SBC.  Three meetings took place in the SBC world which are worth noting, especially in comparing and contrasting them.  They are:

1.  The Acts 29 Ambition Bootcamp held at Sojourn in Louisville
2.  The respective state convention meetings across the country
3.  The Acts 1:11 Conference held by Jerry Vines Ministries

I’ve penned my thoughts on the differences and similarities between the three, but I’m interested in your thoughts, especially on the various points:

* Those who attend (who, why, average age)
* Conference or Meeting Purpose
* Theological Emphasis or Meeting Theme (like, dislike, agree, disagree)
* What Each Represents within the SBC World
* Their Future in the SBC (increasing, decreasing)

Given that these all converged on the same week in the SBC calendar, I thought it would be worth thinking about their implications and what they, as a snapshot, might reveal about the SBC and its future.

Podcast with Acts 29/SBC Church Planters

This is a blogpost originally posted on February 21, 2009.  In light of the recent discussion about Acts 29 church planters in Southern Baptist life, I felt this podcast would be a constructive resource to know more about some of the A29 churches planters, what they believe, and their practices.

The Insight Podcast is hosted by Doug Baker, and recently he sat down with Acts 29 church planters J.D. Greear, Daniel Montgomery, Tyler Jones, and Sean Cordell to discuss a host of issues.  The podcast is divided into two parts.  You will certainly want to download them both.

* Part 1 *

Topics: Postmodernity – What is it?; Contextualization – What is it?; Culture and Theology; Ministry in an Urban Context; Diversity in the Local Church; Tradition and Traditionalism; The Craving for Authenticity; The Emerging Church Movement; Gospel Reductionism; The Emergent Church Movement;  Acts29 Church Planting Network; Vintage 21’s Theology and Doctrine; Tony Jones and the Gospel; The Gospel and Propositional Truth; Homosexuality and Modern Culture; Christology – Missiology – Ecclesiology.

* Part 2 *

Topics: Institutions and Denominations; Acts29 Network – Its Founding and Future; The SBC as a Missional Network; The Doctrinal Commitments of Acts29; Biblical Preaching as a Priority; Acts29 and Southern Baptists; North Carolina – Still the Bible Belt?; Requirements for an Acts29 Church Planter; Churches Planting Churches – the Biblical Model?; The SBC and Church Planting; The Future of the SBC.

I’m grateful for Doug Baker putting together an excellent podcast dealing with substantive issues that really matter to the church today. You can find previous podcasts hosted by Baker here.

Acts 29 Responds to Baptist Press and SBCToday

Scott Thomas, director of Acts 29, has taken the time to respond at length to the accusations and charges against Acts 29 from the guys at SBCToday and Baptist Press.  It is not fair to imply everyone at Baptist Press is carrying the anti-Acts 29 agenda, so perhaps it is best to limit the sphere of accountability to Will Hall, their executive editor.

In general, Thomas explains the nature of the fellowship with the SBC and the concerns many A29/SBC church planters feel:

We are glad to have SBC churches in our fellowship.  They give to the Cooperative Program and we are glad.  They are governed as elder-led churches (rather than elder-ruled churches).  And, they have expressed to me that they would like it if the misrepresentations would end and we could focus on the gospel, mission, and church planting.  I am assured by Southern Baptist leaders that the attacks by those in the SBC are not representative of the larger convention.

As I have stated on more than one occasion, neither SBCToday or the Baptist Press sought to attain first-hand evidence for their arguments but merely jumped to erroneous conclusions determined by their own understanding.  Thomas writes,

We are not sure why one denominational publication is obsessed with Acts 29 and continues to publish information without checking with us.  It seems odd at best, and agenda driven at worst, to publish information about what Acts 29 believes and practices without ever checking with Acts 29 leadership (emphasis mine).

Baptist Press Continues Anti-Acts 29 Agenda, Publishes Errors of SBCToday

Baptist Press has continued to spread the anti-Acts 29 agenda by publishing the errors of SBCToday in the recent “first person” article entitled “Covenant or Confession” authored by Tim Rogers.

Just last week, I showed how Baptist Press has degenerated into an anti-Mark Driscoll/anti-Acts 29 campaign under the leadership and vision of Will Hall, their executive editor.  It appears that there is no level so low Baptist Press is unwilling to stoop, even publishing known errors and blatant mischaracterizations.   Baptist Press carries the subtitle “News with a Christian Perspective” and sadly enough, the news they are publishing is not fitting for the journalistic ethics of non-Christians.

All a Matter of Timing: Baptist Press and Mark Driscoll

Yes, it’s all a matter of timing.

Over the course of the past six months, Baptist Press has come out with three articles besmirching Mark Driscoll and Acts 29.  But have you paid attention to the timing of their pieces and what Baptist Press is attempting to do?  I have, and here are my thoughts.

MBC, Acts 29, and ‘Cultural Liberalism’

The issue of alcohol and the redefinition of conservatism has been a hot topic in the SBC for the past three years, but perhaps the consequences of such a controversy are not greater evidenced than in the Missouri Baptist Convention.  Under the direction of Roger Moran, fundamentalists have continued the fight against what they are now calling “cultural liberalism” and more specifically churches they find to espouse it. 

The churches in the MBC which Moran and Co. have found unworthy of convention support and affiliation are primarily those within the Acts 29 Network.  Since April of last year, I (along with several other bloggers) have followed the agenda to disassociate these churches from the SBC, and in December it was announced that they were being de-funded when MBC reneged on their commitments as a tribute to their continued battlecry against “cultural liberalism.”  For background to this controversy, check out:

* Acts 29 and the MBC [April 28, 2007]
* When I Am Ashamed to be a Southern Baptist [December 11, 2007)
* Let’s Talk About Accountability–Let’s Talk About You and Me [December 15, 2007]
* A More ‘Conventional’ Way of Supporting MBC Church Plants [December 16, 2007]
* Update on the Acts 29 Churches and the Missouri Baptist Convention [January 11, 2008]

Last Tuesday (May 13), the battlecry was again trumpeted at a state-wide meeting held by Moran and others to deal with a myriad of issues, not the least of which included, in their words:

NAMB-sponsored events featuring Acts 29 and Emerging church leaders as well as the recent hiring of David McAlpin (one of the 11 SOC leaders who helped the Journey in St. Louis plant an Acts 29 church in St. Charles that also had a bar-room ministry in a micro-brewery.  McAlpin’s son is an intern at the Journey).   

This is also about the downloading of “cultural liberalism” into MBC/SBC churches. 

Not only that, but Moran has included my friend Micah Fries as a topic of discussion.  Moran writes:

The pastor that spoke against the alcohol resolution at the 2007 MBC annual meeting has been named to the SBC Committee on Committees which names the SBC Nominating Committee.  This pastor, Micah Fries, is strongly supportive of Acts 29.  (SOC spokesman David Sheppard served on this committee last year.) 

For the record, I am not directly affiliated to the Acts 29 Network, and I am an abstentionist.  However, what is really troubling is that my fellow Southern Baptists are making their stance on alcohol a litmus test for conservatism and more consequently a dividing line for financial support of church plants.  It is not a matter of theological liberalism or rejecting the Baptist Faith & Message (2000); rather, it is the repackaging of fundamentalism in the quest to root out what they have called “cultural liberalism.”

Mark Dever and Acts 29 on Gospel Unity

From Mark Dever, speaking this week at the Acts 29 Bootcamp in Chicago:

Our differences are enough to separate some of my friends—your brothers and sisters in Christ—from you. And perhaps to separate them from me, now that I’m publicly speaking to you. And I don’t want to minimize either the sincerity or the seriousness of some of their concerns (things like: humor, worldliness, pragmatism, authority).

But I perceive some things in common which outweigh our differences—which the Lord Jesus shall soon enough compose between us, either by our maturing, or by His bringing us home. I long to work with those, and count it a privilege to work with those whom My Savior has purchased with His blood, and with whom I share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I perceive that we have in common the knowledge that God is glorified in sinners being reconciled to Him through Christ. This is not taught by other religions, nor clearly by the ancient Christian churches of the East, or by Rome, by liberal Protestant churches, by Mormons, the churches of Christ, or by groups of self-righteous, legalistic, moralistic Christians. And not only do we together affirm the exclusivity of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone—we agree on the sovereignty of God in life and salvation, the regenerate nature of church members, the importance of church membership and discipline, the baptism of believers alone, the priorities of expositional preaching, and evangelism, the importance of authority and a growing appreciation for the significance of complementarianism. These are not slight matters. And they only fire my desire to encourage you and cheer you on, until you cross that finish line that the Lord lays down for us.

When I first read this, I immediate thought of the man who said that “moderation is the heart of Christianity” – Richard Sibbes. But more importantly, what I read here is someone who does not wear “Together for the Gospel” as a slogan or bumper sticker advertisement; rather, he willingly gives himself to invest in others for the sake of the kingdom even at the expense of his reputation and even long-standing friendships. Finally, I find in this statement a resounding conviction in the unity of the church around the gospel and the glory of God–something for which Jesus interceded on our behalf.

This is not to say that there are differences between solid evangelical Christians who stand on the sole authority of God’s Word. Differences there will be, but those that lay on the periphery should not cloud our vision to appreciate that which we hold most dear–that which we are solemnly entrusted–the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am ever hopeful that others can find such gospel-centered partnerships as a pattern of greater things to come. May God put in our hearts a mutual affection for our Savior and a reciprocating resolve to neither wane nor wander away from the heart of the Christian faith.

Soli Deo Gloria.

(HT :: JT)