Acts29 in Dallas

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The Acts29 Boot Camp in Dallas is this week, Tuesday through Thursday.  Molly and I will be going.  An Acts29 pastor who is also SBC tried to get me to the boot camp in St. Louis months ago, but I couldn't make it.  Strangely we are able to make the longer trip to Dallas, and the Lord has provided to get us there.

We are leaving tomorrow (Monday) for my parent's house to drop off the four kids.  Then very early on Tuesday we head to the Bloomington, IL airport to get on a plane for Chicago, short layover, then to Dallas by the afternoon.  We hope to meet up and hang out with old friends from our time in Colorado when we were first married.  Chad is a pastor near Dallas now.

We are excited about the trip and to dig in more concerning church planting and church replanting.

I hope to be online regularly, but not nearly as much as normal.  I'll try to update what we are doing and hearing.  Maybe a pic or two as well.

Piper Takes the Plunge

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Pip_bapt_no_3Every once in a while someone very prominent and respected and influential does something that drums up a lot of discussion which will change some minds while causing others to reject it.  That honor at the moment goes to John Piper and the elders of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The elders at BBC are proposing amendments to the constitution and by-laws of BBC, as explained in this online "Fresh Words" article...

The central issue at stake is: How should we define the membership of the church? That is, what degree of biblical understanding and agreement should a person have in order to belong to a local church? Or to put it another way: Should the door to membership in the local church be roughly the same size as the door to the universal church? If so, what is the basic set of beliefs that a person should be willing to affirm—or at least not deny—in order to give good evidence that he is born again into the family of God and a follower of Christ?

After more than three years of study and prayer and discussion of this issue, the Council of Elders believes that membership requirements at Bethlehem should move toward being roughly the same as the requirements for membership in the universal body of Christ. That is, we have come to the conclusion that it is seriously questionable to say to a person who gives good evidence of being a true Christian and who wants to join Bethlehem: you may not join.

This conclusion raises problems of consistency for our present Constitution and By-Laws and our present church Affirmation of Faith and Church Covenant. These documents hold up some less than essential beliefs that must be affirmed in order to be a member at Bethlehem. Thus the door to membership at Bethlehem at the present time is significantly narrower than the door to membership in the universal body of Christ. The elders believe this should be changed because of how serious it is to exclude in principle any truly born-again lover of Christ from membership in the local church.

The most obvious change this involves is allowing the possibility that a person may become a member who has not been baptized by immersion as a believer but who regards the baptismal ritual he received in infancy not as regenerating, but nevertheless (as with most Presbyterians) in such a way that it would violate his conscience to be baptized as a believer. The elders are proposing that under certain conditions such persons be admitted to full membership.

One of the reasons we feel the freedom to move in this direction is that in December, 2003 the church mandated that the Elders themselves must heartily affirm the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith. This document has raised the doctrinal bar of the eldership at Bethlehem significantly. It is thoroughly and biblically Reformed and baptistic. In other words, the elders of the church may not believe, teach, or practice any other form of baptism as legitimate than believer’s baptism by immersion. All the elders gladly and firmly embrace paragraph 12.3 of the Elder Affirmation of faith:

We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the door to the eldership has gotten significantly narrower in the last two years because of the doctrinal rigor demanded by the BBC Elder Affirmation of Faith. Therefore, we believe that the doctrinal faithfulness—including the biblical teaching and practice of believer’s baptism by immersion—is firmly protected by the doctrinal requirements put on the eldership of the church.

Wow.  Hard to believe a Baptist church would do this.  <sarcasm>We've always done it the other way.</sarcasm>  Honestly, I don't like the idea but I'm always willing to rethink the way it's always been done for a more biblical way.  Hang-ups of tradition are always hard to find.

I already don't like his explanation, the whole universal vs. local mentality.  I'd rather hear, 'The NT local churches would have done it this way and here are my reasons why.'  Hopefully the 80 page document that is supposed to come online soon will help.

I would love to get everyone's take on this, and specifically baptists.

Mayhem

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Of all the horrible things happening in the wake of Katrina, the latest is mayhem and chaos.  While the water is no longer rising, tensions are. 

As an American who is used to having a policeman stop by within 5 minutes if someone suspicious is around, New Orleans must be going through something nearly unthinkable for many of us as a sense of lawlessness abounds.

Update
Update 2 - updating page on latest info

Worried About My Anxiety

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Gas_299_cropI was late for a meeting this morning and couldn't get gas when it was $2.79. 

Now it's $2.99.  I know the gas prices have been rising for a few years, but today was the first day I felt anxious about them.  And the last few weeks are the first time in my life I remember shifting plans because of gas prices.  Hurricane Katrina, gas prices, terrorism, Iraq war...it's a lot to think about right now. 

On top of all this, Wendy's didn't have salt packets because the manager forgot to order more.

Chicago Trip: Sequel

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Img_1440_400We took the kids into Chicago one more time to go to the Museum of Science and Industry and return to Millennium Park where they have taken the tent off "The Bean." It really is a remarkable sight.  If you ever get to downtown Chicago, don't miss it

Watch the short video of our trip.

Grace Takes the Breath Away

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Doug Wilson, pastor of Christ Church, author of many books, and prolific blogger at Blog and Mablog writes this tremendous post on Sunday...

Although we are a Christian people, we still have a tendency to hidefrom the sheer goodness of the gospel. One of the ways we have of doing this is to turn the word sinner into a technical theological one, meaning that no one is perfect, and despite this, any one can call on God through Christ. All of which is quite proper and correct.

But let us be more specific. We are gathered here in the name of Jesus Christ. As an assembly this size, we may say that we are not just here under the general term sinners-we are here as adulterers, thieves, liars, blasphemers, procurers of abortions, biters, devourers, Sabbath-breakers, committers of incest, Pharisees, homosexuals, pedophiles, cheats, jerks and creeps. Not only are such biographical items present here, we may safely say this sanctuary is crammed with them.

Now here is the good news. When it comes to receiving you in Jesus Christ, God is absolutely uninterested in whether such things have occurred. If one did not occur, then a bunch of the others did. But God couldn't care less. Let me restate the key phrase that makes this such good news. Through what Jesus has done for us, God is absolutely uninterested in that part of your history.

Grace takes the breath away. As the Corinthians heard it, "Such were some of you." But the safety-minded rush into to make this message safe for religious consumption-such were some of you. And rightly understood, this is quite proper, and so St. Paul himself emphasizes it. But the safety-minded don't emphasize the same way Paul did.

We are God's saints, holy and beloved. As such, we must always remember the ground of this, which is the biography of Jesus Christ, our good news. As for our biographies, every one of them has a host of pretty grimy chapters, which God found to be so boring that He skipped over them. Absolutely uninterested.

(HT: iMonk via BHT)

Weathering Etherington

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I think I met Tim Etherington online through Derek Webb's discussion board, which is a good place to argue about stuff.  Somehow we found each other's blogs and have been in email contact for some time.  He is a student at TEDS and a really old guy, like in his 40's.  We have been wanting to meet up for some time and finally had a chance.

We had a great time talking for a couple of hours at a nearby Starbucks about family and ministry and the future for both of us.  We have a lot in common theologically and in ministry, and it was great to meet another blogger in person.  Read Tim's take on our meeting.

CNN on Katrina

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No_katrinaGo to CNN.com and click on the link to the video "Screams for Help" about the situation following hurricane Katrina.  In it Jeanne Meserve, a CNN reporter, has been in New Orleans reporting on the devastation.  She is on the phone, so it's not really about what you see, but what she says is very sobering and sad.  She nearly breaks down a few times in her interview with Aaron Brown. 

The photo is from CNN.

Evidence of Intelligence

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Here's evidence that humans are the only animals intelligent enough to desire demotion to an evolutionary chain...

Caged and barely clothed, eight men and women monkeyed around for thecrowds Friday in an exhibit labeled "Humans" at the London Zoo.

[...]

Visitors stopped to point and laugh, and several children could be heard asking, "Why are there people in there?"

London Zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills says that's exactly the question the zoo wants to answer.

"Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals ... teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate," Wills said.

[...]

"A lot of people think humans are above other animals," he told The Associated Press. "When they see humans as animals, here, it kind of reminds us that we're not that special."

Read the whole article.

Super Size Me - Assassination Style

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(This is the fruit of a conversation with a friend.)

Pat Robertson recently called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez.  He's trying to play around it now, but whatever.  He said it.  And a lot of people silently agree while publicly speaking out against what he said.  But I think there is a biblical way for Pat to save face, for Christians to get behind him (since we are all at our deepest core fascist Republicans anyway), and to get the job done without feeling guilty.

I just watched Super Size Me last night, and nearly vomited by the end of the DVD.  Seriously, ask my wife.  Thirty days of McDonald's nearly killed Morgan Spurlock who started the documentary in great shape.  So Chavez, who is a little more pudgy, should drop after about three weeks of Quarter Pounders with cheese.

And the great thing is, Chavez can be assassinated without guilt.  Romans 12:20-21 says, "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty give him a drink."  There you go, biblical justification for assassination by McDonald's.

So Pat, send Hugo a month's worth of Extra Value Meals and your desires will be fulfilled, your biblical foundations will remain strong, and your detractors will be silenced.  I rest my case.

Hugo_chavez_fries

Dopey Lance?

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Big stories buzzing about alleged evidence that Lance Armstrong was doping in 1999 (during 1st TdF victory).  No judgments either way here, but waiting to see what unfolds.

Original story from French newspaper
Cycling News
Washington Post
AP
Reuters
Cycling World Divided

The complete text of Lance Armstrong's statement, which was posted on his official Web site late Monday:

"Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Tomorrow's L'Equipe, a French sports daily, is reporting that my 1999 samples were positive. Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow's article is nothing short of tabloid journalism.

The paper even admits in its own article that the science in question here is faulty and that I have no way to defend myself. They state: "There will therefore be no counter-exam nor regulatory prosecutions, in a strict sense, since defendant's rights cannot be respected."

I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs."

UPDATE 8.24 Morning: "The director of the Tour de France claims Lance Armstrong has "fooled" the sports world and that the seven-time champion owes fans an explanation over new allegations he used a performance-boosting drug."

UPDATE 8.24 Evening: Lance said today, "But to say that I've fooled the fans is preposterous. I've been doing this a long time. We have not just one year of only 'B' samples; we have seven years of 'A' and 'B' samples. They've all been negative," he said during a conference call from Washington, D.C."

UPDATE 8.25 at SportsIllustrated.com: "It doesn't surprise me at all that they have samples. Clearly they've tested all of my samples since then to the highest degree. But when I gave those samples," he said, referring to 1999, "there was not EPO in those samples. I guarantee that."

UPDATE 8.25 at Sportsline.com: "There's a setup here and I'm stuck in the middle of it," Armstrong told the Associated Press. "I absolutely do not trust that laboratory."

UPDATE 8.26 from Larry King Live: "If you consider my situation: a guy who comes back from arguably, you know, a death sentence, why would I then enter into a sport and dope myself up and risk my life again? That's crazy. I would never do that. No. No way."

UPDATE 8.26: "Lance Armstrong received strong backing Friday from cycling's domestic governing body, which said accusations against the seven-time Tour de France champion are "completely without credibility."