Archive for Education
Podcast Episode 21
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Timid. Reserved. Reticent. All of these are fine adjectives, and none of them describe our guest on this week’s podcast. Dr. Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, joins us for a conversation that ranges from apologetics to camels to task forces. Also this week, we welcomed our newest team member at SBC Today, David Worley, though he found out it’s difficult to get a word in edgewise. He’ll be more prepared next week, I’m sure.
Listen to the podcast using the player below, or visit our iTunes page to subscribe. A click on the link in the sidebar (or on the image in this post) will take you there, and while you’re at it, write us a review or give us a rating. And as always, we welcome your comments here on issues we discuss or on how we can improve the podcast. Thanks for listening.
Links to items discussed:
Enhanced Podcast: Podcast Episode 6
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This week’s podcast is entirely given to discussion about the meeting last week of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, and about the public forum held before the meeting took place. Scott Gordon and I traveled to Rogers, Arkansas, and were present at the forum, and the rest of the podcast gang had the opportunity to watch the video from the event.
Come for the reflections and reactions, but be sure to stay until the 39 minute mark, where Tim Rogers gets so fired up that he accidentally cuts off his telephone connection. You’ll be glad you did.
You can listen using the player below, or you can subscribe to our podcast in iTunes. Just click the logo above to be taken to our iTunes page. While you’re there, please take a moment to give us a review, or just click some stars to rate the podcast. We welcome your feedback here, as well. Just leave a comment to let us know how we can improve the podcast.
As always, here are links to the items discussed, in this case simply a link to the task force website and links to the two parts of the video from the forum:
A Text Driven Devotion
Posted by: | CommentsBelow is a brief devotional I was asked to compose for the Stillwater News Press. Further down, after the devotion, I will provide some analysis on how I came up with my four points, specifically focusing on verse thirteen of the passage.
People search for answers during tough times. There is no doubt that things are getting tougher for many. But, how can the community of faith navigate through difficult times? The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 1:13-25) offers us four checkpoints to follow. First, while in this world, we are to look beyond our present situation to the grace we will fully realize when Jesus returns for His church. While things may be unstable here, we can be assured of our hope in Jesus when he returns to set this fallen world straight. Second, while in this world, we are to live our lives in a manner that reflects a growing holiness in our actions that stems from a relationship with Jesus. The old ways that was conducted in worldly ignorance must not be our habit as Jesus is now our new example. Third, we are to do all things with reverence, not with sloppy aimlessness. The Father gave the most precious thing He could, His Son, and the lives of those who call upon the name of the Lord should reflect the price that was paid to redeem them from their iniquity. Finally, we are to love one another in the community of faith. Not superficially, but in such a way that the true believer displays passion and finds pleasure in loving his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Our closest friends and confidants should be found in the household of God and it is where we should find our greatest encouragement. Ultimately, our love comes from God and we are able to love during difficulty because God has brought us to a new birth that was supernaturally seeded by His Word. The answer to these tough days is Jesus as told to us in the scriptures. May all who are being transformed by His Holy Writ search for Him, live in Him, honor Him, and love each other through Him.
President Emir Caner
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We at SBC Today would like to congratulate Dr. Emir Caner for his recent move to his new position as President of Truett-McConnell College. May the Lord continue to use Dr. Caner in ways that will strengthen and expand His Kingdom. Below is a news release from the college.
Dr. Emir Caner Called As President
In a meeting held on August 8, 2008, the Board of Trustees of Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia, voted to call Dr. Emir Caner as the eighth president of the college.
Born and reared a Sunni Muslim, Caner converted to Christianity in 1982 and was subsequently disowned by his family. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies from The Criswell College in Dallas, TX; his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC; and his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Texas at Arlington.
He served previously in faculty and administrative positions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and in 2005 became the founding Dean of the College at Southwestern, a division of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. He was named to Who’s Who Among American Teachers and Educators in the 2006-2007 edition.
A highly respected scholar, the 37-year-old Caner has authored or contributed to 16 books, including Unveiling Islam, which won the Gold Medallion Award by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, and More Than a Prophet, a finalist for Book of the Year in Evangelism by Outreach magazine. In total, his books have sold more than 300,000 copies and been translated into eight languages.
Caner becomes the first former Muslim to be elected as president of a Southern Baptist college or university. His brother, Ergun, was the first former Muslim to be elected president of a seminary, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, VA.
According to Terrell J. Williams, chairman of the Truett-McConnell Board of Trustees: “It’s a great day in the life of Truett-McConnell College and Georgia Baptists! The TMC Board of Trustees is extremely excited about the future of our school under the leadership of Dr. Emir Caner. We proudly welcome Dr. Caner and his family and look forward to working with him in the fall semester.” Rev. Bucky Kennedy, current president of the Georgia Baptist Convention, comments: “Dr. Emir Caner will bring to Truett-McConnell a level of Christian education that will raise the bar academically but also manifest itself in the life of the students.”
Dr. J. Robert White, Executive Director/CEO of the Georgia Baptist Convention, writes: “Dr. Caner is a scholar, a professor, a writer, a preacher and an experienced administrator-a powerful combination of gifts. At the same time, he has a vibrant personality and is easy to know. He has a contagious warmth, is enjoyable to be with and is an excellent conversationalist.” And in the words of Dr. Mike Simoneaux, who has served Truett-McConnell as its interim president for the past year: “God’s leading is evident in the calling of Dr. Emir Caner as the new president of Truett-McConnell College. I sincerely believe that Dr. Caner’s presidency will be characterized by unprecedented expansion of our student body, by strengthening our readiness to serve the Lord through Christian education, and by rapid growth of our financial resources.”
Caner is married to the former Hana Titerova, daughter of the General Secretary of the Czech Baptist Union. They have three children: John Mark (5), Daniela (3), and Anna (1).
Caner is expected to begin his duties at Truett-McConnell College at the beginning of the fall semester.
Pray for Union University
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Union University in Jackson, Tennessee was struck by a tornado last evening. No life-threatening injuries are reported, but the school’s dormitories and academic buildings sustained heavy damage. Details can be found by clicking here.
We’ll continue with our current series of interviews this afternoon. This morning, please take some time to pray for the school. Give thanks to God for his protection of human life, and pray that the school’s president, Dr. David Dockery, be given wisdom in the days ahead as they begin to recover.
Interview with Dr. Ergun Caner
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Tim Rogers was planning to interview Dr. Ergun Caner while he was in Jacksonville, but flight schedules changed, and they weren’t able to meet up. So today, I was able to visit with Dr. Caner by phone from his Virginia home.
Dr. Caner is the president of the recently re-named Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. For more information about him, click here to visit his website.
This interview runs about 17 minutes. You can listen to the interview directly from this page, you can download it by following the instructions below, or you can access it along with all of our other interviews by visiting our “Interviews” resource page. Tomorrow we will be presenting another interview, as Tim was able to sit down today for a visit with Mac Brunson.
Standard Podcast [16:44m]: Interview with Dr. Danny Akin, Links to Resources
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One of our aims at SBC Today is to be a resource for pastors, and this post is perhaps one of the best we’ve yet had at accomplishing that goal.
Monday, Wes Kenney and I had the opportunity to sit down with President Danny Akin of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. After the interview, Dr. Akin told us about his website, dannyakin.com, which is packed full of free resources, from sermon audio to complete publications. It is an outstanding source for pastors and anyone else interested in studying the Bible with the help of one of the leading theologians of our day.
During the interview, we talked about a variety of topics, from confessions of faith to expository preaching to the emerging church. Recently Dr. Akin led Southeastern in sponsoring a conference that focused on the emerging church. One of the main speakers was Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Dr. Akin had the opportunity to talk about why he helped in sponsoring the conference and he gave some of his thoughts on Mark Driscoll and the ministry Driscoll has in Seattle.
Thanks to Micah Fries (pronounced “freeze”) for his blog that led me to a great site, sponsored by Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church in Seattle, for helping pastors, laypeople, and students with their New Testament Greek. Re: Greek is a site that will be a major help in studying your Greek Bible, especially for all you seminary students who don’t have major bucks to drop on a Greek parsing program. That’s because Re:Greek gives you the parsing. Of course, to keep us out of hot water with our former Greek professors, we add the disclaimer that all New Testament Greek students should strive to memorize and apply all those parsing charts and use programs like this only as a back up. I would like to thank those who put this program together.
The audio from the interview is available below. Enjoy the Greek tool, Dr. Akin’s resources, and the interview.
Interview with Dr. Albert Mohler
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Robin Foster and I, along with blogger, pastor, and fellow Okie Scott Gordon, sat down this afternoon with Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Mohler was in Oklahoma for the Pastor’s Conference preceding the 101st Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, and was gracious enough to spend a few minutes talking with us.
We covered a variety of topics in the limited time we had, from his recent health issues to what he does to relax. He talked about supposed conflicts between the Baptist Faith & Message and the Abstract of Principles, and addressed the adoption of an anti-Calvinism statement by an Oklahoma association (Click here for the details).
We also visited this morning with Dr. Danny Akin of Southeastern Seminary, and we’ll post that audio in a couple of days. We appreciate Dr. Mohler making time for us today. Click below to listen to the interview, which was recorded using the second-best digital audio recorder Wal-Mart has to offer.
Evangelical Homiletics Society and Grace Community Church
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As part of my Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program requirements, I went to the eleventh annual meeting of the Evangelical Homiletics Society (EHS) hosted by the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, California. EHS exists to give conservative evangelical homileticians an opportunity to share ideas and thoughts on the craft of preaching God’s Word in an expository fashion.
One such paper presented was by Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh. He is pastor of CornerStone Baptist Church in Panama City Beach, Florida and adjunct professor of preaching at Liberty Theological Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Baptist College of Florida. He delivered a thought provoking paper on preaching in our post-modern world. I highly recommend you read it. It can be found on our resource page or click here.
While Dr. Breidenbaugh is a Southern Baptist, there was a wide range of different denominations from various schools represented, from Southwestern to Liberty to Gordon Conwell to Talbot to Azusa Pacific University. I also had the opportunity to meet some of the men who I have read like Dr. Kent Edwards, and Dr. Jeffrey Arthurs. It was a pleasure to talk with both men and they were a blessing to me. Dr. Arthurs came and talked with this years D. Min. class about preaching the parables of Jesus. I highly recommend his book, Preaching with Variety. Both men are class acts and I look forward to their continued offerings in the world of preaching.
I also had the opportunity to go to Grace Community Church (GCC) where John MacArthur is pastor. He delivered an excellent sermon concerning the second coming of our Lord. One thing that struck me about GCC was that it is not what we would term a church on the “cutting edge.” In fact, three of the songs we sang came out of the hymnal. In case you are wondering, the words from the songs did not appear on a big screen because no big screen was used. In fact, there was no big jumbotron sign outside the church advertising the upcoming events in various colors. Just a small humble sign near the road that resembled most church signs that conveyed when the worship times were and who their pastor is. It all looked plain and simple with no frills. In a day when we are told to get high tech and cutting edge with our worship, it is a blessing to see a “mega-church” that still focuses on loving people with the expository preaching of God’s Word.
So, what is the point of this post? There are areas of fellowship that Southern Baptists can and do participate. To continue in painting a caricature that describes those who agree with me on certain issues as “narrow minded isolationists” is to make fallacious statements concerning our love and fellowship with those who do not see eye to eye with us. In a time when conservative traditional Baptists like me are characterized as narrow, uncooperative, and isolationist, it was a blessing to be a part of this gathering. Many people from different traditions came together to learn from one another how to more effectively share the good news of the Gospel from our pulpits. While I would not consider planting a church with some of these folks, because of the different traditions, I can certainly share with them in a learning experience that will make me a better preacher of the gospel. With that, there’s nothing “spooky!”
