You can use the player below to listen to the podcast, or you can click the image in this post (or the sidebar link) to be taken to our iTunes page. There, you can subscribe to the podcast, download past episodes, write a review, or give us a rating. All of the above are strongly encouraged. And please leave your comment here with suggestions for how we can improve future podcasts or for guests you’d like to see in the future. And as always, thanks for listening.

Links to some items discussed:

• WFAA story on Ed Young, Jr.
• Fellowship Church’s response
• John Mark Yeats
• Franchising McChurch

You can listen to the podcast right from the site using the player below, or, as many folks have done, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes and have it downloaded immediately when it becomes available each week. Click the podcast image in this post or the link in the sidebar to be taken to our iTunes page, and while you’re there, give us a rating and/or a review. We’d appreciate feedback, which you can put in a review there, or in a comment here. Let us know how we can improve the podcast.

Below are some links to the items we discussed in this episode. See you next week on the podcast.

• Trevin Wax’s blog discussion with Romanian Baptist leaders
• Oklahoma’s ultrasound law struck down
• Tornado warnings
• Richard Dawkins equating evolution skeptics with holocaust deniers
• Southwestern prof resigns to retain membership in Broadway Baptist Church
• National health care as moral concern

In the resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says much about evangelism. He says he declares to the Corinthians the gospel, which he preached to them previously (v.1). He said they could rest assured of their salvation if they held fast to the word he preached to them (v.2). He delivered to them first what he had received, namely Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances (v.3—4). He remarks that though he was least among the apostles, he preached and the Corinthians believed (v.11). He imagines Christians declaring the risen Christ (v.12). In fact, this is a point of contention in favor of Christ’s resurrection. Paul reasons that if Christ did not rise from the dead, he preached in vain (v.14) and was guilty of false witness against God because he had testified to Christ’s resurrection (v.15). To the Corinthians’ shame he chastises them that they had failed to introduce others to God (v.34). He tells them of the mystery of the resurrection of believers (v.51). Paul anticipates that believers in the resurrection would prioritize evangelism. Believers manifest their faith in the resurrection by working at evangelism.

Paul’s frequent references to evangelism as a primary Christian work helps readers understand the meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” The work Paul speaks of in this verse consists of evangelism. In that work believers should “be steadfast, immovable”, and “always abounding.” A little evangelism here and there on infrequent occasions does not match the expectations of the apostle. He even expected the chaotic Corinthians to always abound in evangelism. The urgent need of the hour is steadfast, immovable, and always abounding evangelism.

Southern Baptists have several champions who have modeled this for the churches. One of those champions was George W. Truett, pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas, and oftentimes chairman of the Board of Trustees of Southwestern Seminary. In his biography of George Truett, Powhatan James wrote of Truett’s commitment to evangelism. He took pains to describe the extent to which Truett had yielded his life to Jesus Christ and how this surrender manifested itself in evangelism. Many have attested to Truett’s unreserved surrender to Jesus Christ and Christ’s dominance of this great man. James reveals that Christ’s dominance over Truett surfaced at many points, but one of the most unusual episodes of Truett’s surrender occurred when Truett lay sick in a hospital bed in Dallas. Truett was preaching an area wide revival in Longview, Texas when influenza made it impossible for him to continue the meetings. An ambulance rushed him to a Dallas hospital where he spent a month under a doctor’s care, followed by a month of rehabilitation at his favorite resort in Mineral Wells, Texas.

During his stay in the hospital, something unusual happened, and Truett became delirious. Of course, when people become delirious they are likely to say almost anything, and, sadly, the things spew forth are things they would never say when lucid. Truett suffered in this condition. Fever, and perhaps medication, confused and demented his mind. Mrs. Truett stayed by his beside during these times, and she wrote to James of what she experienced at his side during these times of delirium. She wrote,

My task has not been an easy one these past two months. It is very sweet to me, and a source of comfort to him, to learn that all through his unconsciousness and delirium from fever or medication, his subconscious mind was just as clean and Christian as his daily life has always been. As you know, I did not leave his bedside for the four weeks of his hospitalization, nor [sic] the weeks since. In his delirium, he was quoting scripture, preaching, and calling men to Christ or praying for them. I feel that his illness was a great revelation of the real man.*

The debilitating illnesses could not debilitate Truett’s witness for Christ. Difficulties could not debilitate Paul’s witness for Christ either. Nothing should debilitate our witness for Christ. Believers in the resurrection can fashion a personal practice of evangelism that resembles the resurrection. That is, as the resurrection is steadfast, immovable, and always abounding towards the world, so our personal evangelism can be steadfast, immovable, and always abound. To accomplish this, witnesses can pray every day for a list of lost people, preferably fifteen. They can make a new friend every day. They can witness every day using scheduled evangelism (visitation), spontaneous evangelism (“As you go” Matt 10:7), and social evangelism (making friends for Christ). They can invite someone to church every day. Research indicates that 82% of the unchurched are “somewhat likely” to accept an invitation. By mastering simple efforts in personal evangelism—and if pastors do not master personal evangelism, no one else will—they can live in a manner reminiscent of the resurrection.

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*Powhatan W. James, George Truett: A Biography (Nashville: Broadman, 1939), 275-76.

This is part of an article originally published January 1922 in the Southwestern Journal of Theology by Dr. L. R. Scarborough entitled, “Poisoning the Fountains of Truth.” It was republished in the most recent Southwestern Journal of Theology, “Baptists and Unity.” May a voice of our past speak to us today. Below is part one of a four part series reprinting Dr. Scarborough’s essay:

Poisoning the Fountains of Truth

Christ’s churches are the most important institutions in the world. He gave them a definite form of government, a specific character of membership, set up in them the two ordinances, gave to them the great body of the truth found in the New testament, set for them their officers, and committed to them the great task of winning the world to Him and building His great Kingdom. He says through His inspired apostles in 1 Timothy 3:15 that this organization which He set up and called His church is “the pillar and ground of the truth.” He says this church was purchased by His blood; and in His spiritual economy He calls this institution His Bride. All this and many other things in the New testament indicate that these spiritual organizations set up by Christ and established in many places by the apostles and which have for their successors these New testament churches of today are the most important institutions in all the world. These churches are to keep, guard, and promote the ordinances. They are to propagate the gospel. They are to win souls. They are both the preservers and the heralds of the gospel truth. They are to establish Christ’s Kingdom and to make Christ King in all the world. From any angle you look at these churches their importance is magnified.

All the institutions established by the co-operation of these New Testament churches—such as mission boards, benevolent institutions, orphanages, hospitals, schools, and so on—are of great importance; but of far greater importance are the churches back of these institutions. It is exceedingly bad when in any of these institutions promoted by Christ’s churches there is false teaching; but far worse is it for false teachings to be carried on in the churches which are “the pillar and ground of the truth.”

These churches are the very fountains of the life of the Kingdom of Christ. In Elisha’s day, as recorded in 2 Kings 2:19–22, there is an incident described where the spring of waters which furnished the water to the city for its inhabitants to drink and for the irrigation of its gardens, orchards and farms was poisoned; and these waters had to be healed by the miraculous power of God through Elisha’s word. The life of the people was endangered and the trees of the orchard cast their fruit because of the poison in the waters. Just as poisoned waters will destroy the life of a city, so will the poison in the fountains of truth in our churches cause spiritual death and dearth and drouth to the life of the people. If we poison the spiritual waters that flow from our churches into the lives of the people, we cause death to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Since the churches through their teaching service are commissioned to teach the “all things” commanded by Jesus Christ, and since this instruction goes Sunday by Sunday and week by week into the lives of the young, how very important it is that these fountains of life be kept pure from the poison of erroneous and false doctrine. It is far easier for us to correct false teaching in our schools, because the schools are under the control of our conventions, than it is to correct false teachings in our churches, because the churches are independent and sovereign and you cannot reach the false teachers, even though they be the pastors of the churches, except through the members of the churches themselves. This gives great emphasis to the importance of the right training for our young preachers who are to be pastors of our churches.

Reprinted with permission, Southwestern Journal of Theology

The phrase “Text-Driven Preaching” (TDP) is used to express not “a” way of preaching, but “the” way of preaching. One’s theology should drive their preaching and if someone believes God has given us His Word without any mixture of error, then his preaching should be reflected in that theology. What TDP believes is that God not only inspired the words of the text, but also the way in which it was recorded (genre) and the semantic/syntactical structure.

To faithfully understand Genesis 39 is not to begin with an idea of sexual purity and develop some self-help, bullet point sermon on how to live a sexually pure life. While some references could absolutely be made to that in passing, to develop a sermon on sexual purity from this passage would be missing the grand scheme of what the author had in mind. The main idea is not even a narrative reflection on the life of Joseph. Genesis 39 is a message about God and his plan of redemption that will culminate in His Son Jesus. While God’s plan may seem to be at stake with the imprisonment of Joseph, verse 21 records that the Lord was with Joseph. God is still active in bringing about His will. Even though Joseph may have been thrown in jail for something he didn’t do, giving a sense of helplessness, God was there with Joseph seeing him through this ordeal and sovereignly working to preserve His promise to Abraham and his seed.

I have heard many “how to be a better….” sermons that totally miss the point of the text and the reason for its inclusion in the canon of scripture. Unfortunately, some of them have been from me. But through Southwestern, I am acquiring the tools to combine doctrine with practice in order to gain a deeper understanding of the scriptures that will produce “text-driven sermons” that remain faithful to the Author’s intent and give a clear understanding of that intent to His people.

I will not be able to interact with comments on this post today. Sorry, but a full day of seminars await my participation.

The desire to discover the lowest possible standard before sin happens is not the way Christ expects us to live. Indeed, seeking the lowest denominator may be indicative of an improper attitude about temptation. Instead of seeing how far we may travel away from Christ’s will before we have gone over the edge, one who professes Jesus as Lord should be seeking eagerly for closeness to His will. If He is Lord, He must be Lord of the Christian’s life in truth. This applies equally in the spheres of doctrine and ethics. The Christian should adopt the attitude that asks, “How may I fulfill the standard that Jesus Christ reveals in His Word?” Likewise, the Christian must avoid the opposite attitude, which asks, “How far may I get away from Christ’s commands before it is wrong?”

When the method of theological triage was issued, it was accompanied by a call for theological maturity. We agree and echo this desire for growth, which we believe involves a growth into faithfulness to the Lord. Much of the current crisis in Baptist life circles around the relationship between gospel and faithfulness to Christ. On the one hand, the responsible Christian preacher, like Paul, will be careful to preach the gospel clearly. And he will be careful never to confuse the gospel with legalistic righteousness. Paul’s harsh words about the false teachers troubling the Galatians come to mind: “You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ: you have fallen from grace!” (Gal. 5:4). There is no room for legalism in preaching justification as the declaration of righteousness through faith in the Righteous One.

On the other hand, Paul never treated justification by grace through faith as an excuse for immaturity. The responsible Christian preacher, like Paul in Philippians 3, will not stop with the basics of the faith but will issue a call to forsake immaturity and pursue maturity.

The secondary issues include, according to the offered form of theological discrimination, those doctrines that make us Baptist. One may consider here such important Baptist distinctives as believers-only baptism by immersion, New Testament communion, democratic congregationalism, and regenerate church membership (cf. Baptist Faith and Message, articles 6-8). To term such doctrines “secondary” in the sense of “insignificant” or “unnecessary” or “indifferent” is not only a misuse of theological triage; it may be more egregiously a subtle but significant downgrading of Christ’s Lordship over His church. Indeed, we would argue-building upon an earlier metaphor-that a misuse of the bowie knife of theological triage may end with the consignment of some Christians to the spiritual emergency room. For the church planting enterprise in which Great Commission Christians engage, these second-order doctrines may not be ignored; if they are ignored, chaos and confusion of the Corinthian magnitude will ensue.

What we can and must do for those Christians that are not Baptists is to encourage them to submit even more to the Lord’s will. And when they will no longer listen, we will resort solely to the illimitable power of prayer. With Paul, we humbly pray that those Christians with whom we disagree regarding our Lord’s commands will no longer “think differently” but that “God will reveal this to you also.” Likewise, we would hope that non-Baptists would share the grace of God’s revelation with us where they deem we have not properly interpreted God’s Word.

I would personally like to thank Dr. Yarnell for allowing me to participate in this paper. When we started earlier this week, I had no idea I would learn so much in organizing and presenting a paper.  Again, to view the entire document, click here.

Dr. Patterson was in Hugo, Oklahoma for the Frisco Baptist Association‘s annual evangelism conference, and I was able to talk to him briefly after the conference had ended. We talked about issues ranging from ecclesiology to ecumenism, the characteristic passion for missions that has always defined Southwestern, to the future legacy of the seminary as envisioned by the school’s eighth president. We even talked a little about some of the silly rumors generated by recent tabloid blogging.

You can listen to the interview right here in the post, or you can pack it onto your iPod for later use. Just click on the iTunes button in the sidebar under “Podcast.”

Therefore, we will provide something of more substance on this subject before Friday, but until then may we direct you to Bart Barber’s thoughts regarding this matter.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will host its fourth annual Baptist Distinctives Series conference on September 25-26, 2008. This year’s topic is “Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church.” The conference will explore the biblical foundations for the New Testament church as expressed in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Topics will include the autonomy of the local church, church governance, church officers, ordinances, denominationalism, the local and universal church, and the mission of the church. Several Baptist theologians, historians, and pastors will be leading the conference, including Paige Patterson, James Leo Garrett, Keith Eitel, Malcolm Yarnell, Emir Caner, and Byron McWilliams. Our hope is that pastors, laypeople, and students alike will be challenged and encouraged by this discussion of ecclesiology and Baptist history.

The conference will be hosted at the Riley Center at Southwestern, located on the southeast corner of campus at 1701 W. Boyce Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76115. Early registration costs $50, and $25 for students through September 11. After September 11, registration increases by $25. For more information, schedule, and online registration, click on the image above or call 817-923-1921 ext 2440.

“The trustees received a report from the president where he provided his annual disclosure of his compensation information and entertained questions related to it and the same information for the rest of the seminary’s senior administration.

Chairman Van McClain stated that “since Southern Baptists expect that their entities supported by the Cooperative Program will be governed with integrity and accountability, I am glad the salary of the president of Southwestern has been fully and willingly disclosed to all of the trustees of the seminary, even though Dr. Patterson has refused an increase in compensation since his arrival in 2003.”

I spoke by telephone with Keith Collier, and he had no explanation for the omission. He told me that the release as it now appears on the SWBTS website has not been edited since it was posted on April 11, so it is clear that BP was deliberate in removing the paragraphs quoted above. I contacted BP by email to ask about the omission, but have received no response.

News organizations certainly are within their rights to edit anything they publish for style, length, and content. It is curious to me that they have chosen to omit this information concerning the president of the seminary, who has been relentlessly attacked for enriching himself with Cooperative Program dollars but has refused to accept even a single cost-of-living pay increase in the five years he has served at SWBTS.