The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

Building Bridges Conference

The audio files for the Building Bridges Conference are slowly being added to the Lifeway page here. They have been, so far that I have listened, gracious on both sides

One of the most interesting things I heard was the intro report by Ed Stetzer in which he pointed out that there is a strong trend towards Calvinism among recent SBC seminary graduates. The graph above is mind boggling. Only 10% of all SBC pastors identify themselves as five point Calvinists, but almost 30% of recent graduates (since 1999) identify themselves as five pointers, and the more recent the grad, the higher the percentage. More data and the research methodology can be found here, but some other interesting factoids:

• Calvinists tend to pastor churches with a lower weekly attendance (Is it because Calvinists run into more opposition in being called to larger churches, or is it because Calvinists have higher standards for who is a member and who is baptized? The why is not answered)
• Calvinist pastors report sharing the Gospel with others outside of church services at a slightly higher rate than their non-Calvinist counterparts.
• While the churches are smaller, Calvinist pastored churches has a baptism rate similar to non-Calvinist pastored churches.

What does all of that data mean? That despite the strawmen used to falsely portray and attack Reformed Baptists, most of those who are both Calvinist and Southern Baptist take very seriously not just theology but also evangelism.

I listened to part of David Dockery's talk, and he was pretty funny. One of his jokes was a Jeff Foxworthy-esque one about those unsure of whether or not they are a Calvinist (paraphrasing here...)

If you have a son named John, whether named after Calvin, Knox, Edwards or Piper, you might be a Calvinist.

If you think the axis of error runs through Pelagius, Arminius and Finney, you might be a Calvinist.

If you think that a psalter is not the thing sitting next to the pepper shaker, you might be a Calvinist

If you didn’t laugh at any of these jokes, you might be a Calvinist!

One of the most encouraging things about the whole conference was not that minds were changed or that any new material was presented, but that the issue of Calvinism was spoken about by both proponents and opponents in a Biblically sound, Christ honoring way and that the recognition was there that theological discussion in the SBC is a positive thing, and the goal is not to convert the world to Calvinism but to win the world for Christ. If we can have more frank, honest, peaceful discussion it will only further the cause of the Great Commission and strengthen the SBC for the future. Those who seek to run Calvinists out of the SBC threaten the future of the Convention. Those who embrace theirs brothers in spite of difference of doctrine are the ones who truly see the future of the SBC.