Whirled Views with Dan Burrell

Due to a variety of reasons, I have been way too busy to blog much lately. I hope to remedy that in the next few week, but for now let’s just say that life is pretty hectic (in a good way) with ministry opportunities, missions projects, leadership adjustments and life in general. I do want to share another editorial from my good friend, Warren Smith, of the Charlotte World. Take a few minutes and read his opinion he entitled “Body Count Evangelism“.

Body-Count Evangelism

By Warren Smith

COMMENTARY–Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold 25-million copies, is perhaps the most famous evangelical pastor in America. He writes often about church growth, leadership, and related issues. Heres something Warren wrote for the Mar. 16, 2004, Leadership Journal:

“Three key responsibilities of every pastor are to discern where (and how) Gods Spirit is moving in our culture and time, prepare your congregation for that movement, and cooperate with it to reach people Jesus died for. I call it ’surfing spiritual waves’ in The Purpose Driven Church, and its the reason Saddleback has grown to 23,500 on weekends in 24 years. You dont criticize a wave; you just ride it as best you can. When Mel Gibson showed me his film, The Passion of The Christ, last year, Iknew a huge wavea spiritual tsunamiwould hit when the film debuted on February 25 [2004], and we began praying and preparing to surf it.”

When I read this passage, I was taken aback. The celebrity name dropping, the appeal to size as an indication of God’s blessing, the propagation of an extra-biblical theory (”spiritual waves”) as a sign of Gods working, the pre-emptive strike against critics these are heresies and logical fallacies pervasive in the evangelical church today, all rolled into a single paragraph.

Warren continues:

“We booked 47 theater screens for members to take their lost friends to. Kay [Warren, Ricks wife] and I personally invited over a thousand lost community leaders of Orange County to a VIP premiere showing, including every mayor, congressman, superintendent of schools, other community leaders, and four billionaires. The results? Over 600 unchurched community leaders attended our VIP showing; 892 friends of members were saved during the two-week sermon series. Over 600 new small groups were formed, and our average attendance increased by 3,000. That’s catching a wave!”

When I read this, I wondered: Even setting aside the theological and philosophical problems, how could these numbers possibly be true? There was something about them that just didnt make sense. So I turned to Outreach magazine, which each year publishes lists of the largest and fastest growing churches. The 2005 list (which covered the period about which Warren writes) had Saddlebacks weekly attendance at 23,194. The 2006 Outreach list had Saddleback at 20,595. Thats a drop of nearly 3000. And at least according to these numbers, which were reported to Outreach by the church itself at no time did Saddleback have the 23,500 that Warren asserted.

Outreach reports the largest churches and the fastest growing churches on adjacent pages in the magazine. So I flipped the page and discovered something even more puzzling. Even though Saddlebacks weekly attendance fell by 3000, it reported a gain of 1,149 for the year! How does a church that loses 3000 report a gain of over 1,000? Maybe they planted a new church. That’s an admirable thing, but even if true why should Saddleback be reporting the numbers of another church as its own?

In the Leadership Journal article, Warren also touted his churchs ability to attract young people, saying that the largest Gen-X church in America is Saddleback with over 20,000 names under 29 on our church roll. Again, how could a church with only 21,000 members have more than 20,000 under the age of 30? And even if that is true, is it a good thing to have so thoroughly shut out those over 30? How could such a congregation possibly represent the true community or koininia spoken of in the New Testament?

Some pastors are growing wise to these self-aggrandizing perversions of truth. Dan Burrell is the pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. Burrell says he has grown disillusioned with the efforts of what I and others are calling the Christian-Industrial Complex to get him to participate in Body-Count Evangelism. Interestingly, the movie The Passion, which provided the context for Rick Warrens comments, provided the context for Burrells epiphany.

“I will admit that I got seduced with Mel Gibsons ‘The Passion of the Christ,’” Burrell writes. “I was convinced enough that it had evangelistic value that I bought out five screens at a local theatre before its public release and we invited scores of non-believers to join us in watching the movie and discussing it afterwards. I recall one ‘decision,’ but no conversions, after all the effort and I learned my lesson. From that point forward, Ive been pretty much immunized against ‘partnering’ with Hollywood. Upon further reflection, Ive reached the decision that pastors are actually being asked not to partner with, but to pimp for Hollywood.”

Burrell makes the important distinction between decisions and conversions. If that distinction seems a false one, consider this: The American Church Research Project reports that in 2000, only 18.7 percent of the U.S. population attended a Christian church on an average Sunday. Ten years earlier, in 1990, that percentage was 20.4. In other words, the percentage of churchgoers in America is going down, not up.

Of course, Warren is not alone in making outrageous claims. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association claimed in its 2005 annual report that 3.2-million people had made decisions for Christ as a result of its ministries. Emergent church leaders, Willow Creekers, and others constantly propagate the claim that they are reaching unchurched people. Im not saying that some of them are not doing good work, but the most basic demographic analysis suggests strongly that many of their claims cannot possibly be true. Indeed, it reminds me of the one-liner going around during the church-roll padding scandal of the Southern Baptist Convention a few years ago: “There are more Southern Baptists than there are people.”

The Southern Baptists took steps to clean up their scandal. I can only hope that Rick Warren and other megachurch and parachurch ministries choose to exercise more care and integrity in the assessment of and reporting of their impact. Because the inescapable conclusion is this: the Body of Christ in America is not growing either numerically or spiritually. It is, relatively speaking, shrinking — burdened by crass commercialism, a lack of integrity, and the quest for power and glory of celebrity preachers. An all but inescapable second conclusion is this: the rest of us, if we do not speak out against the lies of those who practice body-count evangelism, are standing by just as Paul stood by when he guarded the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen. We, likewise, are guarding this cloak of falsehood subjecting the Body of Christ to a modern stoning of its own.
—-
Warren Smith is the publisher of The Charlotte World. He can be reached at warren.smith@thecharlotteworld.com

I’ve fairly clearly communicated by concerns with social networking websites like myspace.com and to a much lesser extent facebook.com in previous blog articles, sermons and other commentaries written for other outlets. One of local Christian radio stations recommended an article from Christianity Today on the topic as well. I think every parent — particularly those who have that little voice in their head that says, “My child would never….” — should aggressively monitor their child’s internet activity and accounts on sites like “MySpace”. Take some time to read this article and get better informed about these kinds of sites and follow through on their very practical and helpful points of counsel.

OK, Ill confess. I TIVOd the American Idol tryouts and watched them while exercising on my new elliptical trainer. Im generally not a fan of the show, but theres something embarrassingly fascinating about the tryout episodes in a gawkish kind of way. Its the same sensation I get when I slow down to look at a traffic accident. I know I shouldnt look, but just cant seem to resist.

The legions of personalities represented in this competitive frenzy to become a celebrity would provide enough fodder to write a book of commentaries on our postmodern fascination with pop culture. Rarely have so many with so little talent attempted to achieve stardom with more confidence and less reason for that confidence in all of human history.

But today, I want to focus on one particular category of entrants those precious darlings of over-involved parents who have convinced their progeny that they are prodigies. One such American Idol wannabee was a rather awkward teenager who claimed to possess the triple-threat of being a singer, a juggler and a dancer. Without trying to mimic the cruelty of the AI judges, lets just say he was none of the above and thus was summarily dismissed without the essential golden ticket to return to the expectant arms of his fawning parents.

The explosion occurred within micro-seconds of entering the presence of his family. It was sheer rage punctuated by incredible profanity, an amazing dive into the depths of self-pity and depression, followed up by what can only be described as girlish wailing and sobbing in the bosom of his precious mother who rubbed his back and assured him that the judges were idiots and that hed still achieve fame one way or another. The stunning thing was the rapidity of the emotional transitions as this sixteen-year-old hustled through each stage of his temper tantrum faster than you could say, Taylor Hicks.

This sad display was but one of several similar ones and brings me to the topic at hand. Todays generation of parents have lost their perspective when it comes to how to raise their children with a genuine sense of their place in the universe.

The Psalmist marveled when thinking of his Creator, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Conversely, todays child behaves as if the entire universe has been created to serve him. This selfish and self-centered attitude is born of parents who have adopted a child-centric attitude toward their children.

So often, we have heard the mantra of the social liberals who proclaim Children First! as they demand more money and authority in invading the privacy of the nuclear family. Indeed, children do demand a substantial commitment, constant and diligent attention and enough personal energy to light up a small city. However, our generation takes this attitude to a whole new level.

Whether its our constant concern over the development of self-esteem, the way we assume that our children are always right and the authority (as in teachers, police officers and coaches) are always wrong, the tendency we have to structure our entire life around the scheduled activities of the childs recreational, social and entertainment life, to the irrational desire many parents have to be liked (as opposed to respected) by their children, we are developing a generation of self-centered brats who think that they are entitled to every opportunity, every consideration, every convenience without ever having had to wait for, earn or attain the privilege.

In doing so, we have reared a generation that does not understand the definition of words like humility, perseverance, duty, respect, submission, courtesy, self-control or sharing. By sheltering them from lifes unfair moments, by not using moments of failure or disappointment as opportunities for instruction, by telling our children real lies like you can do anything you set your mind to (really, lets see your five-foot-six son who weighs 195 pounds, but likes basketball dunk it someday), by constantly intervening when something doesnt go their way, we create a distorted view of real life for our kids.

Without a doubt, parents need to be supportive, positive, compassionate and engaged. But part of good parenting involves preparing your child to survive and thrive in a world that is often unfair, difficult and occasionally filled with disappointments and times of testing. When we equip them to persevere, keep their perspective and to accept or at least endure difficult times as part of the process God can use to make us more like Him, we are giving them a gift that will produce a character that will sustain them when talent fades or fails to develop at all. Hollywood, Nashville and New York are littered with the sad tales of people who had talent, but not character. When it comes down to a choice of celebrity or character, Id prefer my children possess the latter every single time.

Most of those who regularly read this blog know that I have consciously decided to back away from politics at some levels and to a certain extent. (Primarily publicly and in my role as a leader of whatever influence among conservative Christians. I will still be personally involved as a citizen.)

I came across this interview with James Dobson who fairly well sums up most of my frustration with politics in general and Republicans in particular. If the election were to be held tomorrow and the choice was between Hillary and/or Barak and McCain and/or Rudolph…..I’d either not vote for any of them, would find a third-party candidate of my liking knowing they’ll never get elected or simply spend election day reading or playing with my kids or working on a project.

At some level, I think Dobson’s article may be prophetic. Thequestion that remains is ifsomeone, ANY one, in the Republican Party leadership is listening or even cares. I see no evidence of either.

You can read the article for yourself HERE.

I was saddened to hear today that Dr. Walter Fremont has graduated to heaven after a decades-long battle with Lou Gerhig’s disease. Those who knew Dr. Fremont were privileged to know one of the most gracious, engaging, principled, thoughtful men to ever serve the Lord. His book, “Formula for Family Unity” was filled with his philosophy of family. For many years, he and his lovely wife, Trudy, would visit churches conducting marriage and family seminars. He was best known as the long-time Dean of Education at Bob Jones University.

On a personal note, I came to know Dr. and Mrs. Fremont over 20 years ago as he came to the church where I served in Florida (and would eventually serve aspastor) to do couple’s seminars. At the time, I was the Director of the Couple’s Department and it was my privilege to host him when he came. One of my sweetest memories of him was one night at the Omni Hotel in West Palm Beach where we were enjoying a lavish seafood buffet. There was a strolling Dixieland Jazz-type quartet and “band” that was entertaining the diners. He was thoroughly enjoying them, singing some of the older songs to Miss Trudy and I eventually motioned them over to our table. He was thrilled, asking them to do several special songs, laughing and singing along. The love he had for his wife and for life and the Lord was contagious and infectious. Everytime I would see him after that time, he would remind me ofthat night and talk about it again. Dr. Fremont teased me for years that I had an incomplete education because I chose to go someplace other than BJU for my doctorate. He was a giant in Christian education and a gem among men. While he has been incapacitated by his disease for many years, those of us privileged to have known him were blessed by his investment in us.

I never heard him complain about his ailment. In fact, once I heard him put it this way… He said, “Everyone knows they are going to die someday. I just know what I’m going to die from.”

Today, he’s freer and more healthy than he’s ever been. Praise the Lord for this good man.

The official statement of his death as released follows:

Dr. Walter Fremont, 82, dean emeritus of BJUsSchool of Education, went to be with the Lord Sunday morning, January 7, 2007. Dr. Fremont became dean of the School of Education in 1953 and served in that capacity for 37 years. During his tenure, he was a seminal force in the initiation and development of the Christian school movement. He was a well-known consultant and speaker on Christian counseling and the family and the author of several books. Diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs disease twenty years ago, he will long be remembered for his courageous spirit.
Visitation will be held Monday evening, January 8, 2007, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the War Memorial Chapel on the Bob Jones University campus. The funeral will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday., January 9, at Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville.
For Dr. Fremonts obituary in The Greenville News, click HERE.

I received information this afternoon via a website email that I wanted to confirm before publishing on my blog. It took a while, but I’ve finally been able to verify the facts.

Dr. Tom Malone, one of the old lions of Independent Baptists and fundamentalism, has passed away. He was the founding pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan and Midwestern Baptist Collge which was closely affiliated with the church. During the 60’s through 80’s, Malone was a frequent conference speaker on the national stage. He retired from being the lead pastor for a few years, but later returned to Emmanuel as Senior Pastor. Malone was often aligned with the Sword of ther Lord which published some of his books and the more militant voices within fundamentalism.

His obituary, taken from the Oakland Press, follows:

MALONE, DR. THOMAS LLOYD, SR.; of Pontiac; January 7, 2007; age 91; husband of Joyce. Founder and Pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church for 66 years. Arrangements pending, to be completed by Donelson, Johns and Evans Funeral Home (248-673-1213).

Friday, I gave you my Top 10 list of stories impacting Evangelical Christianity as a whole. Today, I narrow my focus a bit and were going to look at the branch of Evangelicalism known as Fundamentalism. On this branch has grown some of the finest and most principled expositors of the Word and Champions of Truth that the world has ever known. At the same time, it has produced the occasional nut as well. This years list has the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in it in order to accurately reflect the whole of news among fundamentalists.

So without further adieu, the Top 10 Significant News Stories Impacting Fundamentalism in 2006

10. Christians and the Theatre

While many Pastors and the most conservative fundamentalists still take a Good Christians Dont Go to Movies stance, most of their church members and friends dont. For years, the position was built on arguments such as Youre supporting wickedness with your dollars (but every time you drink a Pepsi or pump Exon gas you are doing the same thing as they own all kinds of companies that are as wicked as Hollywood) and People will think you are going to watch something wicked (Really, do they also assume that every time you go to a bookstore youre buying a Playboy or a nasty pulp novel?). With the advent of video players, cable TV and now even Internet downloads, the walls are crumbling and wise Christian leadership is teaching the principle that the believer should be accountable for EVERY thing he sets before his eyes regardless of the medium or location. While most Pastors of fundamentalist churches are still not taking youth activities to see Rocky VI as the promoters are encouraging, they are also waking up to the reality that as sincerely as they hold their own no-movies policy, most of their church members dont and thus, an opportunity for a more substantive teaching on Bible principles exists to help Believers with matters of discernment that will enable them to navigate a tragically wicked culture from a perspective of Biblical principle rather than arbitrary lines or lists.

9. Kent Hovind Dr. Dino Goes to Jail

Dr. Kent Hovind, an itinerant Creation evangelist with suspect credentials and presentations that are often scientifically unsound, inexplicably (or perhaps not) found a following among many fundamentalists. Calling himself Dr. Dino, he sold videotapes and sermon series to supplement the honorariums he received while speaking in churches and Christian schools. Eventually, he built a sort of Christian theme park in Pensacola, Florida where he would invite youngsters of all ages to explore large fiberglass dinosaurs, play on a playground and buy more of his videos and books. It was Christian schlock at its finest. To make matters worse, Hovind developed a penchant for preaching that the U.S. Government has no constitutional authority to collect income taxes and he refused to pay them. For years. When the law finally caught up with him, he and his wife faced decades in a federal prison for tax evasion. Witnesses against Mr. and Mrs. Hovind included Mrs. Beka Horton (as in Pensacola Christian College and BEKA books) and David Gibbs of the Christian Law Association. The Hovinds were found guilty and given an unusually long jail sentence and now sit behind bars. The delusions of becoming some sort of revolutionary icons seem to have evaporated as only the most extreme folks from their circle continue to defend them though most agree that the long prison terms they received seemed unusually punitive.

8. Maranatha Loses Its President

In a story that was given unusual coverage and legs through internet blogs and from a series of letters sent out by administrative officials and the president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Dr. David Jaspers a highly esteemed and capable college President, resigned under pressure from the Board of MBBC. The story trickled out rather slowly and some serious finger-pointing began occurring which threatened the stability of one of fundamentalisms most balanced and well-regarded colleges. While the entire story has never been fully reported (largely out of respect for both Jaspers and MBBC), Dr. Jaspers wrote a follow-up letter in which he admitted to a lack of modesty during therapeutic massages. Both Dr. Jaspers and interim president Dr. Larry Oats eventually issued statements about the resignation, board actions and the transition and enough information was made public so as the speculation and hullabaloo died down. Key to this whole story is the role that blogs and websites played in communicating the facts and reprinting statements from the various parties which did much to relay pertinent information and in the process largely squashed the tendency that stories such as this have to devolve into gossip, speculation and innuendo. Hopefully, this will mark the beginning of a positive and healthy trend where individuals and institutions work together with internet journalists of good reputation to communicate necessary information without letting the rumor mill be the main source of information dispersal in the future.

7. Jack Schaap and Communal Hanky Panky

The pastor of what is arguably the largest church in all of fundamentalism published a book which has recently been examined for multiple controversial passages which compare the Ordinance of Communion to sexual intercourse with Christ. Jack Schaap, son-in-law of the late Jack Hyles, is the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. For many years, the church boasted to be the Worlds Largest Sunday School and is one of the landmark churches of the most strident branch of Independent Baptist fundamentalism. In his book, Marriage: Divine Intimacy which has a publication date of 2005, but which was mostly distributed in 2006, he compares communion with sexual acts. As outrageous as this sounds, the words speak for themselves. Wikipedia cites specific passages that are easily verified

In Jack Schaaps book on Marriage, titled Divine Intimacy (published by Hyles Publications, 2005), Schaap teaches that when a Baptist takes Holy Communion, he is not taking the Body and Blood of Christ, but is engaging in Spiritual Sex with God.[3] He also teaches that the Independent Fundamental Baptist - as the Bride of Christ - is the female corresponding to the male of Christ.[4] Another baptist belief brought up in chapter 3 is that when the wife lays back and receives her husbands sperm, she is by that action saying Christ, by this action I am receiving You.[5] He also makes the claim that the Word translated as laid in Psalm 119:30 (I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I LAID before me) means sexual intercourse.[6] Schaap then make the claim that in Psalm 119:31 (I have STUCK unto thy testimonies) the word Stuck means the act of a man entering his wife.[7]3. ^ Marriage The Divine Intimacy, Hyles Publications 2005. Page 42 pp3

4. ^ Marriage The Divine Intimacy, Hyles Publications 2005. Page 42 pp3
5. ^ Marriage The Divine Intimacy, Hyles Publications 2005. Page 43 pp1
6. ^ Marriage The Divine Intimacy, Hyles Publications 2005. Page 44 pp2
7. ^ Marriage The Divine Intimacy, Hyles Publications 2005. Page 44 pp3

Schaap, who inherited a ministry scarred by allegations of moral and financial improprieties involving his father-in-law, has previously been accused of adopting some of the teachings of Charismatic preachers, exaggerating illustrations involving his time at Pillsbury Baptist College and additional unconventional interpretations of Scripture and doctrine.6. The Revolving Doors at Pensacola Christian College

Last year, I introduced my personal choices for the Top News Stories of 2006 that impacted or reflected the corner of the Christian world I most frequently navigate. I was shocked at how my article grew legs and was picked up by other blogs and cited by media sources. I dont know that anything in my list contained any earth-shattering insights, but it was fun for discussion as people ordered and added and deleted the list I put together.

So in the interest of discussion, debate, and just fun, I offer my current list of Significant News Stories in Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in 2006. This year, I went farther out on my limb and made two listsone for those who identify themselves as Evangelicals and a list for those who are Fundamentalists (proving once again that Fundamentalists are separatists to the corewe even want separate lists!).

So . . . (drum roll please) . . . I present . . .

The Top 10 News Stories of Interest in Evangelicalism in 2006 (in ascending order of importance)

10. The Caner/Caner vs. White/Ascol Debate on Calvinism

Promising a Thrilla on Theology, a Contest over Calvinism, a Jousting in Jerrytown, a Lickin in Libertyville, a Waxing by White, a Conquest by the Caners (OK, OK. Ill stop it!)the much bally-hooed debate between the four docs who thought they could settle the centuries-old conflict over Calvinism turned out to be an embarrassing bust for all involved. Unable to contain themselves before the actual event scheduled for November in the new auditorium of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia (the Mother Ship/Church of Liberty University), the four intellectuals started unleashing on each other via email in the ugliest of terms over everything from the rules of the debate to the tone of each others emails regarding the rules of the debate. In the end, it spilled out onto the Internet and created a messy scene that drew rubber-neckers and sycophants alike. Finally, the plug was pulled (creating yet another exchange of who quit firsts postings), and the whole sullied affair finally disappeared from cyberspace. Sadly, perhaps the greatest chance to finally resolve the issue of Calvins five-points in 250 years was lost. Yeah, right.

While on vacation in Missouri, my brother-in-law and I and the boys were doing some clay pigeon shooting when I asked Megan if she’d like to fire a gun for the first time. At first, she demurred, but eventually we goaded her into giving it a try. To our shock, after the briefest of lessons, she started knocking skeet from the sky like Annie Oakley. So here’s the pictorial record of my little redneck gal in action!

Dad gives Megs a quick lesson in pistol handling.

Megan fires away with Dad’s .357 as if she was a pro.

Now she tries out the single barrel shotgun and her first skeet.

Take a look at the form. She outshoots her brother AND her dad hitting 2 out of 3. Dad’s sure proud of his little redneck gal!