Whirled Views with Dan Burrell

As I continue to work as the part-time, interim headmaster for Dade Christian School and New Testament Baptist Church in Miami, FL, I’ve had the privilege of meeting some outstanding team members and Godly leaders.  Among the finest is Don McNeal, a legendary Alabama Crimson Tide player from the late 1970’s and part of some of the greatest years of Miami Dolphins.  (Don played in two Superbowls with the ‘Fins in the 1980’s.)

Don serves as a counseling pastor at New Testament Baptist Church in Miami when he isn’t criss-crossing the country speaking at youth banquets, Athletes in Action events, Christian sporting groups and other such venues.  Don, who was diagnosed a few years ago with MS, is one of those positive and powerful role models that stirs young athletes to consider the difference Christ would make in their lives.  He’s one of those rare public figures whose walk matches his talk.

Today, word spread around campus that Don has been selected to join the University of Alabama’s Hall of Fame joining some of football history’s greatest and storied athletes.  Congratulations go to Don and his dear wife, Rhonda — not simply for winning this honor, but for the great work they are doing for the Kingdom!

For years, I have said that the modern church-growth movement (and the not-as-modern church-growth movement) were built on a false foundation of pragmatic gimmickry and unsound philosophy.  Whether it was packing kids into buses with promises of goldfish and bubble gum or luring grown-ups to church with designer coffees and dramas, nothing replaces sound Bible preaching, systematic discipleship training and the Work of the Holy Spirit in growing authentic followers of Jesus Christ.  Numbers do not equate genuine conversions and changed lives.

Now it seems that even the founders and leaders of one of the most massive branches of the CGM — the Willow Creek Association — are admitting that their methods of fail to produce authentic followers of Christ.

Here’s a small quote from the article….

“Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.”If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker-sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:“We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ’self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

If you want to read the whole article, click HERE.

On Veteran’s Day, of all days, news broke that a branch of the Georgia NAACP “honored” Genarlow Wilson, the Georgia teen who was videotaped in a sex act with an under-age teen and sent to prison.  Wilson, was in the midst of serving a lengthy prison term for breaking a law intended to protect young women from predatory older males.  He became a celebrity for refusing to accept a plea deal and became a “cause” for many in the black community who felt he was being persecuted.  In the eyes of many, this was not a crime — nor was it immoral, it was just a couple of teens “getting it on” and who are we to judge?

A Georgia court eventually threw out the sentence finding it too “excessive” and since his release, Wilson has been on the circuit receiving adultation and admiration from people who have apparently lost their collective minds.

The Georgia NAACP and other African-American groups have recently also expressed public support for Michael Vick and the Jena Six much to the bewilderment of those who actually believe that people who commit crimes are not worthy of “hero” status.  What kind of message is this sending to the millions of black young people who are trying to do right, to their parents who are trying to raise their kids in such a way that they don’t end up in handcuffs and to those who believe that morality and virtue lead to success and real freedom?

Such seems to be the case in more groups other than the NAACP.  Indeed, even evangelical and fundamentalist churches are using similar “ends-justfies-the-means” philosophy in what they embrace as appropriate, “normal” or acceptable.  We claim to love Scripture and then we ignore it when it becomes inconvenient.  We ask for the Lord’s blessings, but choose positions and practices that invite God’s judgment or at best, a loss of his protective covering.  We accept questionable conduct, shakey doctrine, unprincipled behavior and ineligible leadership and wonder why our prayers go unanswered and we don’t see growth, change or progress in our fight against the culture.  We strain at gnats and swallow camels for the sake of maintaining “appearances” or to make some “lesser” point.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, it isn’t that Satan wants us to hate God, he just wants us to forget about Him.  God’s Word matters.  Truth matters.  There is such a thing as right and wrong.  How we behave is a reflection of what we believe.  What we worship, what we elevate, what makes us laugh, what makes us spend money, what makes us cry — all tells us a lot about ourselves.

Maybe it’s time we take a look…a LONG LOOK…at what we consider to be “heroic” and ask, “How did we get here?”

For a list of reasons, I spent the week-end in Miami.  My normal schedule allows me to be there Monday through Wednesdays, but I was able to adjust my schedule last week to stay over for Saturday and Sunday.  A lot of people tend to talk a lot of smack about Miami and there are certainly a few spots, like in every other major metropolitan people, where people simply don’t visit unless they are looking for trouble.  But there are many, many other things about Miami that are just great.

For example, last week I took my family to eat at Versailles Cuban Restuarant in Little Havana which is just a great experience.  We had our school administrators host the Pastors of New Testament Church for a luncheon at a wonderful Cuban restaurant in Miami Lakes in honor of Pastor’s Appreciation Month.  We were hosted by some dear friends to dinner at the world-famous Joe’s Crabs on Miami Beach for one of the most fantastic evenings of food and fellowship that I ever remember.  Friday at lunch, one of our vendors and a long-time Florida friend took me to Shula’s Steak house for a filet mignon that you could cut with a fork. Friday night was kid’s night at Boomer’s in Hollywood where for $20, you can keep a couple of young’un’s occupied for hours at a huge arcade and amusement center.  Then Saturday, when it was back to being a bachelor again, I consoled myself by heading over to Miami’s MetroZoo where I took about a 4 mile stroll through a world-class animal park.  (I have this odd fascination for visiting zoos which few people know about — until now, that is.)

But the best part of my week-end was being in the services of New Testament Baptist Church.  As many of you know, I’ve been helping my dear friend, Dino Pedrone, by acting as the interim headmaster for Dade Christian School which has kept me out of the streets and off drugs while I am finalizing my future career plans.   New Testament is one church with three locations and at least six services on Saturdays and Sundays.  I met Pastor Pedrone at the site of their Broward campus at 8:30 where we had an early service.  We then hustled up to the Miami Lakes/Hialeah campus for the service there in Dade County.  Then, before that service was dismissed, we ran back up to the Broward campus for their second service.

South Florida is such a wonderful melting pot and if you have a heart for missions, but aren’t able to live abroad, then you should move to Miami because it is a mission field in America.  The services at NTBC were representative of that.  Few places in America will allow you to worship in a microcosm of what heaven will be like for us better than South Florida.  The worship portion of the service was just amazing.  From upbeat praise songs with a Latin flavor to wonderful hymns sung that connected us with truth that transcends generations and geography to a delightful choir that sang a number that was filled with energy and joy to a deeply moving special number by two dozen young people who acted out a song in full-body sign language, the entire worship time lead one to focus on the Lord in myriad ways.  Then Pastor Pedrone preached a wonderful substantive message that was an exposition of the first part of Romans 5.  Filled with meat, theology, doctrine and truth, it was a meal of a message.

If you live in Miami or Broward County, FL, I’d highly recommend that you visit one of the New Testament Baptist Church locations.  Miami is a gateway to the America’s and the fields are definitely white unto harvest here.  It’s a great place to live and an even better place to minister.

If so, then read THIS article from a London Newspaper.  Glibly, for myriad rationalized reasons, little boys and girls are murdered in utero every day and each one of them has a story and a face and a potential just like this little guy.  Read it and weap for what could have been in the lives of those who did not make it.