MEN’S ADVANCE Promo 1

Dan and Phil did a hilarious job with this promo video for our upcoming MEN’S ADVANCE (February 5th & 6th at the McKenzie River Conference Center).

Biblical Parenting Resources

This fall at East Side Jamie and I led our Wednesday night adult study through Tedd Tripp’s Shepherding A Child’s Heart.  I think it is one of the best things out there dealing with what it means to parent biblically. We also recommend working through the companion Parent’s Handbook as it allows parents to dig much deeper into the foundational biblical principles for shepherding our children.  In addition, Tedd and Margy Tripp also have a newer book out called Instructing A Child’s Heart that we highly recommend.  Parents will greatly benefit from reading and working through these books more than once.  You might even consider going through them once a year for refreshing.

We also recommend watching the following five sessions from the recent Biblical Parenting Conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. In the videos Tedd teaches the foundational concepts for shepherding a child’s heart.(advice – in order to play a second video in this post after watching a previous one…you’ll probably need to refresh the page first.)

Session 1 – The Call To Formative Instruction.

Session 2 – Giving Kids A Vision For God’s Glory

Session 3 – Helping Kids Understand Authority

Session 4 – Helping Kids Understand The Heart

Session 5 – Overview Of Corrective Discipline

Hanging of the Green 2009

Phil and I had a lot of fun thinking about how to creatively talk about the anticipation of Christmas…so, in case you missed it…here is the message JESUS MESSIAH from the Hanging of the Green service.  These have got to be the coolest Christmas sweaters ever!

I also wanted to thank everyone who put a great deal of work into making last Sunday’s Hanging of the Green service so wonderful…especially Wayne as he worked with the Choir and Worship Team.

Calvinism among Southern Baptists

In my message a few Sundays ago from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5 I referenced a book I had read recently called, Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue.  The book is essentially a dialogue between a variety of Southern Baptists discussing the influence of Calvinism on the SBC historically and contemporarily.

In the opening chapter, Ed Stetzer, Director of LifeWay Research and Resident Missiologist, summarizes the findings of two recent studies – Lifeway’s 2006 Calvinism Study and NAMB’s Center for Missional Research 2007 New Minister’s Study:

• “Calvinism is a growing influence among Southern Baptist leaders with about 10 percent affirming the five points of Calvinism.  However, when we look at recent SBC seminary graduates who now serve as church pastors, nearly 30 percent identify themselves as Calvinists.
• Congregations led by Calvinists tend to show a smaller attendance and typically baptize fewer people each year.  The data doesn’t show why these churches are smaller.
• Even though churches with Calvinist leadership baptize fewer people each year, their baptism rate is virtually identical to churches led by non-Calvinists.  The baptism rate is the percentage of annual baptisms relative to the total average worship attendance, a statistic used to measure evangelistic vitality.
• Both Calvanistic and non-Calvinistic leaders believe local congregations should be involved in sponsoring missions and planting new churches.  The two studies showed 95 percent of both leadership types affirmed the necessity of missions and church planting.
• Recent graduates who are Calvinistic report that they conduct personal evangelism at a slightly higher rate than their non-Calvinistic peers.”

Simply defined, Calvinism is a system of theology that developed during the Reformation.  It is a system that emphasizes God’s sovereignty in all things, including but not limited to, predestination…and is simply expressed by the acrostic TULIP (the flower of Holland since these points developed there, though not originally in this order):

• T – Total Depravity
• U – Unconditional Election
• L – Limited Atonement
• I – Irresistible Grace
• P – Perseverance of the Saints

It was Calvin’s followers who, 50 years after Calvin, developed these five points.  Additionally, these points actually came about as a response to the teaching of James Arminius, who in many ways taught the opposite of each of the TULIP points.  His teaching has come to be known as Arminianism…and stresses general atonement and conditional election. 

The “U” of TULIP speaks to the issue of predestination, or more specifically election (the positive side of it) – and stresses that election is based on God’s sovereign choice (unconditional) rather than God’s foreknowledge of who will come to faith in Christ (conditional).  This is the great question that Christians have wrestled with down through the years…is election based on God’s foreknowledge or forechoosing?  Is it divine sovereignty or human responsibility or somehow both?

After the opening chapter by Stetzer, a variety of other Southern Baptists offer their perspectives on the influence of Calvinism among Southern Baptists.  A statement by David S. Dockery, President of Union University, found on page 29 is helpful:

“One question for this chapter is, Are Southern Baptists Calvinists, or have Southern Baptists been Calvinists?  And the answer is yes and no. If you ask our Wesleyan and Arminian friends, they say yes without hesitation, for the dividing line for them is the issue of eternal security.  Anyone who holds to eternal security from their perspective is a Calvinist of some type, which covers almost everyone in every aspect of Southern Baptist life today.  On the other hand, if by that question we mean, Are the majority of Southern Baptists or have the majority of Southern Baptists been consistent, five-point Calvinists?  I think the answer is no.”  

And then on page 30 Dockery adds:

“Baptists always have had differences over the issue of how to understand God’s sovereign initiative in salvation and the importance of human responsibility, and the present situation is no exception.”

According to Tom J. Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “Southern Baptists were the product of a complex of dynamics at work among Baptist Calvinists.  The influence of Arminians was either completely rejected, in most cases, or severely muted, in some cases.” (page 47)

According to Malcom B. Yarnell III, Director, Center for Theological Research at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, “…Baptists…moved away from or developed out of the Calvinistic context.  They implicitly retained certain beliefs and explicitly rejected other beliefs of the classical Calvinists.  The problem is that not all modern Baptists agree on exactly how much should be retained and how much rejected.” (page 79)

In summary, reading the book highlighted a number of other things:  1) As Baptists developed historically they included both Calvinistic and non-Calvinistic varieties, 2) Southern Baptists (as with baptists in general) disagree on the five points of Calvinism, 3) Southern Baptists disagree on how influential Calvinism has been on the SBC historically, and 4) many Baptists are often referred to as “moderate Calvinists,” “modified Calvinists,” or “baptist Calvinists” because they ascribe to several but not all of the five points of Calvinism…and are thus called 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 point Calvinists.

For those who love history and theology, it’s an interesting read.

Yearbook Humor with Staff

It’s awesome to get to serve East Side with a great staff.  Phil, Dan, and Wayne bring some excellent skills to “the table,” but I especially appreciate their sense of humor…as they were unexpectedly the center of some humor as a recent sermon illustration. (If you also want to have some good laughs, go to Yearbook Yourself).

Eschatology and “Millennialisms”

This fall I’ve been preaching through 1 & 2 Thessalonians on Sunday mornings with a series called IMAGINE.  These are great books that help us imagine what could be and what should be and what ultimately will be.  1 & 2 Thessalonians are often referred to as Paul’s eschatological (the study of last things) letters because they teach a great deal about Jesus’ return.  Every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to the return of Christ.  These two wonderful letters teach us a great deal about eschatological topics such as the resurrection, the rapture, the day of the Lord, and the man of lawlessness.  Now, studying eschatology can be a challenging endeavor…but the Bible admonishes us to do so and in fact says that there is special blessing in it (Revelation 1:3). 

For those interested in better understanding the various “millennial” views among Christians today…check out this video from the Desiring God website.  John Piper hosts “An Evening of Eschatology,” in which he sits down with a premillennialist, a postmillennialist, and an amillennialist to discuss the Millennium (Piper himself is a premillennialist – you can read Piper’s take on the event and his position here).  Christians are in agreement about the fact that Jesus will return.  However…there is disagreement about how He will return.  It’s an interesting discussion and perhaps in watching it, it will fuel your desire to better understand the doctrine of eschatology as well as help you better understand your own understanding of the things to come.  (Be aware however that these various views are generally arrived at using substantially different interpretive methodologies, and therefore, the underlying interpretive frameworks need to also be evaluated…which is beyond the scope of the video).

Below are graphical representations and descriptions of the major millennial views.

Although Premillennialism is represented in the video, there are actually two major “flavors” of Premillennialism.  The first is Dispensational Premillennialism, a view that sees Christ returning before (pre-) the Millennium and before the 7 year Tribulation period to come upon the earth prior to the Millennial Kingdom.  The Tribulation in this view is understood to be a time in which God pours out His wrath on a Christ rejecting world.  This is the view of most conservative evangelicals today.  It understands the Millennium as a yet future period of a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth.

The second major “flavor” of Premillennialism is Historic Premillennialism, a view that also sees Christ returning before (pre-) the Millennium, but in contrast to Dispensational Premillennialism sees the Rapture and the Second Coming occuring at the same time (after the Tribulation).  Therefore, according to this view, the Church will be on earth during the Tribulation.  This view also often understands the Tribulation a little bit differently than the Dispensational view above, in that it sees much of the Tribulation being characterized by the wrath of man, and therefore, the wrath of God is concentrated to a short but intense period of time right before the Second Coming.  Historic Premillennialism (or Post-tribulationism in another sense) is a view that is gaining popularity today.  Adherents see this view as the view of the early church.  This is the view of men such as John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and Millard Erickson. 

Amillennialism is a view that sees no future (a-) Millennium…rather the Millennium is descriptive of the current church age.  This is the view of Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Lutherans today.  It was also held by Augustine, Calvin, and Luther.

Postmillennialism is the view that Christ will return after (post-) the Millennium.  This view sees the Gospel transforming society into a blessed, though not perfect, state…the world will be Christianized in this view and then Christ will return.  This was a very popular view in the 1700 and 1800’s during the Great Missionary Movement, and although some reformed churches hold this view today, there remain few modern adherents.

For Further Study:
The Meaning Of The Millennium: Four Views, edited by Robert G. Clouse
The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational?, by Archer, Feinberg, Moo, and Reiter

Seattle Trip

Two Sunday afternoons ago we headed up to Tacoma, WA for a few days for the Northwest Baptist Convention.  We decided to go up a little early on Sunday so that we could catch the 7:15pm Mars Hill Church (Ballard) service in Seattle.  Mars Hill is a great multi-site church that is effectively engaging the Northwest culture with the gospel.

I thought I’d post a few reflections from our experience there:

• It’s encouraging to pull up to the church at 7:10pm on a Sunday night and see the intersections and sidewalks around the church flooded with young people…the place was a-buzz with people either coming to or leaving from worship.  It’s inspirational because we live in a day in which most churches are simply resigned to think that young people (20’s and 30’s) just aren’t interested in church and there’s not much the church can do about it.  I think Mars Hill is disproving that perspective.  I’m not sure how many people were at that fourth service, but I know that something like 8,000 to 10,000 people attend the church…so I’d guess there were somewhere around 1000 people at the 7:15pm service (give or take a couple of hundred).  I think Mars Hill is demonstrating that when a church contextualizes the gospel for the culture…people can be reached.
• I’ve known that Mars Hill intentionally focuses on training young men…but it was great to see it in action.  The greeters, roaming security, offering takers, and worship leaders were all young men.  And more than that, Jamie and I talked at great length afterwards about how many young men there were there just in general…they seemed like the majority.  Again, this is inspirational because we live in a day in which men (particulary young men) seem to be absent from most churches.  Mars Hill is proving that young men can be reached as well as demonstrating the effectiveness and impact of a church that intentionally deploys young men to lead out.
• The music was refreshing as well.  The atmosphere of worship had a nice blend of excellence and authenticity.  Today, churches seem to fall on one end of the spectrum or the other…either focusing so much on excellence that the atmosphere seems impersonal, or focusing so much on authenticity that the atmosphere ends up being distracting.  Mars Hill is demonstrating that the church can worship with excellence (equipment, technology, lighting, musics, etc.) and not have to give up a comfortable, casual vibe. 
• Mark Driscoll preached from Luke 2 about Christ The Lord.  His sermons tend to be about an hour in length, which is about the length of most other entire church services…but everybody seemed to be engaged the whole time.  Mark is currently taking three years to preach through the Book of Luke.  I think Mars Hill is also demonstrating that the Bible can be taught in such a way that real depth and cultural relevance are complimentary…not mutually exclusive.

Anyway, Jamie and I, as well as Kendra and Micah, had a great time.  The experience spurred a lot of discussion about the excellence and atmosphere of worship as well as how to more effectively reach young people with the gospel.

Media Revolution Videos

During my “reIMAGINE/State of the Church” message last Sunday I showed a fascinating video I came across a while back.  It generated a lot of discussion…so here you go.

Another similiar video is the one that Jamie sent me a link to recently.  Pretty wild.

Churches need to ask themselves…how can we leverage the communication tools of today to further the gospel? And how can we be better missonaries to our culture?

Faith/Beliefs and Church Size

Some interesting discussion was generated a few Sundays ago when I cited recent research regarding Christian beliefs and how they play out in various church sizes.  I had mentioned in my message from 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20 (where Paul states that “Satan stopped us”) that people in small churches (<200 attenders) seem to be far more likely to reject a literal view of Satan than those in large churches (1000+).  I find that fascinating because I have found that many small church attenders have negative views of large churches and often times believe large church attenders have less conviction about their faith.  However, according to some recent Barna research, the opposite is actually true.  Smaller churches seem to have a higher proportion of attenders who have weak “doctrine.”  Now don’t hear me wrong, I’m not saying small churches are doctrinally weak, they just seem to have more attenders comparitively that have some unbiblical views.  I think this is interesting, because again, it goes against the views of many small church members.  Many small church attenders think people who go to big churches are just “playing church,” or going to “get lost in the crowd,” or going so that they won’t have to “volunteer.”

Anyway, I think this is a “wake-up” call to small churches in particular (those with less than 200 attenders…which most churches are)…to make sure that they are thoroughly grounding people in the basics of Christian doctrine, and not assuming that because it is a small church that eveyone’s “got it.” It was also very interesting to observe that the 200 person mark seemed to be a key tipping point for faith/beliefs.  I thought I’d post a graph summerizing a recent Barna study.

Shipwrecked Set For ELEVATE

I have to give a shout out to Dan…he is the man!  Dan is our Creative Arts Director and he’s cranked out some awesome sets for our ELEVATE program.  ELEVATE is our Sunday morning program for K-5th grade kids during second service.  The set changes every 8 weeks and Dan has the primarily responsibility of getting the sets built out in time.  Of course, he has some awesome help as well, particularly from Ramon…that guy’s the man too!  Here are some pictures from the new set…Shipwrecked!