SBC 2007 Education Resolution

I was asked where the text of the 2007 Education Resolution that Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt submitted for the 2007 SBC Annual Meeting could be found; so for those interested you can get the text of the document here: 2007 Education Resolution.

Or you can go to Exodus Mandate Project and download it from there.

Around the Web and Blogosphere

Timmy Brister has provided a list entitled : A Chronological Survey of the Calvinism/Arminanism Controversy in the SBC in which he has links to the various articles that the list references. You can also go to his site – Provocations & Pantings for the link as well.

Tom Ascol has again submitted his resolution entitled: 2007 Resolution on Integrity in Church Membership. Let’s hope it is taken as seriously as it should at this years SBC Annual Meeting in San Antonio June 12-13.

Over at The World From Our Window there is a post entitled, You Tube Tuesday: Creation Museum Highlights that are about the new Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Here is information from Voddie Baucham on the SBC Education Resolution 2007. I would encourage you to read all of what he has to say before making a judgment on the call to remove our children from government schools. I am sure that this will not be popular for many but often the correct thing to do is not popular.

Dog Fighting and Abortion

What do these two have in common? Well initially one may say nothing at all but if you listen to much sports radio you may see that they both tend to show the world view of many people. First off I am not saying that everyone feel this way but there does appear to be a large number of people that seem to be comfortable with abortion but when it comes to harming animals that is a different story.

Recently Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons was connected with dog fighting. Whether he is guilty or not isn’t the issue but the number of people that are outraged that he would promote dog fighting is. Recently I have heard more outrage over the killing and injury to dogs than one would ever hear about the killing of babies. Now I would not condone dog fighting either but I would see the need for more outrage over abortion than I would over dog fighting.

To even make this clearer Clinton Portis a running back for the Washington Redskins commented that he did not see this as a big issue since what Vick did in private should not be an issue. His opinion led to more outrage that this would be his thoughts on the issue; I guess there are absolutes for those that do not like to say there are any. Are not Portis’ arguments much like those of the pro-abortion advocates as they center on the rights of individuals to do as they see is best for them, hence the mantle of ”Pro-Choice.” Obviously Portis feels that Vick should have the “Choice” to promote dog fighting if he desires to do so.

So, while I would never condone dog fighting it is deffintly interesting, and saddening, to see that the world has become so accustomed to the idea of abortion that other issues that are nowhere near as vile are more vilified. How a people can seek to save animals and spend huge sums of money to see if we have global warming and still argue over whether abortion, of any kind, is OK says much about our world and especially western society.

It really does reveal a schizophrenic society that one day bemoans the way we treat animals and the earth but the next argues that we should be able to abort babies at will so as to maintain the freedom of choice for the women, never mind the babies choice ( I forget the pro abortion people would never call them babies). People can walk around with signs that on one side may say “Save the Seals” but on the other “Keep Abortion Legal” if that is not schizophrenic then I am not sure what is.

When a people abandon the Bible as the "actual" word of God for their own understanding what we see in today’s culture should not be a surprise. This is why even professing Christians can claim that abortion may not be OK for them but is OK for others or that it is even OK for them in certain circumstances. So again while I am saddened by all of this I am not surprised at all.

2007 Family Integrated Church Conference - Houston

I will probably repeat this reminder a few times over the next few months so it is not just my fading memory that is showing itself if you see this again.

There will be a FIC conference hosted by Grace Family Baptist Church October 26-27 in Houston. My family and I are going and are throughly looking forward to it.

I can not say enough about how much Matt Bullen at Grace has been an encouragement as we move along in starting Sovereign Grace Christian Fellowship here in Southern California. As I have written on before Donna and I spent a few days with the Bullen family lat February and it was not only a great time of fellowship but we also were able to try and glean what we could from GfBC and how they are ministering to families in a God glorifying way. We also got time while there to speak to one of the other Elders, Paul Renfro, and his family, which was also very helpful.

Again check out the GfBC site and read about the conference.

Voddie Baucham’s New Book – Family Driven Faith

Voddie’s new book, Family Driven Faith, comes out June 11th from Crossway but as I pre-purchased the book from them they sent a PDF version so I have been able to read it already and it is very good. Donna, my wife, is way ahead of me and enjoying the book immensely and I have gotten through about chapter 2 and am also enjoying it. Now I say enjoying and in some ways that may not be the best word as often the book steps on my toes, which need stepping on, and this makes me, and will probably make others, a little uncomfortable.

The issue today is that Christians have become too comfortable in the world and we need books like this to awaken us out of our comfort zones. Those of you who have read or listened to Voddie know that he does not mince words and he does not do so here and in doing so he makes the call to reclaim our families from the world for God. I would encourage everyone to get this book.

Here is a link to Voddie’s site about the Book: Family Driven Faith

Here is the description from Crossway:

More teens are turning away from the faith than ever before: it is estimated that 75 to 88% of Christian teens walk away from Christianity by the end of their freshman year of college. Something must be done.

Family Driven Faith equips Christian parents with the tools they need to raise children biblically in a post-Christian, anti-family society. Voddie Baucham, who with his wife has overcome a multi-generational legacy of broken and dysfunctional homes, shows that God has not left us alone in raising godly children. He has given us timeless precepts and principles for multi-generational faithfulness, especially in Deuteronomy 6. God’s simple command to Moses to teach the Word diligently to the children of Israel serves as the foundation of Family Driven Faith.

You can pre-purchase it at Crossway and get the PDF early.

2 More Texts from the Past on Families

Matt at Blessed Family Ministries Blog has added two more Jonathan Edwards texts on the family:

Jonathan Edwards on Family Relationships- Pt III

Jonathan Edwards on Family Relationships- Pt IV

Words from the past on family

Over at Blessed Family Ministries Matt has some writings by various people of the past on family. I would encourage you to check them out.

Baxter on Family Reformation
Whitefield on Family Worship
C.H. Spurgeon on Family
Susanna Wesley on Family
Jonathan Edwards on Family Relationships – Part I
Jonathan Edwards on Family Relationships - Part II

More on The Reformed Pastor Audiobook

Well I just finished the first two hours+ of The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter on my new FREE Audiobook from Christianaudio.com and there is only one word for what Baxter has to say, OUCH! Now it is a good type of OUCH but the bottom line is that Baxter took the duties of pastoring serious, as we should as well. In just the first two hours he deals with everything from how a pastor should view compensation to the Pastors role in guiding families, especially fathers, to have family worship to even the salvation of pastors. He also deals with the seriousness of the Pastor actually being the Pastor and not just the CEO of an organization as is all too common today.

I have read this book before, but some time ago and well before I was as involved in ministry as I am now, and remember some of the same feelings then but it is a different experience to listen to the words being spoken. There is a deffintly a disadvantage to listening to a book while driving to and from work as I can not take notes but in many ways that may be good. Listening without being able to take notes may help me to get a better overall feel for the message than too much focus, at least for now, on the more specific issues.

I cannot recommend this Audiobook and the actual book itself too highly.

Entering the world of Mac

Well this is totally unrelated to anything I have written on previously but I just entered the world of Mac. Actually since I can run Windows XP inside a window while running Mac I can be exposed to both evil empires at once. The lap top is really well made and things did run fine from the start as they promised. The loading of Parallels and XP was a little buggy but it ended up fine. Parallels allows me to be able to do the things Mac does best and I can still have my Bible programs,such as E-Sword, running in XP so I did not have to run out and get new ones of those. Time will only tell if it is better than Microsoft but so far so good.

I had to update this post as to some errors: It is Mac not MAC :) and Bradon, my Nephew, pointed out that therer is a similar free program to E-sword at The SWORD Project.

Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor - Free Audiobook

Over at Christianaudio.com the monthly free audiobook is The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter. I have downloaded the free MP3s from them before, even though I have not been able to listen to all of them, and they are a great way to listen to books that you just can not find time to read. You simply click through and sign up for a free account and place the book in you cart and then when you get to checkout put the coupon code, MAY2007, in the supplied box and then the purchase is free.

There are 7 files to download for the entire book then you either burn them to CDs or put them on an MP3 player, or both, to listen to them.

Enjoy!

Westminster Bookstore

For a good selection of reformed books, good prices and $5 shipping check out Westminster Bookstore. I have used them in the past and they were prompt in shipping the book I purchased as well.

I have to also admit that for every 50 people that check out their site through this link I can earn a gift certificate. You can do this to by signing up for their Blog Partners Program.

The Goal is to Worship God

Scott at These are the generations of… writes on: The Family Integrated Church model - after a year and a half , and has many thought provoking things to say about the FIC. His comment that:

“But the Family Integrated Church (FIC) model is not the true solution to what was ailing us, and what we believe is ailing the church universal, and our culture in general. The FIC model is merely a label applied to what is one part of the whole solution.”

This is so true as if we begin to think of some model of “church” as the solution we will in the end worship that model, just check out any church growth website for the worship of church models. Instead we are to seek out God’s way of worshiping HIM, as HE does have the right to dictate that as much as that may bother people, and follow that path. I truly feel that the worshiping of all generations together is the most glorifying to God as when we segregate we divide the body instead of unifying it.

It is interesting to me that in today’s day and age of downplaying doctrine as a way of unifying we miss the most obvious way to unify and that is to all worship, which by the way I do believe is doctrinal, together regardless of age or life situation. This mindset probably comes from the church in many ways buying into the world’s view of family and generations instead of accepting God’s view. We need to reclaim God’s call for the family and worship and come to the realization that God is much clearer on how to worship than many want to accept. God understands that left to our own understanding we will worship Him in ways that are not glorifying to Him but instead glorify man. Just as God led the people out of Egypt to worship Him He calls us out of our sin to worship HIM and we need to do so as He desires.

Trying to bring this back to where I started before heading off in some other direction I would hope that people would not simply see the Family Integrated Church simply as another church model. I pray they would see it as a sincere desire to worship God as He desires to be worshipped and thus be the most glorying to Him. This is where the FIC is to be more than simply how we meet on the Lord’s Day but is to extend into all of life so that all of our lives are Christ exalting and God glorifying.

More Thoughts on the Family Integrated Church

As I further work on the new church start, Soverign Grace Christian Fellowship, I am part of I am still surprised by those that do not see a Family Integrated Church as being a good thing. The struggle that many seem to have is the idea of having children in the service or the idea of there being no youth group. Have we so bought into the age segregation myth that the way out is so hard? Are we so used to a form of comfort in corporate worship that to change things is too much to ask? Are we so afraid to disciple our own children that we cannot change?

These are important questions to ask as more and more churches are being segregated by age and not just with children and youth. You have the 20 somethings church over there and the 30 something church over here and this church more for seniors and one over there for artists and you name some other special group. The end results are disjointed and less than complete, in my opinion, local church bodies. I have even read of one church that fully expects to lose its members as they grow older because the churches goal is a certain age group, something seems wrong with this. This sounds more like a Madison Avenue advertising campaign than a healthy church growth endeavor.

I find it hard to justify all of this age or life situation focus by scripture even though I have heard some who would try. The usual reason seems to be that this is the best way to reach people and since the end goal is numbers then we should do whatever is necessary to get those numbers. I think this is short sighted and misses the point of the great commission in that we are called to make disciples and not simply converts. It would seem that the New Testament example of discipleship that we see in scripture, especially in Acts, involves the whole community and not simply some special segment of it.

When we worship with children in our midst we can learn from them, as Jesus often used children as examples to His disciples, and they can learn from us, or at least they should. Leave out this dynamic and there is a serious hole in the process. When we separate out the youth and then move them to some other group they begin to not really be a functioning part of the local body, except when it is somehow convenient. What better way for a youth to learn to be a vital part of the church body than to be one from the start.

Now I realize some could say that a Family Integrated Church is no different in that its focus is the family. Well this is definitely a danger but the fact it is a danger does not negate its validity. The goal of the Family Integrated Church first and foremost should be to exalt Christ and grow in His grace. One of the means of this is to try and help families regain the biblical view of family and thus worship God in doing this. So while families may be more attracted to a FIC this is not necessarily the goal. The goal is to disciple the generations in the most biblical way and I think this is done by first preaching the word. But, also a part of this is the training of existing families to disciple their own families and to help in raising the next generation to be ready to reclaim the family as God intended.
These are just some more thoughts as I spend time in prayer and thought on this adventure God has my family and I being a part of.

A New Church Start: Sovereign Grace Christian Fellowship

After all of the contemplating what a Family Integrated Church would look like we have moved forward with starting a church. The name of the new church is Sovereign Grace Christian Fellowship and we have a temporary web site up at: http://www.sovereigngracecf.org/ . Stop on by the website and sign the guestbook.

So as to be able to transition out of the church I am presently serving at we are starting with a Bible Study on Friday nights and will begin services the first part of July. I think it is just as important how one leaves a church as it is how one joins, or in our case starts, a new church. We have been at Brea Center Baptist Church for 10 years so this new venture God has moved my family and me into is exciting.

We presently have four families committed to the start and we are gong to meet at our home for now until we grow to the point where we need to move. We simply see a need to start meeting as a church family and letting God move us as He sees fit.

Over the next weeks and months I will be writing some on this new ministry and try and share a little about not only starting a new church but starting a Family Integrated Church. Keep us in your prayers as our main purpose in all of this and what we always need to keep at the forefront of our minds is that we are here to exalt and worship Christ.

Interview on preaching with Voddie Baucham

Over at Unashamed Workman there is an interview on preaching with Voddie Baucham: Ten Questions for Expositors - Baucham. I have listened to a number of Voddie’s sermons and I highly recommend them.

Here is a link to some sermons by Voddie that was put together by Paul Schafer at Reforming My Mind – MP3’s: Voddie Baucham MP3 Sermons. By the way Paul’s site has a lot of great resources so I recommend checking it out.

Are you Homeschooling or Schooling at Home? Part 3

Matt has another installment on homeschooling (Are you Homeschooling or Schooling at Home? Part 3) with some good references to Charles Spurgeon and Richard Baxter.

Baxter is insightful when he says:

““Nothing can be rightly known, if God be not known: nor is any study well managed, nor to any great purpose, if God is not studied.”

All too often we assume that the goal of homeschooling is to make sure our kids get the best information but all the information in the world without true knowledge of God is nothing. It is an understanding of the creator that allows us to even comprehend HIS creation.

So I can do no more than agree with Spurgeon and Baxter that if we fail to teach our children the deep truths of God they will never truly comprehend even the basics of the world around them.

Again as Baxter says, and this can be applied to any subject:

“Your study of physics and other science is not worth a rush, if it be not God that you seek after in them.”

So remember when, you homeschool that the goal is not simply schooling at home but schooling in such a way that God is central to all that is done. The end result we should desire of our children is that they are God centered and not education, or any other facet of life, centered.

Interview with Philip Ryken on Preaching

Over at Unashamed Workman is an interview with Philip Ryken, of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, on preaching. Next weeks interview will be with Voddie Baucham.

Around the Blogosphere

It has been a little while since I have been to my blog, I guess that is what getting sick will do. Here are some things from around the blogosphere:

Charley over at Home Discipling Dad writes on how the church is to be different from the world and also how this relates to raising our children: Just another Flavor of Ice Cream?

Over at Fide-O they have a good chart on the 4 Views of the Millennium

John Piper writes on The Morning I Heard the Voice of God, make sure you read the whole article and then ask yourself do you regularly hear the voice of God.

Tom Ascol says: I confess I have a private prayer language, make sure you read all of this one as well so as to ask yourself if you have one as well.

Here is an Interview with Sam Storms

A Shocking Sermon to many, unfortunately

Thanks to Charley at HomeDiscipling Dad who linked to a sermon at a youth conference by David Washer of Heart Cry Missionary Society. You can download the text, audio and video if you prefer from here.



The sermon audio site mentions that he was not invited back and based on what I have seen and heard at most youth conferences you know why, the truth often hurts. I would pray that we would be as clear with the message God has given us with not only youth but adults. The sermon is about an hour but it worth the time.

Are you Homeschooling or Schooling at Home? Part 2

Matt has posted the second part of his article on “Are you Homeschooling of Schooling at Home?” He deals with the purpose and priority in homeschooling. It would be my guess that this is where many Christians make their error in homeschooling.

So often Christians defend the practice of homeschooling based on what God desires them to do and even will use scripture but their practice and goals look no different from that of an unbeliever. We have bought into the humanistic idea that education solves everything and the better educated we are the better off we will be. It amaze me how often we as Christians, me included, so easily buy into the world’s view of how things ought to be when we have the creator of the universe giving us the answers in His word.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov 1:7)

The wisdom and instruction that we are to seek is that which is from God. We need to homeschool so as to instill this understanding in our children and thus they can instill it in their children and so on and so on. This is not to say we are not educate out children and seek for them to do the best they can but it is to say we need to do this with the right purpose so that we achieve the correct ends, glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

When we get trapped in the humanistic model of education the wisdom and knowledge of God becomes just part of the curriculum and I think children begin to just see it that way. Once children simply see the word of God as just more knowledge to have, on par with all other forms of knowledge, God’s word becomes little more than words on a page to remember. If this happens then we end up with generations that do not know God as we see spoken of in Judges 2:10. I pray that we will review the purpose and priority for homeschooling and seek for it to be what God would desire and not what the world desires.

Here is the link to Part 1: Are you Homeschooling or Schooling at Home? Part 1