Years ago I began the nightmarish transition through the dreaded cage stage, moving from a dispassionate, atheological, Southern Baptist inerrantist to a tulip-loving, Jerusalem blade-wielding Calvinist. Imagine my journey as a young seminarian, attending Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, with its founder and president publicly railing against Calvinism because "it'll rip the heart out of evangelism and missions!" That sounds so strange, considering I'm writing this from the small principality of Wales where I have served as a missionary for the past four years, plus seven years as a stateside missionary with the SBC. Continue reading →