The monk’s been really busy in the monastery these days! I take a couple weeks away from Google Reader and—boom!—he’s posted forty-two entries since the first of August. But I love the Monk! He likes to ask the tough questions, too; so you might want to buckle your seat belts and hang onto your copy of Calvin’s Institutes, while Michael fires a few questions our way:

Is there a relationship between what a person believes about “Total Depravity” and how they treat their lost neighbors, particularly those lost neighbors with needs in the physical and relational realm?

Can you believe in the desperate situation of lost persons as guilty, wrath-deserving rebels and still hug them, feed them, educate them and love them?

Can you stand upon the reformation diagnosis of the human condition and develop a strong response of compassion, respect and generosity toward those who are not Christians?

Can you believe “T” and love the lost in ways other than just preaching TULIP at them?

I have the impression that this is a struggle for many reformed Christians. I know it is for many that I know. Not because they are fanatics for predestination or cold-hearted intellectuals, but simply because their theological framework doesn’t provide a strong foundation for missions, compassion and generosity. (I surely thank God for those reformed churches and Christians who practice Christian compassion to the poor and the hurting as a crucial aspect of their obedience to and witness of Jesus.)

This issue goes in many directions. We need to unpack it, do a better job relating the two, and a much better job of practicing both.

What’s the relationship between the TULIP and pastoral care? Is pastoral care the same as preaching TULIP?

What does a person who believes the lost are the focus of the wrath of God say to the lost about the kindness and compassion of God? How can you have one- a focus on the wrath of God- and the other still be intelligible?

These are answerable questions, but they deserve some thought, especially as so many reformation minded younger Christians begin to feel alienated by those who believe their concerns for social/human issues are evidence of apostasy from the gospel.

In Christianity, truths are sometimes oddly juxtapositioned. Jesus reconciles these things in himself, but we still have questions because there is so much Jesus didn’t do, such as start a school and reduce his message to TULIP.

We need some Holy Spirit inspired guidance to get this right. I don’t want to give up the Gospel—and TULIP isn’t the Gospel, in my opinion—and I want to encourage reformation Christians to fill in the deficit of missional thinking that was the most glaring omission of the reformers.

Interested in reading the rest of his post? Go to “Can You Give a TULIP to the Hurting?”

To my Calvinistic friends who still have their Jerusalem blades drawn, please excuse me while I get sentimental for a few moments between skirmishes.

In the midst of all the political and theological tensions in Florida, I feel the need to offer a word of appreciation to my dear brothers and sisters in Christ who currently serve on staff of the Florida Baptist Convention (FBC). Others have retired or changed ministry assignments since my departure in June 2003, but I just want everyone to know that you are some of the finest trophies of God’s grace that I have ever known. It was a joy to serve the Lord with you, especially the men and women of the Church Planting Department and the Read more

I serious doubt whether anyone has ever heard of J. Kent Kroencke. He serves as the pastor of a small church in Illinois. According to a recent blog article, he has been theologically Reformed since his conversion, but he did not realize how negatively other Christians felt toward the "doctrines of grace" until he began serving as a pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). At one frustrating moment in his ministry, he ripped Romans 9 from the pages of his Bible and threw it on the floor, although he humbly admits, "This was not one of my crowning moments as a pastor…." Recently, Mr. Kroencke has been contemplating the pursuit of more formal training at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a choice that he admits may prove detrimental to his career in the SBC but he is convinced that "being a graduate of SBTS will be an asset to my soul and integrity as a pastor." Read more

For those who have not listened to Jerry Vines' message, "Calvinism: A Baptist and His Election," you really should hear it for yourself. Then, I would encourage you to read "An Open Letter of Rebuttal" written by Roy Hargrave, pastor of the Riverbend Community Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. In this letter, Mr. Hargraves expresses his concerns about the recent mailing from the Florida Baptist Convention:

It is not Dr. Vine’s right to preach it that I question, nor Woodstock’s right to believe it. My concern relates to the forum that has been provided by Dr. Sullivan and the Florida Baptist Convention for the dissemination of Dr. Vines’ views through funds which come from local churches who vehemently disagree with the misrepresentations presented in the sermon on Calvinism. Read more

In the pre-dawn hours of April 19, 1775, a large intimidating contingent of British soldiers advanced upon the village green of Lexington, Massachusetts. Their mission: to seize and destroy military supplies held by the colonial militia in nearby Concord.

What they did not suspect, however, was the accuracy of intelligence that had been gathered by the unassuming patriots, a small group of whom were waiting in a local pub for news of their arrival. Various accounts of what exactly transpired at dawn may differ, but nearly every American remembers the meaning of the “shot heard ’round the world” and the ensuing Battles of Lexington and Concord that led to the Revolutionary War and the founding of a new society Read more

The state executive director-treasurer for the Florida Baptist Convention (FBC) recently sent every pastor in the state a 4-disc collection of CDs by prominent Jacksonville pastor, Dr. Jerry Vines, on “Baptist Battles” with the subtitle, “Liberalism, Calvinism, Pentecostalism, and Libertinism.” While his message, “Calvinism: A Baptist and His Election,” represents only one of four strategic battles addressed by Vines, it represents serious charges that are jointly endorsed, funded by, and promoted as “helpful” by Dr. John Sullivan, Executive Director- Treasurer and Mr. Eddie L. McClelland, President and CEO of Florida Baptist Financial Services. I have included images of the CDs and the accompanying letter below. You can read Tom Ascol’s 16 October 2006 review of Vines’ sermon on the Founders blog, as well as Ascol’s response to this recent pastor’s mailing.

While Florida has long been one of the most conservative state conventions in the Southern Baptist Convention, a number of high-ranking executives have chosen a anti-Calvinistic stance that grows more virulent as time passes. I ought to know, because I once served on staff with the Florida Baptist Convention as a church planting missionary. I joined the FBC’s church planting department in 1997 as a part-time strategist at the invitation of its former director, George Thomasson, who is now serving at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida, and one of the dearest brothers I have ever known. It was a joy and a privilege to work alongside him for six years! He is a man who loves grace and walks with Jesus every day.

After a year, I was asked to join the church planting team on a full-time basis, requiring the approvals of John Sullivan, the State Board of Missions, and the North American Mission Board (NAMB). In my final interview with Dr. Sullivan, he asked me point-blank, “Are you a five-point Calvinist?” I replied positively and he then inquired how it impacted my view of missions and evangelism. I said, without hestitation, “The same way it impacted the missions and evangelism of men like Charles H. Spurpeon, William Carey, Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, and Luther Rice; not to mention some great contemporary examples like John Piper, Albert Mohler, John MacArthur, and W. A. Criswell.” We had a very open and candid conversation about Calvinism, and we reached a gentlemen’s agreement concerning my views: it would not be appropriate to shove Calvinism down anyone’s throat and yet I insisted on complete freedom to explain or discuss my theological convictions with anyone who asked. Sullivan smiled, extended his hand and said, “Well, then welcome aboard!” He later told me during a new employee reception that his theological views were quite close to my own.

Unfortunately, the spiritual and theological climate has changed in the FBC and the Southern Baptist Convention since my full-time appointment in 1998; and one of the saddest casualties has been the increasing hostilities against my fellow Calvinists in Florida. As things heated up on the national SBC preaching circuit, it brought more pressure to bear within my conservative state convention, especially with high-profile FBC pastors like Jerry Vines and Bobby Welch jumping on the bandwagon.

Any staff position in the FBC is relatively high profile, no matter how lowly your assignment, and it was only a matter of time before I became an embarrassment to denominational executives. I eventually lost my position due to the political savvy of Dr. Cecil Seagle, Director of the Missions Division, who carefully cloaked his theological rage against my Calvinistic views with the timing of fiscal cuts of the post-911 period. Even the International Mission Board suffered financial strains, causing them to reduce their Richmond staff by thirty-five and freeze the deployment of one hundred missionaries. Out of eight positions that were eliminated in those 2003 budget cuts in the FBC, I was the only person occupying one of those positions: the rest were simply vacant and no one else lost their job. Seagle accomplished this deed without any questions being asked as to why a NAMB-funded missionary could be “laid off” and Dr. John Sullivan endorsed his actions.

I believe that Seagle and other anti-Calvinists like Jerry Vines and Thomas A. Kinchen, President of the Baptist College of Florida, have greatly influenced the views of many Florida Baptists over the past five or six years, including John Sullivan. As the old Southern expressions goes, “If you can’t run with the big dogs, you gotta stay on the porch!” When a man, no matter his name or rank or education, decides to participate in denominational politics, then he must often surrender his own convictions if they do not match those of the movers and shakers. While I love and respect John Sullivan’s amazing leadership capabilities and his commitment to conservative evangelical theology, I am saddened that a few recent, irrational actions toward the end of his tenure as the executive director-treasurer will forever taint his otherwise stellar legacy. Here’s a copy of John Sullivan’s letter that accompanied the CD’s mentioned above. [Note: The term "DVD" is either a typo or an oversight by someone's secretary.]