‘Joshua Convergence’ affirms SBC Conservative Resurgence at Orlando meeting

Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Stephen Rummage, preaching pastor at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. leads the inaugural meeting of 'The Joshua Convergence' Sept. 25 at Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park.

WINTER PARK (FBW) — Declaring their intention to “give voice to younger leaders across the Southern Baptist Convention” who support the SBC’s Conservative Resurgence and its emphasis on biblical inerrancy, over 40 pastors and seminary professors met just outside Orlando Sept. 25 for the first of a two-day meeting dubbed “The Joshua Convergence.”

Presenting seven “Principles of Affirmation” in the context of a two-hour worship service at Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, each of the seven speakers addressed one of the following: truth, gratitude, service, holiness, unity, identity and mission.

The speakers were Anthony George, pastor, Aloma Baptist Church, Winter Park; Stephen Rummage, preaching pastor, Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C.; Brad Reynolds, professor, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and pastor, Gravel Hill Baptist Church, Clarksville, Va.; Jim Shaddix, pastor, Riverside Baptist Church, Denver, Colo.; Emir Caner, professor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Jeff Crook, pastor, Blacksheaer Place Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.; and Roc Collins, pastor, Indian Springs Baptist Church, Kingsport, Tenn. James Peoples, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Keystone Heights, offered a closing prayer.

About 40 participants in the Convergence were joined by more than 400 congregants of Aloma Baptist and other nearby churches in the evening service featuring Aloma Worship Ministries choir and orchestra.

Rummage, who organized the Convergence, told Florida Baptist Witness he met with George and others during the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro in June and decided to develop the affirmations and convene the meeting so that like-minded Southern Baptists could express their views.

Uncomfortable with what he perceives as the pigeon-holing of younger pastors into a specific mold of ideals which they are said to be representative of, Rummage said those identifying with the Joshua group lead churches of all sizes and worship styles and include those who identify with reformed theology and those who don’t.

“We used the term [younger leaders] because we believed there were some who identified themselves as younger leaders [and have] become, in some ways, a de-facto voice for younger leaders,” Rummage said. “But we said there’s many things we would be in agreement with you on, but there are some things where we want to say, ‘hey, here’s where we stand and we want to speak with our voice.’”

Leading the worship service, Rummage said it was time to speak out.

“There comes a time when, as a man of God, when as the people of God; God’s people need to take a stand and say, ‘this is what we believe, this is who we are, this is where we are and this is where we want to go,’” Rummage said. “We’re not here to stand against anyone so much as we are here to stand up for Someone. We want to stand up for the Lord Jesus tonight.”

In May, prior to the June annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, a group of of 31 met in Memphis and issued an eight-point “Memphis Declaration” which expressed displeasure over what was called a “narrowing of cooperation through exclusionary theological and political agendas” in the SBC.

The Memphis Declaration gravitates towards general repentance of “triumphalism” and “narcissism” about Southern Baptist ministries, and speaks of an “arrogant spirit” and the condemnation of unbelievers. A Baptist Press news story about the Memphis meeting at which the document was signed, said “much of the concern expressed by participants was motivated by recent developments at the SBC’s International Mission Board and with other SBC entities and leaders.”

The Memphis Declaration itself, however, did not specify any particular SBC entities or leaders, but by implication aired an exhaustive list of behaviors which participants said needed correction. Each of the signers of the Memphis Declaration, said, in the document, they meant to “publicly repent” of such behaviors and committed themselves to covenant with each other to take responsibility to continue to dialogue about their concerns.

TRUTH

In speaking to the first affirmation, Rummage said “truth” is infinite.

“We have come here tonight, first of all and foundationally, to say that truth makes a difference, that truth lasts forever and in this precious Book we hold in our hands, God’s Word, the Bible is truth.”

Rummage said that every day believers are challenged to turn away from God’s truth, and “prone to wander,” but should instead hold onto a promise they will “overcome” by holding to “God’s truth.”

“We must not turn from God’s truth because we are prone to wander. Something that is inside of each one of us pulls away from the truth of God and pulls us to our own thoughts and our own devices and what seems right to us,” Rummage said, comparing Joshua’s struggle with to lead people correctly with the challenge for Southern Baptists to stay on the right path.

“Is the battle for the Bible over?” Rummage asked rhetorically. “The answer is ‘no.’”

If Southern Baptists believe “the battle for scripture, for truth, is an old mans battle in the Southern Baptist Convention, then one day it will be a young man’s battle,” Rummage continued.

“The struggle for God’s truth is not a political struggle; it is not at its heart a denominational struggle or an institutional struggle. … At its heart, the struggle for God’s truth is not even merely a theological struggle, it is a spiritual struggle,” Rummage added. “Our own simple flesh pulls us away from the truth and the authority and the sufficiency of God’s Word. Do not turn from it. And if there ever is a place to say, ‘let him who think he stands take heed, lest he fall,’ it is here. We are prone to wander from God’s truth.”

At the same time, there is a promise that God’s truth will enable Southern Baptists to overcome, Rummage said, if they do not turn from the struggle.

“Friends, we cannot say, ‘been there, done that, what’s next?’ when it comes to the battle for biblical truth,” Rummage said. “We must take our stand for God’s truth, for God’s Word. It is our foundation.”

GRATITUDE

Crook, in speaking about “gratitude” expressed thankfulness towards those who led the Southern Baptist Convention from what some had seen as a drift towards liberalism, back to a more conservative direction.

“Gratitude and honor are inseparable,” Crook said. “To not give honor is to not be grateful and when there is an absence of honor, there will always be a presence of arrogance, pride and vain glory.”

Consequently, not giving honor can have grave consequences, Crook said.

“I’m afraid to report tonight that this arrogant and prideful spirit has even made its way into the family of God; and if the body of Christ will not repent it will be a stealth killer in our denomination,” Crook continued. “And so we are here tonight to express our gratitude and our honor for some great men that fought the battle. They kept the faith, they stayed with it and we honor them tonight and we’re grateful.”

Of those leaders, Crook said it is their “godliness and integrity” and passion for evangelism and missions that has “fueled” the devotion of some young pastors.

“Those who throw spears at our heroes are not just displaying their arrogance but also their ignorance,” said Crook, in speaking of the “sacrifices” those older leaders made, while he and others were at youth camp and involved in Royal Ambassadors.

“[SBC leaders] paid the price, they received the wounds. They absorbed the cynicism, ridicule and assaults. They sacrificed much,” Crook said. “They didn’t win the victory by blogging, nor were they armchair quarterbacks. They were in the game and on the field. They were at their posts. They were the watchmen on the wall.”

Crook surmised that without the sacrifice of those leaders the denomination would be “powerless, impotent, [and] dark; not engaging the culture, [but] simply mirroring the culture.”

“To fail to express gratitude and deny these men honor is glaring arrogance and profound ignorance,” added Crook. “There’s some young preachers tonight that need to put their hand over their mouth. We need to repent of our arrogance and fleshly spirit of ingratitude. That’s what’s keeping Holy Ghost revival from coming to our convention.”

Additionally, Crook said many of “the unsung and unknown” small church and bivocational pastors who “because of their deep convictions” are owed a debt of gratitude. Recalling many of them traveled to the SBC annual meeting and ate peanut butter sandwiches in their cars, he said they “made the difference.”

“If the truth be told, it will be ungratefulness that will bring our collapse,” Crook said of the SBC. “God keep us grateful.”

SERVICE

Shaddix spoke on “service” and challenged listeners to follow the standard set in Joshua 24 when the Old Testament leader declared: “’… Choose this day whom you will serve ..; [but] as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

“Such a standard for life and ministry will only be ours if we embrace certain truths,” Shaddix continued. “Service has an expensive price tag in a twisted economy.”

Cautioning those in pastoral ministry to avoid the pursuit of “vocational” security at the expense of serving God, Shaddix said “God never promised” notoriety in shepherding sheep.

“Service is not an opportunity that we deserve, but a debt that we owe,” Shaddix said. “It is not an option for us to refuse service on the boards of our convention agencies and institutions when opportunities arise and when our ministries allow. We owe it to Southern Baptists, but most importantly, we owe it to our Lord.”

In striving to make oneself available, however, Shaddix said it is important to be humble.

“Knowing the temptation of pride and in the human heart, we have to guard against an attitude of entitlement to, demand for, or even expectation of positions on such boards,” Shaddix added.

“Someone has said and I’ve heard it a number of times in recent days, ‘All we want to do is have a place at the table,’” Shaddix recalled. “Listen, friend, we are not worthy to sit at the table of those who have paved the way before us, much less demand a place at it. Instead, we simply better be prepared with towel and wash basin in hand to serve when asked to.

“Service will never thrive in a simple exchange of one bureaucracy for another,” Shaddix continued. “Now I’m not suggesting to you that what we’ve seen in the SBC is a bureaucracy. That’s open for debate. But I do know that many have accused our leadership of such. We do need to recognize that, … as with any human organization, the mechanisms of the SBC can be manipulated for selfish purposes.”

In serving either churches or the denomination, Shaddix said it is good to remember “that even our heroes sometimes err in their leadership and though we are certain to make mistakes ourselves, we must humbly and passionately give ourselves to serve our churches and our convention by earning the highest level and trust and exemplifying the greatest resemblance to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“And we must do it without the expectation of being elevated or honored, but with the desire to only please Him,” Shaddix continued. “Let’s not make the same mistakes of those we see erring at this point. Can we just agree to do that? … Service that is clothed in resentment or criticism is nothing more than empty rhetoric.”

Finally, Shaddix said one must pursue personal worship and holiness.

“As I have periodically perused … the seemingly unceasing flow of rhetoric on the blogs of some who are claiming to lead us into a new era, certain questions have assaulted my mind,” Shaddix said. “When do these guys pastor their churches? When do they prepare? When do they do the seat time and the diligent study to prepare God’s Word, to interpret it rightly and to present it to their people in the preaching [event]? When do they go soul winning and share the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe most importantly, when do they give themselves the fervent sacrificial prayer crying out to God for His anointing upon their lives and upon their ministries?”

Acknowledging “there may be legitimate, good, solid answers to all of those questions,” Shaddix said, “let them serve as a warning to us tonight that we must never allow our busyness of service in any context to ever rob us of protecting unhurried time with the Lord Jesus Christ. … When the last chapter is written and the commentary is put into print on our generation, may it never be said that we served our convention well, but we sought our Christ poorly.”

HOLINESS

Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Brad Reynolds, professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and pastor of Gravel Hill Baptist Church in Clarksville, Va., spoke on holiness at the inaugural meeting of 'The Joshua Convergence' Sept. 25 at Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park.

Reynolds said he is concerned that people just “don’t get it” when it comes to holiness.

Some preachers “want sinners to feel comfortable” in worship, Reynolds said, and as a consequence even the standard for dressing means clothes are “too tight, too low, [and] too high,” he surmised.

“When God’s people come to worship God it should be holy, and when people come into a holy meeting with a holy God, there should be uncomfortableness with their sin. Not comfortableness,” Reynolds said. “The place to reveal your breasts and your briefs is in the bedroom of holy matrimony.”

Reynolds said he was surprised at the SBC annual meeting in June when some preachers in a discussion about a resolution against drinking seemed to support drinking alcohol.

“I felt like they were lecturing me about my extra biblical stance of abstinence,” said Reynolds, “[and] that they teach their church the ‘biblical stance of moderation.’”

Reynold said not long after the convention some of the pastors were involved in a blog discussion about the use of alcohol. “One of them went on to say that he went to share Jesus with someone, had a meal with her and asked her for wine at the meal [and] she was so moved that a Baptist preacher would ask her for wine, that her heart just opened up to receive the gospel of Christ and she got saved.

“The very idea that the Holy Spirit of God is moved by the spirits of alcohol is contrary to God’s word and sacrilegious,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said he recalled another pastor who shared about how a deacon candidate from his church “makes a mean margarita.” Still another, Reynolds said, gave an account of how lifting the alcohol restriction from the church by-laws has accelerated the church’s visitation program.

“In other words, since we said, ‘go out and drink alcohol, they get excited about sharing Jesus Christ,’ and that is sad,” Reynolds continued. “[They are] Southern Baptist preachers, and yet, I think these are just symptoms. They’re not the issue.”

The issue is theological, Reynolds said, despite what some might say. And the problem isn’t limited to just those who disagree on dress and drinking.

“We do separate ourselves from drinking and the right type of dress, but we don’t separate ourselves to God,” Reynolds said, pointing out that prayer and time alone with Jesus is important.

“We’ve got to be separated from the world out of the love for Jesus Christ. … Holiness that stands beyond dress and drinking, it goes farther than lewdness and language, it reaches deeper than music and movies, it actually is a setting apart from this world and a setting ourselves to Jesus Christ.”

UNITY

Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Anthony George, pastor of Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, near Orlando, hosted the inaugural meeting of 'The Joshua Convergence' Sept. 25 at Aloma Baptist where he spoke on unity.

George spoke of three kinds of unity: theological, practical and dispositional.

Citing John 17, George said theological unity is the inevitable result of theological and transformational sanctification.

“When your inerrancy does not die the death of a thousand qualifications and your definition of it is not changing, but is static [and] … not emerging, but its fixed – [then] we can have unity,” George said.

Unity, he said, can also be defined by its practical nature.

“Although orthodoxy should lead to orthopraxy—that is right believing should lead to right living—such is not always the case. It’s not always the case in my life. It’s not always the case in yours. But our theological beliefs must be manifested, lived out, fleshed out by a change in our practical behavior,” George continued. “Our goal must be to be united in God’s perfect truth, while at the same time abhorring the rotten fruits of effrontery and discord, in the lives of those with whom we disagree, but bringing it closer to home in our own lives as well.”

Dispositional unity can be influenced by behavior, George said. “The summary of dispositional unity is you can believe all you want to believe about the Bible, but you are not going to have unity with somebody who is as mean as a snake.”

Unity, however desirable, George said, should not come at all costs.

“Unity is sometimes dispensable. There are times when we accept the painful realization that unity simply is not achievable. Such moments are not foreign to the history of Southern Baptists,” George said. “Our denomination was founded under such circumstances. And throughout our associational pilgrimage we have survived periodic insurgencies and splintering, and yet defying both logic and precedent, we have now emerged intact as a mainline denomination following a much needed ecclesiastical purge spanning more than a quarter of a century.

“Clearly there have been times when Southern Baptists have been willing to break the yoke and forfeit the unity mandate,” George continued, warning of a “crucial juncture in our denomination’s life.” He said there is “an element at work whose actions … indicate a preference for approbrium and destruction more than for Kingdom advancement and for the preservation of theological procedure.”

Summarizing the years of the Conservative Resurgence, George said God was “gracious to redeem” the SBC from “the sin of putting unity in His place.”

“We were bowing down at an altar of unity to compromise the most foundational of doctrinal essentials and we were paying the price for it,” George said. “Do we desire unity tonight in the Joshua Convergence? Absolutely. But we will not worship it.”

“Our history as Southern Baptists has shown us that the sustaining of cooperation, diplomacy, denominational expediency or self preservation is not worth the disastrous results that we reap when we do so,” George said. “Tonight we resolve to worship and serve in unity with those who see the Virgin born, sin-atoning, resurrected Lamb of God for who He is as revealed to us in a spirit-inspired, God-breathed, sovereignly-preserved, perfect Word of God. If you buy into that, we say, make us one Lord, make us one.”

IDENTITY

Caner said he is from a Sunni Muslim background but “will remain, thankfully, a Baptist.”

“May I say, if there are those who are ashamed of the name, then we’re in trouble,” Caner said. “I fear today that Baptists suffer from an intensely acute form of historical amnesia. We flippantly forget and directly disregard the bravery of precious saints who have gone on before us.”

Speaking of the earliest Baptists, Caner said “today there is an incipient, yet growing great awakening among our younger generation” to know more about those who have gone on before them and their commitment to the church.

“… We must not waver in our commitment to the true church in order to accommodate the compromising methods of the modern-day, so-called reform groups who cry for a generous orthodoxy or twenty-first century relevancy and eclipse their view for church polity and purity,” Caner said. “A Baptist church, from its inception, whether it be planted here or around the world, deserves to be defined explicitly and not to be depicted ambiguously. And if we faithfully follow scriptural methods for the church, I promise you, it will be relevant. It always has been. But if we do not do so, I’m afraid we will be up willow creek without a paddle.”

Caner warned against the church trying to reshape itself for the culture.

“We must not prostitute the bride of Christ by making her what she is not. She is not a woman who is perpetually redressing herself for every generation to attract the felt need of the day. The doctrine of the church is not an auction house whose contents are to be sold to the highest bidder,” Caner said. “Believer’s baptism is not an option, it is an ordinance. We have no right to remove its significance from the local church. Indeed we must realize if we water down the importance of baptism, we water down the importance of the Great Commission.”

Likewise, Caner said, the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, should remain intact and congregation polity “is not a toy to be tinkered with. It is a tenet to be tenaciously upheld.”

Caner affirmed Baptists espouse certain doctrines and like each church, the convention is autonomous, he said.

“We have already resolved these issues and anyone who does not hold fast to the confession, without any exception, should have the absolute integrity to step down from the place of authority Southern Baptists have granted him,” Caner said.

Recalling the works of sixteenth century Christian apologist Felix Manz, Caner joked that he would lead into the next generation with “a not-so-bestseller titled, ‘the persecution driven church.’”

“It is not our call to be a 21^st Century church, but it is our call to be a First Century church in a 21^st Century world,” Caner said. “And may we recognize that our tent can be no broader than the doctrines that bind us together.”

Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

James Peoples (left), pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Keystone Heights, offered a closing prayer at the inaugural meeting of 'The Joshua Convergence' Sept. 25 at Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park where Pastor Anthony George (right) hosted the two-day gathering.

MISSION

Collins,said the church’s mission is clearly defined in Joshua and in Matthew—and fulfilling the mission can take place through personal witness, public proclamation and discipleship.

“God has so blessed us with another vehicle to fulfill this task,” Collins said, however. “It is the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Collins said he comes from a heritage of Southern Baptists but has chosen to remain in the denomination because he believes Southern Baptists believe the Bible.

“I also believe that Southern Baptists love lost souls,” Collins said. “If we ever lose our love for lost souls, we will cease to be a convention that God will use as He has in days gone by.”

Citing the strength of international missions, Collins said he recently told one of his congregants: “I cannot go, I cannot win them all. … I must save some, but I can’t save all. So how can I extend myself, that the message of Christ will he heard around the world?”

Collins concluded cooperation with other Southern Baptist churches through the SBC will help him fulfill his mission.

“Nobody has a better program for reaching a lost world than Southern Baptists. We must never lose our vision for a lost world,” Collins said. “We must proclaim with a bold voice: Jesus saves, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.”

To perpetuate the SBC’s ministry, Collins said part of the mission is support of the Cooperative Program—and he said he encourages state conventions to “take less” and send more for “the world cause.”

Collins said he paused before attending the ‘Joshua’ meeting to consider the future of his two young boys.

“I want them to have a convention in the days to come that still believes the blessed Book and still preaches the blood of Jesus Christ and still loves to win people to Jesus. … We have a mission.”

In closing, George acknowledged God “is working beyond the borders” of the SBC.

“We know that God is God with our without our convention. … We’re not saying that Southern Baptists are the only ones God is using,” George said. “We’re just saying that God’s done a great thing by putting this thing together. … With or without the SBC and with or without your church, pastor, with or without your help, with or without all the things you cherish—if you have Jesus, no matter what you are going through, it can be well with your soul.”

For more information, go to the Joshua Convergence Web site at: www.joshuaconvergence.com. Aloma Baptist Church has also streamed the worship service at the following Web site: http://www.alomachurch.org/joshua.wmv.