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Lewis Fellows

Young Clergy Unite

This past week I attended the first gathering of my Lewis Fellows cohort in and around Washington D.C.  I blogged about the whole program and the reasons why the Lewis Center for Church Leadership focuses on young clergy. It was a wonderful experience to connect with other young clergy because there are so few of us.  Also, ministering in Upstate New York, I do not get opportunities like this.  It was extremely affirming to be in a gathering where younger clergy are seen as critical to the present and future Church.

Our sessions were thoughtfully led by experts and leading pastors.  Much of our discussion revolved around leadership, vision, practice of ministry, dealing with conflict, and transforming churches. Not only was the theoretical covered in our meetings, but practical learning.   We visited churches and talked with pastors who were able to transform their churches or in some cases bring a church back from death.

As I participated in the discussion, it was clear that not only do clergy need to understand leadership, but lay people need to understand certain realities of church leadership:  Continue Reading…

Lewis Fellows

Lewis Fellowship

I’m away this Sunday, but our Area Minister Jane Lang will be preaching. Jane serves as the Area Minister for the Capital Area Baptist Association, Fransego, and Mid-Hudson/Union associations and is a former missionary to the Congo.   She attended Central Baptist Seminary and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree.   Jane served three churches as either Pastor or Interim Pastor and been a chaplain at a nursing home. I have appreciated Jane’s leadership in CABA and for our church.

This Sunday, we will have some lay people involved in worship and leading in different ways.  I hope that you will join with the congregation in worshiping this Sunday at FBC.

This week, I will be attending something truly unique and fruitful: The Lewis Fellows.  The Lewis Fellows Program is a post-graduate, post-ordination leadership development opportunity for young clergy offered by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary through a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The Lewis Fellows program brings together outstanding young clergy persons from across North America (under the age of 35) for intensive leadership development activities and sustained peer interaction.  The fellowship lasts for two years and is fully funded from a grant by the Lilly Endowment.

Many ask, “Why all this attention on younger clergy?”

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sacrament

Guest Blogger: Tripp Hudgins the AngloBaptist

Part III: Sacrament vs. Ordinance: Guest Blogger, Tripp Hudgins (AngloBaptist).  Check out Part I & Part II.

Alan generously asked me to participate in this blog series on Baptist sacramentality and immediately I said yes. I wanted to chime in. But it took me a while to figure out how I could share my thoughts. As a baptist, I think the testimony might be the best mode of communication in this instance. I hope you will all bear with me.

I was in seminary listening to a lecture on the Eucharistic Prayer, that traditional prayer that many denominations use when celebrating the Lord’s Supper. We were walking through some of the history, form, and theological function of the prayer and when we got to the epiclesis I had an epiphany. Really, one hopes for an epiphany at the epiclesis, but how often does that happen? And yet, there it was. Whammo!

The epiclesis is the part of the longer Eucharistic Prayer (aka anaphora) where the presider (priest or pastor, typically) prays for the Holy Spirit to be present in the elements at the table. I was listening with Baptist ears on as my Episcopal professor explained the historical use of this prayer. I was on the lookout for magical thinking, or mechanistic ballyhoo. None. Zilch. Nada. Then…Then it hit me.

Hold on! What are all the elements present at the table for communion? Bread, wine (or juice), a presider of some sort, and, well…the people. The gathered faithful, The Body of Christ, are present at the table of the Lord! Don’t baptists believe that the Holy Spirit transforms us? Don’t we believe that we are somehow renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit? Don’t we pray that God would be present in our hearts? Isn’t this the same thing? Is this baptist sacramentality?

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Generation Y, Millennials

Shocker: Young Adults Want ‘Religion’

In churches, we often hear the warning giving to youth off to college, “You’ll lose your faith in college.”  All those competing ideas about religion, philosophy, and knowledge working against everything a church has built up!  I once had an old timer in my home church tell me right before I left for seminary, “Be careful, you can lose your faith in seminary!” Is there something about education and youth that are dangerous?  Sordid stories of youth going wild in early adulthood often lead people to think that young people want nothing to do with church, God, religion or faith.

In a surprising new study, we have learned that young adults/youth actually want a life of faith and religious practices.  Duke Divinity’s Faith and Leadership blog sums up the study:

In the National Study of Youth and Religion, 72 percent of young adults said they had positive feelings about the religious tradition in which they were raised. And nearly half of the young adults in the religion panel study said they would like to attend worship services more often.

The fact that most young people have “positive feelings” towards their religious tradition and nearly half of respondents want to go to church more, should tell us something about Generation Y.

So, how can churches reach these young people?

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Baptists

Early Baptist Use of Sacraments

Much to the ignorance of many modern day Baptists, the word “sacrament” or sacraments was used by Baptist framers in their creeds and confessions.  Yes, I said it.  I used the words “Baptist” and “creed” in the same sentence.  Recent Baptist history upholds that Baptists are non-creedal, however it is clear that Baptists in the 17th and 18th centuries used creeds.  Later, Baptists called these creeds “confessions of faith” as did many other protestant groups.

Baptists affirm the theological statements in the creeds but do not use them to be  identified as a “Baptist.”  But, some Baptists used

confessions of faith as creeds.  This is the paradoxical nature of Baptists and their confessions of faith because their statements were directed at excluding other completing theologies. That is exactly what the creeds do, among with affirm what people believe. We receive the word “creed” from the Greek word credo meaning “to believe.”  Clearly, the Baptists were using creedal statements and formulas, but many Baptists did not want to call these doctrinal statements creeds in reaction to the creeds of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.

Alright, on to the use of the word “sacrament” in early Baptist thought and writings. William Joseph McGlothlin compiled a collection of early creeds and confessions of faith that our modern day Baptist life is modeled from.  McGlothin’s,  Baptist Confessions of Faith, was written in 1911 is a very helpful source book to understand how Baptists used “sacraments.”

The following are excerpts from, Baptist Confession of Faith, of the “English” living in Amsterdam in 1614, who desired to correct John Smyth‘s “errors” :

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Discipleship

Traveling Light

I did not have my regular video camera with me but I wanted to share a few thoughts about the scriptures for this Sunday.  I hope this works.

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20. After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”* 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

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prayer

Prayer for Our Nation

Prayer for Our Nation, July 4th Prayer

Almighty God, you rule all the people of the earth.
Inspire the minds of all women and men
to whom you have committed the responsibility of government and leadership in the nations of the world.
Give to them the vision of truth and justice,
that by their counsel all nations
and peoples may work together.
Give to the people of our country zeal
for justice and strength or forbearance,
that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will.
Forgive our shortcomings as a nation;
purify our hearts to see and love the truth.
We pray all these things through Jesus Christ. Amen.

(Amy Langford, USA 20th cent.)

Ballston Spa

VBS in Ballston Spa!

Looking for something for the kids to do this summer? Want a fun and exciting program for your children?  The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa is welcoming the children of the community to sign up for Vacation Bible School.  This summer, we’re setting sail for VBS fun on the HIGH SEAS!  It’s easily the best time they will have all summer. Don’t miss the ship—register now to be a part of this High Seas Expedition VBS!

VBS runs July 26-30 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. @ The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa 202 Milton Ave. 885-8361 for more info.  http://www.fbcballstonspa.org

truth

The Truth Catches Up with Ergun Caner

For several months and years, there has been speculation about Ergun Caner, Dean of Liberty University’s Seminary.  Caner rose to Baptist fame under a flag as a Muslim extremist convert.  It is clear that he was a Muslim, but not the hardened terrorist he made himself to be.  FBC Watchdog and others have a cornucopia of audio sermons and facts that prove Caner was not engaged in “jihad” but was a normal American Muslim for a time. If you want the whole saga go here.

Secular media outlets reported on this story and The Washington Post posted this report this past weekend:

A Baptist minister who toured the country to talk about his conversion from Islam to Christianity is no longer the dean of Liberty University’s theological seminary following allegations he fabricated or embellished facts about his past, the school said Friday.

The university founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell said that a board of trustees committee concluded Ergun Caner made contradictory statements. Although it didn’t find evidence that he was not a Muslim who converted as a teenager, it did discover problems with dates, names and places he says he lived, a statement said.

A June 30 date was set to release this information but it appears that Liberty wanted to do this on a weekend where it would not get as much press. Liberty’s statement regarding the timing of Caner’s dean duties and deciding on administrative action is interesting:

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Evangelism

Why No One Likes Evangelism

Over the years, I have encountered many Christians who do not feel comfortable with evangelism.  Loosely, evangelism is the process in which Christians seek to convert or share the Gospel of Christ to others.  When you say the word “evangelism” at a church meeting, thoughts of door knocking, Bible tracks, and street preaching come to mind.

Guy Kent at the Good Preacher/Homiletical Hot Tub blog, posted a funny telling of a Charlie Brown cartoon:

A Charlie Brown cartoon once had Lucy proclaiming to Charlie Brown, “I would make a good evangelist.”

Charlie Brown responds, “And why do you think that?”

“Well, I convinced the boy who sits behind me in school that my religion is better than his religion.”

Now Charlie Brown is intrigued. “How did you do that?”

Lucy tells him, “I hit him over the head with my lunch box!”

The “hit’em over the head” approach is often seen as the worst example of evangelism.   These days, post modernity has made us shy about sharing our faith.  Anyone who holds to an absolute truth is a nut or is too rigid.  Isn’t there a better way?

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funny

The Dad Life

I’m a little late for Father’s Day, but this is really funny.  You realize you are getting older when parodies about dads means you!

Go-tee – Check
Bluetooth in the ear – Check
Minivan – Check
Riding mower – Check
Dad life – Check

sacrament

Sacrament or Ordinance? (Part 1)

Recently, Karen Bullock, professor Christian heritage and director of the Ph.D. program at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, commented on Baptists celebrating their 400 year anniversary by saying, “…several theologians across the past half century have advocated that Baptists reconsider both the terms and meaning of sacramental acts…Some of this thinking re-engages the sacramental notions of churchly acts and ordinances…”

Over the past few years, I have been actively involved in reading confessions and writings of early Baptists who saw a theological strengthening in the acts of baptism and communion.  Normally, to contemporary Baptists, the word “ordinance” is used over “sacrament.”  This was done to avoid the Catholic understanding of “sacrament” and to avoid any hint of works related faith.  However, over the next few weeks and months, I will present scholarly and lay research on the case for strengthening sacramental language among Baptists.

Indeed, the word sacrament was used among Baptists in the 16th and 17th centuries.  However, “ordinance” stuck in favor of Zwingli’s view of baptism and communion.  Even modern British Baptists use the word “sacrament” when they speak of baptism and communion.

I found this little bit of encouraging research that opted to spiritually understand what happens at communion.  The 1689 London Confession of Baptist Faith, states:

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