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Adventures in Denominational Leadership

The ABC headquarters in Valley Forge, PA (The Holy Doughnut).

This past Sunday it was announced in church that I accepted an invitation to serve on the General Board of the American Baptist Churches U.S.A.  I will be one of three New York State American Baptist representatives that will represent our region on the denomination’s leadership board.  No, I’m going anywhere.  I’m still serving as the pastor of The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa and my ministry here will not be interrupted.

This presents a wonderful personal opportunity and a tremendous opportunity for the church.  The church benefits from having a pastor serving as a voice on our denomination’s leadership board by representing the interests of New York State American Baptists.  In addition, being able to bring a young perspective in a mainline denomination is an exciting prospect.

Many of you maybe wondering, “What  is the General Board and what do they do?”  That is a great question.  In order answer some questions for my church and other interested parties, I have pulled together a quick FAQ on the General Board:

What is the General Board  and what do they do?

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Obama

Pastor Prays for Obama's Death

In a truly remarkable news story, a Phoenix pastor gave a sermon in which he opening talked about praying for President Obama’s death.  His sermon was entitled, “Why I hate Barack Obama”.  This pastor, Steven Anderson, even said that his congregation members that God hates Obama, therefore they should hate Obama.  You can also her some of his sermon here.  (Warning, this is very offensive).  In addition, he also wished cancer on the president:

“I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today,” he told MyFOXPhoenix on Sunday. He called his message “spiritual warfare” and said he does not condone killing.

What is even more shocking is what he told his congregation next:

I’m gonna pray that he dies and goes to hell when I go to bed tonight. That’s what I’m gonna pray… Look up the word hate. Look up the word abhor, the word loathe. You’ll see there are a lot of people that God hates, and so we should hate. But see, I didn’t write that, that’s in the Bible… I’m going to prove that tonight.”

Where does this guy get this theology?  He sounds like he belongs at the Westboro Baptist Church with Fred Phelps.  How convenient that this pastor can excuse his actions because he takes the easy way out and uses the old “the Bible says so” routine.   In his sermon he even contradicts himself by saying, “I love all of God’s creation.”  Doesn’t that include people?  Like the president?

If that was not enough, things got worse:

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worship

Dancing in Worship

If you grew up Baptist there was one thing (among many) that you did NOT do: dance!  I remember my Baptist grandmother telling me stories of how people were reprimanded for dancing in public back in the day.   Baptists were known not to play cards or go to movies.  Wow, it must have been exciting to be a Baptist in the 1930’s.

In 2 Samuel 6:1-5 & 12-19, David dances with all his might.  Why?  David decided to move the capital city of the Israelites from Shiloh to Jerusalem. He wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant to be in the new religious center of the nation.  It had been a long time since the Israelites had a specific location that would serve as a center for worship.  Now, the Israelites had this  symbol of God’s presence carried into the center of the Jewish people.  You can imagine the excitement.

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abc

Missionary Crisis?

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I just arrived in Pasadena, CA for the American Baptist Churches Biennial.  Every year, the ABC gathers as a national body to address important concerns, vote on pressing issues, worship, learn, and celebrate.  This will be my fourth ABC biennial that I have had the honor of attending.  This year’s location is fantastic.

Before I left, I heard numerous comments about a very concerning situation involving American Baptist missionaries.  It seems that that American Baptist missionaries will now be responsible for seeking to secure the majority of their funding sooner rather than later.  As I understand it, in the past, missionaries were not required to raise the majority of their financial support.  Now, due to a variety of reasons, ABC missionaries will now have the burden of asking churches for more money.  These reasons include lower support for missionary giving and lower returns in investments that support missions.

ABC of Ohio has made an appeal to their churches about it.  The letter can be read here.

Missionaries should not have to spend their time lobbying individuals, churches, and non-profits to support themselves.  One of the reasons for being a part of a denomination is to have the national body do some of this administrative/financial work.  I can understand the need to have missionaries to be responsible for part of their funding (say 10%-20%), but the majority?  Many of these missionaries have families and cannot raise enough money to support a family of four for a year or two.

If all this is true, this presents a crisis for our ABC missionaries.  More to be updated later.  I am sure that I will learn more from the denominational reps at the biennial.

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