More goats on church rolls?

I applaud Brother Brad Whitt’s dedication to the gospel and the work of his church (BR, March 19: ‘Young, Southern Baptist … and irrelevant?’). I too have been raised up in a Southern Baptist church, saved there, ordained as a deacon and called to preach there. God has allowed me to pastor a growing and vibrant church and I feel blessed. Like Brother Whitt I feel as if I have Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) roots and have the resume to prove it too, but I am uncertain why Brother Whitt feels that entitles anyone to some special status. It seems almost reminiscent of “endless genealogies” and making a claim on the gospel based on human inheritance. The only human inheritance we have is our depravity.

Unlike Brother Whitt I will not ignore all that the scriptures teach on the doctrines of grace. I did not get these doctrines from the Presbyterians but from Bible study. After God revealed these doctrines through His Word I studied our church history and surprise, many of our past S.B. held a view of the doctrines of grace. With the current atmosphere of easy believism and personal choice in the SBC today this makes some uncomfortable. To our shame, most S.B. churches can’t find 60-70 percent of their members. Biblical repentance and evidence of regeneration is seldom considered. Could it be we have loaded our membership rolls with goats instead of sheep in our enthusiasm to count numbers? Our lack of membership activity in recent history points to a lot of “professions” but few conversions. It is time to remember “who” it is that causes the “whosoever’s” to come. John 1:12-13 — But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Many S.B. churches today should be true to their actions and honest with the world and change their names to Freewill Baptist. Their doctrine is already there, only the sign needs to be changed.  


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