Humble, self evaluating sermon from current Trinity Baptist Church pastor. Sounds like the current Trinity leadership is changing course in their response. From the front page of the Trinity website.
www.tbcnh.org
I, for one, greatly appreciate this pastor's humble response, his transparency, and his desire to do what the Lord would have him to do. Oh, that we would see this more often in fundamentalist circles. His message was convicting and much appreciated.
sounds like some improvements. Look forward to listening to the message.
Sounds like Fuller's on the right track for dealing with the way Trinity handled the Tina / Willis debacle. The only deficiency is an erroneous understanding of "love mercy" from Micah 6:8. What he says about the need for demonstrating compassion and love for people is spot on, but "mercy" in Micah 6:8 is hesed, which communicates more the idea of covenant loyalty than it does compassion. In his defense, tho', Fuller admits that this "devotional" is essentially spur of the moment....sounds like he decided to share this message on Sunday morning & didn't really spend a great deal of time studying out the passage. Overall, I appreciated Brian's attitude and applications.
As I've said in another thread related to this situation, my concern is from a pastoral theology standpoint; therefore, I'm looking forward to hearing the official conclusions, recommended changes, and possible apologies(?).
I am encouraged by what I perceive to be a humble response from Pastor Fuller. We need to pray for him as he may be facing challenges from inside the church as well as outside. His call to prepare for the possibility that some of the criticisms leveled at the parties involved may have a foundation may not be received in the spirit of humility that he desires.
In this sermon, Pastor Fuller humbly rebukes his congregation for proudly defending themselves. He's burdened by the tone of comments about them in the newspaper. He asks his congregation instead of becoming defensive to examine themselves to see what is true of them and repent. He says they are looking at their church discipline procedures to correct problems. He says that while they did the minimum that was required of them legally, they didn't do what the Lord required.
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Direct link to sermon: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=61101646311
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