Pastor Mark Brock and "God's Views of the News"
Just a couple problems with all of this:
(1) Pastor Mark is in front of American flag. If he’s not careful he may communicate that he’s a citizen. Strike one.
(2) Pastor Mark is wearing a pretty traditional shirt, the kind that is compatible with a necktie, even perhaps a blazer. This smells of being too traditional. So much for incarnational ministry. Strike two.
(3) Pastor Mark pastors Crossway Baptist Church. Honesty in name? Doesn’t that create unnecessary barriers? Strike three.
(4) Pastor Mark’s church website contains a http://www.crosswaybaptist.org/about/our-beliefs/ full doctrinal statement and even three paragraphs on separation! I ran out of strikes already…
Seems like Pastor Mark is at least a partial contradiction of http://sharperiron.org/article/left-behind-apparent-absence-of-fundamen…] this .
(1) Pastor Mark is in front of American flag. If he’s not careful he may communicate that he’s a citizen. Strike one.
(2) Pastor Mark is wearing a pretty traditional shirt, the kind that is compatible with a necktie, even perhaps a blazer. This smells of being too traditional. So much for incarnational ministry. Strike two.
(3) Pastor Mark pastors Crossway Baptist Church. Honesty in name? Doesn’t that create unnecessary barriers? Strike three.
(4) Pastor Mark’s church website contains a http://www.crosswaybaptist.org/about/our-beliefs/ full doctrinal statement and even three paragraphs on separation! I ran out of strikes already…
Seems like Pastor Mark is at least a partial contradiction of http://sharperiron.org/article/left-behind-apparent-absence-of-fundamen…] this .
[DaveMarriott] Seems like Pastor Mark is at least a partial contradiction of http://sharperiron.org/article/left-behind-apparent-absence-of-fundamen…] this .I thought all you church planters kind of hung together emotionally!
By the way Grace Church of Philly has a doctrinal statement - http://www.gracechurchphilly.org
[DaveMarriott] Just a couple problems with all of this:
(1) Pastor Mark is in front of American flag. If he’s not careful he may communicate that he’s a citizen. Strike one.
(2) Pastor Mark is wearing a pretty traditional shirt, the kind that is compatible with a necktie, even perhaps a blazer. This smells of being too traditional. So much for incarnational ministry. Strike two.
(3) Pastor Mark pastors Crossway Baptist Church. Honesty in name? Doesn’t that create unnecessary barriers? Strike three.
(4) Pastor Mark’s church website contains a http://www.crosswaybaptist.org/about/our-beliefs/ full doctrinal statement and even three paragraphs on separation! I ran out of strikes already…
Seems like Pastor Mark is at least a partial contradiction of http://sharperiron.org/article/left-behind-apparent-absence-of-fundamen…] this .
Yeah. He doesn’t stand a chance. FWIW, I’m all for Steve D’s liberty to pursue the goal the way he believes is best. But I share your skepticism about how necessary it is to avoid the traditional.
But I think M. Brock is going to discover that it’s impossible to talk about the news and remain politically neutral. You can avoid talk about parties and legislation easily enough, but as soon as you start talking society, human behavior, money, government—all the stuff that’s in the news—you are going to begin to bring what Scripture says to bear on the questions of human nature and human society. And the Bible is not neutral on these things when it comes to political philosophy!
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Per DaveMarriot’s post:
Rubber…meet road. :) Sobering
Rubber…meet road. :) Sobering
It was striking how foreign the concept of actually living the Bible was to the reporter.
On a side note, a great resource for dealing with some of these major topics is D. James Kennedy’s book Today’s Conflict; Tomorrow’s Battles.
On a side note, a great resource for dealing with some of these major topics is D. James Kennedy’s book Today’s Conflict; Tomorrow’s Battles.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
@Jim, we try to!
@Aaron, we do a lot of things traditionally at our young church; we also shatter some traditional molds. As you’ve pointed out, the issue is not whether you are traditional or non-traditional. Some traditions exist for perfectly good philosophical/theological reasons, and local churches have every right to expect them reproduced in their church-plants. Other traditions don’t have such a good reasoning behind them, but I would still argue that local churches have every right to expect them reproduced in their church-plants. A church-planter worth his salt should be able to deal with it. If he can’t deal with it, he needs to look elsewhere.
I just think the whole, “We are failing because we are traditional” bit is so overplayed and is not able to be cogently proved or demonstrated in any measurable way. Perhaps I’m simplistic, but from my view, if we preach the Scriptures faithfully, love people, disciple folks, and evangelize our communities, they will not care what name is on our church sign and they will not care if we wear ties too.
I agree re: politics, btw.
@Aaron, we do a lot of things traditionally at our young church; we also shatter some traditional molds. As you’ve pointed out, the issue is not whether you are traditional or non-traditional. Some traditions exist for perfectly good philosophical/theological reasons, and local churches have every right to expect them reproduced in their church-plants. Other traditions don’t have such a good reasoning behind them, but I would still argue that local churches have every right to expect them reproduced in their church-plants. A church-planter worth his salt should be able to deal with it. If he can’t deal with it, he needs to look elsewhere.
I just think the whole, “We are failing because we are traditional” bit is so overplayed and is not able to be cogently proved or demonstrated in any measurable way. Perhaps I’m simplistic, but from my view, if we preach the Scriptures faithfully, love people, disciple folks, and evangelize our communities, they will not care what name is on our church sign and they will not care if we wear ties too.
I agree re: politics, btw.
Do you think this is a true statement?
Within the bounds the the authority of Scripture, the methods and model of church planting that works in rural Wisconsin are perhaps not the best methods and model of church planting in urban Philly?
In other words, some things that are working in rural Wisconsin may not work in Philly and vice versa
Within the bounds the the authority of Scripture, the methods and model of church planting that works in rural Wisconsin are perhaps not the best methods and model of church planting in urban Philly?
In other words, some things that are working in rural Wisconsin may not work in Philly and vice versa
Discussion