As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
At 2 PM this afternoon, the ATC Conference hosted a panel with the following men on the platform together: Dave Doran, Tim Jordan, Mark Dever, Kevin Bauder, and Sam Harbin. I have to be honest, for the first 38 minutes I was completely bored. It’s not that the conversation was uninteresting, but the elephant in the room didn’t emerge until that time. So here are a few notes from the panel session.
After singing “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” Dr. Tim Jordan gave his testimony of faith in Christ, which is also his earliest memory. “It was the first of thousands of times I asked Him to save me. (Laughter) God saved me the first time and tolerated the rest.” He then moved to his message. What follows is not a transcript but just some of the highlights from the message from my perspective. Get the mp3.
Text: 1 Timothy 4:6-16
Introduction:
After singing “How Firm a Foundation” and listening to another testimony from Jamie, a Bostonian who is a pastoral intern at Dever’s church, Mark was given the pulpit. These notes are not a transcript but highlights of the message from my perspective.
Introduction:
Before I get too far into this, I want to say that I’m not a pastor; I’m not a formal theology student; in fact all the formal training I had was four years of a Youth Ministries degree in undergrad. I’m writing this from the perspective of a blue-collar church member, a one-time “Young Fundamentalist” who doesn’t really have a label anymore.
The following is not a transcript of the message. Rather, I have included the simple outline preached along with highlights from the sermon. I would encourage you to download the mp3 when available and listen to the message in its entirety.
Introduction:
Republished with permission from Baptist Bulletin Mar/Apr 2011. All rights reserved.
Coming soon: blog posts from the 2011 Advancing the Church conference in Lansdale, PA.
Several bloggers have recently addressed the subject of separation, suggesting that current leaders such as Kevin Bauder, Dave Doran, and Tim Jordan are moving to a position that contradicts the teaching of an earlier generation of fundamentalists.
In reality, the leaders of the 1960s and 70s did not always agree on the best way to apply biblical teaching about separatism, either. Separatism then and now has always reflected a range of values, with good men differing on particulars as they responded to the issues of their era. For instance, Bob Jones Jr. and Bob Jones III were sharply critical of Pickering’s pamphlet “Baptist Principles Vs. Interdenominationalism.” They later faulted Pickering for accepting speaking engagements from organizations they considered to be new evangelical. The leaders eventually reconciled in the early 1990s, but had rarely spoken to each other for twenty years previous.
Disappointed with the rough-and-tumble disagreements of his era, Pickering concluded his seminal Biblical Separation with a critique of fundamentalism’s well-documented foibles—advice that would have saved us a lot of grief, had we listened. A portion of the book’s conclusion follows.
… … . .
Separatists are human. They have sins. They are not perfect. While the matters about to be discussed are not problems exclusively for separatists, separatists are especially vulnerable to them by virtue of their unique position.
Discussion