Separation

by Dr. Steve Davis and Dr. John Davis
The “N” Train runs from Coney Island in Brooklyn to Astoria in Queens, taking the long route as an express train through Manhattan. Half the time it runs above ground and includes views of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan as it travels across the Manhattan Bridge and views of Astoria and Long Island City as it runs through Queens. The route of the “N” Train captures the ethnic diversity of the city as the train winds through Russian, Hasidic, Chinese, Italian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and other ethnic neighborhoods. The economic diversity of the city is also reflected in its path as it stops in a lower-income area like Sunset Park, which is situated among a flurry of small businesses in Chinatown, or at the upscale stores of both Fifth Avenue and Lexington Avenue. If you love to eat, then you can enjoy the cuisines of the world starting with borsch in Coney Island, ending with fried kefalotiri cheese in Astoria, and enjoying the rest of the world in between.

Pickering, Ernest D. Biblical Separation: The Struggle for a Pure Church. 2nd edition. Schaumburg, Ill: Regular Baptist Press, 2008. Paperback, 264 pp. $14.99.

(Review copies courtesy of Regular Baptist Press.)

Purchase: RBP | CBD

ISBNs: 9780872278035

Excerpts: TOC & Introduction (13 pages); Chapter One (16 pages)

Subjects: Ecclesiology, Fundamentalism, Separation

^{Note: This article was originally published at SI on June 20, 2006.}
Concerns over our immodest culture are not swirling in the religious sector alone. Scrambling to bring a semblance of decency to the educational process, the Florida public schools in my own beloved Pinellas County declared a “classroom cover-up” war this past year, initiating a strict dress code that even prohibits sleeveless garments. One thing is certain: As the extreme indecent fashions of our day prompt the resurrection, enforcement, and establishment of dress codes in institutions across our country, the discovery will be made that rules carry little power to legislate modesty.

The Story behind Ernest Pickering’s Classic Book

^{Note: This article is the new foreword to Biblical Separation: The Struggle for a Pure Church, available from Regular Baptist Press.}

When Ernest Pickering wrote Biblical Separation in 1979, fundamentalism had not yet benefited from the dozens of academic studies that would be produced in the 1980s and ’90s. Most fundamentalist leaders were at least mildly peeved about the public perception of the movement, believing that media attention was often dismissive and inaccurate. And despite their historic suspicion of scholarly research, fundamentalists were oddly hurt when academic studies seemed to ignore their core theological values. For fundamentalists, the 1970s was a period of resurgence in the popular conscience, but not a period of enhanced understanding.

Genuine Appreciation

Do you remember when I wrote this SI article a year and a half ago? Today I appreciate the ministry of Grace Community Church (GCC) even more, having attended my first Shepherds’ Conference and a full Sunday morning and afternoon vespers worship with the church family in Sun Valley. If you want a thorough digest of the Shepherds’ Conference, hit the GCC Internet network. For some good, detailed reporting of the 2008 conference, link up with Evers Ding. I applaud this blogger’s efforts.

Publicly, let me express my appreciation to the Grace church family. First, all the superb servants at Grace pampered me (computer access, shoeshine stand, scholar’s desk, daily newspapers, and refreshments, etc.).

Scholarship and Separatism

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

by Kevin T. Bauder

I consider myself a good friend of Joel Tetreau’s. He’s only five years my junior, and we graduated from the same high school and college. In 1997, when I was the Associate Pastor of Tri-City Baptist Church, Joel and I spent many hours in private discussion concerning the church Dr. Singleton and I had just planted, Southeast Valley Baptist Church. I also spent many hours on private email with Joel, encouraging him to come and take this church that is about 10 miles from where I pastor at Tri-City Baptist. Joel’s three sons are in our Christian school, and I see him and chat with him on a regular basis. Additionally, Joel’s father, Dr. Jerry Tetreau, has his signature on three of my five diplomas, and he currently serves as President of International Baptist College, a ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church. Although I have neither the time nor the desire to involve myself in a “blogging war,” I do think that I, as Dr. Singleton’s immediate successor, have a responsibility to correct any potential misunderstandings of Joel’s article as it relates to our ministry and Dr. Singleton’s legacy. (LEFT: Dr. Singleton and his wife, Mary)