Hebrews 10: 24-25: “And let us…not [forsake] the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another….”
____________________
My years in college were four of the best years of my life. Those were years that God taught me foundational truths about himself, and allowed me to experience the power of his gospel. I served as a youth pastor at Salemburg Baptist church, a co-captain of the FCA on campus, and together with … [Read More]
On the Dangers of Seminary (Pt. 3): The Danger of Allowing Seminary to Replace Church
Dooming the Great Commission Resurgence
The following is a guest post by Ryan Hutchinson, who serves as senior vice president for business administration at Southeastern Seminary. In addition to his duties at SEBTS, Ryan is a member of the First Baptist Church of Durham, where he serves as an elder and teaches adult Sunday School.
————————————–
I have been working on a plan. The plan is how to doom the Great Commission Resurgence to failure. It is simple and brilliant, and most … [Read More]
On the Dangers of Seminary (Pt. 2): The Danger of Losing Your First Love for God (and Your Love for the Lost)
Revelation 2:4: “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen.”
Romans 10:15: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
____________________
In the summer of 2000, I returned home from having spent two years in a predominantly Muslim context in Central Asia, where I found opportunities to share the gospel nearly every day. It … [Read More]
Speaking Prophetically to Our Culture
Recently I put these two video clips on my blog… and got some pretty interesting reaction. Some thought it was inauthentic; some that it was misdirected and an underhanded political shot. What is the role of the church in speaking prophetically to the culture?
My .02 is that this kind of stuff makes us insanely unpopular, but part of what we must do if we are to fulfill God’s purposes for us. It was talking this … [Read More]
On the Dangers of Seminary
This post is a confession of sorts, a confession that I hope will be beneficial to some who read it. In essence, it is about one thing-the fact that God’s grace toward me has been overwhelming and that at the same time I often have not lived in a manner worthy of his grace. The particular focus of this post is God’s calling on my life to study and teach in a seminary context.
From 1996-98, … [Read More]
Why a Cross?
If you were to begin your own spiritual community, your own religious system, what would you choose as its symbol? How would you spread the word about your new faith via imagery?
After all, all religious traditions and most ideologies have their symbols:
The star of David universally denotes Judaism;
The crescent and star, though predating Mohammed, has become the symbol of Islam;
The pentagram is associated with the occult, wicca, and neopaganism;
The swastika stands for the evil … [Read More]
The Return of the Curmudgeon: Disney-World Worship (Part 2): Musical Disproportionality
I’ve taken a few weeks off on the worship posts, for reasons I need not explain. I now pick up the series where in a previous post I observed similarities between Disney World and worship, noting that there are some not-so-flattering ways in which Disney World reminds me of certain aspects of evangelical worship. In this post I consider some of the ways in which we face problems related to the use of music in … [Read More]
Johnny Hunt Interview with the Florida Baptist Witness
Jim Smith of the Florida Baptist Witness has published an interview with Johnny Hunt about the Great Commission Resurgence. You can read the interview online.
Thank you for having been about to ask…
The College at Southeastern is coming along very nicely, and receiving good reviews from the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index (FSP). Thank you for having been about to ask.
The FSP measures, as you might have guessed, scholarly productivity. Aptly named index, that. And they have ranked Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary #3 among theological schools in the United States. We find ourselves just a bit behind Westminster Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. (There is a nasty little rumor … [Read More]
