"The New Methodists"

Growing up in New Orleans as a professor's kid at NOBTS had many bonuses. I loved living near a gym, I loved living with other kids that were PKs and MKs like me, I loved messing with the campus police (that still hasn't stopped). On top of all that I loved getting to grow up with adopted Uncles and Aunts like the Stevens, Corvins, Taylors, Foleys, Pounds, Kelleys, and many more. Drs. Chuck and Rhonda Kelley have always been like family. Below is a picture of them with Bolt. They are two of the most incredible people I have ever known. Both of them serve NOBTS with everything that they have. They have invested their lives into this institution and city for the cause of Christ.
I haven't been on campus much this Spring because God led me to take a semester off in order to focus on planting Vintage Church. This past weekend I got a text from "Auntie" Rhonda asking me to pray for Dr. Chuck and his message on Tuesday morning. This has never happened so of course I wasn't going to miss it.


This morning I went to chapel and listened Dr. Chuck Kelley pour his heart out to his seminary, denomination, and Christian brothers and sisters. Dr. Chuck delivered this message with great passion, conviction, brokenness, and humility. It was truly an inspiring and prophetic word. The title of his message was "The New Methodists: A Look at the SBC Today". The following bullet points are some of the notes I took from this message. In defense of Dr. Kelley, not all of these points are exact quotes. I tried my best to write as accurately as possible. You will probably find this message soon at http://www.nobts.edu/chapel/Archives/Spring2009.html. I will follow these notes with a few personal reflections of my own.

• 1940s and 50s was a time of great harvest in the SBC. Salvations and Baptism increased significantly.
  
• Farming Analogy (Old McBaptist had a Farm) 1) Farmers matched the climate with the land. (indigenous church planting) 2) Farmers planted the seed in the soil. (intentional Gospel planting in communities) 3)Farmers cultivated after planting (Sunday School was intended for discipleship and outreach) 4)Farmers harvested when the crop was ready (Revival Meetings). SBC had a GREAT farm!
  
• The key to all of the above was the genius of the SBC, not the methods. Programs were not the drive of the success.
• Since 1955, the SBC has never baptized more than 450,000 people in a year.
• We are more like gardners working the window boxes, than farmers working the fields.
• What happened? Money IS NOT the crucial issue. Message IS NOT the crucial issue. Discipleship IS the crucial issue.
• We are not anointed by God. Conversion and Revival are a work of the Holy Spirit. Neither are found in the SBC. We are so not anointed that we think it is normal.
• We have become atomized. Our focus is upon methods and programs instead of the process. Sowing and reaping cannot be separate.
  
• We are becoming the "New Methodists". There was a time when the Methodists were a leading part of a worldwide movement of God, but today is a different story. Methodists have set records for decline.
• Proof that we are the "New Methodists": 1) Universalism is setting in 2) Tolerance is overtaking conviction 3) Behavior is blending with culture 4) Plateau has become Decline
• 11% (which is generous) of SBC churches are growing.
• Biblical worldview inspiring evangelistic discipleship has DROPPED b/t SBC generations.
• We need DISCIPL-ISTIC (Discipleship and Evangelistic) churches!
  
• We, the world, and our neighbors...do not know who we are.
• WRONG FIGHT: teaching people how to witness. RIGHT FIGHT: teaching people how to live and be like Jesus.
• The Lesson: Aggressive evangelism without discipleship will eventually undo itself.
• God is calling us to 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, 19-20.
• Western Wall Illustration - people daily longing for the restoration of the Temple
• If we do not repent...to what wall will our children return to weep and remember what the SBC was.
• I don't know what God would do in anyone of us, but anyone of us is what God needs.
• As for me, the war starts here.

Dr. Kelley concluded his message by inviting Dr. Nix to lead our seminary in prayer. He was so moved that when he finished his message he left the chapel stage. A lot of people came to the front in humility before God.

My thoughts and reflections:

• Dr. Nix put it well. I believe that we witnessed an historic message. Dr. Kelley was obviously broken before God and obviously spoke exactly what God had called him to speak.
• I was blown away by Dr. Kelley's message. He battled through every word showing amazing poise and passion, yet displaying true transparency and humility. He wasn't preaching at anyone, he was simply delivering a God-sent message.
• I agree with Dr. Kelley on his emphasis upon starting first with personal repentance and renewal. The future hope of the SBC is dependent upon the individuals and the local church. That is the beautiful thing about being Baptist.
• The Western Wall Illustration was extremely powerful. He showed a picture of the Western Wall in Jerusalem and asked us what kind of wall our children will be wailing at in a couple of decades. The generational discipleship process has dropped off.
• I completely support the fact that the lack of Evangelistic-Discipleship is a major problem in the SBC. We have become so focused upon the programs and events that we have neglected the process of making disciples.
  
• One point of difference would be upon Dr. Kelley's assessment of blending with culture. Contextualization plays a vital role in the advancing of the Gospel. What are the standards of holiness (being in but not of the world) is determined by Scriptural leading of the Holy Spirit within a particular culture. I feel like the SBC is not suffering because they are too much like the culture. I believe that a main reason why they are suffering is because they don't have a clue on how to connect the Gospel with a particular culture. This especially applies in the urban settings of North America. With the world flocking to the cities, we better learn how to connect the Gospel to a culturally diverse world. Just like the churches in the 40s and 50s learned how to connect the Gospel to the suburbs outside the city.
• I am reminded of a statement by Ed Stetzer at the convention a few years back. I'm paraphrasing. The SBC idolizes Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong yet refuses to follow their example on our own soil. I believe that we need indigenous Christian leadership for every culture around our country and the world. I am praying for a mighty movement of God's Spirit through indigenous church planting.
  
• One element that I felt could have been added was the element of "servanthood". Those of us in Katrinaville especially understand this. I believe it connects with what Dr. Kelley emphasized in regard to living and being like Jesus. We have found in NOLA that if you serve someone physically they will listen to what you have to say spiritually. The typical SBC church has developed a sinful "come to me" mindset. We just finished walking through a sermon series called "Be The Church". Throughout the book of Acts, the early church went out as the church. Too many churches in our convention sit back and watch their ministers do all the work. And unfortunately, most pastors encourage this mindset. Pastors, we need to get over ourselves. We are not that important. This model is unbiblical at its roots. All who have been saved by Christ have been called to "make disciples of all nations". This is not an option, it is a command.
  
• How do we encourage "servanthood" throughout the SBC? I agree with Dr. Kelley. We need to emphasize true discipleship. We need to pastor our people through what it means to "Be the Church".
• Lastly, God used Dr. Kelley's message in a powerful way to bring a personal conviction upon my life. "As for me, the war starts here." It has been like a broken record player in my life lately, but God continues to show me that I need to humble myself before Him. The only hope for our lives, our families, our churches, our denomination...is a dying to self in order that Christ might live. This past weeks text had us in Acts 28. Paul says in verse 20, "it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain."
  
• God, may we be a people that are chained to the "hope of Israel" Jesus Christ. May we repent of all our plans and ambitions, and may we surrender to you alone.

Thanks Dr. Kelley for being faithful to God. I am praying that this message will spread to all Southern Baptists and that through the power of the Spirit true revival and reformation will result for the glory of Christ.

Myanmar Blog (Day 2-Prep)

Day 2 (25 days till Myanmar)

Spiritual - Spent some great time in prayer to begin my day and end my day. This morning was with our staff. We looked at Psalm 121. God is our help in time of need. Our prayer is that God would break us to a place where we fall on our knees completely surrendered to His will and plan for our church. Tonight, I prayed with Sean and Rob at Vintage. They are coming with me to Myanmar. Every Monday night our church opens our doors for a time of prayer from 9-11pm. We are also fasting together corporately from 5pm-5pm. Our prayer was focused on the people of Myanmar, the missionaries that live there, and our team that is going. It was a rich time.

Physical - Of course I am fasting right now, so that helps. But I ate extremely healthy today. Plus I did 45 min on the Crosstrainer and played ball at Tulane with some friends for a couple of hours.

Myanmar Fact -
Official language: Burmese
There are 107 languages spoken in Myanmar
The whole Bible is available in 2 languages. The NT is available in 10 languages. Parts of the Bible are being translated in 1 language. 94 languages spoken do not have a Bible.

Myanmar Blog (Day 1-Prep)

I am heading to Myanmar (Burma) on March 26th with two of my dudes from Vintage (Rob and Sean). We will be on mission coaching & playing basketball with the Burmese National Teams as well as helping out local missionaries. This will be my second trip to Myanmar with the same ministry. Here is a pic of my brother and I on the trip.


I have decided to keep a short daily blog of my pre-trip prep, actual journey, and post-reflections. Here we go...

Day 1 (26 days till Myanmar)
Spiritual - We had an amazing day at Vintage today. Half of our worship time was devoted to prayer. After Paul gave a charge to the church at Ephesus, he was led to prayer (Acts 20:31). After being challenged by our "Be the Church" series in Acts, I have been overwhelmed by the need around the world. Christ has mandated for us to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Instead of strategy and planning, God is calling me and our church to a season of prayer. Stay tuned.

Physical (need to lose atleast 10lbs this month) - Weights (30min) CrossTrainer (30min) Treadmill (10min) this morning. + i ate no junk food today. Gotta start somewhere.

Myanmar Fact - Area 676,577 sq.km. Basin and delta of the Irrawaddy River ringed by a horseshoe of high mountains that isolates the country from India, China and Thailand.

Vintage Mardi Gras 09

Here is a video that my boy Mike Porforis put together. This past Sunday we had a blast hanging out in Uptown. We gathered at Valence St. Baptist Church at 9am for a time of worship. You can listen to our gathering at http://vintagenola.org/storage/podcast/Vintage02222009.mp3 or by subscribing to our podcast.

After worship we got ready for our outreach. Okeanos, Mid City, and Thoth came right by the front of our spot. It was great meeting so many people and being hospitable to our neighbors. We provided food, drinks, clean toilets, chairs, Mardi Gras music, and a great spot to watch the parades. This year New Orleans re-routed 7 parades to go right by the front of our church. It was definitely a God-thing. We were able to interact with literally hundreds of people over the Mardi Gras season. Thanks to everyone at Vintage Church for all your hard work (especially Edmund and his LIFEgroup for taking the lead). I can't wait for next year!


Vintage Mardi Gras 2009 from Travis Manint on Vimeo.

You can also check out some pictures at http://vintagenola.org/photo-gallery

Video can be found at http://vintagenola.org

Calvinist?

I came across this blog today. JD Greear is the Lead Pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, NC. I have never met him but have heard a lot of great things about his ministry through my buddy Andrew Hopper. It seems as if we have the same feelings and perspective about the issue of "Calvinism".

Check it out:
http://jdgreear.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/whether-or-church-is-calvinist-on-between-the-times.html

This is a hot topic of controversy right now. A lot of my dad's generation is scared to death of Calvinism because of the extreme hyper-Calvinistic representation. I completely understand the fear. My dad watched the ultra-reformed kill the Baptist church in South Africa. I do believe that there are some pros and cons to what is happening in the young evangelical reformed movement in our country. Read this article that came out in 2006 "Young, Restless, Reformed". This movement is nothing like the hyper-Calvinistic movement that has plagued many parts of the world. This movement differs from any previous movements because it makes much of God's sovereignty and much of the Great Commission that God has called us to.

Simply put...our focus needs to be ON CHRIST. I just got done preaching to our church about Paul in Athens. The Athenians were worshiping the false Greek idols. No different to what I am witnessing in New Orleans with Mardi Gras. Too much of anything can be considered "idol worship". This applies to Calvinism. I have a bunch of friends that consider it their mission to convert everyone to Calvinism. What the heck! I call that 'idol-worship'. WE FOLLOW CHRIST! Now we can take great principles from Calvin, Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Graham, Stanley, Warren, Driscoll, ________ (you fill in the blank). But WE FOLLOW CHRIST! I personally hate getting the question, "Are you a Calvinist?" But I (like JD Greear) am excited to know that my preaching and ministry makes much of God and His sovereignty. However, I also love that people get a little confused because I also make much of our churches effort, work, and ministry for the Kingdom of Christ. Much like the abuse that the terms "church" and "Christian" have encountered in our culture, the term "Calvinist" has also been abused. Let's not allow a few hyper-idiots destroy some good theological conviction from the Holy Scriptures.

To my anti-Calvinist brothers and sisters, stop labeling all of Calvinism with the extremist. A movement that makes much of God is not a bad thing.

To my Calvinist brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in following what Calvin taught regarding our lives in Christ...why are you walking around so proud and arrogant? If any theological conviction should humble you it is Calvinism. Salvation is by GRACE alone, through FAITH alone, in CHRIST JESUS alone. Start living like it.

I love how JD Greear put it at the end of his blog,
"God give me the head of a Baptist, the heart of a Pentecostal, and the feet of a Jehovah’s Witness".

Good stuff.

Who Are These Men?

This Sunday I am continuing our preaching series called "Be the Church". God has really challenged us as we have journeyed through Acts. This week I will be in Acts 6 & 14 and our focus will be upon leadership. There are three common aspects that I find in the book of Acts that connect with church leadership. Leaders meeting needs, leaders refusing the praise, and leaders continuing in the faith. Come and join us at Vintage if you are in New Orleans or you can listen through our Vintage podcast.

Since I became a Pastor/Planter of Vintage Church, God has been exposing a lot of pride in my life. This weakness and sin continually brings me to my knees in repentance. What is the balance between stepping up and taking a position of authority with confidence while remaining humble and focused upon the fact that only Jesus deserves the credit? I think we can learn a lot from the early church leaders in the book of Acts and most importantly how Christ himself lived on this earth. But there is no clear cut answer to this dilemma. Any leader in ministry that says that they don't battle with pride is living in denial. As a determined young pastor I am always being accused of pride, arrogance, stubbornness...you fill in the blank. If I choose to go against the flow or reject any form of advice or wisdom, people immediately resort to this accusation.

I have learned two major lessons through this repeating confrontation in my life. #1: I always need to be given a pride and arrogance gut check and I pray that it never stops. Thank you to all those (associations, networks, seminaries, churches, pastors, friends...WIFE) who have been used by God to hold me accountable. #2: Only I can discern the difference between my personal struggle with pride and obedience to Christ's call upon my life. God is calling men to stand against the crowd. God is calling men to push the limits. God is calling men to impact this world for Christ. Sometimes that requires some controversy and guts.

I believe that God has called me to love and serve New Orleans with complete obedience only to the Spirit's guidance and truth found in His Word. We are on the brink of a mighty movement of God's Spirit in this city. My greatest prayer is that I might be faithful to what He has called me to do. If that means sacrifice, so be it. If that means controversy, so be it. If that means submission and humility, so be it. I just want to be faithful to Him.

So again I ask, how do I follow God's call to be a leader for Him while protecting myself from the sin of pride? Not sure. But I am grateful to all of my friends who continue to keep me in line. Keep the advice coming. Even if you are way off, I need the daily reminders that this mission is not about me.

One example of this accountability came today from my friend Luke Johnson. Luke serves at our church with no strings attached as he also travels the country preaching the Gospel. Check out his ministry, www.lukejohnsononline.com. If you ever want a gut check for you or your church, give Luke Johnson a call. He sent me this poem. May God use it to help us stay the course.

“Who are these men?”

Who are these men? Famous in face
Who are these men? By people embraced
Who are these men? Do we really see true?
Who are these men, when no one sees but You?

Lord, in a day when men abuse Thy grace
Please raise up warriors who seek Thy face.
In ignoring Thy Word, they do as they please
Trusting in self, they live in their ease.

Strangers to anguish and foreign to tears
They vainly trust their degrees and years.
Some younger in age, their egos full-sized
Ever doing what's right in their own eyes.

They politic for position and jockey for fame
Only existing to promote their own name.
Spending all time to gain notoriety and mammon
But leaving so many hungry in spiritual famine.

Who are these men, who think themselves wise?
The answer in truth might leave you surprised.
Who are these men, and what do they give?
Preachers their name, and in pulpits they live.
- L.J., 2-12-09

Legalism Sucks

This past week the Baptist Press decided to write an unfair article assassinating Mark Driscoll and his ministry. Check out the article:

http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=29852

Mark and his team were recently at the Southeastern Baptist Seminary in NC speaking at the 20/20 conference with CJ Mahaney and Daniel Akin. I want to encourage you to read this response article and also click on the various links throughout the article.

http://betweenthetimes.com/2009/02/12/mark-driscoll-and-southeastern-seminary/

Thanks Southeastern for responding to the ridiculous legalism that was presented in the Baptist Press. No wonder so many guys are bailing on the SBC. Please don't allow a few idiots to dictate the convictions of our entire tribe. Most of us fall on the side of Southeastern's response. Our church is called to reach our Judea and Samaria through the partnership of NAMB and A29. You can here our partnership desire at the beginning of my message this past Sunday.

BE THE CHURCH: WITNESS (http://vintagenola.org/podcast/)

I agree that we should always be careful and use wisdom when trying to engage our world for Christ. Of course I don't see eye to eye with everything in A29. Being a part of this network allows me the blessing of interacting online with other A29 pastors around the world about any subject. Every subject is fairly discussed and assessed through the lens of Scripture. I have enjoyed reading the thoughts of Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, Scott Thomas, Tyler Powell, David Thew, Eliot Grudem, Daniel Montgomery, and many others. I have been extremely impressed by the humility and fairness of this network. Most of the guys in the network don't agree with everything. But we dialogue with the purpose of being most effective in making disciples of all nations.

I say this with as much grace as possible. I don't have all the answers and my church has a long way to go. THE SBC IS AT A POINT OF CRISIS. Let's stop criticizing our brothers and sisters in Christ that are reaching our world for Christ. Last time I checked most of the churches in our denomination are struggling. Learn from these churches that are making it happen. You don't have to agree with everything and you don't have to participate with everything. That is the beautiful thing about the local church and on top of that a baptist local church. You are completely autonomous. We are praying in our city that God would bring thousands of Bible-believing churches that are tons of different shapes and sizes. I don't know if this is true in your city, but New Orleans isn't filled with a bunch of look-a-like suburban robots. This city is diverse.

I am all for attacking the false prophets of our day that we read about in I John. I have a feeling that when it is all said and done, I am going to make a lot of these heretics and so-called ministers in NOLA pretty mad. But when it comes to our brothers and sisters in Christ, let's dialogue with the ultimate goal of unity for the cause of Christ.

This past week I memorized Philippians 2:1-2 with one of my friends. I'll let these words speak for themselves.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind."