Campbell Dedicates Butler Chapel

Here is the article about it from this week's Biblical Recorder:

Campbell dedicates Butler Chapel over 4 days
21. October 2009 by Norman Jameson, BR Editor

Campbell University stretched a “thrilling and most enjoyable moment” over four days to dedicate its new, $8.5 million Anna Gardner and Robert B. Butler Chapel Oct. 12-15.

Photo by Bennett Scarborough
Campbell's Anna Gardner and Robert B. Butler Chapel

The 12,000-sq.-ft. facility features an elegantly spartan, pine paneled sanctuary with lavish light, premier instruments, glass walls, creation and resurrection stained glass windows, a bride and choir room and the admissions office for Campbell University’s divinity school.

Other outside features include a memorial garden, meditation garden, memorial pool and memorial walk.
Construction on the red brick building began in May 2008.

Originally planned as a smaller facility, funding support was overwhelming, enabling a larger vision, according to Dwaine Greene, vice president for academic affairs and provost.

The new facility will seat 450. Turner Auditorium will continue to hold large student body events.
Butler Chapel, named for 1940 alumna Anna Gardner Butler and her husband, whose estate provided a $3 million lead gift toward the project, culminates a dream of Mrs. Butler who said, even as a student, that the Baptist university needed a chapel.

The chapel, with a 20-bell carillon tower above an intimate prayer room, commands the first view on the academic circle, a location placing it central to scholarly life at Campbell.

Greene said in his remarks Oct. 15 that “academic pursuit and faith commitment are like one hand washing the other and almost indistinguishable in this place.”

Allan Schuyler, pastor of Candle-wyck Baptist Church in Charlotte, said, “The God of the universe is neither contained nor containable,” but Christians construct such sacred places in which to meet Him.

“This chapel will speak to students as they walk by and give testimony to the hope of God leading us in his own way to all those who enter,” said Campbell President Jerry Wallace at the Oct. 14 service.

The new chapel is definitely a nice addition to my Alma Mater. It's another plus for all of the new renovations there and hopefully will serve as another beacon of light in the vastness of Campbell's legacy.

Baptist News And Views

Here are a few interesting and recent articles from the Baptist world by way of the Biblical Recorder:

Survey: Megachurches attract many under 45

10. June 2009 by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

Megachurches are most attractive to younger adults, and almost all who arrive at their sanctuaries have darkened a church’s door before, a new survey shows.

The study by Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research, released June 9 found that almost two-thirds (62 percent) of adults who attend Protestant megachurches are younger than 45, compared to 35 percent of U.S. Protestant congregations overall.Researchers found that just 6 percent of those attending a megachurch — defined as a congregation attended by 2,000 or more each week — had never attended a worship service before arriving at their current church. Almost half (44 percent) had come from another local church, 28 percent had transplanted from a distant congregation and 18 percent had not attended church for a while.

“It appears that megachurches draw persons who want a new experience of worship — contemporary, large-scale, professional, high-tech,” said Scott Thumma, co-author of Not Who You Think They Are: The Real Story of People Who Attend America’s Megachurches.

“For the nearly 30 percent coming from a distant church previously ... they want a place to plug in immediately to a community, missions and small groups.”

Read More: Here

Sadly this seems to be the growing trend these days as traditional mainline churches shrink in membership.

Campbell Law juvenile program receives grant
June 4 2009 by Campbell Law

BUIES CREEK — The Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University announced June 4 the receipt of a two-year grant in the amount of $144,904 from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission for use in the Law School’s Juvenile Justice Mediation program. This grant will enable the program to be expanded to serve Wake County when the Law School moves to its new location in downtown Raleigh...

Read More

This is great news for Campbell Law school.

D. A. Carson Calls Christians To Biblical Prayers

D. A. Carson is one Conservative Evangelical scholar that I respect and admire, but his recent comments on prayer at Biltmore Baptist Church 's prayer conference are a little off. The Biblical Recorder reports:

Carson spoke about how the word of God should reform every area in a Christian’s life, especially prayer.

As Paul did in Ephesians 3, Christians should pray for the life-transforming power of Christ and a better understanding of the limitless dimensions of Christ’s love. In returning to a biblical standard of prayer, Christians must pray for Christ’s power to strengthen and transform. The Christian must cry out for “a demonstration of God’s power” to work in him, making him “the habitation of the almighty God,” Carson said.

Paul desired for the Ephesians to be established in the Savior’s transforming love and to know God’s love in such a way that “knowing it might surpass all that could be known.” Carson directed his audience to ask God “to show you the ugliness of sin and the spectacular love of Christ that deals with it.” Then “you will see how wide, long, high and deep is this love of Jesus that surpasses knowledge,” he said.

The church needs intercessors and Christians must beg God, as Moses did during the account of the golden calf, for mercy. Christians must beg God not to pour out upon His church the judgment it deserves. “Moses seeks the favor of God and asks Him to relent and not bring disaster,” Carson said. Moses pleads upon God’s mercy and God relents. God does not drift through interactions with His people but “He expects this unrelenting intercession, this dynamic experience,” Carson said.

Carson urged believers to acquire a vision of God’s holiness, the awfulness of sin and empathy for fellow believers that would “lead you to stand in the gap” as Moses did for the Israelites. He asked God to “blot out” his life if He would not forgive the Israelites. Moses stood in the gap, willing to take the punishment. Carson admitted, “It is rare I find myself thinking of things like that.” Yet, Christians must think and pray like that, he said.

In response to Moses’ plea, God unpacks His character, showing He is compassionate and gracious but cannot let the guilty go unpunished. Moses begs God to go with the Israelites, whether he shows compassion or justly punishes them. He knew the Israelites were nothing without God. Believers must recognize, as did Moses, that without God, “everything else is a disaster.” There is no one to whom Christians can go except God. Therefore, pray and beg for God’s presence, regardless of what it brings, Carson said.

Revival is God-given, but Christians must reform their prayers so that they seek God and not an event. Prayer for revival must not simply be prayer for an experience. Rather, it must be that God’s people be holy and delight in Him rather than self-made pursuits of “religiosity,” Carson said. Christians must return to a biblical standard of prayer and not any other man-made measure. This is why Carson urged believers to pray scripturally and “find life, purpose, and hope” in Christ through His word.

While I agree with Carson, "Christians must pray for Christ’s power to strengthen and transform." However, I don't agree that we should pray "biblically"---whatever praying "biblically" means. Who gets to decide what a biblical prayer is anyway---you, me, D. A. Carson, the Pope, John Calvin, etc.? Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that believers should pray biblically. However, Christians should always pray Christocentricly as Jesus gives us the standard of Christian prayer in The Lord's Prayer:

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV).

Prayers should also be individualistic and subjective as prayers are believers' intimate connection to the Divine. Praying scriptures is sometimes helpful though such as in the lectio divina model, but there are some scriptures we shouldn't pray such as Psalm 137:9 and Psalm 143:12 for example as neither one of those scriptures are consistent with God's self-revealed character in the person and work of Christ. After all, Jesus should be at the center of all our prayers. In closing, I will leave you with two quotes from Karl Barth on prayer:

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."
— Karl Barth.

[P]rayer is the most intimate and effective form of Christian action. All other work comes far behind, and it is Christian work… only to the extent that it derives from prayer…

See also: Karl Barth: The Liberation of the Christian: From Anxiety to Prayer and:

Jesus Christ lived the perfect life as God intended for man here on earth by deriving all that He did from God the Father. "I do nothing of My own initiative" (John 5:30; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10), Jesus said, "but the Father abiding in Me does His works" (John 14:10). Jesus lived the life of the Perfect Man2 for every moment in time for thirty-three years by constantly living in the prayer of faith. He chose to be receptive to the activity of God the Father in all that He did and said. Karl Barth explains,

"He became the first One properly to take and receive the divine gift. He takes up towards God the position of One who has nothing, who has to receive everything from God. He trusts in God that He will in fact receive it from Him. He entrusts everything to Him. This is how He lives...a life controlled and upheld by the grace of God. In all His life as a man Jesus was only and altogether a Suppliant. As the Son of God He is Himself altogether the divine gift and answer. God triumphed in this man. He did it because this man actually asked, and asking took and received; because this man sought, and seeking found; because this man knocked, and as He knocked, it was opened to Him. In this way God triumphed in the asking. This man prayed. He prayed to God for His unspeakable gift."3

Ridgecrest's Ceiling Collapses

Ceiling collapses at Ridgecrest

Read Tony Cartledge's post on the event: Baptists Today Blogs: Watch out below!.

Read about Tony's wife's experience at Ridgecrest: Here.

Thankfully no-one was injured or killed during the accident.

Snyder Memorial Red Shirt Crew

Here is a Blog post from the Biblical Recorder on the CBFNC General Assembly:

Snyder Memorial Members = Servants
20. March 2009 by J. Shore Traveling alone isn't something I normally do. I panic when I can't find my way, feel like I'm lost or even just get turned around. But when I found out that Fred Craddock was going to be at the CBFNC General Assembly, I knew I'd have to brave my fears for the chance of a lifetime.

I'd not been to Fayetteville before and was surprised at the traffic I encountered. I missed my exit to my hotel and ended up driving too far. Flustered and scared, I finally made it, checked in and rushed to find the church. Luckily, that was easier and I made it without incident.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I had a "Dorothy entering the land of Oz" experience. A nice man flagged my car down with a smile and asked me how I was. He wanted to make sure I found not just a parking space, but a good one. He inquired if I needed to unload anything and then sent me to another smiling and waving man. That gentleman, too, asked me how I was and welcomed me to the church (that I hadn't even entered yet). I parked and started walking in to be greeted by two more men who showed me where registration was. I felt like royalty!

Registering for the conference was a breeze and as soon as I got my nametag, another person was there asking me where they could help me go. Literally, every corner of the church was covered by a volunteer. It was amazing and helped ease my stress from my travels right away.

My night continued on in similar fashion, every time I even thought about something I might need, someone from Snyder Memorial was right there. At dinner time, a sweet lady named Olivia insisted that she take my tray and put it away for me. I tried to explain to her that my mother would have me insist on putting my own dishes away and her response was, "but if you don't let me do it, I won't have anything to do!" I felt guilty for not letting her take it the first time she asked!

Worship was fulfilling. Hearing Fred Craddock was amazing. My brain is still trying to absorb all the information I received. But the members of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church - the "red shirt crew" - will forever be etched in my mind beside the word "servant".

Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Decides No Longer To Cooperate With CBF

Although, I wasn't at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina as I was at a CBF dinner with my mom, my grandmother went with a group from Campbell---so we heard bits and pieces from her and attendees of both events. Anyways, here's what Tony Cartledge had to say about the decision of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina to no longer give to CBF:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2008
BSCNC to no longer "tolerate" CBF
Encouraged to “pull out a can of spinach” and “put an end” to toleration of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) annual session pulled out their ballots and approved a new budget structure that eliminates any option for contributing to CBF.

The action came Nov. 12, during discussion of a proposal to scrap the four cooperative giving plans the BSCNC has offered for more than a decade.

The initial proposal, from the Cooperative Program Giving Committee, would have retained an option by which churches could designate 10 percent of their gifts to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF).

Matt Williamson (right), pastor of Oak Forest Baptist in Fletcher, offered an amendment to eliminate the CBF option, saying the BSCNC should not partner with an organization that might send new converts to a church that does not teach inerrancy. “I will die on the hill of inerrancy,” he said.

Eric Page, of Victory Baptist in Columbus, said keeping the option would imply that the BSCNC tolerates CBF. Like the cartoon character Popeye, he said, the convention should “pull out a can of spinach and put an end to it.”

The proposal also called for funding for theological education at North Carolina Baptist divinity schools, budgeted at 10.9 percent of the current Plans B and C, to become a sharply reduced two percent option. The proposal was approved with that option intact. The BSCNC is currently in the middle of a two-year budget cycle, so the new structure will not take effect until 2010.

(Read More: Here).

Also, Big Daddy Weave had this to say:

The Demonization of Moderates: NC Baptists Oust CBF
Messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina decided today that Churches will no longer be allowed to support the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship through the BSCNC beginning in 2010. Check the Biblical Recorder for the story later today.

One NC Baptist fundamentalist had this to say about the decision over on his blog, Southern Baptists in NC:

The reason this amendment passed is that NC Baptist are Southern Baptist they are not CBF Baptist. (This statement is something the Baptist General Convention of Texas would do well to heed.) NC Baptist are trying their best to say that we do not want anything to do with CBF. If there are churches that desire to be CBF then have at it. However, do not try to tell the world that you are Southern Baptist and be part of an organization that was organized as a result of being disgruntled with doctrines Southern Baptist believed and held dear. What does this mean for BSCNC? It means that the churches that were bypassing the convention are now going to need to stop. It means that we are in this together and thus we need to support the budget together.

Also, there needs to be a call now to the head offices in Cary that NC Baptist have clearly stated we are not CBF. Thus, an employee at the convention offices should be a member of a NC Baptist church not one that is dually aligning themselves with the CBF and the BSCNC. We had the clarion call today during the budget vote that we will not even give you an opportunity to send funds through us to the CBF. We certainly should be able to say we want you attending a BSCNC church.

And here is a response to the BSCNC's decision from a moderate North Carolina Baptist. The blog post is appropriately titled Demons.

I am sitting in my office after spending the last day and a half at the Baptist State Convention of NC. I witnessed a historical moment, and it breaks my heart.

The Baptist State Convention has, for about 18 years, provided 4 giving plan options for churches to contribute their missions giving through the state convention. One of those plans, plan C, provided for 10% of our total giving to the state to go to CBF national. For years now, the multiple giving plans have been under attack, with the primary focus being on plan C. In the last couple of years, the state had determined that the 10% apportioned to CBF would not count as NC Cooperative Program giving. Last year, the state formed a committee to investigate a single giving plan that would preserve multiple options. That committee brought its recommendation today. There would be a single giving plan, and churches could check a box on their giving form if they desired a portion of their proceeds to go to CBF. An amendment was brought from the floor to remove this check box. After a secret ballot vote, the amendment passed. After years of efforts, plan C was officially dead.

This isn’t what broke my heart. Anybody with a brain has been able to see this handwriting on the wall for years. There are going to be those who argue, as there were today, that churches can just send their money directly to CBF and negatively designate the SBC out of their missions giving. CBF churches are still welcome in the Baptist State Convention of NC, they will say.

They are lying.

Those who spoke in favor of the amendment based their arguments on 2 points: CBF doesn’t affirm the inerrancy of Scripture, and CBF isn’t true Baptist. There were calls for the convention to “take a stand”. And so they did. They thought they were taking a stand against some faceless organization. Instead, they took a stand against Christian men and women I serve and work with every day. They called me, my church members, and my peers in ministry enemies. They demonized us.

That is what breaks my heart. They made people I love and respect into demons in order to get what they wanted. I could have lived with a decision that said, “We are SBC, and we want a plan that says we are SBC only.” I would not have agreed with it, but I could have respected it. I can’t respect this. Especially when I know it is going to be followed by somebody saying, “We aren’t kicking you out. You can still send your money to us.”

When the announcement of the vote was made, there was no comment or response. A couple of folks clapped, though not as many as I honestly expected. The President just moved on to the next item of business. The convention moved on and left behind Christ-loving, Christ-serving people who had just been accused of not being true Baptist or even true Christians, people and churches who have been a part of the state convention for decades. I’m sure some will say it was just an example of the convention saying, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Funny, Jesus said those words to Peter, the rock upon which he would build his church.
To those CBF pastors, laypeople, and churches who winced at being made to feel like demons, my heart hurts with you and for you. My prayer for all of us is that we will be able to put aside the hurt and anger that rises in our belly at being called a demon so that we might fully concentrate on being the rocks upon which Christ will build His kingdom.

Texas Baptists should pay attention to the fundamentalist from North Carolina cited above and the actions taken today by the fundamentalists in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. What happened today in North Carolina is just one of MANY examples which demonstrate that Cooperation with Fundamentalists is not possible. It just ain't.

Fundamentalism by definition seeks power and control. First, the state convention cuts the CBF option off. Second, the state convention decides to tell its employees which Baptist churches are OK to attend and join. Power and Control.

We can be nice and drop the fundamentalist tag and just call 'em Southern Baptists - as if a good many of those Southern Baptists are not fundamentalists. That what some folks here in Texas are doing. They pretend that somehow moderates and fundamentalists can work together under the same roof. They pretend that somehow a Baptist organization can be supportive of both Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and George W. Truett Theological Seminary. They pretend that a Baptist organization can support programs which affirm Women In Ministry while also accommodating an institution that wants to keep women out the pulpit and in the home; baking cookies, cleaning, and birthing babies, Quiverfull style.

Naive? You Bet'cha. That's putting it charitably. Why any person who eschews fundamentalism would want a better relationship with a Baptist group completely controlled by fundamentalists is beyond my comprehension. Some Texas Baptists need to pay attention to what happened in North Carolina and Georgia this week. They need to read a book or two. A primer on fundamentalism is apparently needed. Or, just keep that head in the sand.

The ONLY Way to Cooperate With a Fundamentalist Is To Obey Him.

Labels: North Carolina Baptists, Texas Baptists

posted by big daddy weave at 11:17 am

I guess us "evil Moderate/Progressive/Liberals" are too leprous to cooperate with, because we may taint the Fungelical Pharisees with all this talk of female pastors, errant bibles, tolerance and Christo-centric social justice and what not.