I suggested in an earlier post that the Baptist Messenger, the state Baptist weekly here in Oklahoma, was preparing to weigh in rather heavily on the issue of baptism and church membership in light of the proposed action of Henderson Hills Baptist Church, host of last year’s annual meeting of the BGCO.
I may have understated a bit.
The print edition of the Messenger dated July 13, 2006, has a news story about HHBC’s proposed action, and an excellent editorial by their executive editor Ray Sanders titled Baptism is a Big Deal. The front page has a box that contains the following:
Baptism. How important is it?
In light of the impending action by members of Edmond, Henderson Hills to consider whether or not to remove from the church’s bylaws the phrase “has been scripturally baptized” as a condition of membership, the Baptist Messenger will present a special four-page, pull-out section in a coming issue. It will include positional statements about baptism and church polity from the BGCO, Baptist Faith & Message, Oklahoma Baptist pastors and DOMs and national SBC leaders.
For a preview of this coming attraction, you can visit the Messenger’s website, where there are already several articles posted which are not in the most recent print edition, and I’m guessing they will be a part of the pull-out mentioned above.
Interestingly, the first item you will see at that link is a column by Rick Thompson, IMB trustee and pastor of the OKC metro’s Council Road Baptist Church. The column is taken directly from his display of internet grafiti blog. This is not necessarily earth-shattering, as the aforementioned Ray Sanders is a member of Council Road. Still, examples like this can only serve to strengthen the public’s perception of the reliability of blogs that make legitimate contributions to our denominational conversations, and there are many such blogs out there.
on Jul 18th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Again, I’m not a Southern Baptist, but I live in Edmond, and have friends who attend Henderson Hills.
I read all the articles in the Baptist Messenger (on their website), and I also listened online to Pastor Newkirk’s sermon from last Sunday. After which, I came to the following conclusion…
Pastor Newkirk is right… if Southern Baptists hold to the “distinctive” that each congregation is self-governing and autonomous, then there is too much “intrusion,” as Pastor Newkirk uses the term, and the autonomy that Southern Baptists hold near and dear is threatened and in jeopardy.
Pastor Newkirk mentioned during his sermon last Sunday, which I heard online, that if the bylaw is changed, the BGCO is threatening to refuse to accept checks sent for missions. I am assuming this means for the Cooperative Program. I think that this is very sad that such a threat would be made.
For the sake of unity within the Body of Christ, why can’t Southern Baptists respect the autonomy of the decision-making process at HHBC, and not infringe and intrude on it, by trying to influence the vote of the congregation there later this month???
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on Jul 18th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
The Baptist Messenger moved from journalism to propaganda rag. Pastor Newkirk’s article is given the title, Pastor Sides with Minority View. Of all the articles offered, every other piece is specifically bent the other direction. This is not journalism. You may well have found support among the Baptist Messennger articles for your intended resolution. But, in the end we have suffered something akin to heavy handed politics.
Jonathan is spot on. If it is true the BGCO will not accept CP gifts from HHBC if this passes, the fall out may be greater than estimated.
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on Jul 19th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Hey Man-
Good job remembering that “graffiti” line!
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