Well it didn’t quite make it to sunny with a high of 75 at the beach this week. It was only about 70 both days–a bummer, I know.
It’s always good to see old friends, and I’m amazed looking back at how many people were there that I knew–from church growing up, from working over the past 7 years with Impact Virginia!, old family friends (not that the friends are old, or that my family’s old…). And meeting some new people too.
The keynote speaker during the two-day conference/va baptist annual meeting was Leith Anderson, the pastor of Wooddale Church in Minnesota. I missed his first two messages because I was too busy catching up with people. But I caught his last one. His point: our sole purpose in life is to make God look good, to enhance the reputation of God. Nobody will want to be a God-follower if we’re making God look bad. Pretty good thought. [side note: Leith is taking over as President of the National Association of Evangelicals after Ted Haggard's incident last week...].
In other ground-breaking news, the representatives from each church voted on the VA Baptist budget for the year–delegating finances to missions, staff positions, church plants, and partner institutions. Alumni and supporters of one institution was upset that they weren’t getting as much money as last year (over $300,000 to less than $150,000…I will give it to ‘em, that was a big drop). So in order to not raise the budget, they just decided that they still wanted their $300,000, their institution was better than two of others, and so they recommended taking more than $150,000 from those two schools and giving it to their beloved college. Why is it that some people are so greedy? All 3 schools are educating young leaders. If they had really needed the extra $150,000+ they should go out and fundraise it. Churches shouldn’t be their crutch to lean on… Enough ranting.
Originally published The Religious Herald, March 3, 2005:
In a letter in the Religious Herald dated Feb. 3, Greene Hollowell condemned the Baptist General Association of Virginia’s stance on abortion, as published in Truthfully Speaking (available at http://www.vbmb.org/uploads/TruthfullySpeaking.pdf).
Mr. Hollowell disputes this statement:
“Be it further Resolved, that we also … support the right of expectant mothers to the full range of medical services and personal counseling for the preservation of life and health.”
“Full range of medical services,” for Mr. Hollowell, “of course means abortion.”
Does it really, Mr. Hollowell? I understand it to mean we need to support mothers in their emotional well-being during a stressful and traumatic time in their lives.
The BGAV statement also resolved, “The messengers … reaffirm the biblical sacredness and dignity of all human life, including fetal life.” How could a body of believers say this, yet continue to endorse the opposite? I don’t think they do.
Mr. Hollowell’s analysis troubles me, but this has nothing to do with abortion. His judgement on the BGAV is similar to the way many American evangelicals interpret the Bible. Mr. Hollowell disregards any original intentions of the statement and exercises his own interpretation of the BGAV’s statement, subjecting the statement to his own views and beliefs.
Other believers do the same with the Bible. We as Baptists believe in the priesthood of all believers, yet many “Baptist” organizations are informing us as to how we will believe.
Mr. Hollowell, if you took a moment to see lives changed through the work of the BGAV, I think you would see that God is not disintegrating the BGAV because they “support abortion,” as you write in your letter.
Would Jesus have been involved in any of these actions? Jesus calls us to love God and love others, Mr. Hollowell, not question others and create rifts within the Body of Christ. We have hurting people in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, people in our churches and women contemplating abortions. I challenge you, and all Virginia Baptists, to help someone in need. We need to be encouraging, uplifting and supportive and love our neighbors using Christ as an example. Tearing people down is a waste of our time, Mr. Hollowell.
I don’t think Jesus would have done that.