Single Women at Southern are Safe from Yours Truly

I am going to speak plainly. Over the course of this summer, I have developed a, shall we say, mutual affinity with a woman I know from church in Vermont. I think it surprised me as much as it surprised her; we have known each other for five years and our relationship until about a year or two ago had been fraught with acrimony. I had certainly never seen the relationship potential. The Holy Spirit has been sanctifying me and my sinful relational habits, and I think our interactions this past summer have been very much a result of this process. We came to the final weeks before I moved away, and despite the fact that I was moving a thousand miles away and had been deeply hurt by a rejection just this past April, I felt willing to see where this budding relationship would go, and hold it in an open hand, leaving room for the will of God. She has a very sweet heart, and is 100% on-board with me being in Seminary at Southern. As such our communications are up-beat and her last text message to me as I was driving away from Burlington for the last time consisted of a camera-phone photograph of her outstretched, open hand. I feel as though I don't deserve such a woman's affections; she is guarding her heart and allowing me to make doing well at Southern a higher priority than us for the time being, and I feel awestruck. It is that picture that I have included in this blog post, until she chooses to make herself known in this forum.

Why do we think WE've arrived?

[rant] Thursday, in a lecture of one of my church history classes, the professor was explaining that we should be able to look to the theological giants who came before us and not write them off because of their errors, and admire them for their strengths.  A discussion ensued about why earlier thinkers were prone to certain errors, and a student piped up with a question to the effect of, "Why do you think it is that we've come to a better theological standing over time?  It can't be because God has revealed it to us, because we believe the canon has closed."  I thought his question and the prof's response, while good, both failed to address the student's underlying presupposition, that the church in our generation contains fewer errors than the church that existed before us.  The pattern of church history has always been almost a Hegelian dialectic of heresy, correction, orthodoxy, new heresy, etc., etc., ad nauseam.  (I'm not a marxist or a modernist, really!) It seems that the same old heresies come up again and again, and we the Bride of Christ fall for them again and again.  Not that I'm a buddhist who believes in cyclical history!  I don't!!  God in His providence has provided different challenges to the faith at different times in order to keep His Son's bride in the straight and narrow way.  Not that I celebrate heresy!  But when I look around at the blatant errors that our forefathers in the faith were able to recognize that so many evangelicals have swallowed hook, line, and sinker, it looks to me like we evangelicals have a log in our eye theologically.  And I'm not talking about Arminians, I am talking about Modalists on our christian radio stations and onstage at "christian" concerts. We are a generation with theological amnesia, and we are re-inventing the wheel, completely oblivious to the efforts of those who have gone before us.  And that is why I want to study Church History, not because I want to "bring us back" to some prior golden age that never existed, but because I want to benefit from the labors of the giants of the faith who came before me as I work out my salvation in fear and trembling.  [/rant]

Well, I've survived

I just had my last class of the week this morning, and I can tell that I am going to have to spend all weekend getting my reading out of the way, because weekdays are completely dominated by Hebrew, morning, noon, and night.  The good news is that I can now reproduce the whole hebrew alphabet, from aleph to tav, as well as the vowel points.  I also know the phonetic values of the consonants, but I cannot yet translate the vowels into actual vowel sounds reliably.  Whose idea was it to have a qames be exactly the same as a qames-hatuf, anyway?  I can look at a word and syllabify it, but I still can't for the life of me reliably pronounce it.  This sounds really dumb, but the letter tav reminds me of the Quebec Nordiques symbol reversed, and I can't help but think of it every time I write one. 

I've decided to join Clifton Baptist Church, as there is a relationship between Clifton and Christ Memorial's elder boards, and also because I thought the worship was the best of both contemporary and traditional worlds.  I have put out a feeler in the form of an email, but will make a stronger attempt on Sunday.  Until then, I have two history classes and Systematic Theology II with plenty of reading assignments. 

Bleg: Word processor for Mac?

I had read on one of these SBTS blogs that there is a good mac-based word processor with presets for SBTS formatting style.  Can anyone provide more information?  I am having trouble getting changes to stick using Word. 

Pausing to Catch my Breath

Yesterday was a hard day.  Dr. Fuller walked into my Elementary Hebrew section and, with a winsome grin informed us that his class would take as much time as two classes.  I think the man could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman wearing white gloves.  With his same uberwinsome smile, he informed us that this class, "really grinds students down to powder".  He also says that his goal is to get people to know hebrew well enough that they'll actually use it.  After prayer and thought, I decided to drop Dr. Wellum's theology elective entitled, " Christians in a Pluralistic and Postmodern Society" because it was full of upper-classmen, and because the structure of the class would have left me prone to cascading "snowball" lateness in getting my readings done, as well as to free me up to devote time to Hebrew.  Dr. Wellum assures me that the class will most likely be offered again in two years' time.  I am having a difficult time learning the Hebrew alphabet, which I must master in time for tomorrow's class.  I also need to get some church History reading done.  I am thankful to God that I had to read Gonzales' Church History book for the NETS Church History class taught by Mike Hyder, Dr. Puckett uses the same text for one of his books, so I can get by with a more cursory reading.  I was so wound up yesterday that I had to do cardio at the Rec. center, but I slept soundly last night.  Luc's air conditioner works VERY well since I cleaned the dust filter and is a nice, quiet unit.  All in all, I am settling into life at Southern pretty well, but I am going to be struggling to stay ahead all semester long. 

Gratitude

I haven't yet taken the opportunity to properly demonstrate how grateful I am for what the Southern Baptist Convention is doing for all the students here at Southern.  There are some things of which I am only a beneficiary because of my membership in an SBC-affiliated church, such as very reasonable tuition, but there are lots of other ways that are universally dispensed to all.  For example, I have just signed up for health insurance through Guidestone, an insurance company that was originally formed to take care of the widows of Southern Baptist ministers, and which operates at low cost in order to provide for the financial needs of SBC clergy.  This health insurance plan is available to all students at SBTS, regardless of denominational affiliation.  As another example, Lifeway is the Christian bookstore arm of the SBC, but this is the first time I have EVER seen a campus bookstore sell academic textbooks, generally a low-profit item, at 20% below the list price.  Having worked in the bookstore at the University of Vermont, I know that the markup on textbooks over the wholesale price generally runs from 10-30%, and what this means is that the majority of my textbooks came to me near or slightly below cost.  My guess is that Lifeway is absorbing this cost across the whole chain, running a loss at its seminary bookstore operations in order to give us a break, and I must say it was appreciated by THIS particular seminarian.  Were I a married seminarian, I suppose I would be even more grateful, as they really roll out the red carpet here for the seminary wives.  All this to say, I have been made to feel welcome on this campus by everybody on staff here at Southern, and most of the policies are student-friendly.  Being in a dorm hallway with so many like-minded people has made me feel young again.  This may come as a surprise to you, but I spent my last years at UVM feeling like an old geezer because I had a bit of a haughty attitude, but also because I was always in the oldest quarter of my classes.  I am surrounded by a number of students, some of whose aspirations are different, but I've met at least three very, very smart guys who are gunning for Ph.D. and academic careers, and so I know that there will be a tough time getting where I want to go.  The work ethic I've seen in the returning students tells me that classes won't be easy.  Please pray that I would work hard, to God's glory in the coming days and weeks. 

Taking care of business

Yesterday, my digestive system decided it doesn't like something in the water, and was uncooperative most of the day, but I was still able to open a bank account, get a Kentucky driver's license, get insured here, and get a Kentucky License plate. Blogger Stephen Newell gave me a grand tour of useful places in Louisville and treated me to lunch, and also brought me a bottle of the official red wine of SBTS: Welch's Grape Juice. For that, I think I'll blogroll him. Today is Orientation day I. When I arrived on Friday, I was told that I had accidentally been assigned someone else's campus mail box, so I am updating my profile to reflect my new and improved postal address. I hope I don't confuse my postmaster back in Williston with the new change of address forms I need to send out. I guess I can also throw away the hundreds of business cards I had printed up for this very purpose. When the kind lady in housing let me know about that, I am pleased to report that I didn't feel a hint of anger. That is a nice example of God's grace to me. Now I need to go figure out how to get my mailbox open!

Said at Southern Seminary

I'm he-eeeeere.

I've arrived safely, and early at Southern. Leaving my physical and spiritual home in Vermont was not easy to do. I've left many behind about whom I care deeply and among whom I have grown immeasurably. Once classes start, I expect that the tenor of this blog will change from being a repository of uninformed opinions about everything under the sun to being a place where I will leave brief updates about how I am doing, and how I've seen His grace in my life here. One bit of grace is that, without reservations, I was able to get a room for the night in the palatial accommodations at SBTS' Legacy center for less than I paid for a Motel 6 in Utica, NY last night.
Okay, SBTSers, I need you to tell me, what is considered a typical class load? I was talking to a Boyce kid whose jaw dropped when I told him I was going to take five classes this semester. How else can I get through 90+ credits in three years? I know a usual grad-school pace is usually fewer than twelve credits per semester, but a usual master's degree is more like fifty credits all told. I'll be in Orientation soon enough, but perhaps someone can help me understand. Maybe I'm putting too much stock in what an undergrad has to say about a graduate program.
My approximate agenda for the next few days:

Wednesday
Show up at the housing office at 8:00.00 AM to check into my dorm
Do any other necessary business items such as paying bills and getting my ID
MOVE IN.
Go to the mail center and pick up the hundreds of pounds of books I sent myself via Media Mail.

Thursday
I am dedicating Thursday to registering my trusty Subaru here in Kentucky, getting my Driver's license, and generally establishing myself as a Kentucky resident.

Friday
1st day of Orientation. I personally plan on "gate-crashing" the morning meeting for International Students. When I was in the UK, I found I had more in common with the German, Malaysian, and Pakistani students than with the Brits. I expect I'll befriend a number of international students while I'm here. Other than that, I plan to take it all in and be a face in the crowd.

CT Article: "Why Jesus used the S-Word: Apparently 'Satanic' can be a Synonym for 'Relevant'."

Fair-use excerpt:
From the beginning, Christians have been tempted to confuse success with faith. Peter was the first one to succumb to this confusion.... we still, like Peter, thirst for glory and power. We make much ado about our Christian superstars--- bestselling authors and platinum-selling musicians and powerful preachers who draw people in by the tens of thousands. We not only admire, but we also lift up and reward such success. We too easily imagine that growing numbers are an infallible sign of faithfulness. We confuse righteousness with arithmetic.

Mark Galli's article on pages 36-39 of July's Christianity Today is a gracious yet withering attack on megachurches and the conception that big numbers are the most important thing. I am part of a denomination that seems at times to see the generation of large numbers as its most important mission. After all, in the lead-up to the this year's SBC Annual meeting, the committee on resolutions refused to refer a proposed resolution on integrity in church membership to the full convention. Under one of the procedural bylaws, a motion was made to overrule the committee and allow the full convention to consider the resolution. This attempt also failed, but during the consideration of the motion, Jack Bobby Welch, [I mistakenly used the wrong name, HT to commenter Roy Sapphire for pointing out my error] outgoing President of the SBC, made an unfortunate comment to the effect that the committee was reluctant to pass the resolution along to the full convention because inactive members are prime candidates for evangelism. I can't imagine he had really thought out his statement, because it was in its essence a repudiation of the idea of regenerate church membership, a concept which is meant to separate Baptists from other denominations. Backing out from the specifics of the motion, the total failure of the SBC to adopt a non-binding resolution calling on churches to give an accurate accounting of their church membership would seem to be a bald admission that large numbers are more important than faithfulness. Whenever a ministry within the SBC comes under criticism for questionable theology, they invariably hurl forth some statistic to justify themselves. Case and point on this one is Lifeway and the controversy over the curriculum for the "Centrifuge" summer camps for kids. Lifeway's response was to hurl statistics. The stats themselves are quite telling.

Over the last three years, Centrifuge has recorded 18,862 decisions for Christ, including 2,869 professions of faith; 1,399 calls to Christian vocation; and nearly 14,600 rededications and other decisions.

I'll take one sinner who repents and believes the gospel, saved by the blood of the Lamb and brought into full fellowship and accountability in a local church, who perseveres to the end over 18,862 "decisions" or a million "baptisms" where the majority aren't remotely interested in the things of God anymore by the close of the year.

New England Theological Seminary Prayer Requests

I want to put these out to the broadest audience possible. New England Theological Seminary has just put out its e-newsletter, and I have pasted the President's prayer requests into this post.

1. Pray for our search for an executive vice president. We have two strong candidates and discussions are heating up. This position is critical if NETS is to move into the next phase of effective ministry.
2. Pray for Christ Redeemer Church's facility. Christ Redeemer is our NETS church plant in Hanover, N.H. (near Dartmouth College), and they face a hard, uphill climb in acquiring a permanent meeting facility. They have a contract for land, but the time-consuming zoning and planning processes may jeopardize the contract.
3. Pray for the Leadership Institute. Next week, I meet with George Hill to discuss an aggressive plan to move forward this scaled-down version of the NETS Residency Program. Many opportunities exist, including an invitation to set up a permanent Leadership Institute in Cambodia.
4. Pray for all our works. That includes both existing church plants (Redeemer Baptist, Redeeming Grace, Christ Redeemer, and Christ Memorial) and future works (this week, I will extend an invitation to our second Ph.D. apprentice to enter our Residency Program).
5. Pray for me. My plate has never been fuller and I need God's grace in managing a thriving church-planting ministry while remaining faithful to my call as the senior minister of Christ Memorial Church.
6. Pray for the NETS staff. All are overworked and underpaid. Pray for grace and balance for them and for me, as we seek to manage ourselves like marathon runners and not sprinters.
   

For more information about NETS and church planting in New England, you can always visit http://www.netsem.org

Score!!!

So, I'm not looking for an A/C unit for Sampey hall anymore. My little brother in Boston scored a nice looking Kenmore unit that has a little remote control and stuff, when the people in the apartment below his moved out and gave him two! How's that for serendipity? Now I just have to have enough room in the ol' guillaumobile to haul it down to KY. That's an easy $250 saved! Now if I can only find a buyer for my washing machine.

Coming Soon to a blog near you...

I just read two consecutive articles in the latest  Christianity Today that I want to stand up and applaud.  One was even by the managing editor.  There've been times in the past year when I've wondered if the magazine could even call itself "Christian" anymore, but these two articles were heartening.  But proper treatment of both the articles will have to wait.  Just wanted all four of my readers to know I was working on something. 

Massachusetts same-sex marriage pioneers split up

It's actually tragic. These people thought that getting a same-sex marriage would solve their problems and bring happiness, but that's not proven to be the case. There is no peace in this world without knowing Christ. Let's pray that these two troubled women would come to repentance and faith.

Massachusetts same-sex marriage pioneers split up | US News | Reuters.com

Bible Literacy is the Key

According to an article in the Towers, there is a real problem of professing Christians not knowing their bible.

Fair use quote:

There is widespread biblical illiteracy in the church, Mohler said, and while the majority in earlier generations knew many basic biblical facts about God and Christ, many modern churchgoers have little clue as to the central message of Scripture.

I agree, and my argument need not extend beyond the slate of resolutions approved at the SBC in Greensboro. Ignoring the obvious problems I have with resolution Number Five, it seems as though when scripture was referenced in the other resolutions, blatant eisegesis was often committed. Take this example from Resolution No. 2:

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, June 13-14, 2006, express our deepest thanks to God, Who heard our prayers and granted our request for judges and justices who promise to respect our constitutionally-established government of three branches (see Isaiah 33:22), each with its own prescribed and limited scope of authority;

Well, I did what the resolution told me to and saw Isaiah 33:22, and here's what it said: (ESV)
22For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;
the LORD is our king; he will save us.

Apparently that contains a biblical justification for the separation of powers in our consititution. That kind of exegesis is utterly laughable, and deserves to be excoriated by those who love the scriptures. Not only is the verse brutally stripped of its context, but a completely foreign conclusion is reached from it. If we want to see conclusive evidence of our lack of biblical literacy, we need look no further than our own denomination.

Sailing Again, I've Just Been Slogged

I used to race sailboats (420s) when I lived in England, but I've fallen out of the habit. My friend Andy has a decidedly non-racing daysailer (Tanzer 17), and I used to go out with him a lot. Last summer, working nights, I didn't go sailing even once! I've now been out on the lake. The other day was a HOT, windy day, and it was nice to get out of the urban heat-island and onto Lake Champlain. Andy let me take the helm, and I had fun tacking my way through the Breakwater in the busy channel. I know I won't be able to do this kind of sailing in Kentucky, although there might be suitable ponds for dinghy races around. As it is, you can see from the photo that I got to put my dinghy boots to good use. Conditions were excellent, a steady breeze from the south with surprisingly little chop, given that Lake Champlain runs north-and-south, and winds from the north or the south can really bring out the whitecaps. I am certain that in a 420 with a skilled crew, they would have been planing conditions. As it was, we were pushing displacement speed on several occasions in the Tanzer. The Tanzer also handled the prevailing conditions with aplomb, which for a 420 man makes for a boring ride. Maybe someday I can figure out a way to get paid to sail. Until then, I'll just remember my times on the water fondly.

Wow, it's really happening!

After lightning Kentucky Fried the phones at Southern and two days of trying, I've officially received my dorm assignment.  I will be living in Sampey Hall.  I am fairly excited to be there because 1. it is cheap and 2. I can install a window A/C unit to beat the southern heat, and keep the thermostat set to a reasonably cool temperature.  (I've gotten the inside scoop that often the "air conditioned" dorms can't quite keep up with the Kentucky Fried Weather.)  I will be arriving on 9th August, Lord willing.  <<C'est du bon poulet>>

Youth Retreat Recap

My friend Paul Dame has blogged a good recap of the youth retreat, and rather than duplicate his effort, I will link over to his post.