Ken Keathley is Professor of Theology, Senior Vice President for Academic Administration, and Dean of the Faculty at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

SBC Today: What do you think are the greatest challenges confronting the SBC?

Ken Keathley: For all the changes the SBC and the nation are experiencing, the greatest challenge is still the same: reaching the lost with the gospel. We are not a denomination in the traditional sense of the word.  The SBC and its entities exist for the sole purpose of enabling Baptist churches to collectively obey the Great Commission.  People without Christ are lost.  They are not simply prospects. They are persons for whom Christ died.

SBC Today: What do you see as the greatest opportunities opening to the SBC?

Ken Keathley: We are quickly losing the cultural comfort of being the largest religious group in the Bible Belt.  The social environment of the nation as a whole is becoming much less friendly to the Gospel and scriptural norms.  However, I believe this is also a time of opportunity.  During the 20th century, cultural dominance in the rural south caused Southern Baptists to be rather careless in a number of crucial areas.  We became shallow theologically and sloppy methodologically.  The distressing direction that America is headed in is now forcing us to walk against the grain.  But that means we have the opportunity to present Christ in a clear and definitive way.  Society as a whole is rejecting our Christian heritage, but I can’t think of a better time to do one-on-one evangelism.

SBC Today:  As you look back over the Conservative Resurgence, what do you think that movement accomplished, and what (if anything) is left to be done?

Ken Keathley: I shudder to think where Southern Baptists would be today if the Conservative Resurgence had not happened.  Recent statements by leaders in the CBF expressing support for same-sex marriage once again demonstrate that the Resurgence was necessary.  During the conflict, the broader evangelical community provided support to Southern Baptist conservatives through their schools, organizations, and media outlets by providing a clear rationale for holding to the infallibility and authority of the Bible.  Remarkably, while Southern Baptists were reaffirming the inerrancy of Scripture, some of those same evangelical institutions appear to have been losing their way.  It’s very concerning.  The task ahead now appears to be that Southern Baptists need to call our evangelical brethren back to the historic understanding of the Word of God

SBC Today: What are your thoughts about the proposed SBC alternate name?

It is probably the best resolution that is reasonably available.  I intend to vote in favor of it.

SBC Today: What are the most significant doctrinal issues that the church will struggle with over the next few decades?

Ken Keathley: As I have noted elsewhere in print, the Baptist Faith and Message does not take a position on three issues: the millennium, Calvinism, and the age of the earth.  I think that was a wise course of action, because there is not a consensus among Southern Baptists on these matters.  Quite honestly, the question of whether one is pre-, post-, or a-millennial and the question of whether one is a young-earth creationist or an old-earth creationist are rather humble matters.  This does not mean that they are not without major implications, but on the hierarchy of theological importance they are modest.

The Calvinism issue could be serious.  Within the SBC, thoughtful Calvinists and thoughtful non-Calvinists have the responsibility of engaging with one another in ways that are charitable and candid.  We also have the responsibility of calling to task those within our respective camps that are taking extreme positions and/or misrepresenting the other side.  I have expressed in print my concerns about Calvinism very clearly.  And, God help me, I enjoy a theological tussle far too much.  But I’m convinced that Calvinists, Molinists, and others can join together to obey the Great Commission (while still continuing to discuss vigorously the important points concerning the doctrine of salvation).

SBC Today: Tell us about your interest in the doctrine of creation and the dialogue with BioLogos.

Ken Keathley: Just look at the number of books and articles currently published, and continuing to be published on the subject of creation, creationism, evolution, intelligent design, as well as the proper way to interpret Genesis 1-3 and other biblical texts concerning creation.  It is overwhelming!  Mark Rooker and I have been asked by Kregel to co-author a book entitled 40 Questions on Creation and Evolution.  One of the most difficult tasks has been to arrive at the proper forty questions.  The interest on the subject has never been greater.

The BioLogos Foundation is making a concerted effort to convince evangelicals that theistic evolution (or evolutionary creationism, as they call it) is a viable option for Bible-believing Christians.  They are making formidable arguments and they are not going away.  Darrel Falk, the current president of BioLogos, asked several Southern Baptist theologians, philosophers, and biblical scholars to express our concerns is a series entitled “Southern Baptist Voices.”  The series is now running on the forum of the BioLogos website, along with their responses.  Most of the members at BioLogos are scientists–geneticists, biologists, etc.  We did not attempt to challenge them scientifically, that’s a task for others to do.  Instead, we focused on the serious theological and biblical problems with evolutionary creationism.  So far it’s generated a great deal of discussion–hopefully, helpful discussion.

SBC Today: SEBTS has been criticized at times because of a perceived close relationship with Acts 29 and Mark Driscoll. What would you say to defend SEBTS against this criticism?

Ken Keathley: The criticism is simply bizarre.  We had Mark Driscoll on our campus for a conference over three years ago.  At that time we pointed out where we disagreed with him (his affirmation of social drinking, for example).  Mark has an extraordinary ministry in Seattle, which most would recognize as a difficult field.  Despite his shortcomings we believed he had something worthwhile to say to our students.

SBC Today: What are some exciting things happening at SEBTS?

Ken Keathley: During his tenure as president, Paige Patterson established Southeastern as a Great Commission school.  Under the leadership of Danny Akin, that emphasis continues and has been taken to the next level.  The number of young men and women who are answering the call to missions and church planting is extraordinary.  By God’s grace we have had over 2,900 students this academic year (2011-12).  We are thankful that God has led them to us and we take stewardship of their training very seriously.

SBC Today:  How do you balance ministry and family responsibilities?

Ken Keathley: Maintaining a proper balance is always a challenge. But a minister must make a priority of his family for the sake of his spiritual health and the long term health of his ministry.  I’m blessed with Penny, my wonderful wife.  I fell in love and married my best friend.  And now that we are empty-nesters we have rediscovered dating!

SBC Today:  What do you do for fun? Anything else you would like to tell us about?

Ken Keathley: Penny and I had no idea that grandkids would be so much fun!  A second grandson is due in June!

By Wes Kenney, currently a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

A proper understanding of the role of the individual Christian in the fulfillment of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary to the well being of the church and to the faithful fulfillment of that commission. Essential to this understanding is the recognition of the church’s place within the biblical witness as the guardian of truth. With this understanding in place, this paper will argue that the Great Commission is not given for individuals to fulfill, but to the church. This distinction is an important one, and much error is avoided when it is understood and embraced.

“These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim 3:14–15, NKJV). The Apostle Paul’s words make it clear that the church itself is the guardian of the revealed truth of God’s Word. The repeated Pauline commands to churches to guard against error strengthen this idea. The church has a responsibility to guard the truth, and the authority to speak definitively concerning what is true. A true church, seeking the will of God and the mind of Christ, will never lack an understanding of the truth, and cannot shirk its responsibility to defend it. This especially is true with regard to the Great Commission.

Baptists are generally united in the belief that the ordinances of Christ, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are commands given to the church to carry out. Though individuals and small groups sometimes seek to carry out these commands on their own, the consistent witness throughout church history has been that they are to be carried out within the church, and Baptist history has located this responsibility within local churches, and for good reason. Order is not maintained when individuals baptize converts outside the authority of the local church. The fellowship is not strengthened when small groups within the congregation observe the Lord’s Supper on their own, apart from the larger congregation. The eleventh chapter of First Corinthians makes this abundantly clear. It is just as important that the Great Commission commands to make disciples and to teach be closely associated with the authority and oversight of the local church.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:19–20, ESV). In this account of the Great Commission given in Matthew’s Gospel, baptism is integral. Disciple-making and teaching are presented on the same plane with this church ordinance, which is in itself a strong argument in favor of tying all these responsibilities to the local church. But this is not the only argument. In the complementary account of the Great Commission given in Luke, the disciples are not told to immediately get busy in making disciples, but rather they are to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49, ESV).

The event for which Jesus commanded them to wait was, of course, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, widely regarded as the birth of the New Testament church. Had these commands within the Great Commission been intended for every individual to carry out on their own, they would not have needed to remain together to await this promised power. But these commands, the work of the Great Commission, are not given to individuals, they are given to the church.

The objection may be raised that this understanding of the nature of the commands relieves individuals of the responsibility to share their faith with the lost. That objection is understood, and rejected, for what is the church, if not individual, repentant, redeemed, and baptized sinners? No, the obligation remains upon all, but the local church must be at the center of all Great Commission activity.

Some may ask what harm may come from an individual carrying out this work apart from the local church. While many could be cited, two examples will suffice to demonstrate the great danger present when individuals carry out Great Commission activities, including disciple-making and teaching, apart from a relationship of accountability to a local church.

The first example offered is that of Joseph Smith. The founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints began his work with the contention that all churches then in existence were apostate, and that to him alone God had revealed the true gospel. His mission of “restoration” has led millions astray, but it could not have originated had he been accountable to a local congregation who could have disciplined him for his errant teaching.

A more modern example is that of Oklahoma rancher and television Bible teacher Les Feldick. This writer came in contact with the aberrant teaching of Mr. Feldick during the process of candidating for the pastorate of a local church. This church had members who had come under the influence of Mr. Feldick, and through them many were being led astray to a modern day version of the ancient heresy of Marcion. Mr. Feldick is very candid in expressing his appreciation for all churches and his connection to none of them. Again, this kind of pervasive error would be easily corrected were Mr. Feldick to come under the discipline of a local congregation. Absent that discipline, he is beyond correction.

It is because of our fallen, sinful nature that individuals need the church, and the accountability it provides, especially as we seek to be obedient to the Great Commission. Not only must baptism and the Lord’s Supper be carried out under the authority of the local church, but also our teaching, and even our disciple-making activities must submit themselves to this authority. Our fallen nature is prone to error, but the church, the “pillar and ground of the truth,” is able to guard us from error, allowing us to honor our Savior as we obey his commands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQBduikVS5E

Dr. Malcolm Yarnell (Professor of Systematic Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Director of the Center for Theological Research, and Editor of the Southwestern Journal of Theology), provides a further discussion of these issues in this blog post about “Is It Biblical to Ask Jesus into Your Heart?” –

http://baptisttheologians.blogspot.com/2012/05/is-it-biblical-to-ask-jesus-into-your.html

Both of these respected theologians and preachers find plenty of biblical evidence that praying to “receive” Christ is not only allowed in Scripture, but is commanded in Scripture. What does your Bible say?

We posted an announcement earlier about a dialogue addressing these questions, an ongoing dialogue between some Southern Baptist scholars and some Christian scientists from the BioLogos organization. The BioLogos Foundation is a group of Christians who see “evolution as the means by which God created life, in contrast to Atheistic Evolutionism, Intelligent Design, and Creationism.” In essence they are looking to prove that the findings in science are compatible with the Christian faith. BioLogos was founded by Francis Collins, the former head of the Human Genome Project and currently head of the National Institutes for Health.

Each dialogue in this “Southern Baptist Voices” series on the biologos.org website features an article or two articles from a Southern Baptist scholar, with a response from a BioLogos scholar.The series arose from a discussion between Dr. Ken Keathley, Senior Vice President for Academic Administration of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Darrell Falk, President of BioLogos.

In the first pair of articles, Dr. Keathley submitted a two part article that we referenced on March 14, 2012 (click here). From this original discussion, BioLogos is building series, in which the BioLogos staff will dialogue with such invited noteable Southern Baptist scholars as: Dr. John D. Laing, Dr. Bruce Little, Dr. John Hammet, Dr. Steve Lemke, Dr. William Dembski, and Dr. James K. Dew.

The next Baptist guest in the series is Dr. William Dembski, Research Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and well-known advocate of the intelligent design movement, who is addressing the question “Is Darwinism Theologically Neutral.”

In part 1, Dembski compares the “non-negotiables” of Christianity with the “non-negotiables of Darwinism (click here). And in part 2 (click here) he continues his analysis of the comparison of the non-negotiable tenets, concluding that the evidence for Darwinism is the real crux of the matter, not whether it is or is not theologically neutral.

As with other internet discussions, BioLogos has included an arena for comments and responses. We, at SBC Today, would like to invite Southern Baptists to join in this scholarly dialogue as it unfolds over the next few weeks.

In all, fourteen Christian organizations have refused to submit to the “all comers” policy. Eleven Christian campus organizations, including Vanderbilt Catholic, have formed a group called “Vanderbilt Solidarity” to oppose the religious discrimination being instituted by the policy (see the Washington Post story, The Foundry blog of the Network story, the Nashville National Public Radio story, and the Vanderbilt InterVarsity Christian Fellowship blog story).

The most recent happening in this story is that the Vanderbilt Baptist Campus Ministry has also declined to receive recognized student organization status, because they could not in good conscience sign the required Vanderbilt policies (see the Baptist and Reflector article and the Associated Baptist Press article).

Already, several other private and public universities have quietly enacted the Vanderbilt “all comers” policy themselves. If this policy is followed nationwide, it will severely hamper access of Christian campus ministries to college students at this key time in their lives.

For more perspective on this issue, see the following articles:

• “Restore Religious Freedom at Vanderbilt” is a website that is the most comprehensive place to see a listing of all the articles, protests, and issues revolving around this issue. The website is maintained by Christians on the Vanderbilt campus.
• “Anti-bias Policies Drive Some Religious Groups Off Campus,” by Bob Smietana in USA Today, citing how “all comers” policies are driving Christian student groups underground or off campus at Hastings College (University of California), University of Buffalo, University of North Carolina – Greensboro, and Vanderbilt.
• “Group Takes Dispute over VU Nondiscrimination Policy to Alumni,” by Bob Smietana in The Tennessean, noting a new media campaign by the Restore Religious Freedom at Vanderbilt group to mobilize Vanderbilt alumni to help students resist the religious discrimination policies of Vanderbilt.
• “Vanderbilt’s Right to Despise Christianity,” by Michael Stokes Paulsen (Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas) in the Witherspoon Institute Public Discourse blog, with a careful discussion of the legal issues involved in Vanderbilt University’s discrimination against religious groups.
• “Reverend Gomes and Religious Freedom,” by Tish Harrison Warren (Campus Minister for Vanderbilt’s Intervarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship) in Inside Vandy, noting the irony of incoming freshmen students at Vanderbilt being required to read a book by Gomes, an openly gay Baptist whom the New York Times described as one of the leading religious voices against intolerance, when in fact Gomes openly rebuked Harvard University for a policy very similar to Vanderbilt’s policy which intolerantly discriminates against religious groups on campus.
• “Anti-Religious Campus Policies Targeted by ADF,” by Leigh Jones in Baptist Press, citing the intention of the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge the university policies which inhibit the First Amendment rights of its students. Their expectation is to go to federal court, and ultimately to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
• “Threats to Religious Freedom on Campus and Across the Nation,” a YouTube video of a panel discussion with Jim Blumstein, Robert P. George, and Michael Paulsen, moderated by Vanderbilt Christian Legal Society director and Law Professor Carol M. Swain.

• The NEWS TAB provides breaking information on upcoming events, such as the Greer-Heard Forum, archeological dig information, trustee news, and life at NOBTS.
• The CHAPEL TAB provides links to listen or watch recent chapel services.
• The INFO TAB provides maps of the campus, both an illustrated map and a Google map, as well as key contact information for the campus.
• The EVENTS TAB brings up the campus calendar and information on other events around the NOBTS campuses
• The ACADEMICS TAB provides information on courses (including hybrid and online courses) for both NOBTS and Leavell College.
• The ALUMNI TAB provides NOBTS alumni with items specifically designated for them

However, the NOBTS app has a feature you may find helpful wherever you are. Bored standing in a line? Whip out the Greek and Hebrew vocabulary flash cards feature! You can brush up on your Biblical language skills while you have some free time!

• The TOOLBOX TAB provides Greek and Hebrew vocabulary flashcards that can be used by anyone taking these languages in schools around the world. The vocabulary lists are from Dr. Gerald Stevens’ New Testament Greek Primer and cover the key introductory words in biblical Greek. The Hebrew vocabulary lists are based on verb and noun frequency. What makes this feature especially useful for all students of biblical languages is that you can create custom vocabulary lists tailored to your own needs and interests.

The NOBTS iPhone app can be downloaded for free from the Apple iTunes store. Search for NOBTS on the store or go to NOBTS on iTunes.

By David E. Crosby, Pastor,
First Baptist Church,
New Orleans, Louisiana

The lapel buttons worn by a church staff displayed “WWCS.” I asked what the letters meant and they said, “What would Calvin say?”

My response: “Who cares?” Ever since I saw those buttons I have wanted to ask those fellows why they put Calvin’s name where the name of Jesus should be.

John Calvin is my friend, of course, as historic believers may be who have influenced us in positive ways. I enjoyed reading portions of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, and he has definitely influenced my thinking about God and salvation.

Calvin did continue to baptize infants (which I do not endorse), and at one time he ran Geneva like the city belonged to him, which seems to me to be a confusion between the city of God and the city of men. Most lamentably, he consented to the execution of Servetus in Geneva as a heretic. Executing anybody for their religious opinions should be off the agenda for followers of the executed heretic, Jesus of Nazareth.

Calvin was not perfect, we all would agree. He created an amazing systematic theology which is not perfect, either. The Bible is the infallible Word of God. The Institutes are not.

The way we interpret the Bible is of utmost importance. Trying to see how these 66 books speak in unity is not always easy. Some people think that having a systematic hermeneutic is the key.

I disagree for one obvious reason. The system—any system—is a fallible human creation. The Bible does not give us a list of TULIP principles or seven dispensations or a glossary for its vocabulary.

Therefore, no system is itself the Word of God. Anyone who sees all of Scripture through a manmade system is making a critical hermeneutical error. He is imposing a flawed system upon that which is God-breathed, and the flawed system will inevitably distort what is in perfect harmony in the heart of God.

No systematic hermeneutic exists that does not result in this distortion. That is why no such hermeneutic is recorded in the Bible. The only hermeneutic worthy of a God-breathed Word is a personal hermeneutic, God himself. Jesus as the climactic revelation of the Father is the prism through which we must read all of Scripture: the written word through the living Word. As God’s supreme revelation, Christ Jesus supersedes all human reason and logic. We blur the Word made flesh by forcing upon Him these systems which are neither of Him nor by Him. We must continually go back to simple Biblicism as our source for truth, not any man-made theological system.

Bring a TULIP system to the Word of God and the simple instruction of Jesus to love our enemies must be diced and blended. In the TULIP system God hates his enemies. Why would he instruct us to love them? Jesus taught that our love of our enemies is evidence that we are children of God because that is how God loves. The love of God for enemies, strangers, outcasts, and orphans is fundamental, yet preachers are actually declaring otherwise because they hold to an uninspired system of interpretation that seeks to give intellectual harmony to God’s inspired Word. All along God intended that we should live with the tensions and mysteries of his unfettered Word, a position that requires and inspires both humility and unity in the Body of Christ.

Every eschatological system has its own supporting proof texts, but struggles to harmonize these with other texts. For example, dispensationalism has strong support from some texts, but in its classical form it relegates the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount to a future millennial kingdom, not contemporary Christian life. Every system requires scissors and paste, new definitions for common words, and contorted interpretations of obvious texts that don’t fit the system.

I have written my own systematic primer, and I know they can be useful. We all must try to put all the biblical texts together and say what they mean. But none of these human systems perfectly expresses divine truth. Hopefully, no one will suggest that mine should become the template for understanding God’s perfect Word!

Forget Calvin. Forget the systems: dispensational, premillennial, Calvinistic, etc. Pick up your Bible. Study, meditate, and memorize. Soak yourself in the Word of God more so than what other broken people say about it. Bible study aids of all kinds can and do help us with our understanding, but they must remain secondary.

Go to the primary documents and read them for themselves. Do not force them into any preconceived structures. Come up with your own thoughts and outlines. Maybe it will blow your mind. Maybe it will liberate you from the intellectual and spiritual shackles that you think are the keys to true understanding. Shed your preconceptions and see what the Book says. Take two or three steps back and regain your child-like perspective on God and His way with us.

Marilyn Stewart is a weekly religion events columnist in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and is a free-lance writer for the Louisiana Baptist Message and other publications.

*names in this article are changed to protect identities.

It’s only Wednesday night, but the strip clubs on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street are busy.

The crowded street is awash in neon light as tourists, some with children, snap souvenir pictures. Inside, tears stream down a dancer’s face when the women of Inward step into her dressing room. God has answered her prayer.

“I asked Jesus to send someone,” she said. Tricia* needed help in breaking free.

Inward, a ministry that is showing God’s love in a place where the need is great, began when women of New Orleans churches felt burdened for the women of Bourbon Street. Without a template and with few ministries to model, they started by simply taking gifts of chocolate to the dancers.

Two years in, Inward is making a difference.

“Our ladies have followed the footprints of Jesus to Bourbon Street and found people in need who want to hear and see God’s love,” said David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist New Orleans.

The ministry has hosted four breakfasts for workers in a room above a club in the early hours of the morning, after closing time. Attendance is growing.

“The word is spreading,” said Maggie Broussard. “People say to us, ‘Oh, you’re that group that does the breakfasts.’”

At the breakfasts, the women share the gospel as they talk to dancers, bartenders, and managers – both men and women. Across town, prayer partners gather at First Baptist New Orleans to pray as text-messaged updates about conversations come in.

Those who attend leave with Bibles, a gospel tract, or information on children’s events at various New Orleans churches in their hands.

“We celebrate the ministry of Inward each week at First Baptist as we hear the amazing testimonies of God’s activity among the people in this marginalized sector of our community,” said Crosby.

Staying grounded is key. The women prayed for three months before setting foot on Bourbon Street. They meet weekly with accountability partners. Two weeks are devoted to prayer for every one night on the street.

Inward is not the ministry of one church, but involves women from many churches in the New Orleans Baptist Association. Prayer partners from around the world support them.

To date, Inward has helped three women leave the sex industry. Two others are in process. Tricia was recently baptized.

It’s a choice, isn’t it?

The Inward women often say they assumed, at first, that those in the sex industry are there by choice, or because of certain life decisions. Soon that perception changed.

“Our hearts were broken in pieces,” Laeken Carter said after meeting Tricia. “I realized then how painful it is for these women.”

College co-eds are drawn in by easy money. One man is a laid-off engineer. A woman started dancing when stranded in New Orleans after her car broke down.

“Many are Moms. Some are wives,” Cole Gilbert said. “These are normal, everyday women. But once you’re swept into [this lifestyle], it’s hard to get out.”

Drugs and alcohol are part of the mix for some. Others, women who wouldn’t be pegged as a nightclub dancer outside the Bourbon St. context, dance as a second job.

“It may start with money,” Broussard said. “But when they realize it’s not what they expected it to be, they have to find some other way to justify it.”

The dancers’ perceptions are skewed, especially in regards to relationships, Broussard said. Some say they provide companionship by sitting at the bar and talking to customers.

“Most have had trauma in their lives – broken families, abuse,” Cole Gilbert said. “Yes, they choose, but is it really a choice when you look at their past and see what they’re dealing with?”

An urgent mission

They’re called “the church ladies.” Inward women have been laughed at, yelled at, and thrown out of clubs.

One manager told them that the dancers make fun of the makeup bags, hand lotion, and other gifts that Inward brings. “That’s okay,” Jennifer Best told him. “We’re not going to stop.”

Recently, a manager showed them civility for the first time, then turned on them in anger minutes later. The interim period gave them time to talk with a dancer. Christi Gibson, Inward director, said the incident was discouraging, yet affirming.

“God had a divine appointment for our girls with that girl, and he wanted us at the club at that moment,” Gibson said. “We don’t need to be liked or favored. We just need to be available. God will give us the access we need.”

While Inward prayed at the beginning for a club to host a breakfast, a woman they didn’t know was praying that God would send someone to her daughter. The club that opened its doors is the place where the daughter works.

Another mother called First Baptist for help without knowing about Inward or that Christi Gibson is the church’s Connections Minister. Inward found the woman’s daughter on Bourbon St. and eventually helped her leave the industry.

Gibson received a phone call one day from another woman who thanked Inward for “going into the ugly places” and showing her daughter love.

Inward starts relationships on Bourbon Street, but grows them outside. The husband of one Inward member recently performed the wedding ceremony for a dancer. The couple continues a friendship with the newlyweds and continues to share Christ.

“I’ve learned that you cannot see a person as a project,” Gibson said. “The girls we have seen come to know the Lord have not received Him during a ten-minute conversation in a club, or even during the three-hour breakfast in the middle of the night. Inward girls have invested time and numerous conversations away from Bourbon Street into these girls.”

Bourbon Street workers often talk of being religious, and even Christian. When one dancer mentioned that she needed to be “more spiritual,” Cole Gilbert said, “What you really need is Jesus.”

“Inward is increasing the dependency that these women [who minister] have on Christ, making them bolder in sharing the gospel in other relationships, including their own family members,” said Chad Gilbert, pastor of Edgewater Baptist Church, New Orleans.

The urgency, and danger, are real. On a recent “blitz,” where Inward carries gifts into a dozen clubs, the women also carried the picture of a fifteen-year old girl reportedly last seen on Bourbon Street.

The positive response is real, as well. Inward arrived for the third breakfast to find the room dirty and in disarray. When they arrived for the fourth breakfast, the room was cleaned and ready.

Justin*, a manager who once opposed them, now welcomes them in. When they thanked him for hosting the breakfast, he said, “You’re welcome here any time.”

The assistant manager told them Justin’s* change of heart was due to Inward’s non-abrasive manner.

“The Bible tells us the gospel may offend,” Cole Gilbert said. “We want to be sure that our manner of presenting the gospel doesn’t.”

The turnover on Bourbon Street is great, and women continue to be drawn in by its false promises.

“They’re not going to come to us. We have to go to them,” Cole Gilbert said. “This is what Jesus did.”

This article was originally published in the Louisiana Baptist Message, and is reposted here by permission.

Dr. Bonts is the Senior Pastor of Parkway Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama.  He has earned a BA in Theology from The Baptist College of Florida, and an MDiv and PhD from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Over the course of my fifteen years in ministry, Southern Baptists have written much in defense of various positions on the doctrine of salvation within the Southern Baptist Convention. Calvinist blogs sprung up en masse, defending the views many felt Southern Baptists had neglected for the better part of a century. Non-Calvinist blogs responded with a remonstrance of sorts to defend their view of our theological heritage. Others have even tried to advocate a “baptist” doctrine of salvation, which is odd, given that “baptist” has always been a moniker that described one’s doctrine of the church.

Those who enter the fray usually share a common denominator: a desire for scriptural faithfulness. The debate over God’s providence in salvation, however, often causes us to lose sight of the common understanding of evangelism and salvation that have held Southern Baptists together for over 150 years. By focusing so much upon what separates us, we have forgotten the beliefs that unite us and allow us to cooperate.

Southern Baptists’ Common Beliefs Regarding the Doctrine of Salvation

1. Apart from a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, all of humanity is lost. The lost are dead in their transgressions and sin (Eph 2:1-3).
2. Because of their sinful, willful transgression of God’s law, unbelievers are enslaved to their sin (John 8:34) and blinded to the gospel (2 Cor 4:4).
3. Unbelievers do not seek God of their own initiative (Rom 3:11); unbelievers do not come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father (John 6:44).
4. The drawing of the Father occurs as the Spirit works through the preaching of the gospel (Rom 10:17). None can be saved apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 10:5-20; John 14:6).
5. The gospel is the message of the sinless life, penal substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus from the grave (1 Cor 15). Salvation is entirely of God, entirely of grace, and is received entirely through faith (Eph 2:8-9).
6. The gospel includes an urgent call to respond to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith (conversion). Conversion involves repentance (a turning away from sin). Faith is belief in and receipt of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross whereby one surrenders to Jesus as Lord.
7. Jesus commands all Christians everywhere to endeavor to carry the gospel to the nations in obedience to the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20).

To be sure, Southern Baptists have a great deal more in common than what I have listed. These commonalities, however, should remind us that when it comes to the gospel of King Jesus and the command of the Great Commission, there is more to unite us than divide us. For the sake of cooperation and kingdom advance, we must move beyond the sometimes petty arguments about what was going on in the mind of God in eternity past as he planned to create humanity. Instead, we must move toward a cooperative effort to populate the community of God for eternity future through the preaching of the gospel. After all, the Southern Baptist Convention was founded, in part, for the sake of evangelistic cooperation. While there is certainly a time and place for the irenic discussion of the tertiary theological issues in Scripture, at the point where they begin to affect our willingness to cooperate (and from my observation point, they have), then we have quit following Jesus Christ as a convention. An inward focus always prevents an outward impact.