SRBA Evangelism January 2012

During this first part of the New Year I always like to do two things. One thing I like to do is to reflect on and rejoice in the things that God has allowed me to be apart of in the past year.

This last year has been one of the best in recent past as far as associational evangelism goes and I am glad that God has allowed me to be a part of it along with you all. We have seen our churches partner together in an evangelism conference and in several outreach events. WE have also had the opportunity to bring personal evangelism training and evangelistic block party training to several of our churches. All of these we a blessing to participate in and were made possible though our cooperation with each other and with the Holy Spirit.

Another thing that I like to do during this time of year is to begin to plan how we can work together in the upcoming year. This year I have the honor of leading out association’s efforts to build our partnership with churches inside the perimeter of Urban Atlanta through UACP. Pastor’s and church leaders are encouraged to attend one of the vision tours that we will be putting together in the next couple months and pray for God’s vision about how your church can partner with these churches in Atlanta. We also will be putting together some training for our churches and planning small scale, simple community outreach events.

If you, or your church, would like to explore opportunities for partnership with UACP or opportunities in our local communities, please let me know. I can't wait to see how God can use us in 2012!!!

SRBA Evangelism December 2011

December is probably my favorite month of the year. I surely enjoy all of the decorations, lights, and the festive holiday spirit that seems to fill the air, but those things are not my favorite part of December. My favorite part of this time of year is the way in which everyone seems to be filled with such a joyous spirit. Even those who are far off from God begin to show kindness to one another during this season.

This time of year holds special significance to the Christian, as it is the time in which we celebrate God becoming a man, in Jesus Christ, as part of His plan to redeem the world from sin. As we reflect on how Christ left the glory of heaven and came to live among those whom He desired to save, we must remember that many who live among us are yet to receive the life that comes in Christ. It is our duty as followers of Christ to reach out to those who don’t know him unto salvation and share the good news!

As your associational evangelism director, it is my goal is to help our association of local churches work together in the common mission of sharing the good news of the Gospel of Christ. We would love to assist your church is planning and carrying out a block party, with personal evangelism training, planning and carrying out local mission opportunities, or in other ways. Please prayerfully consider partnering together with the other churches in our association in this work.

If you would like more information on how we can partner together, please let me know. Our best days lay ahead of us as an association and I look forward to serving Him along with all of you!

Where does the time go?

It occurred to me this morning that I haven't posted in several months. I would like to be able to attribute this to a hiatius that I forced myself to take so that I could come back refreshed and more centered, or perhaps my intense Bible translation work with some obscure people group on the other side of the world. However, none of those thing have contributed to my lack of posting. Things have just been so hectic lately that I haven't written anything that wasn't due at school or published in a newsletter as part of one of my ministry commitments.

In the last couple of months I have left my home church to serve in a staff capacity in a local church plant, left my job of almost ten years (the only other job I have had since I got out of the Marines) for a job at another agency and the most significant and important change is that we learned that my wife, Jessica, is pregnant.

Most people will tell you that you have to live a balanced life. Well the truth is that balanced people have never changed the world. I think a better model is to live a life in cycles. Sometimes you have to burn the proverbial candle at both ends, but there must come a time when you stop burning the candle for a while.   As the fall approches, I hope that life will slow down for me a little and I will have an opportunity to catch up on some things that I haven't paid as much attention to over the last couple of months.

The Image of God in Mankind

There has been much discussion as to what is the image of God, or imago Dei, in mankind. Some have argued against evolution by citing that man was created in the image of God. They reason that because we were created in God’s image we could not have evolved from another creature that had a different physical appearance. While I affirm that man originated through God’s supernatural special creation, I cannot support the use of the imago Dei argument in this fashion. If it were true that we were created in a physical image or likeness of God, we would all have a similar physical appearance; his is certainly not the case.

Some of the confusion around what is meant by the image of God surrounds a misinterpretation of the two words used to describe this concept in Genesis 1:26. Some have interpreted the Hebrew words tselem (image) and dĕmuwth (likeness) as used in v.26 to indicate two separate concepts, while some have argued that these words simply present a Hebrew parallelism. The church fathers rather uniformly distinguished between the terms image and likeness. John Calvin, on the other hand, considered the terms image and likeness similar.[1] Whether one uses the word image or likeness, the significant issue to bear in mind is that the image does not have any materialistic properties. The image of God is restricted to man’s immaterial part.[2] This explains the wide variance in physical appearance of human beings.

Understanding that the image of God in not found in the physical appearance of man leaves us with the question of where the image of God is found. This immaterial image can be found in the fact that man is a personal, rational, and moral being. These are all attributes that man shares with God, except that for man these attributes were marred (not altogether lost) at the fall. That humanity by creation uniquely bears the image of God is a fundamental biblical doctrine—as is also that this image is sullied by sin and that it is restored by divine salvation.[3] This picture of salvation in Christ leading to the restoration of the imago Dei within man is illustrated in Colossians 3:10. This passage points to regeneration as the beginning of this renewal, which is being worked out through our sanctification.

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[1] John J. Davis, Paradise to Prison Studies in Genesis (Princeton, NJ: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2007), 80.

[2] Elmer L. Towns, Theology for Today (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2002), 572.

[3] C. F. H. Henry, “Image of God,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) 2nd ed., ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 591.

UACP Vision Tour

One of the things that I enjoy the most about serving as the Evangelism Director in our local association (The Savannah River Baptist Association) is the opportunity to work with some of the most passionate and godly folks around, and the last several weeks have been no exception. On a recent Thursday, Larry Leming (the SRBA Mission Ministries Director) and I traveled to Atlanta and participated in a vision tour of the ministries being facilitated by Urban Atlanta Church Planting.

The purpose of our trip was to explore opportunities to work with UACP in furtherance of our goals of assisting SRBA churches in developing their own strategic partnerships, providing missions opportunities to SRBA churches with no mission partnerships, and ultimately enabling our churches to carry out the Great Commission through an Acts 1:8 strategy. There are several benefits to these partnerships, both apparent and less apparent. The most obvious benefit is the potential Kingdom impact of reaching an urban center such as Atlanta for Christ. Some of the less obvious benefits are the opportunities for the members of our churches to gain ministry experience in reaching people in an urban context, the opportunity for us to strengthen existing relationships between and within our existing churches, and to forge new relationships.

Urban Atlanta Church Planting is a cooperative effort of Southern Baptists to intentionally plant healthy, reproducing congregations inside Atlanta’s perimeter. UACP is focused on beginning intentionally missionary congregations among the all people groups living in the apartments, condos, and single family housing communities inside of the I-285 perimeter (ITP), intentionally reaching unchurched and lost people.

We began our trip by meeting Jim Haskell, the Executive Director and Lead Strategist for UACP (a native of Hardeeville, SC and son of J.W. Haskell, former pastor of FBC Hardeeville and Maye River Baptist Church). We met Jim at the MARTA Station in northern Atlanta, where he explained the basics of getting around in Atlanta.

We then travelled to Jim’s home where he presented the “big picture” vision of UACP. Jim also explained the present conditions inside of the perimeter and where God had already been working though UACP in Atlanta. Jim informed us that approximately 877,000 people live inside of the perimeter (ITP) and that it is estimated that over 525,000 of those people are unchurched or have no religious affiliation. We also learned that 41% of the population ITP lives in rented housing and typically 95% of those living in multi-housing/apartments/condos do not attend church. 

Another interesting fact that we learned was that only 28% of the total households ITP have children. This is presents an interesting situation because Baptists are traditionally more effective at and geared toward reaching married couples and households with children. Another interesting figure we learned is that 68% of the people living ITP are single and 15% are single parents.

In regards to the traditional churches that are located ITP, many members do not live in their church neighborhoods, do not reflect the “people groups” living in their church neighborhoods, do not impact their church neighborhoods, do not penetrate the lostness in their neighborhoods, and do not know or relate to those persons who make the decisions that affect the neighborhood. As a result, many ITP Baptist churches are dying, declining, or just holding their own. 92 of 160 Atlanta Baptist churches have closed or moved outside the perimeter since 1960.

In response to this staggering situation UACP has focused intentionally reaching unchurched and lost people by beginning intentionally missionary congregations in these people’s communities. In an effort to accomplish their mission and to attempt to penetrate the lostness of urban Atlanta UACP has endeavored to plant at least 50 churches with traditional organizational structures, begin at least 50 cell and or house churches, begin at least 100 Bible study/fellowship groups, and conduct at least 200 significant servant evangelism/acts of kindness events by 2014.

After hearing about the overall vision of UACP we were introduced to Bill Murray (not that one), who is working to establish communities of faith within Atlanta's "apartment nation," those 41% of the population who live in multi-housing/apartments/condos. Bill told us that one of the unique things about his ministry to these communities is that the residents are often moving from one apartment complex to another. The transient nature of this apartment culture presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that one only has a limited time to reach these people and then disciple them. On the other hand, the opportunity is in the fact that when a person has been sufficiently discipled they will reproduce this community of faith at their next apartment complex. Bill’s goal is to saturate his current apartment community with believers, disciples, small groups, and cell churches, all of which would be reproducing themselves; and second, to saturate apartment communities across Atlanta with an expanding network of similar communities of faith. There are opportunities to partner with Bill in prayer, and for groups of four to six to join in prayerwalking and serving through community events, such as pancake breakfasts.

Our next stop was First Baptist Church of Chattahoochee on Atlanta’s Upper Westside, where we met with Cameron Ford. Cameron caught us up on how they are reaching folks for Christ through the Upper Westside Mission, a church plant of FBC Chattahoochee. Upper Westside Mission seeks to reach the people of three specific neighborhoods (Riverside, Vinings on Chattahoochee, and Whittier Mill Village) with the gospel through the formation of small groups meeting in homes. There is much work to be done due to the fact that Upper Westside Mission is still in its very early stages of development. The vision for Upper Westside Mission is to have two or three healthy, growing groups meeting weekly in each neighborhood and to bring the groups together monthly or quarterly for a worship celebration service. As Upper Westside Mission gains momentum there are many opportunities for partners to come alongside with, such as community service projects and backyard bible clubs/VBS for the children.

Once we had a grasp on the basics of Upper Westside Mission, we moved on to the Sandy Springs area of Atlanta. There we met with Deane Johnson who is leading Sandy Springs Community Church, which is focusing on strengthening families in the area by serving in the local elementary schools and hospitals, providing support groups for marriages and parenting, and providing an after-school program to help students with their schoolwork. Many of the parents in the community don’t speak English natively or don't speak English at all, so serving their children is one way of helping meet the needs of these people. Sandy Springs Community Church is presently meeting about twice a month in an ESL school and is growing rapidly. There are many prospective partnerships that could be undertaken to support the ministry of Sandy Springs Community Church in their area.

The last place that we stopped before heading back to the MARTA station was Washington Road Neighborhood Church where we met Jimmie Jordan. Jimmie and Washington Road Neighborhood Church have a passion for reaching the destitute people in their neighborhood, the East Point community, which like so many communities today is plagued by crime and drugs. Washington Road Church would like to one day be able to minister to all of the needs of the people in their community by helping to provide food, clothing, and education for those in need. Jimmie has a passion to reach the young men of the community, and to show them that they can change their lives through the power of Christ. His wife, Amelia, has a heart for young girls and women, and her ministry is focused on teaching these young ladies life skills, such as cooking. In an area plagued by crime and drugs, Washington Road Neighborhood Church seeks to be a light pointing the hurting to Jesus Christ. There are countless opportunities for partnering with Jimmie and Washington Road Neighborhood Church including prayer, community service events, and neighborhood outreach.

Of all the things that I took away from our time in Atlanta, the most impressive was the great lostness in the city and the fact that traditional ways of “doing” church have been unsuccessful in reaching these people. Our common model of church culture is not relevant to these people, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is. The Great Commission of our Lord calls us to go to the people and make disciples of them, not for us to call the people to ourselves. We don’t need a new model or method, but a resurgence of an old one. That method is the method that was given to us by the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, living incarnationally in our communities and spending every day focused on reach people with the gospel. I can assure you that Jim and the rest of the folks at UACP are doing just that and my prayer is that we all will partner with them for the greatest Kingdom impact, both in Atlanta and here in Beaufort and Jasper Counties.

For more information on how SRBA churches can partner with Urban Atlanta Church Planters please contact Larry Leming, the SRBA Missions Ministries Director, at (843) 726-8924 or via e-mail at larryleming@savannahriverbaptist.org. You can also visit the UACP website at http://www.urbanatlantachurchplanting.com.

Marriage and Divorce

            The Bible teaches that marriage is given to us by God as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church. As a result of the purpose of marriage God has given us certain requirements and limitations to marriage. The Bible teaches us that God intended a marriage to be a lifelong covenant relationship between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24). God also has taught us that His people are not to marry outsiders. This is seen in the Old Testament in God’s instruction to the nation of Israel to not intermarry with Gentiles (Deuteronomy 7:3) and in the New Testament in Paul’s exhortation for Christians not to be bound to unbelievers in 2 Corinthians 6.

            The Bible considers a person married when a man and woman have first purposed within their hearts to make a binding and lasting covenant, and then made this inward conviction public by professing to be married. This differs from the current popular understanding in that today’s culture rejects any form of absolute truth and teaches that two people can consider themselves married by whatever standard they choose to apply.

            The point at which the Bible teaches a person is married is very important because of the bible’s teaching on Divorce. God is firmly against divorce. This can be seen in the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees recorded in Matthew 19. Jesus clearly taught that no one should ever separate the marriage relationship. When the Pharisees asked Jesus about Moses teachings on granting a certificate of divorce Jesus responded that it was out of the hardness of man’s heart that God allowed for this to be so. While there are biblical reasons for divorce (e.g. sexual immorality) it has never been God’s intention for a marriage to end in divorce and hence divorce should be avoided at all costs. This is in stark contrast to the manner in which today’s humanist culture looks upon divorce. With the exaltation of the individual desire over God’s truth and the good of society divorce has become a question of current personal preference; when a man’s tastes change so does his wife.

            It is often argued that if God were incessantly against divorce He would have expressly prohibited it in the Bible. The Bible does indeed provide for circumstances that allow for divorce. In Matthew 19 Jesus teaches that a man may divorce his wife in the event of sexual immorality on her part. However, it appears that this is not the perfect situation as the Lord would desire it to be, but an allowance made again due to the hardness of man’s heart. In the same manner that monogamy is taught in the Old Testament (Genesis 2), but God allows polygamy to continue. Another example of God the difference between what God wills and what God allows is that God wills that all men come to the saving knowledge of Christ, but God allows some to reject Christ and suffer the eternal penalty of their decision.

            The decision to divorce one’s spouse carries with it great social and spiritual consequences. The most significant is the spiritual consequence that comes with rebelling against what God teaches is his will. Along with that the social impact of divorce cannot be ignored, especially where there are children involved. Divorce erodes the foundation of the family, and when a child is involved creates a situation where the child grows up with limited access to either their father or mother. This leads to significant other problems for the child and predisposes them to other negative behavior. God’s truth must be kept as the standard and not man’s own desires and whims. Man, in his own power, lacks the ability to do anything that will in itself please God.[1]

            If a person has had a divorce, there must be a way for reconciliation. Many people have taught that if one is divorced they should never remarry. This idea goes against the whole of the biblical teaching of redemption. There is no sin that is unredeemable and there is nothing that a follower of Christ can do that disqualifies them from participating in God’s glory. If someone chooses divorce, they have chosen poorly and against God’s will for their life. However, God has pardoned us from the eternal consequence of our sin nature, the same nature that leads some to have a divorce.

            This Bible is clear, God despises divorce and once a man and woman are joined together in one flesh they should not be separated but by death. But God does not hate the divorced person, and He is able to work though their life for His glory as well. 

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[1]Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 497.

The Destiny of the Unsaved

            One topic that often debated is the destiny of those who choose not to follow Christ. There are three predominate theories regarding the destiny of the unsaved; eternal punishment, annihilationism, and universalism. Those who subscribe to the theory of eternal punishment hold that the sin of those who die without the benefit the grace of God through faith in Christ will be punished perpetually in a place of constant torment (hell) without end.[1] The annihilationist position suggests that hell is a form of instantaneous destruction or cessation of existence of the souls of the unsaved dead.[2]  In contrast to both eternal punishment and annihilation, the universalist holds that the efficiency of Christ’s atoning sacrifice is not limited and therefore all people will eventually be reconciled to God.[3]

            Of these three theories, the biblical evidence wholly points to the theory of eternal punishment. The Bible clearly teaches that all have sinned against God (Rom. 3:23; Is. 64:6), that no sin will go unpunished, and that the punishment for sin is death (Dan. 12:2; Matt 10:15; John 5:28-29; Rom. 6:23). The Bible also teaches that this death is not the cessation of existence, but endless torment and separation from God:

          The duration of this punishment is sometime expressed in the New Testament by the use of aiōn or one of its derivatives (Matt. 18:8; 25:41; 46:2; 2 Thess. 1:9). Aiōn means “old age,” and it was used of the never ending “age to come,” which gave rise to the adjective aiōnion the meaning “eternal,” everlasting.” These words are used of “the King eternal” (1 Tim. 1:17), of “the eternal God” (Rom. 16:26), and when Glory is ascribed to God “forever” (Rom. 11:36), and God is blessed “forever” (2 Cor. 11:31). The concept of endless duration could not be more strongly conveyed; the use of these expressions for the eternity of God shows conclusively that they do not mean limited duration. It is important that the same adjective is used of eternal punishment as of eternal life (Matt. 25:46 has both). The punishment is just as eternal as the life. One is no more limited that the other.[4]

Jesus Himself taught that hell is a place “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48 ESV). Based on the clearly articulated teaching of Scripture, one is confronted with the eternal nature of the punishment for sin.

            There are several arguments commonly made against the doctrine of eternal punishment. The annihilationist argues that only God is immortal (1 Tim 1:17; 6:16) and that immortality is a special gift connected with redemption in Jesus Christ (Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:53-54; 2 Tim. 1:10).[5]  However, the overall biblical witness is that mankind was created as an eternal being in God’s own image (Gen. 1:27) and that physical death entered the world as a result of the curse of sin (Gen. 3:19). An argument against the doctrine of eternal punishment that is shared by both the annihilationist and the universalist is that eternal punishment is contrary to God’s love as revealed in Scripture. With respect to this argument, the same difficulty in reconciling God’s love with eternal punishment would seem to be present in reconciling God’s love with the idea of divine punishment at all, and, conversely if (as Scripture abundantly testifies) it is consistent for God to punish the wicked for a certain length of time after the last judgment, then there seems to be no necessary reason why it would be inconsistent of God to inflict the same punishment for an unending period of time.[6] If God is just then sin cannot go without punishment (Pro. 11:21). Another argument is that eternal punishment for temporal sins is unfairly severe. This argument wrongly assumes that man knows the extent of the evil done when sinners rebel against God.[7]  The punishment for rebellion increases proportionally as the position of the one rebelled against increases. To rebel against one with a small amount of authority would result in a proportionally small punishment, but to rebel against one with great authority results is a proportionally great punishment. The rebellion has not changed, just the position of the one rebelled against. Using this logic if one were to rebel against one with eternal and unsurpassed authority, the punishment for said rebellion would be proportionally eternal and unsurpassed. Such is the case in rebellion against God, who possesses all authority.

            God created hell, a real place where real people will spend a real eternity.[8]  If we are to be obedient to the greatest commandments (Matt 22:37-39), we must join with Jesus is his mission to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and we must love our neighbor enough to not allow them to spend an eternity in a place of torment without the opportunity to make an informed choice. As one better understands hell, they will have a deeper burden for lost loved ones. A full awareness of hell would lead one to make every effort to present the gospel to the lost.[9]

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[1] L.L. Morris, “Eternal Punishment,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) 2nd ed., ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 395.

[2] Elmer L. Townes, Theology for Today (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2002), 838.

[3] J.R. Root, “Universalism,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) 2nd ed., ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 1232.

[4] L.L. Morris, “Eternal Punishment,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) 2nd ed., ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 395.

[5]R. Nicole, “Annihilationism,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) 2nd ed., ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 64.

[6] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1151.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Elmer L. Towns Concise Bible Doctrines (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2006), 415.

[9] Ibid., 416.

The Problem of Evil (Theodicy)

            The problem of evil is best summed up by asking the question, “Why would a just and holy God allow bad things to happen to his people?” In order to begin to understand why evil exists, one must have a correct understanding of the relationship between God and evil. The most common incorrect view of the relationship between God and evil is that introduced to the church by the Gnostics, Marcionites, and Manicheans. This view can be described as the dualistic view and it holds that evil continually exists in either an eternal substance or person that God cannot destroy.[1] This view denies the supremacy of God because if there can be only one supreme being. There are other views that diverge from the biblical teachings on God and evil, such as Leibnitz theory of privation, the sensuous theory, and sin a pride, natural life, or selfishness[2]; while the dualistic view is the most common, all of the divergent views solve the problem of evil by yielding belief in some of the attributes of God.

            Another important part of understanding the problem of evil is to understand what evil is and what its causes in the world are. Evil is generally accepted to be defined as the intention of causing harm or destruction while threatening or deliberately violating morality. Another aspect that must be included in any definition of evil must address what has been described as natural evil; that is anything which causes pain or distress and is not caused by human intention. The root cause of any evil in the world is the curse that came upon the world as a result of Adam’s sin the in garden (Gen. 3:14-19). As a result of sin entering creation we must now all deal with a sin nature that has affected all of us (Rom. 6:23).

            Evil can be divided into two distinct categories, natural and moral, each of which presents their own religious and philosophical problems. These two categories, although distinct, are not separate. Natural evil is anything which produces pain, distress, loss or calamity, or which in any way disturbs the peace, impairs the happiness, or destroys the perfection of natural beings.[3]  The problem of natural evil can be illustrated by the example of the destruction that occurred when Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf cost. The problem presents its self in the question, “If God is all-powerful and all-loving, how can God allow this catastrophic event to happen?” Moral evil on the other hand is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain principles of justice and rectitude.[4] An example would be the pastor who engages is a sexual relationship outside of his marriage. Moral evil presents its own problem in that the existence of a free moral agent who is able to exercise his free will in opposition to God’s moral law seems to contradict the idea that God is all-powerful.

            This thought process leads into the roles in which internal consistency and perception of God play in the solution to the problem of evil. Many atheists will use the questions that arise from the problem of evil as an argument against the existence of God. The crucial question is not whether or not a theological position contradicts another theistic system or even whether it contradicts the atheist’s views, but whether it contradicts itself.[5] If the theological system is internally consistent then it may be incorrect, but cannot be deemed invalid for inconsistency with another position. Most incorrect understandings of the problem of evil arise from a misunderstanding of the attributes of God. For instance if someone perceives that God is a puppet  master who inflicts pain and destruction on his own accord and only for his own amusement, they very well may adopt a fatalistic view of the problem of evil, not unlike that of the Romans and Greeks.

            If one does not adopt a fatalistic philosophy of the problem of evil and believes what the Bible says about God’s omniscience, omnipotence, and love; the question remains, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The answer is simple, there are no good people. Romans 6:23 teaches us that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard. This sinful nature has subjected all of us to the presence of evil within our lives. Some may object by questioning if mankind is personally responsible for the sins transmitted from Adam, but my answer is that God, in his sovereignty, has appointed Adam as our representative and Adam sinned on our behalf. The good news is that God has also appointed Christ as our representative and He has been punished on our behalf.

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[1] Elmer L. Townes, Theology for Today (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2002), 510.

[2] Ibid., 512.

[3] Noah Webster, ed., American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 facsimile ed., (Chesapeake: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967), Evil.

[4] Ibid.

[5] J.S. Feinberg, “Problem of Evil” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed.

What is the significance of Jesus' resurrection for Christians?

            Jesus’ resurrection is significant for Christians in at least three ways. First, by His resurrection Jesus has overcome death so that he might make us Share in the righteousness He won for us be his death. Through His substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus paid the price for sin; and through His bodily resurrection Jesus defeated sin and death making the imputation of His righteousness to our account possible (Romans 6:8-11). Second, Jesus’ resurrection is evidence that by God’s power we too are already now resurrected to a new life. The very fact that God has the power to take one who was once physically dead and bring them back to life is evidence that He has the power to take one who is spiritually dead and return them to a new life (Ephesians 2:5; Romans 6:8). Third, Jesus’ resurrection guarantee’s our glorious resurrection. The fact that the bible calls Jesus the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20) is indicative of the fact that there will be fruit to follow. Because we are joined with Him in death, we also will be joined with Him is resurrection (Romans 6:5).

Vision for the Savannah River Baptist Association: The ASAP Model

The below model is the collaborative "best practices" of some of the folks at the IMB. It is also the vision that God has laid on Steve Scudder, my friend and the Director of Missions for the Savannah River Baptist Association, for how our association can strengthen our individual churches by equipping their members to become missional Christians, living out the Gospel in their communities.

If we are going to be serious about fulfilling the Lord's Great Commission, we must be serious about equipping God's people to live out their witness before the world. We must unite our efforts and focus them on one goal: working together to accomplish the cause of Christ.

If you would like to contact Steve to arrange for him to discuss this vision with your congregation, Sunday School, mission, or other group, he can be contacted at the SRBA offices at (843) 726-8294 or at stevescudder@savannahriverbaptist.org.

Vision for the Savannah River Baptist Association: The ASAP Model

Meet Jeff. He’s a Jesus Follower!

This is Jeff. He is a Jesus follower. His friend Jennifer, a follower of Jesus, told Jeff about her life as a disciple of Jesus, explaining what it means to follow Jesus and how you get started as a Jesus follower. Because Jeff could see the truth of Jennifer’s words in how she lived her life and he experienced the joy she felt as a disciple, Jeff decided to follow Jesus.

Jeff is happy because he is abiding in Christ (John 15). He abides by practicing every day talking to God and studying God’s Word. When he talks to God (prays), his relationship with God grows. He seeks to BLESS people he meets daily by praying for their:

Body—prayer for their health/healing and the meeting of physical needs;
Labors—prayer for God’s help in their work, school or daily tasks;
Emotional needs—prayer for comfort, hope, joy, peace, etc.;
Social needs—prayer for healthy relationships;
Spiritual needs—prayer that they will hunger for a rich relationship with the One True God.

Jeff’s ability to abide in Christ is strengthened by studying God’s word. He reads a chapter of the Bible every day and asks four questions so he can apply its lessons to his life:

1. What did he learn about God?
2. What did he learn about himself or other people?
3. Is there an example or command to be followed?
4. Is there sin to be avoided?

As Jeff goes through his day, he is intentionally seeking two people (Matthew 28:19-20). First, he is looking for people who are not following Jesus because they have no personal relationship with him. As he meets these people, he listens carefully to their story, so he can really get to know them and understand who they are. He blesses them by praying for them in specific ways (as mentioned above) and by meeting needs as he is able. And he looks for opportunities to tell them his story about how he became a follower of Jesus and God’s story of how he sent Jesus so that we might have a rich and meaningful relationship with God. This is called evangelism.

If one of these people chooses to become a Jesus follower, then Jeff applies what the Bible teaches by discipling them. Jeff feeds them the milk of the Gospel; that is, he teaches them the foundational things people need to know to abide in Christ and follow Jesus (Hebrews 5:12).

Secondly, Jeff seeks people who have a relationship with Jesus, but not following as closely as they could. He enlists them to enter the life Jesus calls us to live. Jeff applies what the Bible teaches by discipling these believers through feeding them the solid food of the Gospel; that is, the commandments of God that calls us to abide in Christ more faithfully and to seek, disciple, and reproduce other followers of Jesus (Hebrews 5:14).

Jeff also applies what the Bible teaches by recognizing the call of the Holy Spirit in each disciple’s life and assisting in leader training (Ephesians 4:11-13). Although all Jesus followers are called to seek and disciple others, some are called to special areas. Some are called to be APEs. These are Jesus followers who operate primarily outside the community of disciples as Apostles, Prophets, or Evangelists. They actively go into their local community, state, and wider world to share the blessings (physical and relational) and hope they have received from God.

Others are called to be Physical Therapists (i.e., Preachers and Teachers). Though they recognize and obey their call to seek and disciple those who have no personal relationship with Christ, their call resides within the community of believers to disciple and coach them in abiding, seeking and applying.

All of this leads Jeff to join others in planting healthy communities where people grow in their relationship with Christ. Jesus followers reproduce healthy groups and healthy churches, communities that are active in abiding in Christ, seeking people to disciple, applying God’s teaching, and planting healthy communities.

The above process was developed by International Mission Board personnel as a response to the vision from God to the life of Jesus followers (disciples/Christians) in a part of the world where Christianity is the minority. The process is called ASAP (abiding, seeking, applying, and planting). I believe this is the Biblical model of following Christ. I believe it fits our area since evangelical Christianity is a minority (approximately 13% of our two –county area). I also believe that God is calling Savannah River Baptist Association to use this model as the foundation of God’s vision for our future.

Many people view the Association as the office where Larry Leming, Cindy Rhodes, and I (the associational staff) work. It is not.

The Savannah River Baptist Association is Baptist congregations working together with God to carry out the mission of Christ.

I submit that this statement more accurately captures the historic and current vision of SRBA than any other. The association is our churches working together cooperatively and that joint service has as its goal to equip followers of Jesus to abide in Christ, to seek people to disciple, to apply God’s Word, and to plant healthy communities where Jesus followers can reproduce this process.

The wording of this statement explains who we are and what we do:

• Baptist congregations—we are Baptists, more specifically Southern Baptists, and we seek to carry on a Biblical tradition that believes people should repent of their sin and follow Jesus as a conscious and adult choice, that all believers are priests and missionaries, and that each congregation is autonomous, but cooperates with others in fulfilling Christ’s mission.
• working together—the association is not a parachurch group, institution, or denominational entity. It is one Baptist church choosing to work with other Baptist churches to have greater impact in our community and world for the Kingdom of God.
• with God—as Henry Blackaby wrote, our task is to find where God is at work and join Him.
• to carry out the mission of Christ—it is Christ’s mission and Christ’s mission should be the sole focus of the association. It is the local church’s role to disciple Jesus followers to abide, seek, and apply. As these churches work in association with one another, then we can more effectively seek areas of our communities that are not being impacted, assist Jesus followers in applying God’s Word more broadly in the local area and around the world, and plant healthy communities that reproduce according to Christ’s plan.