David Hansen writes a wonderful, poignant, real-world account of how four high school boys wearing baseball caps to worship became an issue that, as he puts it, “decapitated Mount Saint Helen’s,” and put his church and ministry through a season of pain, learning, and eventually, growth.

Almost every young preacher I know wants to start a new church. It may be the church growth emphasis at denominational headquarters. It may be a desire to reach postmoderns. Or it may be a desire to skip all painful garbage Hansen describes in his story. There are a lot of reasons I like new church plants, and this is near the top: No one is ready to blow up the church over baseball caps just yet.
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UPDATE: I have revised and updated several parts of this essay, to make a few things more clear….and probably less palatable.

Russell Moore, Southern Baptist scholar and writer at Touchstone’s Mere Comments blog, dashed off this line a few days ago:

The stakes have been raised in the last twenty-four hours as the SBC’s most prominent theologian, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., has joined the fray.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the changes in the Southern Baptist Convention during my lifetime, and it should generate some blog posts. Here’s the question: What is the impact of the growing numbers of influential “theologians” now attempting to shape the direction of the SBC?
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One of my life-long loves is astronomy. I’ve owned some very nice telescopes, and I’ve spent many a clear, cold winter night out on someone’s farm, looking at the glories of the heavens. Since I was a child of the golden age of the space program, my interest in astronomy and NASA made me a big fan of the Hubble Space Telescope. My students are quite used to me refering to my favorite Hubble photographs, and getting a bit glassy-eyed about the vast universe that Hubble brings into view through its photos. The beauty of the Hubble photos continues to be a delight for me, and I can never get enough of those that show dozens of galaxies filling a photo the size of a postcard. It’s quite astonishing.

When I look at Hubble’s pictures, I get some idea- a very paltry one- of the vastness and greatness of the universe. The miniscule fact of all earthly concerns fills my mind. I realize that I am far less than dust. There is really no calculation as to how small I am, and how insignificant I am, in such a vast and majestic universe as we glimpse through Hubble’s mirror. What we can see is awe-inspiring, but it is less than a sliver- less than a grain of dust- of what we cannot see.
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Over the past few weeks, I have passed on blogging responses to dozens and dozens of posts around the net, because I didn’t want [name deleted] up on it again, and I didn’t want to put up with the weirdness that has become the reaction to the BHT in certain insulated circles.

But there is no nicer guy on the net than Tim Challies, so I am going to venture a few comments on a current post on his blog. I feel stupid saying this, but I am not attacking Tim. I am not throwing a tirade. I am not losing it. I am not embracing postmodernism. I am not attacking Calvinism. I am not itching for a fight with [name deleted.] Fill in the blanks as needed.

Tim is writing about Postmodern Moral Authority. It’s a well written piece, and there is much to agree with, particularly on how anyone who believes in the God of Jesus feels when they walk through the world. I am always affected by those passages where Jesus looks at the world and feels compassion. His tears over Jerusalem tell us everything of how we should view our world. As I stand in front of my students, I pray God will always give me the heart of Jesus, because I feel the tragedy of moral chaos that is all around me, and I see it in the faces and lives of students that I love.
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1) I’ve read two introductions to Postmodernism, and both have convinced me that the term has at least four distinct applications that are quite varied.

2) Postmodernism is not a coherent “school” of philosophy, but a description of methods, authors, points of view, types of analysis, questions, reactions….iows a whole potpourri of items gathered around a term.
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Update 6/10/05: Those reading this essay and disagreeing with me might want to check out two other iMonk pieces: When I am Weak and Our Problem With Grace. Both cover my views on sin in the life of the Christian and the Grace that brings assurance in Jesus.

I’ve been thinking about the subject of the Christian’s assurance of salvation. To put my cards on the table, I don’t struggle with assurance of salvation personally at all. I’m far more inclined toward the “wider mercy” view of God’s love than I am toward any apprehensions about whether I am among the elect. My struggles are over entirely different subjects: Does God exist? How can I face death without losing my sanity? Check in with me on those topics and I’ll buy your joe.
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Steve, a reader of the previous essay on this site, writes in the comment threads:

This is something I’ve thought alot about, and haven’t come to a conclusion. Maybe you guys have some thoughts.

-Is Jesus truly the point? Without wanting to blaspheme, I sometimes wonder if by sticking on Jesus we miss other attributes of God such as wrath and sovereignty seen in the OT.

-If all we need to know comes from the life and example of Jesus, why do we have 2/3 of the NT? For that matter, why do things like theology exist?
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Update: Those of you who like this post would probably enjoy reading four previous IM essays, all hopefully helpful on this topic.

A Conversation In God’s Kitchen: Thoughts About The Bible
On Christless Preaching
A Simple Statement on the Inspiration of the Bible
Magic Books, Grocery Lists and Silent Messiahs

While discussing the doctrine of election the other day, I asked BHT fellow Bill a version of the following question: “If you were able to follow Jesus for the three years (or whatever) of his ministry, life, death and resurrection, do you believe you would conclude that Jesus believed the same version of the doctrine of election as you do today?”
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