On Sunday, October 20th, we celebrated the miraculous work of the Lord at a Baptism Service at Redeemer. These services are a sweet reminder of what the Lord has done in the life of each follower of Jesus. The testimony below is from Nathaniel Smith.
BAPTISM TESTIMONY | GABRIEL SMITH
BAPTISM TESTIMONY | CAILEIGH GASSER
BAPTISM TESTIMONY | CARTER GASSER
BAPTISM TESTIMONY | EMMA KATE ADAMS
A HISTORY OF BAPTIST COOPERATION
Local autonomy has always been part of Baptist history, but so has cooperation. Throughout our history, local Baptist churches have been the ultimate authority for their own congregation. Baptist churches hire their own pastors. Baptist churches install their own Elders and Deacons. Baptist churches develop and approve their own budgets including making decisions about missions giving. However, we also have a history of cooperation with other churches. Typical Southern Baptist churches cooperate through local county associations, state conventions, and the national Southern Baptist Convention. These contemporary efforts are grounded in a history of cooperation found in the earliest Baptist churches. I have recently published a book about an early Baptist named Thomas Patient (HERE) who both planted the first Irish Baptist churches but also cooperated with other like-minded Baptist churches.
SOUL COMPETENCY OR REGENERATE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP?
Baptists have long asked the question, “what does it mean to be a Baptist?” E. Y. Mullins was the president of The Southern Baptist Seminary and argued that soul competency was Baptists’ “mother principle.”[1] Other ideas about religious liberty and oppositions to confessions of faith spring from the Mullins’ teachings on soul competency. However, the father of the Irish Baptist movement would disagree with Mullins’ conclusions. Thomas Patient planted the first Baptist churches in Ireland and did so for different reasons than soul competency. The doctrine that led to Patient establishing those first Irish Baptist churches helps Baptists understand what it really means to be a Baptist.
THE IRISH AND BAPTIST IDENTITY
The Irish Baptists inform our understanding of what it means to be Baptists because they have an undisputed beginning. I recently wrote a biography of Thomas Patient who planted for the first Irish Baptist churches (HERE). One of the challenges for Baptists is to pinpoint our beginning. Baptist historians have struggled to identify when and where the movement actually began. Some have tried to link a trail throughout church history from the time of Christ into the English Reformation. Others have claimed it began on the European continent with close links to the Anabaptist tradition. Still others argue the Baptist movement comes directly out of the English Reformation. Beginnings are significant because they inform identity. For example, if our beginnings are closely linked to the Anabaptist tradition then Anabaptist doctrines should help us understand what it means to be a Baptist today. However, the Irish Baptist movement is uniquely helpful because their beginning is undisputed. Their undisputed beginning informs their identity which then informs the broader Baptist identity.
IRISH LESSONS FOR CHURCH PLANTERS
Tucked away in the religious history of Ireland is a profound lesson for church planters. I recently wrote a biography of Thomas Patient who planted for the first Irish Baptist churches (HERE). Guys who plant churches breathe the Great Commission, “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” (Matthew 28:19-20). The history of the Irish Baptists teaches us the virtue of planting churches committed to regenerate church membership. The original Irish Baptist churches were started because of the doctrine of believers’ baptism and thus regenerate church membership. Those churches were planted in the 1650’s and remain faithful gospel witnesses today.
THE VIRTUE OF READING ORDINARY CHRISTIANS
Reading about the lives of ordinary Christians gives hope for how to have an impact on our generation. Many read about the luminaries, but there is a virtue to reading about ordinary Christians in the past. Reflecting on the history of ordinary Christians helps preserve our faith, deepen our theology, deeper our understanding of contemporary culture, and is fun. Yes, fun can be a virtue. Yes, history can be fun.
BAPTISM TESTIMONY | JIM SPOONTS
BAPTISM TESTIMONY | PIPER TAYLOR
LIFE-GIVING LITURGY
LETTER FROM REECE BISHOP
THOUGHTS ON THE SBC SCANDAL
This weekend Revelation 20:11-15 came to mind when I read the “Abuse of Faith” (HERE) article in the Houston Chronicle. The passage speaks of a coming day of the Lord where “Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:13). There are a lot of Southern Baptist (SBC) congregants who have not experienced justice in this world, but a day is coming…
THANKFUL FOR R.C. SPROUL
TRUST THROUGH TRIALS
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Pastor Pomeroy preached from this verse on Sunday, October 29th, the weekend before the shooting at his church in Sutherland Springs, TX. The shooting at the First Baptist Church last Sunday, November 5th was the worst church shooting in our nation’s history. Last Sunday a troubled atheist killed 26 Christians as they worshipped. How should we respond to this tragedy?
INCARNATE YOURSELF
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
Jesus incarnated himself into a human! The divine became human! But, Jesus did NOT change his divinity. Jesus did not become less God. The essence of his being remained divine. When this verse says he “became flesh” it doesn’t mean he changed from being God. Jesus has always been and will always be God.
SOLA CHRISTUS
Existentialism is a failure! It is absurd to believe that life has no meaning except what we give it. If we chase the belief that everything is meaningless then we are left with our own futility. The great test of this truth is when we assume something will lead us to joy, yet it leaves us lacking. The gospel teaches us that salvation is not found through looking within, but looking outside of ourselves. We need something outside of ourselves to guide us to joy. We need a Word from God. We need Sola Scriptura.
MEANING OF HURRICANE HARVEY
“Wait, what?! Did he just say Houston could receive over 50 inches of rain?!” I don’t remember where I was when I heard that a hurricane was headed toward the Texas coast, but I do remember stopping in my tracks at the news report that Houston could receive over 50 inches of rain. I was born in Houston and lived there for 5 years prior to moving to Denton. If you have lived in Houston then you know the city is flat and right at sea level, thus a heavy rain can cause flash floods.