At the “Building Bridges” conference on Southern Baptists and Calvinism, I saw an SBC answering the call to a “Great Commission Resurgence” that is inclusive of Calvinists.  By Tuesday night and Monday morning, I felt like I was with George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards in the great awakening (minus the barking), as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Aiken and Tom Ascol and team issued powerful urgings for preaching the glory of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things.  In almost every message there was a mighty appeal for inerrancy, sufficiency of scripture, a regenerate church, the exclusivity of the gospel, the preaching of the cross the blood and justification and the sinfulness and lostness of humanity and salvation by Christ, faith and grace alone. It was good for my soul for encouragement, correction and equipping.

 

We’re here in the mountains near Asheville, NC at the Ridgecrest conference center with hundreds of Southern Baptists of different positions regarding Calvinism to engage in dialog and find common ground. 

My son, sixteen year old David Brown and fifteen year old Taylor Tsantles have been taking pictures and notes on the conference and have posted their observations on Taylor's blog

www.ironforgeblog.blogspot.com

Following is their first blog post on the conference:

Here were some of our favorite lines of the first day of the conference,

David Dockery said, “The tulip is the flower of the Calvinist, and the Daisy is the flower of the Arminian, “He loves me, He loves me not, He loves me, He loves me not...”

And, James Merrit who said that on the  way in he asked a young man, “How did you become a five point Calvinist,? he replied, “I had no choice.”

Spurgeon said something like, “God must have chosen me before I was born, he would never have chosen me after I was born.”

Merritt said, “we may be wrong, but we are never in doubt.”

The conference began this afternoon with Ed Stetzer bringing out helpful statistics about trends indicating a return of southern Baptists’ toward reformed theology and Calvinism. He stated;

“Calvinism is a growing influence in the SBC...”

He also gave many statistics that showed that the percentage rate of Calvinists’ sharing the Gospel was slightly higher than Armenians. The statistics came very close for baptismal rates in churches, conversions, etc. They all followed very closely to each other. His concluding point was that whether you look at it from the Calvinist side or the Arminian, we are not sharing the Gospel enough. The statistics show very clearly that one is not doing better than the other. Here is a final quote by Ed Stetzer in regards to this subject:

“Regardless of the numbers, none of these statistics should make us happy.”

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Soon following Ed Stetzer, Tom Nettles gave an historical sketch of what the Baptist Calvinist believes and how it is applied in his life. He presented eight points including belief in inherency of Scripture, the propagating of the Gospel to foreign lands and many others. His goal was to open our eyes to see that originally, Southern Baptists not only believed the five points of Calvinism, and was also applying them in the practical areas of his life.

Next, James Merritt spoke on the subject of election and calling. He spoke about the “pearl of predestination”, the “emerald of election”, the “ruby of redemption”, and the “gold of grace”.

At the end of Monday night, Dr. Al Mohler spoke on the urgency of communicating the Gospel to the world, using Romans 10 to explain the nearness of God’s Word and our responsibility to open our mouths so others could hear. He said,

“We’re not here for a disputation, but we hope for a contagion that breaks out and leads to evangelism.”

He spoke of the balance between those who avoid doctrinal discussion and those who are always engaged in it and lacking in their duty to God by sharing the Gospel. He wrapped up the night with an incredible statement that captured the content of his message. He encouraged us to be like Whitefield who preached alongside John Wesley... and when you get him in the boat, talk doctrine and get him straightened out... on the way to preach. Then he said, Let’s make sure that you are not staying on the boat talking doctrine, when you need to be off the boat preaching the Gospel together.