Tuesday, June 19, 2007

A Proverb for our Day

When I attended the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, my favorite professor was Dr. Joe Cothen. He was the vice-president of the school as well as a professor in pastoral studies. The first week of chapel I heard him preach on the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. I was so impressed that I took every class he taught over the next two years. I learned so much from this great man of God.

There is one proverb that Dr. Cothen taught us that I have never forgotten. It has so stuck with me that I have labored to teach it to my children as well.

“Increased resources are a detriment to a flawed character”
This proverb teaches us that flaws in our character are magnified when more resources flow into our life. Our modern day news is filled with living illustrations of the truth of this proverb. We witness the young athlete who receives a multi-million dollar contract but implodes over character issues. Some say the boxer Mike Tyson earned over 300 million dollars and today he is bankrupt and by his own admission miserable.

O.K., so I know if Ed McMahon suddenly appeared at my front door with the Prize Patrol and a big check the flaws in my character would only be magnified, but what about the spiritual issues in my life? Would the “walls” of character in my life be able to handle the increased blessing of God?

I hunger for an increase of God’s manifest presence in my life. I desire an increase of anointing in my ministry. At the same time, I also pray for strength of genuine character in order to be able to express God’s power for God’s glory in an earthen vessel.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Beware: Southern Baptists are Here!


I am in San Antonio, Texas for a few days this week, attending the Southern Baptist Convention. The above picture represents my thoughts exactly when it comes to religious conventions: KEEP BACK at least 500 feet! I have told my people many times,

“Preachers are like manure. Pile us all together in one place and we stink. However, if you spread us out we will do a good job.”

The truth is I have been a Southern Baptist my entire Christian life. As the old saying goes, “I was Baptist bred, I was Baptist fed and I will be a Baptist when I am dead!” I hold a Master’s degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I served as a trustee to the North American Mission Board and my wife was elected as a trustee to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.

I remember attending the SBC in Dallas, Texas in 1985 and suffering blisters on my feet the size of quarters in order to show up and elect Charles Stanley as President. From New Orleans to Las Vegas, there have been many memorable moments with friends at the Southern Baptist Conventions through the years as we enjoyed a conservative resurgence against the drift toward liberalism.

However, in the current environment the pendulum is swinging to the other extreme, which is legalism. There is an increasing drift towards conformity in doctrines that in the past were individual matters of conscience. Such is the way of human organizations.

When it comes to my personal confession of affiliation, I borrow a quote from one of my spiritual heroes, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I liked this quote so much that I had my wife write it in calligraphy and frame it for me. It has hung in every office of every church I have pastored.
I am not ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist;
I do not hesitate to take the name Baptist;
But, if I am asked what is my creed,
I simply reply, Jesus Christ!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

What I learned from Einstein and it is not E=mc²

When I was a young boy, I loved to read biographies of people who changed the world. I remember reading about great men like the Wright Brothers, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill. The desire to read biographies continues into my adult life. I have always looked for common characteristics among people who have achieved great things. (I do not believe there are as many as people think)

But, there is one characteristic that is obvious: Men and women who change their world are people who see things differently and are not afraid to challenge the status-quo of the majority’s mindset.

Thomas Kuhn, in his very influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, made popular the idea of a “paradigm shift.” His basic premise is that every great scientific discovery was predicated by someone who looked at the problem in a radical new way. In his words,

“. . . the successive transition from one paradigm to another via revolution is the usual developmental pattern of mature
science.” (emphasis mine)

I am currently reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography, Einstein: His Life and Universe. It is remarkable that many of Einstein’s contemporary scientists were as brilliant as he, and some of them were very close to the discovery of relativity. But the question remains, what is the difference that enabled Einstein to make this discovery, that some called the greatest scientific discovery of all time, while his contemporaries were not? Henri Poincaré, the French mathematician, was one of his contemporaries who was the closest to making the discovery. Isaackson gives us the answer as he quotes Freeman Dyson,

The essential difference between Poncaré and Einstein was that Poincaré was by temperament conservative and Einstein was by temperament revolutionary. When Poincaré looked for a new theory . . . he tried to preserve as much as he could of the old. Einstein, on the other hand, saw the old framework as cumbersome and unnecessary and was delighted to be rid of it. (emphasis mine)

Christians do not exactly have the best record when it comes to receiving new scientific discoveries. Does this sound familiar; “What? The Earth is round! Hogwash! After all the Bible says, “He will gather the elect from the four corners of the earth.” We also do not have a very good record of experiencing new movements of God. Does this sound familiar; “We have never done it like that before.”

So what is the moral for spiritual revolutionaries in all of this? First, don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Second, don’t be afraid of a leader who challenges your traditional mindset of how we can do ministry. And finally, number three, always remember E=mc².