Communication Changes
November 30, 2009
In the near future, we will be retooling my website to make it more useful as a leadership resource. We have several ideas for improvement but we would also like to hear from you. If you have specific changes, additions, or ideas to suggest – please email them to me at jeffiorg@ggbts.edu as soon as possible.
We are also working on improving our use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. These are good communication tools but they require regular maintenance (something challenging for an old guy like me!). More than just being “out there,” we want to communicate with a purpose. If you have suggestions about using these tools, let me know.
We are interested in moving to more video and audio driven communication methods. For example, we currently send a short briefing to Western leaders every other week. We do this by email, but may soon be able to do it by video or audio file. We are also looking into ways to expand this network.
Even though we are constantly working to communicate our message, many people still say to me about Golden Gate, “I just don’t hear that much about you.” We are currently working on a new marketing strategy for the Seminary, broader than just my website, to include all aspects of getting our message to more and more people. If you have suggestions about that process, send them to me as well.
We hope to roll out the changes to my website soon. The Seminary marketing plan will take longer but you will start to see some changes next year, with continued emphasis on implementing this plan over the next two or three years. We want to communicate as effectively as possible. You can help us with your feedback and suggestions.
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Conspiracy Theorists Unite!
November 23, 2009
Forget how many shooters were at the Kennedy assassination and the government’s supposed cover-up of alien visitations, conspiracy theorists should unite and discover the answer to the most puzzling disappearance of this generation: What happened to Thanksgiving?
Halloween happened…and then Christmas decorations appeared everywhere. It’s a full week before Thanksgiving and hotels, malls, and stores are fully decorated and ready for the Yule season. Forget “Black Friday” as the opening day to the shopping season. Christmas sales are already in full swing. What happened to fall colors, cornucopia displays, pumpkins and turkeys? How will children learn to be real artists without making a turkey out of their hand tracing? What will decorate refrigerators across our great country without the Mayflower outlined in macaroni pieces glued to paper plates?
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday for several reasons. First, it’s the least commercialized holiday. Second, (speaking as a former pastor) it’s usually the least stressful holiday on the church’s (therefore, the pastor’s) schedule. Third, it’s a family gathering without the pressure of gift giving. Finally, it’s a fall holiday – so football televised all day!
Thanksgiving is also my favorite holiday because it focuses our attention on gratitude for God’s blessings. I wonder if this isn’t the reason Thanksgiving is losing favor. As a nation, we continue to drift further and further from a sense of God’s providence and protection. Skipping Thanksgiving is a symptom of this shift. We would rather celebrate material excess at Christmas than express simple gratitude at Thanksgiving. That’s a sad lose for our culture.
We will still celebrate Thanksgiving at our house this week. We won’t put the Christmas decorations up until next week. We will celebrate this week by our family getting together, sharing a meal, including some students who can’t be with their own families, and taking a few minutes to express our thanks to God for his blessings.
Christmas can wait! Thanksgiving still happens at our house. I hope it’s the same for you.
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The Confused Presbytery
November 16, 2009
Last week, the San Francisco Presbytery voted to endorse the first ordination of a lesbian woman to pastoral ministry in their region. The news report indicated a lengthy, contentious meeting preceded the close vote. It probably was a tough meeting. It should have been when allegiance to Scripture was being jettisoned. That is a momentous decision!
News accounts reported the vote was on the ordination of a lesbian woman. But that was only the presenting issue. The more significant issue was deciding if church practice will be determined by Scripture (as ultimate authority) or by modern convention. In this case, Scripture lost.
Some would say, “No, the Bible didn’t lose. Only your narrow interpretation of it lost.” That’s ignoring the obvious. The Bible has one clear message throughout about homosexuality. Reading it any other way is chasing fantasies. The message is simple: homosexual behavior is a sinful choice that must be resisted and overcome. To counter this, some say, “But homosexuals are genetically born that way. They can’t help it. Just like their race, their sexual choices are predetermined.” Therefore, the Bible is wrong and our modern perspective trumps thousands of years of revealed instruction.
It is hard to believe any rational person agrees with that logic. Just suppose for a moment that sexual practices are genetically predetermined. Why stop with homosexuality? What if a serial adulterer tells his wife, “I can’t help myself. I was born with a strong sex drive that requires multiple partners.” Any person with a moral compass would say, “Hogwash. Man, control yourself!!
The Bible’s message about all sexual behavior is “control yourself.” All of us have some kind of temptations, desires, fantasies, and urges contrary to God’s plan. All of us are responsible to resist those temptations and express our sexuality appropriately. Those of us people trust with ministerial leadership carry an extra burden on this issue. We are responsible to be role models for God’s best – not mankind’s worst.
I am sad for the Presbyterians. They were once a denomination solidly committed to the Bible as the Word of God. Many of them still are, as well as many of their churches. But this vote is an indication another major, mainline denomination is moving away from determining its policies and practices based on the Bible. My hope is they will turn around before it is too late.
As Southern Baptists, we often struggle with each other to discover the best interpretation of the Bible. But we are unified on the high place of Scripture in our lives – individually and collectively. May God give us grace to continue on this path while so many drift aimlessly in other directions.
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