The Baptists are Coming, The Baptists are Coming!

Many years ago I saw a funny movie at the height of the Communist Scare. It was called, "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!" A Russian submarine got itself stranded on a shallow beach of New England. The fear, paranoia and misunderstanding of both the Russian sailors and the American Fishermen caused a near riot along with a comedy of errors.

There are similar misunderstandings and almost paranoid fears among the media toward Baptists, especially Southern Baptists. When Rosie O'Donnell said that American Christians were every bit as dangerous as Muslim Fundamentalists she probably had Southern Baptist Fundamentalists in mind. This group has become the Bogey men that the Left Wing thinks about when they want to raise money from other fear based Liberals.

Nothing could be farther from the truth about Southern Baptists. Sure, most Baptists are Fundamentalist in the original sense of that word. They believe in the Fundamentals of the Faith like Jesus' miraculous birth, His death and Resurrection and that He will come again. But that is like saying that a pilot believes in the basic principles of flying. Left Wing Christians say they want to fly without the power of an engine or wings or flaps.

The last year I have been training Southern Baptist Pastors and Leaders. We began last fall with a group of Pastors who wanted to learn more about facilitating change in the church without destroying it. Anyone can change an organization by throwing bombs but to bring changes that build everybody up is not so easy. After six weeks of great discussions we decided to take the next steps and invite their leaders to attend sessions on, "Building Healthy Churches Through Healthy Relationships".

Steve Griebling and I have done hundreds of these workshops both here in the USA and around the world. This group of church workers is among the kindest we have ever seen. They are warm, caring and interested. They eagerly take part in the exercises and show themselves to be very quick learners.

If these are the Rosie O'Donnell nominated Fundamentalists who are more dangerous than Iranian bomb throwers they have strange ways of showing it. If Rosie attended any of our meetings she would be greeted with love and acceptance as well as a good cup of coffee. But old stereotypes die hard and the Rosie's of the world will not be dissuaded from their false impressions easily.

We can't influence everyone in the big wide world but we can influence the people around us by the love of Jesus and that is what really counts. By that standard the Southern Baptists have a growing future ahead of them.

I am convinced that the churches of Jesus Christ need to change and grow but if we focus only on the clergy things will stay the same. As I mentioned in my last post, change will require new models, new wineskins and new people in leadership. Working with the Baptist Lay and Clergy convinces me that by empowering all the church we can foster many positive changes.

In the interest of full disclosure I must admit I grew up in the Southern Baptist fold but left it in 1969 to enter The Jesus Movement and lead a House Church. It is good to be once again in fellowship with my Baptist Brothers and Sisters.