A Story of a Spiritual Awakening
I spent nearly my entire adult life (since 1983) going to and
becoming a member of several Southern Baptist churches. For a
while, I had no interest in theology nor the biblical history; but I
did have an interest in songs, sermons, and by-laws lining up with
Scripture.
In June of 1994, I went through a personal awakening/reformation
that left me hungry for the Word and obedience in my life (I have
recently concluded this even was actually my conversion, or new
birth as a Christian -leading
me to submit to baptism AFTER salvation), and I began
learning much and enjoying fellowship with the saints all the
more. In time, I began teaching and exhorting men to read and
obey the Bible, to lead their families, to test what they read and
heard in light of Scripture.
Not long after a career bump caused us to move to Houston, our
new "home town" was swept up with Rick Warren's "40
Days of Purpose" campaign (see here,
and here
for examples and information on this madness). I had no idea
who this man was, at the time, but had concluded that Truth doesn't
mix with the New York Times Best Seller list - that being a
reflection of the values of the world, which is at enmity towards
God. At a local multi-church men's ministry meeting, a man was
far too excited about The Purpose Driven Life and all things
Rick Warren. He was astounded that I hadn't read "the
book" and shoved a copy into my hands. I was grieved as I
read this wretched
book and recognized much of Warren's methods as those of my
church.
This awakening - to the cancer of Robert Schuller and Charles
Finney that was invading myriad churches and to my own personal lack
of care in discerning truth and error - led me to read the Bible
more and seek out teachers and more mature men to learn from.
I know my own personal vulnerability to being led astray, and began
to test everything I read and heard and thought to see if it lined
up with the Word of God. One Sunday School teacher in my
church was a solid reformed theologian and was foundational in
helping me see the Truth in what is commonly called Calvinism.
Another dear brother was very learned in reformed theology and
patient to explain doctrine and how to discriminate between critical
and non-essential doctrines. It dawned on me that all those
SBC churches we had belonged to had taught a semi-Arminien
dispensationalist theology - without ever telling us that's what
they were doing.
I began asking my pastors about some of our teaching and methods,
pointing out where I thought they were at adds with Scripture and
asking to be corrected from Scripture if I was considered
wrong. Not once was I corrected from Scripture, while on more
than one occasion a pastor applied a passage completely out of
context in rebutting my position. One pastor (who personally
knows Rick Warren well), in defending The Purpose Driven Life,
told me that it was "sloppy" because he (Warren) had been
teaching this for 20 years; he recommended Warren's The Purpose
Driven Church as "much more tightly written". It
was not lost on me that The Purpose Driven Life had been in
print for several years and passed 23 million copies - and that the
publishing industry does not tolerate sloppiness. Nor was it
lost on me that this pastor used "sloppy" and
"tight" rather than "correct" and
"false" or other more meaningful terms.
After a few months of wondering, I discovered that a friend had a
copy of The Purpose Driven Church and I borrowed it to see if
was "tight". sigh. I
found less to recommend than in the "sloppy" book.
This led to continued testing on my part of all that my church
did, resulting in several meetings with the pastors - none of which
resolved a thing. (During this time, I visited another church,
having previously traded some email with a man who had moved on to
start and serve as an elder in this other church. I told my
wife that I knew where we would go when it came time to leave our
then-current church. More on this, later.) After much
prayer and discussion with my wife and a few trusted men, I
requested a meeting with the elder board to discuss my concern that
the church was more worldly than biblical in its organization and
operation. My
purpose was to try and paint a verbal picture of this, and avoid
getting into a point-by-point discussion of the examples used.
And since I was "accusing and elder", I had two trusted
brothers accompany me.
During this March 2008 meeting, there was shock and denial that
the church had much - if any - worldly influence within her and
there was SHOCK that I was not inviting people to visit the church
until the concerns explained in the letter I would leave with them
were addressed. After a 3 hour conversation, I left each of
them a copy of this
letter and asked them to let me know if there was any agreement
with the overall charge of worldliness in the church - and if so,
what was their response; and to please let me know how they held one
another accountable in their respective offices as staff functional
elders.
After a month with no response, I sent an email to the elder
board asking for answers to those two questions. I was
approached the next day by one of the pastors who asked me to meet
with him and one other pastor to discuss my email. During this
short meeting, I was told they had no idea I was expecting any
feedback and they also had no idea why I would involve the non-staff
elders (approximately half the elders were
"laymen"). These two basically told me they were
satisfied with how things were going and that was that.
Not to be difficult, but I was not satisfied - and my wife was
tired of hearing from me about this. On 21 July, 2008 I sent a
short email to the elders, asking 6 short questions. On 28
July, I received a two
page response that struck me as obtuse. So on 16
August I asked for clarification. None was
forthcoming.
So I waited, watched, and listened. I asked my wife and
those few friends to test me to see if I was in error or prideful
(both have been the case, at times). By early December, two
things were apparent: a.) nothing of substance within the church was
changing, and b.) my attitude toward the elders was
deteriorating - this was bad for my soul. I concluded
that I could not remain there as a member any longer, so I gave the
"senior pastor" a
note of resignation.
And my wife and I began our joyful association with Grace
Family Baptist Church. While the preaching at GfBC does
not always please my flesh, it consistantly nourishes my soul - and
more importantly - honors and glorifies the Lord Jesus. Never
have I been in a church that is as deliberate in all that she does
and the manner in which she does them - that all be for the glory of
God. And for the first time in my life, the elders remind us
from time to time that they hold to reformed (Calvinist) theology -
there's no need to guess where they're coming from. And since
the guiding principle is to glorify God, I joyfully submit to these
elders even when I do not (yet) agree with them, not having
discovered anything in which they veer from the
Scriptures.
God is good, His Word is
True, the biblical Jesus is the Christ, and His church will endure!
In His grip of grace,
Stuart L. Brogden
