Over the years, we have learned a few things about research in SBC life. Research tends to get people in our denomination excited. Many people quote it, most like it, and some despise it. People will quote and misquote statistics regularly to prove or disprove whatever matters to them. Simply put, we are an enthusiastic, passionate, and often imprecise people when it comes to church research.

As such, when we do research, it gets a lot of debate and discussion. We do not mind at all--and sometimes we read a comment and think, "Good point!" or "We should have thought of that." As such, we very infrequently respond to inappropriate uses or criticisms of our research.

However, I do see a pattern developing. It appears that when one of the faculty members at one of our seminaries disagrees with the results of our research, they write a rebuttal or a criticism. We actually don't mind a (good) rebuttal and questioning the wording of questions is normal and expected. However, it does seem that some of the faculty at Southwestern are making a habit of taking time away from their important tasks to critique our research. I thought it would be wise for me to take this opportunity to respond in what I hope is a gracious way.

Actually, our team debated whether to respond (and have not in the past). Since few people have read or commented on the critique, it is regrettable to bring attention to it. However, since these critiques seem to be a recurring (and public) pattern, it seems best to address it publicly.

On to the specifics...

Dr. David L. Allen of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary recently released a white paper entitled, "Calvinism: A Review" at baptisttheology.org. In his white paper, Allen reviews the book, Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue of which I contributed the chapter, "Calvinism, Evangelism, and SBC Leadership." In my chapter, I present results from two recently collected data sources, the North American Mission Board's 2007 New Minister's Study and LifeWay Research's 2006 Calvinism Study.

In his review of the book, Allen presents a critical review of the data analysis done by the North American Mission Board and LifeWay Research. He raises a number of "weaknesses" surrounding the study. Actually, such comments are fine--no study is perfect and this study representing the NAMB and LifeWay surveys is far from flawless due to several factors I will list below. There are weaknesses to this study as in every study. And, we don't mind a good debate on the issues at hand.

However, this is the best, current study on the topic of Calvinism trends in the Southern Baptist Convention. Moreover, the data analysis is sound and accurate. And, in light of the pattern of such critiques coming from the same sister entity, my colleagues and I decided to respond.

The following response to Allen's review will take each of Dr. Allen's points one by one, providing further evidence and clarity for each issue raised by Allen.

We just released some new research on the beliefs of Southern Baptist pastors. Here are some excerpts from the story you can find here:

Did I call the Founders Conference attendees "functional hyper-Calvinists?"

Well, some comments have sprung up on the blogs about my message at the Founders Conference. Today, the news story was published covering my second message.

Here are some of the notes from my first message-- which I may not have said exactly as I wrote in these notes. But, these "talking points" may give a feel for what I said. (Some of it, particuarly the section on pragmatism, were hand written and then I added them here.)

Best case, listen to my messages and the other messages here.

I was impressed with these men and their passion for the gospel. I am encouraged to hear their desire to get more involved in evangelism and church planting. Though we would not do everything the same, I was grateful that they invited me. And, I was glad I went.

And, don't be a functional hyper-Calvinist. ;-)
_____________________________________________

My first message:

I want to be upfront with you that I come with a bias-- many of my Southern Baptist Reformed friends are not well represented in church planting and evangelism...

That is not the case with all of the Reformed community.

I have had the privilege of speaking at 4 of the 5 top multiplying churches in America (based on a study I did for Leadership Network and published in Outreach Magazine). Interestingly, 4 of the 5 are Reformed.

1. Redeemer Presbyterian
2. Mars Hill Church
3. NorthWood Church
4. Perimeter Church
5. Spanish River Church...

And, let me add that in my recent book, Comeback Churches, filled with statistics that drive some of you crazy, we studied 324 churches that had "comeback" after a significant period of decline. One of those churches was Grace Baptist, pastored by Tom Ascol, President of Founders Ministries...

But, I think that much of the SBC Reformed community is under-involved in these areas. Which, to be fair, is why your focus in this meeting is church planting and revitalization... a good and important theme.

Now that I have probably offended some of you, I want to start with a few quotes:

"As our blessed Lord has required us to pray that his kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it becomes us not only to express our desires of that event by words, but to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his name."

This "whatever it takes" approach came from William Carey in An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.

I believe that many in the Reformed community need to start using "means" to more faithfully do evangelism and start churches.

Charles Spurgeon also has a warning to some of his brothers who lacked passion for evangelism:

"...they maintain their churches by converts from other systems. I have even heard them say, 'Oh, yes, the Methodists and Revivalists are beating the hedges, but we shall catch many of the birds.' If I harboured such a mean thought I would be ashamed to express it. A system which cannot touch the outside world, but must leave arousing and converting work to others, whom it judges to be unsound, writes its own condemnation." --Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: Complete & Unabridged, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, page 243, Zondervan, 1979.

Let's open up to Luke 24:46-49

Luke 24:46-49 (HCSB) 46 He also said to them, "This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, 47 and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high."

1. The Gospel and the Mission

46 He also said to them, "This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, 47 and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed"

Jesus is clearly presenting the focus-- the gospel. Church planting is a tool, the gospel is the goal.

We must remember that the gospel is on a mission. I was going to call it "a missional gospel," but I don't think the gospel needs modifiers. Prosperity gospel, social gospel, they all have one thing in common - when you have to modify the "gospel" with an adjective you end up with a false gospel.

Jesus describes the gospel similar to that of Paul's description:

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you--unless you believed to no purpose. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

But, Jesus also added the idea of propagating the gospel. Jesus gives the same, "suffer and rise from the dead," formulation from 1 Corinthians, but then adds "and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed."

Jesus is on a mission and wants us to join that mission.

John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

Fundamental to the nature of the gospel is the proclamation of the gospel.

We need to be in the world to tell the world about Jesus. We hear much from our Reformed brothers about holiness... but I warn you: holiness is separation from sin and not separation from sinners.

We need to be known for being passionate evangelists.

Let me encourage you as friends here:

Don't make heroes of pastors who are great preachers and theologians, but whose churches are not evangelistic. They are talking about the gospel without living it out.

What we celebrate we become. And if we celebrate those with strong theology but week witness, that is exactly what we will become.

Churches with strong theology but little mission are like a bodybuilder with huge theological arms, but tiny, spindly missional legs. Don't make that exciting. Don't celebrate that.

I know that claims of "hyper-Calvinism" are a straw man. I know no hyper-Calvinist in my denomination. If I did, their church should discipline them and the denomination should dis-fellowship them. But, I know that Bill Ascol cautions his church here to not be "functional hyper-Calvinists."

Watching out for functional hyper-Calvinism is a good caution for all of us.

I know many who are "functionally hypercalvinist," Reformed and not-Reformed.

But, here is the important thing: Hyper-Calvinist or functional hypercalvinist, the result is the same: God is not honored and given the glory he is due.

2. A Gospel for the Nations

Jesus said the gospel (v. 47) "would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

It is both a Global Mission and a mission whose applications in some ways determined by the people we have been called to reach.

The "nations" come up here and in Matthew 28.

What does it mean?

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Panta ta ethne.

Now, not everyone thinks that the "nations" refers to different kinds of people as I do. But, most misisologists and many theologians do.

We need a passion for God's global mission among the nations.

I work for the IMB and we need you involved in reaching the nations: the Pokot, the Quechua, and the Iban. We need you to "Let the Nations Be Glad."

Working in "peoples-focused" ministry leads to some important "means":

• The how of ministry is in some ways determined by the who, when, and where of culture. Yes, churches have "marks," but it seems that some churches are all marks and no mission. Mission leads to churches and expressions that look different. A biblically faithful church should look different in New York, Singapore, and Owasso.
• Older Western expressions are not necessarily more holy expressions. The gospel must be understood and expressed in each cultural context. God and the gospel do not need to be "made relevant," they already are. But, that does not mean we are. (And, I should add, neither are younger expressions.)
• Church plants need to be seeker-comprehensible. And, I use the seeker language on purpose to rile you up. But, if you are going to get into church planting you will need to use language that the unchurched can understand. Planting is not the same as pastoring an existing, particularly a theologically driven existing, congregation.
• What you call respectful, sober, and worshipful, is often based more on your culture than the scriptures.

3. A Clear Obligation to Witness

vs. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

Jesus calls us to be witness of that message. That's good and we all agree with that. We all talk about it. But, it seems to me that many don't do it.

The "in-thing" right now in the reformed community seems to be to write books on evangelism. I think that is good in some ways, but bad in others. It is good because it is an acknowledgment that the movement desperately needs to grow in that area. It is bad because it might be similar to me writing a book on weight loss.

Maybe it would be better to listen to those who are already adept at evangelism rather than find it necessary to write a new version to correct theirs.

If you want to overcome the negative perception of Calvinists, Calvinists must be known as evangelists.

Nobody was upset at D. James Kennedy for being a Calvinist. He was known as an evangelist.

We must evangelize and plant the gospel to start a church.

I believe that church planting is the most important form of evangelism because it ties the church to the mission.

Let me share a few thoughts related to evangelism that leads to church planting:

• Begin by understanding the gospel and clearly articulate what God has called you to do.
• Exegete the context. (Statements like "contextualization was an anathema to the apostles," are exceedingly unhelpful.) Most SBC churches do not need more reasons to not engage the culture. If the 50's came back, most Southern Baptist churches would be ready to go - but if we believe this gospel is true, we need to live it out and evidence it here, now, today in a way that people look in and see the kingdom of God evidenced.
• Reach out and evangelize (This is a challenge for people who think, "If I just preach the word, my church will grow.).

Door to door

Community events

Bridge events

Too many think if they just tell someone the gospel, they are faithful... they say, "I don't need to learn how, the power is all in the gospel." Then why did Jesus approach the woman at the well differently than Nicodemus. Why did Paul preach differently at the Aeropogus, Lystra, and Psidian Antioch?

• Start groups
• Begin worship (launch the church)
• Disciple the people (they are not a church until they covenant with each other).
• Covenant together
• Plant new churches

My desire is that churches will be: Biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter culture communities for the Gospel and the Kingdom.

4. A Spirit Empowered Mission

49 And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.

Jesus indicated that such a focus will require waiting for the Holy Spirit.

I am pragmatic. Let me get it out there since I know it will bother some. It seems like pragmatism has already been whacked at a few times here.

You see, I am a missiologist and I ask, "How has God worked and what can we learn about how he is working today?"

People often beat on pragmatism like a low hanging pinata on cinco de mayo, but the dictionary defines pragmatic as, "Dealing or concerned with facts or actual occurrences; practical." Not sure who would be opposed to that, but I am sure there are some.

But, I looked up the antonyms since so many people don't want to be pragmatists. They are: idealistic, impractical, unrealistic, unreasonable

I also want to be anti-pragmatic. I believe this is Holy Spirit work that genuinely is, "idealistic, impractical, unrealistic, and unreasonable."

We need the supernatural non-pragmatic work of the Holy Spirit to work in our prayed over and thought out plans.

Remember William Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians
to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens:

As our blessed Lord has required us to pray that his kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it becomes us not only to express our desires of that event by words, but to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his name.

We need to learn how God has already worked to create a biblically driven and contextually appropriate (pragmatic) strategy. We also need to believe Him to work in supernatural ways as we trust Him and are obedient to his commands.

Conclusion:

You have great influence at Founders. And, I am hopeful and encouraged that you want to use that influence to focus on evangelism and church planting that reaches lost people.

_____________________________________________

And here are some of the news excerpts from my second message:

The overwhelming assumption of the New Testament is that local churches will plant other churches, Ed Stetzer said June 26 in the keynote address at the 26th annual Southern Baptist Founders Conference...

Stetzer challenged pastors to avoid leading local congregations that are theologically sound but inwardly focused (a "cul-de-sac church") and encouraged them to wed orthodox theology with church planting.

"What was normal in the New Testament has become abnormal today," Stetzer said of church planting. "The New Testament church was always multiplying and the church today must always be multiplying. Mission is to be wrapped together with good theology.... God is a sending God."

Preaching from Luke 10:1-12, Stetzer gave six principles that undergird church planting:

-- Prayer is essential to successful church plants. The proper place to begin a church plant is on one's knees, Stetzer said, but many church planters have a tendency to shirk the duties of prayer because they are self-starters. When a person begins to pray for the place where he is going to plant a church, God will break his heart for that place, he said. A church planter must go where he has a deep love and concern for the people and not where the latest demographics predict a favorable outcome, Stetzer said.

-- Prayer flows into a radical reliance on God. All Christians are called to be on mission with God, Stetzer said, but the church has created a false three-tiered Christianity: lay people, those called to full-time ministry and those called to ministry but not called to missions. "We're all called," he said. "The only questions are 'Where?' and 'Among whom?' There is not a separate call to missions." Church planters must not wait until circumstances such as personal financial resources are right, but must radically depend on God, he said. "You will never have enough resources to plant a church," he said. "God will provide."

-- Church planting blesses a community. A church planter can go in confidence that God is already working in the hearts of some in that community, he said. Churches are to go and serve all the people in their communities and be a blessing to them, he said.

-- Build relationships and settle in. A church planter should become a part of the community which he serves and must build deep relationships, while preparing to stay for the long haul and engage the local people with the Gospel, Stetzer said. The planter will likely have to leave some of his own culture behind, especially if he plants in a place far outside his native territory, Stetzer said.

-- Meet needs and serve people. One of the means God sometimes uses to bring people to Himself is through Christians who meet practical needs of people in their community, Stetzer pointed out. Serving others often builds a bridge to the Gospel, he said. "Though salvation is entirely a work of the Lord, we have an obligation to use means," Stetzer said.

-- Church planters are announcing the kingdom of God. "When we plant churches, we are extending the boundaries where Christ reigns -- a church as a sign and instrument of the Kingdom of God. The world around us sees what the Kingdom of God looks like when visible saints express the love and life of Christ."

The task of church planting is not fundamentally a denominational function, he said, but is a function of the local church...

"If you really believe the agenda of the Kingdom of God, if you want God's name and God's fame magnified, how can you not want to be a part of church planting?"

And, no, I did not call the attendees "functional hyper-Calvinists," though I warned them not to be.

It seems that many evangelicals, Reformed and not so, have become that very thing...

BLOG POSTS ON CALVINISM AND THE SBC
Spelling and Debating Calvinism

Building Bridges Presentations

Lifeway Research on Calvinism

BUILDING BRIDGES ADDRESSES

Calvinism and SBC Leadership: Key Findings and Evangelistic Implications
Ed Stetzer (PDF) (MP3)

The Historical Record
David Dockery (PDF, rough draft) (MP3)
Tom Nettles (PDF) (MP3)

Calvinism: A Cause for Rejoicing, A Cause for Concern
Malcom Yarnell (MP3)
Jeff Noblit (MP3)

The Atonement: Its Design, Nature and Extent
Sam Waldron (MP3)
David Nelson (MP3)

Theological Stereotypes: Let's Be Fair and Honest with Each Other
Charles Lawless (MP3)
Nathan Finn (PDF) (MP3)

Election and Calling: A Biblical/Theological Study
Ken Keathley (MP3)
Greg Welty (MP3)

Panel Discussion
Daniel Akin (moderator), Nathan Finn, David Nelson, Tom Ascol, Ken Keathley, Malcolm Yarnell, Greg Welty
Part 1 (MP3) Part 2 (MP3)

Working Together to Make Christ Known
Daniel Akin (MP3)
Tom Ascol (MP3)

Conclusion
Ed Stetzer (MP3)

Sermons
J.D. Greear
Don Whitney

RELATED MATERIAL
Calvinism Timeline, Timmy Brister (PDF)

Recent Grads Three Times More Likely to Be Calvinists, Baptist Press

A Plea for Kindness in Debate, Nathan Finn

Facebook for Pastors

My friend Chris Forbes from MinistryMarketingCoach.com has put together a handy guide to "Facebook for Pastors" you might like to check out. Download the pdf (E-book page, direct link here). The 31 page e-book makes a case for why pastors should consider using the social networking site in their ministry and has tips and ideas for making the most of having a profile on Facebook. Chris is a ministry media strategist and marketing consultant based in Oklahoma who works globally with missionaries, churches, and ministries in reaching people of all kinds.

Robert Morgan and The Promise

Robert J. Morgan is pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville where the stated goal is simply "to become disciples." His new book from my friends at B&H Publishing Group is called The Promise, and its goal is to show readers how God guarantees goodness to come from even the toughest situations. If you, or someone you know, need a reminder of God's good intentions for his people this book could be a great resource. You can download it for free here.

Piper and Negative Calvinism

Does becoming a Calvinist make you angry? John Piper recently shared his thoughts concerning the negative tone among many Calvinists.

So the intellectual appeal of the system of Calvinism draws a certain kind of intellectual person, and that type of person doesn't tend to be the most warm, fuzzy, and tender. Therefore this type of person has a greater danger of being hostile, gruff, abrupt, insensitive or intellectualistic.

I'll just confess that. It's a sad and terrible thing that that's the case. Some of this type aren't even Christians, I think. You can embrace a system of theology and not even be born again.

Sobering words. John gives a two more reasons Calvinists have, or are perceived as having, a negative tone. Be sure to check it out.

ABWE

I enjoyed my time with the people at ABWE, and this photographer can follow me around anywhere if he can always make me look this cool. (I have no idea how me made the halo appear around "ABWE.")

We just posted the Calvinism research data at LifeWay Research. Click the header above to head over to the LifeWay Research site. Also, you can read some of the presentations and listen to the messages here.

Research FAQs

One of the primary reasons LifeWay Research created this blog was to interact on research.

I was interviewed by Christianity Today yesterday about the research I presented at Ridgcrest. As such, that prompted me to write down a few answers... So, let me share a few FAQs with you.

These issues are also addressed in the presentation (you can listen here).

How did the survey originate?

There were two surveys--one from LifeWay and one that was done at NAMB. The LifeWay survey was of all pastors and the NAMB survey was for recent seminary graduates.

I presented both studies at the Ridgecrest Building Bridges Conference.

For more information about the LifeWay Calvinism research from last year, click here.

We have posted a PowerPoint with the NAMB data here.

The NAMB research was part of a bigger project that included a few Calvinism related questions.

When NAMB began the Nehemiah Project, there was an agreement with the participating schools that there would be an evaluation at a later date. The NAMB leadership decided to do a robust survey on issues that could then be cross-tabbed with NAMB focus areas. Thus, the NAMB survey asked about many different issues, including Calvinism, and then cross-tabbed to see if those issues impacted such things as planting new churches, evangelistic effectiveness, and other factors.

The survey, called "New Millennium Ministers,�? was originally developed by the Center for Missional Research team, then modified by the NAMB Executive Leadership team, sent to the Nehemiah Project Professors at the SBC seminaries for feedback, then emailed to the provosts of the seminaries, and finally sent to the recent graduates.

The work was primarily done by Richie Stanley (Director of Research at NAMB) and through a contract with Reggie Ogea (professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary). Dr. Ogea worked with many New Orleans students to make phone calls, analyze data, and do other research. (For example, you may be interested in the recently released research from NAMB on recent graduates and their views of church planting, Evangelism and Recent Seminary Graduates, Denominational Loyalty of Recent Seminary Graduates, Persistence and Loyalty (from a presentation made at the Southern Baptist Research Fellowship in Fort Worth).

The Nehemiah Project professors, who serve in joint appointments with their school and the North American Mission Board, worked with the alumni offices of their schools to obtain mailing lists of recent graduates. (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary declined to share these names, citing policy reasons.)

A letter was sent out to all graduates inviting them to participate in the on-line survey. Over 2000 did.

Why is LifeWay Releasing NAMB's Research?

Perhaps because they do not want to write long FAQ files. Grin.

But, more seriously, the new leadership under Geoff Hammond "gave�? us data from much of the New Millennium Ministers survey because they are looking to create a laser focus on evangelism, church planting, and sending missionaries. If you have been watching NAMB lately, you will find them to be greatly focused on their core mission.

Releasing studies on Calvinism was better suited at LifeWay Research, particularly since we have now been "assigned�? such research by the Southern Baptist Convention. NAMB was able to learn what it needed from the research--how do these things impact evangelism and church planting. Knowing the percentage of Calvinists is less essential to them than knowing Calvinism's impact on their core mission.

Why did you not release the numbers by school?

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary did not to release the data along with the other schools. So, we had a complete listing of all the Masters level graduates of the SBC seminaries--with the exception of SBTS.

Because we did not want to leave them out completely, we spent many additional dollars and hours to find a sample of recent SBTS graduates. (We did this by searching for graduation announcements in state papers.) That yielded 52 survey responses.

Although those 52 were very similar on most of the issues, there were some where they differed. So, in order to avoid the situation where the sample size was criticized for being too small, we did not release the exact numbers. However, we did rank the Calvinist percentage by school. As I indicated in my presentation, Southern, Midwestern, and Golden Gate had, in that order, more graduates who identified with Calvinism. We released that information at the Ridgecrest conference.

Feel free to interact below.

Here are the two files from the Calvinism discussion panel. Click part 1 or part 2 for the files.

Nathan Finn's paper is here. And, Nathan also posts a plea for kindness in the debate-- what an idea.

Tomorrow, I will post more information about the Calvinism research.

I will post the written presentations here and then link to the audio presentations as soon as they are up.

Post 1:
Here is the presentation I just gave at the Calvinism Confab at Ridgecrest. Later on, we will post the full report at www.lifewayresearch.com.

Post 2:
Here is the rough draft of Dr. Dockery's presentation on the history of Calvinism. It is a draft, but I have his permission to post it.

Post 3:
Tom Nettles written presentation is now here.. (Thanks for Chris Turner for getting in converted.)

It just struck me...

Today, I present on Calvinism and then stay two days to hear lots of talks on Calvinism related issues. This is an important event for my denomination.

On Thursday, I will be in Arizona speaking at the Assemblies of God chuch planting summit. Their summit may be the most significant denominationally focused church planting conferences in a long time. It is a quite a gathering. (My Assemblies of God friends will rebuke me for calling them a denomination... so please forgive me.)

That is quite a dichotomy. Wonder which one will be more exciting? Grin.

Note to self:
Don't mix up the presentations...
Don't mix up the presentations...
Don't mix up the presentations...

As I have mentioned before, I am presenting research today on the topic of Calvinism.

If you are interested in the subject, you might want to read Timmy Brister's chronological timeline of Calvinism in SBC life. I don't think Timmy would be bothered if I told you that he is on the Calvinism side of the argument and the document, at times, reflects that.

Though lengthy, it is definitely worth a read...

Frank Page, SBC President, surrendered to the inevitable and will be bringing a brief word of exhortation at the Calvinism Confab.

If you have not signed up, you are welcome-- even though none of us are worthy of this great lineup and tremendous value.

Click here-- you know you can't resist.

All conference attendees should arrive on Monday and persevere to the end on Wednesday. We don't want you to quit early.

But, just so you know, no one will be turned away... it is open to all who will register and then follow through with attendance.

If you have an interest in Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention, you will not want to miss this Building Bridges event at Ridgecrest.