First Baptist Church in Troy, MI hosted a new conference this past week. The Preserving the Truth Conference had over 350 in attendance and included the following main speakers: Kevin Bauder (president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, MN), Dave Doran (pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in Allen Park, MI), Mark Minnick (pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC) and Chris Anderson (pastor of Tri-County Bible Church in Madison, OH, blogger at My Two Cents). The conference was a “symposium on Biblical separation”.
It seems to be somewhat of a success, with great discussion in the panel session, and hopes that fundamentalism can work through remaining questions on how to implement separation in faithful and careful ways. The concern is how they relate to conservative evangelicals on one hand, and more right-wing fundamentalists on the other. On the one hand, their stated goal is to “[preserve] the truth through careful separation, robust theology, and cultural conservatism”. Yet it seems apparent that the organizers of the conference are hoping to address issues which are problems in the mind of many young fundamentalists who are leaving fundamentalism for greener, conservative evangelical pastures.
Here are some accounts of the conference (which I did not attend).
- Aaron Blumer at Sharper Iron
- Larry Rogier at StuffOutLoud
- Mark Ward at Blogape
- Dave Doran, recounting one Q & A from the panel discussion on his blog Glory and Grace
Here is the link to the audio or written notes from conference workshops and plenary sessions, as well as some additional material contributed for the initiative.
I’m optimistic about this conference, even though I wonder about the defense of “conservatism” as part of the rescue of Fundamentalism. Also the inclusion of multiple peripheral issues as key points related to the preservation of truth and the Fundamentalist movement doesn’t seem to help in stemming the drift of the young people out of fundamentalism. Still questions are being raised and addressed, and some solutions are being offered. Even though I differ with some of their emphases, I’m happy to see things like this happening, and can hope it has a positive impact in the future. I suppose this is happening elsewhere, but I’m happy to report the reformation of fundamentalism continues.
I hope to listen to some of the audio and interact more on this topic in future posts. I’m discussing some of my initial impressions over at Sharper Iron, right now.
Let me know if you were present at the event, or what your take is on it. Was it a success? Or is it the first step toward lasting and positive change?
Very good, Bob. In my experience, when people leave fundamentalism, they are written off as “they went out from us because they were not of us”. Also notice that the conference wants to preserve the truth through conservative culture. Now where in Scripture is that mandate? Interesting stuff. Glad there’s a place (fundyreformed) that challenges and engaging these things directly. Too many have been bullied into submission. Though I know of many Godly fundamentalists, I also know many who are just plain mean. Then again, I can say that about any group, and they don’t corner the market on harshness and judgementalism.
“Then again, I can say that about any group, and they don’t corner the market on harshness and judgementalism.” Rightly said, Scott. Glad I’m able to help others in some way through the blog here.
Bob
Always encouraging to see the next generation of fundamentalists challenge the status quo.
Only 350 showed up? I’m afraid fundamentalism is already completely hijacked by the SOTL, KJVO, hyper-sepratists that they were trying to distinguish themselves from in the group discussion. When you get a conference with just as many leaders of IFBX showing up, you will have thousands turn out like they did at the “Baptist Friends” conference at Temple Baptist last year.
At what point do you just concede that fundamentalism is a lost cause? I am to the point where I don’t really know if it’s “worth saving” as Bauder has put it.