Tag: reforming

Preserving the Truth Conference: A Success?

~ Bob Hayton ~ 5 Comments

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).

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?

Introducing The Reforming Fundamentalists Blog Network

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Cross-posted from the group blog, Re-Fundamentals.org. This represents the latest version of what I started a long time ago with the Fundamental Reformers blogroll.

We now have The Reforming Fundamentalists Blog Network up and running. Past members of Transformed by Grace and fellow contributors of Re:Fundamentals.org were included as members of the network. Anyone interested in joining can visit the network page here on this site.

Please note, if you are listed as a member of the network, we would still ask that you please take the time to add the blog network to your blog sidebar.

The following is from the description of the blog network.

The Reforming Fundamentalists Blog Network is a listing of blogs maintained by people connected to the independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement. The IFB movement is widespread and includes a vast assortment of various fundamentalist camps. Most of these could do with some reformation. Some of the problems members of the network are standing against include: man-centered pragmatism; domineering leadership; emotionally-high, doctrinally-shallow preaching; rules-based, performance-oriented sanctification; and a lack of charitableness to other Christian groups.

Members of the network are at various stages in their journey with the Lord. Some work for change from within the IFB movement. Others view themselves as historic fundamentalists who embrace the fundamentals of the faith but not necessarily the fightin’ fundy mindset.

These blogs should all have some content devoted to the fundamentalist problem, but by no stretch do we think that members must all be crusader-blogs. This blog network is intended to spread the word about the new movement of young fundamentalists who care about the Bible and want to right the fundamentalist ship. The network is also about getting to know one another and sharing our common experiences. Often seeing what someone else went through and how similar it was to your own experience, can have a healing affect. It can also sharpen our thinking.

My hope is that continued interaction among the members of the network will help us realize Eph. 4:13-15: “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…. (ESV)”

A New Dynamic for Reforming Fundamentalists

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Change is underfoot at the group blog of reforming fundamentalists that I contribute to. Fundamentally Changed (subtitled Fundamentalists Who Are Fundamentally Changed, Yet Fundamentally The Same) will be moving to a new website: re-fundamentals.com soon, and we’re changing the name to Re: Fundamentals.

Rather than just focusing on the errors of fundamentalism today, we want to reform, revitalize and renew an emphasis on the original fundamentals. We’re hoping for a Fundamentalism 2.0 you could say.

The new blog will focus more on a positive stance for the fundamentals of the faith, and will flesh out how that impacts the church today. We hope to tackle some contemporary issues and offer a blueprint of sorts for how the church can move forward, taking the best of what was fundamentalism with it.

In this vein, we’ve been sharing some principles that form a new dynamic for where we want the blog and the conversation to shift. Here are the links if you care to check it out.