Just 11 days before Christmas last year, Don Whitney received three words from his doctor that no one wants to hear: “You have cancer.”

Whitney, who serves as associate professor of biblical spirituality and director of applied ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was stunned at such a diagnosis.

There were no signs that anything was amiss in his body. There was no pain, no bleeding, no mysterious lumps, nothing. He felt perfectly healthy.

The news came as a result of a routine medical checkup that included a colonoscopy.

“I think I was kind of numb at first,” he said. “I tried to ask some questions at first and I tried to write down his answers because I knew I wouldn’t remember. My hand was quivering as I tried to write down what he said.

“My mind was tumbling [with] a thousand things running through my head. I was trying to stay with the subject at hand and ask him questions [such as] ‘What’s next?’ and ‘How bad is this?’ At the same time I was a thousand miles away and was thinking ‘what about my family?’ I had just finished my first semester at the seminary and I was thinking ‘Am I going to die?’ ‘Am I soon to stand before the Lord?’

“I thought about my little girl and my wife Caffy and my mother who is a widow and I am an only child. It was sobering. I mainly thought about family and future and what is this going to be like? I wondered if there would be chemotherapy and even if after the surgery they would just sew me up and say there was nothing they could do.”

Two surgeries, a painful recovery period and five months after the initial diagnosis, Whitney is cancer free and doctors have given him a healthy long-term prognosis. However, the type of cancer he had and early complications made the future somewhat dicey early on, Whitney says.

Whitney had colon cancer, a disease also known as the “silent killer” because it typically does not manifest any symptoms until it has reached an incurable stage.

“I had no problems, no pain, no symptoms,” he said. “I was absolutely shocked ... The doctor said if I had put the colonoscopy off until May, he wouldn’t have been able to save my life.”

It seemed that Whitney would face a grim waiting game in the beginning because surgery would be needed to determine how far the cancer had spread. However, it was near the end of the year and Whitney’s surgeon warned him that most, if not all, operating rooms in Louisville would be booked until January. As the doctor called around city hospitals to try and find an open operating room, Whitney paced the floor in the doctor’s office and prayed. God’s hand of providence clearly trumped what seemed to be a negative set of logistical circumstances, Whitney said.

“We got the last operating room in the city of Louisville for 2005 and surgery was set for six days later,” Whitney said.

Still, Whitney faced a battery of tests and doctors said it would be difficult to impos-sible to get them completed within a week.

“I had to have several tests before the surgery and the doctor said it was unlikely they could get me in by that time for the test,” he said.

“I needed several procedures and tests, including a CAT scan. Before I walked out of his office that afternoon, all of that was set up. I had a CAT scan two hours later to find out how deep the cancer had gone into the tissue, and the other big test was the day before my surgery.”

Whitney had surgery on Dec. 20 and spent 10 days, including the entire Christmas holiday, in the hospital. He went home in late December but soon developed complications and faced a second surgery and another week in the hospital. A second difficult recovery followed.

Despite complications from the second surgery, Whitney began to heal and was able to participate in the annual collegiate conference at Southern. He continues to regain strength and has resumed his full course load of teaching at Southern and speaking engagements for his ministry, The Center for Biblical Spirituality.

Colon cancer is the No. 2 killer among the types of cancer, and Whitney says he is grateful that he had a routine colonoscopy which led to the discovery of his cancer. He urges all men over 50 to have the procedure.

“Ninety percent of the people who die from colon cancer would not die from it if they had a colonoscopy,” he said. “Adrian Rogers [the late Southern Baptist pastor] died of colon cancer ... One of the doctors told me a thousand people in Kentucky die every year from colon cancer and they wouldn’t have died from this disease if they had a colonoscopy.

“Everybody should have one when they are 50. If they have a relative who had colon cancer, they should get it at 40.”

Whitney says his cancer caused him to reflect more deeply on biblical truths regarding life and eternity. He credits a strong belief in the sovereignty of God and the prayers of fellow believers for strengthening him through the ordeal. Whitney and friend John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn., exchanged e-mails to encourage each other after doctors discovered that Piper had cancer on the day of Whitney’s surgery.

“It makes you realize your life is a vapor,” Whitney said. “You always realize you are going to die, but when you realize that you may be at the borders of heaven, it makes you think. It has made me appreciate time with my family more, especially with my little girl.

“I have never sensed the prayers of God’s people more. There were times I was so medicated or in so much pain that all I could pray was ‘Lord hear the prayers of Your people.’ I knew people were praying for me. I couldn’t put two thoughts together. It was a reminder of Romans 8:26-27, “You do not know how to pray as you ought but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us in groans too deep for words” and prays according to God’s will for us. I was just relying on the Holy Spirit’s prayers for this.

“It reaffirmed things. My belief in the sovereignty of God is one of the things that got me through. When I learned that I had cancer, it really comforted me to know that God was not surprised and that He was in control.”

Several hundred seminary students and faculty expressed a commitment to minister anywhere God calls them during the culminating chapel service of Great Commission Week April 13 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Responding to a sermon by Al Jackson, pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Ala., the students and faculty stood to their feet, indicating that they will say with the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me,” should God call them to ministry in a difficult region of the world.

The seminary also recognized 94 students and faculty members who are either being deployed as full-time missionaries or participating in short-term mission trips.

“Are you available to go?” Jackson asked. “Isaiah was. Are you? Have you experienced God’s holy presence? Are you broken by the sinfulness of your own heart? Have you been cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and are you walking day-by-day and moment-by-moment in personal holiness?

“Then you’re in a position to hear the voice of God saying, ‘Who will I send?’ There’s really only one proper response: ‘Here am I, Lord. Send me.’”

Speaking at Great Commission Week along with Jackson were Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Tom Elliff, senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations at the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Jackson told students that it is necessary to experience God’s holy presence and be cleansed from sin before they can answer the call to Christian service.

“Who will go?” Jackson said. “Will you go? Will you say to the Lord Jesus, ‘Yes, yes, yes?’”

Mohler said that when Christians share the Gospel, they should do it without fear and without compromise.

“There is no fear in the ministry because it’s not about us, and it’s not about our power, and it’s not about our effectiveness, and it’s not about our eloquence,” he said. “It’s not about us. It’s about Christ. And there is no fear in preaching Christ. There is no fear in the Gospel ministry because it is not our ability that is in question.”

Preaching from 1 Timothy 1, Mohler warned ministers to guard the teaching of the Gospel. Rather than following the popular pattern of preaching a new message, ministers must stick with the sound words taught in the Bible, he said.

“Following requires humility,” he said. “Follow the pattern of sound words.”

Theologians who argue that they have discovered a new truth or a way of reinterpreting the Gospel for modern culture demonstrate a lack of humility and a wrong way of doing ministry, he said.

“We dare not believe that that argument should be any more plausible today than it would have been when Paul was writing to Timothy,” Mohler said. “We dare not allow ourselves the conceit that we live in such a changed intellectual climate and such a changed cultural situation that what Paul would prevent Timothy from doing, we now have license to do.”

When believers take the true Gospel to the world, they will have no cause for shame, Mohler said.

“There is no shame in the Gospel,” he said. “But God is ashamed of those who are ashamed of the Gospel.”

Preaching from 2 Kings 7, Elliff explained that there are three types of Christians: sitters, getters, and tellers. Sitters do not take any action to advance the Gospel or their own relationships with Jesus, while getters soak up spiritual information but fail to act on that information, he said. Tellers share the good news of Jesus with others.

All Christians have an obligation to be tellers, Elliff said.

“Silence is sinful,” he said. “It’s a sin to know that help is available and not to share it. It’s a sin to know that eternal life is available and not to share it.”

In order to be tellers, believers must resolve to take the Gospel to those who need to hear it, Elliff said.

“Our Lord has said we are to go and tell,” he said. “What a shame if the unfolding months and years, even of your career as a student or as a faculty member here, are spent as a sitter or a getter but not a goer and a teller.

“This is a day of good news. We can’t hold our news. Come, let’s go and let’s tell.”

Trustees at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on April 11 unanimously approved the creation of two new theological study centers—the Center for Theology and the Arts, and the Center for Theology and Law, during the board’s annual spring meeting.

Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said the new study centers aim at equipping pastors and church leaders to think biblically about pivotal issues which dominate contemporary culture.

“One of the ways we want to lead Southern Baptists is through helping evangelicals and Southern Baptists in particular to engage some of the most critical issues of our day,” Mohler said.

“This is not a time for Christians to be out-thought by the world, but in general that is what happens. We find the church behind the times in thinking about some of the most crucial issues of our day.”

Mohler also announced the appointment of two new faculty members to lead the centers.

Steve Halla will head the seminary’s Center for Theology and the Arts and serve as assistant professor of philosophy. He currently serves on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary and will earn a doctor of philosophy degree in philosophy from the University of Texas at Dallas this spring. He received a master of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and bachelor’s degree from Moody Bible Institute. Halla and his wife Kathy have two daughters.

The Center for Theology and the Arts will focus on the interaction between Christian theology and the various arts. Its goal is to help Christians to develop a biblical understanding of such issues as aesthetics, artistic expression and appreciation, Mohler said.

Peter J. Richards has been appointed the director of the Center for Theology and Law. Richards presently serves as a research fellow in law and history and is administrator of the World Law Institute at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Ga. He earned a doctor of a master of laws and a doctor of the science of law Yale University, a doctor of jurisprudence from the University of North Carolina, and a bachelor’s degree in medieval and renaissance studies from the University of Michigan. Richards and his wife Johanna have four children.

The Center for Theology and Law will focus on the interaction between Christian theology and the world of law and will offer a master of arts degree in theological studies with an emphasis on theology and law. The one-year program is intended for those who are bound for law school, those who have just graduated from law school and those whose professional service in ministry includes interest in both theology and law. Both study centers will be operated out of Southern’s School of Theology.

Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration, hailed the new study centers as “an historic moment” in the lives of both Southern Seminary and the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Issues of the arts and media and understanding the law are issues that are confronting not only individuals and the culture but Southern Baptist churches,” Moore said.

“Pastors need to know how to engage these issues as [does] a theologically informed Southern Baptist layperson. Southern Seminary has taken the initiative to take on the culture with a biblically informed worldview in an unprecedented way and we are very excited about that.”

Mohler also named Kurt Wise as the new director for Southern’s Center for Theology and Science, and professor of theology and science. Wise currently serves on the faculty of Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., where he is also director of the Center for Origins Research.

Wise earned both a doctor of philosophy and master of arts in paleontology from Harvard University. He and his wife Marie have two daughters. Wise replaces William Dembski, who is leaving Southern Seminary to join the faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary so he can be closer to his family.

“With the addition of Kurt Wise, we are recognizing that creation is a ground zero theological crisis point right now in American culture and even in our churches,” Moore said.

“We need to train Southern Baptist pastors to equip young people to engage Darwinism from elementary school on. We also need to train Southern Baptists to recognize Darwinist thinking in ways that are subtle that they don’t even recognize.”

Mohler said Southern Seminary hopes to help both Southern Baptists and evangelicals in general to think biblically about such issues as the arts, law and science. He pointed to one major moral issue, abortion, as an example of how Christians often come late to the task of engaging profound cultural issues.

When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand in 1973, it took Southern Baptists nearly a generation to respond to the issue, Mohler pointed out.

“[Southern Baptists] at the grassroots level just weren’t engaged in the issue at all,” he said. “It took a generation for Southern Baptists to get highly engaged on that one issue. And right now it’s not just one issue, it’s an entire host of issues, and they are not just moral issues or political issues or legal issues, they are cultural issues.

“[Law and the arts] are two issues with which we intend to help Southern Baptists do some very serious thinking.”

In other business, trustees:

* Approved the appointment of Kevin L. Smith as assistant professor of church history for the seminary. Smith is a doctor of philosophy candidate at Southern Seminary. He also received a master of divinity from Church of God Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tenn. Smith has served as the Martin Luther King Jr, Fellow at Southern since 2002.

* Approved the appointment of Thom S. Rainer as distinguished professor of evangelism and church growth. Rainer served as founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism, Missions and Church Growth at Southern Seminary from 1994 until 2005 when he resigned to become president of LifeWay Christian Resources.

* Approved a $33 million budget, a 9.9 percent increase over last year’s budget.

* Heard a report from President Mohler that Southern’s enrollment has topped 4,000 students for the first time in the seminary’s history.

There are church buildings on virtually every street corner in America but few expository preachers and the remedy for this shortage is a generation of ministers who will proclaim the changeless truth of the Gospel to a culture that views nothing as changeless, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said at the annual Power in the Pulpit conference March 13 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“We are now in big trouble because as you look across this country, you can find on almost every block a church—that is, a building,” said Mohler, president of Southern Seminary. “You can find bricks and stone, and you can find steeples and organs, and you can find pulpits and all the rest.

“But you do not find preaching—at least as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has understood preaching for nearly twenty centuries—in far too many of these churches. And I think it’s because it’s getting harder (to preach).”

Joining Mohler as keynote speakers were Hershael York, Lester Professor of Christian Preaching and associate dean of the school of theology at Southern, and Robert Smith, professor of preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala. More than 200 pastors attended the event.

Preaching from James 5:7-8, Mohler urged preachers to have patience as they wait for their ministry to bear fruit in listeners’ lives.

“The one thing we may forget that is indispensable to our preaching is patience,” Mohler said. “And the one thing our people do not even know to expect as a matter of our preaching is patience.”

Often preachers become frustrated because every sermon does not appear to change lives instantly, he said.

Biblical preaching is further complicated by the fact that postmodern Americans find it strange to take instruction for modern life out of an ancient book, Mohler said.

“We show up and say, ‘This ancient book is going to tell us how to order our lives today. ...’ And that sounds extremely strange to a world that isn’t ready to hear an authoritative word from an ancient source,” he said.

But preachers must teach the Bible week-in and week-out because faithfulness to God’s Word over time will yield eternal results, Mohler noted.

“Be strong,” he said. “Be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. How long do we have to be patient? Until the Lord comes. But take heart. The Lord’s coming is near.”

York told conference attendees to preach faithfully even during life’s most difficult times. Drawing on the example of Ezekiel, York said that effective ministers often learn to trust God through trials.

“It’s easy to serve the God who will give you your best life now,” he said. “That’s the God we want. That’s the God we create. That’s not the God we serve. How do you serve a God who causes what you have always regarded as the worst-case scenario in your life?

“Dear brothers, I tell you, you’ve got to preach the Word even in the midst of your worst-case scenario.”

During difficult times, the preacher should think about God’s call on his life as motivation to continue proclaiming the Bible, York said.

“Commitment to preach really is a function of your calling,” he said. “If you have a light regard for your calling, if you’re not very certain that’s God’s really called you, if you feel like you’re just trying this out to see how it works, you will wash out at the first sign of trouble. If you have a light regard for your calling, you’ll have a light regard for your preaching.”

Robert Smith challenged preachers to escort their hearers into the presence of God by submitting to God’s inspired Word and proclaiming it to His church during the Power in the Pulpit Conference, March 13 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Smith, professor of Christian preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., said preachers serve as exegetical escorts for their congregations by presenting God’s Word in an understandable way.

“The exegetical escort is an individual who serves in the Lord’s service by taking this Word of God and exegeting it, expounding upon it, dissecting it and saying what it says,” he said.

“The exegetical escort is designed to embrace the text of Scripture in order to usher the hearers into the presence of God for the purpose of transformation.”

Smith, a former professor of preaching at Southern Seminary, was one of three speakers at the annual conference that also featured Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Hershael York, professor of Christian preaching at Southern.

Preaching will always elicit a response, Smith said and the Gospel herald can expect one of two responses to the true preaching of God’s Word.

“God’s Word will not go out and come back void, it will accomplish that for which it was sent,” he said. “Sometimes people will respond in rebellion and sometimes in reception. The Word will draw people or it will drive people away.”

Smith critiqued modern preaching in several ways, noting that many modern preachers mistakenly value style more than substance. He cited Augustine’s four books on Christian doctrine, “On Christian Teaching,” where the first 75 percent of the material focuses on doctrine, while only the last quarter is devoted to style in presentation.

“What we do is turn it around. [If we wrote the book] we would deal with style in the first three sections and substance in the last one,” he said. “Substance must be considered primarily and style secondarily.”

Another problem with contemporary preaching is the eclipse of the cross, Smith said.

“We have so much crossless preaching. Don’t we understand that there is no salvation outside of the cross of Christ?” he said. “It was necessary for Christ first to suffer the cross and then enter into glory. That is what the reformers taught. The theology of the cross [comes] before the theology of glory. Today, we want to wipe out the cross and quickly move to glory.”

Smith also said that many preachers dilute grace in their preaching.

“We start off by preaching salvation by grace and before we know it we are preaching sanctification by works,” he said. “Anytime we add anything to grace we are diluting grace. I am justified by grace, sanctified by grace, adopted by grace and I‘m going to be glorified by grace. It is grace plus nothing.”

Smith said it is the preacher’s role to be like Philip in Acts 8 guiding the Ethiopian eunuch through Scripture and explaining what he did not understand.

“[Sometimes] the text is closed and the preacher has to open it,” he said. “My job is to be an exegete. I am supposed to help people see what they can’t see.”

Defending recent statements by evangelists Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson regarding Islam, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said on FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” that ideologies which keep people from coming to faith in Christ are manifestations of demonic power.

“In the case of the two statements ... from Dr. Graham and Pat Robertson, they were speaking a deeply held Christian truth there that Christians have believed for 2,000 years,” Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said March 17. “[A]ny belief system that keeps persons from coming to Christ we would see as a manifestation of a demonic power.”

Mohler was responding to comments made by Robertson on his “700 Club” television program March 13 and by Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, on ABC News’ “Nightline” March 15.

“These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now,” Robertson said of radical Muslims. “It is satanic, and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with.”

Graham said of Islam, “If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go and live under the Taliban somewhere.”

Mohler argued that both men spoke truth but noted that he has disagreed publicly with Robertson on previous occasions. Mohler added that Robertson and Graham likely were calling the Islamic belief system demonic and not speaking of particular Islamic people.

“Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson in this case spoke the truth as Christian believers,” Mohler said. “And as Christian truth tellers that’s their responsibility. And both of them are men of compassion.”

Mohler added that any belief system opposing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is powered by demonic forces.

“I would have to say that as a Christian that I believe that any belief system, any worldview, whether it’s Zen Buddhism or Hinduism or dialectical materialism for that matter, Marxism, that keeps persons captive and keeps them from coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ... is a demonstration of satanic power.”

Host Bill O’Reilly granted that Christians have a right to speak their beliefs but argued against Mohler, saying that criticizing Islam hurts America’s effort to win the war on terror.

“I know what you’re saying,” O’Reilly said. “I don’t mind you spreading your belief system, but I don’t think you should be condemning the beliefs of others, particularly in a war on terror.”

Mohler responded that Christians should always speak kindly but added that etiquette must never be placed above truth.

“There’s a point to be made there about how we should learn to speak in a way that follows some kind of etiquette,” Mohler said. “But at the bottom line, etiquette has to give way to truth.”

When questioned whether he would tell “peace-loving Hindus” their religion is demonic, Mohler responded by referencing the Apostle Paul’s writings in Scripture.

“That’s an historic Christian position, just understanding like the Apostle Paul that the spirit of this age is blinding persons from understanding the Gospel,” he said.

O’Reilly asked Mohler whether he could point to one example of Jesus telling a Jew that Judaism was demonic.

Mohler acknowledged that Jesus never called Judaism demonic and pointed out that Jesus was a Jew Himself. But Mohler added that Jesus did refer to people speaking for the devil.

“[Jesus] certainly never called Judaism -- He was Himself a Jew -- a demonic religion,” Mohler said. “He did speak of persons, however, being under demonic possession and speaking on behalf of the devil rather than on behalf of His Father.”

O’Reilly concluded by arguing that Robertson and Graham are “exacerbating a war on terror” and hurting America.

Mohler, who chaired Billy Graham’s Louisville Crusade in 2001, countered that one of the reasons both men are admirable is that their alliance lies with the Gospel more than it does with any country.

“I think that both Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham care deeply about this country,” Mohler said. “But I honestly believe that one of the reasons I admire them is that they think even more of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ronald H. Nash, a renowned theologian, philosopher and apologist whom R. Albert Mohler Jr. remembers as a “brilliant and bold defender” of the Christian faith, died Friday at his home in Orlando, Florida after a long illness.

Nash taught theology and philosophy for four decades at three schools, serving from 1964 to 1991 as chairman of the department of philosophy and religion and the director of graduate studies in humanities at Western Kentucky University.

He also served as a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary from 1991 to 2002 and at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1998 to 2005.

Mohler, Southern Seminary president, said Nash was “a man of ideas who believed that ideas really mattered.” His legacy will endure through his many writings and through scores of students Nash taught, Mohler said.

“Dr. Ron Nash was a brilliant and bold defender of Christian truth, he was a great apologist, a wonderful intellect devoted to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Mohler said. “His writings reach thousands and thousands of persons, many of whom never met him. His classroom teaching was life-changing in several different institutions.

“I have spoken to many across the country who had him at the undergraduate level at Western Kentucky University and they speak about how he shaped their Christian worldview at that stage of education. Students here (at Southern Seminary) had the benefit of his knowledge and his teaching in the final phase of his teaching ministry.

“He was a man who believed ideas really mattered (and) that the right ideas were necessary in order for Christ’s church to be preserved.”

Nash wrote more than 35 books on philosophy, theology and apologetics including “Faith & Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith,” “Life’s Ultimate Questions,” and “Is Jesus the Only Savior?” Nash received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University and his master’s degree from Brown University. Nash received his undergraduate degree from Barrington College and did post-graduate work at Stanford University.

Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Seminary, says Nash was far more than just a brilliant classroom orator.

“Ronald Nash was more than just a scholar, more even than just the prolific, influential scholar he was,” Moore said. “He understood that scholarship is a matter of spiritual warfare.

“Professor Nash didn’t simply convey his assertions about the intelligibility and truthfulness of divine revelation or about the exclusivity of the Gospel through faith in Christ. He conveyed the gravity and seriousness of the issues for the church.

“Students of Ron Nash knew what it meant when he swayed his hips from side to side while he quoted a theologian or philosopher. It meant he believed what he was reading aloud was a dangerous heresy. In an age of cowardly academics and tentative philosophers, Ronald Nash played the man. We are all in debt for it.”

Nash is survived by wife, Betty Jane and two children, Jeffrey and Jennifer. A private funeral will be held March 14 in Tennessee and a memorial service is scheduled for March 18 at the Orlando campus of Reformed Theological Seminary.

The ultimate goal of the task of missions is to shine a spotlight on the glory of God, essayists in the latest edition of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology assert.

The work of missions shines forth the glory of God as He works to save sinful men, journal editor Stephen J. Wellum writes in his editorial. Wellum is associate professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“Jesus the Christ, who inaugurated the kingdom in his coming, has now won victory over all his enemies—including sin, death, and Satan—all of which attempt to rob God of the glory due his name,” Wellum writes. “It is from this posture of authority that the risen Lord impels his followers forward, to go and make disciples of all the nations—a command that brings to fulfillment the promises made to Abraham many years ago and that anticipates the climactic consummation of all of God’s purposes in the new heaven and new earth.

“But notice: At the heart of the Great Commission is the announcement of the triumph of our sovereign Redeemer-King. Indeed, it is the proclamation of the victory of our triune God who has fulfilled his promise to make all things right by reversing the disastrous consequences of Adam’s fall and to bring about a new creation that includes within it the salvation of his people—from the nations—who will forever proclaim his glory, honor and fame.”

Three Southern Seminary professors and three other writers offer essays that unpack the theme “Missions to the Glory of God.”

Robert L. Plummer, assistant professor of New Testament interpretation, examines all the New Testament passages that give explicit commands or implicit commissions to evangelize. He seeks to answer the question “What does the New Testament teach about Christians’ obligation to share the Gospel with non-believers?”

Plummer points out that the oft-quoted Great Commission of Matthew 28:19 is by no means the only New Testament text that makes the task of evangelism the calling of every believer.

“The New Testament authors expect all Christians to be involved in taking the gospel to the unevangelized,” Plummer writes. “...it would be a mistake to think of this commission solely in terms of explicit imperatives.

“While some New Testament materials emphasize the command to evangelize, others focus on the role of God’s Spirit in empowering and directing the gospel’s spread. Still other sections of the New Testament prefer to speak of the gospel spreading from a divine perspective; they picture the gospel as God’s dynamic word that inevitably accomplishes his purpose.” Chuck Lawless looks at the relationship between spiritual warfare and world evangelization. He critiques contemporary spiritual warfare methods and offers guidelines for preparing missionaries to face the reality of spiritual warfare.

Lawless is dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Seminary. He also serves as the William Walker Brookes Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth and is the author of several books, including “Discipled Warriors.”

One foundational truth for missions, discipleship and spiritual warfare is the clear recognition of our enemy, Lawless writes.

“Scripture affirms that Satan continues to attack persons who become believers,” he writes. “...the enemy works to keep non-believers in darkness. God calls missionaries to take the gospel of light into a world shrouded in this darkness, and the enemy aims his arrows at them...”

The journal also includes essays by John Piper, Benjamin L. Merkle, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, along with a forum on being missions-minded. Forum participants include Southern Seminary professors Michael A.G. Haykin and Ted Cabal.

To subscribe to the journal or for more information, please call 502-897-4413 or e-mail journaloffice@sbts.edu.

Being biblically grounded and church-centered is essential to true Christian spirituality in a postmodern culture, Don Whitney told students Saturday, Feb. 4, at the 2006 Collegiate Conference at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Whitney examined and critiqued post-modern spirituality among people who are professing Christians. He identified three characteristics of such “spirituality,” saying the first element is the eclectic, or varied, religious practices such people use.

“Post-modern spirituality will draw from almost any source,” he said. “If a perceived spiritual benefit can be achieved then the practice is considered valid regardless of whether or not it is in the Bible.”

The conference theme was “The People of Truth: Believing, Defending and Living Biblical Truth in a Postmodern Age.”

Whitney said contemporary sources of spirituality might include Catholic and Protestant practices, ancient and modern traditions and even pagan religious practices. As long as spiritual benefit is perceived then the act is considered valid, however, Whitney argued that this opens people up to heresy.

“One of the dangers of grasping merely at the practice without examining the source, is that you unwittingly take some of the beliefs that go along with it,” he said. “People believe that something they perceive as so beautiful spiritually must be right and they get into heresy.”

Whitney said another characteristic of people who practice postmodern spirituality is that they desire an experience that includes not just the mind, but also the whole person.

“Postmodern spiritually wants something that is more than just head knowledge, that works in real life,” he said. “It wants a worship that can be felt and relationships that are deep. It realizes that salvation is not just about the head, but about the soul, body and heart.”

Whitney recognized that this is a positive desire, but argued that experience must not trump biblical theology in determining what practices benefit the entire being.

“You must evaluate enjoyment by whether or not it comes from God,” he said. “A spirituality that emphasizes the spiritual [experience] heavily is in danger of disconnecting itself from sound theology. This is like cutting off the blossoms of flowers. They are beautiful for a while, and give a fragrant aroma for a while, but don’t last because they have no root.”

The final characteristic of post-modern spirituality is that it emphasizes relationships, Whitney said. He identified two cultural reasons why relationships have become so important to people.

“This generation, more than any other, has grown up in broken homes,” he said. “They long for relationships they have not really experienced, which is a rightful longing.

“This culture has also distanced us from one another. We buy things on the Internet, get money from the ATM, and deal very little with people face to face. All of our relationships are through glass, be it through a computer screen with email and instant messaging, or through the television watching sitcoms and movies.”

Whitney recognized that this desire for community is good, but said one problem is that people often develop it outside the local church.

“The place God has ordained as the primary place for meaningful relationships is the local church,” he said. “Like the ‘Cheers’ bar or Seinfeld’s restaurant, people develop a place they go for relationships. That is why Starbucks and other coffee shops are so popular now, because people go there to develop community.”

Whitney said that even the relationships in church are developed often simply for the sake of having a community and not for encouraging people to seek a relationship with God.

“Community is good and right and healthy, but not if it neglects an individual response to the Gospel and a relationship to God,” Whitney said.

Whitney pointed to Scripture as the authority for developing appropriate spiritual practices.

“The Bible is the measure of the validity of any spiritual experience, and if an experience is not validated by Scripture then there is a conflict,” he said. “Every one of our spiritual experiences should be inaugurated with the Bible or be informed by the Bible.”

Working from 2 Tim. 3:16-17, Whitney said that Scripture is both profitable and sufficient in the area of developing one’s spirituality.

“Scripture tells us that the Bible is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” he said. “If Scripture is not profitable for you, the problem is with you, not with Scripture. The Bible also claims that the practices taught in it are sufficient for spiritual life. Any benefit that someone finds from a non-biblical practice at best is not necessary.”

The emerging church movement has started a helpful conversation about the need for churches to be relevant to postmodern culture but commits fatal errors in the areas of evangelism and the authority of Scripture, said Chuck Lawless, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Speaking at a breakout session of the sixth annual “Give Me An Answer” collegiate conference, Lawless told students that the emerging church movement, a growing movement seeking to move beyond the approach of many modern congregations, tends at times wrongly to deemphasize the necessity of a personal relationship with Christ.

“I think the emerging church movement is helpful to us when they talk about transformed lives,” he said. “I think we need to hear that, that authentic Christianity ought to lead us to look like Christ. ... They do not help us when they go so far as to suggest or hint at [salvation] happening apart from a personal relationship with Christ.”

Lawless emphasized that the movement is so new that it is difficult to define with precision who it includes or what it believes. But he listed several general characteristics of the emerging church.

· The movement displays a sense of discontent with the church as it is. Emerging church leaders argue that churches cannot reach lost people who are searching for truth because the churches have lost their own sense of excitement about walking with Jesus, Lawless said.

· The movement desires to engage culture as it is. It wants to reach a generation that is deeply spiritual but not necessarily Christian, denies absolute truth, embraces pluralism and is disconnected from the church, he said. To do this, the movement tries to identify with postmodern culture, Lawless noted.

· The movement has a desire to be missional. Because North American culture is increasingly non-Christian, emerging churches see the church as an organization in the midst of a mission field, he said.

“So they write about including together evangelism and social action and trying to speak while also influencing culture and being more inclusive than exclusive, that we might gain a hearing with this world.”

· The movement focuses on relationships. “For the emerging church, the small group is very important because the small group becomes the place in which you develop authentic relationships,” Lawless said.

· The movement emphasizes transformed lives on earth.

· The movement understands worship as a gathering rather than a service. Worship at some emerging churches is a combination of what one writer has called “charismatic exuberance at one level and quiet meditation at another,” noting that services in emerging churches frequently include a multi-sensory approach to worship.

· The movement understands evangelism as more a process than proclamation. “It’s more about dialogue and listening than it is about preaching and telling, he said.

There are several ways in which the emerging church movement errs, but reflecting on its thinking can teach all believers valuable lessons, Lawless said. For example, the church must be relevant—as the emerging church points out—but must stand on the Bible as the inerrant Word of God—as some emerging church leaders fail to do.

“What I sense (in the emerging church) is a desire to build relationships and let those relationships become primary, and then if an opportunity comes up, then [they] may speak something,” he said. “I think that’s dangerous for the church. I think what has to happen is that the churches as they are today must learn relevance while also taking an absolute, undeniable, uncompromised stand on the Word of God.”

Churches must also build healthy relationships, which the emerging church advocates, but must build those relationships around biblical accountability—a tactic that is unfortunately absent from many emerging churches, Lawless said.

“The emerging church helps us to say, ‘We must build relationships,’” he said. “But we’ve got to take that one step farther to say, ‘How do we do that, and how do we build that around accountability?’”

Finally, churches must be missional, as the emerging church suggests, Lawless said, but added that Christians must be more aggressive about proclaiming the message of Christ than the emerging church movement often teaches.

“We have to build relationships to gain a hearing,” he said. “I’m right there. But New Testament evangelism does not say, ‘I’ll just wait and listen and when you ask, I‘ll respond.’ New Testament evangelism is initiatory and it is confrontive.”

Some teachings from the emerging church movement “do not fit Christian orthodoxy,” Lawless warned.

“Read very, very cautiously. Hear the positive. Then pray that God would help us to work on our own churches to take those positives and to become more relational, to become more authentic, to become more vulnerable as needed, but without ever compromising the truth of the Gospel.”