If Christians confuse their citizenship in the kingdom of God with their citizenship in the United States of America, they are in danger of twisting and perverting the Gospel, theologian Russell D. Moore recently told an audience at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration, said Christians in America must think theologically when deciding how to vote and where to stand on important issues in the upcoming presidential election.

American Christians are in the unique position that is the equivalent of “Caesar” in the Bible, Moore said. So, when Jesus and Paul are talking about Caesar in Scripture, American believers must realize that, in a constitutional republic, Caesar is the people, he said. Moore’s comments were made during a Sept. 16 address on political engagement at the seminary.

“You and I are not in the same position as the first century Christians, gathering together in catacombs, wondering what Caesar is going to do,” Moore said. “Instead, you and I are in both situations. We’re the church trying to live out the mandate of the Gospel and we are at the same time those Romans 13 authorities.

“The authority in the United States of America is constitutionally invested, not in the White House, not in the Congress, not in the Supreme Court, but ultimately in the people through their elected representatives. So responsibility for using the sword wisely, for fair taxation for all of these things, ultimately rests with us. When we are reading passages [that refer to Caesar], we read it through two lenses: it is addressed to us as the church and it is also addressed to us as Caesar.”

Believers confuse their citizenship in the two kingdoms when they mistakenly view America as the fulfillment of Old Testament Israel and desire for the government to function accordingly, Moore said. Instead, Moore pointed out that Old Testament Israel is fulfilled in the church.

Because this is true, spiritual disobedience must be dealt with through church discipline and not through the coercive activity of the state, he said. Believers must think theologically, not only about specific issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, but also about political engagement in general, he said.

“When we read New Testament texts in which we see Jesus or Paul talking about Caesar, we read them through two lenses,” Moore said. “They are addressed to us as the church and also as Caesar. Political decisions are important for the sake of the church, for the sake of the Gospel, and for our accountability to God as the ultimate governing authorities in a constitutional republic.”

So must an evangelical Christian be a Republican? Moore said that ideally both parties would have conservative evangelicals working within them. However, most evangelicals gravitate toward the GOP because of a profound shift that has occurred within the Democratic Party over the past three decades.

The Democratic Party, once home to most Southern Baptists and other evangelicals, now prefers the influence of groups such as the feminist and abortion rights lobbies—lobbies with a worldview not consonant with evangelical convictions. The loss of orthodox believers in the party has meant the loss of a unity based on transcendent causes of justice, such as the civil rights movement, Moore said. Now, he argued, party activists are more likely to be energized by conspiracy theories such as those found in Michael Moore’s film “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Moore said Christians do not identify themselves first and foremost by affiliation with a particular political party. A party is merely a mechanism one uses to further objectives informed by a Christian worldview, he said.

“What is best for America would not necessarily be to have a Republican Party full of evangelicals and a secular Democratic Party,” Moore said. “Ideally, it would be wonderful if we had two parties that had evangelicals working and active within them.

“The problem is that you have interest groups within the contemporary Democratic Party that simply will not tolerate evangelicals who hold to some essentials of an evangelical worldview. That’s the sad reality.”

Believers need not only to think theologically about issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, but must also bring a biblical worldview to bear on other issues such as foreign policy and terrorism. Christians must view these issues in a way that is in lock step with the Gospel itself, Moore said.

“What I‘m concerned about in terms of foreign policy is that some of the arguments that are being used completely erode any foundation of justice at all,” Moore said. “Should a nation that has been attacked feel a sense of justice toward the capture of Osama bin Laden? Is that simply vengeful human beings who want blood or is that something that resonates with the way God has made the world?

“If we establish a society that no longer understands justice, we can no longer understand the Gospel. The Gospel is not just asking Jesus into your heart so that you will be happy all the day. The Gospel is ‘while we were sinners, yet Christ died for us.’ There is a just condemnation against us, a sense in which God, in order to be just, the apostle Paul says, must punish evil and He has done so in Jesus Christ. If you don’t understand justice, you can’t understand justification.”

What is the most biblical way to structure church government?

That is the central question addressed in “Perspectives on Church Government: Five Views of Church Polity,” a new book edited by Chad Brand and R. Stanton Norman and published by Broadman & Holman, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources.

Brand serves as associate professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and Norman is associate professor of theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, La.

The book features five chapters written by five different scholars. Each chapter defends a different view of church government and ends with responses from the other four scholars.

No single view of church government should be considered an essential tenet of Christian orthodoxy, Brand and Norman write in the introduction. Yet developing a biblical perspective on church government is highly important for those seeking to minister effectively in the context of a local congregation, they write.

Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forrest, N.C., defends single elder-led congregational model of church government.

According to Akin, New Testament churches operated according to a congregational polity whereby ultimate human authority in the church was vested in the members themselves. Within the framework of congregationalism, God established the offices of elder (or pastor) and deacon in each church, Akin writes.

“Each and every member has equal rights and responsibilities,” he writes. “However, aspects of representative democracy are not ruled out. Certain persons may indeed be chosen by the body of believers to lead and serve in particular and specific ways. Those who are called to pastor the church immediately come to mind.”

Because the New Testament does not specify the number of elders required in a congregation, a church may have just one elder if only one man in the church meets the scriptural qualifications for the office, Akin writes. Even in cases where there is a plurality of elders, Scripture suggests the one elder should emerge as the “first among equals,” he writes.

Robert L. Reymond, professor of systematic theology at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., argues for a Presbyterian model of church government. Individual congregations should elect elders, Reymond writes. Those elders “are to rule and to oversee the congregation, not primarily in agreement with the will of the congregation but primarily in agreement with the revealed Word of God, in accordance with the authority delegated to them by Christ, the head of the church.”

Unlike the congregational model, Reymond argues that each local church is not an autonomous unit. Instead, the New Testament teaches that congregations should form a “connectional government of graded courts,” which exercises spiritual and moral oversight over individual congregations, he writes.

James Leo Garrett, distinguished professor of systematic theology emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, presents the democratic congregational model of church government. According to Garrett, final human authority in a church rests with the entire congregation when it gathers for decision-making.

“This means that decisions about membership, leadership, doctrine, worship, conduct, missions, finances, property, relationships, and the like are to be made by the gathered congregation except when such decisions have been delegated by the congregation to individual members or groups of members,” Garrett writes.

While congregationalism allows for pastoral leadership in local churches, congregations that adopt elder rule in some from move toward the “erosion or rejection” of congregational polity, Garrett argues.

Paul F. Zahl, dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Ala., argues for the Episcopal model of church government. The New Testament does not mandate any one model of church government as essential for a biblically functioning congregation, he writes. Therefore, Christians must opt for a form of church government that most effectively contributes to the well-being of the church, Zahl argues.

Out of all the models of church government, the Episcopal model most effectively contributes to the well-being of the church because it “comprehends three schools of thought, Protestant, Catholic, and Liberal,” into one unified organization, Zahl writes.

Under the Episcopal model, churches are governed by a three-tiered leadership structure, Zahl says. Deacons are the first order of leaders and act as servants in local congregations. Presbyters or elders are the second order of leaders and act as overseers in local congregations. Bishops are the third order of leaders and oversee the activities of elders and congregations.

James R. White, adjunct professor of theology at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. and president of Alpha and Omega Ministries, advocates a plural elder-led congregational model of church government. Like Akin, White argues that the ultimate human authority in a church rests in the gathered congregation and that the congregation should elect elders to lead the church.

Unlike Akin, however, White argues that the Bible calls for more than one elder in each congregation and does not elevate one elder as the “first among equals.” Elders may perform slightly different functions within the congregation according to their giftedness, he writes.

White concludes that all Christians must seek to discover the Bible’s standards for church polity if they hope to build up the body of Christ effectively.

“The issue (of church government) is an important one, despite the fact that it hardly appears on the ‘radar screen’ of the modern church. It truly reflects how much we really believe Jesus is Lord of his church and is concerned that it functions as he has commanded.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Christians have a divine mandate to engage every aspect of culture with the truth of Christianity, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said on CNN’s “Larry King Live” Sept. 29.

A panel of religious and spiritual leaders appeared with Mohler to discuss a variety of issues including the prevalence of anger in society, same-sex marriage, the war in Iraq, capital punishment and religious pluralism.

The panel consisted of Mohler; Dennis Prager, author and nationally syndicated radio host; Maher Hathout, senior advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council; Deepak Chopra, author and spiritual advisor; and Michael Manning, Roman Catholic priest and internationally syndicated talk-show host.

“There is a comprehensiveness ... to the Christian truth claim,” Mohler said. “God’s truth is public truth, and it applies to every dimension of life. Sometimes that will touch politics.”

As Christians engage culture, however, they must take care not to elevate politics above preaching the Gospel, he said.

“Ours is not a political message,” Mohler said. “Our main purpose is the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t think politics can solve the problem. It can only mitigate and restrain evil.”

In response to Mohler, Chopra warned that no religious group should ever claim to be on God’s side of any issue.

“As we mature ... into an ecosystem that is more mature, we’ll have to make some really conscious choices,” Chopra said. “... Are we going to continue to behave the way we have behaved for thousands of years or are we going to develop a critical mass of consciousness that is going to say, ‘We’re in this together. There’s no us versus them.’”

Mohler responded by arguing that Chopra’s worldview ignores the reality of human sinfulness.

“I don’t think our consciousness is evolving,” Mohler said. “And if it is, it’s going in the wrong direction. ... Human beings, in our sinfulness, will mess everything up, including religion. That’s why I believe we are entirely dependent on God’s self-revelation in the Bible.”

When asked how people should determine the truth about pressing issues, Mohler cited the importance of measuring all ideas against the objective standards of the Bible.

“The question is whether we’ve got it right,” Mohler said. “And on the basis of God’s revelation in Scripture, I have to take my stand as a Christian on the truth claim that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him, and I have no right to negotiate from that to something else.”

While disagreeing with Mohler about the importance of Christ for salvation, Prager cited Christians as a group whose behavior has demonstrated the validity of its beliefs.

“The Christians of America have made a particularly good society,” Prager said. “And that is why, as a Jew, I am not happy to see Christianity disappear in this country. ... The fruit is the test. You can tell me your religion is beautiful. I want to know how you act.”

One of the most pressing issues facing people of faith is same-sex marriage, according to the panel. Hathout argued that homosexual activity “is not a community issue” and that Muslims regard sexual behavior as “a private matter.”

But Mohler asserted that Christians must discuss the issue of homosexuality openly in order to teach the world about God’s good plan for marriage and sexuality.

“At the very center of my understanding of all these things is that there is a sovereign wonderful Creator who has lovingly given us His design. And He has told us that at the very center of what it means to be man is to look to woman and as woman to look to man for completion and complementarity ... in the institution of marriage. And so I believe that anything short of that leads not to happiness but to unhappiness and eventually brings judgment upon, not only the individual, but upon the society that would tolerate it, much less celebrate it.”

In response to one caller’s question, Mohler said that capital punishment is called for in both the Old and New Testaments. As a follow up question on the issue of capital punishment, King asked Mohler why Jesus had to die by means of a capital punishment administered by the Romans.

“He died for our sins because His Father sent Him in order that He would die in our place, as our substitute,” Mohler said. Jesus “shed His blood [as] the penalty for our sins so that all who believe in Him might have life and life everlasting.”

At the close of the program, King asked the panelists whether the future holds any hope for humans.

According to Manning, there is hope for the future because people of different persuasions are beginning to come together for meaningful dialogue.

Hathout asserted that there is hope for the future. A pleasant future, however, will require “a lot of work” on the part of humans, he said.
Chopra’s answer to King’s final question drew looks of incredulity from the other panel participants. Ultimately the future does not matter because human beings are nothing more than a “speck of dust” within a vast universe, he said.

“I will never give up hope,” Chopra said. “On the other hand, if we were wiped out, it wouldn’t make a bit of a difference to the universe. We are just a speck of dust in the junkyard of infinity. ... What is a human being? A speck on the cosmic canvas.”

But the future does matter, Mohler said, because in the future lies a hope that is certain for those who place their faith in Christ as Lord and Savior.

“I look forward to that day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father,” Mohler said. “In this world we will have trouble. But God is on His throne, and God will bring His victory through the Prince of Peace. That’s the day I look forward to.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Youth ministries must teach teenagers how to reflect the glory of God with their sexuality, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said at the sixth annual Vision Conference held Sept. 11.

Preaching from Genesis 2:18-25, Mohler said that churches must confront the current crisis of teen sexuality by teaching young people about the Bible’s comprehensive plan for sex and marriage. The conference was sponsored by the International Center for Youth Ministry at Boyce College, Southern Seminary’s undergraduate school.

“The biggest problem we have in dealing with teenage sexuality is that we don’t know where to start talking about sex in the first place,” Mohler said. “The church, as the redeemed people of God under the authority of Scripture, is supposed to be the one place where sanity prevails in God-ward terms. But we’re in big trouble because so often we do not begin where the Scripture begins.”

Teens must understand that God created them as sexual beings so that they could glorify Him with their sexuality, Mohler said.

“When we talk about the crisis in sexuality, the first crisis is that most people don’t know where to begin,” he said. “So let’s just nail that down and say, ‘We’re going to begin with the glory of God’ so that our message to young people and to their parents is this: We want to help them, teach them, lead them, live before them in such a way that God’s glory will be seen in them.”

Every teenager has a desire for sexual intimacy, he said. God receives glory when young men and women satisfy that desire exclusively within the context of marriage.

“Our purpose is to get young people from puberty to marriage,” Mohler said. “And we are to show them that God’s glory is going to be shown in marriage [as] it will be evident in the world nowhere else.”

Because of the Bible’s emphasis on marriage, youth ministers must explain the benefits of marital union to teens rather than merely listing prohibited sexual activities, he said.

“We are the people who must be under every circumstance determined to talk about sex only in connection with marriage because we have nothing to say that is very meaningful that doesn’t get right back to marriage,” Mohler said.

Youth ministers must also teach teens about the effects of sin on human sexuality, he said.

Because of our sinful natures, every human being is a “sexual sinner,” Mohler said. Even people who have avoided committing sinful sexual acts “nonetheless have a knowledge in the mind that is itself sinful and is the result of sin,” he said.

The church’s goal should be “to take a young sexual sinner and to try to help move that young man or that young woman into Christian maturity, into purity of heart, into purity of ambition to be married and to show God’s glory in creation through the covenant fidelity of a man and a woman in marriage.”

When teenagers understand the glory of marriage and the pervasive effects of sin, they will be able to understand precisely why God prohibits certain sexual acts, Mohler said.

“When we speak of adultery, it’s not just ‘Thou shalt not,’” he said. “We come with a Gospel-centered understanding that begins in God’s glory and shows how God’s glory is then diminished in the world because of ... the violation of the marriage covenant.”

One of the most pressing sexual sins with which youth ministers must be prepared to deal is homosexuality, Mohler said. In order to deal with homosexuality effectively, youth ministers must understand the differences between male and female homosexuality, he said.

Lesbianism stems generally from relational needs and an inability to trust a man to meet those needs, Mohler said. The most effective way to minister to young women struggling with same-sex attraction is to teach them about healthy marriage relationships, he said.

Godly men in the church must “live before women in such a way that these young girls would see worthy models of husbands who honor and respect their wives, protect their wives, find their satisfaction in their wives. And we’ve got to dignify the role of the wife and mother in such a way that the feminists don’t get their way in talking about that as a prison sentence of domestic captivity,” Mohler said.

Male homosexuality generally is based on physical sexual desire and must be confronted with the truth of God’s plan for rightly directed sexuality, he said.

“Pastorally, one of our main responsibilities is to realize that we’re going to deal with some young guys whose sexual arousal is same-sex,” Mohler said. “And we are to respond to them with the absolute truthfulness that we know objectively how God would have sexual desire directed.”

Teaching teenagers to reflect the glory of God through rightly ordered sexual relationships will require a fundamental shift in the way churches conduct youth ministry, he said.

“We’re going to have to re-conceive it all in order that we see every young man and every teenage boy as a future husband and father,” Mohler said. “... The same thing holds true for young women. We have to see every young woman, every girl that comes into our ministry as a future wife and mother.”

Mohler concluded, “You’re going to meet some young people that have deep sexual problems. ... But there is nothing we can’t handle ... because we understand that the answer to all these things is not just right information or just right knowledge. It’s a personal relationship with the true and living God.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—What should a pastor do when his congregation refuses to embrace a more biblical way of doing things simply because “we’ve never done it that way before”?

Or how must he handle the situation when two factions in his church prepare for war over the style of music to be used in corporate worship?

Johnny Hunt, who has served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., since 1986, addressed a myriad of issues such as these--issues that are an important part of pastoral ministry—during a one-day conference Sept. 13 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said.

“I have heard a massive outpouring of appreciation for (the conference). It was great to see so many (students and pastors) taking seriously the opportunity to consider, in a focused way, the calling of the pastor and the great call of ministry and how that is actually worked out in the task of the minister of the Gospel. There is none better in that than Dr. Johnny Hunt.”

Hunt, who has served in the pastorate for 31 years, lectured on both the spiritual life of a pastor and his interaction with and care for the congregation. Hunt warned the audience, which included more than 350 local pastors and seminary students, against developing a “CEO mentality.” Instead, he urged pastors to love their parishioners and to protect them by unflinchingly proclaiming the truth of God’s Word.

“Many of today’s pastors try to imitate the corporate CEO instead of the biblical model of the shepherd,” Hunt said. “They carry out tasks instead of seeing their work as a mission. They are more interested in carrying forward a program than loving people. That’s not the biblical model of a loving shepherd.”

Pastors must model godliness for their congregations through servant leadership, he said.

“Your people will begin to place importance on the things you place as important,” Hunt said. “When they see you serve them they will want to serve others in the manner of Christ. After all, Christ came not be served, but to serve.”

While Hunt has presented his conference, entitled “The Shepherd and His Sheep,” across the country mostly to pastors, he believes seminary students also

receive encouragement as well as practical instruction from the conference. A number of Southern professors offered credit to students attending the event.

“Most of these [students] are going to end up in vocational service somewhere and I hope that I can be a source of encouragement to them or that I can become a resource person to them in the future by hopefully demonstrating that I genuinely care for them,” Hunt said. “

“Most of them will be doing something of the flavor of what I am doing, whether it be in education, or missions or music, but they will be serving on staff. I think they need encouragement and I believe they need some basic instructions on some things that you may not learn in the classroom—unless the professor has been a pastor—that can speak to some of the basic needs we are trying to address.”

Throughout the day, Hunt used as illustrations scores of challenges and delicate situations that have confronted him during his three decades of ministry. Leading a church and carrying out a biblical ministry will bring difficulties, he said, but pastors must remain faithful to their churches, realizing “that people desire true shepherds whose hearts overflow with love for the sheep.”

One of the most important aspects of a pastor’s usefulness is his own purity, Hunt said. A pastor must guard himself morally and avoid bringing shame upon himself, the church and the kingdom of God, he said.

“One of the key words is ‘purity,’” Hunt said. “These guys have got to stay pure—don’t beat themselves and don’t cause themselves to be put on a shelf.

“I would tell them to be passionate, to not lose their zeal for what they are doing. It is easy to start well and even to be in it for a while and see it as exciting, but I pray that they will finish with the same type of fervency and zeal, which is a very biblical principle—being compassionate toward people and very passionate toward the Lord in their ministries.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, announced Thursday the establishment of a Center for Science and Theology at the school along with the appointment of renowned philosopher of science William A. Dembski as its first director.

Both the center and Dembski’s work through it will represent a major component of Southern Seminary’s commitment to developing and articulating a comprehensive Christian worldview, Mohler said. Dembski will serve as the Carl F.H. Henry Professor of Theology and Science and will begin June 1.

“[The center will be] a representation of our commitment to be very serious about the task of the Christian worldview, it’s development, it’s application, and arming this generation of Christian leaders and ministers with all that will be necessary, given the challenges of a technological and scientific age to be ready to confront those issues with Christian truth and the undiluted resources of the Christian worldview,” Mohler said.

Having Dembski as the center’s director is a major development, not only for the seminary, but also for the Southern Baptist Convention and the evangelical world at large, Mohler said.

“Dr. Dembski is one of the most skilled philosophers of science in this generation,” Mohler said. “He is a primary theorist of Intelligent Design as well as a primary opponent of Darwinism and evolutionary theory...His name is well-known in the scientific world. This is a new thing for a theological seminary and it is a great thing. We look forward to having Dr. Dembski on this campus.”

Dembski desires to help students understand how science should be understood in terms of Christian theology. Theology underpins all of his teaching on and views of science and intelligent design, Dembski said.

“I started out as a straight research mathematician but got into these questions of philosophy and theology because I was so exercised in my spirit about the unbelief I saw in the academy, why it seemed so reasonable to disbelieve the Christian faith,” Dembski said. “That is what really motivated me to work on Christian worldviews and apologetics and it is in the background of my work on Intelligent Design as well.

“Theology is where my ultimate passion is and I think that is where I can uniquely contribute...I am looking forward to engaging students and theological students have always been my favorite to deal with because for theology students, it’s not just a job, but a passion, especially at a place like Southern, because they want to change the world.”

Dembski, along with other evangelical scholars such as Phillip Johnson, have used arguments of Intelligent Design to loosen the stranglehold that Darwinian naturalism has held over contemporary science and academic thought for the past few decades. Mohler pointed out that Intelligent Design is an intellectual tool against the false dogmas of naturalism and Darwinism.

“Intelligent Design is not tantamount to the biblical doctrine of creation,” Mohler said. “Theologically, Intelligent Design falls far short of requiring any affirmation of the doctrine of creation as revealed in the Bible. Nevertheless, it is a useful and important intellectual tool, and a scientific movement with great promise.

“The real significance of Intelligent Design theory and its related movement is the success with which it undermines the materialistic and naturalistic worldview central to the theory of evolution.”

Since 1999, Dembski has served as associate research professor in the conceptual foundations of science at Baylor University’s Institute for Faith and Learning. He also serves as a senior fellow for the Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture in Seattle, Wash., and is executive director of the International Society of Complexity, Information, and Design.

A mathematician and philosopher, Dembski is the author of a number of influential books including “Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology,” “The Design Inference,” and his latest, “The Design Revolution,” published by Cambridge University Press. Dembski previously taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Dallas.

Dembski holds seven degrees—including two Ph.D. degrees, one in mathematics from the University of Chicago and the other in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also holds a seminary degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also holds a bachelor of arts in psychology and master of science in statistics. In addition, Dembski has also done postdoctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in physics at the University of Chicago and in computer science at Princeton.

Russell D. Moore, dean of the seminary’s School of Theology and senior vice president of Academic Administration, called Dembski’s appointment “historic.”

“Bill Dembski’s appointment to the Southern Seminary faculty is an historic event in Southern Seminary’s long heritage of equipping Christians to engage the culture with a Christian worldview,” Moore said.

“Dembski is the preeminent proponent of Intelligent Design, known throughout the world by both his admirers and his naturalistic critics. Dembski will help us to prepare a new generation of Christians to confront fearlessly the reigning Darwinian orthodoxies of our confused era.

“Through the scholarship and teaching of Bill Dembski, we plan to equip Christians to communicate one of the most basic and glorious aspects of the gospel—that human beings are not accidents or machines, but creatures with purpose and design.”

During his time at Baylor, Dembski became a focus of controversy, with some members of the Baylor faculty charging that Dembski’s work, and that of the center he directed, would embarrass the university by implying that its science faculty was not fully committed to the theory of evolution.

Dembski will face a very different environment at Southern Seminary. “Our students and faculty are thrilled that Bill Dembski is joining us, and we are proud that he will be teaching in the classroom and directing the work of this very important center. This is a proud day for Southern Seminary and for Southern Baptists,” Mohler said.

“I think the opportunity to deal with students and getting them properly oriented on science and theology and the relation between those is going to be important because science has been such an instrument used by the materialists to undermine the Christian faith and religious belief generally,” Dembski said.

“So much of the Christian world has been subverted by false ideologies and the Southern Baptist Convention has stayed faithful. This is really an opportunity to mobilize a new generation of scholars and pastors not just to equip the saints but also to engage the culture and reclaim it for Christ. That’s really what is driving me.”

A recent series of revival meetings in south Louisville included several participants with ties to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Five south Louisville churches co-sponsored the second annual “Faith for Today, Hope for Tomorrow” crusade Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at the Iroquois Amphitheatre. The pastors of four of the participating churches— Ormsby Heights Baptist, Carlisle Avenue Baptist, Rockford Lane Baptist, and Parkwood Baptist—are graduates of Southern Seminary.Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. preached on the third night of the meetings, Tommy Hellams, Mohler’s executive assistant, led the choir all four nights and Aletheia, a singing group from Boyce College, also sang during the meetings. Additionally, Kevin Cosby, who preached on the second evening, is a Southern alumnus and also serves as an adjunct professor at the school.

Shawn Merithew, who completed his Ph.D. at Southern in 2003, pastors Carlisle Avenue. He said Southern’s participation speaks volumes about the school’s graduates and its presence in Louisville’s Christian community.

“It really does say a lot about Southern’s graduates and their desire to focus on the mission of the church rather than the isolation of the church,” Merithew said. “Churches are often afraid to cooperate with each other and can really get sidetracked. The churches need to unite in their work for the glory of God.”

The purpose of the meetings was just that, Merithew said. The five congregations also viewed the meetings as a season of renewal and recommitment. The crusade began last year when four of the churches sought a way to promote loving cooperation with each other.

In 2003, pastors from the four churches served as guest speakers each night of the crusade. Merithew said a sermon by Benny Phelps, pastor of Parkwood, best summarized the intention of the meetings.

“There had been a spirit of competition instead of a spirit of cooperation,” he said. “The meetings really brought the churches together and the people loved it.”

This year, total attendance reached about 2,000 and between 40-50 persons made professions of faith as a result of the meetings, Merithew said.

What is the genuine antidote to racism?

It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, essayists in the latest edition of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology argue.

The summer edition of the SBJT addresses racial reconciliation from a number of biblical standpoints, but all the writers agree that the sin of racism is ultimately dealt with only through the gospel.

“Racism, from a biblical view, is always wrong,” writes SBJT editor Stephen J. Wellum. “Genesis 1:26-27 is absolutely clear at this point. Because all human beings are created in the image of God, no one race is superior either in terms of value or significance.

“Sadly, sin has distorted and twisted God’s good creation, including racial relations, and it is only the power of the gospel which can bring true healing and transformation.”

Four other Southern Seminary professors also weigh in on the issue in the journal. Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration, writes that Christians, during the civil rights movement, were confronted with the sin of racism through their own theology.

“[It was] a theology that emphasized both the dignity of the individual and the reconciliation of the community in ways inconsonant with racial bigotry. With racial, ethnic, and tribal animosities accelerating across the globe, it is imperative that contemporary evangelical conservatives understand the evangelical impulses at the heart of the civil rights movement that provide a biblical portrait of the personal, corporate, and cosmic aspects of the gospel.

“In so doing, conservative evangelicals can speak theologically to the crises of racial hatred by drawing on the implications of their convictions about personal regeneration and the community of the church.

“This theological awareness is even more critical when contemporary evangelicals are asked increasingly to accept new movements—from feminism to homosexual liberation and beyond—as the legitimate heirs of the civil rights movement.”

T. Vaughn Walker, professor of black church studies, reflects on the history of cooperative ministries both within the Southern Baptist Convention and among National Baptists. Walker also lays out a six-fold challenge aimed at helping Christians to work toward racial reconciliation.

“If the Christian community in all of its racial diversity cannot model authentic racial reconciliation, then what is the hope that our society can do so? Given the transforming power of the gospel which can not only reconcile fallen sinners to God but also to one another in the church, we need to be on the forefront of serving as models of reconciliation in this racially divided, fallen order.

“Cooperative ministries (alongside church planting), whether as an official denominational program emphasis or not, must be the order of the day.”

Ken Fentress, assistant professor of Old Testament Interpretation and dean of Intercultural Programs at Southern Seminary, is one of seven scholars who participates in the SBJT forum on “Racism, Scripture, and History.” Other participants include D.A. Carson, Paige Patterson and Michael Haykin. Haykin is distinguished visiting professor of church history at Southern Seminary.

The Great Commission demands that the church remove all barriers that are built upon race and ethnicity, Fentress writes. Because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, the church must work toward racial reconciliation.

“The Great Commission calls for us to go and make new disciples of Jesus Christ,” Fentress writes. “This mandate requires the church to be intentional about overcoming the racial barriers that have been the source of division and segregation in the Christian Community.

“It is vital to work toward racial reconciliation because it is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ through which God reconciles people of all races to Himself. Reconciliation with God through Christ is the basis for racial reconciliation in the Christian community according to 1 John 1:7 and 4:20. The integrity of the gospel and the credibility of the church of the Lord Jesus are at stake in this issue.”

The journal also contains articles by John Piper, Sherard Burns, Timothy George and Robert Smith, Jr., as well as a number of book reviews. For more information on the SBJT, please contact the journal office at journaloffice@sbts.edu.

Louisville, KY --- R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has been elected to the Board of Directors of Focus on the Family. The announcement came Tuesday, August 31 from James Dobson, the organization’s founder and chairman.

“The addition of Dr. Mohler to our Board will bring a wealth of leadership experience, theological insight and intellectual acumen to Focus on the Family,” said Dobson. “We are delighted that our ministry is in a position to benefit from all he has to offer.”

In a statement released Tuesday, Focus on the Family called Mohler a leading voice for the evangelical community and noted his commitment to perpetuating a Christian worldview.

“I am very honored by this election to the board of Focus on then Family,” said Mohler. “I believe that Dr. James Dobson and this organization are one of greatest forces for good in our day. I think at this strategic time there are few Christian organizations that hold as much promise to assist families and provide leadership for the evangelical movement as Focus on the Family. I‘m glad to add whatever I bring to this board and to join this great organization.”

Founded in 1977 and based in Colorado Springs, Colo., Focus on the Family ministers with advice, counseling and resources to millions of families through broadcasting, websites and other media. The organization’s radio programs are broadcast on 3,000 stations in North America and heard by 220 million people worldwide.

“Dr. James Dobson has given his life to assisting and strengthening families and providing insight to parents,” said Mohler. “But in recent years Focus has expanded to also become a very important resource base and think-tank for the evangelical movement. I have such great respect for so many at Focus who are working in areas of public policy and other specific ministries. I think it is the great evangelical organization that reaches both the culture and individual families.”

“Given Dr. Mohler’s unique perspective and experience, I have no doubt he will prove to be an outstanding addition to our Board,” added Dobson. “He is truly a leader among evangelicals. We’re extremely fortunate that Dr. Mohler has seen fit to lend his expertise to our mission in this way.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)—James B. Hyman, a longtime trustee at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Aug. 26 at the University of Louisville Hospital following a head injury he sustained in an accident on a farm he owned near Shelbyville, Ky.

Hyman served on Southern Seminary’s board of trustees for the past 10 years having rotated off the board in June. He had also served as a member of trustee financial board. The Louisville native was an obstetrician and gynecologist and had practiced in his hometown since 1967, delivering more than 10,000 babies.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., Southern Seminary president, said Hyman’s life was an example of one lived in faithful Christian service to the glory of God.

“Dr. James Hyman was a remarkable Christian servant, physician and committed layman,” Mohler said. “He was a faithful member of the board for a decade, always engaged with the issues of discussion and very much committed to the work of Christ around the world.

“He assisted in the birth of thousands of babies and gave leadership to the pro-life cause, both in Louisville and at the national level. His mission trips were an extension of his personal commitment to the Gospel, and his death robs us of a friend and of a committed layman who did so much good during his all too brief life.”

Hyman was a devoted churchman, serving as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Shelbyville, Ky., where a celebration service was held Aug. 30.

Hyman was active for the cause of Christ in numerous areas. In 1989 he received the Dr. Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Man of the Year Award from the Kentucky Right to Life Organization for his courageous stance against abortion. Hyman also traveled worldwide, placing Bibles and Christian tracts in numerous countries across the globe.

Hyman is survived by wife Nancy, three children, Kimberly Ruth Schroering, Roderic Barrett Hyman, Eric Thomas Hyman, and seven grandchildren.