TheDeSocios.com

Anyone who reads what I write, or knows me, knows that I appreciate Mark Driscoll, and his ministry. I am very pleased with how the God has used his ministry. I have found his teaching very good on many issues.

Here is what bothers me. On the topic of baptism he is inconsistent. Here is why I say this.Driscoll is one of the founders of The Acts 29 Network, and is on their board. IN their documents they say “How a local church performs them is open-handed (we have Presbyterians and Baptists in the Acts 29 Network”

I was happy to hear that they apparently admitted that Christians are divided on the issue, but when I recently read a section from Vintage Church. “We simply cannot believe that justification and regeneration are by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone can hold this understanding of baptism…”

More than his disagreement, I am bother by the tone of the latter quote, and to be honest it seems to be a contradiction to the notion that baptism is an open handed issue in Acts 29.

Here is why I am really disappointed in Drsicoll’s take: In many of the things that I have read from Driscoll I have found that he is gifted at communicating a unique, and yet critical and insightful perspective on theological issues. He is well read and cites from authors across the ages. Yet when it comes to Baptism, he cites several reformed voices including the Westminster Confession of Faith, but chooses to avoid interacting with them. Additionally unlike the majority of his writing he seems to be simply restating a modernist, perspective from a very narrow historical sector. Its especially unfortunate that Driscoll is so dogmatic on one sacrament while at the same time is fairly unspecific when it comes to the other, simply stating that he “stands more in the Reformed Tradition”.

I understand that Presbyterians are in the minority, but it bothers me that with one statement Discoll can, at least by association, admit and accept differences on the issue of Baptism, while with a another statement, condemn, and disassociate himself with many great men, including Tim Keller, Harvie Conn, and others.

This is not an attack on Driscoll, and I hope it is not a rant. I felt that it was necessary to voice my disagreement with a person that I often recommend, in a respectful way.

Is Mark Driscoll right?
Do men care about church?
Should men care about church?
Do we, as the church, target the audience before us which statistically is more female( I’ve heard 60%)?
Do we find ways to make sure that men know that Jesus was a man, the ultimate man, a man, that every girl should want to marry, and every guy should want to be?
Are Driscoll and his buddies right when they say that the church has preached an effeminate Jesus?
Is Mark right when he says: “Jesus did not have Elton John or the Spice girls on his iPod, The View on his Tivo, or a lemon-yellow Volkswagen beetle in his garage. No Jesus was not the kind of person, who, if walking by you on the street, would require you to look for an Adam’s apple to determine the gender.”
Is Anthony Bradley correct in stating the church’s inability to fulfill the mission of God when he says: “Pastor Teletubby, offering a pink-dressed Jesus, is not capable of leading a church into the gloriously dangerous sufferings of Gospel-driven local mission advancing the Kingdom of God ‘wherever the curse is found.’”?
A few years ago, Driscoll had some trouble on the Out of Ur blog over at christianitytoday.com. So I decided to see if the blog was still running. When I loaded the site it apeared to be fully operational, and guess who I saw at the top of the site? None other than John Tesh. Yes, your heard me right John Tesh. At the top of the site was a banner add for John Tesh’s Blog. No Joke. Here is the actual banner that was on the site?

As guy I have to say that just seeing John Tesh at the top of the site made me think: “These guys have nothing to say to me.” And I’m a Christian! I would bet that most people would be much more comfortable with John Tesh running their church than they would be with Mark Driscoll.

Mark is offensive, he is sometimes a bit imprecise but he is right when it comes to men. As a man I can confirm that men need to be told to step up; to stop pounding six packs of IC Light and playing Halo 3, while they surf for porn, and starting living like all of life is under the good reign of King Jesus, and that one day he is going to return and check our time cards.

“The Key to church growth is kick a guy in the middle as hard as you can.” – Mark Driscoll, from Preaching the Mission.

David Krueger recently posted about the Missouri Baptist Convention’s recent ban on any of their churches working with or cooperating with the Acts 29 Network.

Here is the statement made by the MBC:
Effective Jan 1, The Acts29 Network is an organization which the MBC Exec Bd. Staff will not be working with, supporting, or endorsing in any manner at anytime.

This is a sad turn of events.

I know its still a debatable idea, but most of us living in the north east or the west coast are living in a post-Christian culture.

Ive recently listened to two talks by two different guys from different background. Both come down with similar strategies.
What does this mean for those of you reading this post:

No matter what style you like, if your goal is to see more people interact with Jesus, you need to listen to at least one of these guys.

Here is a bit of background:
Darren Patrick is the Pastor of the Journey in St. Louis and is connected with the Acts 29 Network.
David Bisgrove is one of the Assistant Pastor who have taken on some of the preaching at Redeemer NYC.

So for all those of you who think that wearing jeans with no holes is dressing up for church, and who are know the difference between emergent and emerging go check out Darren Patrick’s Talk. For those of you who have at least one blue blazer with the golden buttons, and are more comfortable with the organ than a gibson, you must listen to David Gisbon’s talk at the Gospel Coalition.

How does your church interact with people in the Arts?
I think that many people say “well, we don’t.” Some might even argue that a church that has values or encourages visual artists are in danger of breaking, the Second Commandment.

Yet if we take a closer look at the Old Testament we can’t help but realize that God instructed the people of Israel to be very creative. God cares a great deal, about the way things look. In Exodus 25 and following he lays does instructions about how the Tabernacle should look. He goes into great detail about how things should be put together, and then he says “you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.”
The word skillfully here can also be translated inventive or even ingenious. Its a adverb stating that the cherubim which are going to hang in the curtains should be the best. God is telling the Israelites to do a good job. A few chapters later he even goes as far to say that he has empower certain people in Israel with the skills and artistic ability to make art worthy of God’s Tent of meeting.

Of course things are a little different now, but if we say that God gives still people the ability to compose songs for his glory. Couldn’t it be possible that He has given other people gifts that allow them to craft visual beauty, like Bezalel and the other artists of Exodus?

Some big churches like Marshill that are now getting into the fine arts and having gallery space, but they have 6000 people in and out every week.

How do smaller churches communicate that the Visual Arts are important?

At our church we have have Arts Coffee houses, were the Artists in our church have put stuff together, but we have not really pursued much of the Artistic community.

One church that I really like is Sojourn in Louisville KY.

They recently moved into a new building which acts as studio, gallery, and even performance space. They even have a yearly film fest utilizing their space.
These guys are doing something right, they are truly calling out to artists and saying “Jesus, cares about Art. He wants to see creative visual expressions.”

I hope to check out their space one day if I ever get down to Louisville.

Information and a list of upcoming events at the 930 Art Center can be found at their website.