All things Narnia
Calling Bob Green …
The Rev. Bob Green brought up an interesting issue Tuesday but my attempts to track him down have proved fruitless.
Green is pastor of a Broken Arrow church and a former president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
During an annual meeting session on Tuesday he made a motion to direct Lifeway Christian Resources to review its policy regarding the distribution of fables and allegories. Lifeway, one of 12 convention entities and agencies,is a church enrichment ministry and literature publication venue for the denomination.
Green told messengers he wanted the agency to be directed to stop the sale and promotion of fables and allegories such as “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
Say what?
Pastor Green disappeared into a sea of his fellow Baptists before I could reach him. Efforts to send notes to him through other pastors were unsuccessful as well.
So I am stumped as to what Green meant by his motion and why.
As it turned out, the convention’s Committee on the Order of Business said Green’s motion was not in order because it sought to direct rather than request a convention entity to take action.
Messengers, my annual meeting agenda informed me, may offer motions which request but not direct, that an entity take action.
Therefore Green’s motion was squashed, but my interest was not.
“The Chronicles of Narnia,” C.S. Lewis’ beloved fiction series has been heralded for years as a Christian allegory. True, it is a great good vs. evil classic, but there is no question that many Christians have seen the series as wholesome for children and an evangelistic tool.
In the book, the characters Lucy and Susan, Edmund and Peter, are called “Daughters of Eve” and “Sons of Adam” respectively. Some see Aslan, the great lion, as a symbol of Christ — the “Lion of Judah.” And I would venture to say that the White Witch, another series character, with her wicked and deadly quest for power, is a symbol for Satan.
The Narnia series recently came to the forefront when one of the books in the series, “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” was made into a motion picture film through a partnership between Disney and Walden Media.
I know that many Oklahoma churches touted the film as an evangelistic tool, particularly for youths.
I’m hoping Rev. Green and I can connect soon so I can find out more about his concerns.
I know others are curious as well
Surrounded by Spurs fans …
I’ve been accused of being single-minded in my various pursuits, but this was a no-brainer even for me.
I had just settled in at my hotel in downtown San Antonio’s Market Square when I heard noises coming from the street. I’m talking honking car horns, people yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. What in the world was going on?
I stood on the hotel balcony for a few minutes wondering if I was a missing an important story. Surely the Southern Baptists weren’t making this ruckus. I knew most of them were probably in their beds, like me, trying to get some sleep for the next day’s slew of convention activities.
Nevermind that I had just read my complimentary copy of USA Today … and skipped the Sports section. OK, I did look at the cover but only to get a good look at Tony Parker — Tony Parker, the star point guard for the San Antonio Spurs NBA team.
Even when I called my kids and heard my sons shouting in the background, it didn’t dawn on me that they were watching folks who regularly shoot hoops just a few miles down the road from me at the Alamodome.
I asked my daughter what all the fuss was about. “Are they watching a game?,” I asked knowingly.
“Yup,” she said.
This morning another reporter mentioned hearing loud noises coming from the street outside her hotel. She clued me in about the big NBA game, but it was in Cleveland not San Antonio. She confessed that she had been clueless about all the fuss herself.
Apparently we were surrounded by Spurs fans who were elated at their team’s win last night against the Cavaliers (so sorry LeBron).
Who knows what they will be like Thursday night?
Meanwhile, I’m afraid to root for the Cavaliers while I’m here so … Go Spurs!
Mystery solved
Lots of folks scrambled to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center this morning to find out the vote on Rick Garner’s motion that was essentially a call to reaffirm the “suffiency” of the Baptist Faith and Message of 2007 as the Southern Baptist Convention’s statement of doctrinal beliefs.
Convention leaders announced that the motion was approved.
What does all this mean? Maybe nothing to people outside the denomination, but plenty to those who call themselves Southern Baptists.
Two Oklahoma pastors on opposite ends of the issue had much to say about it today. It turns out interpretation is everything, darrrlllliiiinnnngggg.
The Rev. Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Enid, said it was the convention’s most significant vote in the last 10 years.
He said messengers reaffirmation of the BF&M, as they have nicknamed it, sends a clear message to convention entities and institutions that they must not make decisions based on doctrine not mentioned in the denomination’s doctrinal statement.
“In other words don’t restrict what is and isn’t Baptist beyond the BF&M,” Burleson said.
At the heart of the matter is glossolalia also called private prayer language or speaking in tongues. Burleson and many of his fellow trustees on the convention’s International Mission Board have disagreed on a policy — now “guideline” — barring people with a private prayer language from becoming missionaries.
Burleson has said he doesn’t speak in tongues. He does, however, believe that what people do in their prayer closet is their business. Period.
The Rev. Robin Foster, pastor of, Immanuel Baptist Church (Foster says the similar names of his church and Burleson “is kind of a weird twist of fate” in Perkins, disagrees with Burleson on this issue. Both men have been blogging about this issue for over a year.
Foster told me today that he agreed with the reaffirmation of the Baptist Faith and Message, but he takes issue with Burleson’s interpretation of it.
“I would disagree with the spin that’s being put on it. To say that trustees can not go beyond that — I think that’s ridiculous,” he said.
“It handcuffs our trustees from being able to fully perform their duties.”
Foster said he loves and respects Burleson and believes he has a say in the convention, “but so do I. We just have differences of opinion.”
Look for both men’s blogs — Burleson’s at www.wadeburleson.com and Foster’s at www.fromthehill@wordpress.com.
Mystery vote
I did not disappear into a black hole. I repeat: I did not disappear into a black hole.
So much happened today, the first day of the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, that I am just now finding time to blog.
The Baptist messengers, more than 8,500 of them, have left us Baptist watchers with a mystery to ponder overnight.
The Rev. Rick Garner, an Ohio pastor, made a motion tonight to reaffirm the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 as the convention’s “instrument of doctrinal accountability.”
By doing so Garner said he was hoping to get the convention’s messengers to vote on whether or not the doctrinal statement is sufficient and preclude SBC boards and institutions from making decisions outside its parameters.
There was much discussion both for and against Garner’s motion and a vote by ballot was called.
This was shortly after 8 p.m. The convention convened at around 10:15 p.m. with no one letting us know what the final vote was.
I’m sure the ballots were still being counted, but it is a “wait and see” that is of much interest to many people.
The Rev. Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, said he believes Garner’s motion was approved by the messengers.
He said the approval would be “huge” in terms of sending a message to SBC entities that he believes now seek to “narrow the parameters” of what it means to be a Southern Baptist.
Lots of folks are curious. I guess we will all know something in the morning.
Stay turned.
In Search of Oklahomans
Downtown San Antonio is teeming with Southern Baptists, most wearing their annual meeting badges.
A sign in the press room Monday night proclaimed that 6,000 had registered as of 4 p.m. Monday.
I visited the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Monday so that I would know my way around this morning.
I’m glad I did. I heard a distinctive voice as I waited for a shuttle to my hotel. I turned around and saw the Rev. Anthony Jordan, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, and his wife Polla. After talking to them I walked across the street and made a remark to passersby that I was not from such a big city as San Antonio (at least not one that is as busy at 10 at night).
“Where are you from?,” they asked.
“Oklahoma City,” I said.
Turns out the “passersby” were Rev. Randy Wisniewsky and his wife Peggy who live in Woodward. He is senior pastor of Crown Heights Baptist Church there and they were on their way to a late evening seminar on missional churches.
It’s a small world.
Pastor Wisniewsky said he and his wife attend the convention’s annual meetings when it’s affordable and close to home.
He said he likes the convention’s Cooperative Program which encourages churches to move in the same direction in regards to their giving and other efforts.
“We figure we can do more all being in cooperation together,” said pastor Wisniewsky. “It’s helping to grow the kingdom of God.”
OK. Southern Baptist Convention Frank Page just convened the denomination’s 2007 annual meeting.
Stay tuned.
On the way to San Antonio
It’s the day before the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting and I will spend much of today traveling to San Antonio where the event is to take place. However, many Southern Baptists from across the country are already in San Antonio, participating in a wide variety of pre-meeting events.
Southern Baptist pastors are attending the annual Pasters’ Conference which began Sunday and continues through tonight at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
A Pastors’ Wives Conference is also under way today in the convention center’s Lila Cockrell Theatre. Speakers include Oklahoma’s own Diane Nix, wife of Preston Nix, pastor of Eastwood Baptist Church in Tulsa.
Other events today include the annual chaplains’ luncheon.
I expect there are many Southern Baptists who will be traveling today like I am. But as you can see, there’s plenty to do for those who are already taking in the sights and sounds of San Antonio.
