BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Baptists must exercise their precious freedom in order to accomplish God's work in the world, Joel Gregory insisted at the annual Associated Baptist Press banquet June 24.
“When you walk the way I've walked over the last decade, you come to recognize the significance of free Baptists,” Gregory told the crowd on the eve of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly in Birmingham, Ala.
Gregory became a star in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and early '90s, until he abruptly quit the pastorate of one of the SBC's flagship congregations, First Baptist Church in Dallas, 12 years ago.
He sold funeral arrangements for two years and has been a magazine publisher in Fort Worth for a decade. In the past couple of years, he has preached again, mostly in African-American and moderate Baptist churches — a contrast to his affiliation with SBC fundamentalists during his heyday.
Freedom dominated the ABP program. Gregory expounded on the theme, and three Baptist organizations — Associated Baptist Press, the Baptist Joint Committee and Baptists Today — introduced the First Freedoms Project, a joint educational and development venture focusing on the First Amendment.
Gregory highlighted freedom by focusing on “the original free Baptist,” John the Baptist. Gregory's sermon, “Memos to Ministers from a Bizarre Baptist,” emphasized several facets of freedom:
— “Knock the props out of other people's pretenses.”
Gregory called for prophetic voices, an exhortation appropriate for the evening. Associated Baptist Press is a news service created to provide reporting that is not controlled by denominational bureaucracy. Baptists Today is a magazine founded to provide a similar outlet for “free” expression of Baptist news and opinion. And the Baptist Joint Committee is an agency based in Washington, D.C., that has championed the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S.
One of Jesus' defining characteristics was that he “was no respecter of persons,” Gregory reminded, noting how Jesus told the truth in the face of formidable religious and political power.
Urging Baptists to follow Jesus' example, he said: “Even the world knows when we pander to power rather than preach the truth to power, we forfeit our birthright. … Free Baptists need to speak the truth to power.”
— “You need a free message and not the right situation or location.”
Acknowledging many Cooperative Baptist Fellowship participants may feel “expatriated from a denomination we used to know,” since most of them left the SBC after fundamentalists gained control in 1990, he noted John the Baptist also ministered in “a desolate place,” the wilderness of Judah.
“John the Baptist was not concerned about his situation but his proclamation,” he said, noting John called listeners to change their minds and follow Christ. “Be more concerned about what you say than where you say it,” he advised.
— “You may need to be odd for God.”
Even today, Christians still make fun of John the Baptist, who ate locusts and wore wild, rough clothes, Gregory said. “We make fun of him because he makes us uncomfortable, … but he lived his sermon.”
People today are looking for authenticity, which stands out from conformity to religious trends and can clash with the messages of people who claim to be “spokespersons for God,” he said.
— “Discount early, quick success in ministry.”
“I drew huge crowds early,” said Gregory, who preached in some of America's most prominent pulpits and became pastor of one of Baptists most famous churches as a young man.
“There is in every generation a siren song for proclaimers — early, quick success,” he warned. “Gifts can push you into early, quick success where the absence of other gifts will not keep you.”
— “Free Baptists should get specific about all sins.”
Noting John the Baptist “spoke to collective wrong in social justice,” Gregory added, “When we speak truth to power, we're willing to get out of vague, general banalities.”
For example, as long as Enron executives still play golf in a Houston country club while the government doesn't have enough money for school lunches, free Baptists need to address corporate sin, he said.
— “Set a limit on what you can do as a minister.”
Rather than conform to his followers' expectations, John the Baptist urged them to follow Jesus, Gregory said, but many ministers succumb to similar expectations of greatness.
“As a minister today, there's a temptation to be Dr. Phil in the pulpit,” he noted, adding many ministers try to tell people “how to live in every phase of their life.”
“It's not our role to do people's lives for them,” he advised, suggesting the role is to point them to Jesus Christ.
— “Acknowledge we need [Jesus] far more than he needs us.”
“I fell off the back of the Baptist bandwagon about 12 years ago,” Gregory said, recalling that for a decade prior to that time he spoke at Baptist gatherings far and wide. But in the meantime, “I found out the kingdom of God has gone on just fine,” he admitted. “I found out I needed a lot more of what the grace of God can do for me rather than what I can do for God.
“Let the people know you need the gospel as much or more than they do.”
Baptists must work together to protect and preserve freedom, according to leaders of the groups involved in the First Freedoms Project.
Johnny Pierce, editor of Baptists Today; Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee; and Greg Warner, executive editor of Associated Baptist Press, described the project. It will involve educational programs about religious liberty and freedom of the press in Baptist churches, as well as an annual fund-raising campaign to support the three agencies.
Freedom protection is vital, declared Jimmy Allen, a retired denominational executive and a founder of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, who endorsed the First Freedoms Project.
“We're in a great crisis in this country,” Allen said. “We're seeing an erosion of freedom. … I never thought I'd see the day when some Baptists would say, 'There's no such thing as separation of church and state.' But some are.”
America's guarantee of religious freedom, in which church and state each have a role but they do not rule each other, has produced “the strongest religious life in the world,” Allen said.
“We need to be the freedom folks — champions of religious liberty,” Allen urged. “We're needing to recover our voices. How do you do that? The people who talk about championing religious freedom are joining together.”
The First Freedoms Project is a “demonstration opportunity” that will show how groups can work together to promote freedom, he predicted.
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