Why would some Baptist writers seem to go out of their way to create the impression that the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is not only not Baptist but not even Christian? This is what CBF executive coordinator, Daniel Vestal, is wondering after a Baptist Press story asserted that CBF was not Christian.
“It pained me that people have been offended and hurt by this confusion about what CBF believes. I want to make clear that CBF is Christ-centered and Trinitarian in its theology,” asserted Vestal. “CBF is clear in its affirmation of the core commitment to the triune God. Our commitment to Christ as the Savior for the whole world stems from our Trinitarian faith.”
The confusion stemmed from comments made by John Killinger who lead three of about 60 breakout sessions at CBF's annual general assembly last month in Memphis. According to reports, in one session Killinger said, “Now we are reevaluating and we're approaching everything with a humbler perspective and seeing God's hand working in Christ, but not necessarily as the incarnate God in our midst. Now, that may be hard for you to hear depending on where you are coming from, but we can talk more about it.”
Picking up on this reported comment, James Smith, editor of the Florida Baptist Witness asserted through Baptist Press, “Here's the bottom line: It's long past time to declare the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is no longer truly Christian, let alone Baptist.” Smith conceded that some, perhaps even most, individuals in the CBF are Christians, but they are ill-informed about what he called CBF's promotion of heresy. Smith's comments may be read online at http://www. baptistpress.com/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=28366.
Vestal denounced the theology Killinger expressed in the breakout session. “I want to reflect some on what Baptist Press reported. The only confession of the Christian church was ‘Jesus is Lord.' To make that confession cost many people their lives because of its radical claim. To say and believe that Jesus is Lord was to say and believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God. It was a clear affirmation of the deity of Jesus. And the incarnation of God in the man Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.
“And so for somebody in one of our workshops to question the incarnation is simply very painful for me. I have known John Killinger to be a popular Presbyterian preacher. He was a professor at Samford University. He is a bestselling author; I had heard him speak … and was very blessed by his preaching. But we had no idea that his views on Christ were what he declared in this breakout session. His perspective is deeply troubling to me. So I want that to be clear and on the record.”
Vestal's own views on the Lordship of Christ are made clear in a book just published by Upper Room called Being the Presence of Christ. According to the author, the book's premise is “that all the Gospels were written from the perspective of the resurrection and the Living Christ is none other than the Incarnate Christ that was proclaimed in the pages of scripture.”
“I feel like that we gave him a platform at the General Assembly,” Vestal continued. “We do allow freedom of exchange and ideas that people disagree on. But if we had known then what we know now about his Christology, he would not have been invited.”
Vestal concedes, however, that CBF planners should have paid more attention to Killinger's theological shifts. “I accept the responsibility for that. Obviously the staff and I had heard him speak. We knew him to be a popular preacher, but we did not know of his Christological views. Should we have known that? Yes, we probably should have, and we will do more due diligence in the future. We try to invite people who have different perspectives on a lot of issues, but the issue of the incarnation is foundational. That's central. That's core gospel.”
But Killinger's views and the charges leveled at CBF are not the only sources of Vestal's pain. “This is very personal for me and also very personal for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship …. For some editors to write and insinuate that we are not Christians is very painful for me.”
Vestal wonders about the motives of Baptist Press reporters who covered the General Assembly. He believes they attend “to find things in our assembly either in a breakout session or in a line that someone makes that they can use then to somehow paint everybody in the CBF in a certain way.”
One of his regrets is that in his opinion Baptist Press missed a great opportunity to celebrate successes in kingdom work. “This was one of the best gatherings we have had. It was just a wonderful, wonderful meeting. Wednesday night we had a special commissioning service. We appointed 18 new missionaries that are going to some of the most difficult, dangerous places in the world.”
According to Vestal, other highlights of the meeting included, “The worship was very energized and relevant and spirit-filled. Chuck Poole, brought theme interpretations and preached powerful messages. Lauran Bethell, an American Baptist missionary who works with the victims of sex trafficking and prostitutes spoke like an evangelist …. We spent a good bit of time in a process of prayer and spiritual discernment about our future. We actually set aside time where we shut the whole assembly down just to pray and engage in conversation and spiritual discernment about the priorities we need to set for ourselves in the next few years. That was a very spirit-filled time, it was a very sacred time, it was something we had never done before. We officially declared our commitment to the Micah Challenge, along with other evangelicals who are committed to eradicating extreme poverty in the world. We affirmed our commitment to the Millennium Development goals as a framework to address global poverty. Those are just a few of the examples that really made this assembly a high and holy moment.”