LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary called comments in a speech by the Southern Baptist Executive Committee President Morris Chapman “disingenuous” and “shameful.”
Seminary President Danny Akin was addressing a panel discussion hosted by B21 at an Acts 29 church start.
B21 is a loose network of persons “seeking to be Baptist in the 21st century.” Acts 29 is a network of churches whose foundational documents clearly are Calvinistic.
“I wish to apologize to my Calvinist brothers and sisters who are here for the horrible misrepresentation of your position this morning,” said Akin, one of six participants in a panel to discuss with young pastors issues surrounding continuing involvement with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Morris Chapman critiques Calvinism during the Executive Committee report to the SBC. (BP Photo)
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Earlier in the morning, Chapman brought his annual address to messengers at the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting. Although he never uttered the word “Calvinism,” he spoke directly both to it and to the “emerging church” in his remarks.
“Man’s system will be inferior to God’s system now and forever,” Chapman said.
“If there is any doctrine of grace that drives men to argue and debate more than it drives them to pursue lost souls and persuade all men to be reconciled to God — then it is no doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man both are taught in the Bible. Both are necessary elements in the salvation experience.”
He referenced previous controversies over Baptist identity and said, “The church did not — upon receiving the Spirit of God [at Pentecost] — write a theology text, or form a committee or establish a bureaucracy or construct a building or engage in idle arguments about the extent of the atonement or the nature of election.”
Akin said the next day that he has never heard a Calvinist say that man’s response to the urging of God’s Holy Spirit is not a necessary ingredient for salvation. Calvinist theology always has been present in Southern Baptist life, at varying degrees, he stressed.
The difference between the Calvinist view of salvation and the traditional Baptist view is a matter of emphasis, he said. Both agree God’s sovereignty and man’s response are essential elements of salvation, but each party emphasizes one of those elements.
After Akin’s opening apology, frank discussion was more about reasons young pastors should stay within the Southern Baptist framework and financially support a system they do not fully agree with. Panelists included Akin; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler; LifeWay Research President Ed Stetzer; Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.; host pastor Daniel Montgomery; and David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala.
Talking about the Great Commission Resurgence which dominated conversation during the convention’s first day, Akin said: “I don’t want Southern Baptists sitting on the sideline watching what God is going to do. I want to be a part of it.”
Mohler told the pastors and students: “Don’t look for too much out of the Southern Baptist Convention. Don’t find your identity here.” He encouraged them to minister in their churches, find their identity in Christ and plug into the SBC for connections and resources.
Mohler said the SBC has done good things, but growing up in SBC churches, attending SBC schools and seminaries and moving on to lead SBC churches and entities “produced a tribal identity rather than a gospel-centered identity.”
While Acts 29 is a “fascinating model” Mohler said, he warned the audience against “developing a tribal identity.”
Mohler said pastors “can find many platforms” and it is “wrong to think of ‘either or’” when picking a partner. While he said he hoped pastors could identify with the SBC and other ministry partners, “there were hints this morning that’s going to be hard.”
His comment was likely in reference to Chapman’s remarks, and to the steady stream of messengers moving to limit SBC involvement with Mark Driscoll, a controversial Seattle pastor whom many young Calvinist pastors admire.
Mohler encouraged the pastors to “make every single contribution you make in terms of mission and ministry support earn that support. Don’t give a dollar you don’t think is well deployed in ministry, and then hold us accountable.”
Stetzer, who has worked for three national Baptist agencies and has “seen the good, the bad and the ugly,” said he is “not impressed with the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m not getting my identity from it.”
“Now is the time to engage and fix that system,” he said. “But don’t be fooled. The voices of division will become more shrill before we come together.”