Calvinist Flyswatter

Dr. Mohler and "Stalled" Church Planting

Dr. Mohler, the Louisville Seminary, and
"Stalled" Church Planting in the SBC

A recent cover story by Molly Worthen in Christianity Today (posted October 1, 2010) alleges that church planting in the Southern Baptist Convention has "stalled" since the conservative resurgence and during the years of Dr. R. Albert Mohler's tenure [from 1993] as president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky .

The article in CT by Molly Worthen says:

"Conservatives have conquered every major SBC body (with a few important exceptions, including Baylor University, whose moderate trustees broke from the SBC, and the Texas and Virginia state conventions, which remain in moderate control, forcing conservatives in those states to found their own conventions). Yet all is not well. Southern Baptist baptisms have fallen for the second year in a row, and everyone admits that the official membership tally—some 16 million—is a gross exaggeration of how many people show up in church on a given Sunday (perhaps by as much as half). Young people are leaving. Church-planting has stalled."

Is there a correlation between they type of theology on the New Birth taught at Southern Seminary and by other advocates (such as the Founders Ministries) of the Reformed Hybrid Calvinist delusion and the decrease in baptisms and church plantings? We think there is.

What part, if any, is this "stalling" due to what has gone on at the Louisville Seminary under Mohler's watch -- a period in which Mohler has been instrumental in the promotion of Hybrid Calvinism on the SBTS faculty?

This CT article is reminiscent of an article posted by Charles on April 28, 2006 in the Calvinist Flyswatter, entitled "Is Al Mohler Responsible for the SBC's Drop in Baptisms?" The article stated:

"Mohler has done a marvelous job in some ways. He has hired faculty that actually believe the Bible instead of paying lip service to it. I commend him for this. Unfortunately, Mohler went outside the SBC for much of his faculty hiring, and retained several professors who adhere to the heresy that a person must be born again before placing faith in Jesus Christ. Bob Ross and I have written about this extensively on this blog. . . . Dr. Mohler's seminary is churning out Blogging Calvinists and Reforming Calvinists but where are the church growing Southern Baptists? For the answer to why baptisms are down, Southern Baptists need to examine Southern Seminary and Dr. Al Mohler."

In his article, Charles cited several examples of how Mohler has been instrumental in promoting the Reformed non-creedal Hybrid Calvinist heresy of "pre-faith regeneration," or "born again before faith." See the original article. See another item here.

It has been observed by many that the Reformed Hybrid Calvinist teaching on the new birth appears to be lacking in promoting evangelism and church planting. [Note the remarks by Timmy Brister of the Founders Ministries in regard to his disappointing experience in the training he received at SBTS]. Those in the Pedobaptist Reformed camp who hold this non-creedal view on regeneration primarily depend upon infant baptism/infant church membership to grow and/or replenish their church rolls. They presume that the children born to church members are "covenant children" [i. e. elect] and get regenerated either before physical birth or shortly thereafter. There is very little evangelism to speak of among the Pedobaptist Reformed Hybrid Calvinists. See here and here and here. Southern Baptists, however, do not have the ecclesiastical luxury of relying upon the assumption that elect infants are born again either before physical birth or shortly thereafter. Rather, Southern Baptists who are faithful to our Baptist Confessions of Faith believe that the new birth is wrought by the Word and Spirit in which operation there is the creation of faith in Christ.

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posted by Bob L. Ross @ 7:45 PM