An Important Word from JD Hall: Give ‘Er One More Go to Save the SBC
Very Important...
It’s hard to believe that hell has frozen over on a day of 60 degrees in a Montana March. But apparently, it has. As I have been facing legal challenges (thank you to all who have donated to the Legal Liberty Fund) for calling a dude a dude, helping some Canadians in some up-close and personal ways, working election season, and dealing with debilitating health problems while pastoring and parenting, I’ve been praying and meditating about a conversation I had with Rod Martin on the Polemics Report podcast here.
You can watch the clip from Polemics Report, our podcast below, and join it on Patreon for as little as $5.95 per month.
Rod Martin, with the Conservative Baptist Network, didn’t win me over. I was convinced – and firmly so – that fighting to save the SBC was the equivalent of fighting over the “Devil’s Bowel Movements.” I recommended Separatism, while Martin recommended Puritanism.
I, of course, had already made my choice. In doing so, friends became enemies not so friendly. I opined on the subject of the ill-fated, hot-mess of the 2019 ShepCon live with Steve Camp, as we discussed – again -Separatism over Puritanism. The controversy of the hour was the Dallas Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel coming about while John MacArthur and the folks at Grace Community Church / Masters (whatever) invited the worst possible offenders of Social Justice to the stage. And yes, I spiked the football pretty hard on how it turned out because, as my gravestone will say, I told you so. Mohler’s freak-out, when put on the spot, was just more evidence that the fox had entered the hen-house. Suddenly, we went from the most prominent defenders of MacArthur to his most notable critics (before Julie Roys, I suppose) by criticizing what I think most people in retrospect admit was a bad idea (or so public perspective went).
Several weeks later, we had the same criticism toward the G3 Conference, which made the same error (yes, it was an error) in inviting the sheep-fold-jumpers (Dever, Duncan, etc) to the spotlight just as the Social Justice Schism of 2020-2022 was heating up. I reiterate that it was foolish. Josh Buice called me a “fundamentalist” out of that affair, which I don’t consider an insult unless it was meant to be one; and it was meant to be one.
Separatism was clearly my path, and my church unanimously chose to leave the SBC after the MLK50 Conference, written about in the Christian Post and other publications. Humorously, several SBC spokespeople and executives told the press they had never heard of Social Justice ever being a problem in the SBC. We were the first to publicly do so, and were treated like crazy people – including Josh Buice – who magnanimously left a few weeks ago. It was only in 2017 Buice threatened to kick me out of G3 because Rosaria Butterfield told her I was mean to Karen Swallow Prior. Thanks to Anthony Mathenia and Darlene Johnson for explaining to Buice who Prior was and contradicting the story of Butterfield’s insane tirade. Seemingly like decades ago, it was only a few years. I laid out all the reasons to leave the SBC in a sermon here (or you can watch it below).
Others soon began to leave, including Capitol Heights Baptist Church in Bismarck, and other sister churches of FBC Sidney. Then, more notable, larger churches began to leave like Jeff Noblit’s Grace Life Church left the SBC. The press (except for the Baptist Press) really began to catch on. Even mostly African American churches began to leave for the same reasons as we did – partiality and racism and wokeness.
Before I complained that Social Justice was invading the church through its seminaries (primarily), Phil Johnson caught on to other parachurch ministries bringing in the garbage, and started the 2016 “Mission Drift” controversy with Thabiti Anyabwhile (Ron Burns), which was really the first shot in this war that people heard. Not yet smoked out of his hole, Thabiti the fox denied the accusations of liberal drift – as Al Mohler and Danny Akin did a few years later – and claimed Phil was tilting at windmills. But discerners saw it coming. I spoke about it nearly 5 years ago at conferences (see below). Burns’ soon endorsement of Hillary Clinton sufficiently smoked the fox out of the hole and the war began.
I, for one, saw it coming years in advance and preached a sermon about Russell Moore’s folly back in 2015 here and in 2012 preached the sermon of my lifetime (if I had to guess), Modern Day Downgrade: A Call for the SBC to Repent. It is the first sermon, that I have heard since the end of the conservative resurgence, predicting and rebuking the liberalism creeping back into the convention. A nemesis at the time, Peter Lumpkins, laughed aloud when I said thousands would hear it and wrote a blog making fun of the claim. Chris Rosebrough and Brannon Howse – both of whom played the sermon – chimed in to claim they both had approximately 45 thousand listeners and audio housed at YouTube and SermonAudio are both in the thousands. I would encourage you to listen to my clarion call from 2012 – 10 years ago – from the hyperlink above.
Ironically, Lumpkins, Rick Patrick, and the anti-Calvinists are now on our side, creating a coalition I never thought I’d see. One day, when hell freezes over a second time, I’ll have coffee with Lumpkins. It happened with Greg Locke, so stranger things have indeed happened.
Biblical discernment beats charismatic prophecy every day of the week. Out of that sermon was born Polemics Report, originally aired on Worldview Weekend before I discovered Howse was usually right but personally an insufferable schmuck, and so we moved to Bible Thumping Wingnut. Also coming out of it was my Faith and Culture blog which changed names to the infamous Pulpit & Pen and now our flagship, Protestia.
I endured nearly eight years of SBC and Big Eva leaders calling for our boycotts, as we revealed story after story that broke the mainstream news. We even suffered a schism, when the usually faithful Tom Buck was cast under the spell of Karen Swallow Prior and half of our writers quit under pressure, assured she was a conservative (big lol, and also, I told you so). We could not be stopped, except in one question asked in various Q&As, “Why have you not left the SBC if it’s so awful?”
That question was difficult. I suppose, history. I’m loyal as a dog. Or, I suppose, I was awaiting a 1979 style take-over and to watch another miracle of God. However, the MLK50 Conference, the “Coming Out Party” for Critical Race Theory (another name for Communism) changed all that. I had enough.
And yet, Martin’s aforementioned arguments were continually meditated upon. His arguments can be summarized as (1) in the Book of Judges, reform had to be fought for every 20 years. This resonated with my mantra of Semper Reformanda. And secondly (2) if something belongs to God, do not cede it to the devil. But again, I was convinced it was the devil’s bowel movements. I find his former argument rather more compelling than the latter, as the words, “let goods and kindred go” echo in my mind, as though God needs the cash. Nonetheless, Martin had a point.
For a moment in time, I offered Tom Buck 1000 messengers – easily obtainable by those who have left the SBC or stopped participating due to our 10+ year influence at P&P – if we could talk them into rejoining if for no other reason to take it back over. It would not be an easy task; for starters, I would have to talk my own church into it – probably not an easy task.
But, Buck informed me he was not the man. However, there are two men who could be pivotal in a second Conservative Resurgence in the SBC…Voddie Baucham as SBC Pastor’s Conference head and Tom Ascol as SBC President.
Interesting. So we met with Rod Martin again. Watch below.
Of course, I know Voddie, and have spoken alongside him at various events, and love him. I have only criticized him once, for saying he would not name names, right before he published Fault Lines that named lots of names. If he can win that position, Ascol has a chance, if we do this logistically right.
Ascol is another story from Voddie. I’ve never spoken to him, but I’ve certainly spoken about him. My chiefest complaint is that in the Social Justice schism he has come a day late and dollar short, is too dang nice, waited way too long to figure out Mohler is part of the problem, and is habitually naive. In short, he’s the opposite of me, who saw this coming ten years ago, was the first to mark Mohler, am an insufferable bumhole, and habitually paranoid. This has earned him a rebuke or two from me (no doubt, some carnal), some deserved and provided many examples of why I should learn to be quiet at times. I plan to make amends with Ascol in the coming days if he’ll pick up the phone for the infamous JD Hall.
Meanwhile, I will be brainstorming caravans and carpools from at least 8 locations from around the United States, and with my church’s permission (still forthcoming) will provide the financial resources to fund at least some of those to Anaheim. We will also be busy talking back into the SBC those we have talked out, if for no other reason, to give it one last go.
We have a lot of work to do, both in contacting pastors, churches, and messengers who have already left, to talk them into getting back in for one more go-round. Then, we have to get them to Anaheim, when most would rather meet just outside hell’s gates. And finally, we have to out-fund NAMB’s bottomless pockets to fly in Manchurian voters.
More is coming in recent days. All I have to say is this in conclusion; I have spent 10 years of my life chronicling the problems of the SBC. I have thoroughly enjoyed largely ignoring them for two years. But I have much invested, and many scars from my SBC battles. Even at a time in my life like this, if I can put in one more round to sock it to the devil, I’m in.
Are you?