A Sad And Unsought Memory

"A Sad And Unsought Memory"

          I have served in my present ministry for almost 35 years. I was recently reminded, by the compromise of a long-time pastor, of a tragic sequence of events that occurred some 30 years ago.

There was a time when a certain the Baptist group I was formerly associated with was a vibrant nationwide loose assembly of independent Baptist pastors who met regularly for fellowship, supported several Bible colleges, and engaged in worldwide church planting missionary endeavors. At the local level in Southern California, that Baptist group was also active, with monthly meetings of pastors. Most of the time, the meetings featured sermons delivered by several attending preachers on a Monday evening, and the next Tuesday morning, ending with a Tuesday lunch.

I remember a particular meeting with sadness. It was held in what was at the time a Baptist church, with the Southern California group led by an experienced Baptist pastor. If I recall, he was originally from Texas, had been trained in Missouri, then pastored in Illinois, and finally settled in San Diego County. He seemed to have been quite conservative in his theology, in his personal manner and deportment, and in his philosophy of ministry. I also recall that insofar as his Baptist roots and acquaintances permitted, he had been favorably inclined to the late Jack Hyles’ approach to ministry.

Then his son went off to college and was trained to be a champion for Christ. His son did not go to the same school his dad had attended but enrolled in a school much farther away. After his son’s graduation, he worked for a time with his dad. He embraced an entirely different philosophy of ministry than his dad's, reflected by radically different personal standards and appearance, with a countenance that frequently indicated how off-put he was with old-fashioned pastors who attended fellowship meetings dressed in suits and ties.

Though I liked him and seemed to get along with both him and his wife, it seemed evident to me that his philosophy of ministry was far more reflective of Southern California evangelicalism than the independent Baptist movement that he had been born into and raised in, until he went off to school to become a champion.

My mild concern for him was confirmed when he became the senior pastor of a long-established Baptist Church, several counties removed from his father’s ministry where he had served after graduating from college. As his father led the Southern California fellowship of Baptist pastors, it was apparent to me that dad was very concerned that his son continued to fellowship with dad's group. However, the son seemed to express little inclination to continue doing so.

It was at a fellowship meeting in one of the Orange County beach city Baptist churches (that is no longer a Baptist church) that two things occurred, which stuck in my memory. First, the host pastor welcomed us to the church house only to inform us that the Baptist church where we gathered for our preachers’ meeting had, two days before, merged with another church. The other was not a Baptist church. He was no longer the senior pastor. The new resulting church was no longer a Baptist church. And our host made it very clear to us that our opinions regarding those developments should be kept to ourselves. Okay.

The second thing that occurred had to do with the pastor dad presiding over the meeting. He was concerned about the direction of his son’s life as a new senior pastor. His concern was expressed when the meeting came to order. The worried father presiding over the meeting expressed his hope that our Baptist fellowship would morph into the kind of group that his increasingly less and less Baptistic son would feel comfortable meeting with. His surprising words were on that occasion burned into my memory: “Can’t we all just be Unitarians? Guys? Can’t we all just be Unitarians?”

On reflection, I did not believe my older and far more experienced Baptist pastor friend and dad was suggesting that the gathered Baptist preachers abandon Trinitarianism. He was not a latent Socinian. He was not well-read enough to reach such a conclusion. He was frustrated with the realization that his son would not continue to fellowship with the group he presided over as long as we continued to be obviously and distinctively Baptists. He was desperate to hold on to his son in this respect.

Time has borne out my conclusion about his desperation. The pastor dad continued down the path of his attempts to influence his son and to lead him. He soon led his Baptist congregation to merge with a much larger charismatic super church, with the charismatic church acquiring his congregation’s valuable property and he securing for his old age a senior citizens ministry in the charismatic congregation. So, his pay check would continue, at least.

Thus, for several years of following his son, philosophically, doctrinally, and ministerially, he ended up utterly abandoning Baptist convictions and practices.

Of course, to pull this off, he had to resort to some skulduggery with his Baptist congregation, most of whom had far stronger Baptist convictions than he had. To accomplish this, he met with the Anglo church members without the knowledge of the Hispanic church members (somewhat more in number than the English speakers) and voted to do the dirty deed without the Spanish speaking church members knowing about it until after it was a done deal. A Filipino Baptist congregation was embroiled in and enraged by all this, but that is another posting.

I am sure that those involved in making the merger decision will deny that it was a merger between a Baptist church and a charismatic church. However, to verify what I feared had happened I called the church office of the super church that came to possess the independent Baptist church property and asked, “Is this a charismatic congregation? Are speaking in tongues permitted during worship?” The receptionist who answered the phone answered my questions with effusive affirmation. As well, the denominational website of the super church indicated that it was a charismatic denomination.

It is none of my business as a Baptist pastor to involve myself in the affairs of another, autonomous Baptist church. They can do what they want. However, I am saddened by the whole thing, specifically by two things. First, I am saddened that a long time and experienced Baptist pastor would surrender his Baptist convictions, doctrines, and philosophy of ministry in a failed attempt to influence his son. A spiritual leader, a Christian dad, does not influence his son by following him. A leader affects by leading. Sadly that did not occur with his father in his dealings with his son. Second, I am saddened that a Spanish pastor and congregation were dealt with so unethically and so deceptively by their pastor and by the Anglo members of the congregation they had joined and were serving in.

What brought up this sad memory from so long ago? At the center of all these sad details was a father who was so concerned about the direction his son was going that instead of providing godly and wise leadership for his son, he followed his son, dragged a fellowship of pastors with him in following his son, and obliterated an autonomous Baptist church as a result. It was a bit like David with Absalom.