“Honoring A Former Pastor.”

My formal education has been engaging. My first classroom experience occurred in 1956, on the Fort Totten Indian Reservation near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. My first-grade teacher, Miss Daggs, was a black spinster from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was marvelous, beginning the educational experience of Native American students and successfully transitioning them from their native language to conversational English by Thanksgiving each year. Being the only English as a first language student in the class and the only white kid in the entire school, she was a marvel to behold.

In January 1960, my father was transferred to southern Florida to work with the Seminole Indians, with me in four different grade schools, New River Junior High School and the Nova School in Davie, Florida. 1965, we moved to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, near Madras, Oregon, where I graduated from high school in 1968, after also taking several classes along the way from what was then Portland State College.

In June 1968, I received an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. I lasted four months before a medical discharge caused by malformed L5 vertebrae left me with a 4F draft status. I enrolled in the Oregon State University school of engineering, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in March 1973.

I began working for Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California, and immediately took courses at El Camino College. Following my conversion in 1974 and my resignation from Hughes Aircraft Company in 1975, I attended the Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College, the Grace Graduate School of Theology, the International Seminary, the Talbot School of Theology, and finally, the Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary.

I love going to school. I have always loved going to school. While in school, I typically sat in classes I was not enrolled in just because I found going to school stimulating. That said, though I have had primarily wonderful teachers in the various schools I have attended, the most important lessons I have learned and come to appreciate were discovered in the school of life, outside the classroom.

During my ministerial musings, I was reminded yesterday of an occurrence that took place more than forty years ago, early on in my first pastorate.

My first best friend in the Gospel ministry was the late Jim Johnston, a Baptist pastor from whom I learned many lessons. He was old enough to be my father, having a son just about my age, but he chose to relate to me as a pastoral peer. I learned that it is okay for a pastor to be nice to people.

The specific incident that I recollect was when he and I drove from the Imperial Valley of California to pick up a friend flying into Los Angeles International Airport. After retrieving our friend from Oregon, we checked into a hotel near the airport. Before we unpacked our bags, the third preacher indicated that he needed to make a phone call.

In the days before cell phones, he picked up the hotel phone and dialed the Baptist pastor of the church he had formerly been a member of and greeted the church receptionist who answered the phone. He identified himself to her, said a couple of nice things, and then asked if the pastor was available.

When his former pastor got on the line, I heard him identify himself to the preacher and informed him that he had just flown into LAX and wanted the pastor to know he was in the area. Think about that and reflect on the fact that the Los Angeles area has 15 million people. Yet that man felt it was appropriate to inform his former pastor that he was in the area as a matter of courtesy.

He then asked the pastor for his permission to reach out to a couple in the church he used to be a member of. He sought the all-clear from the pastor to contact several church members where he formerly served God. Think about that. He checked with the pastor to make sure it was okay, not because he was not a free American who could do whatever he wanted to do, but to serve two purposes: First, to show respect to his former pastor. Second, to make sure he was not creating the problem by contacting friends in his former church.

Who does that any more? Who shows that kind of respect? Do a word search of your Bible to see how important the word honor is in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Please arrive at your conclusions about whether or not that friend from Oregon was doing a necessary check-in with his former pastor. But can you fault him for seeking to honor his former pastor? Can you fault him for trying to make sure that he would not create a problem by checking in with church members he used to spend a lot of time with?

That preacher from Oregon passed away several years ago. He and I were not close friends, though we got along amicably. But I will always appreciate him for the honor he displayed toward his former pastor and his concern not to harm his former church.

“Is It Really A Fellowship Meeting?”

I have been to fellowship meetings of pastors, and I have been to preachers meetings for almost a half-century. Fellowship meetings are almost a thing of the past. The following questions serve to illustrate my point. 

• ·       Is it really a fellowship meeting when you are invited to attend but you have to pay fore the privilege?
• ·       Is it really a fellowship meeting when you are invited to attend but there is no interaction of any kind with the host pastor, who keeps himself aloof throughout the meeting?
• ·       Is it really a fellowship meeting when there is a fixed agenda, but the fixed agenda is not announced to those attending, neither will it be revealed ahead of time to those who inquire, treating preachers as children.
• ·       Is it really a fellowship meeting when the purpose of the gathering is the host pastor’s interest in persuading those in attendance to “Do it the way I do it”?
• ·       Is it really a fellowship meeting when there is no meaty doctrinal preaching?
• ·       Is it really a fellowship meeting when attending pastors are provided no opportunity to speak, and when visiting missionaries are dismissively granted thirty seconds to present their calling, field of service, and life’s ministry? 

Isn’t it about time men who identify as Baptists stop the nonsense of treating certain guys as if they occupied a position somewhat lower than apostle yet somewhat higher than pastor? 

I have a proposal. What about a Pastors As Peers Fellowship? 

1. A gathering of equals, not a meeting of lords and underlings.

2. A gathering to bless and promote godliness, not a meeting to listen to “How To” recipes.

3. A gathering to cultivate humility, not an arrangement to bolster the pride of any individual.

4. A gathering to sharpen discernment, not listen to someone and his friends spout “How I Do It.”

5. A gathering to make and strengthen friendships, not a meeting to establish pecking order or bragging rights.

6. A gathering for presenting and discussing Bible doctrines and their application to real ministry? 

Would you be interested in this kind of fellowship meeting? Would it not be interesting to announce a time and place, to make the gathering free of charge, to suggest a topic or doctrine for consideration and discussion, and to allow those who have gathered to select from among those present a willing moderator for the meeting? 

Let me know. John.Waldrip@GMail.com 

Please forward this to others.

This installment is titled “The History & Theology of Calvinism” by Curt Daniel, Chapter Forty-Two, The Destiny of the Elect.

One of the surprising tendencies I have observed since entering the Gospel ministry has been the contrast I have noticed from my days in engineering school and as a spacecraft vehicle engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo. Engineers know stuff, and they know that they know stuff. This makes engineers a fairly opinionated group of individuals who are willing to engage in disputes with other engineers over design philosophies and design specifics. However, I never observed differences to be the sources of personality conflicts. Not so in the Gospel ministry, where I have observed a dismal tendency to vilify those with different philosophies and embracing doctrinal variations well within the limits of orthodox Christianity.

The chapter I will relate to you deals with one aspect of the Calvinistic framework that seems to produce the most heat and smoke from those who oppose the position without ever familiarizing themselves with the position by actually reading the actual writings of those who champion the position. It is yet another chapter in the author’s section titled Unconditional Election.

The chapter is divided into seven subsections.

“What is the destination of predestination? God chose the elect in eternity past – what does he have in store for them in eternity future? The subject of Heaven is too vast to cover in depth in one short chapter. The great Puritan Richard Baxter wrote over 500 pages on it in the classic The Saints’ Everlasting Rest. I will concentrate on those aspects of Heaven that the Bible associates with predestination and election.”

Salvation and Eternal Life. Two paragraphs. “God chose the elect to be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:13) and receive eternal life (Acts 13:48). Both were planned in eternity, secured by Christ at the cross in time, and bestowed on the elect by the Holy Spirit at the appointed time. Faith is the instrument by which the elect receive them (Acts 16:31; John 3:16).”

Holiness. Eleven paragraphs. The Scripture references include Ephesians 1:4; Jude 24; 1 John 3:19–20; Ephesians 5:27; Revelation 19:7; 21:2; Hebrews 12:23; Luke 16:26; James 1:14; Psalm 103:20; Titus 1:2. Mention is made of Augustine and Thomas Boston’s contribution to the topic, as well as Arminianism’s shortcoming.

Conformity to the Image of Christ. Two paragraphs.

Glorification. Four paragraphs.

The Glory of God’s Grace. Four paragraphs.

Heaven Is a World of Love. Three paragraphs. Comments by Jonathan Edwards and Robert Murray Mc’Cheyne are included.

Conclusion. “God chose the elect to salvation, eternal life, holiness, conformity to the image of Christ Jesus, glorification, grace, and love. That is the destination of predestination.