As a Rebel

Okay. In most circles I would hardly be considered a rebel. I do not sport a Mohawk (too bald, if I got one I would simply be a shaved head), don’t care for earrings, and have never felt the need for a tattoo. I was Baptist born and Baptist bred, and when I die I will be Baptist dead .

But I am a bit of a rebel to some. I have a strong distaste for the status quo, as it tends to lead the church down the road from focusing on the activity of God to institutionalism, from pursuing God to behavior modification, or from encouraging creativity to demanding conformity in nonessentials. I loathe liberalism and its lack of conviction on the one hand and legalism with its witch hunts on the other. My musical tastes and my hobbies (see Extreme Evangelism) make me atypical for a professor of an evangelical seminary, but have not moved me from my convictions. I would rather preach in a pair of jeans and a golf shirt than a coat and tie, and hang out with a group of teenagers at the mall than a group of big shots in a boardroom.

I love rattlesnakes because they can kill you.

Jesse and Shanee, a couple of radical students of mine I met up with in Asia

I tend to look at the conventional church not to throw stones, for she has done much good, but to see what we (I am among that number) have missed. So…

• I wrote a book on reaching the “radically unchurched” because we simply are not penetrating the unchurched culture.
• I became convinced youth ministry is more about games for kids than about preparing young adults to change the world, so I wrote “raising the bar.”
• I see how the Southern Baptist Convention, my tradition, has made a strong stand on the Word of God in recent years, but we still maintain a disturbing malaise in reaching people, so I use what influence I have to argue things must change (see sermon with that title under audio).

I also believe anything not inherently evil can be used for the glory of God, from music to sports, from animals to instruments. I do not believe being conservative in theology keeps one from being progressive in methodology. Or as I like to say it, my theology is black and white, but I live life in living color!

Here is an example. I love animals (can you tell)? So the Lord in His grace has sent me a friend who loves them even more, giving us an “Extreme Evangelism” ministry together.