POINTING TO CANADIAN LEGISLATION AND IGNORING THE EQUALITY ACT, MOHLER PROVES THE HIGH COST TO OTHERS FOR HIS OWN COMPROMISE .

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                   5/23/2019

Albert Mohler is the head of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a “champion” of the conservative Christian movement for over twenty five years. People regularly listen to his broadcast “The Briefing ” to hear Al’s take on current issues from a reformed theological perspective . While a growing number of people are disenchanted with Mohler’s involvement in and unwillingness to reject the “social justice” movement infiltration,they still look to Mohler for wisdom. Mohler followers felt uncomfortable as they watched him seething on stage at a recent Shepherds Conference when pressed for answers about the “social gospel ” compromise. Listeners on May 21st 2019 had the opportunity to hear Albert Mohler reach a new low in assumption, presumption and admission of his own failure in leadership. In commenting on Christians in the medical field Albert Mohler made one of the most stupid and contradictory statements of his public life.

https://albertmohler.com/2019/05/21/briefing-5-21-19/

PART I

How Long Can Christians Genuinely Hold to Christian Convictions and Stay in the Medical Field?

Mohler is attempting to give some perspective on coming challenges that will be facing Christians in the future .”As we’re watching the society around us, one thing has become increasingly clear, and that is that as we look at the collision between Christian conviction and the larger culture, one of the touchpoints is going to be the professions….We are talking here about profession, such as law, and medicine, architecture and engineering. We’re looking at that inevitable collision between the moral revolution and religious liberty, and we’re looking at the fact that there are some very hard days ahead.”

“But here’s where the explosion is about to happen. When you have a moral revolution taking place, in our society, as we have just over the last two decades in particular, when you have basic issues such as sexuality and gender and marriage and human social organization thrown into the mix, with a new morality. Well in order to fit in the society, the professions begin to conform to the larger societal norms. To say, the matter bluntly, what we’re looking at is the fact that law and medicine as professions are under enormous cultural pressure, by the new powers that be, morally speaking in the culture, to completely abdicate to the LGBTQ revolution and not only to as practices, but it’s logic. You see this in medicine with doctors being told this is the new morality of medicine, this is the new understanding of medical ethics.”

PAUSE FOR DOCUMENTATION 

(Albert Mohler publically abdicating to the LGBTQ revlotuions logic in 2014 : https://albertmohler.com/2014/11/13/sexual-orientation-and-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/ “The concept of sexual orientation is not only helpful, it is in some sense essential. Even those who argue against its existence have to describe and affirm something tantamount to it. “)

MOHLER WARNINGS FOR MEDICAL ETHICS RESUMED

“And this raises a huge question, not only in medicine but in other professions inevitably. How long can Christians genuinely holding to Christian conviction continue in some of these professions? I want to point to two very ominous headline articles in the recent media, just over the last several days, the first comes from Canada. National Review ran the article by Wesley J. Smith, the headline: “Canadian Court: Doctors Must Euthanize, Abort, or Refer.” As Wesley J. Smith writes, “The culture of death brooks no dissent. In Canada, doctors have been ordered to bend the knee. Here’s the story: The Canadian Charter (Constitution) guarantees ‘freedom of conscience and religion.’”

Mohler continues to quote Wesley Smith ““After the Supreme Court created a right to euthanasia, Ontario passed a law requiring doctors to kill legally eligible patients who want to die or provide an ‘effective referral’ if they have moral objections — i.e., procure a doctor known by the dissenter to be willing to euthanize patients.”…”What you’re looking at there, is the absolute category called unconditional denial of conscience rights to physicians in Ontario. You’re also notice something else that is central to this moral revolution.”

Mohler cast doubt on the validity of Christians to remain in healthcare in the future  with out violating their conscience because of a top down Canadian court decision that he sees as providing some sort of “handwriting on the wall” for all Christians in the medical field.

SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL WITH AL’S POINT ?

The problem with Mohler’s statement and the fact that he even goes here in his conclusions is loaded with irony, duplicity, and hypocrisy. For those who follow Mohler when he makes off the wall statements – it becomes obvious that the problem with his cultural commentary is more often in what he does not say than in the reasonable “thinking in public” he wishes to appear to be doing .

Mohler’s willingness to express abandon of critical professions like medicine is based on a “clash of conscience” with , in this case a Canadian Court decision which he asserts that he sees as shaping the narrative coming to the US . It is interesting that in the line up of Resolutions for the Southern Baptist Convention meetings in June is a call for whistleblowers in the SBC to be protected from those who would threaten their futures and incomes and are denied “freedom of conscience ” by the culture in the SBC of which Mohler is a major influence. If Mohler is worried about the conscience of doctors, lawyers and architects – why is he willing to force silence and compliance among his own theological circles? Mohler is said to have threatened those in his employ if they dare to go against the “company line ” at SBTS. The prevailing culture in the SBC is governed by an unwritten code often referred to as “the 11th commandment “. Albert Mohler is part of the SBC’s  powerstrictures who do the force the same violations he is pointing fingers at in this broadcast. See the SBC Whistleblowers Resolution below

https://englishmanif.blogspot.com/2019/04/robert-oscar-lopez-resolution-on.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR1qYhr1kBqIXuyvWuKnQ8X8H9ikE2jjkgg4opEqXe5jBJxoygKmFDxNJkA

(Resolution excerpt /conclusions

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention affirms that there are only ten commandments in Exodus 20:3-17, and none instructing Southern Baptists to refrain from criticizing Baptist leaders, even publicly if necessary; and be it further”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention denounces “gentleman’s agreements” designed to force silence on people whose livelihoods depend on the Convention due to their service to the Convention; and be it further”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention denounces “non-disclosure agreements” and calls all Southern Baptist leaders who have imposed them on former employees to repent of them; and be it further”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention denounces retaliatory actions by Southern Baptist leaders, such as contacting critics’ employees or charges in order to threaten critics’ jobs or standing within their community; and be it finally”

“RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention calls all Southern Baptists to proclaim and avail themselves of their freedom of conscience, since our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ told us in John 8:32, “the Truth will set you free.”)”

LGBTQ+ AND MOHLER DOUBLESPEAK 

What about Mohler’s basis that the new sexual revolution and the LGBTQ+ movement provide a threat to Christians in medicine ?

Is he just now figuring this out?

Or is it Albert Mohler who has provided much of the stand down orders that have led Christians in medicine to this “crisis point?

In 2013 Mohler disciple Russell Moore ascended the presidency of the ERLC when he left SBTS after 20 years under Mohler’s influence . Moores “opening act” was to declare “the culture wars  over and lost” and that Christians need to “just love our gay and lesbian neighbors “. From day one Moore working as the SBCs chief Ethics and Lobbyist has been under this Mohler influence and issuing  “stand down” order to fellow Baptist in response to the aggressive LGBTQ+ agenda. In fact the circles connected to SBTS/ Mohler drive the “victim narratives ” and parade sexual minority activist through their conferences while ignoring deadly realities like the “Equality Act ” year after year.. This is what happens when leaders like Mohler/ Moore and a host of others act as if there is no LGBTQ+ agenda . It is simply some nice gay folk who want to be your neighbor.

Also ,as noted above ,in 2014 Mohler “confessed , apologized for being wrong, and embraced the fanciful idea of “sexual orientation ” and set the church on an extra-biblical narrative altogether . This ideology is straight out of the Atheistic camp and the American Psychological Association and provides footing for LGBTQ+ validation on the presumption of a “fixed and unchanging reality of sexual orientation ” . With this shift Mohler also laid the foundation stones for building the case of “LGBTQ+ Christianity. By 2017 Mohler disciple Nate Collins ,an SBTS teacher of New Testament, was founding the “Revoice ” movement and planning the Revoice conference promoting just such a category of “Christian sexual minorities” .

SBC PASTORS RESISTING REVOICE MOVEMENT 

There is also a Resolution to condemn the Revoice movement in the SBC and deny the false assertions of “LGBTQ+ Christianity ”

http://olivetbaptistokc.com/resolution-and-petition-2/

Excerpts

“Be it Resolved that we Southern Baptist Churches of the SBC are committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ that requires repentance of all sin described in Scripture and is evidenced by a changed life. Thus, we are committed to resisting the “REVOICE” objectives, as well as any other movements, attempting to cause Southern Baptists to compromise the truth and authority of God’s word to embrace “sexual minorities” as legitimate or any form of “LGBTQ+ Christianity”. We are also committed to believe that God’s grace, mercy, and love is available to all who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and are willing to confess their sins, repent of their sins, and receive forgiveness of their sins, as they choose to receive Jesus Christ into their lives as their Savior and Lord. Southern Baptist churches are open and welcoming to all those who are seeking a new life that can only be gained through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ to be cleansed of all sin defined in scripture. God’s word says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NASV)”

ALBERT MOHLER’S HEALTHCARE CRISIS 

Mohler established The Commonweal Project at SBTS in partnership with the Kern Family Foundation/ Oikonomia Network / and Acton Institute to promote “Common Good” / Communitarianism through Kern’s “Faith and Work” focused programs combining the values of faith in the workplace. In reality this program is more akin to “Purpose Driven” training for pastors to recruit volunteerism.

Kern Family Foundation is funding similar programs on many Evangelical Campuses around the nation and in multiple denominations. Interestingly at the same time Kern is also funding a growing focus in healthcare and an effort to “transform medical education”. This began in 2017 at The Medical College of Wisconsin and is now in a total of seven schools and growing rapidly .

https://www.medednext.org/MedEdNext/About.htm

“MedEdNext is creating a national movement to transform medical education.

We are a broad community of educators developing innovative ways to prepare physicians for what is next in health care.

MedEdNext is changing what it means to be a physician by redefining medical education from pre-med through practice.

We are helping physicians develop the characteristics that are critical to partnering with patients, their families, and communities with compassion and integrity.

Our goal is better care, better value, better health, and better physician wellness.”

LGBTQ+ IS EVER PRESENT IN THE MIX WITH THE INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED

Medical College of Wisconsin has a major on campus initiative  for LGBTQ+ equality

https://www.mcw.edu/education/academic-and-student-services/office-of-student-inclusion-and-academic-enrichment/mcw-student-diversity-campus-organizations-and-community-outreach/lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-people-in-medicine-lgbtpm/out-and-ally-lists

SOME OF KERN’S OTHER LGBTQ+ FOCUSED PARTNERS 

The Kern Family Foundation leadership appears drawn not only to transforming education but also to institutes  and organizations that favor LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and programs . Other examples being Teach for America in K-12 programs funding by KFF. https://www.teachforamerica.org/life-in-the-corps/your-tfa-network/lgbtq-community-initiative

And the KFF partnership for the evangelical Seminaries with Acton Institute headed by a long time radical LGBTQ+ activist turned Catholic Priest .    https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/engel/120413

Kern Funds PBS which just recently was exposed injecting a gay marriage episode in the popular children’s program Arthur . https://www.pbs.org/about/blogs/news/pbs-receives-grants-to-develop-content-and-resources-to-support-parents-and-families/                       “ARLINGTON, VA, April 16, 2015– The PBS Foundation has received $2.4 million in grant money from the W.K. Kellogg Foundationand The Kern Family Foundation to further the educational mission of PBS KIDS. The funds will support the development of new digital tools and resources that will be leveraged locally by PBS member stations to provide children with a strong foundation for success, encourage family engagement and aid parents and caregivers as they strive to build children of character in communities across the country.”

“Established in 1998, The Kern Family Foundation invests in the future through the support of programs that emphasize character formation in the rising generations of Americans. The $900,000 grant will fund the creation of a catalog organized by the specific attributes that support social and emotional development and key character-building traits like honesty, compassion and responsibility. Parents will have access to a virtual treasure trove of digital and video content with the ability to call hundreds of resources, including games and offline activities, up on-demand and turn any moment into a character-building learning experience, reinforcing important life skills.”

“The catalog will be integrated with other PBS KIDS apps and digital content to help parents maximize their child’s experience with PBS KIDS and see what their kids are watching, playing and learning on pbskids.org.”

““PBS KIDS serves as a trusted partner for millions of Americans, supporting children at their most critical time of growth,” said Lesli Rotenberg, General Manager, Children’s Media, PBS. “Through the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Kern Family Foundation, and in partnership with our local PBS stations, we now have an opportunity to inspire even more children to reach their full potential.”

MOHLER PARTNER KERN’S MEDICAL EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION 

MedEdNext is new to the landscape in medical education/ Faith and Work style focus but is growing rapidly with the backing of Kern Family Foundation .

Kern is helping organize the National Transformation Network.

https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/blog/2018/06/21/vanderbilt-hosts-national-transformation-network-to-discuss-triple-aim-of-medical-education/

Kern funding and organization is central to the effort.

“Vanderbilt University School of Medicine was chosen to join the National Transformation Network (NTN) of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.
The NTN is a collaborative of seven medical schools that seeks to transform medical education by focusing on its “Triple Aim” — character, caring and competence. These elements of physician development are considered critical for delivering compassionate, evidence-based care to patients, families and communities.
Supported by a generous grant from the Kern Family Foundation, each partner school will receive $2.1 million over six years to carry out projects at the level of the individual schools, the network itself, and the larger national medical education community.”

THE TRANSFORMATION GOALS IN MEDICAL EDUCATION

It’s endgame is clearly stated .

““This collaborative has pushed us to consider the most important attributes of deeply caring physicians, as well as the environment that allows those attributes to thrive. Our ultimate goal is to nurture a generation of physicians committed to the ideal of human flourishing.”

A “CONFUSED “MOHLER AND KERN FAMILY FOUNDATION 

Mohler and SBTS are working with  KFF / Oikonomia Network and  Acton Institute curriculum to “transform culture” and prepare a generation of pastors to engage their “Faith and Work “/ ‘Purpose Driven” ideals- taking them back to their congregations  for recruitment. Yet in the narrative on “Christians in medicine ” and healthcare as a whole Mohler looks to be waving the white flag of surrender and succumbing to instead of transforming the sphere in question. Is Mohler confused or is he simply creating a sense of crisis to provide the  answer in the form of a new compromised view of transformed ‘opportunity” to engage ?

Mohler would be going against the VERY ideology his SBTS is being funded and trained to promote. Something more must be going on than meets the eye. Mohler cannot be advocating surrender unless he is returning the Kern cash $$$.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE AT STREET LEVEL-A PLACE WHERE ALBERT MOHLER DOES NOT HAVE TO LIVE.

( This writer lives in Alabama and works in multiple ministries in the healthcare arena and with medical missions. These local insights are offered from and informed by that life /ministry experience and years of efforts to warn of these coming crisis .)

In 2015 a Central Alabama study effort involving the major medical university, 5 central Alabama County Health Departments and a host of LGBTQ+ activist organizations both local and national -addressed LGBTQ+ equality issues in healthcare/ housing/ employment and a broad range of other topics of presumed need. Most of the focus points are those areas which receive grants and taxpayer funding . The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham (CFGB) funded the study which was intended to unify strategy and policy for LGBTQ+ equality and protections . It is important to note that CFGB also funds may churches and parachurch organizations AND one of the larger Faith Based Partnership healthcare clinics in partnership with Jefferson County – located in the former County hospital Cooper Green. ( Also of note in 2012 – medical ministry work this writer and several associates were involved in was in the gravitational pull of this very FBP clinic concept  /County  partnership. Upon discovering many problems and corrupting influences like the LGBTQ+ healthcare activism and the larger HHS/ FBP goals protest and warnings were made to those directing Christians into such collaborations but were not heeded )

THE DETAILS OF LGBTQ+ HEALTHCARE “PROTECTIONS “AND AGENDA DRIVEN MEDICAL CARE

“LGBTQ Issues for Central Alabama Service Organizations”
“Many area organizations, including school systems, courts, social services organizations and places of worship are generally supportive of LGBTQ individuals, but have not taken vigorous public action to address the needs of the population. For example, schools will establish Gay-Straight Alliances when requested, but rely on students to provide programming. Medical and mental health settings do not openly avoid serving LGBTQ clientele, but are not sure how or whether to communicate that their settings are LGBTQ-friendly.”

Click to access Living-LGBTQ-in-Central-Alabama.pdf

“The needs assessment was guided by a stakeholder council that included representatives from Birmingham AIDS Outreach (BAO), Birmingham Alliance of Gay, Straight and Lesbian Youth, AIDS Alabama, United Way of Central Alabama, Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Magic City Acceptance Project (MCAP), the Magic City Acceptance Center, the Alabama chapter of the Human Rights Campaign, Safe Schools Coalition, The Jefferson County Department of Health (JCDH), One Roof (services for the homeless), Covenant Community Church, ALGBTICAL (the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues in Counseling of Alabama), Living in Limbo (area artists organization), The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, and four units of the University of Alabama at Birmingham – UAB Psychiatry, UAB Department of Sociology, Student Health Services, and the 1917 Clinic. ”

FAITH BASED PARTNERSHIPS IN HEALTHCARE : A DISASTER IN THE MAKING FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 

Faith Based /Community Based “partnerships ” (FBP) in healthcare and “community based clinics are a major part of the “whats coming ” in healthcare that the Kern Family Foundation is talking about. The focus on “volunteerism” and wedding of “faith and  work ” in the medical education seems to be willing to ignore these realities . FBP  play a major role in healthcare reforms of the Obama era and the push toward socialized medicine and single payer system. However Faith Based Clinics have proven very problematic because of the very partnerships they are based upon promoting . Multiple factors combine to hinder and prohibit ministry goals and quality of care almost always suffers as a result of politically driven policy making like that reflected in the “Living LGBTQ in Central Alabama activist engagement sited above.

PROMOTING FAITH BASED HEALTHCARE AS MINISTRY UNDER FBP IS FRAUDULENT . WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS ?

First -FBP restrict ministry because they prevent “explicit religious activity” such as prayer, bible study, distribution of religious materials and or proselytizing in conjunction with the grant funded services provided. These restrictions to religious activities were in place but not always enforced until a 2015 “clarification ” in the form of an executive order from President Obama.They remain in force and in fact are part of securing the government  funding from being in conflict with the non -establishment clause of religion. Promoting and fundraising FBP clinics as a ministry when ministry is forbidden ins fact fraud . Yet it is being done everywhere -everyday.

Secondly oversight has been problematic and financial fraud has been rampant. The largest FBP healthcare clinic in Birmingham Alabama was part of a $14 million dollar fraud over a just 6 or 7 year period .The clinic was housed in a downtown church building and promoted by regional  collaborative ministries like the now definked “Mission Birmingham ” .

/prosecution /and conviction https://www.al.com/news/2016/05/questions_linger_as_14_million.html

Thirdly FBP also have third party partners like local and national foundations with very different values from the Christian ministries that engage with them and receive their funding. These “values” most often include promoting “family planning” of organizations like Planned Parenthood. Also – as with the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham- ministries are partnering with the very organization which paid for the the LGBTQ+ policy study . Again , one the largest FBP /Christian organization Cahaba Valley Health Care paid for the relocation of it’s offices and medical /dental clinics/ eye clinics into the ground floor of the Jefferson County hospital with a  grant from CFGB. They now partner with County Health Department which has helped draft and adopted the pro-active LGBTQ+ policy the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham paid to produced. Examples of funding partners below reflect the broad spectrum of involvement.

Click to access JCPA-Info-Brouchure.pdf

https://www.cahabavalleyhealthcare.org/funding-partners

Such partnerships are taking place  around the city and the nation as this clear conflict of mission and conscience is placing well meaning  Christian medical providers in harms way with no warnings from those evangelical leaders promoting FBP/ Community Transformation / volunteerism / and working for the “common good and human flourishing “.

MOHLER IS HELPING CREATE THE CRISIS 

HHS also has major integration of pro LGBTQ+ policy in Healthcare carried over from the Obama era so the “dangers ” to Christians in the practice of medicine that Albert Mohler is warning about in his article are already well in place since the Obama administration.Neither Mohler nor Moore warned against these realities then nor are they now in relation to the programs they are promoting with Kern and Acton.

The dangers remain. This is especially true for the medical ministries involved in  FBP and volunteerism which is at the VERY HEART of both the Kern funded programs at Mohler’s  Seminary SBTS and in the overhaul of medical education by Kern’s “MeEdNext” involving seven medical schools and growing. Such emphasis is in fact feeding the very problem. It is well advanced and developing before our eyes in the healthcare crisis in general.The “crisis ” Albert Mohler is seeing as coming down the road is, in fact, already here and HE (and other complicit or ill informed evangelical leaders )helped to create it by rushing into funding and focus on overhauling education. The Faith and Work focus on seminary campuses like SBTS is training pastors to “train” ( indoctrinate) their congregants (like the medical professionals) toward service for the “common good” in these very kind of programs that only further the problem.

Fourthly Community Based Healthcare also includes School Based Health Centers which sometimes include faith based partners.

https://www.hrsa.gov/our-stories/school-health-centers/index.html

These School Based Clinics aggressively promote “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” (see SIECUS) , a Planned Parenthood goal which is a key goal of both abortion and LGBTQ+ advocates. CSE eventually will reach into Pre K 3 and 4 through 12 students in all public schools. Faith Based partners in these school based clinics will be working in tandem with PP and other similar partners as  they promote  sexual liberation , experimentation, ideology that encourages  questioning of gender and sexual orientation.  The train keeps on rolling as disaster awaits not far down the the line.

Fifthly these FBP are designed as part of socialized medicine to provide a template which will conclude the take over provision of healthcare for lower levels of working poor and indigent care as seen in the partnership. At risk in these models are two very vital things:

A) Quality of care will and does  suffer – as one size fits all programs with limited budgets and overcrowded facilities and underpaid staff (or overworked volunteers)  try to function in the politically driven  state of unreality these utopian dream programs promise and cannot deliver .

B) Private Practice in healthcare has quickly become an endangered species . This is never a good idea. Patient choice will become a thing of the past and meaningful income and work opportunities for the next generation of medical professions will be greatly diminished .

THE CHURCH EXPLOITED 

Last of all the ultimate goal of Faith Based Partnerships for future provision of health and social services and welfare is two fold :

The goals are to gain the resources of the faith communities (yes the upfront public funding is merely the primer for the long range goal of churches and corporations becoming the primary funding source for these programs) . And to gain oversight and control of for the purposes of  ” ensuring the goods and services are provided in a non-discriminatory manner” . In short FBP are one more tool for government controlled “Wealth Redistribution ” . The resources of the church and the eternal good they have been given  by church members and entrusted by God to ensure (and that Christian believers are far more capable of undertaking)  will be captured and used  for these highly politicized goals. The Church and Christian healthcare providers are being set up.The only thing left to play out at this point is the trainwreck and the picking up of the pieces by the real Christians in the worse possible circumstances.

All of this total package is of course unsustainable for a host of reasons and the results will be that the best healthcare in the world will be impacted for years to come and the landscape will be littered with the victims of failed politically driven healthcare policy like pro-LGBTQ+ through the partnerships of bureaucracy  and often well intended faith based providers.

BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA FBP MODEL

(Again -this writer is from Birmingham Alabama and my spouse is in healthcare. We both work in ministry to medical students and to the medical community and have worked in indigent care and medical missions at home and abroad. We have cared for the poorest of the poor.This writer’s own involvement has been ongoing  since the early 1980’s and has been witness over decades to third world hospitals and socialized medicine in Latin America and in Eastern Europe. Christians play THE most vital role in caring for the sick and for the poor in whatever setting they are found working. Most often they are filling the void between corruption and graft, failed  government based care and poverty and do a wonderful job of answering the call to combine care for the temporal needs of the body and the eternal souls of the patient . This is the case when faith based ministries and providers AVOID the entanglements and allure of easy money and bad policy represented by FBP and the kind of programs SBTS  /the SBC / Mohler and others are advocating .)

In a little more than four years during the Obama administration and the reforms and funding of Bush era Faith Based Partnership programs ,Birmingham Alabama saw the rise of about a dozen faith based medical clinics . Below is a look at one of the larger ones which is focused on the hispanic community and also in full partnership with the local Jefferson County Health Department as mentioned because it is located on the ground floor of the Counties failed indigent hospital.

( This link shows the free and faith based clinics statewide )

https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/free_community_clinics_in_alab.html

CAHABA VALLEY HEALTH CARE

https://www.cahabavalleyhealthcare.org/copy-of-who-we-are

“The CVHC mission is to provide dental and vision services for people in financial need in Jefferson and Shelby Counties, while maintaining our clients’ dignity, respecting their cultural diversity, and strengthening the community.”

​”CVHC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We were founded in April 2000 and organized our first vision screening in August 2001. In November 2003, CVHC began conducting dental screenings in conjunction with vision screenings. CVHC has since added specialty clinics for fillings and extractions. In March of 2016, CVHC moved to Cooper Green Health Services where we have begun to help even more people. Since moving to Cooper Green, CVHC’s patient load has grown from hundreds to thousands.”

​”CVHC works with agencies in central Alabama such as Christ Health Center, Alabama Regional Medical Services, Hope Health Clinic, and The Foundry. With these resources we are able to assist our patients in finding care that they need.”

Again -The LGBTQ+ policy development for Central Alabama discussed above was paid for by the CVHC partner The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham which funded CVHC move into fellow partner in both -the Jefferson County Health Department facility at “Cooper Green “.

Jefferson County is also providing grants to the Faith Based Cahaba Valley Health Care

https://www.wbrc.com/story/32721487/cooper-green-health-services-stepping-up-dental-care/

PROBLEMATICE PARTNERS AND MONEY -RICK WARREN HAS LED THE WAY 

Rick Warren is a West coast Southern Baptist who wrote the popular “Purpose Driven ” book series . A look at his  Saddleback Church website ministries and outreach pages adn volunteer directive provides insight into how the FBP are envisioned for all churches. Randy Pope of the PCA is a very close second to Warren for the implementation of these problematic programs. None are more problematic than the FBP in Healthcare

“Faith Based Healthcare /Global PEACE”

Rick Warren issues call for greater collaboration, partnering in missions

(God Reports is a publication which supports the Saddleback model and includes a long time PEACE Plan /FBP staffer)

Mike Constantz
P.E.A.C.E. Initiatives Team
Saddleback Church”

Warren’s work in Rwanda is lauded by God Reports

“He described one area of western Rwanda with only one medical doctor available to serve 10 million people. Saddleback teams trained 2,800 health care workers to fill the health care gap. Each health care worker will operate within their local church – which allows the church to resume its role in physical and spiritual care. ”

“Warren recalled a conference he attended with Bill and Melinda Gates that sought solutions for some of the world’s most intractable problems. When Warren described his vision for health care, Melinda Gates responded, “I get it, the church could be a distribution point for health care.”

“The influential church leader honored the attendees at the Evangelical Missiological Society conference. “I honor what you do because we are always one generation away from extinction,” he said. “It’s important to judge a church not on its seating capacity, but on its sending capacity.”

MOHLER AND FAITH AND WORK PROGRAM IS JUST MORE “PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE” AS IT TRAINS PASTORS TO IMPLANT THE GOALS IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OD CONGREGANTS 

Faith Based Partnerships as a whole are part of the unsustainable vision of “common good – faith and  work” in healthcare and welfare and social services in general. The church has historically been effective in caring for the poor and the sick because Christians  are motivated by the Love of God- the eternal good and the power of the Gospel to provide greater purpose than patching up broken bones from family abuse of offering antibiotics for  STDs and limited “family planning ” through contraception and abortion services. The church/ Christian ministry in FBP is hindered from the ministry of the Gospel and providing real change and deeper healing of the soul and is relegated to playing a circular role in some “great society ” vision with tainted money and corrupt partners in programs that have  a proven track record of failure and fostering further corruption. This model has simply never worked because socialism has never worked.

The true church/ Christian is inspired by a higher calling – as is the average Christian in health care. That higher calling is not part of the plan of FBP. It is actually hindered if not excluded by the Faith Based Partnerships model , political movements behind it and problematic partners . Christians need to trust God and do His work without yoking themselves to unbelievers or their schemes.

2nd Corinthians 6:

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

WHO IS AT THE TABLE REPRESENTING CHRISTIANS IN HEALTH CARE? ALBERT MOHLER PROTEGE- RUSSELL MOORE AND THE ERLC.

Russell Moore celebrated an action by HHS  in his twitter that seemed to counter the concerns of Mohler just days after the  May 21st comments on “The Briefing ” by Mohler about Christians leaving healthcare.

Russell Moore Retweeted HHS OCR

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/05/24/hhs-proposes-to-revise-aca-section-1557-rule.html#.XOf28umeIds.twitter

So what is really going on here? If Mohler’s SBTS is working with the Kern Family Foundation to promote “faith in the workplace” for the “common good and human flourishing “and KFF is also establishing a sweeping effort to “transform medical education ” with the same ideology-how is Mohler advocating that Christians have may to leave the profession altogether? It appears that this may be a ploy to introduce both the crisis and themselves and the transformation effort as an answer to that crisis. If human flourishing and common good are the standard -then Christians in medicine can redefine their concept of calling around these more progressive ideologies .Time will tell where this is going but with Moore’s ERLC involvement in it looks to be a handy pitch for Christian support toward MORE progressive HRC reforms .

Otherwise Mohler is contradicting both himself and Moore and the foundation that is funding his left leaning , social justice “Vocational Theology” program. Mohler is certainly not haphazardly venturing into the conversation about Christians in health care and not at all likely to be advocating that Christians may soon have to leave the profession altogether. No this is political in nature and vintage Mohler/ SBTS/ ERLC pitch for something. Such posturing always has an end in mind.

EQUALITY ACT PRE-COMPLIANCE

The NAE and CCCU signed onto The Equality Act well in advance . Is Albert Mohler just softening up Christian opposition among healthcare providers and then setting up ERLC to spike the ball with some grand reform? Is altering the expectation of Christians in healthcare really seen as this simple? It does appear that expectation of organizations in Christian education like the CCCU  and in broader evangelical leadership like the NAE fully expect the church to offer little more than simple minded  bleating like sheep as they are corralled for the communitarian vision by those higher up the evangelical food chain.  None of this is sustainable for a multitude of reasons . Nor is it honest

https://www.christianpost.com/news/nae-and-cccu-boards-back-sogi-compromise-for-religious-freedom-exemptions.html

“As Christian higher educators, we are increasingly persuaded that the most viable political strategy is for comprehensive religious freedom protections to be combined with explicit support for basic human rights for members of the LGBT community,” wrote Houghton College President Shirley Mullen, who serves on both the CCCU and NAE board, in a position paper provided to NAE board members.” One Christian commentator remarked “Two major evangelical organizations have decided to endorse legislation that would force Americans to embrace — and live out — certain beliefs about human sexuality. I will do everything I can to oppose NAE and CCCU in this,”

NO SAFE SPACES FROM LGBTQ+ LEGITIMIZATION 

Mohler discusses the Drag Queen Story Hour at local libraries in the third segment . He points out that “even the local Library are no longer a safe space for Christians parents and children “. It is possible to assert also that on his watch under his  leadership the Christian seminaries have become  no longer a SAFE PLACE  for our future pastors and missionaries to be trained  and our churches,youth groups and children’s ministries are losing their place as a refuge from the seediness of the sexualized world as well.

CONCLUSION 

( photo from Paul’s Passing Thoughts blog  “Swami Albert Mohler”  )

While Albert Mohler is predicting and crisis for Christians in healthcare – Mohler and Russell Moore signed onto the advance of two of the LGBTQ+ agenda’s key goals in 2014 when they endorsed (Mohler even apologized for being wrong about) sexual orientation as a reality and abandoned any type of “Ex- gay” or “Conversion Therapies “. Focusing on these issues is an effort by the LGBQ+ lobby based on unproven theory to prevent the people, especially youth from obtaining help in leaving the homosexual lifestyle because such efforts will become outlawed as harmful and discriminatory . This is happening while access for Planned Parenthood and others to recruit youth into experimentation and “questioning ” their sexuality and gender are encouraged and facilitated. Saddest of all they are even aided by faith based program partnerships who fall into the trap of following the ideals promoted by Mohler SBTS and other seminaries.

Mohler admitted in 2005 that the very shift he made over “sexual orientation” in 2014 has taken the entire discussion of LGBTQ+ issues outside a biblical framework and the “authority  of Scripture” for the church and in fact for Christians in medical care because the assertions of “orientation” secure the idea that homosexuality is unchangeable. It is not hard for HHS and private funders to advance their own goals in health care with partners like our own seminaries and leaders like Albert Mohler and Russell Moore.

Watch for the pitch coming for more overhauls and reforms in Healthcare . Be careful to notice the promotion of “opportunity” and even some “safeguards” for Christian ministries and volunteers providing healthcare but remember the noose is never tightened before the neck of the condemned is full inside it.

Actually Christian Medical professionals most often see their careers as a calling and are really not interested in whether or not a compromised seminary leader thinks they can continue to obey that calling or not.

By Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                5/20/2019

The SBC and conservative  backlash over Social Justice insanity in the seminaries continues its grassroots groundswell. In recent weeks Danny Akin/ Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary scrubbed the name and multiple links for Kern Family Foundation (KFF) funding from the SEBTS/ Intersect Project pages on the seminaries website.

WHY IS KERN, THE LEAD EVANGELICAL VOCATION /SOCIAL JUSTICE FUNDER, GOING INTO HIDING AT SEBTS?

Some who are tracking the money have remained hopeful that the saturation of these initiatives has not reached some institutions with more trusted leadership like SBTS and Dr Albert Mohler . However the SBTS website remains intact and The extensive relationship and partnership going back to at least 2014 is displayed in plain site .

Work, economics initiative at Southern Seminary receives grant

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                5/16/ 2019

Since the revelations that “Social Justice ” mantras were echoing down the corridors of learning in many conservative seminaries, everywhere their sound is heard the Kern Family Foundation funding is present. Kern looks to have gone into hiding after a New York Times interview with SEBTS professor Walter Strickland, part of  SEBTS /Kern and partnership, revealed that these echoes included the voice of James Cone and his radical “black empowerment ” rhetoric of Black Liberation Theology and “institutionalized racism”. Yes this is all happening on the campus of a Southern Baptist Seminary .

WHY IS KERN, THE LEAD EVANGELICAL VOCATION /SOCIAL JUSTICE FUNDER, GOING INTO HIDING AT SEBTS?

WHAT IS KERN TEACHING IN CONSERVATIVE SEMINARIES?

According to reports in multiple books and articles the present partnership with Kern Family Foundation (KFF) and some 25-30 (or more) seminaries also includes curriculum and speakers ,as well as imbedded “fellows” from Acton Institute which is a Catholic run communitarian think tank.

Here are some examples of their curriculum outlines

“The Economic Wisdom ”

“The Oikonomia Network and the Economic Wisdom Project
We are theological educators committed to the Oikonomia Network vision of integrating faith, work, and economics into a cohesive understanding of Christian discipleship and mission. We are actively participating in ON ventures with our colleagues, students, and ecclesial publics. The Economic Wisdom Project is important – for our churches and
educational organizations, local communities, nation, and the world. We are stewards of fresh and focused thinking that builds on the work of many past and present leaders. We believe these are incisive insights for our moment in history, as we experience profound economic and social changes unparalleled in the past five centuries. This is not the final word on economics and work, nor is it a comprehensive or constructive work of theology. The Economic Wisdom Project is the beginning of a new conversation that we pray will lead to biblically sound and contextually relevant praxis in the 21st century. As a new community of theological educators, we welcome insights that will enhance our mission of integration as we prepare leaders who will equip congregants for robust 24/7 Christian living.”

THE “FLOURISHING GOSPEL “BUZZWORDS ABOUND BUT WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

These ideas sound good – that Christians should see value and purpose in their work. Few would disagree that Christians should do all things wholeheartedly, including work, as unto the Lord. But keep in mind this movement in our seminaries represents a well organized effort toward “Centralized Planning” to promote “the common good ” and “human flourishing ” as pastors are fed these principles in the name of economics and then taught how to apply and teach them to their congregations.

Watch carefully some of the specific elements of what pastors are being taught and the resources provided. Oikonomia Network (ON) is Kern’s oversight and implementation arm on the campuses where KFF funds are invested. Oikonomia means “stewardship”. O.N. offices are located on the TEDS campus where The Gospel Coalition offices are and the two organizations work very closely together with the same goal of influencing young ministers and seminary students.The topic of study for O.N. is Faith And Works programing and training.

It is an Ivy league /liberal Christianity ideal envisioned  for and  across ecumenical and interfaith lines

https://faith.yale.edu/

“Why connect theology and economics?
Because our lives should manifest the
Gospel, making it tangible and visible.
In addition to personal holiness, we
need to reach beyond ourselves and
have an impact on the world around us.
Christians are called to live out God’s
creation purposes and be signposts
of the glorious future to come. That
includes activities like religious works,
charity, and volunteering, but these
take up only a small fraction of our
lives; discipleship must be a whole-life
endeavor. If we want to follow God’s
call and live into our true identity as
his stewards, we have to integrate our
faith with the spheres of life in which
we invest most of our time: work and
the economy.”

KFF ROLE IN Economic Wisdom Project

“The Kern Family Foundation (KFF) is
committed to helping pastors and churches
realize the vision of God’s kingdom. We
rejoice in the many ways this is already
taking place through worship, fellowship,
discipleship, service, and evangelism. Yet
the church is often silent when it comes to
an area that often determines how people
steward their God-given talents and resources
as they care for themselves, their families,
and their neighbors both near and distant.
By neglecting to equip people with an
understanding of how faith relates to work
and the broader economic environment
in which they exercise stewardship, the
church is missing an opportunity to help
people more fully serve God and others in
ways congruent with biblical foundations
of human flourishing. Two ways the KFF is
helping pastors reconnect their ministry with
this critical area of life are the Oikonomia
Network (www.oikonomianetwork.org)
and the Kern Pastors Network (www.
kernpastorsnetwork.org).
The Economic Wisdom Project (EWP) was
created in 2012 as the KFF greatly increased
its investments in helping pastors connect
faith to work and economics. Although a
large body of theological reflection already
existed on the topic of work, we discovered
little prior development on the topic of
economics. The purpose of this document
is to create a focal point for reflection that
we hope will foster a deeper understanding
of our mission. ”

“STEWARDSHIP AND FLOURISHING
1. We have a stewardship responsibility to flourish in our own
lives, to help our neighbors flourish as fellow stewards, and to
pass on a flourishing economy to future generations.
2. Economies flourish when people have integrity and trust each other.
3. In general, people flourish when they take responsibility for
their own economic success by doing work that serves others
and makes the world better.”

“VALUE CREATION
4. Real economic success is about how much value you create, not
how much money you make.
5. A productive economy comes from the value-creating work of
free and virtuous people.
6. Economies generally flourish when policies and practices
reward value creation.”

“PRODUCTIVITY AND OPPORTUNITY
7. Households, businesses, communities, and nations should
support themselves by producing more than they consume.
8. A productive economy lifts people out of poverty and generally
helps people flourish.
9. The most effective way to turn around poverty, economic distress,
and injustice is by expanding opportunity for people to develop and
deploy their God-given productive potential in communities of
exchange, especially through entrepreneurship”

“RESPONSIBLE ACTION
10. Programs aimed at economic problems need a fully rounded
understanding of how people flourish.
11. Economic thinking must account for long-term effects and
unintended consequences.
12. In general, economies flourish when goodwill is universal and global,
but control is local, and personal knowledge guides decisions.”

WHAT IS HUMAN FLOURISHING, IS IT THE GOSPEL AND WHERE DID THE PHRASE COME FROM?

Human Flourishing is understood to be that which will make for the best outcome for all for the “common good”.It’s origins are found in Greek Philosophy and do NOT find their roots in the Gospel of Christ nor as presented by Yale or by Oikonomia because their cultural applications do not have the eternal souls but rather human “welfare and happiness” as the measure for success. Thriving and Flourishing are popular words in many circles but have only temporal and very limited ,unsustainable  impact in light of eternity.  Common good and Flourishing as outcome goals and measures is where social justice replaces the Good News that God was in Christ reconciling the World to Himself . Common good reduces everything to the lowest common denominator . The Good News reduces everyone to their eternal need for Redemption and Christ who provides it.

“Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία [eu̯dai̯moníaː]), sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia /juːdɪˈmoʊniə/, is a Greek word commonly translated as happiness or welfare; however, “human flourishing or prosperity“^{[1][better source needed]} and “blessedness”^[2] have been proposed as a more accurate translations.”

“Etymologically, it consists of the words “eu” (“good”) and “daimōn” (“spirit”). It is a central concept in Aristotelian ethics and political philosophy, along with the terms “aretē“, most often translated as “virtue” or “excellence”, and “phronesis“, often translated as “practical or ethical wisdom”.^[3] In Aristotle‘s works, eudaimonia (based on older Greek tradition) was used as the term for the highest human good, and so it is the aim of practical philosophy, including ethics and political philosophy, to consider (and also experience) what it really is, and how it can be achieved.”

WHAT JESUS IN LUKE CHAPTER FOUR HAS TO SAY

Jesus fast for 40 days and afterwards is brought in this weakened state into the unthinkable situation for most people of being  tempted face to face by the Devil himself. Jesus is tempted to meet his human need (turn these stones into bread) . He refuses and quotes that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.

Yet human flourishing tells us human hunger for bread alone is a central goal of flourishing and common good. In the same chapter of Luke Jesus warns that many in need were left with those needs unmet even by God’s servants the prophets. “²⁵ But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; ²⁶ but to none of them was Elijah sent except to^[l]Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.²⁷ And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

Why is Jesus making this statement if His goal and teaching is to assure the human flourishing of all mankind in the context of meeting their temporal need?

ON CHRISTIAN COMPASSION

Christians are some of the most compassionate people on earth. True Christians by nature help those around them in need. Historically Christians have been at the forefront of building hospitals, providing disaster relief, ministering to families in crisis, providing quality education, counseling , opportunity for recovery and building new lives. Christian business owners the world over quietly go about their own private efforts one soul at a time to provide aid and employment to those in need around them.

KFF / Oikonomia / Acton are promoting their way as the Gospel way while it appears it’s inspiration is not found in scripture and minimises emphasis on the greater eternal needs of men in favor of the “common good”. Marvin Olasky’s book “The Tragedy of American Compassion” which was used as the basis for launching the Faith Based Partnerships allowing Churches and ministries to access grants( tax dollars and corporate/ foundation funding) is part of the KKF/ Oikonomia Network /Acton curriculum .This ideology calls the church and ministries to become the third leg of the stool with Government “oversight” and obligation as well as corporate involvement to “partner together” in providing for the poor and becoming agents of the government in delivering social services “building community” or “Community Development”.

The corruption and waste brought on by such policy applied in the church under the Obama administration has done nothing to aid the church in proclaiming the Gospel but instead obligated it to government regulations which include excluding “explicitly religious activity ” in it’s funded compassion programs and forced the adoption of and shaping  of ministry priorities to fit those funded by the federal programs.

Also the resources of Tim Keller, Redeemer Church, and John Stott, along with other political commentators provide a window into the progressive political compromise embedded in these Faith and Work ideologies which have a much stronger motivation toward “social justice ” motivation than Gospel calling.Faith and Work seeks to harness the energies of the younger generation into community service and tends to vilify prosperity and individualism as it promotes the collective vision of Common Good. Interestingly many who cast shadows on the values of individualism and the American Dream are themselves celebrity preachers, authors and speakers who are themselves living that DREAM.

CENTRALIZED PLANNING IS WORST WHEN IT IS APPLIED TO THE GOSPEL

In short,true Christians live out compassion every day and do so out of a calling to follow the two great commandments  to love God and to love our fellow man as ourselves. Compassion, if heralded,  is not true compassion but Jesus encouraged that it be done without fanfare and with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Jesus did not call the apostles in the New Testament or seminaries today to distract preachers of the Word into teaching politically correct ideologically left leaning economics wrapped in clever afterthoughts from Catholic social policy and then to utilize the church facilities to train the people of God to serve in these efforts to “build community” for the common good and human flourishing.

To insist that this is the heart of the Gospel or that Jesus urged such planning and implementation as central to the great commission is simply not an honest approach to the Word of God. It is also very likely that such idealism translated from concept to implementation without the work of the Holy Spirit guiding it and providing the actual wisdom found in the Heart of God and infused by redemption into the heart of man will end in a very poor outcome and loss of the greater calling of those under it’s influence. Mercy ministry is inspired only by those who know mercy -God’s mercy and is sustained only by other worldly inspiration. Otherwise the novelty wears thin very quickly and the inspiration of progressive social policy fades in light of reality among the deeper human need of a lost world filled with lost souls in need a Savior.

Jesus nor Paul nor any of the Apostles called for organizing Christian compassion or for partnering with pagan powers to end or “cure” poverty. Christ called His people out of the world and then sent them as ambassadors into it on the behalf of a Kingdom- His Kingdom that is NOT of this world. The church is not sending it’s young men and women  who are called of God into seminaries to learn how to community organize or build community or to learn critical theory or Black Liberation Theology -but how to proclaim the everlasting Gospel and follow the Lamb wherever He goes in the Great Commission.

MORE ON HIS TEMPTATION

Jesus is offered the world if He will simply bow the knee to the god of this world and yet Jesus refuses. “^5 [d]Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, ^[e]“Get behind Me, Satan! ^[f]For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”

Jesus clearly cast the two opposites against each other .He is not seeking the world nor its goods nor the good of it (flourishing ) He is seeking the good and the Worship of the Living God and to make His worship possible for human kind ” in Spirit and in Truth ”     (as he revealed to the woman at the well in John 4).

The advocates of Human Flourishing are seeking to help the church gain the world – to focus “Globally ” in a time when the human landscape appears to be resembling far more the kingdom of antichrist than Christ Kingdom. The advocacy of KFF / Oikonomia / Acton to promote value and economics and common good are totally missing from Jesus presentation of His purpose and Divine nature and power to achieve them .

“¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Those who heard Jesus read from Isaiah 61 and declare Himself the promised Messiah that day in Nazareth were mindful of their need and of human concerns just like the common good focus and flourishing ideas of today. They missed their own Saviour by savoring earthly concerns and ultimately were blind to the eternal because of temporal expectations and desires.Jesus was ushering in a salvation that encompassed eternity and the power to break the chains of sin and death while those who watched Him wanted an earthly king and freedom from Roman oppression . Little differs in these errors which are thriving today.

THE ULTIMATE TEMPTATION IS TO TEMPT GOD

“⁹ Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

¹¹ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

¹² And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not^[g]tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

The subtle effort to prove God is true by some forced intervention into human crisis is missing the point of the Gospel entirely . The Truth is not human centered  but God centered. The need that is met by the Gospel is an eternal one and is brought about by the satisfaction of God’s heart not man’s need. It is not God being forced to intervene but man being confronted by the certainty of death and the reality of God who holds life and death and the power of it. Jesus is telling us NOT to tempt God by “putting Him to the test” to prove Himself to man.

The flourishing gospel is false because God is not supreme in it . It suggest that Christians can prove God in them merely by meeting human need and usher in God’s presence and kingdom by doing so.

WHAT IS MISSING IN THIS MESSAGE?

The  main ingredient missing is FAITH. It is the primary forgotten element without which it is impossible to please God and by it the fathers obtained a good report and overcame the world and the trials in it.There is no faith in the “flourishing gospel”. Works- human efforts are highlighted and are actually THE most common obstacle to faith. Works and the self righteousness that often arise from them are likely the greatest barrier to saving faith for many .

THE GRACE ECONOMY

God’s economy is driven by GRACE alone – not human effort and not the ideology of leftist Catholic social justice or Greek Philosophy. It is not the product of human wisdom of think tanks with political and economic gain as inspiration . Jesus Kingdom is not of this world- not of this origin nor of its systems nor to its ends . Jesus came to save sinners not produce a basis for twisting His words to capture human energies of  believers for a collectivist / communitarian vision. The church which is in the world and not of it – is not here for the goals of seeing progressive socio – economic development realized.

This flourishing gospel is false because it is simply missing the real elements that would help the hurting around us in the world. It is missing God as its center- missing Faith – the only action needed to find God’s provision and it is missing eternity -which if it could feed every hungry belly on the globe but leave them hopeless and Saviorless -it has done far more harm than good .It has  reduced the Gospel of Christ to soup kitchens and indoctrinated pastors indoctrinating congregants into finding meaning from meeting human need while neglecting the awful realities of eternity in the hands of the Living God- even while flourishing their way to the judgement seat.

MORE FROM THE KERN/OIKONOMIA/ ACTON PARTNERS.

Think about these studies and you are likely to understand why your pastor may not even know how to preach the Gospel if he has been under these influences in the seminary in recent years.

“God created human beings to be good stewards of this
world. We carry out that stewardship when we do
work that helps God’s world flourish. In the beginning,
God put Adam and Eve in the garden “to work it and keep
it” (Genesis 2:15) and appointed them as stewards over
creation (Genesis 1:28). The Fall has infected our work
with toil and frustration, but our “to-do list” remains the
same: do work that serves others, and cultivate blessings
out of the raw materials God provides. This restores God’s
creation purposes in the world, and provides a foretaste
of future glory. As God redeems us, he empowers us to
reorient the world toward him. God is a worker (John 5:17)
and we were made in his image, so we were made for work.
Through the Holy Spirit, God has equipped us for work
and called us to it; work takes up most of life because it
serves God’s purposes. Work is also essential to character
and spiritual formation. How we work shapes us, steadily
leading us either toward or away from God. The economic
institutions that define the cultural meaning of our work
provide the essential background for that journey.”

COMPARE TO THE WORDS OF JESUS

John 6:^{28 “}Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

He goes on in this chapter again to rebuke those who are seeking mere earthly fulfillment and the meeting of human need after seekers from the feeding of the 5000 are demanding more bread for hungry bellies . Jesus has greater things to serve in a meal at His table of Communion and the real passover. Jesus is offering Himself as the Living and TRUE BREAD .Again the earthly minded men in this crowd are missing the real Gospel even at the mouth of the Lord Himself . So much for Human need driving the Gospel .

MORE KERN AND MORE EVIDENCE OF THE TIM KELLER /GOSPEL COALITION INFLUENCE IN THESE PROGRAMS

“Recommended Resources:
• Stewardship Study Bible
• Darrell Cosden, A Theology of Work
• Tom Nelson, Work Matters
• Timothy Keller with Katherine Leary Alsdorf,
Every Good Endeavor
• Charlie Self, Flourishing Churches and Communities
• Gene Edward Veith, God at Work
• Michael Wittmer, Heaven is a Place on Earth”

WHAT COMMON GOOD MEANS

“4. Real economic success
is about how much value
you create, not how
much money you make.
5. A productive economy
comes from the valuecreating work of free and
virtuous people.
6. Economies generally
flourish when policies
and practices reward
value creation.”

Productivity and Opportunity

“7. Households, businesses,
communities, and nations
should support themselves
by producing more than
they consume.
8. A productive economy
lifts people out of
poverty and generally
helps people flourish.
9. The most effective way
to turn around poverty,
economic distress, and
injustice is by expanding
opportunity for people to
develop and deploy their
God-given productive
potential in communities
of exchange, especially
through entrepreneurship”

PASTOR TAKE THIS BACK TO YOUR CHURCH AND HELP US SELL IT

“SO WHAT does THIS have TO DO
WITH PASTORS?
What do pastors have to do with the
economy? In Ephesians 4, Paul calls
upon the church to be a place where people
learn to “put on the new self, created after
the likeness of God in true righteousness
and holiness” (4:24) in contrast to a world
where people “have become callous and
have given themselves up to sensuality,
greedy to practice every kind of impurity”
(4:19). When he lists some of the key
ingredients for living into the likeness of God,
he emphasizes that “doing honest work” is
how we support our households and provide
for human needs more broadly (4:28). And
why did God give us the apostles, prophets,
evangelists, shepherds, and teachers? Paul’s
answer begins: “To equip his people for works
of service” (4:12). ”

“If we explore the reasons why work is
central to the pastoral task of helping
people live into “the likeness of God,”
we discover that the way pastors describe
economic systems is a critical part of
that task. This can be explained in four
steps. Work is central to the pastoral
task because in the Bible, “the likeness of
God” refers primarily to how we behave
as responsible agents who can order the
raw materials God gives us in creation.
We were given stewardship over the world
with a mission to make it flourish for God’s
glory (stewardship and flourishing).”

WORST OF ALL WRAPPING CENTRALIZED PLANNING IN A “CHRISTIAN ” THEOLOGY

Centralized Planning in economics -“History tells us that central planning is the true harbinger of chaos.”

KFF /Oikonomia / Acton would tell us they are simply advocating for free market economy promoted by the pastors of Christian Churches including philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and Christians seeing purpose in their work while . Yet they are partnering to promote and have your pastor promote their centralized planned vision – of how these things should be accomplished . The elements of Collectivism / Shared Resources / Justice all reek of the same old Socialist ideologies that have left much of the world emerging from communist /socialist economics in THE very poverty these programs are informing us how to end.

MORE KERN

“Every major element of Christian
theology has profound application
to work and the economy. In the Trinity,
three persons work together. They do so by
choice, out of loving goodwill, rather than
out of coercion or utilitarian necessity. Yet
the persons do not lose their individual
identity or integrity; their acts of free
cooperation make each distinct personality
stand out more, not less.
In a similar way, we who are made in
the image of this triune God cooperate
through our work. We are made to act
together out of loving goodwill. We do
so freely; this is what distinguishes the
economic sphere of life from the political
sphere, which is based on the power of the
sword. The harmony we create through
the cooperation of our work produces
the social unity of civilization. Yet in this
weaving together of the social fabric, no
individual loses his identity or integrity.
Precisely because the cooperation is free,
it expresses the dignity of the human
person as God’s creature, rather than a
mere subordination of the individual to
the collective. ”

“The world is going through an
unprecedented economic realignment,
and pastors must prepare for the care
needs this transition will create. Economic
insecurity and uncertainty are here to stay.
The need for comfort and compassion, as well
as for wise counsel, is only going to grow.
In 1970, the vast majority of the world’s
population was living in primitive, traditionbased economies. Since then, virtually the
entire world has joined the modern economy.
The immediate impact has been enormously
beneficial to millions around the world, but
the transition is creating disruptive challenges
for advanced economies like ours.
Pastors need to know that the economic crisis
is primarily a crisis of moral character. During
the second half of the 20th century, America
came to trust in its dominant world position
for its security. We neglected the real source of
economic flourishing: sound moral character,
put into action by both individuals and society
at large. In general, when people manifest love,
joy, honesty, diligence, self-control, and other
virtues in work and business, and when the
economy as a whole is understood as a moral
system that exists to nurture such work, both
individuals and the nation will flourish. ”

“Connecting theology and economics for pastoral
ministry that produces human flourishing.
http://www.oikonomianetwork.org
http://www.kernpastorsnetwork.org”

THE FLOURISHING GOSPEL IS CERTAINLY FLOURISHING AT YOUR SEMINARIES

More resources and organizations helping promote Faith Adn Work

https://www.academia.edu/4844844/Calling_in_the_Theology_of_Work

Campus Crusade / aka CRU

Click to access A_Theology_of_Work.pdf

Western Seminary

Click to access Theology%20of%20Work.pdf

Tim Keller/ Redeemer City Church

Home

Baylor

Click to access 247525.pdf

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Commonweal Project

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Intersect Project -Discussed in the article linked after the first paragraph of this writing.

And so on and so on and so …..on You get the idea. There is a Central Plan and it is wrapped in a theology but not founded in the teaching of Christ unless you believe Jesus was more social justice warrior and simply dishonest about His real mission and the Divine and supernatural way by which He was called to fulfill it.

IS THERE A PLAN ?IS IT CENTRALIZED ? IS IT ORGANIZED AND INTRODUCED INTO OUR SEMINAIRES BY A CONTROLLING SOURCE?

“Theory of Central Planning

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                                  5/14/2019

Many Biblical conservatives are awakening and disturbed to find the indoctrination going on in their own seminaries . As revealed in 2017 – a massive effort to introduce the social justice /victim narratives of far left  “Christianity” began in late 2007-2009 and scaled up in 2013 to include some 23 conservative evangelical seminaries .Kern Family Foundation/ (its) Oikonomia Network partners with Acton Institute ,a Catholic libertarian think tank , to provide funding and overhaul /oversee curriculum changes. The partnership seeks to  implement their desired program focus (Faith and Work) on the seminary  campuses . This effort is generally found in the Cultural Engagement departments of the institutions . Currently Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is said to be undergoing the same transformation in it’s post Paige Patterson era under new leadership from at least three former SBTS/ Dr. Albert Mohler employees . These “below the surface” operations were described by this author as having the appearance of an “Evangelical Deep State “. The phrase has caught on in the Evangelical world as concerns continue to escalate and suspicions are confirmed .

http://sbctoday.wpengine.com/is-this-the-evangelical-deep-state/

http://sbctoday.wpengine.com/is-this-the-evangelical-deep-state-part-two/

PERHAPS BLACK LIBERATION IS A “BRIDGE TOO FAR”

Some of those suspicions WERE confirmed  by whistleblowers from the seminaires and in a recent New York Times article interviewing Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and “Intersect Project ” member Walter Strickland . Eyebrows raised when he acknowledged teaching Black Liberation Theology and James Cone at SEBTS and in churches/meetings on his speaking schedule.

“Radical thinkers have found their way into the citadels of white evangelicalism. Reading the black liberation theologian James Cone helped Mr. Strickland, the theology professor, see how white theologians often ignore the structural sources of earthly suffering. In 1969, the Rev. Dr. Cone admonished “new blacks, redeemed in Christ” to “say to whites that authentic love is not ‘help,’ not giving Christmas baskets but working for political, social and economic justice, which always means a redistribution of power.”

Strickland admits to being stealthy in his approach by not mentioning James Cone by name .

“Courses in African-American theology have been on the books at moderate evangelical seminaries since the 1970s. But it is significant that Mr. Strickland has brought a thinker like Dr. Cone into the heart of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention. Mr. Strickland spent years studying in majority-white evangelical schools, where he mastered the idiom of the Christian right. When he speaks to conservative white congregations, he is careful: “While Cone’s ideas are in play, I don’t mention him by name, because I don’t want to put unnecessary stumbling blocks in their way.” Scripture’s authority comes first. “If I’m able to demonstrate that this black man in front of them has read the Bible, I gain credit with them.”

New York Times /Walter Strickland interview was published on April 20th 2019

STRICKLAND IS PART OF SEBTS DIVERSITY DEPARTMENT AND IS STAFFER AT INTERSECT PROJECT .

“Intersect is a project and resource hub of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary‘s Center for Faith and Culture. They have assembled a team dedicated to helping you connect faith with the rest of your life.

“You get insights from Southeastern’s faculty, alumni, students and other leading Christian thinkers, including Bruce Ashford, Ken Keathley, Walter Strickland, Benjamin Quinn, David W. Jones and more.”

RECENT  CHANGES IN THE INTERSECT PROJECT FROM THE 2015 ORIGINAL BELOW

https://web.archive.org/web/20181215094305/http://intersectproject.org/about/

NOTICE THAT KERN FAMILY FOUNDATION IS VERY PROUD OF ITS INVESTMENT IN THE INTERSECT PROJECT AT SEBTS

About Intersect Project “Reconnect Your Faith with the Rest of Your Life”

“Why Intersect?”

Rev Thomas Littleton                                                                                          5/10/2019

Revoice 2019 event is coming up in June and the Christian press is very quietly ignoring it. The inaugural event in 2018 drew a great deal of attention even though most of the people who either chose to or were forced to comment on it were offering it extreme grace and advocated a “wait and see” attitude leading up to the event. The overall and likely coordinated approach for the second years event is to maintain radio and media silence as the movement continues a very radical scaling up of it’s LGBT+ Christianity at the same time seeks more mainstream legitimacy .

The 2019 Revoice Conference brings it’s primary braintrust and inspiration  forward as Mark Yarhouse is a keynote speaker . Yarhouse is pictured below speaking at Danny Akin’s Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary .

He is a Regent  University professor and a regular speaker at many conservative Christian colleges and seminaries including chapel service . Some Schools have hosted Yarhouse multiple times per year and The Gospel Coalition commissioned him to create the 2010 white paper which became the basis for the Christ on Campus Initiative and TGCs own LGBT policy standard. Yarhouse works with the American Psychological Association and asserts through work and his own independent research that homosexual orientation is real/fixed and unchanged by Christian faith. His approach to counseling Christians who experience Same Sex Desires is to merge their “sexual identities” with their faith identities resulting in “gay” or “LGBT + Christianity”. Yarhouse views on Gender are equally APA compliant and yet remain accepted and endorsed by Christian institutions and The Gospel Coalition. Revoice is a reflection of his influence among the of mainstream evangelical leadership .But Revoice now shows it has even greater inroads into the church as Intervarsity Press and Leadership Network are sponsoring the 2019 event .

Mark Yarhouse, Psy.D.

Rosemarie S. Hughes Endowed Chair of Christian Thought in Mental Health Practice

Co-Director, Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity

Professor

EVANGELICAL INFLUENCERS PAYING FOR REVOICE

According to the Revoice 2019 website two major evangelical organizations are sponsoring Revoice .

https://revoice.us/

These sponsorships reflect the point that has made the “LGBT+ Flourishing in historic Christian tradition” advocates of Revoice controversial from their origins. Though introducing radically fringe terms like “Queer Christian ” and the embrace of “Queer Theory ” into Conservative Christian circles like the Southern Baptist and PCA, Revoice has retained support from orthodox leaders.

WHO IS INTERVARSITY PRESS?

Intervarsity  Press sponsorship of Revoice 2019 means an appearance of legitimacy for the message of Revoice.

https://www.ivpress.com/about/our-history

BEGINNING YEARS

“InterVarsity Press began right before World War II as a small service branch of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) campus ministry, which had its U.S. beginnings in the 1939-1940 academic year. At first we simply imported books from our sister movement in Great Britain for use by college students and IVCF chapters in the United States. Our first home-grown publication was a Bible study guide, Discovering the Gospel of Mark, written by an IVCF staff member and published in the 1943-1944 academic year. In 1947 a formal publishing program was established and IVP made arrangements for distribution of its books to be handled by Fleming H. Revell (which did so until 1960). In 1951 Joe Bayly resigned as a regional director for IVCF to become the head of IVP. (The next year he also became editor of HIS Magazine, a publication for college students.) In 1952 IVP sold 178,000 books and booklets.”

MOVE TO CHICAGO

“In 1960 our editorial offices moved from Havertown, Pennsylvania, to Chicago where the IVCF offices were then located. At the same time Elizabeth Leake was named to manage IVP. The 1960-61 total list of books in print included 48 books and 20 booklets. By 1965, when James Nyquist became IVP director, this list had grown to 86 books and 22 booklets. The next year brought the landmark publication of How to Give Away Your Faith by Paul Little. It remains one of our top titles to this day. In 1966 we also moved our offices from Chicago to Downers Grove, approximately 30 miles west.”

GROWTH IN OUR PUBLISHING PROGRAM

“In 1968 Jim Nyquist became IVP’s full-time director and Jim Sire became IVP’s first full-time editor. Four other full-time employees filled out the staff. Shortly afterward, we began publishing Francis Schaeffer’s works—which put IVP on the map as a publisher of note. The IVP Book Club (1965) and the bookstore Rack program (1971) gave us a solid sales base and continue to be important parts of our publishing program.”

In 1984 Linda Doll moved from the editorship of HIS Magazine to the directorship of IVP. The next year LifeGuide Bible Studies were launched; they have now sold over 15 million copies. When Linda Doll decided to go back to editing in 1990, Ken DeRuiter became executive director of IVP.””

“In that same year, the award-winning Dictionary of Christianity in America was released. While over the years we had published many reference books created in Great Britain, this was the first of many major reference books originating in the United States. In 1994 we published our first Bible, The NIV Quiet Time Bible.”

RECENT YEARS

“We had built our own warehouse/distribution center in nearby Westmont during 1979. In January 1995, after 29 years in Downers Grove, IVP moved to new offices constructed adjacent to the distribution center. Then in 1997, after Ken DeRuiter’s retirement, Bob Fryling joined IVP as director. Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength. by IVP editors Andy Le Peau and Linda Doll was written in 2006 as an anecdotal history of InterVarsity Press, summarizing leading authors and books that shaped evangelicalism in the 20th century. In 2016, after years of leadership as sales and marketing director, Jeff Crosby was named IVP publisher.”

“In 2017 we became North America’s distributor for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), the United Kingdom’s leading Christian publisher. Read more about this expanded partnership, or read the press release.”

TODAY

“Today InterVarsity Press has a staff of nearly one hundred, working together to publish more than one hundred titles every year. Our catalog lists more than one thousand books, Bible studies, and booklets. Many of our books are recognized as enduring classics, staying in print for years. Sales have grown steadily over the decades, with our distribution center now shipping more than 2.3 million books each year. Our books are distributed around the world and translated into dozens of languages.”

“We count it an honor and privilege to participate in the work of Christian publishing, and we pray that our efforts will continue to equip, edify, and challenge people in every generation—heart, soul, mind and strength.”

Is Intervarsity Press equipping and edifying the church through promoting Revoice?

MAJOR EVANGELICAL INFLUENCER LEADERSHIP NETWORK REVOICE CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIP ANNOUNCED

Revoice‏ @revoiceus 15h15 hours ago

More

We’re excited to announce Leadership Network (@leadnet) as one of our #Revoice19 conference sponsors! Find them at Revoice next month, and pick up a copy of “Leading a Church in a Time of Sexual Questioning,” a fantastic new resource by @Bruce_B_Miller.

 

WHO IS LEADERSHIP NETWORK

 

Few organizations among  behind the scenes influencers among Evangelical movements in the last 35 years have impacted the church as much as Bob Buford and Leadership Network . Here is some history of Leadership Network and it’s influence from several sources.

https://leadnet.org/

IDEAS TO IMPLEMENTATION TO IMPACT

“Leadership Network is the premier leadership collaborative for pastors and churches.  Over 200,000 church leaders around the world engage in Leadership Network to acquire innovative knowledge and drive local impact.  By inspiring and equipping leaders, we seek to help the Church flourish and communities thrive.”

http://leadnet.org/our-founder/

“In 1984, at age 45, Buford, Fred Smith, Jr. and Gayle Carpenter started Leadership Network as a way of trying to help the newly emerging wave of pastors who were breaking worship attendance barriers of 1,000 and sometimes 2,000 or more. During his business years, Buford had spent countless hours talking with and seeking guidance from Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, and he now tapped into Drucker’s guidance for how best to frame Leadership Network. He later remarked that Leadership Network would not be the same—in fact, might not exist at all—were it not for Peter Drucker. (Buford later developed that 23-year mentoring relationship into a book, Drucker and Me.)”

“Leadership Network started in 1984 with a budget of $5,000, and held its first forum with 55 churches that had attendance of 800 and higher. By 2017 the organization was annually serving more than 400 larger churches through in-person events which included more than 1,500 leaders. Online conferences reached upwards of 25,000, and Leadership Network Advance subscriptions exceeded 50,000.”

“Bob continued to serve God through Leadership Network as a board member, influencer, encourager to countless pastors and a dear personal friend to me” says Dave Travis, CEO of Leadership Network from 2011 to 2017.”

“Bob Buford was a mega-force behind the megachurch movement,” said Robert Lewis, former chair of the Leadership Network board and himself a large-church pastor. “Bob’s unique life influenced thousands and transformed American Christianity by inspiring God-glorifying innovation and real-world results.”

 

BUFORD’S BOOK “DRUCKER AND ME ” ENDORSED BY A WHOSE WHO OF LEADERSHIP NETWORK  DISCIPLES

 

Southern Baptist Rick Warren

“I personally witnessed this fascinating backstory between two of my best friends, Peter Drucker and Bob Buford. Now everyone can benefit from the amazing conversations Bob had with one of the brightest minds of all time.”
—DR. RICK WARREN
Founding Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life

“Being mentored by Peter Drucker was one of God’s great gifts to my ministry. I remain indebted to Bob Buford for making that happen.”
—BILL HYBELS, Founding Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church

“A mentor is a person who multiplies his or her impact by investing in the lives and work of others. Peter Drucker was such a mentor to Bob Buford and then Bob became a mentor to countless others. This is the heartwarming story of how two men changed each others’ lives and then leveraged that transformation to meet ‘human needs and alleviate suffering’ through a chain reaction that is still changing our world.”
—RICHARD STEARNS
President of World Vision US and Author of The Hole in Our Gospel and Unfinished

MORE EVANGELICALS UNDER THE BUFORD, LEADERSHIP NETWORK INFLUENCE

Buford died in April 2018 . His death was reported by Southern Baptist Ed Stetzer of NAMB/ Lifeway Research / Christianity Today/ TGC and current Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at Wheaton College .

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/april/catalyst-that-fostered-movement.html

CHRISTIAN MEDIA A MEANS TO TRANSFORM THE CHURCH

Christianity Today became the outlet for Leadership Networks influence and promoting it’s trendy ideas

Here is some of Ed Sterzer’s praise of the impact of Bob  Buford , his mentor Peter Drucker and Leadership Network on the American Church

“Buford helped take a new approach to ministry, a reinvention of American Protestantism, and fused it with leadership savvy, the principles he learned from Peter Drucker. Of course, Drucker was interested in the megachurch himself. He once told Forbes magazine, “pastoral megachurches are surely the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last thirty years.”

“Together, Buford and Drucker made a huge impact on the direction of the church. Simply put, your church probably sings like a Calvary Chapel, but is led like a Saddleback. Those two men are part of the reason why.”

“Catalyzing Change Agents” THE BOAST BY ED STETZER

“About 30 years ago, Buford pioneered Leadership Network and began to influence the influencers. He invested his time to train the trainers. He sought to create learning communities that might foster mutual learning among high capacity leaders. He did this early on with men like Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, and Robert Lewis.”

“Buford sought to find effective leaders who would teach others and then catalyze their skills. The end result was that leaders were pushed to a great capacity of leadership. Gifted pastors became effective leaders, resulting in stronger ministries. Their influence spread and, as a result, Buford’s impact was multiplied.”

“More Than Meetings”

“Buford did not just convene meetings. He funded the impact he desired. He did so selectively, however, only choosing investments that would create exponential returns. For example, he and Colorado billionaire Phil Anschutz financed the Burning Bush Fund. They took their catalyzing passion and combined it with strategic investment. Leaders like Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Larry Osborne, Greg Surratt, Neil Cole and others involved their churches and ministries.”

“I was brought in as a facilitator on the second wave of the project. Seeing the names of those who were invited in the first wave, I was struck by how many were almost unknowns at the time, but had since become national influencers.”

“Those were the “islands of strength” that Buford sought. He would find one and use his influence to build bridges to other “islands” so they could learn from one another. He made them better and helped them spread their story.”

“The end result is that churches are better led and more influential, all because of a person that, by design, stayed off stage and out of the limelight.”

STETZER CONTINUES HIS PRAISE OF BUFORD

“In late 2013, I was speaking at a celebration of sorts for Leadership Network and the Halftime organization. I presented a chart that pointed to the growth in some sectors of the church. Later, I had that chart framed for Bob. Why? Because as a missiologist, I see his influence in that growth trend.”

“There is a famous quote that has often been attributed to President Harry Truman, and others, that says, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” That epitomized Bob Buford’s approach. He chose to catalyze his learning from Drucker and his fortune from cable, without much concern over the credit.”

“You may not have known Bob, but he probably influenced you and your church. More importantly though, he’s chosen to be a catalyst for Kingdom impact—and I’m thankful for his passion and investment to that end.”

LEADERSHIP NETWORKS RADICAL LGBT “THE NINES” CONFERENCES

Leadership Networks sponsorship of Revoice should come as no surprise given its past edgy work with its own “The Nines Conference” at which many evangelical leaders including current Southern Baptist President J D Greear has also appeared as a speaker .

 

https://www.rightnowmedia.org/Training/Post/Preview/61804

APPROACHING HOMOSEXUALITY WITH GRACE

Created by The Nines Conference@

In this 11 minute session from Leadership Network’s 2012 The Nines Conference, J.D. Greear, Senior Pastor at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, delivers a thoughtful and gracious message about the way the church should approach the issue of homosexuality.

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In this 11 minute session from Leadership Network’s 2012 The Nines Conference, J.D. Greear, Senior Pastor at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, delivers a thoughtful and gracious message about the way the church should approach the issue of homosexuality. We often get sidetracked from the real issue in a number of different ways, but constantly returning to the cross of Christ will fix our perspective on this issue.

Greear at The Nines Conference “Truth without grace is fundamentalism. Grace without truth is just sentimentality. There is a way to speak the truth with grace so that we can disagree with people and let them know we love them. Think about how this dynamic affects the way we approach homosexuality.”

GREEAR OFFERS RESOURCES INCLUDING MARK YARHOUSE WHO IS PART OF REVOICE 2019

Will the Next SBC President Condemn or Condone The Revoice Conference and “LGBT+ Christianity “

“J.D. mentioned several resources that have helped him learn and think about our culture’s reaction to homosexuality and the Bible’s response.

• The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy and Kathy Keller
• Politics According to the Bible by Wayne Grudem
• Mark Yarhouse has written several books on this issue. All of them can be found at the website for his Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity.”

SBC PRESIDENT GREEAR ENDORSING LEADERSHIP NETWORKS” THE NINES ” ON HIS WEBSITE

When Lutheran Pastor and author, Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber was invited to an evangelical online conference called The Nines, she noticed that one of the topics for discussion was the ‘issue’ of homosexuality.

The pastor decided that instead of talking about LGBT people, that people attending the conference would benefit from hearing directly from LGBT Christians. The result is a remarkable video with LGBT people talking about why they are Christians, why they do not appreciate being considered an ‘issue,” and why they are ‘the Church.’

In an email to the Huffington Post, Pastor Bolz-Weber explained:

Way too often, in the church, GLBTQ folks end up being the objects and not the subjects of discussions about their lives. So when I was asked to produce a 5-minute video for The Nines, an evangelical on-line leadership conference, I wanted to make sure that amongst the countless voices discussing the “issue of homosexuality” (which, let’s face it, is pretty much a term only used by those who have issues with GLBTQ people) that there would be actual queer Christian voices present.

 

BUFORD MENTORED HUNDREDS OF THE MOST CELEBRATED EVANGELICALS

To fully grasp the reach of Leadership Network and Bob Buford into the evangelical church  would require in depth  studies into the Church Growth Movement, The Multi Site Church ,The Emergent Church, Church Planting movement, Christianity Today’s history ( Buford saved the publication from extinction and opened a dozen or more sister publications on “leadership “) and a study of  many of the organization like World Vision , Intervarsity , ACTS 29 , The Gospel Coalition and even denominations like the SBC and PCA. The influence is everywhere in our seminaries and institutions -and today it is the ” gold standard ” for many on how leadership and church growth should be done . This is all in spite of the cold hard reality that to the work of Leadership Network “doctrine does NOT matter”. Given the endorsement/ sponsorship  of Revoice Conference,  this mantra remains unchanged .

BOB BUFORD IS GONE BUT HIS INFLUENCE REMAINS

 

Through the years several researchers have exposed the many dangers and damaging trends that Buford’s Leadership Network and Half Time brands have promoted into the mainstream of Christianity .From the Faith Based Partnership compromise -to the church growth cult and CEO models of modern church leadership and now the sponsorship of Revoice 2019 -Leadership Network and Bob Buford have left a lasting mark on the Body of Christ . In the view of those who do not believe in “promoting LGBT+ flourishing” in the Body  of Christ as Revoice does – it is fair to say that once again Jesus is being wounded in the house of His Friends and His Bride is being seduced into spiritual harlotry and the idolatry of the modern LGBT sexual /gender revolution. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God with such a legacy to testify against you. Many of Buford’s evangelical disciples should fear their future appointment in eternity.