EP52: Southern Baptists vs Rick Warren - Gracearchy with Jim Babka

Which side was right, Rick Warren or the Southern Baptist Convention?

When the Southern Baptist Convention's Annual Meeting hits the headlines each and every June, the media focuses on the culture war and, if anything, amplifies it. The actions of the messengers (the term the SBC uses for its attendees) are always stunning – like, can you believe they just did that?

This year was no different. Rick Warren's megachurch, Saddleback, was removed from the SBC for making women teaching pastors. The stunning part to observers is that it's 2023. The culture wars today have moved on to transitioning genders. A woman pastor debate seems so 1980s.

Now, you can read the regime media accounts, and you'll see this kind of coverage everywhere. But if you tune into Gracearchy, you get an analysis that is distinctly different.

The culture war at the gates of the temple

One of the joys of this podcast, for me, is watching Jim process his thoughts. We plan each show. Some are loose. Some are nearly scripted. Yet...

Jim always goes off-script.

Sometimes, I know where he's going. Other times, he surprises me – and he'll surprise you in this episode, as well.

I came to this show curious about the culture war questions. I was wondering, "How can these denominations stop having these civil wars and get to unity?"

I discovered, there was a more root-level question.

And it involves the root word for church and the expectations attached to that concept. That Greek word is ekklesia.

I finished the episode with new insight and feeling very moved. I anticipate the same thing for you.

I'm your moderator, Bill Protzmann. Thanks for listening.

:00 Intro

:43 Southern Baptists background

2:40 Politics at church

4:50 Culture war comes home

5:30 Bad testimony

5:54 Critique of both sides

9:43 Freedom of Association

12:04 Give the cake away

13:14 Understanding greater than agreeing

15:00 The source of rights

15:38 What gets in the way of understanding

18:50 The DONES

19:53 The church was intended to be...

23:12 Start your own group

26:00 Honorarium level

29:12 From misallocation to manipulation

31:49 Bringing division to church

32:24 The most important thing about you

33:02 Ekklesia defined

34:00 Why ekklesia instead of temple?

37:02 How the service government works

39:58 Not power over; it's server under

40:13 Power instead of relationship

41:10 Ekklesia instead of a temple

Bill Protzmann is your moderator.

ZeroAggressionProject.org is the sponsor.

Be grace-full to each other.

Thank you to Randy Garbin for our amazing thumbnails: http://randygarbin.com/

We are grateful to Sergio at https://www.youtube.com/@KeysofMoonMusic for our intro theme.

► https://www.patreon.com/user?u=10500501

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you can purchase his music on BandCamp:

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► If you have any questions please feel free to write to Sergio at: serjo.de.lua.music@gmail.com