An Abdication?

I am about to swim in some dangerous waters here so I need to preface my words. Those who know me well know that my most recent background was Southern Baptist. Before moving to Las Vegas to plant Grace Point, I pastored two full-time SBC churches. During those years. I also attended two Southern Baptist seminaries where I earned 3 degrees: a Master of Divinity with biblical languages (at Southeastern Seminary), a Masters of Theology in Systematic Theology (at Southern Seminary), and a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in New Testament from Southern. I jumped through every theological hoop the seminaries have to offer. During those years, I was privileged to be around some great thinkers who invested in my life. I learned a ton and actually believe God used my academic journey to prepare me for planting a church in a post-Christian type culture like Las Vegas.

During my time at Southern, I was privileged to know one of the great thinkers of our generation, Dr. Al Mohler. My wife was actually Dr. Mohler's secretary for a couple of years and I was able to help lead a Sunday class where Dr. Mohler was one of the primary teachers. I had the frightening responsibility to teach that class regularly and always felt inferior knowing Al Mohler would be teaching the next week! I have a high respect for Dr. Mohler and am constantly challenged by his amazing theological prowess. I know firsthand what Dr. Al Mohler has gone through in leading Southern Seminary and I have a deep respect for him. No doubt my time at Southern shaped my theology more than any other time of my life.

Yet there are times that I find myself in disagreement with Dr. Mohler. Rarely do I find myself disagreeing with him theologically. Most of the time it has to do with "ministry stuff." I respect Dr. Mohler as a theologian and apologist, but he is not my first resource when it comes to doing everyday ministry. Simply put, he is not a pastor. He is a seminary president and theologian. So when he speaks to theological issues, I listen. But if I am wanting to get an opinion about a ministry issue, I have other places I turn.

One of the most beneficial things I ever did in seminary was to pastor a growing full-time church at the same time. Being a pastor was a rude awakening for me. Suddenly I was confronted with the raw realities of ministry. To top it off, God put me in a church that needed to be reshaped in order to reach its community with the gospel. Suddenly I was dealing with cantankerous people who had been given positions of leadership not because of their giftedness but because of their popularity or longevity. Suddenly I was confronted with deep traditions, obstinate apathy, confused families, broken homes, estranged children, skeptical dads, impure teenagers, casserole dinners and a host of other real life issues that I learned zero about in seminary. It changed my perspective. I suddenly realized something that can only be learned through experience -- it is easy to talk about ministry but it is difficult to do ministry.

Theories are wonderful and great and make sense in a class room or in the ivory tower. But real life ministry is an entirely different animal. Suddenly my theories did not sustain me through dealing with real people and real problems. What I discovered is that things are not so black and white in the real life world of ministry.

It is common among young church planters today to shun seminary. I understand this temptation had have chuckled along with others as some mega-church pastors took shots at "cemetery" trained pastors. I agree that it usually takes a few years to get the seminary out of guys before they are really ready to make an impact. Yet I am not sure it is a wise move to completely write off seminary as unnecessary. I think we live in a culture where theological preparation and knowledge is a must. A young church planter needs to be grounded in the gospel. You have to deal with a hodgepodge of spiritual thought today and it is vital for a church planter to know what they believe and why they believe it. The "I just believe the Bible" paradigm of yesteryear will not cut it in our culture of religious mayhem. I know there are plenty of incredible church planters who did not go to seminary. Some of the most successful planters of our day do not have a seminary degree. But what I have discovered among most of them is a seminary-level knowledge without the official paperwork. For example, Mark Driscoll does not have a seminary degree (yet) but rest assured that his theological knowledge and cultural understanding are essential to his success in post-Christian Seattle. So while the degree itself is not what is important - proper preparation is crucial. It is a stewardship issue for me. We have been entrusted with the gospel and it is more important than ever that we protect it and guard it against false teachings. And if we are truly driven to reach nonbelievers we must be able to rationally defend the faith to those who bring to the table a mélange of beliefs. Stewardship demands it. Sorry for that brief rabbit trail.

Back to my original thought. I think every a-level leader and potential pastor/church planter needs to be doing real life ministry while being grounded theologically. It is in the classroom that I learned my theology. But it was in the trenches of ministry that I learned how to do make the gospel real to everyday life. I have met a ton of potential planters who have a lot of head knowledge but they have no clue how to connect the gospel to a culture and see a church make an impact in a community. Somehow we have to strike the balance between theological astuteness and cultural engagement. Both are necessary.

Now here is where I want to disagree kindly with Dr. Mohler. In a recent article talked about the positives and dangers of the church planting movement. In this article, Dr. Mohler suggested that for young leaders to plant churches while neglecting positions in established churches is "an abdication of responsibility." Wow. Now I understand his point that planting a church has to be a calling. It can't simply be a reaction or a way to avoid the difficulty of leading an established church. But an abdication of responsibility? A bit of an overstatement in my opinion.

What is our responsibility as young leaders in this culture? I believe it is primarily to engage our culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are called to take the unchanging gospel into the culture and live it and proclaim it. And I believe that church planting is one of the most effective means to fulfill that calling. I served as a pastor of established churches for 8 years. I fought the battles over traditions, styles, preferences, and the other obstacles that hinder the gospel from connecting to the people in a particular culture. At the end of the day, I got tired of focusing on the nonessential. I got tired of the insignificant skirmishes while losing the war around us. In one sense, I gave up and started a church from scratch. I gave up not because I was bitter at the established church. I gave up because I did not have the time and energy to devote to issues that do not matter in eternity. The battles were not worth fighting for me. This sounds so cliche but there are too many people going to Hell in our culture to worry about choir robes and hymnals. I gave up because I wanted to devote my energy toward reaching unbelievers and discipling new believers and not pacifying immature and unfocused Christians.

Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to established churches. I love all types of churches and rejoice over what God does through every model of church - regardless of its strengths and weaknesses. I am not one of those young angry white boys who is angry with the established church and is content to sit around my living room with a few lit candles singing 17th century hymns. I just believe churches must be aggressive with the gospel ... missional and attractional. And I decided life is too short and too much is at stake to spend so much time focusing on the irrelevant.

I do not believe is that it is an abdication of responsibility for a young leader to choose the difficulties of planting a new church over trying to transition an established one. I understand both choices often result in casualties. Many young pastors get frustrated with the headache of trying to change minds and give up. At the same time, a large percentage of church plants fail. There are casualties of war regardless of your choice. But I honestly believe that the most effective and efficient way to impact a depraved, unchurched culture is to plant effective churches in that area.

I am not sure if Dr. Mohler is suggesting that my choice to plant instead of transition was an abdication of my responsibility or not but what I am sure about is that we need church planters who are prepared and willing to take the gospel into the heart of depravity and trust that grace will prevail. What we do need are some God-called guys to "man up" and penetrate the darkest areas of our culture with the light of Jesus Christ.

And to neglect that responsibility is an abdication of our calling as missionaries to our culture.