This month marks the three-year anniversary for the church I am so humbled and privileged to pastor - Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. On the third Sunday of this month we will have what we call, "Reaffirmation Sunday". This special event is dedicated to the "reaffirmation" of our covenant together as a church. When we officially organized and constituted on March 18th, 2007 - part of our coming together as a new church was committing to each other by a written covenant. This document expresses the biblical imperatives which all of us as Christians are to carry out in our personal relations with one another (e.g., John 13:34-35; Hebrews 3:12-14;10:24-25). And for us as a church family, our covenant serves as a means of grace to hold us accountable to each other and to our walk with Lord.
So, as an annual reminder, we publicly read from our covenant on the third Sunday in March (though this is surely not the only time the covenant is before us). In addition to this, we also have a special speaker to come and bring the Word of God to us. This year we are privileged to have Pastor Roy Hargrave from Riverbend Community Church. Needless to say, I look very forward to this time of the year! It is a great way for all of us as a church to reexamine ourselves in the light of God's Word as the body of Christ.
Today I have just been reflecting on these past three years, and once again, I truly stagger at the riches of God's grace. You see, first of all, from a purely human standpoint, this church was not a "planned" church plant. Contrary to what circulates in the rumor-mill of Lenox, Georgia (i.e., the town where I pastor) - I did not come to South Georgia in 2003 with the intentions to "split a church" in order to start a church. I originally came to pastor a local Baptist church where my full intentions were to stay there and shepherd God's sheep till the Lord called me home. In fact, I would often tell the congregation of that former church that I "brought my coffin". This meant very simply, "I am here to stay." Of course, knowing that God is sovereign over all things, I certainly recognized that I would be there only as long as the Lord saw fit.
So, in the mystery and wonder of God's providence, I pastored that church for exactly two years and three months. Now the question must certainly be raised: well what brought your ministry there to an end? Certainly the first answer is God. He is the First Cause of whatever comes to pass (e.g., Genesis 50:20; Psalm 33:10-11; Isaiah 46:10-11; Ephesians 1:11) . Hence, I must give God the praise and glory for closing the door there. However, there are second causes which must be recognized too. And what God used to bring about His purpose to shut that door was a faction of people who, quite honestly, did not want the preaching of God's Word.
I know that explanation may sound too simplistic. But if I may put this in biblical terms, the apostle Paul in Second Timothy 4:3-4 gave this sober warning: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." The large majority of the membership in this church could not and would not "endure sound teaching." As an example, there were people who denied the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, and His deity. Others did not believe in the authority, sufficiency, and infallibility of Scripture. Moreover, the errors of mysticism and antinomianism combined with the heresy of Pelagianism plagued the general culture of this congregation. And for most members in this church, they were essentially deists or practical atheists - denying completely God's absolute sovereignty over the universe, and thus His divine personal intervention sustaining and governing all things. Needless to say, when it came to expounding God's Word with faithfulness and clarity in the face of such an heretical, liberal, and unorthodox culture - the church membership at large said: "We can't put up with this!"
Now if you were to ask those who actually sought my removal why my ministry came to an end, they would probably tell you that I was a Calvinist who was deceiving the people by my Calvinism. It is true that I am a Calvinist! It is also true that this church knew about my Calvinist convictions before I was ever called as pastor. So there was no deception about that. Furthermore, I never made "Calvinism" an issue from the pulpit nor an issue for anyone personally. Plenty of people asked me about Calvinism and I answered their questions openly and honestly.
But for certain people in this church, they needed a "scape goat" to run the preacher off. And in our present day, there is no better scape goat in Baptist churches (especially Southern Baptist churches) than that "nasty theology" called Calvinism. So in a matter of ten months, a faction of people capitalized on the ignorance of the majority and demonized both Calvinism and those who are Calvinists.
On March 15, 2006, it all came to a head in a classic stereotypical Baptist "business meeting." Nearly two hundred people showed up (several of whom were not even church members) and called for my resignation because I was a "Calvinist" who believed in "predestination." However, God's amazing grace showed up in that meeting in a very unexpected way. First, by giving me the peace and courage to rest in God's sovereignty and to love my enemies. I can say honestly that I really felt no personal anger toward those who so viciously slandered me that night. But the second display of God's grace was in the actions of nearly thirty people. They stood up to the majority and rebuked what was taking place. They defended my integrity as a faithful pastor who simply preached the Word of God. But most importantly, they defended the Truth of God's Word which was being horribly misintepreted and misapplied.
The most shocking thing that occured that night though, was that these thirty or so people were literally told by the majority to "leave the church". They were plainly told that if they believed what I believed (i.e., the Bible!) then they could not worship there anymore. So not only was I told to leave that night - but church members who had served in that congregation for several decades were also told to pack their bags.
All of this is why I said that what would become Sovereign Grace Baptist Church was not planned by human hands. No, the truth is, what certain people meant for evil God meant it for good! God closed a door that no one would have ever believed could have been closed; and He opened a door no one ever expected. So in a matter of three months following much prayer, Bible study and discussion, a new church came into being. In fact, the decision to start this new church was not even originally broached by me! It was the rest of the men in this gathering who came together and said to me: "With you or without you we are starting a new church. But we would like it to be with you." My wife and I knew, (at this point after much prayer), that our service to Christ in South Georgia was not yet finished (even though we had planned to move back to our home in the Atlanta area).
Since that time I thank God for what He has brought together in this church. We are twelve families strong who have grown deeply in God's Word and through the joy of suffering for the sake of the gospel. We have also been blessed to see genuine conversions to Christ, and take great pleasure in reaching our community and county for Christ. But most importantly, we have come to hold a sincere conviction, that we exist not for buildings, bucks, or bodies but for the glory of God alone. This is our motto, if you will. And yes, we are unapologetically Reformed, Evangelical, and Baptist in our confessional identity. There is no shame at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church for being a bunch of Calvinists! O the unsearchable riches of God's grace in South Georgia.
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