How to Manifest That We REALLY Are "T4G!"

"We are brothers in Christ united in one great cause — to stand together for the Gospel. "I have posted a number of articles where I have asked the question: Are we really together for the gospel?  I pose the question because too often evangelical church leaders do not manifest the fruit of Christian unity and spiritual intimacy.  I am not thinking about the biblical intramural critiques that are given concerning varying theological positions or various approaches to ministry (philosophy of ministry) within our respective churches.  I am also not promoting unbiblical ecumenicalism (such as ECT or Mormon/Evangelical oneness).  I am talking about the way in which we shepherd-leaders receive parting members from other evangelical churches.  Or the effort we make to encourage a fellow shepherd-leader, especially those who are going through a difficult season of ministry.  Or the way in which we come together to manifest our common affection for the true Head of the Church (Jesus Christ).  Or the way in which we support the church discipline efforts of other Christian congregations (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5; Titus 3:10).  Or the way in which we band together after a regional tornado or school shooting devastates our local community.  Or the way in which we pray for other local ministries by name during our weekly prayer meetings.  I am thinking about practical external manifestations of our common salvation in Christ.

One of the things we should pray for is that the 10,000 church leaders who gathered last week for the "TOGETHER for the Gospel" conference will flesh out their Christian unity and their like-minded gospel togetherness in more intentional ways (John 17:20-23). 

These TGC/T4G events don't mean much if our unity only consists in us attending conferences together.  The Bible-centered, evangelical church today is often too independent and is often too self-focused.  Heaven will not be this way so why not enjoy each other's fellowship in the here and now?

The Scandal Surrounding C.J. Mahaney and Together For the Gospel.

This past week over ten thousand churchman gathered for the 2016 Together For the Gospel Conference.  I have had the privilege of attending multiple T4G events including the original conference.  Sadly, a lot of attention this year was directed away from the gospel and the Word preached.  Critics of C. J. Mahaney called on the Al Mohler, Mark Dever, and Ligon Duncan to un-invite C. J. from their list of plenary speakers.  Christianity Today ran a story with the headline, T4G conference overshadowed by row over CJ Mahaney presence.  This was certainly not the only article of its kind (note this)

Todd Pruitt (from the Mortification of Spin and ACE) wrote an insightful article wherein he did not question Mahaney's pastoral credentials.  He did question the wisdom of asking CJ to speak in light of the surrounding controversies revolving around Sovereign Grace ministries (which CJ helped found).

How One Area Pastor Helped Revitalize Our Local Church

On June 8th, 2014 a small group from First Baptist traveled to Rockford to pay our respects to Pastor Bob Bixby and Morningstar Church.  The special service we were participating in was not a funeral rather it was a special "commissioning service" for Bob Bixby.  We were attending this service in large part to show our appreciation for a selfless servant of God.  Our group also wanted to thank Morningstar Church for what they have meant to our congregation over these past six years. 

For a long time I have wondered if conservative evangelicals are really "Together For the Gospel"?  Yes, I know more and more local churches now say they embrace the chief tenants of biblical Calvinism and I realize that pastors come together in droves today for mega conferences telling the world along the way that we are gloriously united in the truth (see the Gospel Coalition and Together For the Gospel for example).   However, I have witnessed and experienced first hand many actions that seem to tell a much different story.  I have found that professing evangelical churches often function as if we embraced religious Darwinism.  It's the survival of the fittest. It's lets grow my ministry even if it's at the expense of undermining yours brother-pastor.  It's your loss is our gain (praise the Lord). It's, can I say, a dog eat dog world out there!?! 

In one 'real world' situation a former lay leader left our local church, after trying to secretly run me out, only to be welcomed by another evangelical pastor the next Sunday.  No follow up phone call ever came even though this pastor knew me and was fully aware that this member use to joyfully serve at our church.  This whole situation saddened me but honestly it really did not surprise me because I have experienced similar situations like this many times before and I am guessing most of my pastor readers have too.   My favorite story is the (former) "missional" pastor in town who was actually teaching his local church that being a 'missionary' involved actively recruiting Christians from other local church congregations (including ours) to come and join the mission at ___ church.   In a previous ministry context I remember when our senior pastor received an email informing him that in a few weeks a new, like-minded, church plant was going to start up just a few blocks away from our location.  A few months later one of our pastor's fellow elders left to join the "Harvest team" down the street.  With interactions like this, are we really together for the gospel?

Thankfully I/we have also  had the joy of meeting some amazing pastors and local churches.  These shepherds truly care about the spiritual health of local churches that they don't even pastor!  They actually look out for one another and serve one another in the joy of the Lord.  They contact each other if a member from another local church starts attending their ministry just to make sure everything is above board.  Some of them even pray for one another's ministries by name on Sunday morning.  I have briefly written about this refreshing experience in a previous blog post. 

No pastor has modeled this spirit more than Pastor Bob Bixby (pictured above).  Bob was greatly blessed to have a plethora of gifted preachers at the church he "planted" many years ago.  Of course some of these men were the direct fruit of Bob's ministry labors.  Rather than hoard these gifts Pastor Bixby willingly shared these men with like-minded ministries that were in need of assistance.  He even commissioned two of his best men to go pastor other needy congregations.