A retraction

After hearing from a number of people whom I trust, and one of which who was at the stated policy meeting, I have determined that it is at least possible that the information I had previously posted may not be completely accurate. It is my desire to inform and not to inflame and therefore I will retract the previous post until the information regarding the situation can be confirmed or denied by an IMB representative.

welcome to the family

the blogging family, that is. we have a new friend who has become a part of our blogging circle. everyone welcome john s. who is a new friend of tracy and mine. john and his wife have been attending our church for a couple months now and i just found out this evening that he has a blog. i’ve included a link in my blogroll next door and here is a link as well. john, we’re glad to have you join us!

http://www.toward-the-goal.net

Baptism: A really big deal?

In Baptist life we’ve always struggled with the value of the importance of baptism. Don’t get me wrong, we have always considered it to be very important, but we’ve also struggled with placing too much emphasis on it, i.e., baptismal regeneration. The IMB, which is the lone convention entity that I trust almost completely, has set forth a new set of guidelines per the trustees vote that bothers me. They have said that if a person practices a personal prayer language, or if they weren’t baptized in a way that doesn’t resemble “baptist baptism” than they are not eligible for missionary service. I should also mention that out of 87 trustees only 25 voted for it; 18 against and 43 abstained or were absent.

This issue became important to me about 2 months ago when I found out about it and then found out that my best friend is being asked by the IMB to be rebaptized prior to appointment as a career missionary. I’ll be the one rebaptizing himm. It has also come up again recently with this post that was just placed on steve mccoy’s blog.

So I guess my post is here in order to ask you this question: What constitutes biblical baptism? In my opinion it must be in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and it must be post-conversion. Those are the two non-negotiables. I tend to think it should be by immersion, though I wouldn’t die for that one, but everything else is moot to me. I can’t see biblical support for denying/approving anything else.

I’m posting this because I wan’t to hear what you think. I’ve talked to a few people I trust and almost universally they disagree with me and agree with the IMB trustees. Of course they are typically more traditional as well. So, let’s hear it!

Merry Christmas Grace!

Last night, at 10pm, I got the steal of the year. Forget those day after Thanksgiving sales, I got my steal off ebay! I’ve wanted to get Grace an authentic Brett Favre jersey but they’re always too expensive so after searching on ebay for a while I came across the one below. They usually retail for between $40-55 for the kids version but unbelievably enough I was able to win mine for $4.25! After shipping and everything I was still just over $8! Boo-yah!

micahfries.com

I said some weeks ago that there would be some exciting changes coming soon for my blog. The first is now in place. If you go to micahfries.com you will now be directed to my blog. The next big step is to move my entire blog onto my own server instead of having blogger host it. I’m having some problems with that so until I work out the kinks it will remain on blogger. Here’s to growth!

Do you wanna be a liberal?

If so than I’ve found your teacher! Check this article out. This is hilarious.

Church planting connections….

I am extremely interested in church planting. While in Burkina Faso Tracy and I helped plant churches among the Dagara People. Now that we’re back stateside I am convinced that our future is in church planting. Whether that effort is directed towards international audiences or typical American audiences I’m not sure. One thing I am sure, however, is that I’m committed to the principles espoused by the IMB. David Garrison’s explanation of Church Planting Movements echoes my sentiments regarding church planting. We were blessed enough to complete church planting training with Curtis Seargant, who is now on staff with Saddleback and I love his philosophy regarding house churches. All this is to say that we need to become more effective students of church planting. Along those lines……….
………………Having said all of that Steve McCoy has some really good things to say about church planting. Check them out here.

It’s a sad day….

Sam the ugly dog died. Let’s have a moment of silence for him. On another note worthy of the “strange news” page, if you’re going to run around naked, it’s probably not a good idea to get caught by the cops. If you do get caught, however, DON’T try and run away!