My Open Letter Response

As I read the letter, I had mixed emotions. Before I get into that, let me tell you enough about me so that you know to take everything with a grain of salt.

I am 34 years old. For some, that qualifies me as a young Baptist. For others, not so much. I consider myself a young Baptist, however misplaced that opinion of myself may be.

I’ve pastored a Southern Baptist church for over 5 years now (other major experience is hospital chaplaincy). We are uniquely aligned with the BGCT and SBC. However, I have been a personal financial and vocal supporter of the CBF for over 10 years. I’ve been blessed to attend CBF conferences, even to volunteer during their last General Assembly here in Texas. Even though my church does not endorse the CBF, I do. In my heart, I am solely aligned with the CBF. Perhaps I shall tell the specifics of that another day. I’ve often prayed that my church might align itself with the CBF, but that has not happened, and I don’t expect it to. God’s answer has thus been, “no.”

I apologize for the length of my response.

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To David Burroughs, Scott Ford, Nikki Hardeman, Jeremy Lewis, Brent McDougal, Christina Whitehouse-Suggs, and Mike Young,

I’m sorry that I don’t know who you are. I’ve heard that you may not be young, but ages are relative…no? I must admit that I read your “Open Letter to Dr. Cecil Sherman” with mixed reactions, feelings, and thoughts.

First, was the positive reaction. I spend time with some that others may consider “older” moderates, here in Fort Worth. I’ve been on the side you are on. Seemingly a lone voice, asking if there is anything else we can talk about other than the fall of the “seminary on the hill?” Unless you are here, you have no idea how often that is spoken about. People here are still grieving deeply over the conflict that erupted in Fort Worth.

I’ve been to Texas Baptist Committed meetings, seemingly the youngest one there. When asked for opinions on our future, I stated that I believed we should become more of an educational movement than political (This was around 3 years ago). One of those same Fort Worth Elder Moderates, stood up right after me, and in no uncertain terms told me to be quiet and be grateful for my “moderate” education (I’m a HPU and Truett graduate)…and the funds that provided it. I’m still a little sore about that one, thus I’ve never written about it. I’ll say this much though, a scholarship does not put freethinking Baptists into indentured servitude to any Baptist Institution, moderate or fundamentalist. Perhaps more on that another day.

I’m saying this to say, I’ve had similar thoughts and I’ve had the arrows of my elders pierce my chest. I sympathize with you and your desire to “embrace new opportunities for ministry and discipleship.” I agree with you that the Holocaust “analogy was misguided.” I would go a little bit farther than that if I had the proper words for it. For anyone to compare the Holocaust to any pain and hurt that doesn’t include the death of millions of people is more than wrong. Compare it to genocide, not denominational wars.

However, I find myself also reacting in a negative fashion to your letter. If you are truly young, then you’ll have little to no memories of the actual fundamentalist takeover of the SBC. Perhaps your dad, or even grandfather, was fired from a position in the late 1970-1980s. I’ve met at least one person that fits that category, and he doesn’t consider himself a young Baptist. He’s around 10 years my senior. From my experience with him, I don’t think that he would be in agreement with your letter.

If you are a young Baptist, then how can you say with any certainty that our forefathers suffered a “…relatively small amount of pain…?” Having spent many a day and night with people in pain, both physical and emotional, I find that statement arrogant, patronizing, and utterly reprehensible. One thing I’ve learned is to not degrade another’s pain, especially when you’ve little to no experience with it.

You made a remark that I believe you meant with the best intentions. The remark was, “…we recognize those wounds are real. They are also wounds that need healing, and for some the grieving process is not over yet.” I find this to be a misrepresentation of grieving. For those people that have suffered a loss, you never quit grieving. Please note my post about this years Father’s Day. Gray’s Anatomy speaks more truth than their writers probably know. We never get over loss. We should strike the words, “get over it,” from our pastoral care language. They are horribly crass, uncaring, and show a lack in the area of pastoral care. If you truly have little to no understanding of the pain suffered by those that have gone before, then I can understand why you use such inappropriate language.

I’m afraid that those of us that are young have a larger than unusual lack of sensitivity towards our elders. After all, we’ve seen our parents put our grandparents into the warehouses known nursing homes. It just makes sense that we’ve an over developed callousness of heart.

This brings me to my next negative reaction. Even though you seem to couch the letter in language of respect, and perhaps you genuinely think you are being respectful, the things of substance that you say (as per above), shows your lack of respect and honor for people like Dr. Sherman.

Hear me, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t say anything. I believe that dissent should be even more welcome in our midst. We need to be able to speak freely about our differences, especially when it is about the future of the CBF. But, perhaps there could have been a better way to go about the conversation. Here is where my inexperience truly shows itself. I’m not sure how we could have gone about it a different way. Maybe some of the forums through the CBF-wiki pages would have been appropriate? Perhaps on a smattering of blogs would have been a good start?

I digress though. I hope you know that people can’t just “lay down the pain of the past.” Paraphrasing Captain Kirk, it becomes a part of us and makes us who we are. Our past is important, and I think that is something most young people don’t get until they are much older. History helps define who we are. Regardless of what some of my peers said in college, identity really does matter. If we forget our history, we forget our identity.

Now, to you Moderate Elders that may be reading this. As much as it is the younger generations responsibility to learn from your experience, your lack of mentoring is appalling. You don’t want to listen to the younger generations, and your denigrating speech towards them will not help. It will take all of us, intergenerationally speaking, to make the kind of difference we need to make in God’s Kingdom. The old ways have failed, just look at our failing churches. It is time for something different. Help us to find out what it is. One reason the young lack respect for their elders is that it was never reciprocated.

Finally, back to the authors of the “Open Letter.” My main negative reaction was due to a sense of arrogance that came through in the letter. It is hard to pin down just where it comes from. Perhaps is that it feels like your are lashing your grandfather with a willow branch. Perhaps it is that there is a sense you are claiming to speak for all young CBF geared Baptists. But, at the end of your letter, you end with: “Respectfully submitted,” …That left an ashy taste in my mouth. In the end, I just didn’t have that feeling at all.

Sincerely,

Tim Dahl

Pastor

FBC, Lake Worth, TX

Open Letter from Young (?) CBF Leaders to Dr. Sherman

Below is a letter from some self-acclaimed “young leaders” of the CBF to Dr. Cecil Sherman.

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.  There are some things I agree with, but I also see arrogance in these (not-so) young leaders.  I’ll give my reply later.  But for now, here is the letter.  I initially read this letter from Aaron Weaver’s blogsite: Big Daddy Weave

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Open Letter to Dr. Cecil Sherman

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Dear Dr. Sherman,

For your work and ministry, we are sincerely grateful. You helped harness the energy of those who chose to leave the Southern Baptist Convention when certain leaders were ousted through manipulative and unethical means. You helped to create a new family of faith, a new movement now known as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. We are grateful for your risk-taking and your leadership.

After receiving recognition for your recently published book last Thursday at the CBF General Assembly in Memphis, Tennessee, you juxtaposed our relatively small amount of pain – where no one was injured or killed – to the six million killed in the Holocaust. In our opinion and the opinions of many others, your analogy was misguided. These words are old rhetoric that we will no longer accept in our midst. The SBC has chosen one path and the CBF another. We no longer have energy to focus on this separation, but rather turn our attention to a suffering world.

Though the wounds of the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC are nothing in comparison to the Holocaust, we recognize those wounds are real. They are also wounds that need healing, and for some the grieving process is not over yet. We respect that and want to allow a place for conversations about our past. Of course remembering what happened will help us avoid repeating mistakes. But we will no longer wish for this conversation to have center stage – nor be the focus of who we are and what we do.

Young Baptist leaders are ready to embrace new opportunities for ministry and discipleship. Remembering the past but not dwelling on it, many Baptist are excited and enthusiastic about ministering with the most neglected people around the world. Some of these most neglected include descendants of those people-groups who were targeted for extermination in the Holocaust.

So with deep respect for your work and sacrifice for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, we invite you to lay down the pain of the past and join us as we focus on a future, bright with possibility.

Respectfully submitted,

David Burroughs, President, Passport, Inc.

Rev. R. Scott Ford, Associate Coordinator for Missions, CBF of Georgia

Rev. Nikki Hardeman, Associate Coordinator for Congregational Life, CBF of Georgia

Jeremy Lewis, Together for Hope Manager, CBF

Rev. Brent McDougal, Coordinator of Alabama CBF

Rev. Christina Whitehouse-Suggs, Associate Coordinator for Congregational Life, CBF South Carolina

Mike Young, Associate Coordinator for Missions, Tennessee CBF

Bouncing Baby Boy!!!!!

This is a video of my son in the “Johnny Jumper.” Yes, he’s really that cute.

Tim

Bouncing in Johnny Jumper

VBS 2008 Pictures…

If you follow this link: VBS 2008 Slide Show

It should take you to a Photobucket Slideshow of some pictures of our VBS thus far.

Enjoy!

Tim Dahl

VBS Update!

Thank you, to whomever is praying for out VBS!

We had 10 children come down and accept Jesus last night!  To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect.  There wasn’t anyone dragging their friends.  Part of it was a culmination of some of their asking their parents/teachers about Jesus for a few weeks now.  About 5 of them have relatives in our church, so we are hoping for good things on the follow up.  Discipleship will be key, in my opinion.

Here’s a picture from VBS…

Just a little bit of recreational fun…with water!

Tim Dahl

Yes, that cute!

Why, yes.  He really is that cute! 

Vacation Bible School is Here!

We’ve started Vacation Bible School. It began last night with 16 children.

Please be in prayer for both the children and the workers. Pray that they 1) have a great time and 2) meet God in a significant manner.

Thanks!

Tim

Today I Get To Be Sad… Father’s Day Reflection…

I was happy yesterday. Today is my day to be sad.

Yesterday was Father’s Day. I’m a new father. I got a tie and everything! I even have this hat with my 5 month old’s little hand print on it. Its so ugly that its cute! I got to preach to an upbeat group of people. I even got to spend time with my in-laws, in celebration of Father’s Day. Yesterday was a good day.

But, underneath it all was a silent waiting.

You see, this was my first year without anyone to call. I had no reason to buy a card this year, at least not a card that I got to pick out.

My father died this past January.

Luke Russert, I’m with you in this. It really bites.

This is a club that no one wants to be a part of.

Today is my day to be sad.

Tim Dahl

Reggie McNeal Videos… AD 30…

Here are two videos of Reggie McNeal at what seems to be a denominational or church leader’s conference. He is talking about being missional, and doing Kingdom work in todays world.

Enjoy…

and

Meanness…

I used to take Karate, Wado to be exact.

I used to read books related to the Martial Arts.

There was one that was interesting. When I find it, I’ll be sure to post the name of it. It was a diary of sorts. The Army had a little experiment. They took some of their men, and trained them in some unconventional disciplines. The used, and learned about such things as, Bio-feed back. They were taught a particular flavor of Aikido. They were taught to meditate, and how to adjust their body temperature.

The Aikido teacher was a self-proclaimed liberal, if I remember correctly. That he found himself teaching some of the Army’s best, caused a little bit of a internal conflict for the guy. Well, the book was a great read. He chronicled his time with them, and I found it greatly interesting.

There was one particular story that I found particularly interesting. There was a party. I’m not sure, but I think he was the one to throw the party. Both his Aikido friends, and some of his new military friends were invited.

Now, this is what made it interesting. If there is any particular martial art that a “pacifist” may enjoy, it would be Aikido. There are particular flavors of Aikido that have a philosophy very similar to that of a secular/religious pacifist.

So, picture this… There is a gathering of people, some of who are died in the wool pacifist along with some professional military personnel. Some of his pacifistic friends couldn’t believe that he was teaching the finer aspects of their beloved Aikido to such brutish barbarians. They even said so. The military men didn’t appreciate the sentiment, as one can imagine. There was even an argument between one from each camp.

Looking at both participants of the argument, he had a moment of clarity. They weren’t really all that much different. They both held systems of belief that they held to be true. They were both willing to enter into a type of conflict for their belief. Even the pacifist was willing to enter into a type of combat for her belief.

I’ve seen this before in another venue. First I saw it during my seminary tenure. There was one particular fellow that loved to expound upon his pacifistic belief. Yet, I saw him tear into his fellow students in a merciless fashion. He was smart, had a well developed vocabulary. Later on in our academic career, I saw him verbally slice a new student apart. In the end, I could only see him as self-righteous and arrogant.

I’ve come across it again. This time, I’ve found it in the blogosphere. I’ve found it on a multiplicity of blog sites. I’ve found it on what some would classify as a Fundamentalist Blog. I’ve found it on what some would classify as a Moderate Blog. I’ve found, and I try to not go there to often.

I will tend to side with the one that is overtly militant. They seem to be the most truthful. The others…well, they sadden me. They claim the best in us all as their motivation, yet their actions say otherwise. Their words are good, very good. They are all very skilled, very skilled. They can slice and dice those of us of lesser rhetoric, into such small particles of verbiage. They will feel good about themselves, both the militant and the pacifistic. For, both of them are muscular evangelists.

Me, I just think it is meanness. It is the meanness that is deep within each of our fallen hearts.

Just plain meanness.

Tim

~Now I need to go find that book.  I may enjoy rereading it.~