Reflections on Tulsa Workshop

It is Monday morning here in the land of Saguaros and Scorpions. The sun is shining, the skies are blue and I am wearing shorts and flip flops. All of which are alien to Tulsa this past week. We had more rain in the couple days I was there than we have in 8 months in Tucson. And then it snowed! Yes snow!!

Yet the Tulsa Workshop was wonderful. I arrived on Wednesday and found out that all the cars in Tulsa had been rented out ... but I still had my room at the Inn!! I attended church with some friends in Bixby and then crashed. Thursday I took in the first of Rick Atchley's "Born Again Identity" which was so good I attended his next classes and got the CDs. John Dobbs on blogging was next. I regret that I did not get to spend as much time with John and a few other friends as I was hoping too. Edward Fudge gave out some wise tips on being Revolutionary People and later Don McLaughlin on ministry to Addicts/Alcoholics in the name of Jesus. Loyd Harris blessed us too.

Friday I was back to hear Rick Atchley's final presentation. Afterwards I was privileged to go to Taco Cabana and get to know him better. It is amazing how God works sometimes. Over a Dr. Pepper and cheese dip God moved. I was able to pick Edward Fudge's mind a little about K. C. Moser and met Randy Hughes who knew Moser too.

I was unable to take in Harold Shank's two part presentation on "Listen to the Heartbeat." But I got them on CD and have devoured both already. I value Shank for many reasons. He calls us to use ALL of God's Scripture to inform our mission in this world and then he actually powerfully models that call in his own preaching. His sermons powerfully demonstrate how important the Hebrew Bible is to our walk and task before Yahweh. If you haven't heard these ... get the CDs HERE.

In Tulsa I hit up McAlister's a wonderful sandwich shop unknown to the desert. Went to Longhorn steak house on Thursday night and Hideaway Pizza for lunch on Friday. I did not make it to Casa Bonita which is nearly a crime.

So much of a workshop, like Tulsa, is the fellowship. I caught up with old friends Victor Knowles, Larry Fitzgerald, Greg Taylor, Suzy Brown and Sherri Griffin. I made new friends like Patrick Mead, Steve Tucker, Trey Morgan, Brad Palmore, Brian Nicklaus (the Blog Prophet) and Red Hot Momma (Amanda Sanders) ... all bloggers. One of the funnest events was the blogger luncheon on Saturday. Snow and outer darkness made it memorable! Theobloggers did a great job hosting though.

Going to convention would not be complete if I did not pick up a book. I only bought one book this year which is not normal but this one book weighs a ton: The Transforming Word One Volume Commentary on the Bible hot off the press from ACU Press. I have been pleased so far with it and plan on writing a review asap for my blog.

Check out this list of blogs on the Tulsa Workshop HERE

It is good to be home but I look forward to Pepperdine ... and next year.

Shalom,
Bobby V

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Tulsa Workshop

Well tomorrow I head out for Tulsa Oklahoma. My "direct" flight takes me from Tucson to Houston to Tulsa. Hope to run into lots of friends. I will hear great singing. I will attend some good classes. Probably pick up a book or two.

C u guys and gals there ...

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Vote for Bloggers

At the annual Tulsa Soul Winning Workshop this year "Theo-bloggers" will be presenting a series of awards to the best and most read blogs among Churches of Christ. I encourage you to follow this link to vote

Vote Theobloggers

http://vote.theobloggers.org


Stoned-Campbell Disciple blog is a top finalist ... considering the company it is in this is humbling and an honor. Thanks to my readers where ever you are.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Walter Scott and the Origins of the Five Finger Gospel

Walter Scott (1796-1861) is without a doubt one of the most influential persons in our Stone-Campbell photo album. Though his DNA flows through our spiritual veins he is often marginalized in our history. The literature on him is small compared to Alexander Campbell. Scott's influence is seen in that it was he that suggested the title to AC's Christian Baptist. He became the evangelist for the Mahoning Baptist Association in 1827 which made him a legend. His pen was prolific sending out his Discourse on the Holy Spirit, The Evangelist (1832-1842 with breaks), The Gospel Restored, The Protestant Unionist, and The Messiahship, The Union of Christians on Christian Principles.

Walter Scott was more than an evangelist, he was a theologian. He was a poet in love with the Lord Jesus. He was, it seems to me, torn between two worlds, Enlightenment rationalism and his emotions. I like to call him an Emotive Rationalist. Scott was baptized by George Forrester, a Haldanean preacher, in 1819. In 1821 visiting a "Scotch Baptist" church in New York City he came into contact with Henry Errett's booklet On Baptism that played a key role in his (and Campbell's) theological development. He would serve as the first president of the first college in the Stone Campbell Movement, Bacon College {named for the Philosopher Francis Bacon}.

In 1827, Scott accompanied Alexander Campbell to the annual meeting of the Mahoning Baptist Association. At this meeting Campbell nominated Scott to be the evangelist for this association for the coming year. Thus at the age of 31 Scott embarked on an adventure that would alter the SCM. On November 18, Scott preached near New Lisbon, Ohio and William Amend was the first person to respond to the "Ancient Gospel."

Scott believed that Jesus the Messiah was the Golden Oracle of the Christian faith. Jesus was to be lifted up and people called to respond to him. Jesus the Messiah was the creed of Christianity. Faith in him was the requirement of entrance and the term of fellowship for Christianity. In a nutshell the Ancient Gospel, was according to Scott, arranged into Six Items:

Faith
Repentance
Baptism

Remission of Sins
Gift of the Holy Spirit
Eternal Life

This two fold division is important (more about this in a moment). Scott was immensely successful. So successful that a worried Alexander Campbell asked his father to visit with Scott and listen to him preach. Within a year Scott would baptize a thousand people with his new order of salvation. For the rest of his life he averaged around a thousand baptisms a year, which translates into about thirty thousand folks confessing the Messiah in response to his preaching. Scott cut through the confusion and agony of many seekers who never received an assurance that they had been "elected" by God to his Family. We could simply believe the creed in Scott's preaching. It was a fresh wind blowing on the Western Reserve. It is one of our greatest gifts to the wider Christian world.

As with all schemes however mutation often takes place over the course of history. Scott's formulation never looses sight that Christ is the object of our faith, adoration and love. Scott's formulation tells what God has done, is doing and will do in the future. We have respond in Faith to the Golden Oracle. We repent of our sin to God. We in our Faith are baptized in the name of the Messiah. As a result God Forgives/Remits our sin. God grants the gift of himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. And God seals us to his for Eternity.

As others adopted Scott's method the Ancient Gospel markedly shifted emphasis however. As my friend Jeremy Folding once said what we have now is the Five Finger Discount! The formulation is as follows in most 20th century Churches of Christ and even today:

Hear
Believe
Repent
Confess
Be Baptized for the Remission of Sins

Even a cursory glance shows this is a radical "departure" from the original formulation. It is a human centered formula. In Scott the emphasis is on what God does in response to faith in the Messiah. The Holy Spirit and Eternal life (critical gifts of grace in Scott) simply disappear altogether. Remission of sins has been converted from a divine gift to being part of a command to be obeyed. This is more than a subtle shift in Scott's Ancient Gospel.

Walter Scott was not oblivious to this diminishment of his formulation. Some focused in on baptism "for the remission" and it became the Golden Oracle rather than Jesus the Messiah. An incipient legalism was creeping in and clouding the vision, or so Scott believed. It had been "watered" down.. In 1844 he writes to Jacob Creath, Jr these words

"Our main thought at that time [1827] was to push back the christian [sic] profession on to its original basis--the Messiah. We did this, and the people were received to the remission of sins on the primitive faith of Jesus as the Son of God. But although this was the actual and practical restoration of the central truth in our religion to its proper place in the christian system, many failed nevertheless to see it, and were carried away wholly by the easier and more popular generalization of faith, repentance, baptism, &c., till, in fact, they do not know their own principles when they are advocated." [1]

Hearing, Believing, Repenting, Confessing, being baptized should not be misconstrued as the Golden Oracle or the gospel. Scott pointed us first to the WHO of our faith and never let his hearers forget what God had done, is doing and will do for us. Remission is the gift of God not some command we can humanly fulfill. The Spirit is essential to our lives and the eternal hope ... how did we loose sight of it all?

Perhaps we should think afresh what is the creed of Christianity ... Christ, not baptism ... and just how we present the ancient message of Faith.


[1]Union, Protestant Unionist (25 September 1844), p. 292.

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Skillet: Whispers in the Dark

One my girls fav Christian rock bands. I like this song a lot. A good one for a late friday nite.

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