Watering Down Immersion: A Response to David Mathis

Also Check Out Jon Akin’s Response to Michael Horton’s Article On Paedobaptism I understand the impulse and reasoning behind David Mathis’ recent piece on open membership. Excluding gospel-believing brothers and sisters from church membership is a huge deal, so I am very sympathetic to what David says. Any division among brothers should break our hearts. However, I do think some …

Baptism and Church Membership: A Response to Michael Horton

Because much of the evangelical talk about baptism in recent years has downplayed the importance of it in regard to church membership, I was glad to see serious discussion about this subject the last few days at the Gospel Coalition site. While the piece by Mathis on “open membership” falls in line with much of the discussion that does not …

Meet My Family: The Southern Baptist Convention

I love my family. I grew up with great parents, the best brother, and some wonderful aunts and uncles. I also had some family members that were a little crazy. I had this one uncle named Al. He was the biggest Tennessee Vols fan I knew. Al was one of those guys who had a big bushy beard and was …

Recommended Event – Endure

Baptist 21 would like to make our readers aware of an event in a couple of weeks on enduring in the Ministry. Check out this event hosted by PlantNC and RSVP today!   What: Endure – Going the Distance in Ministry When: January 26, 1-4pm Where: The City Hotel and Bistro (203 SW Greenville Blvd Greenville, NC 27834 Speakers: –       …

B21 @ FBC JAX Pastors Conference

B21 is excited to host the Church Planting portion of this year’s First Baptist Jacksonville Pastors Conference. The FBC JAX PC annually hosts a diverse and strong line up of speakers. We are honored to be a part of it.   This year’s event focuses on the pastor with topics such as: The Pastor and His Message, The Pastor and …

Hate Sin!…And, Love Righteousness

  Recently, I observed a young father worshipping Christ during a chapel service.  He had one raised and the other holding his crippled 18mo old daughter; she was enjoying a few minutes out of her wheelchair. One of my dearest friends waits daily for his hospital-issued beeper to go off so he can rush his four year old daughter, “Leah,” …

Tennessee Baptist and Reflector Writes on Baptist21

The Tennessee Baptist and Reflector graciously ran a story about Baptist21. The story highlights how we got started and our hopes for the SBC. We have provided the article in full below.   Group Seeks to Involve Younger Pastors By Lonnie Wilkey, editor 11/9/2011 Baptist & Reflector   LEBANON — Jon Akin is a young (30 years old) Southern Baptist …

Questions about Calvinism, local associations, Acts 29, and the BFM2000

There is a lot of talk in SBC life about the challenges we are facing as a convention that some think are threatening to divide us. The supposed issues are things like a division between “true baptists” and those who wish to become more Presbyterian, traditional churches versus contemporary churches, which networks we can partner with, and of course the …