Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Mark Rogers

Two Guest Bloggers

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Two guest bloggers have graciously agreed to contribute here this week:

1. Matthew Hoskinson

Matthew (PhD in theology, Bob Jones University) is pastor of the First Baptist Church in the City of New York. He and his wife, Kimberly, live in Manhattan with their four daughters (and #5 in the womb).

Matthew, whom I’ve mentioned on my blog numerous times, recently survived cancer and was one of my accountability partners. We became friends while taking seminary classes together.

He’s a gifted preacher, and he can write, too. He occasionally blogs at Debtor to Grace.

And he has guts: earlier this month he wore a Detroit Tigers hat and jersey to Yankee Stadium for a playoff game!


2. Mark Rogers

Mark (PhD candidate in historical theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is on the pastoral team at CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in Gurnee, Illinois, with their three daughters.

We became friends while our families lived on campus at TEDS and were members of CrossWay. We worked together for a while when Mark served as D. A. Carson’s administrative assistant. Mark grew up as a son of a Baptist pastor, and he earned his MDiv from Southern Seminary.

He’s writing his dissertation on “Edward Dorr Griffin and the Edwardsian Second Great Awakening” and hopes to graduate in May 2012. His responsibilities at CrossWay include their pastoral training program, newcomers, and young adult ministry. And he’s a good preacher, too.

And Mark didn’t hesitate to wear his San Fransisco Giants gear at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas last year for game 5 of the World Series (when the Giants won the series)!

I thank God for Matthew and Mark (and Luke and John, too). They’re mature, humble, gifted guys whom God has significantly used to help me love him and my family better, and I’m honored that they agreed to contribute a few blog posts while I’m off-line this week.

Two Views on the Duke K. McCall Sesquicentennial Pavilion at Southern Seminary

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This week I enjoyed following the events at the SBC and SBTS from a distance and wish I would have been in Louisville to experience it. I’m encouraged by what I’ve heard. (Cf. summaries by Danny Akin, Tom Ascol, Timmy Brister, Denny Burk, Greg Gilbert, Owen Strachan, and the many articles by Southern Seminary’s news service.)

In the midst of many reasons for rejoicing in the positive advances made in the convention this year, one event stands out as confusing to Protestant fundamentalists: SBTS dedicated a building (cf. audio and video) to former president Duke McCall, a theological moderate who tolerated theological liberalism and opposed the Conservative Resurgence.

Doran’s Objection

Dave Doran (a graduate of TEDS, senior pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church, and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary) reflects on this in these short articles:

  1. “Honor to Whom Dishonor Is Due” (He concludes, “I just don’t get it.”)
  2. “Is This an Application of Loving Your Enemies?“
  3. “We Report, You Decide” (a response to Greg Gilbert’s post)
  4. “Some (Final, I hope) Thoughts on the McCall Pavilion and Objections to My Questioning It” (a response to Mark Rogers’s post)
  5. “Missions, Pavilions, and Wives” (paragraph two responds to Owen Strachan’s post)
  6. “Seeing the Difference between Ideas and Individuals” (an implied response to Gilbert, Rogers, and Strachan)
  7. “Ideas and Individuals (Again)“
  8. “Sticking to the Point . . .“

Reponses to Doran

  1. Greg Gilbert (a graduate of SBTS, former assistant to Al Mohler, and assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church) respectfully responds to Doran’s first article: “Mohler, McCall, Truth, and History.”
  2. Mark Rogers (a graduate of SBTS, son of a pastor in the SBC, current PhD student in historical theology at TEDS, and D. A. Carson’s administrative assistant) also respectfully responds to Doran’s first article: “Southern Seminary’s Anniversary and a Question of Honor.”
  3. Owen Strachan (a graduate of SBTS, former research assistant to Al Mohler, current PhD student in historical theology at TEDS, and managing director of the Henry Center) also respectfully responds to Doran: “At SBTS, Fidelity Matters: A Friendly Response to Dave Doran.”