Jerry Vines Blog
So croons country singer, Ronnie Milsap.
In many ways spiritually I'm a child of the fifties. I am fully prepared for a number of reminders at the SBC that we "can't go back to the fifties." I'm sure we can't. Time moves forward, not backward. The methodologies of doing church, like technology, have moved far past those years.
But, it wasn't all bad.
If you have never listened to an automobile 8-track, you ain't lived. But, do we ever have the technology to do church today! I-mags. Bible programs on computer. High Tech Childrens' buildings (we built one at FBC Jax). And countrymen mikes. I may have been the first SBC pastor to use one of those deals.
I must admit I nearly put it away when a smart aleck single said, "Oh, trying to be Garth Brooks, are you?"
I, for one, don't care to go back to the fifties in much of our programming and methodology. But, there were some tools we used with great effectiveness in those years.
Ever heard of Arthur Flake? His principles for growing a Sunday School enabled SBC churches to build solid, steadily growing Sunday Schools. They might need to be tweaked a little, but some of his formula is very workable today. Just ask Allen Taylor at FBC Woodstock. Or is Allen just "lost in the fifties?" And door-to-door census taking and personal evangelism was a staple of the fifties. I actually read this week about a pastor, Jonathan Oloyede, leading a team of 30 people from his church, City Chapel, in delivering gospel tracts to 4,200 homes in Beckton, England. (Christian Post, 6.16)
Man, he must be "lost in the fifties."
The fifties were years of a great movement of God among young people. God used men like Howard Butt, Bill Glass and Dick Baker to stir thousands of young people for Christ. Franklin Graham and Greg Laurie are having similar success today. They must be "lost in the fifties."
My call to the ministry was birthed in that movement. And, oh yes, those were the years Southern Baptists talked about a holy life, being separate from the world, and being totally committed to the Lordship of Christ.
It should be noted that many of the methodologies of the fifties were firmly founded upon biblical principles and timeless ways of doing church-a regenerated church membership; gospel-centeredness; the Lordship of Christ; expository preaching; Bible separation; evangelism; etc.
So, as we go to the convention, I will understand what the messages declaring "we can't go back to the fifites" are all about, but I may find myself singing, "Lost in the fifties tonight."
If I could just sing like Ronnie.
