The Holy Spirit or, Why I left the Southern Baptist Church

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog post about a controversy in the SBC over their doctrinal statement. He said it was “for his friends in the SBC.” I said I would read it but it was clearly not for me. He replied he was praying for me “to see the light.” All in fun.

But you see, many years ago I was in the SBC and departed. (I’m sure they’ve missed me through the years.) I thought I would briefly recount my years there and why I left.

I became a Christian in Nashville, TN, prayed into the kingdom by the saints at First Baptist Donelson (especially that dear saint, Mrs. Knott). I believed on a Sunday afternoon, went to church that night, professed my faith and was baptized the next Sunday night. I began attending this church. Bro. Baker was the pastor. He retired and Bro. Harris became pastor. While here I was called into the ministry and began working with Bro. Harris. One Sunday night he recommended a book that would change the direction of my life: The Holy Spirit: Who He Is and What He Does by R.A. Torrey. Half of the book must be devoted to an experience called the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I read it, believed it and sought for this. On a Sunday afternoon, on the way to church, God met me and answered my prayer. I went on to Training Union and testified of this. No one gave any evidence of knowing what I was talking about.

The next year I moved to Martin, TN in order to attend the University of Tennessee at Martin.  I began attending and became active in Southside Baptist Church. Oh Bro. Tuton! It was also in Martin that I encountered the charismatic renewal. What a difference in teaching, Christian experience, and worship! But I purposely remained within the SBC.

While at UTM I met Mary and we were married. Mary graduated and we moved to Memphis, TN so she could get a job and I could go to school (that’s another story). While in Memphis we began attending Cherry Rd Baptist Church. Once again I became quite active. And it was while attending Cherry Rd Baptist Church that everything began to fall apart. There was a group of Spirit-filled believers also attending. One Sunday morning one of the pastors made an announcement: “We will no longer tolerate any teaching of the baptism of the Spirit, or speaking in tongues, or spiritual gifts.” Many of these brethren left the church. Just a few weeks later, Bro. Ronnie made an additional announcement: “We will no longer allow the lifting of hands in the worship service and want no more talking about physical healing.” (We all thought this was rather odd since Bro. Ronnie had himself been prayed for and healed!). At this point I left the church.

I realized that I could probably find a Baptist church which would not respond this way, but I also knew that I did not want to spend my entire ministry fighting this battle. I wanted to find a group of believers who, at least on paper, were open to the Holy Spirit. So I departed the SBC.

Once out of the Baptist Church the “Baptist blinders” fell off. Through my regular reading of the Scriptures I came to realize that Baptists (the ones I was familiar with, anyway) taught “decisionism.” That is, all that is required of the sinner is to “make a decision” and he will be saved. This was routinely explained as signing a decision card and frequently as, “Just take a step into the aisle. You make that first step and Jesus will meet you.” Then there was the “With every head bowed, and every eye closed, raise your hand if you want to be saved.” If you did this, made such a “decision” you were saved. And having made this “decision”, you were saved forever. No matter what you may do after this, God was bound to save you because you had “made a decision for Jesus.” But I saw from the Scriptures that neither Jesus nor the apostles preached this. They preached discipleship. One of the first casualties of this enlightenment was the Baptist doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” I mean, if being a Christian is a matter of following Jesus, then I can stop following Him any where along the path. Many explained-away-scriptures made a lot more sense now.

Further reading of the Scriptures revealed another discrepancy. In the Baptist church you have the Pastor and the deacons with congregational government. This means a once a month Wednesday night “Business meeting.” Always a lot of fun! Anyway, I discovered that the New Testament talks about elders and deacons. Both plural. And the government of the church is in the hands of the elders, not the deacons. Or the congregation, for that matter.

So, it was the Holy Spirit who caused me to leave the SBC. Actually, the gift and gifts of the Spirit, worship in the Spirit. And physical healing. Then, as I studied the Word, I realized I could not go back. Besides, at that time they were constantly fighting amongst themselves as conservatives sought to regain control of the church. They eventually prevailed, but I didn’t want to constantly fight that battle as well. So I was out of the SBC for good.

OK, where did I land? In a full out charismatic church? No. I found the Christian & Missionary Alliance with its’ emphasis on the Four-Fold Gospel. They taught the baptism with the Spirit, allowed for the gifts, believed in healing, had elders and deacons, and the church we began attending taught the Bible. I mean verse by verse, book by book. I was impressed! Influenced by the historical Alliance teaching/emphasis on the Full Gospel and the simple teaching of the Bible I embarked on a 25 year ministry in the Alliance.

Well, I have been out of the Alliance for a few years now (again, another story – it seems I have a lot of side stories!) and the Baptists seem to be fighting again. Finding a church is so much fun!