On a cold Minnesota February day in 1966 — 54 years ago — I found a letter in my seminary mailbox that shaped my life, and the course of our family. The letter was an invitation from Bud Weniger to consider being his youth pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Normal, Illinois. I said to myself, “ Boy, I’d like to do that!” But how could it be possible? I was not slated to graduate that spring, but I was intrigued by the idea of going to Normal.

I began to research seminaries relatively close to Central Illinois where I could earn credits that could be transferred back to Central seminary in Minneapolis for my degree completion. This was obviously in pre-internet days, but at that time Christianity Today magazine published classified ads that included summer studies in theology. Two schools were advertised: Winona Lake School of Theology in Indiana, and Temple Baptist Seminary in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Winona Lake did not offer what I needed, but Temple did. So, in early June I drove our new Ford Galaxy 500 Coupe all the way down the old two-lane U.S. 41 to Chattanooga, and Connie followed two weeks later on the train after fulfilling her teaching contract. We had no idea that 30 years later our not yet born daughter would become a life-long resident of that beautiful city on the Tennessee River. But God was leading and directing our journey.

Those were the hay days of the legendary Highland Park Baptist Church, and Tennessee Temple Schools, led by the dynamic Dr. Lee Roberson. We became exposed to a whole different cultural world from our Minneapolis and Chicago backgrounds. That summer we explored the history rich area and spent many hours studying and hanging out in the school’s air conditioned library, because our rental house had no cooling, except for a box window fan. It was an experience.

Then at the end of August we took up residency in Normal and began four years of fruitful ministry. Actually, it was an amazing ministry experience. When we arrived, the church was running a little over 200 in attendance, and four years later it was averaging 600. We started with a very young youth group, because seven young people from the church had just graduated with most going off to Bible college. Four years later the youth group had grown tremendously with often 75-100 teens attending our youth activities. It was an exciting time.

Those years in Normal were truly unusual, and not normal at all. The growth and spiritual development of Calvary Baptist during those years was truly remarkable. Many adults, university students, teenagers, and children came to Christ during those years and following. The church was thriving with activity and outreach. We led the youth group on four adventurous Colorado Camping trips that were spiritual mountain top experiences. It was a blessed time of God’s grace in our lives.

At the same time, Calvary attracted many people who had been faithful members at a number of area churches that were slipping into theological liberalism. A robust and growing economy, plus expanding employment opportunities, brought new move-ins to the area. Several of these folks, although from varied church backgrounds, found Calvary to be a welcoming environment for their biblical convictions. The church grew numerically and spiritually.

Pastor Weniger was a tireless worker, and he drew people in with forceful preaching and exposition, but he also recruited and motivated members to put their hands to the plow and work to build the church. Thousands of dollars were saved on building expansion projects through volunteer work days and nights. Additionally, those work projects brought the people together in purpose, and fellowship.

They were great days of working, learning, growing, and serving. Looking back now I realize what a great privilege it was to be part of a not-so-normal ministry experience. Our participation in the church and youth ministry at Calvary was a crucial step in God’s leading down the Grace Journey road that we have been traveling all our life. What a privilege!

During my senior year in high school I attended a youth retreat at Cedar Lake Conference grounds in northern Indiana. At that retreat I heard missionary-evangelist Hubert Mitchell speak and I have never forgotten the impact of his ministry on my life. God is truly gracious to give us these experiences and encounters with choice servants of His during our personal grace journeys.

Hubert Mitchell and his wife were missionaries in Indonesia. They had 4 children when his wife died. Annie Flint’s poem “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater” brought comfort to his heart and the Lord inspired him to write music for it.

Story by Hubert Mitchell, and relayed by Linda Morken

The Story of a Nail is the singular account of one missionary’s encounter with the miraculous. The setting of the story is the central area of Sumatra, Indonesia. The time is 1937. The players are an aboriginal tribe called the Rawas Kubus and a missionary from America by the name of Hubert Mitchell.

Most of the other native tribes of Sumatra were of the Islamic religion, but the Rawas Kubus held to no religion, worshipping only nature. Thus, they were a people despised by the other inhabitants of Sumatra. They were also a people who had never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hubert Mitchell begins his tale with his entrance into Sumatra in 1934 with his wife and his two year old son. After three years of tramping the jungle trails ministering to this people, he desired to reach yet another more secluded Kubus tribe in the Jambi Kubus area.

Discouraged, he decided to take a lunch break and pray for God’s help. A well-known poem came to mind: “For want of a nail a shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, a horse was lost.” And he added in his mind that for want of a nail it was possible that a whole tribe would be lost.

Quickly he explained to the people what it was and told them that he had never heard of a nail getting into canned food. Believing him, they responded to this God who wanted them to know about Jesus and had helped them, and the whole tribe was converted. This story is told often in our family gatherings, for Hubert Mitchell was our uncle.

https://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bulletin/bu1303.htm

The following article is offered as a prospectus for hopefully more extensive research into the invasion of the two main Baptist conventions in the USA during the 20^th Century into local church autonomy. If anything, a Baptist church is to be an autonomous body that is ruled by congregational polity. Both conventions – Northern and Southern – disregarded Baptist polity and utilized the secular courts to force their organizational will on local autonomous congregations.

Charles Dickens began his historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities with the famous words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Dickens goes on to weave a tale of intrigue and treachery midst the period leading to the French Revolution. The two cities of London and Paris reflect the contradictions and conflicts of that period when democratic ideals clashed with powerful political, and dominant social, forces.

Because my wife and I were members of two different unique churches, I am led to rephrase the Dickens dictum to say: “It was the worst of times, which led to the best of times.” These two church congregations suffered the loss of property and buildings, all because powerful denominational machinery and muscle was brought to bear to crush their congregational autonomy. But God meant it for good! New churches emerged that grew and flourished, and the old Convention controlled churches faded. One has relocated and exists under a new name, and the other exists no more.

Connie and I are perhaps the only people who were members of congregations that lost court cases to the American Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention respectively. In 1966 we moved to Normal, Illinois, where I became Assistant Pastor at the Calvary Baptist Church. That church came into being four years earlier after the majority of the members of the First Baptist Church of Normal were denied an appeal before the State Supreme Court due to a lawsuit filed by the minority of church members. Even though the majority won a Circuit Court decision, the minority gained an Appellate Court reversal that led ultimately to the majority being ejected from their house of worship.

That group of faithful believers mortgaged homes and raised money within a few weeks to purchase property one mile north of the original building. In God’s timing it became obvious this was a great blessing. The old brick building, known locally as the “Green Church” due to a curious paint job, was land-locked by the rapidly expanding campus of Illinois State University. When the legal battles began in 1955, ISU was an institution of less than 5,000 students. When we arrived over ten years later it had exploded to more than 15,000 students and continued to grow. Twin 16 story high-rise dormitories were built a half-block from the church and the old Green Church was dwarfed by the continual campus development. Today that church building no longer exists and an apartment building occupies the strategic corner lot at School and Mulberry.

Another facet of the story is that my dad, Dr. George Carlson, testified at the trial on behalf of the majority group in Normal, Illinois. Dad was called as an expert witness by the defense lawyers to give testimony relating to Baptist History and Baptist Polity. This trial was only months before dad was killed in an airplane crash while flying to a hunting camp in Northern Ontario in a small aircraft. Less than ten years later I was called as Assistant Pastor by that majority group in their new church. Today Calvary has a beautiful facility that has undergone six building programs over the past sixty years.

The second church we were members of that experienced a losing legal battle was the Falls Road Baptist Church of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It was thirty years after going to Normal that we moved to Eastern North Carolina to join the staff of Positive Action for Christ, a Bible curriculum ministry that grew out of the Falls Road church. This church was birthed through the struggles of the North Rocky Mount Baptist Church that some Southern Baptist’s believe was the spark that ignited the fire that led to the conservative resurgence in the SBC.  Many Baptists across the South were appalled that their beloved Convention would trample the autonomy of a local church, in order to advance the cause of bureaucratic power and control.

Like the Normal church body, the folks of the North Rocky Mount Baptist Church endeavored to practice democratic congregational church polity, and were sued by a minority of members. Both churches, by strong majorities of over 80%, voted to withdraw from their respective Conventions because of creeping theological liberalism and definite doctrinal deviation. The North Rocky Mount Baptist case went to the North Carolina Supreme Court who handed down a devastating decision flatly denying the historic Baptist distinctive of local church autonomy. The rejected majority went one block down the street and established the independent Falls Road Baptist Church.

Like the Illinois case the Rocky Mount case was messy, and both situations received negative news coverage that characterized the opposing sides as battling Baptists who just couldn’t find a way to get along. In both cases the new churches, with new names, eventfully escaped the bad press and local antipathy to become healthy, growing and productive churches in their communities. But their separate stories are fascinatingly similar in a number of ways, even though they fought different ecclesiastical organizations, in different sections of the country. The similarities are captivating and instructive to the current theological and ecclesiastical climate of the 21^st Century.

In 1996 I was called to serve on the staff of Positive Action for Christ, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. That organization grew out of the ministry of Dr. Frank Hamrick, who first was the Youth Pastor and then Pastor of the Falls Road church. Frank founded and authored the club program and curriculum of ProTeens, which became the launching pad for Positive Action Bible Curriculum that now sends Bible teaching materials around the world. Today the Falls Road Church has been renamed Crossroads Baptist and is relocated four miles west on over fifty beautiful acres of prime land. God truly is faithful to His churches.

Here are some practical lessons, in abbreviated form, from these two churches that I hope could be investigated in the future by an interested research scholar.

• Theological liberalism is real
• Baptist churches are either autonomous or not
• Power can be corrupting
• Unbelief is degenerative
• God’s purposes are not thwarted 

The purposes for a future study of this subject are threefold: (1) to tell the story of denominational intrusion into these two distinctive local churches, and other churches; (2) to highlight the pernicious encroachment of theological liberalism and legal/social progressivism; (3) to stimulate further serious research into the historical and legal record of denominational interference with autonomous Baptist churches.

Resources:

Recently I gave this devotional in our morning chapel service on the Maranatha Village campus. This daily gathering is held weekdays to pray for our supported missionaries and share a short devotional challenge. The Bible has much to say about the value and blessedness of old age. May we heed the Psalmist who taught us, “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God provides for our Journey

“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” Psalms 37:25 NKJV

God preserves us during our Journey

“Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.” Psalms 71:9 NKJV

God empowers us throughout our Journey

“Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.” Psalms 71:18 NKJV

God promises fruitful completion to our Journey

“They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,” Psalms 92:14 NKJV

“For I am already being poured out as an offering, and the time for me to depart (my departure) is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith!” 2 Timothy 4:6-7 NET

We who have lived in the USA during last half of the twentieth century and the first two decades of the twenty-first century have known little of hardness and difficulty. We have been blessed with relative prosperity and peace through our whole lives. Some of our brothers and sisters in Christ have known great personal suffering and sorrow, but even then we have safety nets in our society that include medical wonders, social and spiritual support systems, and most importantly – the grace of God.

Still it is challenging for us to comprehend the richness of God’s grace when we have so much. We know the truth of Eph. 2:8… “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…” But the redemptive truth of grace alone is much greater than any of the wonders of our age. What a blessing God gives us to trust in Him alone, for salvation alone, for His security alone, and for the enablement alone to seek to glorify Him. God’s grace is truly amazing!

In days to come, the Lord willing, I plan to work on a writing project that focuses on the greatness and glory of God’s grace. Several lifelong friends in ministry have agreed to read my thoughts and give input, suggestions and guidance. Pray with me that God would be glorified in this venture that I see as part of our Grace Journey.

This blessed gospel song came to mind last night as I went to bed meditating on this project.

Grace 'tis charming sound, 
Harmonious to the ear; 
Heav'n with the echo shall resound, 
And all the earth shall hear. 

Refrain: 
Saved by grace alone! 
This is all my plea: 
Jesus died for all mankind, 
And Jesus died for me. 

'Twas grace that wrote my name 
In life's eternal book; 
'Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb, 
Who all my sorrows took. 

Grace taught my wand'ring feet 
To tread the heav'nly road; 
And new supplies each hour I meet, 
While pressing on to God. 

Grace taught my soul to pray, 
And made mine eyes o'erflow; 
'Twas grace which kept me to this day, 
And never let me go. 

O let Thy grace inspire 
My soul with strength divine: 
May all the pow'rs to Thee aspire, 
And all my days be Thine.
          

Over forty years ago, the Lord led me down a distinct path through an interesting twist in my grace journey. While pastoring in St. Paul, Minnesota, I was introduced to two politicians that God used to lead me in a different direction that would alter the course of my ministry and our family. God’s grace has led us all the way!

I was asked by the fledging Minnesota Association of Christian Schools (MACS) in the winter of 1975-76 to “look into” the Minnesota Capitol as a legislative liaison. I was clueless, but agreed to try. Our church had not yet launched a school, but we were located less than three miles from the seat of government in Minnesota. Our sincere goal was simply to operate Christian schools that were legitimate educational entities, but free from governmental interference. Our assumption stemmed from a strong conviction that religious liberty was granted by our country’s Bill of Rights.

My first step toward assuming these responsibilities was to ask for help. My good friend, and church member, Wes Budke was a state trooper assigned to guard the governor, and I asked Wes if he knew of any Bible believing Christians in the legislature. Wes said that the governor recently visited the home of a politician in the southwestern part of the state, and the governor asked for a beer. The legislator said he didn’t have any beer, but they could offer him a soft drink. Wes said, “I think his name is Representative Menning, and maybe he is a Christian?”

Armed with those slim facts I headed for the Capitol complex on a cold winter day. In the House of Representatives building, I asked a uniformed guard for directions to Representative Menning’s office. After he searched the office listings, he said, “Nope, don’t see anyone by that name.” What he, and I, didn’t know at the time was that Marion “Mike” Menning was now a State Senator, and thereby had an office in a different building and was not on his list.

I thanked him and headed off to find an information office where I obtained literature about the workings of the legislature. A clerk in that office gave me pamphlets containing information about the legislative calendar and short synopses of proposed legislation. I also signed up to be on a mailing list. As I began to study this material I learned that a state representative had introduced a bill endeavoring to outlaw obscene movies from drive-in theater screens. I thought, “That’s a good idea,” and called the rep’s office and asked what we could do to help him with that effort?

The representative himself, Glen Sherwood, came on the line and I repeated my question. I’ll never forget Glen’s response. He asked incredulously, “Do you mean that?” “Of course” I replied, and explained who I was and why our organization would be interested in something that was a good idea for Minnesota, both morally and spiritually. That phone call led to a deep and blessed relationship with a godly man who is a sincere and brilliant Christian man. 

Glen had a Ph.D. in wildlife biology and was a careful, no-nonsense protector of hunting, fishing and environmental issues in his northern Minnesota district. And he was a Democrat. He was a smart, gracious, gentleman who was originally courted by both political parties to represent the area north of Brainerd, Minnesota. The story was the Democrats got to his house first, and he said, “Yes.” He was from an independent non-denominational church background, and I would learn later that he was as solid as a rock. After I left the state, he ran for governor as a Republican — by conviction. An amazing man.

Our group from MACS helped him move the bill out of committee by literally jamming the hearing room with over 100 Christian school students, teachers, and a few pastors. Nobody on that committee wanted to defend obscene movies (that were being shown in Glen’s district on an outdoor screen within easy view of the highway). I later learned that it was Glen’s wife, and her prayer group, who became burdened and determined that something be done. When that bill finally came to the House floor, the vote was something like 102 to zip. The ACLU guy who opposed us was livid, but was unable to convince committee members of that era to support his defense of obscenity that today might be considered sex abuse by even liberal politicians and pundits.

Glen introduced me to Senator Mike Menning, and we hit it off immediately. Mike was from a Christian Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota, in the southwestern part of the state. Mike is still a friend today and he sends a weekly “Great Commission Utah” email that chronicles his incredible missionary work among needy souls of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) so-called church. This is the group that is led by infamous Warren Jeffs, the man serving a life sentence in Federal Prison due to sex crimes against women and children.

Glen and Mike introduced me to a group of Christian Senators and Representatives who met every week for Bible study and prayer. They would invite their follow legislators to join them and offer to pray for their personal and family needs in a caring and godly way. I had a standing invitation to attend their meetings, and went often. I remember the men vividly. Glen, Mike, Senator Wayne Olhoft, Senator Gilbert Esau and Representative Gaylin DenOuden were the leaders and they met consistently. Gaylin is Mike’s brother-in-law and is now my facebook friend. These men were all from different church backgrounds, but they were all unashamedly born-again Christians who made their stand known publicly and privately.

These politicians had a wonderful bi-partisan gospel ministry. Years later, Mike Menning said in a phone conversation with me that it was us Baptist preachers (I introduced him to many of my fellow pastors) who taught him to be a “soul winner”. When I was asked to join the staff of the American Association of Christian Schools, because of these experiences in the Minnesota legisature, my dear pastor friends, led by Ed Johnson and Clarke Poorman, maintained a close and supportive relationship with these godly witnesses for Christ in the legislature.

Both Glen and Mike went into the ministry after they left public office. Glen became a Bible college president and professor, before retiring to take a pastorate in Montana for a number of years. Mike became a pastor in the Salt Lake City area and served there for many years. Since stepping out of pastoral ministry, Mike has led in the launching of several missionary ventures. Most recently he has focused on his long-time interest in reaching lost souls in the FLDS communities of Arizona and Utah. I read Mike’s weekly emails now, where he regularly reports detailed accounts of leading specific FLDS men, women and young people to trust Christ alone as their Savior. What a joy! What grace!

Over the last forty years in my travels all over the country, the Lord has allowed me to meet and be blessed by scores of politicians, and other dedicated servants of the Lord, involved in political endeavors. These have been men and women who serve in elected office, or in supportive roles, who give bold and clear witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. They are leaders in the affairs of life and in the ministry of grace. May their tribe increase!

Last week I was again quoting the old baseball philosopher, Yogi Berra, who sagely observed “it is like déjà vu all over again.” Exactly a year ago I was exiting the hospital from heart surgery, and this week I was undergoing emergency gallbladder removal. Glad to escape the hospital the day before Thanksgiving, and then quietly celebrating a very grateful day at home. Not real fun, but once again graciously orchestrated by a faithful God. 

There were no warnings or symptoms — just, wham! I got to the hospital before the surgeon left town for his previously planned Thanksgiving vacation. He did the surgery and was gone the next morning. But our Lord was in control of everything. I was even current with my preparations for winter guests at Maranatha Village. Snowbirds are beginning to arrive, and by January 1 things will be in full swing. Our team of helpers is functioning at high level and I will be able to answer questions from home as I heal.

A thought came to me from the phrase in James 4:6, “But He gives more grace.” Several years ago I embarked on an over-arching journey to explore Bible truth about God’s grace. This week I could not miss the realization that God’s grace toward me was again abundantly evident. Several truths jumped out to me as I meditated on numerous scriptural gems. The imprint of His grace on my life was noticeable and so encouraging. Again, I cannot miss the impression that God is not finished with me yet, and a great God organized personal circumstances to give me more grace.

That thought sent me on a quick search, and I found that in scripture there is never a hint of little, or small, or weak, or insufficient grace. The apostle Paul mentions and expounds on the subject of grace in many passages. He declares that grace abounds, is exceeding in riches and is sufficient for us in times of weakness and infirmity. Grace does not promise that everything will be easy or painless, but that God’s grace will be enough for our every need.

It is interesting that the Lord Jesus spoke several times about little faith, and at other times of great faith. And many scriptural passages highlight the greatness of grace, but never about “little” grace. Never. The book of Acts makes it clear that the “good news” of the gospel was spread and received widely — but it was all the work of grace that drew people to become believers in Christ and His redemptive work. Grace spreads and delivers the truth of the gospel, and grace confirms the power of the gospel in the lives of believers.

And here, this week — God was giving more grace. 

Annie Johnson Flint captures this thought in her poem…

  He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
 He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
 To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
 To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
  
 When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
 When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done,
 When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
 Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
  
 His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
 His power no boundary known unto men,
 For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
 He giveth and giveth and giveth again.