Boyce Digital Repository (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
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Christianity at the Crossroads: William Louis Poteat and Liberal Religion in the Baptist South
Get PDFPh.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020William Louis Poteat played a leading role in spreading liberalism among Baptists in North Carolina and the South. He promoted a liberal vision for Christianity in an attempt to appeal to the cultured elites of the New South. As a leading religious figure and respected public intellectual he aimed to harmonize Christianity with modern notions of authority, and modern values and sentiments, to provide a religion that suited the cosmopolitan image that the professional class of southerners aimed to cultivate for themselves. Poteat became a symbol for liberal religion in the South and helped secure space for Southern Baptist liberals to expand their influence for generations to come. Like theological liberals in the North, Poteat and other liberals in the South reconceptualized Christianity to fit with the higher revelations of modern science and the progressive spirit of the age. His journey to liberalism began by adapting Christianity to fit with Darwinism, which required a new theology of revelation. To make Christianity safe from modern skeptics, he embraced an alternative religious epistemology of religious experience that also created a safe distance from the traditional doctrinal Christianity that he believed to be unbearably outdated. A mission of social redemption replaced the otherworldly hope of traditional Christianity, through which Poteat hoped also to supply fresh relevance for religion in an age that seemed likely to neglect it. He was the most influential Baptist liberal in the South in the first third of the twentieth century and he influenced generations of Baptist leaders who embraced liberal Christianity as a respectable religion for the new southern bourgeoisie. Although he faced seasons of fierce opposition for his views, Poteat proved that an outspoken liberal could thrive in the highest places of Southern Baptist leadership, to the resounding praise of liberals across the South
Equipping Parents of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Somerset, Kentucky, to Disciple Their Children
Get PDFD.Ed.Min., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020The purpose of this project was to transition the student ministry of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Somerset, Kentucky, to a family-equipping model by equipping parents to disciple their children. Chapter 1 provides the context for the ministry project, as well as project goals and research methodology.
Chapter 2 contains biblical and theological support for the project by examining Ephesians 4:11-16 and implications from this passage that pertain to equipping parents to disciple their children.
Chapter 3 contains practical considerations for how and why churches must equip parents to fulfill their role as the primary disciple-makers of their children.
Chapter 4 is an overview of the implementation phase of the project, including summaries of the planning, design, promotion, and implementation of the project.
Chapter 5 is an evaluation of the project, including theological and personal reflections as well as commentary on how the project will be leveraged moving forward
A Case for Collegiate Church Planting as a Key Strategic Mission Focus
Get PDFThis dissertation argues that a strategic way to reach college students is through collegiate church planting. Chapter 1 introduces the purpose of the dissertation, provides definitions of key terms, and states the method of research. Chapter 2 expounds on the geography of the American college campus. This chapter traces the historical, cultural, and social dimensions of the American college campus. Chapter 3 defines today’s college students. This chapter delineates the characteristics of Generation Z, the generation to which today’s students belong, and how those characteristics affect college students’ views of the world. Chapter 4 charts the history of collegiate ministry in America from the Second Great Awakening to today. This chapter traces the progression of ministry on collegiate campuses from campus revivals and parachurch ministries in the nineteenth and twentieth century to the dawning of collegiate church plants today. Chapter 5 examines the nature of the church and the parachurch. This chapter considers the efficacy of local churches over parachurch ministries to reach college students in a post-modern world. Chapter 6 investigates an effective strategy for planting collegiate churches. This chapter examines different concepts within church planting to design a strategy to plant collegiate churches that reproduce more churches. Chapter 7 summarizes the findings of the research and states some conclusion
Training Small Groups of Calvary Church in Roseville and White Bear Township, Minnesota to Understand How the Gospels Use the Old Testament
Get PDFThis project seeks to train Calvary Church small group members to understand how the four Gospels use the Old Testament to establish a biblical theological foundation for whole-life discipleship. Chapter 1 outlines the history and structure of discipleship at Calvary Church. Chapter 2 provides the biblical and theological rationale for an intertextual reading of the Gospels by exegeting selected passages from Luke 24 and the book of Acts. Chapter 3 integrates intertextuality, biblical theology, and worldview formation for the purpose of discipleship. Chapter 4 provides a detailed outline of the project. Chapter 5 evaluates the project by weighing the outcomes against the stated goals. Through this project, the hope is that Calvary Church would see readers engaged in the four Gospels for the purpose of whole-life discipleship
Integrating Biblical Counseling Principles into the Small Group Discipleship Model at Foothills Church of Stayton, Oregon
Get PDFINTEGRATING BIBLICAL COUNSELING PRINCIPLES INTOTHE SMALL GROUP DISCIPLESHIP MODEL AT
FOOTHILLS CHURCH OF STAYTON, OREGON
Robert Raymond Baddeley, DEdMinThe Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Matthew D. Haste
This project seeks to integrate biblical counseling practice and principles into the small group discipleship model of ministry at Foothills Church in Stayton, Oregon. Chapter 1 discussed the context, leadership structures, and discipleship at Foothills and the rationale and goals for integrating biblical counseling into the small groups format.
Chapter 2 provides the biblical basis and theological support for the integration of biblical counseling principles into discipling within the small group format.
Chapter 3 is a review of the biblical and theological basis for the integration of biblical counseling principles and disciple-making.
Chapter 4 explains the implementation of the project. Included is the summary of each session, key texts used for instruction, and discipleship and counseling connections for each topic.
Chapter 5 evaluates the goals, objectives, and implementation of the project. It also includes reflections and lessons learned along with critique for improvements in the course
The Use of Nakedness Imagery as Theological Language in the Old Testament
Get PDFThis dissertation argues that nakedness language in the OT powerfully communicates theological information to the reader because of its inherent association with shame at the level of basic human experience. This dissertation surveys the texts using nakedness imagery in the OT, explaining its function and meaning, and addressing any pertinent issues.
Chapter 1 introduces the thesis and methodology of the project and surveys the history of interpretation. These interpretations corroborate the claims of the thesis.
Chapter 2 specifies the terms used for nakedness in the OT, concluding that nakedness refers fundamentally to the exposure of the sexual organs. This chapter surveys the primary verbs and their derivatives as well as nouns used euphemistically to describe the sexual organs.
Chapter 3 surveys the ANE context, examining the functional, aesthetic, penal, and military uses of nudity, and it demonstrates that these nations considered public nudity taboo.
Chapter 4 examines the use of nakedness imagery in the Pentateuch. Genesis uses nakedness imagery to depict the original idyllic state of creation, the disorder after humans sinned, and YHWH’s grace to repentant people. Nakedness in the legal texts expresses humans’ need for holiness before God and one another. Deuteronomy announces YHWH’s deprivation of his apostate people.
Chapter 5 studies the use of nakedness imagery in the Prophets. YHWH uses nakedness to undergird his rejection of Saul and affirmation of David. Samuel and Isaiah corroborate the ANE practice of stripping as humiliation. YHWH threatens judgment against his apostate people in Hosea and Ezekiel. Several texts use nakedness imagery to represent the endangered and poor.
Chapter 6 studies the use of nakedness imagery in the Writings, showing again the plight of the poor or endangered. Nakedness imagery in Job and Ecclesiastes conveys the concept of contingency, and in Proverbs and Song of Songs, recaptures the unity and intimacy in marriage that was lost in Eden.
This dissertation concludes that nakedness imagery addresses numerous facets of theology in the OT, primarily because nakedness emphasizes the vulnerability of humans. This vulnerability exposes the darker side of human nature, such as fear and shame, but it also exposes the ideal, such as unity and trust
Resilience Theory and Christian Formation: A Mixed Methods Study
Get PDFThis study explored the unexamined relationship between resilience and Christian formation in first-year college students. The study took place at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. A convergent design was used to quantify the variables of spiritual maturity and resilience using pre-existing assessments. Themes from Scripture, precedent literature on resilience, and Christian formation were used to design semi-structured interview questions wherein students were able to articulate and help further understand their lived experiences.
A review of precedent literature presented scriptural foundations of Christian formation and biblical-theological resources that postulated a biblical framework for defining resilience. The Transformational Discipleship Assessment (TDA) was presented as a tool that provides an analysis of discipleship attributes, measurement of spiritual maturation, and suggests areas for needed growth. The precedent literature revealed that a comprehensive psychological definition of resilience theory is absent. Nevertheless, the Inventory of College Students Resilience (ICSR) was proposed as a valid and reliable assessment to measure and enhance personality traits associated with resilience in college students. The final section described points of interaction between higher education, resilience, and Christian formation to address the spiritual and psychological struggles that college students face.
The research design consisted of a three-strand approach using quantitative, qualitative, and convergent data analysis. The quantitative strand addressed first-year students’ personal assessment of spiritual maturity attributes and factors of resilience through an instrument that combined the TDA and ICSR. A descriptive analysis was performed and statistical significance was found between the variables of the TDA and ICSR. First-year students at Boyce College exhibited consistent scores in both fields.
Seven key themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews during the qualitative strand that were analogous to the proposed biblical framework of resilience—God purposefully assigns and allows adverse events to produce the character in believers that he desires. The testing and refining process is often arduous, yet it is temporary. Believers engage in the process of resilience by maintaining a joyful attitude, trusting, and hoping in God’s future promises despite trials (Rom 5:1–5). The results of such perseverance are more refined and mature believers who are capable of bearing a heavier load than before their encounter with adversity.
The convergent strand examined the extent that the qualitative results confirmed the quantitative outcomes. Inconsistencies were identified within the convergent strand that revealed challenges and provided recommendations for the flourishing of spiritual maturation and resilience characteristics. The findings yielded that converging qualitative and quantitative data were able to help further understand the relationship between Christian formation and resilience theory in first-year students at Boyce College.
KEYWORDS: Adaptation, adversity, biblical resilience, biblical foundations of resilience, Christian formation, college student development, confessional Christian colleges and universities, discipleship, endurance, first-year student, grit, hardship, higher education, Inventory of College Students Resilience, mentor, perseverance, reciprocating social relationships, relational community, resilience, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity assessment, steadfastness, TDA, Transformational Discipleship Assessment, undergraduate developmen
Pastoral Preaching: A Reformation and Redefinition of a Pastor’s Call to Preach for the Purpose of Sanctification
Get PDFChapter 1 introduces the dissertation’s thesis, highlights its methodology and establishes its goals. The dissertation argues that pastoral preaching is any preaching in the setting of a local congregation where the pastor communicates the meaning of the text and properly applies it to the human experience of the listeners, thus participating in God’s call for the sanctification of His people. Chapter 2 describes approaches to pastoral preaching that have emerged since Harry Emerson Fosdick’s controversial methods. It compares these approaches to the definition of pastoral preaching and discusses why they are inadequate forms of pastoral preaching. Chapter 3 argues for the use of application in pastoral preaching through an exploration of the shepherd metaphor in both the Old and New Testaments. It focuses on four passages that describe God’s shepherding work and how it has been passed down to pastors. Chapter 4 describes in detail the shepherding work to which God has commissioned pastors: the work of progressive sanctification. It argues that this work is accomplished through the Word of God by applying the Word to the whole person. Chapter 5 seeks to illuminate the biblical counseling movement as an aid to the pastor in creating application that encourages sanctification. It argues that biblical counseling and pastoral preaching are both ministries of the Word and helpful to one another. Chapter 6 proposes a biblical counseling-inspired framework for sermon application. It describes the framework and gives examples of its use. Chapter 7 concludes the dissertation by offering a summary of arguments and considering areas for future research related to the subject
Transforming The Discipleship Culture In Church Revitalization: A Mixed-Methods Study
Get PDFThe numbers are alarming. Almost seventy-four percent of churches within the SBC are either in a state of plateau or decline. The church at large has a responsibility to reverse the trend and move the collective church body towards health. Now is the time to ask the hard questions about what leaders can do to reverse the trends of decline. The task of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission mandate. How can individual pastors and their churches meet this mandate and glorify God in their labor?
While revitalization is certainly a topic of interest among evangelical church leaders, with continuing efforts to create revitalization efforts such as the Mathena Center at SBTS or the Center for Church Revitalization at SWBTS, most of the research in the field is already dated or merely anecdotal. For these reasons this research was started in an effort to capture current empirical-based practices and principles to share with dying churches to revitalize.
This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to identify successful church revitalizations and determine what influence transforming the discipleship culture had on those successes. In the quantitative phase of this research 716 (5.24 percent) of SBC churches who had experienced decline or plateau from 2006-2016 were found to have experienced revitalization. These churches were contacted for survey, and 145 church leaders responded by completing the survey instrument. Of the pastors surveyed, 77.38 percent indicated discipleship as “Important” or “Highly Important” in the revitalization process. Selection criteria were applied to identify churches to participate in the qualitative phase.
In the qualitative phase twelve in-depth interviews were conducted to identify best practices among pastors who have led their churches through changing their discipleship culture in revitalization. The top three practices included: (1) changes related to small group ministry, (2) relying on Scriptural authority for organizational changes, and (3) leveraging a new member assimilation process. Discerning these “best practices” not only has application for dying and plateaued churches, but also for growing churches to maintain church health
Equipping Members of Center Ridge Baptist Church in Ariton, Alabama, to Be Intentional Disciple-Makers
Get PDFThis project seeks to equip members of Center Ridge Baptist Church (CRBC) in Ariton, Alabama to be intentional disciple-makers. Chapter 1 presents the ministry context of CRBC and the goals of this project. Chapter 2 provides exegesis of four passages of Scripture (Deut 6:4–9; Luke 9:23; Matt 9:35–38, 5a; Matt 28:18–20) to reveal the importance and responsibility of Christians to be intentional disciple-makers. Chapter 3 contends that disciple making is both a pattern of life and a distinct process. Chapter 4 describes the project itself, recounting the content and teaching methodology of the specific course curriculum. Chapter 5 evaluates the efficacy of the project based on completion of the specified goals. Ultimately, this project seeks to equip Christians with the confidence and competency to be intentional disciple-makers