Tag: Text Articles

Posted on

Sabbath Pulpit's Reflection on the Life of Samuel Bacchiocchi

It is with sadness that I report what many of you already know that Dr. Samuel Bachiocchi has died. Dr. Bacchiocchi was an interesting scholar, his writings were not confined to the libraries of the academically gifted, but was taken to common people. Certainly his writings were not “dumbed-down,” but they were accessible to many.

I have the four volumes on the Sabbath in my library and refer to them often. Reading his book Divine Rest for Human Restlessness was the beginning of my thinking of the Sabbath along these theological lines. His book Advent hope for Human Restlessness and the book on Hal Lindsey’s prophecies helped me to think about the end times in terms of more than just end time speculation and waiting for doomsday. I can’t say that I always agreed with him, but I can say that I was always challenged by him to think Biblically and more deeply about the subject. My MP3 player right now has all of his available MP3s. I love to listen to his energy and enthusiasm.

But more than theologically, Dr. Bacchoicchi has challenged me in that while he was a professor at Andrews University, he still had his independent publishing ministry that was not beholden to anyone. I appreciate his willingness to step outside of the “regular lines” and thus provide a model for some of us younger ministers to follow.

My life has been enriched by my tangential acquaintance with him largely through his materials. I give my condolences to the family and I pray that God will protect the ashes of this man until the return of the Lifegiver.

Posted on

We Have Killed the Sanctuary Message

sanctuary255We have killed the Sanctuary Message. We all have contributed to its demise. From the local elder who drones on and on about the color of the tassel the priest was wearing to the pastor who oftentimes just ignores the whole message. From the Bible Teacher who made it merely a mathematical calculation to the lay person who goes to sleep every time it comes up. We have Killed the Sanctuary Message!

We all had a Hand in this

Part of it is the culture that doesn’t want to work for anything. We would rather sing “Jesus loves me this I know…” for the rest of our lives than to put forth any effort to provide depth to our religious experience. Part of it is due to the whole tabernacle service being so alien to us. We do not know anything about sacrificing animals and priests representing the people. The sanctuary illustration doesn’t make sense to us. Part of it is due to the issues over the years that external and internal theologians, preachers, and Bible teachers have had with parts of the message. Part of it is due to the fact that few seem to be able to give the “cliff note” version of the message which might provide the context to understand the message.

I have been reading the evangelistic messages of some of the great evangelists of our past. One thing that is interesting is that oftentimes the Sanctuary was given to open up the way for the Sabbath. We preached the Sanctuary in heaven where the very Law of God was placed in the throne of God. S. N. Haskell used to use the Sanctuary as his organizing principle for his teaching all of our doctrines. He spoke of everything through this model.

Understanding from the Sanctuary

The simple fact is that we don’t know as much as we think we know without referring to the Sanctuary. We cannot understand the “lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) without referring to the tabernacle services. It is problematic to attempt to speak of the “priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:6) without looking at the sanctuary. And even what we think we know takes on added significance like why and how we can come “come boldly to the throne of grace.” (Hebrews 4:16) Without the sanctuary as a model we would miss some of that imagery.

But we have missed it. The Sanctuary message has not been “seeker-sensitive.” It is deemed not “relevant” and even called “valueless. Yes we have killed the Sanctuary message, but what is perhaps more interesting than that is that few seem to notice or care.

Can We Survive Without It?

Certainly there are quarters of Adventism where the sanctuary message is all you hear. And the leadership of the church still produces Sanctuary materials from time to time. The Seven Volumes of the Daniel and Revelation Committee definitely seek to affirm the value of the message. The upcoming Sabbath School Lesson makes reference to this subject. In addition, Clifford Goldstein has made a career out of reminding us of the importance of the sanctuary. There are others who teach this as well, but the majority of American Adventists, those who proport to believe the teaching or not, have set it aside for more “pressing” concerns. And there are some parts of Adventism that would tend to celebrate its demise. One can only hope that Ellen White was incorrect when she said that this is one of the pillars of our movement. In addition, when she said that this is one of the principal subjects we should be preaching, we have to hope she was wrong. Because if Sister White is right, we may have seen a part of our foundation leave…And if that is true, what will we do when all that can be shaken will be shaken?

Posted on

Carlton Byrd's Church Growth Method

This afternoon, I attended a seminar on church growth put forth by Dr. Carlton P. Byrd at the Riverside Seventh-day Adventist church in Nashville, TN.

The Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, where he pastors, has experienced tremendous growth since his being placed in the church.

The seminar is the same seminar that he has presented in other venues where he describes his method for church growth. The method centers on creating an “atmosphere” of growth that he calls an “Evangelistic Culture.” Dr. Byrd specifically speaks of three areas where this intentional attention should be made to create this culture.

Worship

The first area that needs to be intentionally rethought with the mindset of growth is worship. Dr. Byrd was quick to state that this is not only about music, but it is about the entire worship experience. He noted that in some churches there is a pleasant experience from the person who tells you where to park, to the usher who seats you, all the way to through the service.

This culture shows itself by intentionally seeking to eliminate anything from the service that works against growth. From the rude usher to the elder who does not know how to read the scripture.

Evangelistic Outreach

The second area is evangelistic outreach. Here we are looking to build up interests by intentional engagement with the community. Dr. Byrd gave some examples that have been done in Atlanta. The first is a block party where hundreds of names were collected. Another was what he calls a “tract attack” where the people go out and pass out tracts. It is interesting that Dr. Byrd goes out with all the rest of the people. Another approach is to have musical services with popular names.

Traditional approaches are also a part of this method. He has included bible workers in his method. Dr. Byrd noted that when he originally came to Berean there was 1 Bible worker, but now he has hired 5 of them. These Bible Workers are always seeking interests and giving Bible Studies. In preparation for his next meeting he is seeking 10K interests.

Public Campaigns

I had to leave early so I did not hear this aspect of the approach, but Dr. Byrd does engage in public campaigns that are essentially reaping meetings. One can be sure that Dr. Byrd believes that they should be put together just as well as the worship service.