Appreciated Luncheon

I just wanted to let Alabama Baptist readers know that there is at least one pastor who thoroughly enjoyed the luncheon sponsored by the Alabama Baptist Conservatives. This luncheon was separate from the convention, and held at a different location on a different day.

Please permit me to inform the criticisms of Dr. Patterson’s comments on the “battle” not yet being won. The battle being referred to goes back 15 years and more to a time when our seminaries were teaching extremely liberal doctrines as mainstream theology (I graduated from Southern with a master’s in 1988). When I graduated, I would never have considered recommending any of our SBC seminaries to a young person interested in theological education. But now, I am very thankful that I can recommend our seminaries without any reservations. Yet there are still people who are determined to take our seminaries and our convention back to those days of liberal license. To suggest that it is wrong to “fight” to maintain the integrity of our seminaries because evangelism and ministry will suffer is simplistic and misleading. If our ministry and evangelism are to be effective, we must maintain the integrity of our own house. Sometimes it requires a “fight.” That’s life. That’s biblical. I was there. That’s how I understood Dr. Patterson’s comments. And I am thankful for them.

Lamar Lyon

White City, Ala.