Our discussion continues with the first response to brother Eric's post which was submitted by Rev. Kevin Smith. Rev. Smith has served as the pastor of the Waston Memorial Bapist Church since Feb. 2004. He is a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where is also a candidate for the Ph.D degree. We welcome this brother to the discussion.
For the next several days CRC will post the thoughts of several reformed African-American pastors and leaders who are attempting to bring the truths of reform theology into the Black church experience. We welcome your comments and thoughts but ask you to be respectful and stay on the topic. The first post is from our friend and brother Eric Redmond who serves as the Pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills MD and also as the 2nd VP of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was he who suggested that we take the time to comment on the issues he’s working through in his present pastoral context.
I've decided to weigh into the clash with a response to the veep's first question. I'm particularly interested in addressing it since CLF is a church plant of Tenth Presbyterian Church. While the answer springs from the the question the response isn't necessarily directed at my brother Eric himself. The answer is more of a reflection on the place of culture in the church at this time. I hope it's somewhat helpful.
Leading off this week's discussion in our Culture Clash subject is Rev. Thabiti Anybwile. Many of you know of our brother and fellow elder from his blog called Pure Church. Among other things he serves as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman and is the author of two books, The Faithful Preacher and the just released The Decline of African-American Theology. Brother 'T' is also a founding member of The Council of Reforming Churches.