The Ohio Independent Baptist, February 1961

-F_eb_r_ua_r_y,__ 19_6_I______________________ T_H ___ E~O_H_I~O-=IN::....:..=D.=EPENDENT BAPTIST ~----~~~~~.:__~------------------------~P~a~g~e~T~h~r~ee defended and where you will be trained for the Baptist ministry. You don't go to a seminary to fight, but to learn. CHOO ING A FELLOWSHIP For those who have always been in the h armonious fellowship of the General As– sociation of R egular Baptise Churches it m ay be difficult to imagi ne wha t a time we older men had to find ourselves in rela– tion to an inter-church fellowship. I had heard a m ission ary from India say, "A split is coming . It may no t com e in my day, but it will in yours.',. I made up my mind that when that split cam e, I would know what side to be o n ; but it did no t come in one big upheaval, but little by lit– tle, a nd so it was very h ard to know when the battle in the convention was los t . Dr. W . B. Riley told us to s tay in a nd fight ; and Dr. Taft told us at the seminary we would win little by little as we took over the majority of the pulpits. In my senior year we had conferences once a week with Chicago pastors and with state and national convention officials. One of them put a d iagram of the convention set-up o n a chalk board and tried to ex– plain its complicated machinery. The more he explained it, the more I was convinced that it would crush out the independency of the local churches. Yet I did not leave the convention, easy as it would have been for me to do so. In the summer of '28 I had been ~sked to pastor a small group on the sou thwest side of Chicago that wanted to get away from the Swed ish language, and it would have been so easy to lead it into the Swed– ish Baptis t General Conference as a wholly English-speaking church . Most of them were discarding the Swedish language any– way, and the leaders let me know they wou ld be glad to welcome us. In my heart I knew that would be a good thing to do except fo r one thing: we would be brand– ed as a Swedish chur ch, when we were trying to reach Americans of all back– grounds. Then Dr. Taft had persuaded me that with just a few m ore fundamental churches in the Chicago Baptist Associa– tion , we would be able to take over. That idea appealed to me, and so I persuaded the Foster Park Bapt ist Church to come in– to the convention aligned Chicago Associa- • t1on. All this seemed quite proper at the t1me, but when we got to building I soon discovered that I had led this new church into a trap. The bank would no t lend enough money unless we could also get a missionary Joan of $15,000 from the H ome Mission Society. I tri ed to d issuade them) but what could I do after I had led them 1nco the convention? Why join a convention and refuse its heJ p? Well , the result was a beautiful first unit, but a very conscience-stricken preach– er Every time J entered my beauri ful study I felt condemned All J had to do co be– come r}1e pastor of a big church in a few years was co stifle 1ny c<>nsc1ence, accepr their plan of an annual call, preach and do visitation, and let the deacons run the church. We had one of the f 1nest boar<ls J l1ave ever seen. It was an Jdeal set-Ul) ..xceJ>t for one tl1i11g tl1c pastor knew he Jiad sold out and was so miserable some <>{ the folks began t<> suspec:t it. When a de.1r oJcl 1ne111be1 askc:d me \A. 1 l1ac was \\' f<)ng, I broke dow11 and \.\'CJ>c. I cot11d 011ly celJ him J f elc od had rold n1e J was tl1rougl1, and lhac I lr>vecl cl1e1n and l1aceJ to go. J\101 e cl1an c11at J was afraid tC> acin1ic eve11 tc, 1nyseJf. Ir aJJ see111s so strange no\v. I l1eard of a11 i11de1,er1dent Baptist cl1urch \.\'itl1out a pastor, and the same pirit tha t had told me I was through at Fos ter Park seemed to assure me that I cou ld have it for the asking; but I did no t have faith enough to ask. I told mysel f that I was not original enough and did no t have enough "person– ality-plus" to make a success alone cha t I needed the convention helps and plans. o I went to talk things over with the Chicago Baptis t secretary, Dr. Benjamin O tto, who was a very fine, sympa the ti c man . H e urged n1e to write to Dr. Frank Anderson in Iowa, and promised to give me a good recr mmendacion . The result was that in less than 30 days I was called to the P ella Baptist Church in Iowa. The well-oiled convention machine ry was very good to me. Of course, I found out afterwards that my new cut– away preacher' s suit had something to do with the call too. At 33 years of age my six fee t two looked quite imposi ng in chat minis terial garb! The ladies voted for me! Yet I had not been there three mo nths until I knew I had taken G od's second best . ----- * ----- ''The Star-Spangled Ban– ner, oh, long may it wave 0 'er the land o f the /re,~ and the home o f the brave !'' ----- * ----- As I look back now I know God was in it. He knew that I was like the Israel ites coming our of Egypt- no t ready to take the direct route to the Promised Land . I had to learn the hard way that it is no t easy to refo rm a religious organizati on once it has begun to drift from its moor– ings. The Dutch peop le in Pella had a deep respect fo r their "dominie.' ' They were as slow to move against me as they were to move with me. They loved my Bible preaching except when I got coo evangelistic, but were willing to put up with that. They even put up with my g rowing condemnation of modernism and my attendance at fundamental Bible co11- ferences. They never hi need I should re– sign , but agreed it was best when I wrote "Re-Thinking the N orthern Baptist Con– vention," and resigned mysel f . Even then they put up with me for a year until I could find another church. They were will– ing to do anything fo r us except leave the convention . As we look back now, we o ften say that the seven and a half years we spent in Iowa were the happiest in our l ives. Next month we will try co tell how we came to the full sepgracisr positio n. We wil l only add now that convinced separat– ists shou ld not try to take a convention church unless they fully explain their po– sition and find they are sick of convent1on- 1sm and want to be led our. To come in under fa lse colors is d ishonest. Once you have found yourself , stay where you be long. There is one thing worse than be– ing a churchless preacher, and ch.at 1s ro pastor the wrong churcl1. The Ohio Independent Baptist Published Monthly by THE OHIO ASSOCIATION OF REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCHES Publi cation Office 15 3 ou th ] efferson, Berne, Ind. Editor RALPH T . NORDLUND 586 Maple Street Fos toria, Ohio Circttlation Manager MRS. JOHN KAU1Z 45 19 Wellington Ave. Parma 34, Ohio Subsc-ription Rate: Per single copy ------------- $ .15 Per Year - - - - --------------$2.00 DEADLINE FOR NEW : 15th of each m onth Advertising Rate: Per column inch ------------ $2.00 Per half page -------------- $27.00 Per full page ------------- $50.00 Second class p ostage paid at Berne, Ind iana. P ostmaster : Please send form 3547 to The Ohio Independent Baptist, 45 19 Wellington Ave., Parma 34, Ohio. COUNCIL AND OFFICER Chair111an Rev. Hall Dautel , 1209 econd t . Portsmouth, Ohio ecretary Rev. Adam A. Galt pencer, Ohio Treas11rer Rev. T . Fred Husse}' 615 W ashington Ave. jles, Ohio i \Ji.rs1011,1r1 .h,,,. Rev Lynn Roger · 785 4 ! . 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