Calvinistic Baptists are all a flutter over this conference at Bob Jones University this December, claiming that it is a kind of “big tent” with “Independent Fundamental Baptists” preaching alongside “Reformed Baptists.”
Yes, this is diversity at BJU: a bunch of separatist white guys standing up and talking at length.
But let’s see who these people are at this “Foundations” Conference:
Steve J. Lawson is pastor of the Texas baptist variety.
Clarence Sexton is from the Sword Baptist variation (also with Texas roots). He started and presides over Crown College in Tennessee.
Joel Beeke represents the diversity in the crowd. He’s from the Dutch Reformed tradition up in Grand Rapids -- a tradition which does practice pedobaptism. Now, BJU was aligned with that crowd before the Billy Graham controversy in 1957. But if you ain’t Dutch...
John Vaughn from Faith Baptist in Taylors. ::yawn::
Todd Friel is a former stand-up comedian. Now he peddles worm theology on TV. He’s a Calvinistic Baptist of the John MacArthur ilk.
Armen Thomassian is the new Ian Paisley addition. So Irish immersers with a faux-Presbyterianism from Greenville. ::yawn::
So Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, California, and Greenville (with a little Irish accent). Baptist, REALLY Baptist, Dutch Reformed, Familiar Baptist, Calvinistic Baptist, and Pseudo-Presbyterian.
This is just a Bible Conference in December.
The whole conference is sponsored by SermonAudio, so nothing new or remarkable here.
