So That Explains It

Yesterday, I posted a little of Sunday’s Googling, showing the crazy variations of searches with Johnny Hunt (btw, I can't imagine how much traffic Tom Ascol, Alan Kurschner, and Nathan White are getting). My curiosity and hunch was that something was up, and indeed there was (and the Googling has not ceased either). I have been informed that this past Sunday night, Hunt, in the words of one who was there, “went off” on bloggers. I don’t want to comment any more than this until I see the transcript or listen to the message (which I hope to do soon). But I do find this peculiar for a couple of reasons.

First, if there ever was a time where the waters of the blogosphere were calm, it is now. More of the seasoned bloggers have taken a hiatus, and others are writing about issues less controversial than the inevitable stuff happening in the SBC. Not only is it calm, you could say that it is even in a lull. I believe the whole alcohol issue really turned a lot of them off, as the world watched how the SBC conducts itself. Second, while there have been several opportunities to address some of the things Hunt has recently done (his preaching at Woodstock’s youth camp about Calvinism, his Wednesday night message in July, and most recently his ties with the Steve Flockhart situation), very few if any blogger has decided to write anything about all this. Sure, Hunt has left us with many stuff to debate and even debunk, but it simply has not happened, at least not among the more prominent baptist bloggers. Now as to why Hunt has chosen to speak publicly about bloggers, I don’t want to speculate, but looking back on the events of the past year, I have several thoughts which, at this point, will remain just that—my thoughts. As far P&P goes, I have not mentioned Johnny Hunt in the last 300 posts I have written and have not planned to write about him in the future, as what he does at Woodstock and teaches from his pulpit at this point does not interest me. Even our team at Strange BaptistFire has refrained from addressing the errors and mischaracterizations that have come from Hunt.

But I do realize that many new visitors coming to P&P for the first time are from GA and particularly from First Baptist Woodstock. So if you allow me, let me say a few words to our new friends at P&P. First, you are welcome here as well as your thoughts. Second, yes I am an evangelical Calvinist and don’t apologize for that. However, that comes with a qualification. I most likely am not a Calvinist according to Johnny Hunt and certainly not a hyper-Calvinist. Therefore, let me encourage you to get in conversation with actual Calvinists and actually attempt to understand them. This is one reason why I wrote a little bit on “What Is a True Calvinist?” Here are some of the posts thus far:

“What Is a True Calvinist?” Part One “What Is a True Calvinist?” Part Two: God-centered Mind and Penitent Spirit “What Is a True Calvinist?” Part Three: Grateful Heart and Submissive Will “What Is a True Calvinist?” Part Four: Holy Life and Glorious Ambition

I have two more upcoming (part five and six) which will deal with missions and evangelism and conclude with my reflections. I hope they will be of some benefit to you. Finally, let me say that I am sorry to disappoint you if you were coming here looking for some bombastic blogging. If you look at what I have written for the past six months, you will find that I write on a whole host of issues, not just Calvinism or the SBC. And as far as Johnny Hunt is concerned, my posts on him are two in a total of 755 posts I have written thus far, coming to a total of 0.002%. I think the other 99.99% is not bad, so I encourage you to check them out if you are interested. Most recently, I shared some of my reflections on Christianity Today’s article called “The Young, Restless, and Reformed.”

Anyway, let me just give my formal welcome to you who are from First Baptist Woodstock. It’s nice to meet you, and stick around—you might actually like it.

P.S. If you a comin' to pick a fight, know that I am a bald-headed Middle Eastener who looks like the president of Iran when I have hair . . . and Mikey Law is my homeboy.