FaithwalkaZ 2012

Welcome to De-Commissioned, a place for former members of the Great Commission movement (aka GCM, GCC, GCAC, GCI, the Blitz) to discuss problems they've experienced in the association's practices and theology.

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[IWishToRemainAnonymous]

Seminars are up.
http://www.faithwalkers-midwest.com/seminars


The Woman behind the Man, A Panel Discussion
This “For Gals Only” seminar will give you sisters an inside view into the “worthy to be imitated” faith and character of the women the Main Session Speaking Pastors are married to: featuring Kathy Darling, Kathy Whitney, Cindy Sokoll, Sue Gerber, Shelli Majeski, Krista Whitney, Mandy Brown, and Mary Knox.  Come and hear the gals share their hearts! They’ll share on what God has been teaching them this past year.

My Spiritual Secrets, Mark Darling
Over the last 37 years following Jesus Christ, God has used some very specific things, that He helped me understand and implement, that have shaped me, transformed me, strengthened me and empowered my life through all the joys and sorrows of my years in ministry. Like Sampson's long hair, they have become the source of my strength and vitality. I would like to pass them onto you.

 

[AgathaL'Orange]

Swerver.  Again.  Ay, man, get some new material!


And the old, if you don't believe in a young earth creation, you really can't understand the Bible OR the gospel, and your salvation is in question.  Sigh.

The Relevance of Creation, Tim Borseth

Some Christians think that the creation - evolution issue is a secondary issue.  That it's really not that important to your relationship with Jesus.  Well, think again!  A lack of clarity on Genesis 1 and 2 or believing the wrong thing about the beginning of the world has significant effects on your confidence in the Scriptures and in the Author of them.  This seminar will spell out what's at stake here and give you reasons to believe God's Word starting with the very first verse.

ARGH!  Our femininity is an evangelistic force?  Are you kidding me? 

The Revelation, Ruination and Redemption of Femininity, Mitch Majeski

Our sexuality has meaning far deeper than reproductive biology or hedonistic experience. God is speaking through our gender. This seminar will examine what God is saying through femininity, how that has been distorted and how it can be redeemed. Biblical femininity is an evangelistic and redemptive force in the world revealing God's grace and displaying peaceful beauty that only trust in God can create.

Men get to reflect God!  While women get to reveal God's grace.  (not reflect God, that's only the men, you silly gals!)

The Revelation, Ruination and Redemption of Masculinity, Mitch Majeski

Our sexuality has meaning far deeper than reproductive biology or hedonistic experience. God is speaking through our gender. This seminar will examine what God is saying through masculinity, how that has been distorted and how it can be redeemed. Masculinity under God's authority gives life and brings good and so reflects God, who perfectly and powerfully does the same.

As sexist and patronizing as that is (And if you know me, you know I'm pretty dang traditional as a lifestyle, although at heart, I lean more towards the egalitarian end of male/female relationships.  In a nutshell, I think men and women should work within their biology... women have a uterus and breasts, therefore a "mother" is an important distinction from a "father", men tend to have more freedom to have a career and it is easier to provide for the family, and it makes sense for them to be the protectors of the nest as the mother nurtures the young.  Those roles aren't hard and fast in my mind, but neither are they to be sneezed at, condescended to, or are they slavelike roles with no hope of change, so that's where I come from)  So, as sexist and patronising as the other messages are, I think this one is the most disturbing of all and highlights the extreme authoritarian control the first GC generation gave to their families and how this next generation (which was raised in the cloistered GC setting) may be far scarier, short sighted, and authoritarian than their pastor/fathers.  What do you think??

I Will Watch Over You, Jeromy Darling

For men, we often consider the burden of leading our family as nothing more than "bringing in the bacon", "being the man", and "making the hard decisions". In reality, it is much much more. If we're to lead and navigate our wives and our children through this life with excellence, it means we must lead in everything: in health, in joy, in communication, in sex, in outreach, in enthusiasm, in style, in grace, in kindness, and in spiritual things. Not as a dictator, not as a robot, but as a loving, tender father, watching over every detail of our families lives.



I'd prefer not to be "navigated" thanks.  Watching over EVERY DETAIL. What a horrific experience as a child or teenager (especially homeschooled, not dissing homeschooling, I homeschool my own kids, but I am very aware that they need to have their own lives as well) that would be.

[Linda]

Between Sovereign Grace and GCC, I am in the process of moving from strong complementarian to egalitarian! Seriously.

We are to make no men our masters and are to imitate Christ. Not pastors or their wives.

There is an important line between loving/caring/providing for someone and controlling someone.

Theologically, evolution is a big deal. (Can't have death before sin.) The age of the Earth. Not so much. There could be millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. (Known as the Gap Theory which my husband says has been replaced with the Old Navy Theory).

[EverAStudent]

Between Sovereign Grace and GCC, I am in the process of moving from strong complementarian to egalitarian! Seriously. We are to make no men our masters and are to imitate Christ. Not pastors or their wives.

If SGM and GC were all the models one had for the complementarian view, I would also abandon it.  LOL  Of course, SGM and GC are not truly complementarian but are virtually institutionalized sexism.  Paul was a true complementarian, and a good role model (consider the enormous spiritual responsibilities he invested deaconess Phoebe with).

Theologically, evolution is a big deal. (Can't have death before sin.) The age of the Earth. Not so much. There could be millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. (Known as the Gap Theory which my husband says has been replaced with the Old Navy Theory).

While I cannot adopt Lewis' attitude of an errant God who had to experiment before finally getting the human creature "right," theistic evolution does not have to be entirely out of the realm theological orthodoxy: http://craigwbooth.xanga.com/755779676/the-theology-of-theistic-evolution/

[Linda]

Don't want to get into the evolution thing on the FaithwalkaZ thread, but what is your source for the Lewis view? I believe his view was becoming more anti-evolution as he aged/got older in his faith.

His "Evolutionary Hymn" of 1954 certainly mocked evolution.

Didn't mean to hijack this thread. Maybe we could move this discussion to the Moribund Equine and toss the topic around a bit more if we want and leave this thread for Faithwalkers.

[TheAtheist]

The Borseth speech is an interesting subtopic, though. Has a similar work been published in Faithwalkers Journal?

[FeministRebel]

Tim Borseth's talk is pretty much the usual talk he likes to gives; an all or nothing kind of talk. He is very inflexible when it comes to believers seeing some of these issues differently than him. His convictions, in his own mind, are like laws or commandments. In fact, he has given talks in the past AND quoted long lists of scientists and scholars as being believers -- to sort of justify that because they were believers, that we ought to also be creationists, somehow. "See, science can coexist with creationism, blah, blah..." I doubt most of those folks were true creationists (many lived in pre-Darwin days) -- and many were quite ambivalent about their faith and only did the 'usual thing' as many folks do today, because it's what was expected of them in the past, by custom and tradition. Newton could have been a believer -- sure -- and he gave us the laws of physics, but heck, he was a believer in alchemy, too... and we don't see Tim Borseth pushing alchemy on everyone. I can't just believe something just because Newton believed it.

He loves non-sequiturs, though. A lot.

In his mind, you must also:

• be a Republican -- or you are not a Christian... And he ALWAYS would tell people in the church how to vote. He would do an entire church sermon on how to vote!! I hope he's not still doing that, because that's against IRS regulations now, and his church could lose tax exemption
• not celebrate Halloween, or believe in Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny... and he'd always sit the college kids down, or during the Rock, and talk about the true 'dark' history of these things, cus they are 'of the devil...' Right -- like we don't get to rewrite history, as we evolve as human beings... Dec 25 was also a pagan holiday, and still is.
• Homeschool your children -- or you're leaving them open to the ways of the world, and you are a poor parent/Christian, who is not making good and early Christian soldiers...
• Not date, or you are someone who is a poor leader -- who will be shunned from positions (even though they will say they don't make anyone not date, or discriminate, etc... That is a lie) -- who just wants to leave yourself open to sin, and rebel
• be a submissive wife -- to the point of a loss of personal identity, or to the point of almost slavery to one's husband, even through personal pain. More than once his wife was heavily pregnant, suffering, and extremely sick, and she had to go put up with his unimportant whims
• Silent, as a woman, on almost any topic. Honest to goodness, I have NO IDEA how he listened to Kirsten Hill when they were both located in Ames, because he's a huge chauvinist and narcissist -- and will readily put you down if you express your view on anything. 'You love to hear yourself talk,' or if you bring up any concerns 'you're a bitter old maid,' or 'you're a trouble maker...' etc...

He loves distorting science, and history... He once claimed anesthesia was discovered because this one scientist got the idea from God removing Adam's rib to make the woman. This is a gross exaggeration and extreme simplification of the history of anesthesia.

The leadership REFUSED to make him a pastor for YEARS. That should tell you something, right there. The first thing he did when they made him pastor was get himself a shirt, and brag constantly about how he was now, finally, a pastor... and had earned it, or whatever. Always acting like people ought to kiss his ring, or something.

I feel poorly for his kids growing up under such awkward circumstances, and parenting. Honestly.

[blonde]

Mark Darling and Brent Knox and the ilk of them (all the speakers at Faithwalkers) are very dangerous to listen to at any stage in your spiritual walk  More of the same thing EVERY YEAR.  Sad that they catch them at the college and high school years. It made my life worse as that is when they caught me in high school.

[Linda]

Rick Whitney seems to be missing from the mix this year. Wonder why? Anyone know?

[AgathaL'Orange]

Brent Knox's talk is up.  Besides being unbelievably boring, I again can't believe how little they use edifying scripture.  Scripture is used as a tool to beat people into oppression.  So foreign to me now.  I love the yearly marker to see how much I have changed since the last Faithwalkers.

[Linda]

I listened to a portion of Jeromy Darling's talk.

While I tend to be more "libertarian" when it comes to allowing citizens the freedom to make their own decisions, and therefore tend to side with those who sell unpasteurized milk when it comes to the right to sell it, I do not think that Jeromy is an expert in the area of microbiology. I would be very cautious about taking his advice just because he is a "house church leader" and encourage those who listened to do their own research in this area. Diseases that can be carried in unpasteurized milk can be very dangerous--especially in young children and pregnant women. He is not an expert in this area.

[margaret]

The age of the Earth. Not so much. There could be millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. (Known as the Gap Theory which my husband says has been replaced with the Old Navy Theory).

hahahah, just saw this Linda!