Why the Rejection of the Nashville Statement on Sexuality is a Rejection of the Bible
For Bible-believing Christians, what is there to disagree with?
iStockphotoThe Nashville Statement covers the most basic of the basics, reaffirming what the Church (and Synagogue) have believed about marriage and sexuality for two millennia
THE STREAM
If a group of astronomers issued a major document stating that the earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth, it would be greeted with a shrug of the shoulders. Who didn’t know that? Why, then, has a recent statement by Christian leaders affirming the basics of biblical sexuality been greeted with such protest from other professing Christian leaders? It is because these other “Christian” leaders have rejected the authority of the Word of God.
For those who haven’t read the Nashville Statement, the Babylon Bee, a Christian satirical website, actually sums things up well, and with some well-placed sarcasm:
It says some really controversial stuff for Bible-believing Christians, like that God made Adam and Eve as (trigger warning) male and female, that marriage was created by God to be the union between one man and one woman, that He loves people with gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction even if He doesn’t approve of all of their actions, and that He offers His grace and mercy to sinners of all stripes.
Yes, just the most basic of the basics, reaffirming what the Church (and Synagogue) have believed about marriage and sexuality for two millennia and offering grace and mercy to all. That’s why, when I was asked to be one of the initial signatories, I signed on without hesitation. What was there to disagree with?
LGBT Activists Attack the Nashville Statement
Yet in response to the Nashville Statement a headline on the Huffington Post declared, “Hundreds Of Christian Leaders Denounce Anti-LGBTQ ‘Nashville Statement.’” The Post called the statement “divisive and bizarrely-timed.” It noted that it “drew harsh criticism from many other Christians, members of the LGBTQ community and even the mayor of Nashville.”
Need I tell you that this article was penned by Antonia Blumberg for the Post’s “Queer Voices” section?
Of course LGBT activists and their allies will condemn a statement that reaffirms God’s standards for marriage and sexuality. Why should that occasion surprise?
Likewise, a September 1 op-ed piece in the New York Times stated:
This week, an influential group of evangelical Christians publicly doubled down on intolerance in a message about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that represents a renewed commitment to open bigotry.
Yes, “The Nashville Statement’s harm is more than symbolic. The hateful beliefs it endorses have real-life, devastating consequences.”
And who is the author of this article? Eliel Cruz, a self-described “leading bisexual activist.”
Are you seeing a pattern here?
The ‘Problem’ is With the Bible, Not the Statement
The problem is not with the Nashville Statement. It is with the Bible, since the statement only reaffirms what the Bible clearly teaches. Namely that: 1) God made humans male and female; 2) marriage, as intended by God, is the lifelong union of a man and a woman; 3) homosexual practice is always sinful in God’s sight; 4) God offers forgiveness for all human beings through the cross of Jesus; and 5) those who struggle with same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion can be welcomed into the Body of Christ like any other struggling individual, as long as they do not celebrate or affirm that which is wrong.
And that’s why a counter-statement, called the Nazareth Statement, issued by LGBT “Christian” leaders and their allies, affirms all the talking points of LGBT activism, including:
- That “our wide spectrum of unique sexualities and gender identities is a perfect reflection of the magnitude of God’s creative work” and that is wrong to limit God’s creative intent “to a gender binary or that God’s desire for human romantic relationships is only to be expressed in heterosexual relationships between one man and one woman.”
- That it is wrong to argue that “God intended human romantic relationships to be limited to one man and one woman.”
- That is unhealthy to force “individuals to embrace a gender identity that matches the cultural assumptions based on their biology.”
- That one cannot judge Christian orthodoxy based on views about homosexuality but that is not Christlike to hold to traditional Christian teaching on homosexuality or to refuse “to openly dialogue with LGBT+ people.”
Talk about turning the Bible upside down!
According to this counter-statement, gender is what you perceive it to be. Your biology doesn’t determine your gender. Men can have God-blessed sex with men and women can have God-blessed sex with women, provided it is “covenantal.” And it is unchristian to uphold Christian standards of marriage and sexuality.
That’s why I say that people who have a problem with the Nashville Statement have a problem with God and His Word. It’s that simple.
What’s Trump Got to Do With It?
There is, however, one more angle to discuss, and that is the connection to Donald Trump.
You might ask, “What in the world does President Trump have to do with this statement on sexuality?”
It appears that some Christian leaders are upset with the statement because some of the signers endorsed Trump or serve on his advisory faith council, as if this somehow disqualifies a biblical statement from being biblical. What kind of logic is this? And what of the fact that other signers were strong Trump critics? And what of signers like Rosaria Butterfield and Christopher Yuan, both of whom came out of homosexual practice and are compassionate gospel witnesses with a non-political message of reconciliation?
A misleading headline in the Washington Post reads, “Why even conservative evangelicals are unhappy with the anti-LGBT Nashville Statement.”
The Nashville Statement should be affirmed by all those who love Jesus, love the Bible, and love the LGBT community.
Yes, “‘Had white evangelicals leaders … withheld support for Mr. Trump after the infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tapes, maybe their opposition to same-sex marriage would be viewed … as a principled, rather than a bigoted, position,’ said Skye Jethani, a prominent Chicago-area pastor and author.”
With all respect to Rev. Jethani, virtually every evangelical leader I know expressed disgust with those tapes. Some of those leaders spoke directly to candidate Trump about them (and in strong terms). And all agreed that this was an ugly part of his past that he himself regretted.
And does Rev. Jethani really believe that liberal Christians, LGBT activists, and the secular media would have greeted our statement on biblical sexuality any differently today if none of us had voted for Trump? Does he really think that we were not already mocked and vilified for the principled, biblical stand we had taken for many years prior to this?
Love and Truth Go Hand in Hand
The Babylon Bee asks the question, “Who has signed the Nashville Statement?” The answer?
A whole mob of fringe, hate-filled bigots with zero credibility, such as John Piper, J.I. Packer, Mark Dever, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Russell Moore, Francis Chan, and Matt Chandler. Just look at that list of theological lightweights — couldn’t they at least have gotten some people who’ve proven themselves as faithful witnesses of Christ?
In contrast, the Washington Post quoted from almost no nationally recognized conservative evangelical voices, despite its bold headline.
The Bee also notes, with full sarcasm:
That those supporting the Nashville Statement are not doing so because they believe the Word of God, but because they are homophobic, neo-nazi white supremacists who worship Donald Trump — which makes sense, as long as you don’t think about it for longer than about three seconds.
Precisely so.
I’m all for dialogue with professing LGBT Christians. I have often apologized for the church’s past failures in our treatment of those who identify as LGBT. And I constantly preach on the need for a baptism of love for those who identify as LGBT.
But love and truth go hand in hand. Which is why the Nashville Statement should be affirmed by all those who love Jesus, love the Bible, and love the LGBT community.
On the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling to legalize same-sex marriage, Gallup polled how many LGBT couples are married today. The results: gay marriage is up 33% in the past year.
NASHVILLE —A coalition of conservative evangelical leaders laid out their beliefs on human sexuality, including opposition to same-sex marriage and fluid gender identity, in a new doctrinal statement.
It’s called the Nashville Statement and the national coalition says it’s their response to an increasingly post-Christian, Western culture that thinks it can change God’s design for humans.
Since it was released Tuesday morning, the Nashville Statement has received both praise for its clarity and has been denounced as harmful to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
More: More than 150 evangelical religious leaders sign ‘Christian manifesto’ on human sexuality
In recent years, attitudes toward those who identify as LGBT have shifted dramatically in the U.S. The Pew Research Center says the majority of Americans think society should accept homosexuality. A 2013 survey reported that 92% of LGBT adults said society accepted them more in this decade than they had in the previous one.
Here’s what we know about the Nashville Statement:
What does it say?
The Nashville Statement lists 14 beliefs, which are referred to as articles. Each of the articles includes a statement of affirmation as well as a denial. They’re not new. But they cover a range of topics from a prohibition on sex outside of marriage to the connection between biological sex and gender identity.
Here’s what article 10 says:
“WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.
“WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.”
You can read all 14 and the rest of the statement at the bottom of this article.
Who put it together?
The Nashville Statement is the work of the The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. The Louisville, Ky.-based group was formed in 1987.
The council’s website says it has helped several religious groups, including the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, promote “gospel-driven gender roles.”
How did the Nashville Statement get its name?
It’s named after Nashville because a coalition of scholars, pastors and other leaders finalized a draft of the statement in Nashville, said Denny Burk, president of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, in an email.
The group met last week at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center during the annual conference for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The public policy arm of the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. hosted the coalition during their conference, which focused on parenting.
“There is a long Christian tradition of naming doctrinal statements after the places where they were drawn up: Council of Nicaea (325), Council of Constantinople (381), Council of Chalcedon (451), etc.,” Burk said.
There’s more recent examples too, including The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood’s founding document.
Who signed the statement?
More than 150 conservative evangelicals from across the country are listed as initial signatories.
Among the signers who have been involved in national politics: James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in the District of Columbia.
Dobson and four others — Senior Pastor Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church, which has four campuses in northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri; Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; President Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, N.C.; televangelist James Robison, founder of Fort Worth-based Life Outreach International — also are members of President Trump’s evangelical advisory board.
Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention signed on, too: Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and Steve Gaines, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.
Who doesn’t like it?
The mayor of Nashville for one.
Mayor Megan Barry, who as a Metro councilwoman officiated some of the city’s first same-sex marriages when they became legal in Tennessee, took issue with the statement’s moniker. She called it “poorly named” in a Tuesday morning Tweet and said it “does not represent the inclusive values of the city (and) people of Nashville.”
Lauren Mesnard and Nikki von Haeger are the first same-sex couple to get married in Davidson County, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case to overturn bans on the marriages across the nation on Friday June 26, 2015. Sam Simpkins / The Tennessean
Several other Nashvillians echoed the mayor’s thoughts.
It’s received opposition from across the country, including from Christian and religious leaders.
What do the signers have to say in response?
Prominent conservative author David French took issue with Barry’s statement in his Wednesday column for the National Review.
French, who lives in Maury County and signed the Nashville Statement, argued that Barry’s comments are a declaration of the state against the church, not merely an argument for the separation of church and state. He also points out that Barry is speaking against what some of the people in her city believe.
“Megan Barry is expected to have a position on civil rights and civil liberties, but that’s a far cry from stating that Biblical orthodoxy is incompatible with the ‘inclusive values’ of a city that’s located in the heart of the Bible Belt,” French writes.
Follow Holly Meyer on Twitter: @HollyAMeyer
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THE NASHVILLE STATEMENT
“Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves…” -Psalm 100:3
Preamble
Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being. By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life. Many deny that God created human beings for his glory, and that his good purposes for us include our personal and physical design as male and female. It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferences. The pathway to full and lasting joy through God’s good design for his creatures is thus replaced by the path of shortsighted alternatives that, sooner or later, ruin human life and dishonor God.
This secular spirit of our age presents a great challenge to the Christian church. Will the church of the Lord Jesus Christ lose her biblical conviction, clarity, and courage, and blend into the spirit of the age? Or will she hold fast to the word of life, draw courage from Jesus, and unashamedly proclaim his way as the way of life? Will she maintain her clear, counter-cultural witness to a world that seems bent on ruin?
We are persuaded that faithfulness in our generation means declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it—particularly as male and female. Christian Scripture teaches that there is but one God who alone is Creator and Lord of all. To him alone, every person owes glad- hearted thanksgiving, heart-felt praise, and total allegiance. This is the path not only of glorifying God, but of knowing ourselves. To forget our Creator is to forget who we are, for he made us for himself. And we cannot know ourselves truly without truly knowing him who made us. We did not make ourselves. We are not our own. Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be.
We believe that God’s design for his creation and his way of salvation serve to bring him the greatest glory and bring us the greatest good. God’s good plan provides us with the greatest freedom. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it in overflowing measure. He is for us and not against us. Therefore, in the hope of serving Christ’s church and witnessing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture, we offer the following affirmations and denials.
Article 1
WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.
WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.
Article 2
WE AFFIRM that God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.
WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.
Article 3
WE AFFIRM that God created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, in his own image, equal before God as persons, and distinct as male and female.
WE DENY that the divinely ordained differences between male and female render them unequal in dignity or worth.
Article 4
WE AFFIRM that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing.
WE DENY that such differences are a result of the Fall or are a tragedy to be overcome.
Article 5
WE AFFIRM that the differences between male and female reproductive structures are integral to God’s design for self-conception as male or female.
WE DENY that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God-appointed link between biological sex and self-conception as male or female.
Article 6
WE AFFIRM that those born with a physical disorder of sex development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image-bearers. They are acknowledged by our Lord Jesus in his words about “eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb.” With all others they are welcome as faithful followers of Jesus Christ and should embrace their biological sex insofar as it may be known.
WE DENY that ambiguities related to a person’s biological sex render one incapable of living a fruitful life in joyful obedience to Christ.
Article 7
WE AFFIRM that self-conception as male or female should be defined by God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption as revealed in Scripture.
WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption.
Article 8
WE AFFIRM that people who experience sexual attraction for the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ, as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life.
WE DENY that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation, or that it puts a person outside the hope of the gospel.
Article 9
WE AFFIRM that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and toward sexual immorality— a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality.
WE DENY that an enduring pattern of desire for sexual immorality justifies sexually immoral behavior.
Article 10
WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.
WE DENY that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.
Article 11
WE AFFIRM our duty to speak the truth in love at all times, including when we speak to or about one another as male or female.
WE DENY any obligation to speak in such ways that dishonor God’s design of his image- bearers as male and female.
Article 12
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin.
Article 13
WE AFFIRM that the grace of God in Christ enables sinners to forsake transgender self- conceptions and by divine forbearance to accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female.
WE DENY that the grace of God in Christ sanctions self-conceptions that are at odds with God’s revealed will.
Article 14
WE AFFIRM that Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and that through Christ’s death and resurrection forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Savior, Lord, and supreme treasure.
WE DENY that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach.
Denny Burk
President, Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Russell Moore
President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
John MacArthur
Pastor, Grace Community Church President, The Master’s Seminary and College
Rosaria Butterfield
Author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert
Ligon Duncan
Chancellor & CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary
H. B. Charles, Jr.
Pastor, Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church
Frank Page
President & CEO, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Former SBC President
Kevin DeYoung
Senior Pastor, Christ Covenant Church
Jerry A. Johnson
President & CEO, National Religious Broadcasters
Karen Swallow Prior
Professor of English, Liberty University
James MacDonald
Founder and Senior Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel
Former SBC President
John Piper
Founder & Teacher, Desiring God Chancellor, Bethlehem Seminary and College
J. I. Packer
Professor of Theology, Regent College
Tony Perkins
President, Family Research Council
Sam Allberry
Speaker & Apologist, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries
Francis Chan
Author & Pastor, We Are Church
Steve Gaines
President, The Southern Baptist Convention
Pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church
Christopher Yuan
Speaker & Author, Moody Bible Institute
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Author & Speaker, Revive Our Hearts
Alistair Begg
Reverend, Parkside Church
Mark Dever
Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church
Matt Chandler
Pastor, The Village Church
James Merritt
Pastor, Cross Pointe Church
James Dobson
Founder, Focus on the Family
Wayne Grudem
Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary
D. A. Carson
Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
R. C. Sproul
Founder & Chairman, Ligonier Ministries
Marvin Olasky
Editor in Chief, World Magazine
Andrew T. Walker
Director of Policy Studies, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Dennis Rainey
Founder & Former President, FamilyLife
Daniel L. Akin
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Heath Lambert
Executive Director, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors
Randy Alcorn
Director, Eternal Perspectives Ministries
Fred Luter
Senior Pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
Former SBC President
Jack Graham
Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church
Initial Signatories
Institutional affiliation for identification purposes only
J. D. Greear
Pastor, The Summit Church
Bryant Wright
Senior Pastor, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church
Former SBC President
Johnny Hunt
Pastor, FBC Woodstock Former SBC President
Mark L. Bailey
President & Senior Professor of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary
David French
Senior Writer, National Review
Jeff Iorg
President, Gateway Seminary
Robert A. J. Gagnon
Scholar and Author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice
C. J. Mahaney
Senior Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville
Chuck Kelley
President, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Alastair Roberts
Scholar & Author of Heirs Together: A Theology of the Sexes
O. S. Hawkins
President, GuideStone SBC
Todd Wagner
Pastor, Watermark Community Church
Darryl Delhousaye
President, Phoenix Seminary
Don Sweeting
President, Colorado Christian University
Jason K. Allen
President, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
K. Erik Thoennes
Professor and Chair of Theology, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Paige Patterson
President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Sam Storms
Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bridgeway Church
Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver
President, Union University
Jason G. Duesing
Provost, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary & College
Burk Parsons
Copastor, St. Andrew’s Chapel
Kevin Ezell
President, North American Mission Board
Thom S. Rainer
President & CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources
John M. Frame
Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary
Thomas White
President, Cedarville University
Jeff Purswell
Director of Theology, Sovereign Grace Churches
Erick-Woods Erickson
Editor in Chief, The Resurgent
Vaughan Roberts
Rector of St. Ebbe’s Church (UK)
R. Kent Hughes
Visiting Professor of Practical Theology, Evangelism and Culture, Westminster Theological Seminary
Richard Land
President, Southern Evangelical Seminary
Ronnie Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church Former President, Southern Baptist Convention
Matt Carter
Pastor of Preaching and Vision, The Austin Stone Church
Eric Teetsel
President, Family Policy Alliance of Kansas
Ray Ortlund
Pastor, Immanuel Church
Michael Reeves
President and Professor of Theology, Union School of Theology (UK)
Randy Stinson
Senior VP for Academic Administration and Provost, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Thomas Schreiner
Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Bruce Ware
Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Afshin Ziafat
Lead Pastor, Providence Church
Owen Strachan
Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Bryan Carter
Senior Pastor, Concord Church
Candi Finch
Assistant Professor of Theology in Women’s Studies, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
James Robison
Founder & President, LIFE Outreach International
Founder & Publisher, The Stream
David Mathis
Executive Editor, Desiring God
Hershael W. York
Professor of Christian Preaching, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dorothy Kelley Patterson
Professor of Theology in Women’s Studies, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Jack Deere
Author and Speaker, Grace Church
Jonathan Leeman
Editorial Director, 9Marks
H. Wayne House
Academic Dean and Distinguished Research Professor, Faith International University
Michael Goeke
Associate Pastor, FBC San Francisco
Stephen Strang
Founder & CEO, Charisma Media
Anthony Kidd
Pastor of Preaching, Community of Faith Bible Church
Chris Larson
President & CEO, Ligonier Ministries
Curtis Woods
Associate Executive Director, Kentucky Baptist Convention
C. Ben Mitchell
Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University
Ken Magnuson
Professor of Christian Ethics, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Mary Mohler
Director, Seminary Wives Institute
Jim Shaddix
Professor of Expository Preaching, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Juan R. Sanchez
Senior Pastor, High Pointe Baptist Church
Mary A. Kassian
Author, Director, Girls Gone Wise
J. P. Moreland
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Joel Belz
Founder, World Magazine, World News Group
Christiana Holcomb
Legal Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
James M. Hamilton, Jr.
Professor of Biblical Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Bruce Riley Ashford
Provost and Professor of Theology & Culture, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Nathan Finn
Dean, School of Theology and Missions, Union University
Darrell Bock
Senior Professor, Dallas Theological Seminary
Daniel Heimbach
Senior Professor of Christian Ethics, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Hunter Baker
Associate Professor, Union University
John N. Oswalt
Visiting Distinguished Professor of Old Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary
Malcolm B. Yarnell III
Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Mark Daniel Liederbach
Professor & Vice President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Matthew J. Hall
Dean of Boyce College & Senior VP of Academic Innovation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Paul Weber
President & CEO, Family Policy Alliance
Russell Shubin
Director, Salem Media Group
Charlotte Akin
Homemaker, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
E. Calvin Beisner
Founder & National Spokesman, Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation
James A. Borland
Professor of New Testament
& Theology, Liberty University
Jose Abella
Lead Pastor, Providence Road Church
Joy White
Homemaker & Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, Cedarville University
Rhyne R. Putman
Associate Professor of Theology and Culture, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Peter Jones
Executive Director, TruthXchange
Jeff Struecker
Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
Micah Fries
Senior Pastor, Brainerd Baptist Church
Bob Lepine
Vice President of Content, FamilyLife
Allan Coppedge
Retired Professor of Theology, Asbury Theological Seminary
Don Buckley
Physician, Spanish Trail Family Physicians
Donald A. Balasa
Adjunct Faculty, Trinity International University
Eric C. Redmond
Assistant Professor of Bible, Moody Bible Institute
Phillip Bethancourt
Executive Vice President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Gregory Wills
Dean, School of Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Barry Joslin
Professor of Christian Theology, Boyce College
Bryan Baise
Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Apologetics, Boyce College
Rebecca Jones
Volunteer, truthXchange
Nathan Lino
Senior Pastor, Northeast Houston Baptist Church
Casey B. Hough
Senior Pastor, FBC Camden
Daniel DeWitt
Director of the Center for Biblical Apologetics & Public Christianity, Cedarville University
David Schrock
Pastor for Preaching and Theology, Occoquan Bible Church
Donna Thoennes
Adjunct Professor and homeschool mom, Biola University
Grant Castleberry
Pastor of Discipleship, Providence Church
Adam Greenway
Dean, Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, & Ministry, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Katie McCoy
Assistant Professor of Theology in Women’s Studies, Scarborough College
Rhonda Kelley
President’s Wife, Adjunct Faculty, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Kenneth Keathley
Senior Professor of Theology, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Evan Lenow
Associate Professor of Ethics, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Daniel Patterson
Vice President for Operations and Chief of Staff, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Sean Perron
Chief of Staff, The Association of Certified Biblical Counselors
Jeffrey Riley
Professor of Ethics, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Colby Adams
Director of Communications, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
David Talley
Professor of Old Testament, Biola University
Michael L. Brown
President, FIRE School of Ministry
Dannah Gresh
Co-founder, Pure Freedom
Paul Felix
President, Los Angeles Bible Training School
Travis Wussow
VP for Public Policy, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Keith Whitfield
Assistant Professor & Dean, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Matt Damico
Associate Pastor of Worship, Kenwood Baptist Church
Colin Smothers
Executive Director, Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP 