(RNS) When he first felt called to be a pastor, Tom Ascol thought God was playing a joke on him.
Ascol grew up in a troubled family in a house owned by a Texas church where his dad was a deacon and Sunday school teacher. When the family couldnt pay the rent, a pastor tried to kick them out until a deacon intervened.
The experience left him bitter toward pastors. Complicating his view of church, his dad led what amounted to a double life: one as a respected church leader and another as a drunk and a womanizer and an abuser, Ascol told Baptist Press, the official Southern Baptist news service, in a recent interview.
Were Baptists, and you know, my dad had no business being a church member, much less a deacon and a Sunday school teacher, he said. That created a lot of angst. Not just in me, but in the community.
Once he accepted his own call, Ascol decided he did not want to be an ordinary pastor. Instead, he wanted to do things by the book, the way the Bible said things should be done.
That approach to ministry has stuck with Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, and leading candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The theme of his candidacy can be summed up in four words: We have a book.
But Ascols focus on the Bible has led him to become a vocal critic of the SBC in recent years. Liberalism, critical race theory and women preachers are leading the denomination away from Scripture, he believes. Ascol has long argued that Southern Baptists have been too eager to embrace pragmatic ideas on how to attract people to church and have been too accommodating to the broader culture.
In a recent essay for Founders Ministries, a Florida nonprofit that Ascol heads, he argued that Southern Baptists are embarrassed of the teachings of the Scripture.
His complaints arise from Southern Baptists who have urged the denomination to come to terms with its history, welcoming ideas drawn from academia about racisms pervasiveness in society. Resolution 9, passed at the SBCs 2019 annual meeting, referred to critical race theory and intersectionality as useful analytics tools. Ascol views the resolution as an intolerable distraction from biblical truth.
Brothers and sisters, it should not be this way, he wrote in his Founders Ministries essay. The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword and will not return void. But if we muzzle ourselves out of a misplaced desire to placate the culture, how can we expect the Word to have that effect?
RELATED: Video links Beth Moore, Russell Moore, James Merritt to Trojan horse of social justice
Resolution 9 and Ascols concerns about the liberal drift of the SBC are the subject of a documentary from Founders Ministries called By What Standard, which includes footage from the 2019 SBC meeting. The films trailer begins with Ascol saying, Weve been played.
The film also captures part of a conversation between Ascol and Georgia Baptist pastor Josh Buice, in which they say that asking women to take a role in the church that God did not intend is abusive. Ascol has also argued that churches that have women preach during worship services have no place in the SBC.
Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries. Video screen grab
Much of Ascols support comes from the so-called SBC pirates, a coalition of SBC-related groups that claim the denomination has drifted away from the Bible toward liberalism. Those groups include Founders Ministries, which promotes Calvinist beliefs; a Christian nationalist group called Sovereign Nations founded by a cruise organizer who works closely with atheist hoaxer James Lindsay; and the Conservative Baptist Network, founded by allies of disgraced SBC legend Paige Patterson. Those groups all share concerns about CRT, social justice and conservative politics Ascol himself has done interviews with a series of Trump-friendly podcasts and media outlets in the run-up to the election.
His positions, he says, are driven by a concern about the health of local SBC churches. In an interview last year, Ascol told Religion News Service that pragmatism has resulted in Southern Baptist churches being filled with people who think they are Christians but who really are not. Its an alarm he has been sounding for decades, calling the SBCs membership statistics a sham because so few church members actually show up in church.
RELATED: At Founders event, Southern Baptists urged to choose Bible over paganism, CRT
While Southern Baptist churches claim 13.7 million members, actual attendance at church services both in person and online was closer to 5 million people in 2021. Ascol sees the discrepancy as a sign that Southern Baptists no longer practice regenerate church membership the idea that only true believers who have been born again, been baptized and are active in the church, should be counted as members.
In 2008, he supported a resolution about regenerate church membership passed at the SBC annual meeting that called on churches to maintain accurate membership rolls and to discipline wayward members. Ascol told the Conservative Baptist Network in a recent interview that more work is needed in this area for the SBC to be healthy.
I think if we were to practice regenerate church membership and church discipline more carefully than we have, our churches would look more like what the New Testament calls churches to be, and the message that we preach would be more commended by the way that we live, he said.
If elected, Ascol would be the first SBC president in decades who is not a megachurch pastor: Grace Baptist has 224 members and an average worship attendance of 280 people, according to data from the congregations SBC profile.
He believes in the primacy of the local church in the polity of the SBC: Its a message he stressed at a forum for SBC presidential candidates, saying that churches, rather than the convention, should lead any response to sexual abuse.
It is hard, but its not complicated, he said. And we just need the faith and the humility to look to the Word of God and say, this is what God tells us to do. Were going to do it and were going to leave costs and consequences to him. And I believe if we were to do that, we would find ourselves caring very well, much better than we have in the past.
RELATED: Anti-woke preachers Voddie Baucham and Tom Ascol to be nominated as SBC leaders
Read more from the original source:
- Judge tells atheist father to bring son 'in good order and not upset' to mother for first communion ceremony - Irish Independent - May 3rd, 2024 [May 3rd, 2024]
- Iowa town removes Nativity scene after out-of-town atheist steps in - Yahoo News - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- I'm an atheist, but Israel-Hamas war has pulled me closer to my Jewish roots - USA TODAY - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Universalism and Nonresistant Nonbelief - Word on Fire - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Proof God, Prayer Transforms Public Schools? How Atheists' Antics Could Inadvertently Fuel Spread of the Gospel - Faithwire - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers to run holiday billboard AnneLandmanBlog.com - AnneLandmanBlog.com - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Why this atheist celebrates Christmas - The Spectator Australia - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- Against the Tide: John Lennox and Stephen Meyer - Discovery Institute - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- Higher Ground: Atheists outraged over 'In God We Trust' - Washington Times - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- Atheists rip Utah city for 'In God We Trust' motto, demand removal - Washington Times - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- Can Anyone Give An Actual Argument For Atheism? - The Federalist - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Mori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs - The Conversation - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- 3 Science-Related Arguments for God's Existence - Reasons to Believe - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- God and Nature: What is the difference - The Bubble - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Critiquing Hazony - On Religion and Rationalism - Econlib - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Macbeth Revisited: The Decline & Fall of Friedrich Nietzsche - The Imaginative Conservative - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Occam's Razor: There is a Creator | In Focus | Courier-Herald - Enumclaw Courier-Herald - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- We've officially entered the Miracle Zone - The Oxford Eagle - Oxford Eagle - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Album Review: Muse - Absolution XX Anniversary - Soundsphere magazine - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Atheism's obsession with God: Is it 'cultural theism'? - The Christian Post - August 5th, 2023 [August 5th, 2023]
- McCaul, Smith, Mast Demand Answers From State on Grants ... - House GOP Foreign Affairs Committee - August 5th, 2023 [August 5th, 2023]
- TILL THE DIRT (ATHEIST) Streams New Single "Starring Role" - Metal Injection - August 5th, 2023 [August 5th, 2023]
- Dostoevsky the Prophet - The Imaginative Conservative - August 5th, 2023 [August 5th, 2023]
- 'Sex Really Is Binary': Even Atheist Biologist Richard Dawkins Is ... - CBN.com - August 5th, 2023 [August 5th, 2023]
- Sombreros, baseball caps and new friendships: Vignettes from ... - National Catholic Reporter - August 5th, 2023 [August 5th, 2023]
- Watch: ATHEIST Performs Special 30th-Anniversary Set In San ... - BLABBERMOUTH.NET - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- July 2023 Hard Rock And Metal New Releases - XS ROCK - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Legal abortion widely supported globally, especially in Europe - Pew Research Center - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- United Nations Takes U.K. Bishop's Advice on Persecution - The Living Church - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Part 2The First of the 7 C's of History: Creation - Answers In Genesis - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Stephen Colbert And Elon Musk Had Opposite Views About Life On ... - TheThings - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Hope for living: Anger against Gods word, people has a spiritual ... - Greenfield Daily Reporter - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Whanganui actor Russell Penton enjoying rehearsals for The Lion in ... - New Zealand Herald - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Three Jewish leaders named to US heritage government agency - JNS.org - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- CS Lewis' magnificent journey from atheist to transformational ... - The Christian Post - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Atheism and Dreaming - Psychology Today - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Atheism, spiritual experiences, and ESP | Dan Peterson - Patheos - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Rainn Wilson says our world needs a spiritual revolution - CBC.ca - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Harvard's humanist chaplain speaks on finding meaning and purpose without a religious faith - ABC News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Minnesota humanists take out billboards to spread the secular word - Star Tribune - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Even atheists need the beauty of churches - Daily Mail - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Islamic group PA 212 rejects Coldplay's Jakarta concert over band's ... - Coconuts - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- As I See It: The absence of spirituality - Pine and Lakes Echo Journal - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 47 percent globally say religion does more harm than good in Ipsos ... - Kentucky Today - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Dawkins Test Returns an Answer: Intelligent Design - Discovery Institute - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Advocacy group: Bible must be banned if other books stripped from ... - cnhinews.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Putin gave Orthodox Church famed icon because of its importance ... - Reuters - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Siddaramaiah, the Congress's southern satrap - Deccan Herald - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Kirk Cameron, aka right-wing Raffi, has a new kids' book for Pride ... - Literary Hub - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- I am proud to be a Christian, Sanghis will burn after learning this, says atheist DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin at a Christmas event - OpIndia - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- God Help Me: Surfing Millionaire Shared About Converting From an Atheist to a Believer Back in 2016 - EssentiallySports - December 16th, 2022 [December 16th, 2022]
- Im an atheist, but I fell in love with the spirituality and magic of Quito, Ecuadors capital - Toronto Star - December 16th, 2022 [December 16th, 2022]
- Atheist Doctor Becomes a Believer After Near-Death Experiencer ... - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Atheist Drug Addict Gets Saved While On The Verge Of Suicide, Now Preaches The Gospel On Streets | God TV News - GOD TV - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- FFRF and FACT erect four 'I'm an atheist and I vote' billboards in San Antonio - Freedom From Religion Foundation - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Amber Roses Ideal Man Is An Atheist, And This Is What Social Media Has To Say About It - MadameNoire - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Most Americans believe in heaven or hell, but their ideas aren't always biblical - Baptist News Global - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Do You Need to Believe in God to Convert to Judaism? - Jewish Journal - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Readers reply: when I die which religion will offer the best deal? - The Guardian - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- We Don't Have to Let the Dead Die Twice - Sojourners - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Why the Phillies and Eagles successes might have you feeling happier, even if youre not a fan - The Philadelphia Inquirer - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- A Socratic Response to Revelation - The Imaginative Conservative - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- FFRF: Nationwide cop event this weekend should be secular and inclusive - Freedom From Religion Foundation - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Atheist Keir Starmer avoids reference to God in pledge of loyalty to King Charles III - The Telegraph - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Sunday 11th September 2022 - ConservativeHome - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Former cocaine addict and atheist shares about her powerful conversion - Aleteia - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- How can one explain to an atheist that everyone will eventually enter Paradise? - The Weekly Al Hakam - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Engaging With The Teenage Atheist - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- From Nietzsche to John Lennon: Death and Resurrection of Western Religiosity - Patheos - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- God, the Gipper, and Gorbachev | WORLD - WORLD News Group - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Where is heaven? Ancient believers have answers for modern question - Times Record News - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Five business lessons from Lord Ganesha - Times of India - September 9th, 2022 [September 9th, 2022]
- Stephen Meyer, Charlie Kirk: Return of WHAT God Hypothesis? - Discovery Institute - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Teaching theology to teens? Be open to unexpected answers - U.S. Catholic magazine - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- All humans are believers - Big Think - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- Adam Driver likes what he sees as he gets plump for Venice film - Reuters.com - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- A top neurosurgeon looks to the future as he confronts questions of life and death - The Tablet - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- For anyone with Palestinian roots like me, Netflixs sitcom Mo is groundbreaking TV - The Guardian - September 2nd, 2022 [September 2nd, 2022]
- A Decade After the First Reason Rally, What Happened to Americas Atheist Revolution? - Religion & Politics - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- It Only Takes One Generation - Answers In Genesis - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]