So what am I?

For years, I've considered myself a Southern Baptist. This was due to both chance, as the churches my family and I attended turned out to belong to the Southern Baptist Convention, and conviction, because the Southern Baptists' statement of faith, the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, is as good a statement of belief as any, and better than some.

Unfortunately, it would seem that a good many people in the Convention haven't read it. Especially back in 2003, when it was the only religious body on earth to vote to adopt a resolution support the Iraq War. Since then I've learned more about what Christ taught and how short even an ideal SBC would fall. I don't think I'm a Baptist anymore.

In fact, I'm not sure what I am these days.

Don't misunderstand me. I still believe the SBC is better than most. I believe it's the best of the major denominations in the country. A SBC church licensed me to preach and ordained me both as a deacon and as a pastor. My first pastorate was in a Southern Baptist church. I feel a great attachment to the SBC, and seeing it turn away from Scriptrure is like having a limb ripped off.

I still find Calvinism repugnant, and entanglement in or compromise with this world simply antichristian. The group I most associate with is the Anabaptists, at least as far as I know. (If you don't know what an Anabaptist is, think Amiish, Hutterites, and especially Mennonites. Not necessarily the way they live, but what they believe.) No one follows the Bible perfectly, but they seem like the least imperfect of the bunch.