Dear brother pastors,
This letter is intended to give a short explanation of a long conversation my beloved church has been in for over a year-and-a-half.
First, it is true that the members of Eastside Southern Baptist Church voted unanimously on November 13, in the year of our Lord, 2022, to disfellowship the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the majority voted to disfellowship the Utah/Idaho Southern Baptist Convention (UISBC) as unqualified to trust with our cooperative mission funds. It is not that we have left the SBC, it is that the SBC has left us. Biblical ecclesiology demands we, the local church, protect the witness of Christ to our communities.
For clarity and with respect, this disfellowshipping is with the conventions – not every church or pastor in these conventions. A short explanation follows and follow-up questions are welcome from any with interest.
Backstory: Eastside Baptist Church began as a bible study under the leadership of the late Bob Schreckenburg in his home on Elizabeth Blvd. in Twin Falls, ID, in 1968 as Trinity Baptist Church. Within a few years Trinity Baptist Church relocated to 204 Eastland Drive North on the east end of Twin Falls and took on the name Eastside Southern Baptist Church, locally known as Eastside Baptist Church. Eastside Baptist Church has been pleased to partner with local Baptists in the Magic Valley Baptist Association, the Utah/Idaho Southern Baptist Convention, and the national Southern Baptist Convention. We consider this historic relationship a rich part of our global mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth to every tribe, tongue, and nation. This local church has invested in and participated at every level possible with Southern Baptists to this end with joy.
However; since 2015, we have noticed evidence of concerns with agencies funded by the Cooperative Program, or related to the SBC.
- There has been a growing lack of accountability within the restructuring of LifeWay Christian Resources (of which we have not trusted since approximately 2010).
- The Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission under the recent and current leadership.
- The public push back against abolishing abortion and unwillingness to call upon the nation for equal protection for pre-born children in the nation.
- The North American Mission Board under current leadership. NAMB is at best compromised by the growing trend of partnerships with churches that have women pastors and the recent HeGetsUs.com campaign.
- The Executive Committee of the SBC hiring of GuidePost to investigate and counsel on how to handle sex abuse cases.
- Not to mention the problematic relationships with drifting views of woke ideologies and Critical Theory (Critical Race Theory) in some seminaries, as evidenced in recent SBC presidents since 2018 (such as the new www.theunifyproject.org). We have experienced an unwillingness to address the growing practice of churches in the SBC with women in pastoral roles and churches with staff members in unrepented LGBTQ+ lifestyles (even if only a few) being seated as messengers at Southern Baptist Convention meetings.
We are told these things are not happening. You were told these things are not happening at the recent UISBC annual meeting. Where there is room for disagreement amongst Baptists, these issues are related to areas of risky practices and sinfulness within the scope of partnerships. This local church (Eastside Baptist Church) is responsible and accountable to the Lord Jesus the Christ first and last. I am profoundly convinced that the North American Mission Board and the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission are compromised with overwhelming pragmatism and have forgotten their duties to serve the local church, the bride of Christ.
We have attempted to gain as much understanding as possible at every level from our beloved kinsmen in the faith. Inquiries have been welcomed by some, yet met with resistance, nuanced explanations, and at times complete denial that these matters even exist. We have attempted in-person, face-to-face conversations with as many as possible. Where some have been willing – most have refused, declined, or not even responded. Some conversations have been helpful and received with respect. Others have been rude and even urging that Eastside would be happiest the sooner we leave.
We have communicated directly with UISBC staff and officers (primarily with staff) through these past several years. In the 21 years of pastoring Eastside Baptist Church, I have only missed four annual meetings due to unavoidable circumstances. This last one was because we could not be seated as messengers because Eastside has not given to the Cooperative Program since August of 2020 for the above-mentioned reasons. I take no issue with this reason. I actually respect our partnership and agree with our governing documents that don’t allow for churches that don’t give to the Cooperative Program to be seated. That decision was received with respect and full understanding even though the UISBC has not practiced this in past convention meetings. It is true, we have not given to the Cooperative Program since August of 2020, on purpose, while hoping to get clarification on the above concerns this local church had and still has with the SBC (primarily the agencies, agency presidents, or partners with the SBC as mentioned above). We have left intact our relationship with the Magic Valley Baptist Association so long as they will allow. We have left intact a willingness to cooperate with any church in the SBC and the UISBC. We have even left intact a willingness and a joy to cooperate with any SBC or UISBC agencies, agency presidents, and SBC efforts with an unadulterated or uncompromised relationship with the world.
Having said that: We urge our kinsmen in the faith to investigate these issues personally. Like days past, it is a most desirable conclusion of this church that the SBC will resist the climate of the wicked day. The intention of what we have done is with hope to see repentance of the wayward trajectory of the SBC in this current day while honoring the Creator of heaven and earth.
I wish to give an appeal to any pastor or church who wants to discuss our course of action and give hardy encouragement of the same. It may have happened unintentionally, but we are now in a day where the SBC has become a business enterprise rather than a cooperating clearing house of mission money and missionary sending partnerships of the Lord’s church.
Be encouraged to speak out with boldness, brother pastor. Remember, the SBC does not drive the mission of the church. Your pulpit is what God has ordained to shape the culture. The SBC will be held accountable and even judged for this, but the local church will bear the blame if we do not resist the world. The pulpit and the man in the pulpit must not be told by agencies or agency presidents what they must do or how best to reach the unconverted. We do indeed have a book, brothers, and it is sufficient. What does light have to do with darkness? Light’s relationship to darkness is to expose it because darkness cannot overcome light. Ever. It is a great day to be the church.
With joy in the Lord,
Paul Thompson
Eastside Baptist Church
Twin Falls, ID
