Episode 172: Courageous Leadership in Times of Reformation - Jason Ruis

"But by the late 1970s, it was clear that grassroots Southern Baptists were no longer willing to maintain the peace. The greatest heroes and heroines of the SBC’s reformation are insurance salesman and public school teachers and others who came to our conventions and gave up days of work and family vacations to vote for conservative candidates who would preserve the truth. John Shelton Reed, an Anglican historian, once came to speak at Southern Seminary about the reformation in the SBC. He observed that, to an outsider, it looked like a pitchfork rebellion. It wasn’t elites making the decisions; it was peasants with pitchforks who made the difference." -Al Mohler

Transcript of this Episode

As I was preparing for this conference, I was reminded of a story from the Old Testament. Isaiah is given a word from the Lord for King Hezekiah. Isaiah tells him this grave message, “Hear the word of the LORD: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (2 Kings 20:16–19, ESV). That's pretty harsh. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. Nothing. Everything will be carried away to a foreign land and your sons will be eunuchs for the King of Babylon. Harsh.

Now, how do you think Hezekiah responded to this message? Here's his response: “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?” (2 Kings 20:16–19, ESV). As long as there is peace and security in his day, then he's good. That's all he's concerned about. He doesn't care that everything his family owns will be taken. He doesn't care that his house will be destroyed. He doesn't care that his children will be mutilated and enslaved. As long as there's peace and security in his day, he's good. This is not courageous leadership.

Courageous leadership is not satisfied with peace and security in our day but is willing to fight in our day so that there may be peace and security someday in the future. This is the problem we're seeing throughout the CRCNA today. Many people are acting as if they are Hezekiah: As long as there's peace and security in our denomination right now, we're good. It doesn't matter if things are going to be destroyed for the next generation. It doesn't matter if there will be nothing left for our children. All they want is peace and security right now. This is not courageous leadership. Rather, it's a dereliction of duty.

Here's the cold, hard truth: There IS NO PEACE AND SECURITY! People are crying out "peace, peace" when there is no peace. It's because of this short-sighted vision, seeking peace and security now with no ultimate vision for the future, that we have no peace.

We're in a very fragile, tumultuous time as a denomination and that's the reality. There are clear divisions. There are clear doctrinal differences. There are clear strategic differences. Ultimately, there's a clear difference of vision for the denomination. As many have said on the podcast over the last few years: We no longer know who we are as a denomination and we're fighting over that identity right now. There is no peace.

This is why it's so important for us to talk about courageous leadership right now. On the one hand, I believe we've gotten into this mess as a denomination because we've lacked courageous leadership throughout our denomination. And I'm not just talking about courageous leadership from denominational employees. I'm also talking courageous leadership in the pulpit. I'm encountered many pastors in the CRCNA who regularly preach from a place of fear, worried about people may say, always trying to soften things or nuance things. And because our pastors in our churches have lacked courage, the leadership of the denomination has also lacked courage. When courage is lacking, things always slide in an unhelpful direction.

The only solution in our current situation is to raise up courageous leaders. There can be no reformation without courageous leadership. Without courageous leadership you will be stuck with the status quo at best, and slowly drifting into decline at worst. Reformation requires courageous leaders.

Reformation requires courageous leaders because reformations are always messy. There are two aspects to messy reformations. One the one hand, there's turmoil and strife and fighting and name-calling and political maneuvering and threats. It's tough stuff that will make you question why you got into this work in the first place. However, mixed in with aggression there's also apathy and lethargy seeping throughout the denomination. Some pastors feel beaten up because of the battle, other pastors feel like they are being suffocated under the wet blanket of apathy. Things have gotten to the point where there needs to be a shock to the system. Kinda like someone who's heart has stopped beating. It needs high voltage electricity to bring it back to life. This kind of thing doesn't happen with apathetic leaders. It doesn't happen with leaders who are only focused on peace in their time. It can ONLY happen when leaders in churches find courage and begin to lead with courage in their churches, in their classis, and in their denomination.

I've read and studied quite a bit about the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. Things were really rough in the denomination, the college, and the seminary. The only way reformation could happen was for courageous leaders to rise up and get to work. I've heard Al Mohler tell stories about some of the pain and attacks he experienced while leading the reformation in the seminary. If I remember right, there were constant protests on the campus, students holding sit-ins in the administrative offices, people holding candlelight vigils all night outside his home. In an interview he said, "It was indeed a very difficult time. The controversy and the conflict were, in human terms, almost unbearable, but it was clear to those who love biblical truth that it would be far better for the institution to die than for it to continue in the direction that it had been headed for several decades. Those of us who undertook this task understood it was a great risk, but we also understood that it simply had to be done." Don't miss that point: the conflict and the controversy were almost unbearable but we did it because we loved biblical truth and it had to be done. This is courageous leadership.

I wanna share some insights from Al Mohler on what it took for reformation to happen in the SBC. Now, everything I'm about to say is going to assume the sovereignty and providence or God. I want to make sure you all understand that. Apart from God, we can do nothing and will accomplish nothing. Apart form God, we would have no courage and would be like vapor. So, don't miss that point. However, there are things we can learn from those who've exhibited courageous leadership in the past. As I read through some of Al Mohler's insights, I continually found myself saying, "In order to do that, we must have courageous leaders."

Reformation requires courageous leaders because reformation requires great effort and conviction. Al Mohler says, "Those who led the reformation in the SBC had to put their personal reputations at risk. They had to be willing to be called troublemakers. They had to put at risk any future opportunity for leadership and influence...Such a reformation requires massive conviction, because those who lead it have to say over and over again, 'This is false teaching that must be removed.' I’m able to share these lessons because men and women a generation before me were willing to put everything they had at stake to recover our churches and denomination." This requires courage. It requires courage to continually risk your reputation. It requires courage to be continually called a troublemaker. It requires courage to sacrifice any potential future in the denominational offices because you're not going to waffle on important issues. It takes courage to continually say, "This is false teaching and will not be allowed in the pulpits or publications or leadership of our churches or our denomination." This takes courage and it's the only way we will ever see reformation happen.

It will take courage at this upcoming Synod in order to repeatedly and continually call out unrepentant sin in the denomination. It will take courage to stand up at Synod and remind everyone that we are a confessional denomination that doesn't allow exceptions. It will take courage to stand up at Synod and speak clearly about the need to remove some churches from our denomination because of their unfaithfulness. You will be called names. You will risk your reputation. You may ruin any hope you have of a denominational position. Yet, if you don't do the courageous thing, it will all fall apart and disappear anyway.

Just a brief side-note. Notice Al Mohler's last line of that quote. He says, "I’m able to share these lessons because men and women a generation before me were willing to put everything they had at stake to recover our churches and denomination." Notice how different that sounds from Hezekiah at the beginning or Better Together or many in leadership in the CRCNA. Al Mohler said that because there were courageous men and women who fought for the SBC, it's still around. They didn't sit back and hope for peace and security in their day. Rather, they fought for the future of the churches, the future of the denomination, and for future generations. They selflessly gave themselves for the future. That's courageous leadership. Reformation requires courageous leaders because reformation requires great effort and conviction.

Reformation requires courageous leaders because reformation is always costly. I know I don't have to tell you this, but I'm going to remind you all of this. Here's what Al Mohler says, "This kind of theological controversy uses up enormous energy. It takes a long time. It’s not just going to one meeting and casting one vote; it’s showing up at every meeting for every vote. It required men going to preach in other churches, and having endless conversations about their hopes and fears for the denomination. And it was costly in terms of relationships. The deepest scars borne by most are certain relationships totally lost. Many of those who were my closest friends in seminary were on the other side of this theological battle. These issues are so deep and so important that several of the relationships were forever broken. At the human level, that’s difficult." Many of you know this. I know how many people are growing weary of the battle and the fight. We're tired of having to gear up for every Synod. We're tired of talking about strategy and tactics. We're tired of fighting. We're tired of being called names. We're just plain, old tired. It's exhausting. This is why courage is needed.

I want to make sure we understand that this applies on a local level as well. Working toward reformation in a local congregation is also extremely costly and exhausting. You will sacrifice many relationships while pursuing reformation in a congregation. There will be periods of time when it seems as if everyone is angry at you OR as if nobody cares about anything (which is just as exhausting). At times it will feel like it's slowly sucking the life out of you. And it will take a LONG time. This is why it takes courage.

Now, I don't believe courage has an endless supply of energy, but courage refuses to quit and is willing to pay the price. I imagine the picture of a soldier in battle who is fighting for so hard and so long that they feel like they have nothing left to give, but cannot quit because it means they will die AND it means their family will die. So, they refuse to quit and keep on fighting. That's courage. I imagine the soldier who has been fighting so hard for so long that they can't even get the sword out of his hand anymore. That's requires courage. Mohler says, "But the cost of giving up our churches and our denominations to liberalism is an infinitely greater one. It’s handing over our churches to unbelief and successive generations to hearing no gospel. You must be willing to count the cost and to pay the cost." Reformation requires courageous leaders because reformation is always costly BUT it's always worth it.

Reformation requires courageous leadership because reformation requires inspiring and empowering "the middle." Here's what Mohler says, "The greatest enemies of reformation aren’t the most liberal, nor the most heretical. The greatest opposition to reformation comes from the middle—those who don’t want to take a definite position, who want to preserve denominational peace and don’t want to pay the cost. In the SBC, this was the key question: Who would actually persist until the vote? Throughout the entire 20th century, those who primarily sought to preserve peace had won every major battle." We know this to be true in the CRCNA as well. There's a strong pull toward "the middle" in every denomination. There's a strong pull toward Better Together, peace peace when there is no peace, at least there will be peace and security in my day, kinda people. There are many people who are not willing to pay the price for denominational health and reformation. This is also why courage is needed.

We need courageous leaders to stir up and encourage other courageous leaders from the midst of the middle. I believe that courageous leadership is contagious (and so is apathetic leadership, or peace peace leadership). We need courageous leaders willing to lead the charge into the battle in such a way that it inspires other to say, "Yeah. I wanna fight with him! I'm also willing to fight and lay down my life in this battle."

I'm thinking of that glorious scene from The Hobbit when the warg-riding-orcs are attacking the fellowship. They are fearful of being destroyed. They are running away, climbing up trees, fearful. But then, when it seems like all is lost and there is no hope, Thorin steps forward to courageously enter into battle. He knows there's no hope of victory in that moment. He cannot win. Yet, he will not sit back and be destroyed. So, he courageously enters into a seemingly hopeless battle. What happens? It stirs up courage in Bilbo to fight for Thorin, which then stirs up courage in the rest of the fellowship to fight. Courage, begets courage, and will help stiffen and strengthen the middle to do what needs to be done and pay the cost that is required for the future of our denomination.

Thankfully, the SBC saw this happen. Mohler says, "But by the late 1970s, it was clear that grassroots Southern Baptists were no longer willing to maintain the peace. The greatest heroes and heroines of the SBC’s reformation are insurance salesman and public school teachers and others who came to our conventions and gave up days of work and family vacations to vote for conservative candidates who would preserve the truth. John Shelton Reed, an Anglican historian, once came to speak at Southern Seminary about the reformation in the SBC. He observed that, to an outsider, it looked like a pitchfork rebellion. It wasn’t elites making the decisions; it was peasants with pitchforks who made the difference." And by God's grace, this is what we're seeing happening in the CRCNA as well. The peasants are rising up and taking back their denomination. Reformation requires courageous leadership because reformation requires inspiring and empowering "the middle."

I want to wrap up by reminding us of a number of things that courage is not.

Courage is not about being arrogant or proud or pretending like you have all of the answers or always knowing what to do in every situation. Rather, true courage requires humility and faith. Courage is about being willing to step into extremely difficult situations--one's that are way outside your ability and comfort zone--because you trust your God in the midst of it all. Courage is speaking up in a council meeting or on the Synod floor when God nudges you to speak, even when you're not quite sure what's going to come out of your mouth. Courage is trusting the Lord's leading and trusting him to give you the words in that moment. You cannot have true, real courage apart from faith in our God. And that kind of courage will inspire real courage in other believers, and will count the cost and lay down our life by faith, and will expend great amounts of energy and conviction in the fight for reformation by faith.

Finally, Courage is not about being unafraid. I've heard many say that courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to do the thing that you fear. There's truth to that, but I want to change it up a little bit. I think Courage is about fearing the right things in their right place. In the fight for reformation in our congregations and in our classes and in our denomination, there will be plenty of opportunity to be afraid of how things are going to turn out, how votes are going to go, what people are going to think of us. Yet, if we truly want to exhibit courage, we must fear God above everything else. When we fear God more than we fear men, we will exhibit the kind of courage needed for reformation.

Why do we keep on fighting this fight? Why do we keep on having these conversations? Why do we keep on going in this reformation? Why keep suffering? Why keep pounding away? We do it because we fear God more than we fear man. We don’t do it because we want to hear praise and admiration from those around us, rather, we want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:23, ESV).