{"id":32854,"date":"2023-10-02T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32854"},"modified":"2023-10-02T08:43:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T15:43:10","slug":"bought-the-tshirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/bought-the-tshirt\/","title":{"rendered":"Bought the T-Shirt"},"content":{"rendered":"

I distinctly remember when Ted Haggard had his very public “fall” from the evangelical heights, especially having served as president of the National Association of Evangelicals<\/a>(NAE) from 2003 until November 2006. Haggard resigned from that role as well as his senior pastorate after making headlines for engaging in sex with a male prostitute and buying and using crystal meth. My point in digging this up is not to heap shame upon a brother in the Lord (there by the grace of God we all go…and that includes ME), but rather to highlight my reaction.<\/p>\n

I didn’t want anyone to know I was a pastor, let alone an evangelical one.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

That wasn’t the only time, mind you. The “Days of the Jimmy” (Swaggart and Baker) was also a season in which I pulled my pastoral cap lower over my head. It wasn’t a pretty time to be an evangelical.<\/p>\n

We’re in another such season. I find myself disavowing myself of the title of “evangelical,” because it seems to be tarnished and co-opted. If I may be crass, it’s been bastardized; it’s a version that is lower in quality or value than the original form, typically as a result of the addition of new elements. Enter: the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

Many today equate evangelicalism with the Republican Party, in that 81% of American “evangelicals” voted for Donald Trump in 2016. However, Michael S. Hamilton claims “the political definition of ‘evangelical’ has resulted in many white Americans being counted as evangelicals who are not truly evangelical by religious measures” [1]<\/span>. Hamilton goes on to quote Thomas Kid, a widely read historian of evangelicalism in saying, “I suspect that large numbers of these people who identify as ‘evangelicals’ are really just whites who watch Fox News and who consider themselves religious” [2]<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Having been a senior pastor during the last few presidential elections this is of great importance to me. I want to know that I and our team are discipling followers of Jesus the King, not of a political party or powerful figure. I also want to preserve our witness within the community that is looking closely to us as an “evangelical church.” I want to be proud of US as evangelicals (and, admittedly, as a registered Republican)…I don’t want to keep pulling my hat down low out of shame or embarrassment. I have so invested much into this, having made Jesus my Lord and Savior, as well as maturing in my faith during the charismatic moment of the 70’s, specifically the renewal that swept through the Catholic Church during that time. After my conversion, my family attended an evangelical church (and continue to). I listened to the music. Subscribed to the magazines. Attended the camps and conferences. Enrolled in the Bible colleges and seminaries.<\/p>\n

I’ve been there, done that…bought the t-shirt<\/strong>. Literally, I bought and proudly wore dozens of evangelical Jesus-y t-shirts! In the appendix of Dr. Clarks dissertation on Evangelicalism and Capitalism is a picture of me wearing a “Lord’s Gym \u2022 His Pain…Your Gain” t-shirt, from my local Christian retail bookstore (remember those?). I’m kidding, by the way. Don’t actually search Dr. Clarks dissertation appendix.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: I am not a rock-throwing bystander. I’m invested. I want us to be better. I have been reading (not inspectionally, actually reading!) a stack of books on evangelicalism, in an effort to find real solutions [3]<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps David Bebbington can help us. Once again, the British are coming, armed with fish and chips and deep theology! Bebbington, in his now famous quadrilateral of evangelicalism, has determined there are four qualities that mark evangelicalism: conversionism<\/strong><\/span>, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism<\/strong><\/span>, the expression of the gospel in effort; biblicism<\/strong><\/span>, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucicentrism<\/strong><\/span>, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. To Bebbington’s four-fold definition I would submit one addition that is gaining support, including that of Brian C. Stiller, the Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance, and that is, “trusting in the empowering work of the Holy Spirit” [4]. Timothy Larson in “Defining and Locating Evangelicalism” in The Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology <\/em>(pg. 1) also asserts a defining attribute of the “work of the Holy Spirit to convert, restore, empower, and compel into mission.” <\/span><\/span>Bebbington, however, does not believe any elements should be added or subtracted [5]<\/span>. Come on Sir.<\/p>\n

Regardless, these four and\/or five qualities sound like truly<\/strong> evangelical<\/strong> concepts<\/strong>, and determinedly different from what we have been seeing come out of the political camps that have (sadly) co-opted the term “evangelical” for power and political gain. What if these quadrilateral definitions became the litmus test, a shibboleth<\/em> of sorts, for who is or who isn’t a real evangelical?<\/p>\n

Because I am so invested in this, perhaps I need to create, market and sell t-shirts that clearly lay out the Evangelical Quadrilateral. For $24.99 we will finally know who is and who isn’t in our camp!<\/p>\n

I accept PayPal, ApplePay, and Venmo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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[1.] Michael S. Hamilton, “A Strange Love? Or: How White Evangelicals Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Donald”<\/em> (pg. 218) in “Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be” edited by Mark A. Roll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden.<\/p>\n

[2]. Thomas S. Kidd, “Roy Moore and the Confused Identity of Today’s ‘Evangelical’ Voter,” Vox,\u00a0<\/em>December 13, 2017, https:\/\/www.vox.com\/first-person\/2017\/11\/22\/16686614\/roy-moore-evangelical-voter.<\/p>\n

[3]. Examples of books that I have been digging into as of late are: Jesus v. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement by Constantine R. Campell, Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation by Jon Ward, Raised to Stay by Natalie Runion and Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be by Noll, Bebbington, and Marsden.<\/p>\n

[4]. Brian C. Stiller, “To Be or Not to Be Evangelical”<\/em> (pg. 274) in “Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be” edited by Mark A. Roll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden.<\/p>\n

[5]. “Re-examining David Bebbington’s Quadrilateral, Roundtable” in “Evangelicals: Who They Have Been, Are Now, and Could Be” edited by Mark A. Roll, David W. Bebbington, and George M. Marsden (pg. 187).<\/p>\n

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I distinctly remember when Ted Haggard had his very public “fall” from the evangelical heights, especially having served as president of the National Association of Evangelicals(NAE) from 2003 until November 2006. Haggard resigned from that role as well as his senior pastorate after making headlines for engaging in sex with a male prostitute and buying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2815],"class_list":["post-32854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-clark-bebbington-haggard","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32854"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33157,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32854\/revisions\/33157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}