Collateral Damage Patty
Mike Chancellor
Pastor, Crescent Heights Baptist Church, Abilene

Two folks of some notoriety made their way to Abilene this week.

One was Paige Patterson, the new president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. Paige, or as I like to think of him, "Collateral Damage Patty," was here at the invitation of the Cross Timbers Association. This non-geographic association has attracted some churches from across our area that are uniquely aligned with the Southern Baptists of Texas. They are still on the hunt for new members to pull out of existing associations that cooperate with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

My only meeting with Patterson came about five years ago as we lunched together and then later met for several hours at Southeastern Seminary. He surrounded himself in that meeting with his mostly silent army of associates. We covered a wide range of issues and Patterson pontificated on more stuff than I care to remember. Perhaps what will always be burned in my mind is a point at which I raised a question with him along this line. "Dr. Patterson, my work on this committee has put me in touch with more heartache and tragedy than any other time in my life. Do you know or understand how much pain and hurt the movement you have led has brought to people's lives?" Patterson, never in the running as a poster child for humility, puffed up with pride and said, "Well, in every war, you have collateral damage."

It is amazing what one learns from unguarded moments, comments, and body language. I learned that one way to interpret the anguish of our convention for over twenty years is to paint it as a "holy war." When one thinks in those terms, the object is to win, and it becomes of secondary importance how that win is accomplished. Not only that, but people, their reputations, and their families do not matter. If someone gets hurt, according to "Collateral Damage Patty," that is just a part of the price of winning. I also realized that less damaging methods are put aside in favor of more damaging methods. Why use a rifle when you can lob a grenade?

Perhaps the saddest thing I learned was when the Bible becomes a cause, it loses its authority over the army. Defending the Bible tragically becomes mutually exclusive to living by the Bible. Jesus always had trouble with this when he dealt with the religious leaders of His time. One of the ways to understand the struggle between Jesus and these religious leaders is to see a great conflict over God's understanding of His Word, and the religious leaders' understanding of His Word. Truth be told, "Collateral Damage Patty" and his army have a singular vision of what the Word of God says. Anyone who disagrees better hunker down and cover their ears. Here come the grenades!

Oh, yea, I mentioned another person who was in Abilene this week. His name is Max Lucado. Lucado, perhaps the most famous Church of Christ minister in the world, was in town for a gathering at Abilene Christian University and was interviewed by a local television station. At some point in the interview, Lucado humbly said, "I am not foolish enough to wait for everyone to see and understand things the way I do. I try to work with folks who will work with me."

I'm ordering a t-shirt with Lucado's profile on it. Under the profile are the words, "I'm with him." I guess of the two, Lucado sounds more like Jesus! And frankly, that's the army I want to march in. Years ago, that army used to have another name-Southern Baptists!

April 2004