In The Nick of Time

by Kevin T. Bauder

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

by Kevin T. Bauder

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

See Part 1.

by Deborah Forteza and Kevin T. Bauder

“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man…”
1 Timothy 2:12

Is it ever right for a seminary to give theological education to a woman? That depends upon what you think the purpose of a seminary is.

For the first time in nearly 10 years, Douglas McLachlan is not my pastor. His retirement service at Fourth Baptist Church (Plymouth, MN) took place last Sunday night. Filled with remembrances and a few tears, it was a fitting conclusion to 18 years of ministry at Fourth.

For a decade, I observed Pastor McLachlan. It was a fascinating experience. With about 15 years of pastoral experience, I had some idea of what to look for. My conclusion is that Douglas McLachlan is one of the best models of pastoral leadership that anyone could ever have.

Reporters are not given to apologizing. They are the sort of people who can stick a microphone in the face of a mother as she is being notified of her child’s death. They like controversy, they delight in conflict, and they love any event that will make a story. For reporters to apologize is the rarest of events, usually reserved for occasions when they are caught plagiarizing or blatantly lying. This fact underlines the significance of the reporter I heard the other day.

A couple of recent incidents have brought the topic of accreditation to the front of my mind. One is a report of a Bible college that has been priding itself to its students and constituents for having achieved accreditation with a national accrediting agency rather than a regional one, as if the national agency were somehow superior to the regionals. The second is a polemic by a former fundamentalist who insists that only regional accreditation is really accreditation. These two attitudes are about equally wrong.

Here’s a news story you aren’t likely to see anywhere else: