Dear Friends of Brent Fellowship,
Friends
of Brent Fellowship is for myself and others who find themselves in the same
place I do. That place is somewhere in
the middle of a very crazy and confused spiritual landscape. Now before I opine let me say there are three
wonderful things the last fourteen months have taught me as I have wrestled
with the issue of fitting in. First is a
greater love and appreciation for my Savior.
In all of my wrestling with issues, personalities, and problems I have
come to love Jesus more now than ever because Jesus never fails; and He is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. Any
problem I have faced has been well worth it because it has forced me to prayer
and drawn me closer to Him! Secondly,
these months have taught me to appreciate and respect the local church above
friend, institution, movement, fellowship, or any other conveyance man has
authored. I love my school and others
like her. I love our fellowship and
movement, but I love my local church! It is here that God works on and through
me more than anywhere else. I love the
brethren, but the brethren’s decisions do not affect me or my local church
ministry. Therefore, my love and
appreciation for my local assembly has grown immeasurably. Thirdly, these last fourteen months have
given me a greater love for my Bible.
The inspired, preserved, Word of God is my constant and consistent
source of wisdom and strength. I have learned
to pay more attention to the Bible than what men say about the Bible. The Bible is our final authority not a man,
book, or institution. We should
carefully study it before we make any statement about any subject.
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| Our First Annual Fellowship Meeting |
Friends
of Brent Fellowship is a simple fellowship started because I find myself loving
a lot of people who don’t always love each other. I am in the middle of some weird relationship
dynamics. I love some far right wing
zealots, and I love some guys who would consider themselves far more
moderate. I love the Independent Baptist
world I am a part of, and I also have some dear Southern Baptist friends. (I also have some United Pentecostal friends
but don’t tell anyone!) Some of my
friends would not sign the Bible of young man if they saw the name of some of
my other friends in it. So where do I belong?
I don’t, so I have formed the Friends of Brent Fellowship. The rules for my fellowship are fairly simple
because I am fairly simple. They are:
1. I
am the President for Life of the board of directors for the Friends of Brent
Fellowship, as well as the board of directors itself. All members of the fellowship are approved or
disapproved by me.
This way I can pick and choose
who I want to fellowship with, or who I don’t want to fellowship with based on
our friendship alone. I do not care who
you are, where you went to school at, what your board is, or who your other
friends are. If you are my friend, it is
enough to be in my fellowship.
2. Who
we allow in our fellowship with us does not depend on who you fellowship with
outside our fellowship.
This way I can demonstrate
Christian liberty by not forcing you to practice secondary separation. I have friends in the militant right wing of
the family and in the moderate wing of the family. I disagree with both of them on many issues,
but it’s my decisions not yours. So they
are in my fellowship. I have friends to the
right of me, friends to the left of me, but still friends. Do not bash either
one.
3. Our
doctrinal position is the Word of God itself.
Personal preferences are not considered as a basis for fellowship. You can be different with me on some things
and still be in the fellowship.
In our fellowship, you are
allowed to like Southern Gospel Music or not; the choice is yours. Of course, if you speak against Southern
Gospel, Bluegrass especially, you will have to see the president for a review
of membership. We believe every soul has
liberty to follow the Holy Spirit’s leadership.
4. No
god makers or kingdom builders are allowed in our fellowship. We have one God, one Son, and one Holy
Spirit; you are not any of them.
Our fellowship allows us to
appreciate good men, their ministries, what they have done, and what they are
doing without exalting them to an unbiblical position of authority. Good men have huge egos and flaws like
everyone else. The closer you get to
them, the more you will notice them. We
can love and appreciate you without worshiping you. Plus when we learn of your failures, we will
not have to throw you out of the fellowship but simply realize God uses messy
people to do great things.
5. Our
fellowship will only meet for a purpose.
We are not going to get together for the sake of showing off our new
buildings, getting you to financially support our schools, fight straw men, or
beat dead horses.
We come together for
encouragement, evangelism, teaching, training, starting churches, etc. We do not meet to discuss old issues, men’s
failures, or why we are the only ones right and everyone else is wrong. We spend a lot of time preaching Christ’s
death, burial, and resurrection and encourage each other to do the same.
6. Our
fellowship will respect the heritage we have been given, honor the gray hairs
of wisdom but will not discount the energy and excitement of those with the dew
of youth still on their brow.
We love our Fundamental heritage
and will do all we can to promote, protect, and pass it down. Although we will not make gods of flawed men,
we will learn from them and appreciate the trail they cut so that we can be
where we are. At the same time, we will
not discount new ideas and new technology but will instead intertwine them with
the tried and true methods and message we have been given. We will not curse new technology as evil
simply because it is new and makes us have to leave our comfort zone.
7. Our
fellowship will love songs based on their message not their age.
Old songs are not automatically
good, and new songs are not always evil.
The content and delivery of a song is the issue not when it was
written. Hymns will always be the core
part of our worship, but we will seek to teach new songs along the way in order
to hopefully inspire others to use their gifts and talents for the Lord as well
as to worship Him in every way possible.
8. If
you criticize another member of the fellowship, that is fine as long as it is
his position you criticize not his person, and as long as you do it
personally.
If there is a sin problem, we do
not discuss it; but we seek to restore or report it to the proper authorities
as necessary. We can and will disagree
with people, but we can always be Christian about it. If you have a problem with someone else, keep
it with that person. My fellowship with you does not need to be affected by
your problem with someone else.
9. Our
fellowship will go to whatever meetings we want and support whatever colleges
we want.
We do not believe that only one
meeting or one college fits every need for every person. Go to the West Coast, East Coast, North,
South, Middle, or out of the country if it is what God leads for your life and
ministry. We have several colleges and conferences
that we love and support and thank God for each unique part they play.
10. We
will not kick you out of our fellowship because you kick us out of yours.
I choose you to be in my
fellowship, you do not choose me.
Therefore, whether you want to be or not, if I want you to be, you are
in our fellowship. I have learned to
love people and thank God for them even when they no longer seem to love or
thank God for me. It is the best love
when it is given freely whether reciprocated or not.
Welcome to My Fellowship!
