A Pastor's Stance on the Independent Baptist Friends International

[Pastor Matt]

April 26, 2010 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is from Pastor Gary Webb, Calvary Baptist Church, Carrboro, North Carolina churchcalvary@clearwire.net>

Dear Calvary members and others who are acquainted with our church,
 
Recently I was asked what involvement our church has with the “Independent Baptist Friends International” – a new Baptist fellowship started by Clarence Sexton, pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Powell, Tennessee, and president of Crown College.  When I asked the reason for the question I was told that our church was listed on the IBFI website as a participating church. 
 
There are a number of good men who participated in this conference.  However, there have also been a number of Baptist pastors who have expressed their concern or opposition to this new fellowship.  No one at Calvary asked to be listed on the website, nor were we contacted.  According to the person who asked about our church’s involvement, last week during the conference Dr. Sexton made several statements about how many churches were registering to be on his Baptist Friends website.  However, because a number of pastors and churches have complained about their names being on the list without permission, a disclaimer has now been posted on the website.

View the full article

[Pastor Matt]

If you are an IFB, I'm interested in hearing what your take on the IBFI is.

[HappyChristian]

Here's another pastor's take:

http://networkedblogs.com/3awu0

[Pastor Matt]

Thanks, I'm familiar with Pastor Mitchell and the article that he wrote. I have not really looked into this, so I really do not have an opinion yet. I have noticed that the IBFI church directory (Like Pastor Michell mentioned) lists churches that are not members. My church was listed twice and we never contacted them about it. I'm not sure how our church got listed as a member.

[PreacherE]

They have a disclaimer on the site stating that it is merely a listing of independent Baptist churches and ministries.

Here is a copy of their disclaimer:

This directory is designed to serve only as a listing of Independent Baptist churches and ministry resources. It is not an endorsement of any particular ministry, nor is it a fellowship or organization to which any local church belongs. The presence of an individual, church, or ministry on this site does not constitute agreement or endorsement of any other ministry.

Our church is listed as well and we were not contacted concerning it either.

[Pastor Matt]

They have a disclaimer on the site stating that it is merely a listing of independent Baptist churches and ministries.

Here is a copy of their disclaimer:


Our church is listed as well and we were not contacted concerning it either.

That disclaimer was recently added. I do not remember the original wording, but it made it sound like it was a listing of all churches that are members of the IBFI. I'm glad they changed it, it was confusing before. I'm not upset, I just thought it strange.

[Pastorj]

The IBFI listing has been around for a number of years. When my family and I were traveling, I used the list to find a good church to attend. It was originally put together by missionaries and evangelists. As they traveled, they passed along the names of good churches to the IBFI headquarters and the church was added. Almost all mission boards have a similar list. I would imagine that my former churches are on many lists that I would not support.

[JerryNumbers]

I would suppose, the more churches they have listed, the more creditability they feel they will receive.

[Guest KBL]

Hello. I will not make a long paragraph, but I was on the inside, as I went to Crown College. I am not "for" the new group at all. They invite all Baptist pastors to come and since I have contacted MANY of them because of what I do, I can say boldly that I wouldn't want half of those men to come, because we are NOT the same. Amos 4:4......... I could never fellowship with liberal, unbiblical, so-called Baptists. In my personal opinion the group should strictly be "INDEPENDENT, FUNDAMENTAL" Baptists. The more lax a religious entity becomes, the more in goes downhill and I say with a sad heart that Crown has NOT stayed the same. I will not elaborate here. For years now I have stopped recommending the college. It's just an open "Christian" entity now. When I called the heads out of concern regarding their removal of the name Baptist I was NOT given a decent answer. It's compromise plain and simple. You are either wanting and inviting true Baptist pastors and students, or you're not. I'm glad I finished my years there when I did, when it was still good.

[Guest KBL]

I apologize as I forgot to mention that I know for a fact that STUDENTS from Crown looked-up the churches (including their own) and added them to the website. There were certain students who had the task of gathering  all these church names and adding them to the website.