Why are Fundamental Baptists Following Neo-Evangelicals in Our Church Services?

In modern churches the congregation "dresses down," claps for performers, drinks coffee or Coke in the services, and in general does not come to church to worship God or be convicted by Him, but to be entertained. Rock music is normal in today's churches. At a recent funeral I was officiating, one of the neo-evangelical family members of the deceased sat in the first pew drinking Dr. Pepper during the sermon.

Throughout the Bible it is evident that God is to be worshipped with joy, yes, but in awe. Revelation 4:8b-9 and 11 is an example.

". . .and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, . . .Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

We, as Independent Baptists, never believed in formal services. We want life but through generations have always showed respect to God by coming in our "Sunday best," not talking amongst ourselves in the pews, and just plain honoring God with our reverence toward Him.

I want to stress that there is no call for formalism here. We love lively, hard, hot preaching and dislike dead music almost as much as the worldly junk that is fast becoming accepted in our circles. But why are we following the neo-evangelicals and Pentecostals in this area? It's sad for me to say this, but I believe we are following the crowd in order to attract a crowd. We've seen in the past how liberalism crept into the Southern Baptist Convention through their schools. I can see this coming into our movement by the same means. We are familiar with the way Dr. Falwell fought to keep the "description" fundamentalist while discarding all standards of dress, music, and ecclesiastical separation. He built a large university not with God's blessings and power but, I believe, with man's cunning. Now we see many in our ranks who on one hand would never openly accept Jerry Falwell, yet on the other are following his philosophy and methodology to a great extent, attempting to build an organization. Many would fight to say they are fundamentalists but are moving their music, standards, and style of services ever closer to the world.

We as pastors need to practice what we preach and hold the line. Not only should we fight against Satan's corrupting power as we see some going to the theater, the beach, and wearing immodest clothing, but we must hold the line in our services. All of my life I've heard that compromise starts in music programs. Now some of the very people who warned us are trying to lead us in that way. We should never follow any man blindly whether he is in the pulpit or as a musician. A song should not be judged right or wrong by its author but by its "content." I don't know the technicalities of music, but I know what is right or wrong.

I'm not going to let my church be dragged toward the world by some music man.

I'm glad I know without any shadow of doubt that God not only called me to preach but to pastor Fairhaven Independent Baptist Church. I don't have to wiggle around and draw people into our church with Starbuck's coffee and the devil's music. My job is to keep the church I am charged with as pure and straight as possible so God can bless us. I'd much rather see Him "open the windows of heaven" than for me to manipulate for a few more people in the pews.

If the President of the United States were coming to our services, we would dress our best and leave our coffee at home. Like the elders of Revelation 4, let's worship God in our services with life, yes, but let's sing our specials for Him and not for applause. Let's keep our music pleasing and acceptable to Him and not the world. Let's act as though we are worshipping Him and looking for His blessing instead of the approval of a sensual world.