Churches Continue Down the Slippery Slope

In the free eBook Collapse of Separatism Among Fundamental Baptists, we documented the slippery slope of change and compromise associated with the adaptation of Contemporary Worship Music. One example we gave was Southside Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina. This church was founded in September 1946. From 1965 to 1996, it was pastored by Walt Handford. His wife Elizabeth is a daughter of the famous fundamentalist preacher John R. Rice, founder of the Sword of the Lord, and Southside was an “old-fashioned” fundamental Baptist church until the 1990s. In 1993, the church hosted a Contemporary Christian Music concert featuring Ray Boltz and also gave up the King James Bible in favor of the NIV. By 1994, the church had a staff member who was employed by the extremely ecumenical Campus Crusade for Christ which works closely with the Roman Catholic Church. Today Southside (now named Southside Fellowship) is a full-blown, rock & roll church with the darkened worship stage and big screen monitors and broad ecumenical associations. Caedmon’s Call performed at Southside in February 2008, which is very telling as to the church’s position. Caedmon’s Call’s greatest love in music is secular rock and the band often performs Beatles music. Its leader, Cliff Young, said one of his favorite musicians is the foul-mouthed Alanis Morrisette. Caedmon’s Call performs for the Metro Bible Study, which represents 128 churches in Houston, Texas. The speaker for the Metro Bible Study is David Edwards, a Pentecostal who was on the steering committee of the North American Renewal Service Committee, which sponsored several of the most radical ecumenical-charismatic congresses. I attended two of these (New Orleans ‘87 and Indianapolis ‘90) with press credentials. Half of the tens of thousands in attendance were Catholic, Roman Catholic priests were featured as speakers, and a Catholic mass was held every morning. It is obvious that Southside Fellowship has moved very far from its former position and is swimming in dangerous spiritual waters. But, hey, who believes in a slippery slope?

(Friday Church News Notes, May 9, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143)

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