Northland Officially a Southern Baptist Institution

Northland International University (formerly Northland Baptist Bible College) is officially a Southern Baptist institution after the trustees voted to donate the school to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The decision to take Northland into the SBC was made under the leadership of the current president, Daniel Patz, who is the grandson of founder Paul Patz. Al Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Seminary, said, "The fact that there will be a Boyce College and Southern Seminary campus located in Wisconsin on a campus of this stature is an enormous step forward for Southern Baptists. I can only imagine what the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention would think to know that the reach of the SBC and its mother seminary is now of this magnitude in the upper Midwest" ("Southern Seminary trustees accept gift of Wisconsin university campus," Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, news.sbts.edu, Oct. 15, 2014). Dennis Hansen, director of missions of the Bay Lakes Baptist Association in Appleton, Wisconsin, says, "I think the Southern Baptist work in the upper Midwest is really going to benefit from this." Northland has been moving in this direction for some time. On October 22, 2002, we published a warning by Pastor Bobby Mitchell, Jr., that "Northland promotes John Piper's materials to the student body and he is held in high esteem among the students." Piper has influenced many independent Baptists in a Calvinistic, New Evangelical direction. About the time of Pastor Mitchell's warning, I had observed that Northland's bookstore featured many titles by New Evangelicals with no warning whatsoever, but Dr. Sam Horn, a vice president at Northland, responded to Mitchell's warning as follows: "I can't begin to tell you the times we have publicly addressed the Piper issue on our campus and encouraged our guys to stay off him. ... We did not renew contracts with two teachers last year over the issue of Hyper-Calvinism and Hyper-Dispensationalism. We are constantly hitting the Piper and New Evangelical issue" ("More about Northland and John Piper," Fundamental Baptist Information Service, Oct. 25, 2012). Obviously they didn't hit it hard enough! By 2010, the die was cast at Northland. Northland's chapel welcomed Rick Holland, executive pastor of John MacArthur's Grace Community Church. Not only is Holland a "hyper" Calvinist, he also heads up the "Resolved" conferences which pollute the minds and hearts of young people with Christian rock and rap. Matt Olson, former president of Northland, pushed the "in essentials unity" philosophy to justify the changes. Last year he said that issues such as "Bible translations, music, dress, methods of ministry, secondary associations" are non-essentials and such things should not be used as a basis for separation ("Pursuing Transparency with Change," MatthewOlson.com, Apr. 18, 2013). This is the Southern Baptist principle of "unity in diversity." No wonder Northland joined the Convention. We are living in a time of breathtaking change, a time of blending, and most independent Baptist preachers and their churches are not in a position to stand. There was a time when a preacher could remain ignorant of important issues and drift along with the "herd" in a right direction, more or less, but that day is long past. Preacher friend, have you read our free eBook Why Most Independent Baptists Will Be Emerging within 20 Years? Are you a serious student? Are you educating yourself on issues such as music, ecumenism, "Christian" psychology, New Evangelicalism, and the emerging church? Are you educating your people properly?

(Friday Church News Notes, October 24, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

---