Thoughts on the "Concerned Nazarenes" & Those Who They Crucify... er, Oppose

http://reformednazarene.wordpress.com/general-assembly-diary/

That is the address for the diary of Mr. Manny Silva, a Reformed and Concerned Nazarene. He and I attended the same meeting this morning at 9am to hear Jon and Scott. Interestingly, though not surprisingly, we heard completely different things. I am going to break down his diary about the session. I will be cutting and pasting, but the above link has his whole entry, so no one accuses me of misquoting or taking out of context.

"General Assembly Day 2: Thursday, June 25

...We then set out for the seminar held by Jon Middendorf and Scott Daniels, called The Church (of the Nazarene) for An Emerging Culture. John, Pastor Joe, and I, sat right near the front with Concerned Nazarene shirts on! I know they were already expecting us. We sat a took some notes, but really, it was the same old, same old emerging talk that got nowhere. “Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater” was repeated several times. Fundamentalists and conservatives were disparaged again. And of course, the usual re-writing of Wesleyan history again. A defense was made of Brian Mclaren, Thomas Merton, Richard Foster, and other mystics! It was an embarrassment to hear all this, but of course, they were mostly preaching to the choir, hence the many “amens”."

It is true, they sat near the front with their Concerned Nazarene shirts on. Yeah, they were expecting them. There were at least 3 security guards who were hovering in the room because apparently there were some threats of physical harm against the speakers. To be fair, it probably "was the same old, same old emerging talk that got nowhere." The talk was meant to be an introduction for several people who have heard the terms "emerging" or "emergent" without a lot of understanding. Unfortunately, the baby/bathwater phrase was mentioned a total of 2 times. So I guess several must be subjective. As someone who considers himself a theological conservative, I was not very disparaged. Wesleyan history re-writing? Maybe, but only if you have never studied Wesleyan history. The defense that is referred to is when Scott mentioned that he refuses to play the game of judging every single person by the worst of what they say/believe. He said that if everyone played that game, there would be no person left with credibility. Yeah, a majority of the people who were there were sympathizers. Over the course of these heretic accusations, the guys needed support. I said "Amen" out loud the most. I sat a few seats away from "the Concerned."

GS Jesse Middendorf was there to support his son. With 5 minutes left, we realized there would be no formal Q&A time. Pastor Joe had been primed for an inerrancy type question, I was going to tackle spiritual formation. But Scott asked someone to close in prayer, and then would take questions after, but at the front one on one. But right after the prayer, Pastor Joe stood up, addressed Dr. Middendorf directly, and asked “since the emergents were getting a forum to speak here, why are not concerned Nazarenes being allowed to get a forum, and will we be allowed a forum?” The answer…. “That’s not likely”.

Bad Jesse! How dare you support your son? *GASP* 5 minutes left? Hmmm... that's funny... the session was to end at 10am, and it was 10:15 before Jon, not Scott, asked someone to close in prayer. There was no promise to take questions afterward, though they did say they would stick around and talk. Pastor Joe did stand up right after the prayer and asked Dr. Middendorf if those of the Concerned Nazarenes would get a chance to respond to these heretical resonances of Jon and Scott sometime during General Assembly. Jesse stood up (he was directly in front of me) and was about to speak when David Felter (GA Coordinator) moved in and explained politely that the events for GA were already planned and that they were more than welcome to put up websites to respond. Pastor Joe did not like this and said that it was not fair. David said that it was not fair to think they could just come in and schedule whatever they wanted within the GA.

After the presentation, there was great concern about the Concerned Nazarenes that they might act in violence. Security hovered around Jon and Scott as Pastor Joe was very abrasive in whomever he was talking to at the time. I really don't know how Pastor Joe and Manny expected Jon to act when they confronted him as they have labeled him a heretic and even feature him on their 2 hr 45 min snoozefest of a dvd as a deceiver.

That is the only answer we got from a General Superintendent of our denomination, my friends. “That’s not likely”. In other words, we will not likely get the opportunity to express our concerns. We are apparently being told to be quiet. I hope I am wrong, and we pray for an opportunity. This, after Scott Daniels had just finished stating that our church is a big tent that accommodates many different views. Thank you, Dr. Middendorf, for your concern. I will leave you to think of the implications of that response.

Maybe Jesse talked to Manny afterwards, but he did not say these words in the session or after the prayer. Again, I was standing right next to him. If they really believe they have not had the opportunity to express their concerns, I do not know what they expect. Did they contact the organizers of Genereal Assembly before last June to express they wanted to confront the emerging heresies? My guess is no as they have yet to refer to this, but that is my guess.

I think it needs to be restated that there was no promise of a question/answer time. Jon and Scott were asked to present. They did not ask to present. Manny and Co. (sounds like a great name for a tv show) were never asked to present despite asking if they could present. Is that fair? Taken in isolation, probably not. Taken within the witch hunts these guys have participated in over the past year in particular, they honestly should be glad that they are not in jail for libel and maybe a tad bit of slander.

I will post about the dvd they made in another post.

Peace.