North Carolina pastor says, 'We may not be professionals but we are Baptists'

pic source North Carolina pastor, Tim Rogers just put up what may be a disturbing piece for some. It appears Lifeway Resources just hired Barnabas Piper, son of Young, Restless, and Reformed (YRR) icon, John Piper. While it should not surprise most Southern Baptists who’ve kept up with the trendy new crowd Lifeway has been courting, especially those who identify with the YRR subculture, hiring Barnabas Piper may be one of the boldest moves Lifeway has made to date. As Rogers rehearses in his post entitled “Brothers, we are not professionals, but we are Baptists!!” (a play on the title of one of John Piper’s best sellers), Rogers likens Piper coming on board at Lifeway as “Content Media Strategist” as “tantamount to leading the churches that follow the advice coming from Ministry Grid into an ‘open membership’ position. Now, you may think I am exaggerating this point and from a cursory reading you would have a point. But consider two things. First, ‘Content Media Strategist’ is a cool title that mainly stands for; decision maker of what goes out for public consumption. Second, consider Barnabas Piper’s conviction of a scriptural core belief we as Baptists hold dear–Baptism by immersion.” And, what evidence does Rogers produce for his incisive analogy? Rogers quotes from a post on Barnabas Piper’s blog entitled “Who’s on the Other Side of that Fence?” The short piece is principled with a practical application at the end. In it, Barnabas Piper offers three principles about building fences between…