"Historic, Mainstream Fundamentalism Has More in Common with Conservative Evangelicals Than It Does with Many who Wear the Fundamentalist Label"

In today's "In the Nick of Time," Kevin Bauder articulates an understanding of conservative evangelicals that one rarely hears from a fundamentalist leader. Dr. Bauder is the president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. Despite the controversy that he will most certainly face for this article, I am grateful to hear someone of his stature say what so many in my generation have been thinking--and with far more gravitas, grace, and accuracy than my peers and I possess.

Here are the concluding four paragraphs:

Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.

If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith. We attack indirectly the thing that we hold most dear, namely, the gospel itself, for that is what they are defending. We should not wish these brothers to falter or to grow feeble, but rather to flourish. We must do nothing to weaken their hand in the face of the enemies of the gospel.

If we believe that we must respond to conservative evangelicalism, then let us begin by addressing the areas in which they have exposed our weakness. Let us refocus our attention upon the exaltation of God. Let us exalt, apply, and defend the gospel in all its fullness. If we were more like what we ought to be, perhaps we would feel less threatened by those whose exploits attract the attention of our followers.

Whatever our differences, I thank God for John Piper. I thank God for Mark Dever. I thank God for John MacArthur. I thank God for D. A. Carson. I thank God for a coalition of Christian leaders who have directed our focus to the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God. May their defense of the biblical faith prosper.

Read the whole thing here.