Church Closed Due To Severe Weather

Crooked Creek Baptist Church services are cancelled, and the office will be closed, Sunday, January 5th, and Monday, January 6th, 2014, due to the severe weather forecasts for these days. Please stay safe and warm!

The Blue Parakeet

Dr. McGrath's class will be reading Scot McKnight's book The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible together.

We'll be reading chapter 1 for next time.

Copies of the book have been purchased on behalf of several people who asked for them, but if you weren't among them, it isn't too late to join in!

Palm Sunday Q&A

Today's installment of Dr. McGrath's Sunday school class took the format of an informal conversation/Q&A on matters related to the passion week. Some of the subjects touched on include:

• The nature of historical study of the Bible and the burial of Jesus (including why I wrote my book on the subject, the Talpiot tomb, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher).
• What the historical context (and precedent) might have been for the "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem. Among other things, the size of the temple and the resulting "Where's Waldo?" effect, and the lack of immediate Roman intervention, both seem to suggest that Jesus' actions around this time were symbolic and relatively small.
• The story of Jesus sending disciples to take someone else's donkey.

Next week we'll continue the conversation!

Church and State

Today in Dr. McGrath's class we finished our introductory topic on the Bible in the "When Christians Disagree" series. We looked at the example of circumcision, which in Genesis 17 is quite plainly said to be a permanent and absolute condition of membership in the covenant people, even for those not actually descended from Abraham. We then turned to Acts 15 and looked at how the church (or at least part of the church) decided that it was going to do something different than what a plain reading of Genesis 17 would require. Reading Acts and Paul's letters as Scripture, it can be hard for Christians to put themselves in the situation of the time in which they were written, when these texts were not yet Scripture, and were making the case for something that seemed to many to represent a departure from Scripture.

In Acts 15, as also in Galatians, the argument seems to allow experience to trump Scripture. God had shown acceptance of Gentiles by pouring out the Holy Spirit on them while uncircumcised. If God had accepted them in this way, who are we to impose other requirements upon them? To get a sense of how this argument seemed to many Jewish Christians in the first century, one may usefully compare the topic of homosexuality, in connection with which many today might make a similar argument...

As we turn to various topics on which Christians disagree, there are other factors beside the Bible that we'll need to consider, such as reason, tradition, and experience. The Bible can of course be thought of in different ways: as a source of writings which are authoritative on Christian doctrine and practice, or as a source or writings which allow us to see examples of how the earliest Church worked through issues, themselves making use of Scripture, reason, tradition and experience.

The biggest news is perhaps that we have chosen our next major topic: "Church and State". It was on our list and seems particularly timely (we'll probably finish with the topic in early November). We will begin next week. We did not have a chance to discuss what we'd read to prepare, but I'd suggest that, in addition to the Ten Commandments and some of the places where Paul and Revelation mention those in authority, we should also read the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution, since that is a key component in the distinctive form that debates on this topic take in an American context. Here it is:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

History and Life of the Crooked Creek Baptist Church

The Crooked Creek Baptist Church was organized June 10, 1837 with fourteen members. Their purpose was to establish a new church north of Indianapolis to grow, and give comfort, strength and love both spiritually and physically through the power that comes from God through Jesus Christ. Madison Hume, one of the original members, became the first pastor. One of these fourteen founding members was African-American, and over the course of much of its history (including the present day) has been a racially mixed congregation.

The original church structure was an old log schoolhouse across the road from our present location. In 1840, a plot of ground north of the school was purchased and a frame building built. A second building, erected in 1856, was built across the road (to the north of the present building). This structure was altered and enlarged many times and in numerous ways. In June of 1935 Franklin Crutchlow, a student at Franklin College, accepted the call to pastor the church and was ordained in the church in September 1937. Our Centennial anniversary was celebrated June 12 and 13 of 1937 and it was determined that it was the appropriate time to consider a larger building for the growing congregation. Ground was purchased south of the old church (where our present church stands) for a price of $982.50. World War II then stopped all construction, so the new building had to be delayed. A ground breaking ceremony for the new building was held in August 1950 under the leadership of Pastor Louis G. Crafton. Construction started in August 1951 and the cornerstone was laid. On July 19, 1954, a farewell service was held in the old church and on July 25, 1954 the first service was held in the new building with Pastor Crafton delivering the message. The new building was dedicated in October 1954 in a service that remembered the fourteen founders.

In March 1955, Rev. Orval Sutton accepted the call to become our pastor. In 1981 Michael Snow came to Crooked Creek as Associate Pastor and Youth Director. Rev. Snow was ordained in the Church on May 16, 1982. In June of 1987, we observed our sesquicentennial, celebrating 150 years of heritage. In March 1995, Rev. Orval Sutton retired after 40 years of ministry at Crooked Creek. In April, 1995, Rev. Michael Snow became our new Senior Pastor after serving 14 years as our associate. Under the leadership of Rev. Snow, the church continued to grow and prosper. In May of 1999, Crooked Creek called Mike Thompson to be Associate Minister for Youth, Young Adults, and Families. Mike grew up at Crooked Creek and felt God’s call to ministry. In November 1999, Rev. Kevin Bengtson was called to be Associate Pastor in Music and Worship. Rev. Thompson was recently ordained in the church, and Rev. Bengston served as interim pastor until August 2008. On Sunday, August 24th, 2008, the church extended the call to Rev. Tom Bartley to become the senior pastor.

In 1998, Crooked Creek established its current Statement of Purpose. It is as follows:

• To be a Loving and Caring Community of Believers
• To Glorify God Through Personal and Public Worship
• To Lead Others to Christ and to His Church
• To Grow in Christ and in the Knowledge of His Word
• To Show God’s Love by Serving Others

Our church is now 171 years old. Some members today have third, fourth, fifth, and sixth generations on the church roll. As an example, a member of our church for 82 years (baptized at 9 years of age) joined the chancel choir at age 14 and only just recently retired from singing in it. He and his wife are still active in the life of the church.

We continue to be actively involved in our community and seek to minister to the needs of those around us. We are also actively involved in the life of the American Baptist denomination. We look forward to what God is calling us to do in the years ahead.