MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)–Fred Campbell voiced concern over “a drift toward an embracement of ‘a’ gospel, over and against ‘the’ Gospel.”
“We focus too much on what Jesus minored in, rather than what He majored in,” Campbell, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Redwood City, Calif., said at a Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary chapel service sponsored by the African-American Christian Fellowship at the Mill Valley, Calif., campus.
Speaking from Romans 1:16-17, Campbell, a Golden Gate alumnus, noted three key statements by the Apostle Paul: an assumption that some are ashamed of the Gospel; an assertion that the human predicament demands Good News, not a philosophy; and the accomplishment of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ.
“When your Christology is low or anemic, you are ashamed of the Gospel,” Campbell said in his Oct. 4 message. “When Jesus is a martyr and not a Savior, you are ashamed. User-friendly evangelism methods that don’t want to offend suggest to me a sense of being ashamed. We cannot reduce the Gospel to accommodate the itching ear!”
Campbell told Golden Gate students he hopes they are at seminary because of necessity, because they truly see Jesus as the divine answer to the human predicament and the Gospel as the power of God to salvation.
“I hope you’re here because you have to preach, you have to teach,” Campbell said. “I hope you’re here saying, ‘I didn’t choose this, it chose me, I was just minding my own business and God put me here!’ The primacy of the call is the gospel ministry; everything else is subordinate.”
Campbell, who has led Mt. Zion for 40 years, is a past president of the California State Baptist Convention, which is affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, Inc., of predominantly African American churches.
Golden Gate’s African-American Christian Fellowship seeks to both assist current African American students and encourage others to pursue seminary training.
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Amanda Phifer is a writer for Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.
