I had attended several Independent Baptist churches at the time. My Baptist bona fides were obvious. I was even awarded a scholarship from an anynomous donor because of my Baptist convictions in college. But all that was beginning to change. As my theology transitioned so did my ecclesiology. Interestingly, I immediately began to feel discomfort in church on my first Sunday back. The flippancy of preaching and the casualness of worship began to bother me greatly. I had only embraced a high view of God’s Sovereignty in salvation, but it was already affecting my understanding of reality and worship.
I began to read. Rushdoony, Schaeffer and Sproul began to destroy some previously cherished categories. The things that were so common in my early years like altar calls, emotionalism, lengthy pastoral appeals to come down the isle now seemed inconsistent and even irreverent at times.
There is no doubt I experienced the “cage-stage.” I wish some older men had come alongside me and helped me articulate my new-found convictions with greater grace. I needed a bigger cage because I always seemed to find a way out and make a mess out of things.
Still, God was gracious and forgave my lack of grace by showing me grace. Quickly thereafter, my ecclesiastical discomfort compelled me to leave my once cherished Baptist tradition to the waters of Geneva.
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