Damascus Road Church

Recently, Acts 29, Mars Hill, and some other Acts 29 churches (even our own) came under scrutiny for the use of alcohol.  The Southern Baptist Convention, an organization with a complete abstinence policy, charged Acts 29 and its churches with selling out to culture in hopes of reaching culture.  The article is full of mischaracterizations and flat out lies.  From our own web site, the writer of the article takes a statement from one context and puts it into another context resulting in making our church sound like a bunch of drunken gluttons who gamble away their paychecks.  In other words, they searched for the right words, then twisted them to meet their agenda.  Go ahead and the read the context of the quote...they miss the point entirely.  If you want to read the article here it is:  http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=25221

Alas, like our Lord, we must be slow to speak and quick to listen without dimissing anyone who disagrees with us as "fuddy-duddies"  I have had to learn this the hard way sometimes as my mouth often moves before my mind knows what is going on.  At the same time, when "a brother" takes something insignificant and uses it as a vehicle to attack the theology of the church or the integrity of its leadership, we must defend ourselves.  What is most disconcerting is that these well-intentioned men are doing little more than emphasizing division on secondary issues that do little to spread the gospel and a ton to ensure the unchurched keep shaking their heads at the two "friends" who can't seem to play nice.

All that said, we pray for any man who, driven by fear and pride, seek to divide the church.  We mind as well start crying out "I am of Paul" and "I am of Apollos" again.  I am not here to defend or explain our position on Alcohol, honestly, it's not worth my time.  We know what our church is about--Jesus.  We do not seek to be any more or less than he was.  But, if you would like to know the position of Acts 29, well, here it is.