Dr. Russell Moore Preaches at Idlewild Baptist Church; Newt Gingrich in Attendance

Yesterday, Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), preached for the Sanctity of Life service at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, FL.

In addition to his position of Dean, Dr. Moore is also the Senior Vice President at SBTS, and so it is not unusual for him to receive and accept invitations to preach in various churches across the country. (For a large church to ask Dr. Moore to preach their Sanctity of Life service is also not unusual, as Dr. Moore is the author of the excellent work, Adopted for Life.)  The one thing that IS somewhat unusual is for Dr. Moore to have the opportunity to speak before a former U.S. Speaker of the House, who is seeking his Party's nomination for U.S. President.

Though he abandoned the Baptist faith to embrace the Roman Catholic communion of his third wife, Newt Gingrich was in attendance yesterday as Dr. Moore was preaching. (As a mega-church in the Tampa area, Idlewild Baptist is commonly visited by political hopefuls.)

I was certain that Dr. Moore would preach a powerful, gospel-centered sermon as usual. Now that I have listened to the podcast of the sermon this morning, I am in no way disappointed. Though the sermon was not an apologetic against abortion it was, perhaps, the best sermon I have heard on the Sanctity of Life, calling the church to compassionate activity to honor all life and connecting the Sanctity of Life with the gospel.

It may seem odd to ask for prayer for one specific person in attendance for a sermon; certainly there is a sense in which God is no respecter of persons. But we must remember that the Apostle Paul seemed especially eager to preach before Caesar and those in authority and we are commanded to pray for our governmental leaders so that we may dwell in peace and the gospel may be spread freely. So I do ask for anyone reading this to pray for Dr. Moore's message to not be quickly forgotten by Newt Gingrich, but to have its full affect in his life.

[Dr. Moore's sermon from yesterday may be heard HERE.]