When your children live far away and you rarely get to see them, you develop a habit when the phone does ring -- you answer it!  I recently was talking to my daughter (a missionary wife in Romania) and she made a statement that not only saddened me, but startled me as well.  I was sharing the good news of a recent blessing I received when watching Lancaster, California's Lancaster Baptist Church's 2011 Leadership Conference.

When the topic turned to the 'good sense' of how the conference was themed and the balanced aspect it placed on 21st century Christianity, my daughter made a very telling comment when she observed that most of her friends of college years were not only disappointed with fundamentalism (independent, Baptist i.e.) but had left our movement as well.  How sad.

Was not Elijah about to leave his roots (or, at least, did he not think that his roots had left him when he had to be reminded that God still had a remnant--that he was not alone?)  Did not Elisha later pray to God that his servant's eyes would be opened to see God's host and dispel his servant's fears?  Did not John the Baptist send someone to Jesus to ask him if He was indeed the Messiah?

In this age of neo-evangelicalism and seeker-guided church building, the idea of who independent, fundamental Baptists are supposed to be may called into question.  That does not mean that we need to abandon the 'old ship' or even scuttle her.  As Jesus' coming draws nearer, would it not be appropriate to maintain the old truths of God's Word -- we use to call them Baptist Distinctives (the Book, the Blood, and the Blessed Hope?)

In this age of cell phones, I-Pads & Pods, laptops, Twitter & Facebook,  desktops, tablets & smart phones, the clarion call might very well be, "Just answer the call."