the southern baptist church with Pastor Dustin Barton (ep 3, 13).

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of historical violence and harm, and references to sexual and physical abuse within faith communities. Listener discretion is advised.Greenland, Arkansas is a town of about fourteen hundred people, just south of Fayetteville. Highway 71 used to run through it. Then the interstate came, and the town quieted. First Baptist Greenland was planted there in the 1960s. Pastor Dustin Barton grew up at this church. He came to faith here. He served on staff here. He left when a previous pastor weaponized the pulpit during a local political fight that divided the congregation and harmed the community. Years later, he came back as lead pastor to do the patient work of repair.This is one Southern Baptist voice from inside the tradition, not from a megachurch, not from a regional platform, but from a small-town pastor who has lived the consequences of a church getting too close to the fire of political power. Pastor Dustin speaks to the SBC's complicated founding, his Romans 13 read that puts kingdom citizenship before national citizenship, the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation when a community has been hurt, and what it takes to rebuild a congregation and a town after a pulpit has caused harm. https://www.theunderview.com/the-southern-baptist-church-with-pastor-dustin-barton/About the underview:The underview is an exploration of the development of our Communal Theology of Place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.Send us a Voice Message at https://www.theunderview.com/Website: ⁠⁠theunderview.com⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠@underviewtheHost: @mikerusch