Listen to a Q & A session with a panel of six Bethlehem pastors (our Lead Pastors and Campus Pastors):

• John Piper, Pastor for Preaching & Vision
• Sam Crabtree, Executive Pastor & Lead Pastor for Life Training
• Jon Grano, Lead Pastor for Operations
• Dan Holst, North Campus Pastor for Worship & Vision (also serving as North Campus Pastor)
• David Livingston, Pastor for Shepherd Groups & Adult Ministries (also serving as the South Campus Pastor)
• David Michael, Pastor for Parenting & Family Discipleship.

Questions asked that evening:

1. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says he’s the fulfillment of the law and that not an iota of the law will pass away before all is accomplished. In the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 they said it seems good to them and to the Holy Spirit that believes only need to follow four directives. That seems like a massive amount of relaxation of the law. How do we reconcile these passages?
2. If you could change one thing at Bethlehem by snapping your fingers what would it be?
3. We are becoming members of the church. We’ve grown up in Lutheran churches and were baptized as infants. We’ve convinced intellectually that we should be baptized by immersion as believes, but we still have an emotional attachment to what happened to us as infants. What should we feel about this before moving forward with baptism?
4. What are the benefits to becoming a member of the church as opposed to being a regular attender? Can I still be in a small group or receive counseling as a regular attender?
5. There’s a joke at Bethlehem – if you’re a pastor or elder at Bethlehem and you want to do something, write a paper. Also, I’ve heard, if you as a member want to approach the elders, write a paper. What are the benefits and drawbacks of this approach?
6. Would you do the multi-site approach again? What would you do differently?
7. We’ve been members and now moving of out of town. We’ve found a reformed church, but it teaches infant baptism. How shall we think about joining a church with this view, and does it go against the Church Covenant we signed?
8. Who are the Nephilim spoken about in a number of places in the Old Testament?
9. I regularly attend the pre-service prayer with Pastor John. I was surprised as a new comer to the church that I was allowed to lay hands on John and pray for him before he preached the Gospel to the congregation. To what degree do we let folks do this? If we let anybody do this are we taking it seriously?
10. How can we as the congregation encourage you in your work?
11. Taking into consideration the diversity of the community where the downtown campus is located, and our desire for racial harmony, and our desire to be diverse, can you explain why many of the pastors and elders are Caucasian, and what are we doing to attain these desired goals?
12. How can we have peace knowing that God may not choose someone that we deeply care about?