The June 18 Jerusalem Council at First Baptist Church, Hightstown, New Jersey, was attended by more than forty ministerial leaders, three of whom came from Metro New York. Bob Santilli served as spiritual companion.
There was a good spirit in the group, even though there were sharp differences. When testimonies were shared participants spoke well and to the point, and almost everyone had something to say.
During the final session there seemed to be acceptance by some of the fact that we may very well have to go separate ways because of differences on homosexuality and biblical interpretation - a sense that we cannot go on together. But along with that was a desire to see this happen in a way that would bring glory to God, a “joyful” separation without recrimination or name-calling, as one put it. An image that stood out and struck a responsive chord in many was that of crackers, that have perforations in them, so when you break them they separate cleanly without tearing or crumbling.
A direct quotation from the person who brought this image that resonated with so many: “As I tried to articulate on Saturday, my chief concern is HOW we move forward. Whether there is a split among us seems not as important to me as how we walk this out. How we disagree (together or separately) seems to be our greatest opportunity to evangelize. How we treat each other when we disagree IS our message to the world and is one of the clearest ways we have to represent Christ. It seems we ALL agree that getting on with the business of evangelism is job one. Perhaps our common ground is in our desire to bring honor and glory to Christ and this may help IF we can see these decisions AS our evangelism. I also bring for your consideration the image I had shared from my prayer time of the ‘perforated cracker.’ I believe it was from God, but again, what it means is not clear. Does it mean we should remain together with that perforation, or does it mean God has provided a perforation so that our break is clean? Perhaps God will give others insight on this image (provided it IS from the Lord and not a strange intrusion in my imagination during prayer)!”