An open letter to the GCR task force

This topic has been written about before by people with actual readership, but I want to make my voice known because I have had this conversation with a few pastors, and we are basically all in agreement. To the Great Commission Resurgence task force –

First of all, I realize that you are not charged with making the entire SBC become more great commission oriented.  In fact due to the structure of our denomination, churches are not subject to anything that you actually declare.  I also know that if there is to be a great commission resurgence in our denomination, it must be brought about by individuals in individual churches.

Next, I am praying for you. and Dr. Hunt. I hope that God directs your committee to truly affect the kingdom with your decisions.  I hope that the convention in Orlando is as amenable toward your work as the Louisville convention was toward your appointment.

As I understand it, you are charged with evaluating our convention structure with the goal of determining whether or not we are optimally organized to carry out the great commission.  I am on board with whatever you may choose to do. If you explain your position I would be willing to hear reasons for combining our mission organizations (although I believe it’s not a particularly good idea), or for renaming our convention, or for any number of other suggestions I just haven’t thought of yet.  I truly hope that state conventions, local associations and churches are agreeable with whatever recommendations that the annual convention in Orlando passes.

There is one exception to my previous paragraph.  I will never be able to consider currently non-cooperative program missions giving as cooperative program giving.  Planting a church, co-sponsoring a church plant, sending an individual missionary, or digging a well in Bihar India are all great things and need to be done, but those things should never be considered cooperative program dollars because they are not cooperative. I cannot even think of another way to say that.  The SBC is, by and large, a convention of small churches.  The cooperative program is the only way that our small churches can have the sending power that we have.  If we allow other giving to count as CP giving then we take the “cooperative” (and the strength) out of the cooperative program.  In that case we might as well be independent Baptists.

Also, designated money is not cooperative program money.  If money is given with the purpose of doing an end-around of the executive committee or leaving out a seminary or one of our agencies, then it is not cooperative program money.  The reason for the efficiency of the IMB and NAMB is the coordination of all our agencies, Lifeway and Guidestone included.  Maybe you will determine that the sending organizations are not efficient.  Imagine how much worse it would be if everyone designated their offerings.

For simplicity, let me summarize my position.  I support the work of the GCR task force and will prayerfully consider any recommendation you make.  However, I will not be able to support considering independent mission giving to be cooperative program giving.

I welcome any comments.  However, I am currently at M-fuge so it may take me a few days to get them moderated.

2009 SBC Recap

This is simply a recap of the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention from my point of view.  Although this was only my third convention, this one was unique for me in that it was so devotional.  Now that we have adjourned I genuinely feel revived.  There is no question that the theme from the platform was one of revival.  But I will say that for me, all this talk of the great commission has made me assess the way I relate to people and realize that I need to be more intentional about sharing the gospel.  I witness often to those in my path, but I do not go out of my way enough to put others in my path.  I really believe in a real hell and it is selfish, or lazy or hateful not to make evangelism a priority in my life even if it is inconvenient. Now to my observations from Wednesday

The first thing of the morning was the executive committee’s report on the motions from yesterday.  The majority of the motions were ruled out of order.  All the ones regarding Mark Driscoll and Acts 29 were, of course, out of order, but also the ones regarding the HCSB and anything restricting the freedom of any individual member were out of order as well.

Then it was time to pass resolutions.  We thanked Louisville for hosting and recognized the sesquicentennial of Southern Seminary.  The only resolution with any discussion at all was the one about President Obama, recognizing his historic election and praying that he would have some godly counsel.  But it passed as it was printed.

Johnny Hunt named his GCR task force in the morning session as well.  Much of that task force had already been named, though I didn’t know the entire list.  To me the only surprise was that there was just one woman.  I found that odd.  One is not even enough to be considered a token appointment.  I was also a bit curious about Ronnie Floyd being named chair.  His cooperative program number is why he lost in Greensboro so I just find it curious as well.

The Southeastern luncheon was undoubtedly the worst service I have ever received at a banquet of any kind.  This was the fault of the Kentucky Exposition center and not SEBTS.  The speech from the president was enlightening and made the banquet worth attending.  Dr Akin addressed the Mark Driscoll hullabaloo by saying that he is teaching his students to think and that they can learn to glean the useful and discard the bad.  He, of course, said a lot more than that, but that was the gist.  It was both enlightening and necessary.  He was also asked why he thought executive committee president Morris Chapman is so clearly opposed to the GCR.  His answer was that he hasn’t spoken with Chapman about it.

When time for questions in the SEBTS report came up he had to answer the Driscoll / Acts 29 question again.  He was much more brief and less thorough, but said SEBTS is an open book and has nothing to hide.  He also addressed the pamphlet from the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association by saying that if you have questions ask me rather than listening to others.  He then repeated that students need to learn to think, and that having a guest speaker does not endorse every belief of that speaker.

The Theme interpretation in the evening session by Jeff Crook was the best message I heard all week.  (That is saying something too, because I’m pretty sure I heard 15 from Sunday morning through Wednesday night.)  It is a shame that there were so few people remaining by that final session.  Go to the archives and listen to it.  It was about 7:30 pm Wednesday.

The NAMB report and presentation was inspiring and moving.  It made me proud to be a former summer missionary and proud of my cooperative program gifts.  Also, Mandisa is a great singer.

I’ll conclude this with some spare thoughts that don’t fit into the recap above.

First, although last year I did not vote for Johnny Hunt, I am impressed with his leadership.  To me it is obvious that he is not one of the good ol’ boys.  He truly does not seem to be a part of the old guard.

Secondly, Twitter added a lot to the convention.  It is very interesting and enlightening to see that thoughts of others as you all experience that same thing.  It was a running commentary that included hundreds of people you didn’t know and the thoughts of the convention’s movers and shakers.  The reward for best tweet of the week undoubtedly was this one “Almohler could really use a hug today.  SBCers just come up and hug his neck” –obviously Russ Moore got his hands on Al Mohler’s phone.

Finally, one of the real fun things about the convention is seeing all the people you only rarely see.  This year I saw:

Don Mathis – Evangelist and my great-uncle Lee Merck – a pastor formerly from NSRBA Chp. James Deason – a former member of LaGrange who is now stationed at Ft. Campbell.  I wish I had taken his picture so that people from my church could see him with some hair. Stephen Wilson – My former college professor Glen Warner – Youth pastor from NSRBA Greg Taylor – Who I last saw as a part of the UK BSU 11 or so years ago Tim Burdon and family Also some of Former Pastors Rod Groff Don Embry

I’ll say this again.  I am genuinely inspired and proud of our convention now that we are headed home.  There was much more harmony than in my previous conventions, and I for one am convicted about my need to make the Great Commission central to my life and not just my ministry.  As Johnny Hunt said. Talk is cheap and passing a task force is not witnessing. (I wrote that quote down at the time but can’t find my notes so I have messed it up pretty bad.)

2009 Southern Baptist Convention - Tuesday

This is a brief recap of Tuesday June 23 at the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m pretty sure that every person has a different experience there, and some things are more emphasized depending on the crowd around you, but some things are hard to ignore. Where I was, there was one major subject of conversation and controversy.  The Great Commission Resurgence right?  Nope.  Then maybe it was the IMB report and the news of what to do about the economics that have caused us to close down certain missionary efforts.  Nope.

In fact, the number one topic by a mile was Mark Driscoll.  There was a paper published by the Missouri Baptist laymen’s association, and distributed by Truett-McConnell college that was a polemic against Mark Driscoll and the Acts 29 Church Planting network.  It indicted Southeastern Seminary and Ed Stetzer and generally caused an uproar.  There were dozens of people around me reading this paper, and when time for introduction of new motions came, there were at least 5 motions taking aim at Mark Driscoll (not a Southern Baptist), Lifeway for selling his books, SEBTS, Ed Stetzer, and Alvin Reid.  I was a bit saddened by this vitriol but more than that I was surprised.  I definitely did not see this coming.  Before you judge me too harshly, I’m not saying I endorse Mark Driscoll.  In fact I have steered people away from him in the past because I know his style turns off so many.  I also am bothered by his attitude toward alcohol and I believe that overly crude language detracts from the message he is delivering about a holy God.  He is, however, orthodox, and to say Lifeway can’t sell his books because he drinks alcohol I just can’t understand.

There were some other interesting motions brought forth.  There was one wanting to rid the convention of the HCSB.  One or two aimed against president Obama on his view of abortion.  Another suggesting that Lifeway be certain that all VBS materials are made in the USA.  I found this particularly interesting in light of a question previously addressed to Thom Rainer during the Lifeway report that VBS stuff needs to be cheaper and supported for more than one year.

The Great Commission Task force was, not surprisingly, the second most significant issue of the day.  It was passed, but not before someone attempted to change it to have the NAMB and IMB do self-studies.  That amendment failed and the task-force passed overwhelmingly.  In fact I only saw 3 votes against it.

The vote to declare Broadway Baptist Church in Ft. Worth not in friendly cooperation passed virtually unanimously and without discussion.

Johnny Hunt was reelected as president by acclimation.  He will lead the GCR task force

Attendance was better than last year, no surprise.  At the time of the election of Hunt there were 8.587 messengers registered.

I also want to say something about Wade Burleson and Bart Barber, but I won’t.

Finally, it wouldn’t be the SBC without protestors.  There were a few demonstrators from PETA outside the gates.  They were dressed as animals and wearing sign that say “God loves me too.”  I think that’s what they said anyway.  It was hard to read.

Feel free to destroy me in the comments because I don’t want to tar & feather Driscoll.

SBC Preview

I am leaving in the morning for Louisville and the Southern Baptist Convention.  I am planning to write a blog report each night after I get home.  (Most likely the Wednesday update will not come until Thursday afternoon) I thought I would give a bit of a preview of the major things to look out for before I go.  I am sure that I won't do as good a job as some other bloggers but I have regular readers who are interested and I want you to be informed.

Elections - There is really nothing worth mentioning here.  Johnny Hunt will be reelected for the traditional second term.

The action towards Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth, TX - I plan to share a meal with an executive committee member before this action takes place to get hopefully a more full understanding, but it seems to me that this is a pretty clear violation of article 3 of the constitution.  (For a little background about this click here or here or here) (Hopefully I'll one day write a post on welcoming vs affirming views)

All of the furor surrounding the GCR document - At this point no one knows exactly what will be recommended by the newly appointed task force.  I will probably not attend the "meet and greet" session on Tuesday. But almost certainly this is a lot of uproar over something that will not come to a head until next year.  Certainly there are some valid questions raised by the discussion following the GCR document's publishing. Much has been written and there are blog after blog devoted to dismantling it and looking at it point by point.  I really believe that at this year's evangelism conference we will be reminded of the importance of - wait for it - evangelism.  (That was a bit snarky I know, but in reality the Gospel is often one of the first things to fall by the wayside under the demands of church life.  If the IECS taught me anything it's that evangelism must be intentional or it will become secondary.)  Still, I believe that all of the controversial things will not really be addressed until next year's convention.  I'll have plenty of occasions to blog about that in the future

My major prediction - The Broadway baptist issue will sail through the convention with little to no controversy and will surely be the only thing you read about in any national or local newspaper.  In fact here's a preview of the CNN screen crawl "Southern Baptists, nation's largest protestant denomination, ban church for having homosexual members"  Somebody do me a favor and make a screen grab when you see that headline.

Are Associations Still Necessary? part 1

This is Associational Emphasis week in the Southern Baptist Convention.  So I thought I would write a couple of posts dealing with the following question: Is the Baptist association still needed?

One of the things being brought to our attention as Southern Baptists with the Great Commission Resurgence is the inefficient spending of cooperative program funds.  Specifically, people have a problem with the duplication of efforts.  This is a valid concern.  It is both an issue of good stewardship and responsibility.  And let’s just be honest, is there really a need for church growth experts, or evangelism trainers, or church resource specialists at the state, SBC and associational level?  I recommend listening to the most recent Insight Podcast which is an interview with Johnny Hunt.  In part 1, the host quotes Dr. Mike Day from the Mid-South Baptist Association.  Dr. Day relays an example of the same function being performed by the three levels.  This is just a real-life example of why the question should be asked.  Are associations necessary?

The most significant reason why there would be a change in the need for associations would be because the world is flat.  Allow me to explain what I mean by the flat world.  The flat world concept comes from William Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat.  The thesis of the book is that technologically and politically we have reached a point in which a place on the other side of the country or the other side of the world can be reached instantly.  We have globalized nearly everything and the distance between us has shrunk to a negligible amount.

So what dies this have to do with Baptist associations?   In order to answer his question, I’ll need to explain what the purpose of a Baptist association is and how it works. The Baptist association is a gathering of cooperating churches to do ministry on a local level.  Interestingly, because of the strongly held Baptist view of church autonomy, this is the same definition for a state convention or the SBC.  (They are just different geographically)  This connection of churches cooperate to carry out ministry on a local level and to help one another with training, resources, and historically, even finances.

This is the same definition of the SBC and the state Baptist conventions.  With the flat world making distance less significant, that explains the duplication of functions.  Many people feel that the weakest of the 3 levels is the local association.  Hence my question.

Now that the explanation is out of the way, tomorrow I plan to actually answer the question, are associations still necessary.

Before I get there, I would like to hear from you in the comments.  Do you think the local association is still needed?  Even though the world is flat?  Even though many of the same functions are performed on the state and SBC level?

What I will not do in light of the SBC's declining numbers

As I was thinking about what I can do to improve my declining denomination I also thought about the reactions that I would probably read and hear from others.  So I decided to put together this list of things I will not do because of the bad news of last week. I will not panic

I will not abandon the convention (unless it abandons me)

I will not change the message of the gospel for the sake of growth

I will not assume that my gospel presentation is the only successful method

I will not look to secular gurus of business growth to learn how to grow the church

I will not teach a lesson in which I do not include a gospel presentation

I will not blame the Calvinists

I will not deny one word of Scripture even if it becomes very unpopular

I will not think that becoming more worldly makes me a more effective evangelist

I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that there is no problem

I will not take joy in the shrinking denomination

I will not assume that a shrinking SBC is a sign of the end times

I will not give more credit to Satan than he deserves

I will not blame everything on Johnny Hunt or Frank Page or Al Mohler

I will not stop giving to the Cooperative Program

I will not go to Catalyst or any other conference in place of the Southern Baptist Convention (I may go, but not instead of the SBC)

I will not assume that my way is the only way to do church

I will not lead my church by surveys or popularity contests but with Christian discernment and the Scriptures

I will not strive for a greater "voice" within the convention.  I will be faithful to those God has called me to minister to

I will not heap undue criticism on those leaders of another generation (older or younger than me)

I will not be hopeless

Feel free to add to this list in the comments.

Tomorrow - What I will do in light of the SBC's declining numbers.

Blogging about Johnny Hunt

Today was the beginning of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. This morning and aftenoon, was the pastor's convention and I heard some wonderful preaching.  I was a bit late so I only heard part of the lineup.  I was there for Stephen Rummage, Bob Pitman, Danny Akin, and Johnny Hunt.

All of them were wonderful and I enjoyed the preaching immensely.  Especially, Bob Pitman's story of his GPS and Dr Akin's  political rant. 

But I'm addressing the rest of this post to The president of the SBC, Johnny Hunt.  He said that many Southern Baptist have a great intellectual curiosity.  That "they want to learn so that they can blog"  but that "we should want to learn so that we can do."  Let me take this opportunity to say, I love Johnny Hunt, and I think he is right.  Blogging about evangelism is not evangelism.  Forgive me if I use my blog as a forum to attack, malign or otherwise do harm to the kingdom of God.  

I write this blog as an exercise in how to organize my thoughts, hopefully it will make me a better communicator.  I also write it as part of my daily quiet time ritual.   And I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it.  (Fortunately that is a small enough group to keep me humble)

I will post later this week about the IMB commissioning service and how wonderful it was.  That's all for now

Final Thoughts on the SBC 2008

I didn’t know how to wrap up my experience at the 2008 SBC, so I decided to just make a list of stuff I am thinking. This list will be complete thoughts, but not expounded upon unless you want to hear more.

Thoughts in no particular order

• I didn’t vote for Him, but I love and deeply admire Johnny Hunt and believe he will be a great president.
• The music was wonderful. I was moved to tears more than once. The Gettys particularly, but also the combined choir from the final night.  My favorite song is here. (start at the 5:23 mark in this one)
• After seeing the IMB report, I am deeply convicted that I need to go on a foreign mission trip.
• I only saw 2 votes unopposed – Moving the schedule forward 15 minutes because the order of business committee didn’t have any business, and appreciating 100 years of RAs.  Every other vote had at least one person waving a ballot in the negative
• Frank Page runs a tight ship.  We were ahead of schedule nearly the entire time.
• Folks at the convention seemed generally positive. Different from the general tone of the blogging world, and a great encouragement to me.
• For some reason I really enjoy the business part of the business meeting, where we have motions, amendments, and calls for the question and such. Is that weird?
• I was not there for resolution 6.  (I didn’t get up when my sister-in-law tried to wake me.)  But it was the most important of the convention. I’m glad it was amended and hope it has some effect. Also, this is a good summary/commentary.  Or you can watch it yourself here (it starts around the 15 minute mark)
• Half of all Guidestone claims are for “preventable” issues such as diabetes and heart conditions. As a fat dude (though not Guidestone insured), I’m ashamed of that.
• 7300 messengers is more than I expected. Especially with the convention being held north of the Ohio.
• The Annie Armstrong banquet was wonderful. The speaker was great, the fire alarm ruined it
• The falling dollar cost us $18 million as we tried to spend LMCO money...Wow

I’m not that popular but I saw a bunch of people I know pretty well

• Mitch Minson
• Tim Burdon and family
• Don Mathis
• Rick Hatley and family
• Carlton Binkley
• Myron Yandle
• Drew Farr

Here's some other stuff not necessarily convention related but related to my trip.

• For the first time ever I pumped ethanol.  $2.99 but it got much worse mileage.
• The GPS I borrowed tried to lead me through a football stadium.
• My brother’s dog is humongous.
• The TSA took my toothpaste.  Stupid liquid rule.  But I learned that saline is allowed in your carry-on.

Southern Baptist Convention day 1

So this was the first day of the actual convention. I got up and was gone from Lafayette by 7:30. A wreck on the interstate and pouring rain here in the Indiana rainforest, and I was in a seat on the convention floor by 9:00. I should describe the layout of the convention here in Indy. It is about 100 rows deep in 6 sections. There are huge projection screens in front of two sections. So it is ridiculously wide and not that deep. There are practically no good seats in the entire hall. But if you park yourself in front of one of the giant screens you have a very good view. The same exact view you would get if you watched it online.

Now...on to the business of the day. The vote for SBC president. You all read my previous posts and had the opportunity to lobby me. After praying, I voted for Frank Cox. We passed the ballots to the right. And there was no question when I passed the ones in my section that Johnny Hunt got the majority of the votes in my section. There were 6 candidates and I figured that there would be a runoff, but I guess I underestimated Johnny’s popularity, . Johnny got 52% of the vote. I admire Johnny and believe he will be a good president. In case anybody is counting I am 0-2 in voting for SBC president.

First VP is Bill Henard from Porter in Lexington KY. I did vote for him. Also I voted for 2^nd VP, but I left before they announced the winner. (There will be a runoff between Mulkey and Newland.) I voted for Newland from the Indianapolis church that was sued by the NFL for hosting a Super Bowl party. But Mulkey had one of the greatest nomination speeches I’ve ever heard. It was great.

In other news, I attended the Annie Armstrong banquet because our church was top in giving and per capita giving in our association. It was a very good banquet and the missionary speaker did a wonderful job. But a fire alarm went off before the end, and I was very ready to leave the room. The alarm, strobe, and voice emanating from the speakers was incredibly annoying.

Tomorrow, there will likely be no report. Read Baptist Press.

A Few More Thoughts on the SBC President

In my previous post I asked people to lobby me for their candidate for SBC president. As I have thought about this I realize that many of my readers need a bit of a lesson in Southern Baptist polity.

I think the first thing to establish is that the president of the Southern Baptist Convention is largely a figurehead position. What I mean by that is that the SBC itself is not so much a denomination as a collection of independent churches. No president of the convention or Associational Director Of Missions has any actual power over any church. Our statement of faith the BFM 2000 is just that; a statement of faith. We join ourselves together because we hold common beliefs not because of any hierarchy. Our associational DOM has no authority over the 96 churches of the NSRBA. The convention president is the same. He has no real power.

So what does the president do and why even bother going to the convention at all? The president is moderator of the convention, he appoints the committee on committees, and he serves largely as a spokesman for all Southern Baptists to the media.

Let’s look at each of these duties and deal with them separately with the 6 candidates in mind.

First, the SBC president serves as moderator over the convention. This is a 2-day per year job. (In execution, though surely there is a lot of prep work that must be done.) Based on my knowledge of the candidates any of them would be fine in this position. There is a parliamentarian on hand to keep whoever it is straight on the details. It may well be that some of the candidates are a bit more in love with the sound of their own voice than others ;) but the sheer amount of business that must be carried out in two days makes it necessary that the president keep things moving. The position of moderator concludes with the convention sermon, they all have different skills in this regard, but hopefully any of them would be well-prepared and ready to bring God’s word to the convention.

Second, the SBC president nominates the committee on committees. Once upon a time, this was probably the most significant part of the job. Now that the convention as a whole is solidly conservative, and full of inerrentists, most likely all of the candidates would appoint all conservatives to this position. (An aside: I am thankful to God for those who figured out the significance of this and led to the conservative resurgence.)

Third, the convention president largely serves as spokesman and ambassador to the media for the entire denomination. It would be impossible to be a spokesman for the entire group of millions of Southern Baptists. As I stated earlier, we are a very independent group, and only joined because we choose to cooperate. This part of the job is significant because the media does not understand the nature of our convention. So we need an apt spokesperson. I have heard Frank Page say repeatedly that he was approached by all the major presidential candidates and asked for an endorsement. There are many other people who to some degree speak on behalf of Southern Baptists. That is essentially Richard Land’s job description, and to a large degree Al Mohler does the same thing. But there will never be a true replacement for the SBC president. This is the part of the job where the candidates truly begin to separate themselves. This is also one of the reasons that the megachurch pastors have a leg up on the field in most cases.

At this point, for me, the election is down to Frank Cox, Johnny Hunt, and Avery Willis, in no particular order. You basically have one more day to lobby me for your candidate, or disagree with my analysis in the comments. Feel free to do so.

Also as a bonus, here are links to the candidates interviews with Baptist Press

Frank Cox

Johnny Hunt

Avery Willis

Les Puryear

Bill Wagner

Wiley Drake