A convention with no controversy is boring. This year I attended Tuesday only. I had obligations on Monday that kept me away from the pastor’s conference, which I’m sure I would have enjoyed. There was really only one major piece of business this year; amending and restructuring of the constitution. Most of the changes were for streamlining purposes and it was not controversial. For example, we renamed the annual session the annual "meeting." (Exciting huh?) The election of officers was completely uneventful. Only one ballot was even necessary (CJ Bordeaux was elected as second VP), as President and first VP were unopposed. (In slightly related news, my great-uncle, Don Mathis, was elected as president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.) Even the budget, which involved substantial cuts, only had a few comments from the floor.
Compare this to last year, when we were doing away with giving plans, or to ’07 when we were defunding the colleges as they began electing their own trustees. Those years had a different feel to them. In a year like this when everything is routine, we are simply going about our business controversy free.
I almost titled this post Baptists like to Argue. At a business meeting where everything is cut and dried you begin to hear people say things like “this thing was railroaded,” or “they are just going to elect who they want.” It’s weird; it’s almost as if we are creating controversy where there is none. In this case I know that is it. We in NC are too recently past the major controversies to be organized. It ought to be a reason for celebration. Hooray, we are controversy-free! But instead it’s boring.
I must confess, I am as guilty of this as anyone else. I think the controversy is interesting. I bet that next year’s SBC is the best-attended in a while. Not just because it’s in Orlando and we can sneak out to Sea World (not Disney though ;-) ), but because of the controversy that seems to be swirling around the GCR Task Force.
That’s my two cents. I’m glad we are not fighting, but it’s not nearly as interesting as the controversy. Maybe next year I’ll make a motion for some controversy. I already have one in mind.