Why I Am Proud to be a Kentucky Baptist Again

Remember when the GCR task force was controversial?  Remember all the fears and hand-wringing on blogs?  Way back when the GCR was still controversial and nobody really knew what would come of it, the Kentucky Baptist Convention decided to appoint a Great Commission resurgence task force of its own. On Tuesday that task force released its report, and I am proud of it for multiple reasons. We all have labels we place on ourselves.  For me, two of those things are Kentuckian and Southern Baptist.  For the last several years I have been a  North Carolina Baptist.  Now I'm proud to be home and I’m proud that the Kentucky Baptist Convention has done such an admirable thing with this report.  Also you may notice that one of the members of that committee shares a last name with me; that is even more reason to be proud.

I have made no secret on this blog that I love the Cooperative Program and that I believe it is the most effective tool our denomination has constructed to reach the lost.  I also have said that I believe the states keep entirely too much of the CP money.  (In fact when I was a NC Baptist I was strongly considering a motion from the floor that would push that convention toward a 50/50 split.)  One of the things I admire most about the KBCGCR task Force’s report is the quick move to a 50/50 split.  This is a hard decision.  It involves intentionally cutting the budget of every entity in the state convention.

Without the cooperation of the churches willing to give more, this will be even more of a hardship for the KBC.  But I believe that churches will be motivated to make their own decisions to give more knowing that more of their money will reach the mission field .

I applaud the task force.  My church is giving 1 percent more to the CP this year, and I encourage your church to do the same.

A great commission resurgence is not equal to giving more money.  I certainly realize that.  But it is definitely a part.  I applaud Bill Mackey, Hershael York, and the rest of the task force and I give my strongest urging to Kentucky Baptists to show up in Lexington in November and to pass the recommendations.  I will be there.

Recapping the SBC 2010

I was not able to attend the SBC in Orlando this year.  But I was off from work on Tuesday and Wednesday so I was able to watch the vast majority of the proceedings.  Watching it streaming is not at all like being there and having conversations.  But a combination of watching the live stream, twitterfall, and being on the phone with people who were there or who were also watching the stream made for a fulfilling experience. Here are my thoughts

This convention was as close to a single issue convention as I have seen.  Nothing seemed to pop up and get people’s attention.  Everything revolved around the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Report, and for good reason.  It represents some restructuring and hopefully streamlining that should be the proper first step towards a convention that puts more emphasis towards the great commission.

It also seems obvious from the floor debate that the convention was predominantly concerned about recommendation #3 from the committee.  This was the recommendation that I was most concerned about. I am glad the president and parliamentarian took the time to clear everything up.  The lady at the mic was right when she said it felt like we were railroaded.  I appreciate her stepping up and I appreciate the leadership for clearing things up.  There was genuine confusion and I was sitting at my house thinking that it did not seem proper.

The final language that, “designated giving to special causes is to be given as a supplement to the Cooperative Program and not as a substitute for Cooperative Program giving,” is definitely suitable to me.

One thing I know for certain is that the Great commission will have to be emphasized in our churches if we are to slow the decline of our convention.  But I believe the GCR recommendations are a step in the right direction for the convention as a whole.

There was another debate about closing the recordings from the task force for 15 years.  I would have voted with the majority, to close them.

Also, although I missed it, some guy rapped his motion

In other commentary, there was a run-off for president.  I knew I was not attending, so I didn’t study up beforehand on the nominees.  So I can’t make any judgment whatsoever about the new president, Bryant Wright.  I will simply say that I agreed with him mostly in his first press conference.

Finally I will say that Johnny Hunt was a great president, and I believe that he was uniquely qualified to do what was done with the passage of the GCR.  Because of Southern Baptists’ love and respect for Johnny, we trusted him and believed his motivations were pure as he brought together the task force.

I hope to be there in Phoenix next year.

A lesson from the NC State Baptist Convention

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.