What's coming on this blog this week

This will be a 5 post week.  Monday through Thursday posts will center on the same piece of news.  For a heads- up, you can read it here. Then on Friday you will get the standard - best web junk.

Be careful how you read the news pt. 2

Anybody who says that their choice of a news source is unbiased is kidding themselves. Consider this identical story from the Baptist Press and the Associated Baptist Press. I'll bet you can pretty much guarantee which source wrote which story based on the headline alone.

Southern Seminary closing School of Church Music

Southern Seminary combines two schools, creates Church Ministries School

Feel free to make your own commentary from here.  I'll just say that discernment is a gift from God.

Improving Cooperative Program Giving

Yesterday I promised that I would write about how my church, as small as it is, gives so generously to the Cooperative Program. Here is a bit of context before I begin.  LaGrange Park Baptist Church is a small church.  We average less than 100 in Sunday school.  We are in an association of 100 churches.  In our association, there are a couple of churches that are literally 10 times our size .  Last year we led the NSRBA in giving to Annie Armstrong and were close to the top in Lottie Moon giving.  We give 11% of all undesignated gifts to the CP.  (I just realized that this entire paragraph would be gibberish if a non-Southern-Baptist read it.)

What is the key to this giving?  I believe it begins with our pastor.  All preachers say they are committed to missions, but our pastor demonstrates it.  His home plays host to missionaries when a home is needed.  One of his children served as a US/C-2 missionary, another was a NAMB employee for a number of years.  He regularly participates in short-term missions and makes no secret of the fact that he hopes to be able to do mission work after retirement. His view is that if you are not willing to go on missions, the least you can do is to give.

As in all churches, our WMU does a wonderful job of keeping prayer for missions in the forefront.  We have adopted a people group and regularly hear updates about them.

Yesterday I said that one of the reasons I believe mission giving has fragmented in many churches is that the vision of accomplishing smaller tasks is easier to see.  How can you motivate people to give to a Lottie Moon goal that last year was $170 million?  By putting a reachable church goal before the people.  Our church goal is posted all over the church.  In the sanctuary we chart our progress toward that goal.

Probably the most important factor in our church is the fact that we let people know the good their money does.  We show the promotional videos, we participate in mission studies, and we read the missionary moments produced by the mission boards.  Whenever missionaries are available they speak in our church.  There have been at least 10 missionary speakers in our church over the last 4 years. (More if you count military chaplains.)

As for the 11% we give to the CP.  We make it known what a gift to our church does.  This may again come back to the pastor, but his view is that if we ask our people to tithe, the least the church can do is to tithe.  (We also give 5% of our undesignated offerings to the NSRBA.)  When, a few years ago, the state convention introduced their 3 years to add 1% initiative, we just added one percent on the next budget.

People in our church know how the cooperative program works.  They may not have percentages memorized, but they certainly understand the concepts.  They know what their giving does.  And that I believe is the key.

Any of you from my church feel free to chime in and tell me what I left out.

Cooperative Program?

Before I get to the actual point of this post I need to be clear about something.  I do not intend this as a polemic.  I am not writing to unite myself with any movement or to denigrate any movement.  I am merely writing about a trend I see that I am not quite certain how I feel about.  Also, I hinted at my feelings on this topic with a post at Christmas. In 1925 the Southern Baptist Convention put in place the cooperative program (CP).  This simple and brilliant concept has allowed us to become the greatest mission sending organization on the world with about 11,000 Southern Baptist missionaries.  It has made the Southern Baptist Convention the third largest relief organization in the US.  It funds 6 theological seminaries providing solid conservative theological education, and it funds countless other ministries done through state Baptist conventions.

The beauty of the cooperative program is that we can do so much more as a group of cooperating churches than any of us can do alone.  Who has not heard the story of an independent Baptist missionary who had to leave the field and find new funding after his sponsoring church split or simply changed leadership?

Are there problems with the CP?  Sure.  Alvin Reid said it well in his blog:

The Cooperative Program still matters. But simply giving because one is "supposed to" has passed. Momentum is gaining for real accountability and much more effective stewardship. I meet no one who wants to take away from the support of missionaries or the training of ministers. But I meet plenty who say something like these words from one of the brightest young men I know: "In the Conservative Resurgence, many pastors and churches expressed frustration when their giving supported liberal professors in our schools. Now, many I know have the same frustration over giving to a bureaucracy that wastes precious money that could be more focused on the gospel." I remember as a young minister thinking that if the average person in the pew knew some things being taught in our colleges and seminaries, they would want a revolution. Recently, one of the most recognized leaders of our time commented that if the average Southern Baptist knew how every penny of their money was being spent, they too would want a revolution. The category has changed, but the sentiment of dissent is the same.

I agree with the need for much better stewardship of the funds.  I'm especially talking to you, BSCNC.  Only 37 cents of every dollar goes out of the state.  Really; is that the best you can do?  I would strongly support a motion to move the BSCNC to a 50/50 split.  I would even consider making that motion from the floor if I had the proper help and encouragement.  (Sorry, I got a little distracted there)

Churchill famously said "democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried."  This is very much how I feel about the CP.  Even though there are some problems, it is the best method of funding missions.

Having said all of that, there is a trend I have noticed in the last few years.  This trend is the fragmentation of giving.  I see it most in new church plants, but it can be seen in other places as well.  Most new church plants have missions giving at the forefront of their plans.  However, it seems that very often this giving is in the form of specific projects.  Some have goals of planting a certain number of other churches, some say that they will accomplish some project in a place where the gospel is not known, or they will build church buildings in places where believers need the financial support.  All these are things that the CP does, but these will be done through some avenue specific to the particular project.

I know that churches have to have other mission projects besides just the CP.  Recently I attended a meeting in which we talked about a specific ministry project in Bihar India.  This project is part of a partnership with NC Baptist Men and the Transforming India Movement.  I believe in this ministry and will be proud to support it.  I think it likely that our VBS offering will go to this ministry.  (Hopefully our VBS students will be able to drill a well in Bihar.)

Does this make me a hypocrite?  Again, I know that churches have to have other mission projects besides just the CP.  Virtually all local ministries fit this category.  The problem is when they are done as a replacement to the CP.  I am not even saying that these other projects are not worthy or good, but when they replace CP giving we all become less effective.  Why does this fragmentation make us less effective?  Because regardless of where missions funds go, there will be a need for administration.  The more fragmented the giving becomes, the more administration is needed.

One of the things I learned from Baptist history is that one of the reasons our Southern Baptist ancestors separated themselves was a rejection of the mission society model.  The society model was inefficient and overly fragmented.  I do not know why our churches would willingly return to this.

I have one theory on the cause.  I believe it is an easier vision to cast to say, let's raise $5,000 to provide 2 clean-water wells in India, than to say let's give $5,000 to the LMCO when it's unclear exactly what that money will do.  People wonder when Lottie will ever be paid off.  The goal in this type of giving is less clear and more nebulous.  There is no denying that people work harder toward a goal that is reachable.  (Tomorrow I will write about how my church, as small as it is, gives so generously to the CP)

I support church planting but I believe we can plant more churches through the CP.

I support missions giving but I believe we can support more missionaries through the CP.

I would like to hear from some of you whose churches practice this.  Do you think I am wrong?  Is my theory about vision wrong?  Am I just too old-school and beholden to the cooperative program because of how cheap my M.Div was?

Shutting Up

I sat down here at my computer with every intention of writing a post about this and this.  But after reading the comments of both, I realize that there is nothing I can add to the conversation that hasn't been said.  Also, whenever I wade (no pun intended) into the waters of posting about SBC or BSCNC controversies, I find myself very disappointed with the comments section and find that I spend a lot of time moderating.  I may regret even posting this. I will say this one thing as my way of framing the debate:

The most common message I have heard from theological liberals is; "Can't we all just get along?"

One side of the current debate says; "Can't we work together even though we don't get along?"

I think this is a distinction without a difference.

Knowing people I don't really know

I read probably 35 blogs regularly.  (Or at least I subscribe to the feeds of probably that many, though I may not actually read them.) Some of them are my friend's blogs.  I read Adam, Tim, John, and Scott & Briana, because they are my friends.  They are friends from college, seminary and various other place.

Many of the blogs I read are because they are educational, or because I like to think and be challenged.

Then there is this entire other category of blog that I read.  It is well known in Southern Baptist circles as the "SBC Blog".  There are varieties of these blogs written for a variety of reasons.  There are some that I generally agree with and others that I believe are written by those just want to keep trouble stirred up.

In this category there is no one who I have ever met in person.  I only know these people from their blogs.  (Except for some of my former professors.)

Now, here is why I really wrote this post

The other day I read as Bart barber posted this link on his blog, and I thought how horrible that must be.  Of course I prayed to the God of all comfort to comfort those involved.  In the Barber family as well as the Scroggs family.

Then Saturday, Bart posted this.  I've never met Bart.  He's commented on this blog 4 or 5 times, I've commented on his a couple.  After reading this, I truly felt like I knew him, and I felt empathy.  I guess I'm writing this post to say you should read it as well.  Maybe just trying to express my sorrow as well.  I'm not really sure why I'm writing this.

Missions Week on my Blog

This week is the week of Prayer for international Missions and the beginning of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering emphasis.  In honor of that, I will also make it missions week on my blog. Here is what to expect. Monday: I will have a short post about the IMB commissioning service I attended at the BSCNC

Tuesday: Part one of the story of my missionary summer, 1995.

Wednesday: Part two of that story

Thursday: A poll and a question about Southern Baptist giving that I am extremely curious about

Friday: Best web junk (no need to mess with a formula that works)

Big News at the BSCNC

Earlier today I twittered that I think I'm voting to split our convention.  Here is why. Actually, I think I’ll start with a bit of background for those of my readers who have no idea what I’m talking about.

The Southern Baptist Convention underwent a theological shift during the 1970s through mid-1990s. Before this period, the convention was headed in the same direction as the mainline protestant denominations. This theological shift took place over the inerrancy of scripture, although it manifest itself in many different ways. Let me say that differently. On the 1970’s the SBC leadership was strongly leaning away from a view of scripture as inerrant. During this period, conservatives, those who would say that the Bible is true in all that it declares, began an effort to return the convention to its roots. They were ultimately successful, and today the Southern Baptist Convention is a thoroughly conservative denomination. And I, for one, am grateful to those who were involved in that process. At the end of this process, many theological moderates left the SBC and formed their own convention, known as the CBF.

This same battle took place in the vast majority of state conventions as well. However, for a variety of reasons, it had differing success in different places. In Virginia, Texas, and Missouri, the conventions actually split and the conservatives left to form their own state conventions. North Carolina has been able to remain united partially because of giving plans.

What are giving plans? In 1925, Southern Baptists developed the Cooperative Program. (CP) The CP is simply a method of sharing in mission work by pooling money from the 42,000 SBC churches. Each church sends a portion of its gifts to its respective state convention, the conventions in turn, use a portion for missions and ministry and send a portion to the SBC for missions and ministry. This combined amount makes the SBC able to send some 12,000 missionaries around the world, operate 6 seminaries, and do more than I can list in this paragraph.

Within North Carolina there were churches along the theological spectrum that wanted to contribute to state missions but not to SBC missions. Some want to send part of their money to the SBC and part to the CBF. Giving plans were created in order to facilitate the desires of everyone, and they essentially created confusion.

So today, the last item of business was to get rid of all of the giving plans and replace them with a single plan which had options. A church could still designate funds to the CBF, or it could exclude the SBC, but it was all done under one plan. It was essentially the same thing, but done in a much less convoluted way.

Sorry about that lengthy background passage, here is the news of the day:

When the motion was presented, messenger Matt Williamson, pastor of Oak Forest Baptist in Fletcher (ht - Biblical Recorder for that info) immediately asked it be amended to exclude the CBF. (Actually there was some confusion, but that was the point of his ammendment) That means that if the amendment passed, there is no way for a church to give to the CBF through the BSCNC. In other words, CBF churches would be effectively shut out of the state convention. If they still wish to give to both CBF and BSCNC they would have to write two checks. No big deal it sounds like, but they would now have to go out of their way to support the state convention and the CBF. It would be a formal severing. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of discussion both for and against the amendment.

What did I do? My heart was definitely with the amendment, but I had a fear that it the amendment passed, the unified giving plan would fail and we would be exactly in the same place as we began; a largely divided convention with a horrible system of giving.

Someone finally called the question and it came time to vote. We took two sight-votes (raise your ballots and see if any side clearly wins), but it was obviously very close. So we cast ballots. The amendment passed four-hundred sixty-something to three-hundred-something. Less than 1,000 total. If anyone had suspected that would occur there would have been many more messengers.

Oh yeah; What did I do? I voted for the amendment.

After the amendment passed, the motion to move to one, CBF-less giving plan passed overwhelmingly.

I don’t want to get into prophecy, but this seems to have been the death-knell of the CBF in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Here is the Baptist Press story about the convention

BSCNC Tuesday

Brace yourself for the world's boringest blog post Today everything at the convention went so smooth it is unbelievable.  We were an hour ahead during the morning sesion.  There was no more than one nominee for any officer position, there was no discussion on any piece of business and there was no miscellaneous business. 

We were out for our lunch break at 11:00

After lunch the session was just as smooth.  We got out 15 minutes early.  It is truly amazing, I've never seen a group of baptists get together and have no discussion on anything.  There were breakout sessions in the afternoon, one at 3:15 and one at 4:15.

I attended the session led by Mark Dever on the future of the church.  I'll try to sum up a 45 minute lecture in 2 sentences.  Here goes... The church is going to lose the culture war.  The church will survive by being distinct from the culture.  It's probably unfair to do that, and horrendously oversimplified, but I saved you a trip to Greensboro.

Then I attended a listening session for the proposed changes to the giving plans.  I have always been opposed to the giving plans in North Carolina.  (Which allow the churches to taylor the way they give to the BSCNC.  Even if they exclude the SBC altogether.)  But I was inclined to not support the unified giving plan going in because it is still pretty customizable, and you can still exclude the SBC.  But the committee that put together the new giving plan put my mind to rest.  They spoke with passion and respect for one another.  And it seemed truly bathed in prayer.  I will vote yes tomorrow.

I skipped the final evening session, and am writing this post as it is going on. 

Tomorrow will not be nearly as smooth.  We have a biannual budget to vote on, and the giving plan.  there will definitely be discussion.

Thanks for reading.

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.

SBC Pastor's Conference Day 2

This week’s posts are going to not strictly be a summary of the Southern Baptist Convention.  They will contain the summary but they will also be a bit of a travelogue of my personal adventures.  If all you want is a summary I recommend one of the other SBC blogs, with the political, or tonal slant of your choice.  They are all out there.  Also, I'm typing these on a janky old laptop at the end of the day, so if there are extra typos and less links than usual, please ignore that.  Now, without further ado, I present SBC 2008 pt.1

I got to Indianapolis on Saturday night around midnight.  My brother and his wife live in Lafayette IN and I’m staying with them.  So Sunday I got up and went to his church, then we spent the rest of the day just visiting and being drooled on by his giant dog.  I never even considered going to the first day of the pastor’s conference.  I considered Sunday as a vacation day.  Monday morning I got up, got ready and headed into Indy.  It is about an hour drive and I had an errand to run, so it was after 10 before I got there.  Then it took me quite a while to find a parking place.  By the time I made it to the convention hall and registered for the convention the last speaker of the morning was already on.  I toured the exhibit hall not really stopping anywhere, just getting the lay of the land and looking for people I knew.  I did go ahead and buy a new Baptist Hymnal in the convention edition for our Music Director.  Otherwise I was just roaming. 

I called and met my great-uncle, Don Mathis, for lunch.  Then we went back for the afternoon sessions. 

The afternoon included messages by Dr. Jimmy Draper, Rev. Bill Stafford, Dr. James MacDonald and a special guest.  James Draper is always a good speaker, and this message on revival was no exception.  He said that he was talking about something he knew nothing about.  And none of us knew anything about it, because nothing like it had happened in our lifetime.  I think many of us genuinely want to see a great awakening like in the days of Whitefield.  I certainly do.

Bill Stafford was one of the most entertaining sermons I have ever heard.  I wish I could quote all the great things he said.  You just have to trust me, he was wonderful.  And he said he was, “So saved it’s pitiful.”    

The next scheduled speaker was sick and didn’t make it.  And apparently word got out about who the guest speaker would be, because the convention hall filled.  In his place, straight from practice Tony Dungy, came in.  He only spoke for about 10 minutes but it is very nice to see some in the public eye who appears to be genuine in his faith.  I appreciated his time.

The final speaker of the session was James MacDonald.  He spoke on repentance, and the need for it.  In fact he said that revival was a simple as “repent!”  His message was punctuated by the fact that it pouring rain outside and thundering.  He would often say “repent” and be punctuated by a loud thunder clap.  It was quite a good message.

At the dinner break, I went back to Lafayette, mostly because there was a break in the rain, and I wanted to get back to my car while I had the chance, but also because the next two days will be so hectic and punctuated by a 3:30 a.m. trip to the airport. 

I probably saw a dozen people I knew and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Don’t forget you can watch tomorrow and Wednesday’s sessions at sbcannualmeeting.net

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

Am I the Key Vote?

One of the major concerns we hear about in Southern Baptist life is the lack of “young leaders.”

You often read that people under age 40 feel somehow alienated by the processes of the SBC. I am under 35, and seminary educated, but I don’t feel either jaded or disenfranchised with the processes of the SBC.

I have no idea what all the commentators mean by “leader” but I’m pretty sure I don’t qualify on that front. I’m the youth minister at a small church, and I have no ambition to ever preach the convention sermon, but I do want to see the Southern Baptist Convention be the best it can be. I obviously am a blogger, (hopefully the stigma from that label is gone now) and I read a handful of SBC blogs. Some I agree with, some I don’t. I would very much like to one day earn my PhD and my readers already know I want to be a certified apologetics instructor. It would be great to have a bunch of readers on my blog, but this blog is too often about fishing to ever catch on in a big way. So, surely I am not a “leader.” All I want is to bring glory to God in whatever position He puts me. And if that means being a youth minister to 10 kids, then hopefully I can help them to grow closer to Christ and have an impact on their world.

Despite not being a “young leader” I believe I am the very person that many people are concerned about. As an under 35, seminary educated, Southern Baptist, I am interested in what happens, and deeply concerned with the baptism decline. I hope this doesn’t sound arrogant, really I just believe I fit the mold. I’m sure there are many like me.

I will be attending the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, and I can honestly say that I do not know who I will be voting for for president. There are 6 candidates. (<update>I am only seriously considering 3 </update>of them.) I am genuinely undecided. This is your opportunity to lobby for my vote. Use the comments to convince me that your choice for SBC president is the one who will best lead the convention.

Here are some things you may want to know about me before you begin your defense. Some of this is a repeat.

• I am a blogger
• I read many of the SBC blogs
• I am not a 5-point Calvinist
• I am not afraid of the 5-pointers (i.e. I don’t believe they are going to destroy the convention)
• I admire all of the candidates for president
• I admire some of them more than others ;-)
• I can see nothing but evil coming from consuming alcohol
• I really like the BFM 2000
• I do not think megachurch pastors as presidents are bad for the convention
• I do not think you have a to be a megachurch pastor to be a great convention president
• I believe the cooperative program is the best funding device ever conceived for evangelizing the world
• I believe that almost every state convention keeps too much CP funds (I’m talking to you BSCNC)
• I believe that money sent directly to the SBC should count as CP giving (see the above item)
• Did I mention that I believe consuming alcohol is pretty much indefensible
• I am very disturbed by the baptism decline
• I believe that the baptism turnaround will happen on the church level not the convention level
• I am concerned about regenerate church membership. We should be honest about the size of our churches and convention

Let the lobbying begin

News That Bothers Me

I saw this news story today:

NASHVILLE, Tenn., 4/23/08 -- The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches fell for the third straight year in 2007 to the denomination’s lowest level since 1987. Although the SBC added 473 new churches and gave more than $1.3 billion to support mission activities around the world, there’s no escaping the disappointing fact that Southern Baptists are not reaching as many people for Christ as they once did, according to Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, which gathered the information on the denomination’s behalf…Read the rest of this press release here.

I don’t know if I have anything interesting to say on this subject and I’m sure I have nothing new to say. But I do want to get some thoughts out there. And thank you for reading.

I love the Southern Baptist Convention. I love my church. And when I see news like this I want to cry.

I know that the SBC is not equal to the church. And I know that Jesus didn't say, "Upon this rock I will build my denomination." I also know that there are many good churches of other stripes, but this feels like a kick in the teeth. I’ll restate it. The churches of the SBC baptized fewer people for the third straight year.

Without getting into why I am a Southern Baptist or analyzing lots of potential problems (others will do a great job of that), here is what I see. The tragedy is that we are officially now losing the war for souls. More church members are reaching less people. Which means, simply put, more people will die and spend forever in hell.

I also know that the problem cannot be fixed on a national level or with better leaders. Nobody could do a better job calling for revival in evangelism than Frank Page or Bobby Welch. It must be fixed by individual Christians. Take this test.

• Do I know somebody who doesn’t know Jesus?
• Do I know somebody who doesn’t know Jesus that I haven’t witnessed to?
• Do I love this person?

If you answered yes to these questions, you are officially part of the reason for this news story. I have been deeply convicted lately that I don’t witness enough. And I wanted to share.

BTW: If you are reading this and don’t know Jesus please read here or here

Feel free to comment.