SBC Update

I’m tired tonight!  After a weekend trying to keep up with the youth at the Creation Museum and now trying to keep up with my three young kids the last couple days here in Louisville, I am tired.  But I am also excited!

Today has been the best day in my experiences at Southern Baptist annual conventions.  It got off to a rocky start with a crazy report from the Executive Committee that was just irresponsible.  Despite theological disagreement with someone, I have to be honest with their position and represent it well.  Needless to say that didn’t happen for of my brothers and sisters this morning.

Things got worse as Mark Driscoll apparently became the anti-Christ and all of those those associated with him became vilified to the point of needing to have them investigated.  As I have said before, I do not agree with everything that comes out of “that fella’s” mouth (sorry, had to be there today!).  Nevertheless, my disagreements are on secondary issues.   I can wholeheartedly affirm Driscoll’s grasp of the gospel and the passion with which he reaches the lost.  But many apparently can’t because of sins he’s already publicly confessed and repented of. 

With a fear of what the rest of the convention would hold, I drove to Sojourn Community Church.   There I had to move a stack free books to sit down and eat a Chick-Fil-A lunch purchased by Dr Johnny Hunt himself.   As I ate the best chicken sandwich in the world, I listened to Daniel Montgomery, Daniel Akin, Ed Statzer, Albert Mohler, Mark Dever and David Platt talk about the future of the SBC.   It was here that my fear turned to hope.  Here were humble men who clearly loved Southern Baptists, but loved God more.  So much more that they would do almost anything for his Church – the one for which his Son died.

The practical wisdom and evident concern for God and his will caused me to long for something better for my life, my church, and the SBC.

After more odd resolutions were presented for all manner of things (like officially adopting the Christian flag as some sort of denominational banner), I was still holding my breath for the evening vote.  It was then that that we would discuss and vote on the motion concerning the Great Commission Resurgence. This is the call issued by our convention president and seminary president, Daniel Akin, for our convention to look at better focusing our efforts at winning the world for Christ.

Would the SBC continue to be business as usual, while we decline in reaching the lost, perhaps being bad stewards of Cooperative program dollars in the process?  Or would they trust the leadership of godly men who were calling for a Great Commission Resurgence that would help inspire lay people to share Christ and better serve our missionaries around the world?  After one vitriolic “against” and other less intense arguments for and against, we voted.

This year the Southern Baptists overwhelmingly said we cannot continue to do business as usual and approved the motion for a Great Commission Resurgence task force to be appointed by President Hunt.

There is much work to be done, and no one knows exactly what will become of this Great Commission Resurgence.  Nevertheless, today I was proud to be a Southern Baptist.