SBC 2008
Published: June 13, 2008
Originally posted on EdStetzer.com on Tuesday, June 10:
It seems that my blog was quoted in some surprising places, showing up in the USA Today and other papers this morning. And, as I mentioned earlier, the Associated Press tells me they are following my Twitter feed. I will have to be on my best behavior!
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Many have asked me what I think of today's SBC meeting. Let me tell you. I am encouraged. If you are at the meeting, you heard several things:
- We are struggling and people are now seeing that reality.
- The answer is not more fighting, but a clearer focus on the gospel.
- The divisions are hurting and not helping.
- Younger generations need to be reclaimed.
My friend Ted Traylor has been on the blog. He gave the tremendous nominating speech for new SBC President Johnny Hunt.
He said Johnny would focus on:
- The nations (God's global mission)
- The next generation (young pastors and leaders)
- Uniting the convention.
I've talked to Johnny and have heard his heart and his passion (and was glad to have his permission to share the first official news of his candidacy here on the blog). I believe he will do well and plan to offer him every help I can.
Over dinner tonight, Troy Gramling asked me tonight if I was encouraged. And, I realized that I am-- more than I have been in a while. There is much work to do, but I believe we are a step closer today.
I believe that the convention is speaking loudly and many are listening.
Let me remind you what I wrote earlier at the blog. Since the newspapers only quoted a small part, I will share it with you again:
For now, Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline. Some of you were born into an SBC church; others of us chose it of our own accord. Either way, it is dear to us all. Our responsibility before God is, then, to urgently consider how we should respond. Yes, most of our response should be personal and lived out in our local churches--this is a local church issue. But if we are choosing to partner in this network of churches, and the network is faltering, it will also take some joint action. As such, I offer a few suggestions. We've heard unfamiliar rumblings the last few years. Concerned voices have warned of a day which has now arrived.
Three issues rise to the top.
First, we have to deal with the continued loss of SBC leaders. As we have recently reported in Facts & Trends, we have witnessed a serious (and increasing) depopulation of young leaders at our convention. Also, ethnic leadership remains absent after decades of ethnic change in America. Vacant seats still exist at the SBC table for the ethnic and generational diversity that matches the America we are attempting to reach. The departure by the future leaders of our convention has led to fewer church plants, missionaries, and energetic pastors to lead our faltering churches. We must retain these leaders not because we need them for our churches. We need them to reach the lost whom our churches have yet to touched.
A second issue is the infighting which defines so much of the SBC--its meetings, its churches, and its blogs. It is public knowledge that we do not always settle our differences amicably. The national caricature once again colors many local scenes where First, Second, and even Third Baptist Churches exist in one town because of past infighting. Satan has used our incessant bickering over non-essentials to promote his last great mission on earth--to keep lost people lost.
The communities in which we live simply do not want to hear what we have to say when we can speak kindly to one another. If the focus of every SBC meeting is a new controversy to be debated, new parameters to be narrowed, and new issues to be fought, the trend toward decline will only accelerate.
The third, and most important, issue is our loss of focus on the Gospel. I find it difficult to even say such a thing, but, I believe it to be true. We must recover a gospel centrality and cooperate in proclaiming that gospel locally and globally. David Dockery and Timothy George pointed the way with their helpful booklet, Building Bridges, in last year's SBC messenger's packet. They called for a unity around the Gospel, and the time grows increasingly urgent.
We made good steps toward addressing these issues today.
Read the original post here.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Stetzer. All rights reserved.
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SBC 2008
Published: June 13, 2008
ED STETZER: Many have asked me what I think of today's SBC meeting. Let me tell you. I am encouraged.
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