I just returned from the Southern Baptist Convention gathering at Indianapolis, Indiana.
This is the first SBC meeting I’ve attended since the 1980s in Los Angeles. Sorry Southern Baptist forefathers for not being there all these years. In my defense, I was on the mission field for 14 of those years.
Here’s the confessional – all those other years – I just didn’t want to be there.
During each SBC convention I would wait in fear to see if the headlines would lampoon us for a reactionary resolution that had been passed after a protracted debate about some social ill that deserved condemnation.
Or I would have to answer my evangelical non-SBC friends who would learn through the media about all the gory details of a un-Christ-like battle between competing Southern Baptist factions. So, while I’ve stayed away from the annual meetings, I’ve never ceased to invest in Southern Baptist missions personally and financially.
My pious excuse is, I want to proclaim and live the message not debate it – not fight those who need to hear it. Yep, it is a cop out.
I’m like many children of Southern Baptists who have no interest in the whoop-la of denominational elections and debates and motions and amendments and points of order.
So this little entry is for those of us who want a reason to not only hang on but also to invest in evangelical missions through our SBC denominational wineskin. Nope its not the only way. Yep - there’s many other awesome missional wineskins. This is not to decry any of those nor to deify this one. This is to say, here’s at least three great reasons!
Why Invest in Missions through Southern Baptists?
Three reasons: Missional Priority, Grace, and Hope.
Missions Is The Priority – Yes I’m biased. The reason Southern Baptists got together in the first place and decided to cooperate was for the high cause of spreading the Gospel among all peoples. Even though we were born through the shameful era of slavery in our nation, Southern Baptists were born out of a burden to spread the message of hope around the world.
Missions is how we started. Missions is where we are strongest. And missions is why we must continue.
Al Gilbert, pastor of Calvary Baptist in Winston-Salem, gave a challenging message that urged us to take a missional “death check.” This year he received a frightening diagnosis, which drew him to a serious look at his own frailty. Initially doctors were convinced that Al’s prognosis was limited to a few years. He was forced to ask if his life was being spent according to God’s values. Al asked us all to “take a death check.” Are we living, as if we have only a day, or five years to live? Are we doing the important things?
He pointed out that two thirds of the world lives on the “right side of the map” (the eastern hemisphere). Yet our attention is mostly focused on a small portion of the lesser-populated “side” of the map (north western hemisphere). Al hit us between the eyes regarding our missional priorities.
The International Mission Board’s presentation was the most culturally relevant and edgy presentation that I saw all week. Of course, I’m biased.
Melissa Smith, a 25 year old Xtreme missionary in Peru spoke of her experiences in a remote Peruvian village. Melissa was able to see God’s power displayed through her ministry to a young pregnant villager who dealt with an overwhelming moral dilemma.
Robert Lane, a 20-something college student told of his experiences living a crop-duster-flight and 12 hour canoe-ride and trek into the remotest areas of the Amazon jungle. God used Robert’s dedication to impact a village physically, socially, and spiritually.
Video journalism enabled us to walk with Robert into that experience and to watch his hand-off of that ministry to two single females who have replaced him there, remaining to minister in the jungles even now. No running water. No electricity. Nothing but a hammock. This is not compound missions. This is hard-core!
The challenges and opportunities have never been more available to Southern Baptists seeking to impact the world. Go missions as priority!
Grace - What I hated about previous conventions was all the fighting and triviality. I sensed a breath of fresh air during this meeting. Grace seemed to be more apparent than I suspected. That’s right – Grace.
There were amendments and proposals and reactions during debates. But, it would appear that Grace prevailed. One failed amendment to a resolution would have urged all California Southern Baptists to pull their children out of public schools. Give me a break! Fortunately that move failed as someone gave the strong admonition that we are to be witnesses to the culture, not extract ourselves from the culture. Another person made the point that we dare not underestimate the powerful witness of our children in the public schools. Hurray! Grace rather than ridicule prevailed.
So, I’m encouraged that Southern Baptists showed the Grace of heavenly Father who died for all peoples to hear and know the truth! Go Grace!
Hope – And here’s where I found hope. There were two or three great missional leaders with whom I’m personally familiar who could have done fine as President. Without controversy or fanfare, the first ethnic minority representative was elected to the role of President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Johnny Hunt is an indigenous American, Pastor of First Baptist, Woodstock, and a dear friend who came to Christ out of a rough life of pool halls and rabble-rousing.
He’s an unpretentious, fiery preacher who exudes GRACE. He’s full of it – grace that is. There’s no one more kind-hearted and loving and gracious. He’s about the most friendly, approachable guy you could ever meet.
When pressed by reporters on controversial issues, he chose the path of Grace. He’s invested his life in the pastorate and in his free time, he has invested in broken ministers. That’s right – he and his wife have sacrificially invested themselves in caring for pastors and staff who have been used up by churches and spit out broken. He houses and ministers to and hangs with pastors who have been broken by marriage breakups and personal, spiritual, and/or moral failure.
Johnny is also passionate about missions – he lives it out through radical involvement personally and as a leader of missions within his congregation. What I say about Johnny isn’t hearsay – I have first-hand experience with Johnny. I’ve watched him and participated with him as he mobilizes, equips, and invests in international missions.
It’s hard not to love Johnny because even if you are against him, he loves you back! For me, hope is found both in our outgoing president, Frank Page, and in our current president, Johnny Hunt. Both of these fine men, for me, embody hope, grace, and a priority of missions.
If you read Johnny’s interviews you see the grace in his response,
Hunt said he hopes to represent that view of Southern Baptists to the broader public as well. He lamented that, in their support for conservative issues in the “culture war,” Southern Baptists “oftentimes … come across as only what we’re against.”
His comments also indicated his commitment to investing in the children of Southern Baptists who just don’t get the denominational thing. Hallelujah.
I know that I’m looking at this cup as half full. I know that we have many issues to address. I know that we are a denomination of sinners saved by grace. And I’m not at all convinced that we are committed enough to missional priorities.
However, I did come away from a week of Southern Baptist meetings with at least three reasons to hang on to, and invest in this denominational wineskin:
Missional priority, Grace renewed,
and Hope.