A Heads Up in Greensboro
Well, Sharon and I have just returned from the SBC annual meeting. I confess it was more spirited than I’ve seen it in the past couple of years; a welcomed change if you ask me! Complacency and apathy are two of our greatest enemies. It’s a good thing to debate among the fellowship as long as we remember that we are brothers and sisters fighting the same war.
Many will have read the papers and received the slanted view of the media. Perhaps you are thinking that the conservative resurgence has taken a blow and is in great danger of slipping back down the slippery slope of liberalism. Such is not the case. That danger does exist and always will. Greensboro, however, was a family meeting where we, who have settled the matter of Biblical authority, took a hard look at some other issues. Can we have differing views of sovereign grace and still maintain fellowship? Will we hold fast to our evangelistic and global missions calling? Will we be faithful and held accountable to supporting the Cooperative Program that has united us for over seventy-five years? And, are we willing to trust a new generation of Southern Baptist leaders to lead into the twenty-first century? These are not easy questions, but they do not in any way reflect where we were twenty years ago!
I do, however, believe that Greensboro was a “heads up.” It was a clarion call to watch out for excesses and a tendency for everyone to just do what “seems right in his own eyes.” To march together, an army must have a shared objective and obey its orders. It’s never “every man for himself.” It’s the mission! The Southern Baptist Convention is an army and the churches are the units who cooperate in fulfilling the Lord’s Great Commission. But, if we don’t march together, battles will certainly be lost, and God may well raise up another army to win His war.
We have some who want to make Calvinism (either pro or con) a test of fellowship. Others want to make a specific percentage given to the Cooperative Program the litmus test. Still others are promoting “freedom in Christ” and are being countered by those who hold to traditional Baptist values. And, somewhere in all this, there is an obvious struggle for new leaders to rise to the top. These are real issues, and they are not going away! But, don’t lose site of the fact that they are also issues that are being evaluated biblically and cooperatively by Baptist who are in the midst of recapturing their mission and their destiny.
I have no doubt that there are some out there who will think that there is a fracture in the conservative resurgence. They will begin to look towards San Antonio as an opportunity to recapture the SBC and make it more moderate and inclusive. To those I say, “Beware!” Brothers may differ and they may tend to scrap with one another, but “Katy bar the door” should anyone launch an attack from the outside. You will see them come together and fight with a fervor that only flesh and blood can inspire. We are more intent to stand upon the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God than we have ever been. We will work through our issues, but we will not go back to the past.
How impressed I was at the meeting in Greensboro when we had just gone through a trying business session. Then, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a moving address and at the conclusion, messengers spontaneously broke into song; “God bless America…” It was sweet harmony indeed, a harmony of purpose and resolve. And, that’s where we must be headed. Not just laying our differences aside, but standing upon the Word, respecting one another, and working through our differences to achieve balance as we take the Good News to our communities and to the world. It is a calling we must not ignore.
May the Lord make it so… both in the SBC at large and in our own church.
Many will have read the papers and received the slanted view of the media. Perhaps you are thinking that the conservative resurgence has taken a blow and is in great danger of slipping back down the slippery slope of liberalism. Such is not the case. That danger does exist and always will. Greensboro, however, was a family meeting where we, who have settled the matter of Biblical authority, took a hard look at some other issues. Can we have differing views of sovereign grace and still maintain fellowship? Will we hold fast to our evangelistic and global missions calling? Will we be faithful and held accountable to supporting the Cooperative Program that has united us for over seventy-five years? And, are we willing to trust a new generation of Southern Baptist leaders to lead into the twenty-first century? These are not easy questions, but they do not in any way reflect where we were twenty years ago!
I do, however, believe that Greensboro was a “heads up.” It was a clarion call to watch out for excesses and a tendency for everyone to just do what “seems right in his own eyes.” To march together, an army must have a shared objective and obey its orders. It’s never “every man for himself.” It’s the mission! The Southern Baptist Convention is an army and the churches are the units who cooperate in fulfilling the Lord’s Great Commission. But, if we don’t march together, battles will certainly be lost, and God may well raise up another army to win His war.
We have some who want to make Calvinism (either pro or con) a test of fellowship. Others want to make a specific percentage given to the Cooperative Program the litmus test. Still others are promoting “freedom in Christ” and are being countered by those who hold to traditional Baptist values. And, somewhere in all this, there is an obvious struggle for new leaders to rise to the top. These are real issues, and they are not going away! But, don’t lose site of the fact that they are also issues that are being evaluated biblically and cooperatively by Baptist who are in the midst of recapturing their mission and their destiny.
I have no doubt that there are some out there who will think that there is a fracture in the conservative resurgence. They will begin to look towards San Antonio as an opportunity to recapture the SBC and make it more moderate and inclusive. To those I say, “Beware!” Brothers may differ and they may tend to scrap with one another, but “Katy bar the door” should anyone launch an attack from the outside. You will see them come together and fight with a fervor that only flesh and blood can inspire. We are more intent to stand upon the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God than we have ever been. We will work through our issues, but we will not go back to the past.
How impressed I was at the meeting in Greensboro when we had just gone through a trying business session. Then, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a moving address and at the conclusion, messengers spontaneously broke into song; “God bless America…” It was sweet harmony indeed, a harmony of purpose and resolve. And, that’s where we must be headed. Not just laying our differences aside, but standing upon the Word, respecting one another, and working through our differences to achieve balance as we take the Good News to our communities and to the world. It is a calling we must not ignore.
May the Lord make it so… both in the SBC at large and in our own church.
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