Draper, Rankin address younger pastors meeting

Posted: 6/13/06

Draper, Rankin address younger pastors meeting

By Tony W. Cartledge

Biblical Recorder

GREENSBORO, N.C.—In a meeting that did not begin until after 10 p.m., about 175 Southern Baptists attending the Younger Leaders Summit II heard from one younger colleague and several older leaders who came to encourage them.

The meeting, moderated by missiologist Ed Stetzer of the North American Mission Board, was scheduled at the close of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference.

The summit followed up a similar meeting held just before the 2005 SBC meeting in Nashville.

“We’re here tonight to celebrate … to pray … to rejoice … to fellowship,” said Stetzer. “That’s our agenda.”

Former LifeWay Christian Resources President Jimmy Draper had sponsored the initial gathering of younger leaders. No provisions for a second meeting were made following Draper’s retirement, but Georgia pastor Marty Duren developed a program, invited speakers and recruited Stetzer to moderate the meeting.

Draper recalled how he had met with more than 800 younger leaders over 18 months, wanting to hear their concerns. “You’ve been heard,” he said.

The 2006 Pastors’ Conference had incorporated ideas gleaned from younger leaders, he said. And nominations for SBC service in the coming year will include more fresh faces, he insisted, noting only three of more than 100 nominees had previous service on SBC boards.

“Keep blogging, be nice, don’t judge motives,” Draper said, “or you’ll become as narrow minded as you think some of us are. Keep an open heart, have a passion for souls, and know we can do more together than we can do ourselves.”

Draper said younger leaders don’t need form a separate, convention-like network. “You already have a convention,” he said. “You can change it. We did.”

Stetzer thanked Draper for “helping us go from a conservative resurgence to a missional resurgence.”

Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board, thanked participants for challenging Southern Baptists’ “static structures” and “compromised integrity.”

“Most of all I thank you for being a kingdom people that engages our culture for Jesus Christ, meeting the needs of the world around us for Jesus Christ,” he said.

Doug Cherry, who works with college students in Pittsburg at Carnegie Mellon University through Mission Service Corps, said he was asked to talk about what college students are asking about Christ today. The answer, he said, is that they aren’t asking about Christ. But that doesn’t mean they are not looking for something or not open to Christ, he said.

Students are looking for “real and honest and accepting community,” he said—not just a friendly church, but deep friendships. Christian students also seek a place for authentic friendship, he said, and don’t always find that in church.

Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Theological Seminary, said he was asked to talk about what has motivated him to remain involved in Southern Baptist life, in hopes that it might encourage younger leaders to do the same.

Iorg said he often has worked in places where there was little SBC influence, but he remained connected with the SBC because “I wanted to be involved with people who believed the Bible and took it seriously, and because I believed they had best mission strategy for reaching the entire world for Jesus Christ.”

The greatest contribution young leaders can make is to “call us to prioritize our mission,” Iorg said. Everyone should know what their mission is and be able to articulate it in one sentence, he insisted. “God give us grace to spend most of our time talking about what is most important, keeping things in proper perspective and moving our convention forward.”

John Avant, vice-president for evangelization with NAMB, said the SBC failed to capitalize on the “Jesus movement” of the 1970s and should be careful not to miss the opportunities offered by a new movement of the Spirit.

To the younger leaders, he said “You’re teaching us not to oppose lost people, but to embrace them.

“I’m a card-carrying member of conservative resurgence,” Avant said, “but we don’t want to just be highly-connected Pharisees. We have to resource you, network you, and multiply you.”

Regarding NAMB ministries, Stetzer said: “You may not think you need us, but we need you. Let us help you take what God is doing where you are to other places and with other people.”

Stetzer invited young leaders at the summit to register with a new “Missional Network” sponsored by NAMB to foster dialogue about better ways of presenting the gospel. The 2007 convention in San Antonio will feature a national meeting of the new network, he said.