Bit o’heaven

We gathered from all over the globe for the 20^th Baptist World Congress this summer in Honolulu.

We are members of conventions and unions—such as the Baptist General Convention of Texas—affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. We arrived from scores of nations, speaking a symphony of languages and reflecting a rainbow of skin tones. We assembled in a spirit of Christian love and goodwill. We sang, listened to sermons, prayed, made new friends and talked about many of the most significant spiritual and moral issues affecting our planet today.

Of course, the Hawaiian islands are lovely. Temperatures this time of year vary from lows in the mid-70s to highs in the mid-80s. I know; I know: Texas topped the century mark day after day while we were away. The Hawaiian landscape is lush and green. The people are friendly and gracious.

But the main reason we experienced a bit of heaven was how we felt when we praised God together. For more than 30 years, I’ve earned my keep by using words to convey the world of faith, particularly the Baptist corner of it. So, my inability to tell you how it feels to sing praises with people from so many lands in so many languages frustrates me to no end. But if you had joined me and watched the tears stream down my cheeks, you would have known. Besides, you would have felt it, too.

At the BWA Congress, I understood why so many biblical images of heaven depict singing praises to God. All people were created to praise and glorify God. And when we assemble with sisters and brothers from around the globe and sing, I can imagine the eternal joy we will experience when we all get to heaven.

Likewise, in a more earthly mode, we were up to heavenly good when we planned together how we will spread the gospel and meet deep human need, as well as when we expressed Christian unity in the bonds of love.

As a Baptist from the United States, I particularly enjoyed the BWA meeting because the strife and rancor that has marked our sector of the Baptist world for several decades is both absent and irrelevant. Hallelujah!

Baptist Standard Managing Editor Ken Camp and I attended the Baptist World Congress specifically so we could help tell the BWA story by writing articles on all that transpired in Honolulu. (We offset much of the expense by cashing in accrued air miles to cover some of our flight expenses.) We teamed up with our New Voice Media partners from the Religious Herald in Virginia and Associated Baptist press to provide most of the coverage that came out of the BWA news office.

You can read those articles on this website. Many of them rotate down the center of the homepage. To see all of them, click the “Baptists” link on the right side of the homepage.

Meanwhile, I’m going to take a week of vacation.

Aloha and mahalo!