LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Southern Baptists both commended President Barack Obama and expressed opposition to some of his policies in a resolution passed June 24 at their annual meeting in Louisville.

A resolution commending Obama for his “evident love for his family” and expressing “pride in our continuing progress toward racial reconciliation signaled by the election of Barack Hussein Obama” as president was one of five resolutions approved by 8,731 messengers.

While the Obama resolution commended him for retaining “many foreign policies that continue to keep our nation safe” it also said Southern Baptists “deplore” his decision to expand federal funding for “destructive human embryo research“; “decry” increased funding for pro-abortion groups; “oppose” any stripping of conscience protections for health care workers unwilling to participate in abortions; and “protest” any effort to “eradicate the symbols of our nation’s historic Judeo-Christian faith from public or private venues.”

The resolutions committee, chaired by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin, considered 26 resolutions during three days of deliberations prior to the annual meeting.

Other resolutions called on Southern Baptists to consider adopting some of the 150 million orphans who “now languish without families” around the world; affirmed biblical positions on marriage and sexual purity; commended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville on its 150th anniversary; and expressed appreciation for Southern Seminary personnel and others who worked on all the details to make the annual meeting run smoothly.

In a later press conference, Akin said the Obama resolution “strikes a really good balance” for prayer for the president, affirming him and making plain disagreements with some of his policies.

Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission who served as a staff resource, said, “Race has been the serpent in the garden of America from the very beginning,” first with Native Americans, then with African-Americans. But, he said, since the racial reconciliation resolution passed by the SBC in 1995, the number of black members in Southern Baptist churches has increased 117 percent to almost 800,000.

“It would have been irresponsible not to speak to the election of the first African-American president,” Akin said. “We could affirm his election without affirming his policies where we have strong, strong disagreement.”

Southern Baptists have gone from being virtually an all white denomination “by choice” in 1970 to about 18 percent minority members now, according to Land.

The sexual purity resolution supports “the biblical definition of marriage as the exclusive union of a man and a woman:” rejects any attempt to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act; urges the U.S. Senate not to pass any legislation that would criminalize “deeply held religious beliefs and speech about homosexuality and other unbiblical sexual practices:” and supports the “current military code barring homosexuality in the military.”
 
 

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—A proposal that could reshape the Southern Baptist Convention received overwhelming approval during the 2009 SBC annual meeting. But relationships with a controversial pastor who is influential among many young SBC pastors drew the attention of multiple motions presented July 23 in Louisville.

Messengers authorized SBC President Johnny Hunt to appoint an 18-member Great Commission task force, which he named the following morning.

The motion mandated the task force to research “how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

“We are living in one of these turning times (of) unprecedented opportunity,” claimed Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, who made the motion to create the Great Commission task force.

The convention must respond to churches’ desire to spread the gospel around the globe and to set loose the younger generation’s passion for missions and ministry, Mohler pleaded.

Also, the time is right for the convention to examine itself in light of its missions mandate, he added. “It is right and fitting for the SBC in every generation to establish a process whereby we ask the hard questions: Is there more we can do? Can we do better?”

Mohler acknowledged some convention leadership resisted the Great Commission proposal but countered: “We have absolutely nothing to fear asking …, ‘Is there more we can do, and can we do even more if we are faithful?’”

Although convention observers questioned whether the Great Commission motion would pass, the vote was so overwhelming, SBC Parliamentarian Barry McCarty said, “Wow!” when messengers raised their ballots in support of the proposal.

The task force proposal was the only one of 31 motions put to a vote. Messengers heard eight motions that directly or indirectly related to a pastor who is not even affiliated with the SBC.

They focused on Mark Driscoll , pastor of 7,000-member Mars Hill Church in Seattle and leader of the Act 29 church-planting movement.

Less than a week prior to the SBC annual meeting, Driscoll was the subject of an exposé in Baptist Press, the convention’s information service. The report focused on his preaching on oral and anal sex, use of profanity and apparent approval of drinking wine.

Of the eight Driscoll-related motions, three were referred to boards of SBC agencies and institutions. They included calls for:

• All SBC entities to monitor and report their “expenditure of funds for any activities related to or cooperative efforts with Mark Driscoll and/or the Acts 29 organization.” The motion was referred to all SBC boards.

• All SBC organizations to “refrain from inviting speakers … who are known for publicly exhibiting unregenerate behavior, including but not limited to speech such as cursing and sexual vulgarity, or who publicly state their support for the consumption or production of alcohol.” This motion also was referred to all SBC boards.

• Trustees of LifeWay Christian Resources to investigate one of their employees, Ed Stetzer, and trustees of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to investigate their president, Danny Akin, and evangelism professor, Alvin Reid. Stetzer has worked with Driscoll in church planting, and Driscoll has preached at Southeastern Seminary. Messengers referred the motion to the boards of LifeWay and Southeastern.

Five Driscoll-related motions were ruled out of order. They included requests that:

• SBC organizations refrain from inviting speakers who are known to be unregenerate and curse, speak vulgarly and support alcohol.

• LifeWay remove books written by Driscoll from its bookstores.

• The SBC “biblically distinguish between consuming alcohol, which is an issue of individual conscience, and being drunk, which is categorically a sin.”

• SBC organizations and affiliated churches “support and partner with other Christian agencies and individuals of like-minded primary theological convictions for the sake of the Great Commission and the glory of God.”

• The Executive Committee invite Driscoll “to address the concerns of his accusers and all other interested parties” when the convention meets next summer.

In addition, the convention referred six other motions to the Executive Committee. They included proposals to:

• Change distribution of SBC world hunger offering receipts to be consistent with Cooperative Program allocations, providing 66 2/3 percent to the International Mission Board and 33 1/3 percent to the North American Mission Board.

• Form a committee to study how to involve more ethnic churches and ethnic church leaders in “serving the needs of the SBC through cooperative partnership on the national level.”

• Consider allowing churches to designate contributions to “particular convention causes” and still consider the money part of the Cooperative Program.

• Revise how funding is allocated to the six SBC seminaries to accommodate enrolment at extension centers away from their main campuses.

• Adopt the U.S. Christian Flag “as a tangible symbol to unify the American believers under one flag to fulfill the Great Commission.”

• Amend Article VI of the SBC Constitution to change how trustees of SBC entities are allocated and selected.

LifeWay Christian Resources received three additional referrals, including requests that the convention’s publishing house:

• Research “more affordable educational alternatives to traditional Christian schools.”

• Mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible in 2011.

• Produce only American-made Vacation Bible School resources.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission also received three referrals. They asked the convention’s public-policy organization to:

• Join with the American Family Association in “calling on the Pepsi-Cola Company to remain neutral in the culture war in our country by refraining from promoting the gay/lesbian lifestyle and agenda.”

• Declare a “Sanctity of Life Year” in the near future.

• Start a petition to “end abortion in America and the funding of Planned Parenthood, along with all other abortion-providing entities.”

The SBC seminaries received a motion calling upon them to publish information regarding the “state conventions or affiliated national conventions from which their ministerial students or master’s-level students originate.”

All SBC entities received a proposal asking them to “submit any action which acts to interpret the Baptist Faith & Message … so that the action may be approved by a majority of the messengers” to SBC annual meetings.

The Order of Business Committee received a motion stipulating that the convention post the American flag, accompanied by an honor guard, at the convention’s annual meetings.

In addition, seven other motions were declared out of order for various reasons. They focused on:

• Prayer for “the safety and welfare of Iranian citizens.”

• Banning “the Holman Christian Standard Bible and any translation that questions the validity of any Scripture passage or verse” from use in convention literature.

• Claims that the world will come to an end May 21, 2011, and the end of the “church age.”

• Banning books by pastors T.D. Jakes and John Hagee, Catholic Bibles, and 90 Minutes in Heaven and The Shack from LifeWay Christian Stores.

• Disallowing use of secular music in any promotional materials produced by the convention.

• Imploring Congress and President Obama “to seek biblical direction with respect to blessing, and not cursing, the nation of Israel.”

• Condemning President Obama for declaring June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Despite membership declines compounded by an apparent generation gap, the Southern Baptist Convention faces a bright future, SBC President Johnny Hunt predicted June 23.

Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., met with reporters shortly after messengers to the SBC annual meeting re-elected him without opposition to a second year in the convention’s top post.

In the two months leading up to the annual meeting, Hunt called for the SBC to embark upon a Great Commission Resurgence as a way to counteract the convention’s malaise. The Great Commission was Jesus’ command to spread the gospel throughout the whole world.

Hunt collaborated with two SBC seminary presidents—Danny Akin of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Al Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—to promote formation of a Great Commission Task Force. That group would study the convention and recommend ways it can change in order to reach more people with the Christian gospel.

The proposal drew resistance from some older SBC institutional leaders and executives of some state Baptist conventions. They expressed concerns about a section of the recommendation that calls for “a commitment to a more effective convention structure.”

Hunt met with reporters later in same the day that Mohler presented the proposal to the convention and Akin affirmed it in a major address, as well as just a couple of hours before messengers overwhelmingly approved the task force.

“I think there is a sense of urgency” about facing the convention’s problems, Hunt acknowledged when asked about the SBC’s two-year drop in membership and scenarios that predict continuing decline.

“Everybody is talking the same talk—that we need this Great Commission Resurgence,” he noted. “We are saying, ‘The times have been desperate, but we have not been.’ But we’re hearing Southern Baptists say, ‘We need to be serious’” about revitalizing the convention and spreading the gospel.

“People are really speaking and sharing their hearts,” he said of the response he received from the Great Commission Resurgence proposal. “I’ve received international calls from missionaries, saying, ‘Don’t get discouraged; stay the task.’”

Hunt admitted he was “a little taken aback” when SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman mentioned him by name in a defense of the SBC status quo against the proponents of the Great Commission Resurgence.

Hunt and Chapman previously discussed the proposal for two hours in what Hunt called “civil communication.” He also had taken pains to reassure alarmed state convention executives, he added.

“I have no desire to touch the structure of the SBC,” Hunt said, noting he does not have authority to reorganize the convention, even if he wanted to.

Changing the convention structure is not his passion, he added. “I understand and respect the process of convention trustees. To try to usurp their authority would be the worst thing in the world I could do. …

“Whether we like it or not, we have allowed a good bit of mistrust to develop in the context of our convention. People feel our words are loaded: ‘What did you mean by that?’ Then you question one another’s intent or motive. Our yes should be yes, and our no should be no. I desire to be a man of character and integrity.”

Asked about his desired outcomes from the Great Commission Resurgence, Hunt mentioned allocating more money to fund missions efforts and also eliminating redundant ministries.

“Is overlap taking dollars that could be placed somewhere else to pierce the darkness with the gospel?” he asked.

The Great Commission Resurgence proposal produced positive results, even before it was put up for a vote, Hunt observed.

Both of the convention’s missions agencies responded with positive actions, he explained. “The North America Mission Board is studying refocusing Great Commission ministry, and the International Mission Board is looking to save dollars,” he said, adding some state conventions also are studying how they fund state and national endeavors.

Also, the proposal attracted a crowd of young adults to the convention meeting, he observed.

“I’m encouraged to see so many young leaders here,” he said, urging the SBC to “move beyond perception and begin to hear the tone of some of these young leaders. I am so encouraged go catch their passion.”

Hunt theorized resistance to the Great Commission Resurgence proposal reflected “a little bit of each”—a generation gap within the convention, as well as disagreements over methodology and church structure, and possibly even disagreements over how Christians should dress in worship and what kind of songs they should sing.

Addressing the generation gap, Hunt called on older Baptists to tune in to the younger generation. “Learn from them,” he said. “Stay abreast of them.”
Southern Baptists will rally to support the Great Commission Resurgence because they love missions, he said, predicting increased giving to the SBC’s Lottie Moon Offering for foreign missions.

“Southern Baptists are passionate about the Great Commission, “ he said. “They’ll rob both Peter and Paul to do the missions.”

Hunt promised to name a “very fair” roster of Great Commission Resurgence task force members. It will include two seminary presidents, a college president, a director of associational missions, three Executive Committee members and pastors of churches of various sizes, and it will reflect ethnic and geographical diversity, he said.

Ultimately, the response to Great Commission action is the prerogative of local churches, Hunt said, expressing confidence in that fact.

“I believe our best days are ahead of us. They can be,” he said. “I believe the Southern Baptist Convention is in a defining moment. We’re saying to our constituents, to 43,000 churches: ‘We need more money for church planting, for the Great Commission, to spur on in evangelism.’”

Responding to questions on other topics, Hunt said:

• Seattle megachurch pastor and non-Southern Baptist Mark Driscoll “stole the show” on the first day of the SBC meeting.

Driscoll and his Acts 29 church-planting movement have attracted a huge national following, particularly among young pastors. But he has drawn the ire of older generations, particularly for his use of profanity and discussion of vulgar topics, grunge dress and acceptance of alcohol use.

Several motions presented from the floor of the convention opposed Driscoll and chastised Southern Baptists for affiliating with him.

“I don’t know him; I’ve never met him,” Hunt said.  “I do know a lot of young men like to follow his blogs and his podcasts.”

Hunt also said efforts to mandate that Southern Baptists shouldn’t work with Driscoll are out of line.

“The entire premise of being a Baptist is thrown under the bus when you start telling someone who they can fellowship with,” he said. “We believe in the priesthood of the believer.”

• Calvinism is “part of our history,” despite some messengers’ condemnation of the theological system named for the 16th century Christian reformer.

“This debate has been alive 400 years,” Hunt said, referencing the longstanding strain of Calvinism in Baptist life. “There are wonderful men and ladies on both sides. The Baptist tent is large enough for both.”

• Inviting President Barack Obama to speak to the SBC meeting would have been “unwise” this year.

Hunt said he was not aware that any invitation had been extended to Obama, even though George W. Bush consistently addressed the convention’s annual meetings through live broadcasts.

“We will have a resolution to really honor our president, especially in context of his being the first African-American person to be elected president,” Hunt said. “We have much to celebrate, but many conservative believers are troubled by his policies. So, it would have been unwise to invite him.”

The convention likewise did not invite Republican political leaders to address this year’s annual meeting “because we want to give our prayer support to our president,” he said.

• U.S. Christians don’t need to be worried about the possibility of being thrown in prison for preaching the gospel or accused of hate crimes for addressing moral issues.

“I’m not overly concerned (about that), especially if our preachers stay in the context of preaching biblical truth,” Hunt said. “But if the day comes when we would be in prison for preaching the gospel, we would join Christians in about two-thirds of the rest of the planet.”

U.S. Christians should not believe political resistance could prevent them from preaching the gospel, especially in light of the testimonies of faithfulness from so many of their sisters and brothers around the globe, he said.
 

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Overwhelming approval of a Great Commission Task Force climaxed 25 minutes of discussion during the Tuesday evening session of Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Messengers authorized SBC President Johnny Hunt to appoint a task force to determine how “Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” The task force is to report its findings and recommendation to the 2010 annual meeting of the SBC in Orlando.

Member of the task forced appointed by Hunt are: Ronnie Floyd of Springdale, Ark., chair; Jim Richards, executive director, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; Frank Page, of Taylors, S.C.; David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.;  Simon Tsoi, IMB trustee from Arizona; Donna Gaines of Cordova, Tenn.; Al Gilbert, Winston-Salem, N.C.; J.D. Greear of Durham, N.C.; Tom Biles, director of missions, Tampa Bay Baptist Association; Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; John Drummond, layman from Florida; Harry Lewis of the North American Mission Board; Mike Orr of Chipley, Fla.; Roger Spradlin of California; Bob White, Georgia Baptist Convention executive director; Ken Whitten of Tampa, Fla.; and Ted Traylor of Pensacola, Fla.

Mohler offered the motion. He told messengers there was no reason to fear asking if there is a better way for Baptists to work together. He called the present “a turning point in history” and said churches need to be more active in getting the gospel to the ends of the earth. 

California messenger Ron Wilson offered a substitute motion calling for the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board each to study how better to reach their respective assignments with the gospel.

The substitute failed after Mohler countered that the thrust of the Great Commission Task Force motion was not to address how the two boards should do their work but how to get the resources needed by the boards.

Jerry Nash of Florida called the motion “a waste of time, funding and other resources.” He charged Southern Baptists no longer are agreed on the “heart of the gospel.” He pointed out 30 percent of seminary graduates are Calvinists, and Calvinists occupy leadership throughout the SBC.

“If we cannot agree that God loves everyone and that Jesus died that everyone may have the opportunity to hear the gospel, how can we expect evangelical churches to support the convention?” he asked.

Former SBC president Frank Page of South Carolina responded that the Great Commission Task Force rose above any single contentious issue. He reminded the messengers that more than 20 years ago, messengers asked the SBC president to appoint a Peace Committee to examine a difficult issue.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Hunt said Southern Baptists face a defining moment in history. Anticipating adoption of the Great Commission motion, he told reporters, “Southern Baptists need a Great Commission Resurgence to reemphasize reaching the lost, to inspire us to do more church plants, to penetrate the darkness of lostness.”

While he has led the charge for the Great Commission Resurgence, Hunt said he has never been alone. He noted an influx of e-mails from international missionaries urging him to “stay the course” in its support.

Hunt said he had no desire to touch the structure of the SBC. He declared his respect for the responsibility of trustees who are charged with directing the various SBC ministries and said he had communicated that position to state executives with whom he had talked.

Hunt said he wanted the Great Commission Task Force to come to its work “at ground zero and begin there.” He added he was encouraged that IMB and NAMB had already started to examine their work to see how more funds could be directed to primary responsibilities.

Still, Hunt said he expects to find overlap of programs and services in the denomination. He called some overlap good. Other overlap, he said, was bad because it takes money that could go to “piercing the darkness of lostness.”

Hunt said he expects to find some state convention models to celebrate. He added that the task force will challenge others to do more.

When asked if a 50–50 division of Cooperative Program funds between state and national conventions was a goal, Hunt said that was a good place to start.

“When can a state convention or a church say: ‘Enough is enough? We are big enough. Now we can give to penetrate the darkness.’”

Hunt said the starting point is with the church. They will be asked to examine their priorities, he said. Associations and state conventions will also be examined as well as the SBC.

In a theme interpretation Tuesday afternoon, Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and author of the Great Commission Resurgence document, urged approval of the task force motion.

“Southern Baptists are compelled to get the gospel to the places where the gospel is not known,” he declared. He added that figures provided by the IMB indicated 1.6 billion people never have heard the name of Jesus.

“That is not acceptable,” he said. “We have to loose the passion of Southern Baptists for the lost.”

In the Tuesday morning opening session of the annual meeting, Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, raised questions about the Great Commission Resurgence proposal.

“Is a Great Commission Resurgence more about the Great Commission than about the Southern Baptists Convention?” he asked.

“Does the Great Commission Resurgence seek to bring together all Southern Baptists—at the national, state and associational level—or does it unnecessarily alienate certain demographics?”

He also questioned whether the proposed task force honored the long-established principles of trustee governance of entities.

Finally, Chapman asked messengers to consider whether the proposal seeks “personal transformation of our hearts or institutional transformation of our structure.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Revival in the Southern Baptist Convention will lead to a Great Commission Resurgence, SBC President Johnny Hunt asserted in his president’s address to the convention’s annual meeting.

Preaching from 2 Chronicles 7:12-16, Hunt noted revival is needed not only in the convention, but also in “the churches and in the hearts of our leaders, including your president.”

Hunt reported he has been fasting and praying with friends for months. “I want to see the Great Commission rise,” he said, noting that it is imperative for the SBC’s future.

Johnny Hunt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., speaks at the SBC annual meeting June 23. (Baptist Press Photo)

He cited results of a recent study by LifeWay Research that indicates the membership of the SBC will drop from 16 million members to 7 million (actually 8.7 million according to a LifeWay press release).

Hunt referenced the Great Commission Resurgence document and motion that later was presented to SBC messengers during the annual meeting. He stressed he has no hidden agenda.

Hunt noted that he went to last year’s annual meeting in Indianapolis not needing “to win  an election” but to be obedient to God’s will.

“When I came here this time, I didn’t come to win a vote. I just came to obey. That is victory,” he said.

Hunt referred to the promise found in 2 Chronicles that God would heal the land if his people would turn from their wicked ways and repent.

“If God’s children will come back to him with their whole hearts for genuine repentance and faith, we will see our nation impacted for and by the glory of God,” he predicted.

That kind of revival, Hunt continued, would lead to a Great Commission Resurgence.

“A Great Commission Resurgence is not about structure. It’s not about trustees. The last thing I want to do is violate policy,” he said.

Rather, he said, the Great Commission Resurgence “is about all of us, starting with  the local church, taking a look  to see if we’re doing the best we’ve every done in our lifetime to fulfill the Great Commission.”

The resurgence then would continue throughout the denomination, from the local association, through the state convention and on to the SBC and its entities, Hunt said.

If such a resurgence happened, it would climax in the kingdom of God, he said.

Hunt challenged SBC messengers to consider what could happen if “every individual took a close look to see if we are doing the best we can do with all (God) has given us” and if every pastor saw his church as a “missionary-sending unit and a church-planting church.”

Hunt observed that if people were more concerned about the spiritually lost condition of the world, money would not be a problem.

“It’s not about us. We ought to be concerned about reaching greater amounts of money for missions because of the lostness of the world,” not because of the payroll of the institutions, he emphasized. “God help us to get a vision of the lostness of the world and then make decisions.”

Hunt insisted Southern Baptists  “do not have a money problem. We have a vision problem.”

He predicted that if Southern Baptists “commit greater amounts to reaching the nations, church planting in America and intentional evangelism in this nation in which we live, the Cooperative Program will rise in such a way that we will think it was a CP resurgence instead of a Great Commission resurgence.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Southern Baptists need to focus less on themselves and their institutions and more on the love of Christ if they hope to make an impact on the world, speakers told the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference.

“The SBC is far too comfortable in a world that is racing toward hell,” said Alvin Reid, professor of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Southern Baptists have reached a “tipping point” in their attitudes toward traditional ways of carrying out evangelism and missions. “We have become so institutionalized that we are more focused on maintaining our institutions than on a movement of God,” Reid said. If financial appeals were more focused on the gospel, he suggested, “people would give like never before.”

Southern Baptists, in the face of massive physical and spiritual needs around the world, have “retreated into our nice buildings, sitting in our comfortable chairs insulated from the inner city and the spiritual lostness of the world, while we design programs for ourselves,” Alabama pastor David Platt said.

If Southern Baptists retreat from their mission, God may “leave us to wander in the wilderness until we die. He has done it with thousands of churches in the United States, and we are fools to think he could not do it with any one of us,” Platt warned.

“The danger,” he said, “is that we have a tendency to craft Jesus in our own image—a nice middle-class American Jesus. And if we do this, then we need to realize that when we gather to worship, we are no longer worshipping Jesus—we are worshipping ourselves.”

SBC President Johnny Hunt said Christians often say that tragic events—like the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the economic depression—are attempts by God to attract America’s attention.  

“But I’ve turned a little,” he said. “I realized God isn’t trying to get America’s attention. He’s trying to get our attention, the church’s attention. … When we begin to conduct ourselves in such a way that we do everything with tenderness and holiness and compassion and full of the love of God, then God will get the nation’s attention. But he’s going to get our attention first.”

Until Baptists demonstrate love for each other, the gospel of love they preach will not attract others, several speakers told the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference.

Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., told the story of a dog food company that had the best marketing and sales staff, but sales were down because dogs didn’t like the product. He asked fellow pastors why Southern Baptists are not reaching more people.

“They don’t like us,” said Brunson, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. “And if you’ll walk out of this room and into the hallway and listen to the conversation, you’ll discover we don’t like each other very much either.”

Christians who do not return evil for evil, nor insult for insult present a positive witness before a watching world, he stressed. Brunson mentioned The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness, written by two women who rose to the top of the advertising business by following a simple philosophy: “It pays to be nice.” He suggested Baptists try that tactic.

“If they don’t like us, they won’t listen to us,” he said.

J.D. Greear, pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, N.C., asked why people are not being won to Christ in large numbers as they once were.
“Over time, religion tends to displace the gospel among God’s people,” he said. “Like a virus, it grows up out of the sinful hearts of men and chokes out the gospel.”

Like the Pharisees of Christ’s day, Christians often see negative traits in others but not in ourselves, Greear said. He listed several ways to know if religion has misplaced the gospel—religious people are obsessed with recognition; they substitute religious ritual for a love for God and over love of others; they elevate secondary traditions above knowing God; they are more aware of others’ sins than of their own; and “they think we’re always talking about somebody else.”

Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, outlined three principles Christians have to live by in order to create “a love-driven unity to unite us in common mission with a common purpose for the glory of God”—walk worthy, display right attitudes and live God’s unity. “The nations need our witness and not our conflict,” Stetzer said.

Anyone who won’t forgive can’t rightly claim to be a man or woman of faith, added Tom Elliff, former SBC president. “Faith is acting on the basis of the revealed will of God,” he said. “If you will not forgive, you are denying the truth that God is sufficient for you.”

Pastor Mike Landry of Sarasota (Fla.) Baptist Church said Christians are playing with fire if they try to share the gospel without a heart for people. Christians should value people and not just see them as a means by which the church can grow, he explained.

“We’ve got to get to the point where we see people as important … If that happened, if we ramped up our missions efforts by maintaining that same love, we would see far more people come to know Jesus.”

A former presidential candidate and a former presidential aide challenged the Southern Baptist pastors to confront cultural collapse.

Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, presidential candidate and host of a Fox News network TV program, challenged pastors to refocus on biblical roles of leadership, both in the family and the church.

“How can we expect God to bless a nation if we violate his order that he created male and female and we get confused what marriage means. … Hear my heart, people have a right to live any way they want, but no one has a right to change the basic definition of marriage, because it’s not changing social instruction. It’s changing the entire picture of Christ and his church.”

And failure at leading and developing roles in the family—the most basic God-given institution—means there is “something horribly amiss in our culture,” Huckabee said.

Charles Colson, former Watergate conspirator turned founder of Prison Fellowship, said America’s current “economic meltdown” can be traced to moral failure of politicians.

Colson warned that the current perilous times provide “unprecedented opportunities for government to expand,” and that limitations on what pastors can say from the pulpit without threat of losing tax exemption or fear of arrest are forthcoming. “Are you ready to say ‘no’ to Caesar when Caesar says you can’t preach what the Bible says we must preach?” he asked.

He referred to “hate speech” legislation that he interprets to mean a preacher could not call homosexual behavior sin, and potential loss of the ability for medical personnel to decline to do abortions.

“As government power expands, inevitably it restricts human freedom,” said Colson, once in President Richard Nixon’s inner circle.

He found positives in recent reports that say 10 percent fewer Americans self-identify as Christians. The same research found an increase to 34 percent in those who self-identify as born-again evangelicals, he said.

“The most critical thing churches can do is disciple members to know what they believe and why they believe it,” Colson said. Referring to the difficult times the United States faces, Colson asked, “What better time to do the best of things, to show people winsomely what we believe?”

Based on reporting by Norman Jameson of the N.C. Biblical Recorder; Robert Dilday of the Virginia Religious Herald; and Jennifer Rash, Grace Thornton & Brittany Howerton of the Alabama Baptist

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Southern Baptist Convention has discontinued its relationship with Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth because of the church’s perceived toleration of homosexual members.

Messengers to the SBC annual meeting dismissed the Fort Worth church in less than 30 seconds, voting overwhelmingly to approve a recommendation by the convention’s Executive Committee June 23.

The recommendation did not specifically mention homosexuality. But that issue has been the backdrop of controversy at the church since late 2007, when a dispute arose regarding whether to include pictures of homosexual couples in the church’s membership directory.

Broadway’s denominational affiliation came under question at last year’s SBC annual meeting. William Sanderson, pastor of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, N.C., asked the SBC to declare the church “not to be in friendly cooperation” with the convention.

The Executive Committee studied the issue this past year and met with representatives of Broadway in February. Then, on the eve of the SBC meeting in Louisville, the committee voted to recommend “that the cooperative relationship between the convention and the church cease, and that the church’s messengers not be seated, until such time as the church unambiguously demonstrates its friendly cooperation with the convention under (constitution) Article III.”

Kathy Madeja, chair of Broadway’s board of deacons, expressed regret regarding the convention’s action.

“We are disappointed with the decision of the Southern Baptist Convention,” she said. “Broadway Baptist Church has been affiliated with the SBC for over 125 years. Our mission at Broadway is and will continue to be consistent with the SBC’s stated enterprise of reaching the world for Christ.

“Like other SBC churches, membership at Broadway is by acceptance of Jesus as Savior and Lord and the experience of believer’s baptism by immersion.”

Broadway still complies with the SBC constitution, Madeja added.

“We do not believe Broadway has taken any action that would justify being deemed not in ‘friendly cooperation’ with the SBC,” she said. “It is unfortunate that the Southern Baptist Convention decided otherwise and has severed its affiliation with Broadway Baptist Church.”

The Fort Worth church has been pastorless most of the past year, since the previous pastor, Brett Younger, joined the faculty of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta.

Brent Beasley, who will begin his tenure as Broadway’s pastor next month, was moving from Memphis, Tenn., to Fort Worth the week of June 22 and unavailable for comment.

Article III of the SBC’s constitution notes that “churches not in cooperation with the convention are churches which act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”

In materials provided to the Executive Committee during its investigation, a Broadway staff member denied violating the SBC constitution, a position later reiterated by the church’s deacons.

“Broadway never has taken any church action to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior,” Jorene Taylor Swift, minister of congregational care at the church, wrote to August Boto, the Executive Committee’s general counsel.

Swift called the assertion that Broadway has violated the SBC constitution “an unsupported and untrue allegation.”

“Broadway Baptist Church considers itself to be in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention and has every intention of remaining so,” Swift wrote.

In fact, the church decided to publish its membership directory “with candid photographs of our members participating in many ministries and activities of Broadway,” she said. “One of the factors in choosing this style of directory was our belief that it does not make a statement to anyone to indicate that Broadway has in any way affirmed, approved or endorsed homosexual behavior.”

Swift’s letter acknowledged the church’s membership reflects “a variety of views” on homosexuality. “Like a number of other Southern Baptist churches, our congregation is trying to understand how to minister to those who are engaged in a homosexual lifestyle,” she added. “Our church has not adopted the position that the Bible condones this behavior.”

A May 21 letter to Boto from Broadway’s deacons addressed what it called “innuendo and gossip” regarding the church’s position on homosexuality.

“We have not denied that we, like most other churches, have a few gay members,” the deacons’ letter said. “We do not inquire about sexual orientation when people present themselves for membership. We do require their profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord followed by believer’s baptism.”

The deacons’ letter confirmed Swift’s statement that the church has not acted to “affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”

“Broadway Baptist Church desires to maintain its longstanding and historic affiliation with the SBC,” the letter said. “We believe our continued association with the Southern Baptist Convention will benefit both Broadway and the convention and further the kingdom of God.

“It is our sincere hope the Executive Committee will recommend Broadway Baptist Church be deemed in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Broadway Baptist Church is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas “which is autonomous from the Southern Baptist Convention and has not taken action to sever its relationship with the Fort Worth church,” BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett said.

“I am disappointed that Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth and the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention could not reach an agreement. Broadway is such a historic Baptist church that has done much to bring the hope of Christ to its community and has been a leader in global missions efforts,” Everett said.

“Our prayers are with the church and with its new pastor, Brent Beasley, as they seek God’s leadership for the future.”

The outcome of Broadway’s dismissal from the SBC could have significant impact on several of the church’s members.

Swift’s letter noted four faculty members at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth are members of the church. Because of the convention’s vote, those faculty members will be required to join congregations in good standing with the national convention or resign their teaching posts.

Madeja declined to identify those faculty members, citing the private and painful nature of the situation.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee stole the stage during the Monday afternoon session of the Pastors Conference—in more ways than one.

With a bass guitar in one hand and a Bible in the other, Huckabee, the former presidential candidate and host of Fox News network’s “Huckabee,” challenged pastors to refocus on biblical roles of leadership, both in the family and the church.

“How can we expect God to bless a nation if we violate his order that he created male and female and we get confused what marriage means. … Hear my heart, people have a right to live any way they want, but no one has a right to change the basic definition of marriage, because it’s not changing social instruction. It’s changing the entire picture of Christ and his church.”

Mike Huckabee, former Republican presidential candidate and host of “Huckabee” on the Fox News Channel, speaks June 22 at the afternoon session of the 2009 Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference. (BP Photo by Kent Harville)

And failure at leading and developing roles in the family—the most basic God-given institution—means there is “something horribly amiss in our culture.”
But God can change the world through believers who are empowered by the Spirit, said Fred Luter Jr., pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.

Preaching from Acts 1:4–8, Luter asked pastors how important the Spirit was to their life and ministry.

“These plain, ordinary men and women (in Acts) had the reputation of turning the world upside down,” he said. “Oh my brothers and sisters, if we wait on what God has for us, we could change the way things are going in our neighborhoods and nation.”

Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, Ga., also encouraged Southern Baptists to take advantage of opportunities God provides.

“Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for using their gifts as toys to play with and weapons to fight with,” he said. “We need to figure out how we can learn from one another.”

“Rather than living like a unified people empowered by the gospel, we follow props, gimmicks and methodologies,” he said. But unity “must be built around a person—the person of Jesus Christ.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Southern Baptists need to focus less on themselves and their institutions if they hope to make an impact on a world “racing toward hell,” speakers said at the final session of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference June 22.

SBC President Johnny Hunt was joined by seminary professor Alvin Reid and Alabama pastor David Platt in appeals to redirect Southern Baptist energies and resources toward sharing the gospel around the world and less on their own building programs and institutions—a theme that echoes Hunt’s call this spring for a Great Commission Resurgence.

“The SBC is far too comfortable in a world that is racing toward hell,” said Reid, professor of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Reached a tipping point 

David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., speaks June 22 during the closing session of the two-day Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

Southern Baptists have reached a “tipping point” in their attitudes toward traditional ways of carrying out evangelism and missions, said Reid, and “whether we like it or not … we cannot go back, for the sake of the gospel.”

“We have tipped in our [funding] relationships,” said Reid, referring to recent calls to reassess the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ 84-year-old centralized method of collecting and distributing mission funds.

Reid called himself a “debtor” who has benefited from the unified plan’s funding of his education at Baptist schools as well, as his teaching post at one of the SBC’s seminaries. But Southern Baptist leaders must present a more compelling reason to contribute to the CP, he argued. “There has to be more motivation for cooperation than ‘You’re supposed to.’ That’s great for a three-year-old.”

Reid warned, “We have become so institutionalized that we are more focused on maintaining our institutions than on a movement of God.” If financial appeals were more focused on the gospel, “people would give like never before.”

Southern Baptists also have reached a tipping point in:

• How they think about the gospel. “Today we want to do more than just talk about the gospel. We want to be about doing the gospel. … We’re better at making church attenders than Christ followers.”

• How they see the future. There are more teenagers in the American population than at any time in the nation’s history, Reid maintained, and they are sometimes hungrier than their parents for a deeper understanding of the gospel. “People ask me if I have to dumb down the message when I speak to teens. No. I have to dumb it down when I speak (in churches) on Sunday morning.”

•  How they relate to the rest of society. “We’ve got to engage the culture better than we do,” he said.

•  How they define success. “A lot of our younger pastors could be preaching in big churches, but instead they’re raising money to live in (urban centers like) Manhattan and reaching a few people—but people who will make a difference.”

In an impassioned address frequently interrupted by applause, Platt said Hebrews 13 should remind Southern Baptists that they face a choice: “Are we going to die in our religion or are we going to die in our devotion?”

The writer of Hebrews addressed “Jewish Christians when it wasn’t easy to be a Jewish Christian,” said Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, a Baptist congregation in Birmingham, Ala. “Apparently, many in his audience were tempted to shrink back from their faith and to fall away from their mission. … Somehow along the way, how they worshipped had become more important than who they worshipped—style without substance,” he said.

Paralyzed by fear

They also were “paralyzed by fear.” “Many were trying to figure out how to stay in the camp of Judaism and still follow Christ, and the author of Hebrews said it can’t be done. … He said, you have two options: You can retreat from the mission you have been given or you can risk everything for the mission.”

The writer of Hebrews reminded his readers that after the Jews fled Egypt, they failed to trust God and Moses prayed that God would forgive them. “God said he had forgiven them,” said Platt. “But he also said, nevertheless … no one who treated me with contempt will see the land I promised to their forefathers. Your people will suffer in this desert for 40 years.”

Platt said Southern Baptists, in the face of massive physical and spiritual needs around the world, have “retreated into our nice buildings, sitting in our comfortable chairs insulated from the inner city and the spiritual lostness of the world, while we design programs for ourselves.”

“If we retreat from the mission, God will forgive us; our salvation is not at stake here,” Platt said. “But, brothers and sisters, he may just leave us to wander in the wilderness until we die. He has done it with thousands of churches in the United States, and we are fools to think he could not do it with any one of us.”

A tendency to craft Jesus in our own image

“The danger,” he said, “is that we have a tendency to craft Jesus in our own image—a nice middle-class American Jesus. And if we do this, then we need to realize that when we gather to worship, we are no longer worshipping Jesus—we are worshipping ourselves.”

Hunt said he is saddened by the decline in baptisms among Southern Baptists, but added: “If church members don’t have a passion for winning souls, it’s because their pastor doesn’t have a passion for it. And if our denomination doesn’t have a passion for it, it’s because our pastors don’t have a passion for it. Whatever is important to the leaders is important to the people. We (pastors) become a voice to the people.”

Hunt said Christians often say that tragic events—like the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the economic depression—are attempts by God to attract America’s attention. 

“But I’ve turned a little,” he said. “I realized God isn’t trying to get America’s attention. He’s trying to get our attention, the church’s attention. … When we begin to conduct ourselves in such a way that we do everything with tenderness and holiness and compassion and full of the love of God, then God will get the nation’s attention. But he’s going to get our attention first.”

“I’m not a prophet or a prophet’s son,” said Hunt. “But I may have to do until a prophet comes. And here what I want to say to the Southern Baptist Convention: There is a dire need for overwhelming repentance.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee has recommended the SBC discontinue its relationship with Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth because of its toleration of homosexual members.

The recommendation to sever ties with the Fort Worth congregation was approved without discussion or dissent by the full Executive Committee June 22, on the eve of the SBC annual meeting in Louisville.

The recommendation to remove Broadway did not specifically mention homosexuality. But that issue has been the backdrop of controversy at the church since late 2007, when a dispute arose regarding whether to include pictures of homosexual couples in the church’s membership directory.

The issue of the church’s affiliation with the SBC surfaced about a year ago, at the 2008 SBC annual meeting. William Sanderson of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, N.C., asked the convention to declare the church “not to be in friendly cooperation” with the convention. Following standard practice, messengers to the 2008 meeting referred the motion to the Executive Committee for follow up.

The Executive Committee eventually voted to recommend “that the cooperative relationship between the convention and the church cease, and that the church’s messengers not be seated, until such time as the church unambiguously demonstrates its friendly cooperation with the convention under (constitution) Article III.”

Messengers to vote June 23 

That recommendation will be considered by SBC messengers in Louisville Tuesday, June 23. Church officials indicated Broadway Baptist was not sending any messengers to the 2009 annual meeting.

Kathy Madeja, chair of Broadway’s board of deacons, expressed disappointment with the negative proposal the messengers will receive shortly after the annual meeting begins.

“We regret the recommendation of the Executive Committee,” Madeja said in an e-mail June 22, shortly after the committee’s vote.

“We do not believe Broadway Baptist Church has taken any action which would justify its being deemed not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention.  We trust the messengers, representing the local churches at the convention, will take appropriate action to preserve the 125 year affiliation of Broadway Baptist Church with the SBC.”

Article III of the SBC’s constitution notes that “churches not in cooperation with the convention are churches which act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”

In materials provided to the Executive Committee early this year, a Broadway staff member denied violating the convention’s constitution.

“Broadway never has taken any church action to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior,” Jorene Taylor Swift, minister of congregational care at the church, wrote to August Boto, the Executive Committee’s general counsel.

Swift called the assertion that Broadway has violated the SBC constitution “an unsupported and untrue allegation.”

“Broadway Baptist Church considers itself to be in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention and has every intention of remaining so,” Swift wrote.

In fact, the church decided to publish its membership directory “with candid photographs of our members participating in many ministries and activities of Broadway,” she said. “One of the factors in choosing this style of directory was our belief that it does not make a statement to anyone to indicate that Broadway has in any way affirmed, approved or endorsed homosexual behavior.”

Swift’s letter acknowledged the church’s membership reflects “a variety of views” on homosexuality. “Like a number of other Southern Baptist churches, our congregation is trying to understand how to minister to those who are engaged in a homosexual lifestyle,” she added. “Our church has not adopted the position that the Bible condones this behavior.”

 “Innuendo and gossip”

A letter to Boto from Broadway’s board of deacons, dated May 21, 2009, addressed what it called “innuendo and gossip” regarding the church’s position on homosexuality.

“We have not denied that we, like most other churches, have a few gay members,” the deacons’ letter said. “We do not inquire about sexual orientation when people present themselves for membership. We do require their profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord followed by believer’s baptism.”

The deacons’ letter reiterated Swift’s statement that the church has not acted to “affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”

“Broadway Baptist Church desires to maintain its longstanding and historic affiliation with the SBC,” the letter said. “We believe our continued association with the Southern Baptist Convention will benefit both Broadway and the convention and further the kingdom of God.

“It is our sincere hope the Executive Committee will recommend Broadway Baptist Church be deemed in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention.”

The outcome of the Broadway vote could have significant impact on several of the church’s members.

Swift’s letter noted four faculty members at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth are members of the church. If the church is removed from the convention, those faculty would be required to join congregations in good standing with the national convention or resign their teaching posts.

Madeja declined to identify those faculty members, citing the private and painful nature of the situation.

The Fort Worth church has been pastorless for most of the past year, since the previous pastor, Brett Younger, joined the faculty of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta.

Brent Beasley, who will begin his tenure as Broadway’s pastor next month, was moving from Memphis, Tenn., to Fort Worth the week of June 22 and unavailable for comment.

LOUISVILLE, KY—Themes of love, forgiveness and unity surfaced throughout the Monday morning session of the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference as speakers developed the theme of “What If? One Love.”

Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, outlined three principles Christians have to live by in order to create “a love-driven unity to unite us in common mission with a common purpose for the glory of God”—walk worthy, display right attitudes and live God’s unity.

Preaching from Ephesians 4, Stetzer said God has already made us “one, we just have to live that out.”

While believers’ high calling from Christ allows “us to walk worthy … Southern Baptists will not be able to do so until we walk in gospel unity with fellow Southern Baptists,” Stetzer explained. And “without the right attitude, unity is never possible,” he added, noting the fruits of the Spirit such as humility, gentleness and patience.

Humbly stand before God, speak to one another gently and be patient with those with differing ideas, he said. “The nations need our witness and not our conflict.”

“I’ve read the end of the book. It doesn’t mention Southern Baptists. … But it mentions God’s people, and it mentions men and women from every tongue, tribe and nation,” Stetzer said. “I want us as a family of churches to be a part of that great ingathering from every tongue, tribe and nation and God might say to us, ‘You loved each other.’”

Anyone who won’t forgive can’t rightly claim to be a man or woman of faith, added Tom Elliff, former Southern Baptist Convention president.

“Faith is acting on the basis of the revealed will of God,” he said. “If you will not forgive, you are denying the truth that God is sufficient for you.”

Christians have to make a “singular deliberate decision of the will in which you consider someone to no longer be indebted to you,” Elliff said. “The devil will constantly tempt you to retry that person in the courtroom of your emotions.”

When that temptation comes, believers have to resist because they have a mandate to forgive in Ephesians 4:32. But they have a model for forgiveness in their own salvation, he explained. Having the memory of when grace intervened on their behalf, “because of what’s happened in you, you then can put this aside,” Elliff said.

Taking the phrase of Philippians 2:2 “maintaining the same love,” Mike Landry said believers are playing with fire if they try to share the gospel without a heart for the people.

When the Great Commission becomes a “task to check off on a spiritual checklist” instead of a relational mission, Christians are in danger of caring more about numbers than changed hearts, said Landry, pastor of Sarasota (Fla.) Baptist Church.

To keep from falling into that trap, believers should “get to know God as more than a systematic theology piece,” he said. “As you get to know him and how he works, you get acquainted with the activities of God … and that begins to transform your heart.”

Christians should also value people and not just see them as a means by which the church can grow, he explained. “We’ve got to get to the point where we see people as important … If that happened, if we ramped up our missions efforts by maintaining that same love, we would see far more people come to know Jesus.”

Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church, Simi Valley, Calif., also emphasized the importance of loving each other.

“You can be a successful pastor without loving people,” he said. But the New Testament book of Acts describes a love for one another and healing among people and 1 John 4:11 says that if God loves us, “we ought to love one another.”

“Here’s what supposed to happen if one walks into a gathering of believers—they see so much love among us that they actually see God there,” Chan explained, noting this includes putting up with and forgiving each other. “People could actually see and experience God through your love.”

With additional reporting by Grace Thornton & Brittany Howerton of the Alabama Baptist

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Until Baptists demonstrate love for each other, the gospel of love they preach will not attract others, speakers told the opening session of the annual Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference June 21.

Considering the theme “What if?” Mac Brunson, J.D. Greear and Charles Colson imagined a convention of Baptists winsome enough to attract others who currently do not see a loving community worthy of their own life investment.

Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., told the story of a dog food company that had the best marketing and sales staff, but sales were down because dogs didn’t like the product. He asked fellow pastors gathered at their annual pre-SBC preaching fest why they are not reaching people.

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship based in Lansdowne, Va., speaks during the June 21 evening session of the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention Pastor’s Conference at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky. (BP Photo)

“They don’t like us,” he said. “And if you’ll walk out of this room and into the hallway and listen to the conversation, you’ll discover we don’t like each other very much either.”

Brunson, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, pointed to five attitudes that should characterize Christian’s dealings with each other—harmonization, identification, intention, compassion and submission.

It pays to be nice

Baptists have a tendency to “square off” over divisions and seek first to discover differences about each other, rather than areas of agreement, he said.

“Why can’t you find something you can agree on?” he asked. He expressed dismay at some of the discussion over the Great Commission Resurgence proposed by SBC President Johnny Hunt. “My stars, can’t we agree on the Great Commission?”

Christians who do not return evil for evil, nor insult for insult present a positive witness before a watching world, he stressed. Brunson mentioned The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness, written by two women who rose to the top of the advertising business by following a simple philosophy: “It pays to be nice.” He suggested Baptists try that tactic.

“If they don’t like us, they won’t listen to us,” he said.

Fervent for religion or Christ?

Greear, pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, N.C., which has grown from 400 to 3,000 under his leadership, asked why people are not being won to Christ in large numbers as they once were.

“What has changed about us? God is the same,” he said. Greear preached from Matthew 23 to explain the difference in people who are “fervent in religion” to those who are fervent for Christ.

“Over time, religion tends to displace the gospel among God’s people,” he said. “Like a virus, it grows up out of the sinful hearts of men and chokes out the gospel.”

Like the Pharisees of Christ’s day, we see negative traits in others but not in ourselves, Greear said.

“Religion makes us horribly ineffective at evangelism” because we tend to win others to church, rather than to Christ, he said.
Jesus said the Pharisees of his day were willing to go around the world for one convert and implied they could not find a convert closer to home. He suggested Baptists ask if they have slipped into the same attitude.

When religion replaces the gospel

He listed several ways to know if religion has misplaced the gospel—religious people are obsessed with recognition; they substitute religious ritual for a love for God and over love of others; they elevate secondary traditions above knowing God; they are more aware of others’ sins than of their own; and “they think we’re always talking about somebody else.”

Implying throughout that Southern Baptists need seriously to consider if they are just religious people instead of people who hunger for the touch of God, Greear said, “Religion emphasizes conformity to a standard, not passion for God.”

Baptists exclude brothers and sisters because they don’t agree in some minor details. “How can you not be ashamed?” he asked. “You are straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.”

The likelihood that people attending the annual SBC meeting his week will view others as villains is a tragedy, he said. “We’re so consumed by these secondary things we couldn’t see a movement of God if it went right past our face.”
People don’t hear the gospel because they are “turned off by the condescending and self-deluding way we talk” about the sins of others, Greear said. “Gospel people speak with humility.”

He urged Baptists to “repent of the self-righteousness that thinks there is something about us that makes us better than others.”

“God has brought us back from the deadness of liberalism,” he said. “God has brought us too far to trade the deadness of liberalism for the deadness of traditionalism.”

Get ready for restricted liberty

Charles Colson, a frequent speaker at the Pastors’ Conference, which was the first forum where he gave his Christian conversion testimony three decades ago, said America’s current “economic meltdown” can be traced to moral failure of politicians.

America faces a “perfect storm” that he considers more dangerous for America than the problems in the midst of the Great Depression in 1932. He attributes it to the loss of “Protestant work ethic” in favor of an expectation that “this world is to meet every one of my materialistic needs.”

Colson warned that the current perilous times provide “unprecedented opportunities for government to expand,” and that limitations on what pastors can say from the pulpit without threat of losing tax exemption or fear of arrest are forthcoming.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked. “Are you ready to say ‘no’ to Caesar when Caesar says you can’t preach what the Bible says we must preach?”
He referred to “hate speech” legislation that he interprets to mean a preacher could not call homosexual behavior sin, and potential loss of the ability for medical personnel to decline to do abortions.

“As government power expands, inevitably it restricts human freedom,” said Colson, once in President Richard Nixon’s inner circle.

Accentuate the positive

He found positives in recent reports that say 10 percent fewer Americans self-identify as Christians. The same research found an increase to 34 percent in those who self-identify as born again evangelicals, he said.

“One-third of Americans declare Christ is King, yet the culture deteriorates,” he said.

“What would happen if we really started to disciple that one-third of Americans so they had a Christian world view and were sold out to Christ? You’d see a revolution in this country.”

“The most critical thing churches can do is disciple members to know what they believe and why they believe it,” he continued. Referring to the difficult times the United States faces, Colson asked, “What better time to do the best of things, to show people winsomely what we believe?”