IN FOCUS: What’s ‘going on’ in the BGCT?

When we were raising our children in Levelland, we lived in a four-bedroom home. Three bedrooms were upstairs, and the master bedroom was downstairs. It wasn’t unusual to hear a loud noise or crash from upstairs. A call from the bottom of the stairs asked, “What’s going on?” Inevitably, the call came back, “Nothing.”

“What’s going on?” always is a good question. So what is going on with the Baptist General Convention of Texas? Rather than tell you, “Oh, nothing,” let me tell you a lot is going on.

I would start by telling you the BGCT is not just the activities at 333 N. Washington in Dallas. The BGCT is a network of churches sharing in kingdom work. There are times that I hear two words, “denominationalism” and “bureaucracy,” thrown around like they are dirty. I don’t work for a denomination or a bureaucracy. I work with a network of churches and a staff of people who seek to serve the Lord. Every so often, someone comes in to say, “Well, we live in a post-denominational world.” That is basically supposed to end any conversation about the importance of what we do. The truth is that churches networking and cooperating together to multiply their efforts for the kingdom of God are extremely important. That is what we are doing.

We are about commitment. Acts 1:8 is a mandate for this convention, regardless of who leads it. It is the mandate that comes from Christ himself. That is what we have a commitment to do. That is our direction and our purpose. We are committed to witnessing. We are committed to helping others become witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the world.

We are seeking to answer the question, “How can we help our convention, our institutions, our associations, our churches and each Baptist across the state live the calling to be witnesses at home, near home, far from home and to the ends of the earth?”

I’ll tell you what else we are doing. We are living our concern. Now, please hear me. We have concerns. Of course, we are concerned about dollars. We are concerned about planning and getting our work done. But those concerns are a means to our real concern. That concern is for the billions of people who do not know the hope of Christ. If we get so caught up in the concerns of business and programming and the chores of every day and lose our concern for the people in our world who need the Savior, then we have missed the mark. We are living our concern in churches, associations, institutions and our convention all across the state.

What’s going on? Kingdom work as we seek to live and to lead others to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. Thank you for your part in that.

We have a world to reach.

Another note: Please pray for the executive director-search committee this Sunday.

Steve Vernon is associate executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.