Let the Shepherd Lead

The evening after the SBC annual meeting, I had supper with an old friend and introduced my children to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Through the meal, the events of this annual meeting were fresh in our minds and our conversation meandered through the events of the past few days. When I got back to our Airbnb, it seemed wise to begin thinking about the road I think Southern Baptists should take from Indy.

So first, lets consider the events and meetings that we participated in during this Convention. Of course we enjoyed the exhibit hall and appreciated getting to see so many old friends.

We also were blessed by the Pastor’s Conference and the messages during that meeting. Perhaps the most impactful to me as a pastor was the message by Dr. Benny Wong about pastors actively praying as intercessors for their congregations. I also rejoiced to see a fellow South Carolina Baptist and friend, DJ Horton be elected as the pastor’s conference president.

In the annual meeting, we were present for the 68+ motions made, the resolutions, and the powerful and convicting message by our outgoing president Bart Barber on cooperation. The most important business considered was a motion to abolish the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the vote upon the “Law Amendment”. The vote to abolish the ERLC received much support even though it was not passed. Then the “Law Amendment” narrowly failed, which would have made it a part of the convention’s bylaws to only consider in friendly cooperation churches who employed men as qualified by Scripture.

As a final note, I was thankful to cast my ballot for the President of the convention for Clint Pressley. I observed him from afar during my time attending the extension center at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in the early 2000s. So what does the road from Indy look like?

First, missions is the destination that unifies our continued cooperation as a convention. I am so grateful to be a Southern Baptist when we commissioned 83 new missionaries. Most of the missionaries‘ faces and voices were obscured due to the countries they would be heading to serve. I felt conviction and recognized the godly example of those who laid down their lives, took up their cross, and followed Christ to evangelize the nations. We were also encouraged to realize that three of the missionaries were SC Baptists, several more attended our SC Baptist schools and nearly a third of them came from my seminary, Southeastern. 

The commitment to missions in SBC life is the destination that guides us to greater faithfulness to God and His Word. How can w truly love God and not love others created in his image? How can we truly teach people to observe what Jesus commanded if we have not first gone and made them disciples? Cooperation is the highway since none of us or any of our churches alone can fully fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.

So what is the fuel that allows us to travel down cooperation highway to missions engagement? The Word of God illumined by the Spirit of God. The Bible is the only sure standard we have to unify our wandering Hearts. We may send missionaries but without the Bible they may teach a whole different gospel than we believe. We may cooperate but without the Bible that cooperation may be superficial and man-centered. It is for that reason that Baptists have not been a creedal people but a confessional people – confessing our beliefs and citing the Scriptures from whence they come. God’s Word illumined by His Spirit is the fuel for God’s people to accomplish the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Second, polarization is an off-ramp leading to ever more distinct SBC factions. From the push to hold the ERLC accountable, to the call to recognize historic Christian creeds, to the continuing false narrative that NAMB wasted CP dollars on an Indy car for the exhibit hall (the car was a prop), it was apparent that differing individuals led groups to coalesce around concerns being voiced. Even when examining the six candidates for president of our convention it was almost immediately obvious that each one represented a different faction in the SBC. Further these groups, in the spirit of our age, polarize our SBC discourse by reversing the wise counsel of Philippians 2:3. They do everything from rivalry and conceit and nothing from humility counting themselves as more important than others. As these factions increasingly do not seek ways to work together, but attack one another,  there will be more division that will force mission drift and eventually separation.

Friends polarization is a powerfully motivating tool, but one that leads many to an off-ramp from the SBC. Some who still value missions and desire to cooperate have “quiet quit” due to all the polarizing in-fights. Others have become so despondent that their motions, amendments, or candidates did not succeed that they desire to abandon the SBC and form their own groups. For every believer it is wise to consider this question: If I am despondent when motions, amendments, or candidates fail to succeed; am I centering my life upon human-centered sinking sand;  or upon solid, biblical truths and practices that King Jesus will bless (Matthew 7:24-27)? Friends, let us never build our house upon sinking sands of polarizing, human-centered factions; but upon the rock solid truths and practices that please Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:9).

Third, accountability should be the GPS that corrects our course back to cooperation for missions. I voted for the motion to abolish the ERLC and for the “Law Amendment” because I believe that redemptive accountability is the best possible way for us to ensure continued cooperation for missions.

     On the first issue, the vote to abolish the ERLC would have required two consecutive convention votes, and the room seemed close to evenly split.

• Since it would require two successive votes of the convention, my vote was for accountability so some of their more questionable practices and positions could have been addressed and corrected one year to another.
• My prayer is that the commission will see the vote and other motions as a moment for soul searching.
• We certainly need an ERLC that is not for elites running left-of center; but truly helps us to know how to apologetically and prophetically address the issues of our day.
• The home base of the ERLC, as well as any entity, needs to be seen as the local church, not the temple of democracy in Washington.

     On the “Law Amendment,” I must admit that I have very personal feelings about this issue, but I hope to give an accurate assessment of the narrow failure of this Amendment.

• I certainly believe that we have a process in the SBC to determine if churches are in friendly cooperation based having a faith and practice that closely identifies with our Baptist Faith and Message.
• This method has succeeded as churches have been identified as having a stance different than only allowing men qualified by Scripture to serve as pastor.
• Last year we determined the largest SBC church and a normative size SBC church were not in friendly cooperation. This year we determined a legacy SBC church was not in friendly cooperation.
• But the process in each of these churches was triggered by a report being made to the Credentials committee.
• My experience last summer taught me that when the SBC took the bold clear stand that pastors should be men qualified by Scripture that also served to clarify the position of the church I served. It was so clear that I knew to continue serving as their pastor would be hurtful to me and to them.
• Without the threat of the “Law Amendment” I fear that many will shrink back into a much less clear position on their beliefs and practice. Faithful pastors will be called to these churches to struggle and languish. Messengers will be seated at conventions that will sway further votes.
• At this point, I believe that the path to accountability must involve the continued reporting of churches known to have egalitarian viewpoints to the credentials committees of state conventions and the SBC convention.
• Further I pray this redemptive accountability will help these churches and those they cooperate with to have greater unity or a friendly goodbye.

Accountability does not need to be harsh or unloving but patient and kind. I am reminded of the example of Jesus with His disciples. He did not shrink from rebuking them, but He loved even the betrayer enough to continue with them the three years of His earthly mission. Paul captures this spirit when he says in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 “and we urge you brothers admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all”. That loving, redemptive accountability is one that offers each person and each entity God’s best; warning them that there is danger if they choose another path. Just as Jesus and Paul desired to redeem people from the danger they were in; so should we seek to redeem people, churches, and even entities in dangerous situations.

Friends, the Road from Indy is one that includes a number of twists and turns. No matter what, missions is the destination that leads to us travel cooperation highway. God’s Word and His Spirit fuel our journey. Many off ramps will attempt to distract us and tempt us to abandon our journey, but redemptive accountability will keep us cooperating; lovingly correcting our course towards God’s great commandment and great commission.