Things Are Changing in the SBC

This past Southern Baptist Convention will prove to be a history making event. While I was not at the convention, I watched it on-line, and twittered with many friends who were there. Of course, there were some foolish motions like boycotting Pepsi, not selling Driscoll's books (even though we sale The Shack, Joyce Myer, and T.D. Jakes), investigating Stetzer (for no reason - except that he lost over 100 pounds - I said we should imitate him, not investigate him), investigating Danny Akin (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President), and some more. All of these motions were rightly placed under the bus and thrown out.

The big news was concerning the Great Commission Resurgence Resolution (GCR). This movement is headed up by Johnny Hunt, the SBC President, and Danny Akin. The short of the long is this: people on both sides of theological debates regarding Calvinism/Armenianism, Church Polity, and other secondary matters have agreed to disagree and just get on with making the Gospel central, uniting around that, and focusing our attention once again on the Great Commission.

While the vast number of young guys in the convention swing more to the Reformed side, like Akin (moderately reformed), they are very respectful of Johnny Hunt, who does not. Both sides say, "let's put our swords down, and go win someone for Jesus and plant churches." Obviously, there is a time for debate of theological issues, and they are not unimportant. However, the purpose of a convention is not to serve like a church. The convention is about cooperation. What we can cooperate together on is 1st tier doctrines like the authority of the Bible, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the cross, the resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, the centrality of the church, and the necessity of preaching the Bible, to name a few.

All this to say, not everyone agrees with the GCR because the way this is going to be implemented is by a Task Force that will investigate the entire structure of the SBC in order to alleviate unnecessary bureaucracy, so we can get on with the mission. Obviously, those married to the system and are content with status quo have different feelings.

What is refreshing is three things about this movement:

1. It has brought excitement to the young guys in the convention (including myself). The last several years has brought a great decline in the number of young guys who are interested in the convention. However, if there is one thing my generation gets excited about it is international missions, church planting, and Gospel-centered churches. I have said it many times, the primary reason I am SBC is the International Mission Board. I could care less about convention politics, position, and popularity. And the convention leaders have learned that if they want to keep a generation of young guys they better start talking about the Gospel and missions, or they will continue to lose more young leaders.

2. It is refreshing to see people who disagree, agree for the sake of the Gospel and the good of the nations. It is not only refreshing, it is a miracle of grace. I praise God for those in leadership right now. I consider Danny Akin and Johnny Hunt modern day heroes.

3. It is refreshing to see the older generation give way to the younger generation and the younger generation give honor to the older generation. What is happening in the convention at the macro level is happening to churches across the country. A good example of this Paul to Timothy relationship is with the Pastors Conference that preceded the convention. My friend David Platt preached an amazing sermon; others like Francis Chan, Ed Stetzer, J.D. Greer were also given opportunities, as young guns, to preach the Word. They did so with exceptional quality. One convention leader said David's sermon was the best he heard in four decades of the convention.

So, we will see how watershed this year's convention will be in years to come. Will we be united around the Gospel? Will we send more missionaries? Will the older give way to the younger? Will the younger learn from and honor the older? Or, will we become like every other Protestant denomination that after such a decline (89% of Baptist churches are declining), never grow again? The kingdom is obviously bigger than the convention, and there are many churches in other denominations who are doing great work, but my desire for the convention to be strong, not for our own glory, but so that we can support more than our 5,300 missionaries, and so that we can plant more Gospel-centered churches in unreached places.

To read more about the convention, try here, here, and here.