Any discussion on the Southern Baptist convention 2007 would have to begin with the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary class that I took in association with this year’s convention. I had never been able to attend an SBC due to mission work overseas occurring during the same time period as the convention. My wife had been blessed to attend some previous conventions as part of worship teams. I had also watched parts of the convention online. This had prepared me somewhat for what to expect.
I appreciated the reading assignments associated with the class work. The titles by Brand and Hankins, One Sacred Effort, and Ammerman’s Baptist Battles were good reads and great support. They provided an interesting and complete history of the Southern Baptist Convention as well as helping the reader see the current structure of the convention. While Ammerman’s text did display some bias, the work as a whole reported the facts without being masked by that predisposition.
The opportunity to hear the heart of Dr. Paige Patterson as he told of the conservative resurgence was the highlight of the course. The design of this class to include the above mentioned readings along with a guest lecture by Dr. Patterson provided such a well-rounded look at the history of the Southern Baptist Convention with a welcomed emphasis on the conservative resurgence.
I have been critical of Dr. Patterson’s approach to items in the past. While I have understood, and often agreed with his conclusion to matters, I did not always care as much for his approach in addressing these matters. Having the opportunity to hear his heart on so many past battles really impacted me. The Lord opened my eyes to Dr. Patterson’s great desire to stand strong in the power of His Word. When he humbly answered a student’s question concerning the personal hurt his stand for the Bible has caused his family, it revealed the depth of the struggle he faced for his belief. Then, when he apologized to the class because he knows that his leadership of the seminary has caused us issues as well, I saw God’s example of humility so plainly in the man before me.
The opportunity to attend this year’s SBC was also a time to spend with family. My two boys were able to travel with my wife and I to San Antonio. We arrived on Saturday and began some wonderful time as a family. We were blessed for our boys to see such a large body of believers coming together for fellowship, encouragement, and support of godly values.
On Sunday morning, my family was able to attend Shavano Baptist Church in San Antonio. This was a small SBC church pastured by Dave Gauthier. There were others in the morning worship service that had come to SBC. Pastor Gauthier used the opportunity to invite Aletha Thomas, an IMB missionary, to speak to the congregation. I was very blessed by the entire worship experience at Shavano Baptist Church and pray that one day we shall be able to return and worship with them. This was an SBC church that was supporting the Cooperative Program through their time and resource.
Sunday evening began the Pastor’s Conference. I was excited to hear how God spoke through these men. I was a little tired from our day’s busy schedule as the first message began and maybe this was the reason Dr. Spradlin’s message was average on my reaction. Dr. Paterson’s testimony and then Dr. Vine’s message revived me fully. God really used Dr. Vine’s sermon to lift my spirit. I felt his message was the best sermon of this convention.
The Monday morning break-out sessions were also a high spot of the conference for me. I choose to attend Dr. Tom Elliff’s Equipped for Divine Intimacy and Dr. Tim Kimmel’s Equipped for Effective Parenting. I wish that the schedule would have allowed me to attend all of these break-out sessions. What a powerful time we had listening to Dr. Elliff speak of how God has moved within his life to become more intimate with Him. I also found myself trying to practice grace-base parenting after Dr. Kimmel’s presentation.
My wife attended the Pastor’s Wives Conference on Monday morning while our boys were in the Children’s Conference. They were all blessed by these opportunities. It was an added gift for me to reflect on the day’s events with my wife.
In the last evening of the Pastor’s Conference, I was excited to hear God through a fresh, young heart as J.D. Greear preached. Dr. Greear has his doctorate in systematic theology and at the conclusion of his message I did not doubt that a bit. He had his facts in order but the emotion of what he had to say was not there for me.
Tuesday morning began the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention. I was excited to be there, but also must say that I was disappointed in the number of messengers that were present when I first arrived. This was a disappointment I felt throughout the conference as I will relate in other events later. I was also surprised that only three motions were made at the first introduction of motions. Once again, my later realization of certain agendas made this understandable as well. The SBC bulletin revealed to me that other motions had been submitted before the meeting.
The morning session moved along so rapidly that Secretary on the Order of Business made a motion to move the schedule ahead by 15 minutes. One of the messengers seated next to me voted against this motion and complained that they should stick to the printed order of business. This messenger also showed up about an hour late to the proceedings.
I have served as a missionary in Eastern Europe and understand the conditions in this area of the world, both physical and spiritual. As I have traveled, I have also seen the differences in Western Europe as well. The physical hardships are not present as they are in the eastern portion of the continent, but the spiritual darkness is greatly magnified. When Heinrich Derksen, president of Bibelseminar in Bonn, Germany, spoke to the SBC I was so excited to hear of the movement of God in this region. Hearing that such a dark area was not only receiving the Light of Jesus Christ, but that this light was also very conservative in theology was stimulating. Derksen spoke of the many ministries in Germany and also the former Soviet Union that have left the Baptist World Alliance and desire association with the SBC. I pray that this convention will help take up this task of proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in a land where our beliefs had such strong root.
Tuesday afternoon started the most interesting debate of the convention. A motion was made to affirm the Baptist Faith and Message as the SBC’s “only consensus statement of doctrinal beliefs.” What followed was a pretty confusing discussion, unless you were privy to what the supporters were trying to accomplish in this motion. It became even more confusing when the item came up for voting by the messengers. I felt that many messengers did not understand what they were voting on and they certainly did not understand the agenda behind the motion. The seminary reports for Southwestern and Southern Seminary would raise these important points of this motion again.
On Wednesday I was monitoring microphone six. First thing in the morning a pastor approached me and indicated that he wished to ask a question of Dr. Al Mohler when the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary report was presented. That was another hour and a half away. Some I figured out that a group had planned a strategy to control all of the microphones during this report. Through cell phone conversations and several small business meeting this group was conducting behind me, this plan became very obvious. I agreed with the points they wanted to make concerning the BF&M use as a guide. However, I do not think their agenda in any way mimicked Jesus Christ. My Bible never says that Jesus hinder His opposition from speaking. In fact, He invited them to speak and then He taught them often using their own words.
I believe that the highest messenger count approached 8521 seated on Tuesday afternoon. A concerning matter was that the highest number of ballots every reported was around 3700. So where were the other messengers? This really bothered me throughout the convention. As I worshipped during the conference on Wednesday, I reflected back on that morning’s strategy planning going on behind me that prevented me from fully praising my Lord and Savior. I also thought about these missing 5000 messengers. Absolutely broke my heart over why people some people are attending. Are we a people concerned with praise or politics?
I was overwhelmed with the neutrality of the messengers. What I mean is that a message would be preached warning of the dangers of commingling with the Emergent / Emerging Church movement and the messengers went wild with applause. Later, a message was preached that we must be more like the Emerging Church Movement and the messengers “amens” loudly arouse. It was amazing to watch, but truly is the beauty of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Hearing the stories of the missionaries, the successes of the seminaries, and the great plans God is providing for the future was the highlight of this convention. I pray that the Holy Spirit will place a desire in future leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention to study as we had the opportunity to do this semester the history and structure of this convention. Most importantly, I pray that we should be a people who always use His Word to light our path.
