It's SBC Convention Week

The Southern Baptist Convention is meeting right now in Louisville, Kentucky. Be afraid, be very afraid. I'm teasing, sort of. In years past, the week of the convention meeting has been one where I was afraid to read the newspaper. But since no one reads newspapers anymore, we should be okay.

What?

Oh right, the Internet. Curse you AlGore! (JK again)

So I'm tracking the convention this year through Twitter feeds and have visited the official website a couple of times to see what was going on live. I just finished watching the president of the convention, Johnny Hunt, deliver a message on the future of the SBC. Well, I watched some of the message, like a typical Southern Baptist, I found it hard to stay focused.

We have a fix for that though, Baptist Press, so I went over there to see what has been happening.

When I searched Google for Baptist Press, one of the hits that came up was a news article of a Baptist pastor praying for the death of our president. Now that's some Baptist press, but not the right one,or the right kind.

So I finally found and clicked on the "Baptist Press" link.

The Breaking News story - "The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee recommended in a unanimous vote Monday afternoon that the denomination cease its relationship with Broadway Baptist Church, a Fort Worth, Texas, congregation that has been the source of controversy over its stance on homosexuality."

Then there were hits on disaster relief, and the Crossover Louisville project where thousands were fed.

Sigh...

Maybe next year.

The Times, They Are A Changin'

My friend who I've never met in person but have admired for years, Marty Duren, has written what for him is a very rare post about something in the inner workings of the Southern Baptist Convention. He does a great job with it, and you should read his thoughts on the "Great Commission Resurgence" document. I've also been meaning to write something about where we at New Hope find ourselves, so this is that rare day when both Marty and I write about the SBC. I expect Halley's comet's return before it happens again.

Having successfully avoided every state and national convention for the 36 years I have been a Baptist, you could say that I'm not really interested in what happens in the SBC. You'd be wrong. I care a great deal about what the SBC does where the rubber meets the road. That would be the local church, BTW. People seem to forget that the convention exists to serve the churches instead of the other way around, and that the various entities that make up the SBC exist for the same reason. Absent that need, they should not exist.

Our church is a contributing member of the local group of Baptist churches, the Florida Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention. We give money. We pray for our leaders, and those who serve our Lord as missionaries. As far as I know, that's about all they want from us.

That's just not enough.

We have flung the door open for a delivery of new wine skins and aren't looking back. Our people are being encouraged to sponsor children through Compassion, World Vision, or other Christian efforts. (We'll soon hit a dozen kids!) They are engaged in helping across the world with other groups who are making a difference. For example the younger girls have in successive months made crafts that were sold to fund stainless steel food bowls for kids in Haiti, formula for an orphanage in Guatemala, and VBS materials for kids in the Ukraine. We've given the shoes off our feet (and out of our closets) to Soles4Souls.org and left worship barefoot. We're about to embark on the most radical thing I've ever been a part of - a challenge to eat as the orphans do for 5 days, and give the money difference between that and what we normally eat - to the orphans at Amazima Ministries in Uganda.

Oh and lest you think we've forgotten the Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria part of the Great Commission - we have 17 folks away on mission to Appalachian KY right now, have done more local benevolence work this year than ever in our history, and are about to start our summer movie outreaches.

And exactly what has the SBC have to do with any of that?

Nothing.

That's not intended to be a swipe at the SBC, just a fact. Times are changing. Churches are looking for ways to DO SOMETHING, not outsource it to "professional missionaries." There are many outlets for that desire that lie outside the SBC and are easy to find. Why is that? And why are the leaders of the SBC fixated on a document like the "Great Commission Resurgence" (which in classic SBC fashion will be submitted to a committee at the convention to be studied for a year) instead of asking the local church what we need?

We're going to continue to look for the most effective way our local church can change the world for God's glory. If that's through the SBC, great. But I doubt it. I also expect that we will find a better way to ensure that the monies we contribute to God's work through the SBC don't get frittered away at the state level or absorbed into the "machine" and get to the missionaries on the field. The times, they are a changin' - and I'm thrilled about how much more impact we are having for the Kingdom of God - and can't wait to see what's ahead.

Do Hard Things

Just finished reading Alex and Brett Harris' book "Do Hard Things - A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations", and I am seriously impressed with this book and its authors.

The premise is that generations since WW2 have created a period in the life of people that didn't exists before "teenager", and that as a result have created an artificial rest state when it should be advanced training for life. The authors woke up to this while still teenagers themselves and decided to start a "Rebelution".

As a pastor, I am so heartened by this book's call to the young men and women in our churches to step up and step out for God. Seeing teens waste those years and wander away from God has always brought heartache for me. As a father, I wish I could have put this book and that mindset into the DNA of our family when our boys were in that stage of their lives.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who works with teenagers, or who parents them. It is actually written for the teens themselves, by teens, so maybe you could buy a copy for your teens and read along with them, getting together to discuss what the book's impact on you is from each of your perspective.

Now I need to go and write a "Rebelution" book for Boomers like me. :)

DO SOMETHING!

Recap for Sunday May 31st @ New Hope

During the announcements, we were called to worship God as living sacrifices by three different groups within the church - the Child2Child ministry that has raised $400+ for orphans in Ukraine, the Naira girls who are challenging all of us to leave barefoot next Sunday to help Soles4Souls put shoes on the feet of the poor, and then we saw a video and Missy Hickman gave testimony to how God had worked in her family's life through their adoption of their son Levi from Liberia - and beyond.

This was before we even prayed for God to join us as we worshipped Him.

I have never been in a church that's doing so many things in so many places through so many people. It feels like Pentecost at New Hope right now (and today WAS Pentecost in the Christian calendar).

More later - gotta crash.

Reflections on Sunday 24 May 2009

We were challenged today in ways I don't think have ever happened in the ten years I have been here. I put slides in the announcement ppt of each child sponsored by New Hope family members. There were also slides with the stats on what Compassion and World Vision are doing around the world.

But that was just the beginning.

First the Soles4Souls skit laid out the timing for their "Barefoot" challenge. Basically it means people who participate leave the sanctuary barefoot on that Sunday, leaving their shoes to be shipped to people who need them more.

Then John Anderson got up and shared from his heart about what God has been doing in his life. He was brutally honest about where he was and what he thought before God laid a hold of his heart. And he laid out a clear challenge to us - eat only beans and rice for five days, and give the money you would have spent on food that week to Amazima Ministries for their work among the orphans and poor in Uganda.

We then worshipped using the same songs as last week with one exception. We added "God of This City", a powerful call to serve and see heaven rain down onto earth.

The message was from the parable of the talents, and I tried to help everyone see that we are here to play our part in God's Kingdom ministries. That we have no right to take what he has given and hoard it for our own selfish uses. That we need to take risks and follow Jesus.

I'll try to get the audio up later today.

That night we had a family meeting to share what we think God is telling us about where He is working and how we can join Him there. It was pretty cool to hear what God had been doing in the various small groups. We'll see what comes out of the discussion.

Just DO it.

Go here, and read this and DO something!

If We Are Willing To Love

"Mookie", the child we sponsor through Compassion.












There are days when the frantic nature of our life around here literally crushes my spirit. Trying so hard to hold onto what I've heard from God, I find myself being pulled into pragmatism - "let's just get through today." Maybe it's a problem unique to me but I don't think so.

One of the things that helps me regain my heart-footing is reading certain passages in Scripture, and certain books. There are places I return to again and again in God's Word, and there are passages in books that call me home. Today I picked up a book I have read at least 5 times - Donald Miller's "Searching for God Knows What." I opened it to the chapter on Jesus and begin reading it again. Here's where the book fell open today.

"A few years ago I sat down with a man named Ron Post. Ron was about to retire from a ministry he had started twenty years ago called Northwest Medical Teams. Northwest Medical Teams is an aid organization that sends doctors to volatile regions of the world to help the sick and dying. We met at a coffee shop across town, and I asked Ron questions about how he had built this eighty-million-dollars-a-year ministry, with 98 per cent of the money going directly to the work being done in the field. I asked him how he structured his time, how he delegated responsibility, and finally asked him what was the key to his success. To answer the last question, Ron pulled from his pocket a tattered envelope filled with pictures.

For the rest of the morning the man laid down pictures of people he had met, the first of which was a young Cambodian woman, who at the age of thirteen, was being used as a sex slave by the Khmer Rouge. He told me that they had rescued her from captivity and given her a new life filled with the knowledge and love of Christ. As he showed me picture after picture of blind people who, because of a simple surgery, could now see, crippled people who could now walk, the starving who had been fed, he told me their names. He knew their names - every one of them. I had asked the man what the key to his successful ministry was, and he told me through his stories the key to his multi-million dollar ministry was a love of people. And I believe now and will always believe that if we are willing to love people, God will pour out His resources to bless our lives and his efforts."

I believe that too.

How would you describe Southern Baptists?

Thom Rainer wanted to know... so he asked folks on Twitter. This is a wordle created by someone to contain all the words. Those most often occurring are the biggest.

Just for fun, find "Jesus" and "Loving."

Passivity Is Death

There's so much swirling around us in our culture today. North Korea has nukes and is getting ready to test an ICBM. Iran is close to having them too. Pakistan is unraveling. Europe seems to be ignoring external and internal threats. Here in America we have an economic crisis, a leadership crisis, and cultural challenges continue to rise.

Even in our little corner of the world, Valparaiso Florida, we have our city suing the Air Force to stop the F-35 from coming. We have a rising tide of crime, of homelessness, of poverty - and not just material poverty - poverty of spirit. People are drifting from "shiny thing" to "shiny thing." They seek life and fulfillment through experiences and possessions.

A phrase jumped off the pages of a book I was reading this morning.

"Passivity is death."

The world, our nation, and the people in it cannot sit back and wait to see what the outcome is from all the threats we face. We cannot wait for someone else to come and fix the problems. And those of us who follow Jesus must act to change the status quo. We cannot just be a Christian, we must act in ways that show that we are - that sync with what Jesus would do.

I'm reading the gospels again and again this week as I prepare for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. One thing is apparent - Jesus was a man on a mission. The man was not without the reality of fear and anguish, either. But he chose the hard path because not doing so would have left things as they were, and they were rotten.

7 The Lord God will help Me;
therefore I have not been humiliated;
therefore I have set My face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:7 (HCSB)

It was an act of His will, out of His love for the Father, and for us.

So here's the question.

Do we love God and our neighbors enough to fight the urge to sit on the sideline and let someone else handle the problems of our communities? Are we asleep in the light, or ready to push back the darkness?

Passivity is death.

The Invisible Church

We're not here.

Oh,I know that physically we occupy a corner off the highway, across from the elementary school and Little League field, just down the road from city hall.

But ask most of the town's population where New Hope Baptist Church is, and they won't have a clue.

We're invisible in the same way a liquor store is invisible to a teetotaler. Or a dry cleaner is to a bricklayer.

You have absolutely no need or interaction with a business or concern, so your eye just sends it to the background.

Doesn't help that our buildings have been here for decades without change. When I was in the grocery business, we knew that end of aisle displays had to be rotated, otherwise shoppers stopped noticing them. They became part of the fixtures in as little as two weeks.

They became invisible.

We become visible only when the people who make up New Hope touch other people's lives. While we are engaged in that, we come into view. As soon as we stop, we fade away.

For years we thought that a lit steeple, or outdoor signs would do the trick.

Nope.

We are the steeple.We are the signs.

How can we become more visible?

I'll talk about that tomorrow.

The Times, They Are A Changing

Written about the demise of newspapers, but in light of this week's ARIS report on churches and the faith of the average American, seems to cross apply. Just replace "newspapers" with "church as we know it today."

When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.

The times, they are a changing. Incredible opportunity for a community living out their faith in love of God and love of and service to their neighbors. Personally, I think the average sized church is nimble enough to take advantage of the shifts in culture to do a lot of good.

Most won't.

No Church People - EVER

There were a LOT of pictures I could have chosen to illustrate what I'm about to write, but somehow getting ranked below trespassers, trespassing mushroom hunters, and trespassing deer hunters just seemed to fit. What does it say about the message we "church people" have been sending to those outside that we get not only listed as worthy to be shot, but with an emphasis suggesting that he might just enjoy shooting us?

Church people.

There was a time when that delineated those who were the backbone of society. They held down jobs at every level all over America. Some owned plants, some worked in them. They were doctors and lawyers, teachers and engineers. Still are. But instead of being the people who brought to life the foundational values that provide a bedrock for any society, we morphed over time to people who are known chiefly for pointing out the sins of others while ignoring our own.

We have sent untold millions of dollars, and invested thousands of lives into places and people overseas while completely ignoring our neighbors lying in the ditch on the side of the road, or worse, deciding that the ditch doesn't look too bad and checking to see if there's room. (see our divorce rate, etc.)

At the beginning of the church age, the requirements of admission were to deny yourself and your selfish ways, believe in Jesus - the Son of God and salvation of mankind, and take up your part of the work by following Jesus with everything you had or ever hoped to have. This was not missions by proxy, where you pay people to do the work for you. You were Plan "A" and there was no Plan "B". But that was just too HARD. So we created organizations and told ourselves that these structures would help us do more. And they did in some ways, but were devastatingly ineffective in others.

The SBC is one of those organizations.

When it works right, it's very effective at mobilizing individuals and churches for direct mission activities - disaster relief being the best example.

When it works poorly, and it often does, it usually makes front page news in the media and gives rise to signs like our example above. Disney boycott anyone? Tied at the hip to the GOP - perhaps? Pulling away from the local church and demanding loyalty to the denomination? Uh huh.

So many congregations are pulling away from the SBC.

Churches are deciding not to label themselves as SBC churches even if they continue to remain a part. Others are seeking and finding viable missions work outside the SBC and making real the "every member a missionary" blurb so many adopted as an aspiration rather than a lifestyle.

Was reading today about one state convention's efforts.

In 2008 the Partnership Missions office in our Kentucky Baptist Convention made a bold move to re-think local church involvement in international, cross-cultural missions. In previous years that office entered into partnerships with various Baptist conventions or countries, then organized short-term trips into those countries.

Now, however, they have shifted their focus to local churches, and have restructured their office into that of the role of partnership facilitator. Their desire is to help local Kentucky Baptist churches engage in deeper and deeper levels of missions commitment and involvement. Their current strategy involves four designated levels of engagement:

* Level one (Exploring Missions) churches have had limited experience but understand the importance of missions.
* Level two (Increasing Involvement) churches have been exposed to overseas missions and are seeking God’s direction for a greater commitment to missions.
* Level three (Partnering Strategically) churches are ready to commit for a specific time to work with an IMB missionary in a specific region.
* Level four (Fully Committed) churches desire to take full responsibility for an unreached people group or area without direct missionary assistance.

They are headed in the right direction.

New Hope is headed that way too, regardless of what the local association, state convention, or national organization do. We are realigning with people who want to be Jesus to their neighbor across the street or across the ocean. We are redirecting monies and other resources from supporting missions by proxy to doing missions ourselves.

Frankly, as pastor I don't want the label "church people" applied to us.

I like neighbor or friend a lot better.

So stay tuned fans.

Revival

"In every genuine revival in history, two major thrusts have always appeared. First, there has been proclamation of the Bible, God's Word; second, there has always been the responsive mobilization of the believers, God's people.

Strange as it may sound, a revival does not relate directly to the unsaved. You cannot revive the lost. You can revive the saved. Revival occurs as God ignites the fire of His Word and mobilizes His people to go and win the lost."
- Charles Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, pg125

This is why, after all the calamities proclaimed in the articles I linked to yesterday, I am not afraid for the future of the Church.

The future of the Church is not dependent or locked in a cause and effect relationship with the culture.

The future of the Church is completely dependent on the power of God. And He is able. Exceedingly abundantly able. To do. To do more. To do more than we could ask.To do more than we could ask or imagine.

However many of God's people are counted as "evangelicals" by Barna, Gallup, or Zogsby, is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether the people who follow Jesus are continually feeding on the Bread of His Word, and constantly seeking to tell those around them about the Great Story of how their lives fit into God's great plan to bring the world into a loving relationship with Him.

American Christianity Has A Bad Day

Well, it seems that every media outlet is reporting the results of the latest survey of Americans on their religious activity and beliefs. And those that aren't are running commentary on it.

Not a surprise to me at all.

The way church has been done stopped working a good while back when it ceased being propped up by the culture. So having people notice that and rip into the American construct of church...

welcome aboard.

But make no mistake, I believe to my core that the Church is the chosen instrument to bring the Kingdom of God near.

But not every church is part of the Church I'm speaking of.

And many of the tools that worked before don't now.

"Costs Too Much To Change the Sign"

I heard my youngest deacon explaining to a visitor what they had just experienced last Sunday after worship. Didn't hear it all, but I caught the part where he said "yeah, the sign still says 'A Southern Baptist Church', but that's partly because it would cost too much to change it." His father was an SBC pastor. But he's a guy who wants to see things happen for Jesus, and ready to work to see it. All he's seen from the SBC is fussing and fighting for years.

I've been in a conversation with my friend and fellow Florida Pastor Tom Bryant about the SBC over the years. Tom's at FBC Osprey, and is seeing God move in amazing ways among the community. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a more godly and effective pastor. And the church he serves with should be an example of what can happen when people follow Jesus outside.

But this is the Southern Baptist Convention.

No one will notice.

He's in a small church. And though FBC Osprey participates fully in associational, state, and SBC life revolves around famous pastors and their mega-churches.

The SBC began as a way for small churches to band together so as to increase their impact missionally. But over the years it has morphed into a bureaucracy where the mega churches set the program, and where the smaller churches have little voice but contribute their monies. And when the larger entities in the SBC do something like bring out a racially insensitive VBS, or decide that Calvinists are evil, or take on Disney - guess who hears about it? Yep. We do.

The glue that holds the SBC together is the Cooperative program. The CP is dying. Not from lack of cash, but from lack of focused passion. It's an organization. It's separated from the local church so far now by the layers of assoc,state,IMB,NAMB etc that no one at church can tell a compelling story of what their gifts did.

We've become fans of professional Christians and turned missions into a spectator sport.

That should not be.

So if a local church decides that missions by proxy won't cut it, and finds a way to really do missions... well, I'll understand.

...and applaud.

I want people to change the SBC. I want those people to be deep into missions. Until the SBC is changed, they are being good stewards by only giving what's left over. It's a "Mary - Martha" thing. The SBC looks busy, does little that matters to the local church, and that's where the priority has to be.

I've had people like Tom, who I respect tell me, "You need to get involved and be the change you seek." What you are asking is akin to me heading to the beach and building a seawall out of sand. A waste of the limited time and resources I have to get involved with the convention. And even if I brought the max number of messengers with me, one mega church would have dozens more.

You want change? Here's my idea of what should happen.

Sell off Lifeway, make the seminaries self supporting. If they are that good, they'll make it. Work with local churches to keep people in the church serving, in their homes making a living for their families, and bring education to them. Ditch the 30 hours on campus requirement. Replace it with 30 hour internships or mentoring. Tell ATS to take a hike. Train pastors and planters. Work to make them able to serve bivocationally through dual degree programs in education, social work, the chaplaincy - get real. Most churches are small, and a pastor needs to be able to take care of his family, have health insurance, prepare for retirement.

Close NAMB or the state conventions - your pick, pare the bloat. Keep them (State Conv.)in areas where they are needed. But in states like AL,FL, GA??? Please. Churches should be planting churches. Sell off properties that are underused and put all that money into church planter support.

Build direct links between churches and missionaries and missionary action. Give us the same options we have with Heifer.org, Compassion, Samaritan's Purse - and a host of others. Don't make us fight to be involved. MAKE IT EASY!!! NATURAL!!!

And please quit trying to create a Baptist ghetto of SBC events when there are other opportunities you could partner with. There's a reason why attendance is down at SBC events. Why would I want to go to a State Convention when I could go to Catalyst?

Really, this is the most I've spent thinking about the SBC all year. Don't have the time or the inclination to be involved in the petty causes and silly infighting. I'd rather see people changing and lives redeemed.