2004 SBC Annual Meeting

I've been watching this as its streamed live over the internet. Pretty fun stuff to sit at work and watch my convention perform its yearly functions. Watch it here!

Some interesting stuff has already gone on. The SBC pulled out of the BWA formally, which isn't too much of a surprise. One of the surprising items that came from this was Dr. Paige Patterson's accusation that the American Baptist Convention had a group of churches that was called the "Evergreen Baptist Association" which are a network of homosexual churches. Thus the SBC should use this as a good reason for departing from the BWA. I've checked the ABC website and haven't found the "silver bullet" which he said was on their website. This was an interesting accusation to make, for it seemed to prate on messenger's concerns about the homosexuality issue.

Another matter brought up by Dr. Patterson during his time was that because the "A" in BWA means alliance and anything we are allied with reflects what we endorse and believe that we as Christians should be mindful of that. I'm curious to hear other's responses on that.

During the discussion of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and SBC sole membership a ballot vote had to be taken due to the close number of votes. The presentation was decisively one sided towards the recommendation of the executive committee, and I believe the messengers noticed that. Should be interesting to see how the decision plays out and what becomes of the sole membership issue. (Also whether or not the Executive Committee will allow themselves to be under the sole membership matter too.)

The Pastor's Conference was good too. You can watch the various messages on the internet too at the above link.

 

The vote on the BWA was done by a handcount, though AP news reporters said it was overwhelming in favor of splitting from the BWA.

 

Its good seeing Prestonwood well represented at the convention. I've always enjoyed my visits to the church while here at SWBTS.

 

Bobby Welch is the new president of the SBC. I don't think age is an issue...how old was Patterson when he served? How old were some of the others?

Oh geez....T.C. Pickney just got up to offer an amendment to an amendment...this should be interesting

 

My question is what exactly is normalcy in the SBC if not a politically driven agenda? Look what has occurred just this past year at SWBTS! Hemphill and Crutchley fired, Bullock not granted tenure and not because they were liberal in any sense of the word.

Now Jimmy you and I have been through this before. None of these people have been fired. There is a cogent difference between being fired and what actually happened and the mischaracterization which you have presented, my friend. A second note is that Hemphill resigned to pursue other ministry endeavors and any who says he was fired is simply wrong.

The SBC is a big organization and because we live in a sinful world, and because even as Christians we must live with the side affects of a formerly sinful nature, there will always be people with political motivations that are contrary to the Kingdom of God. We must work inspite of these people. I applaud and appreciate Dr. Chapman's words and am thankful for his sincere heart. We as Christians must work at our best to continue the Kingdom work of God even though we must be encumbered by the slings and arrows of political ambition.

Now to respond briefly to Daniel David's quip, I suggest to you that all three of these people are soundly conservative and thoroughly orthodox. I should know, I've spoken with and sat underneath all three in an educational environment.

 

yipee! the amendment failed!

 

Brother Jimmy,

While we clearly differ in our views on these above matters, I suggest that we simply agree to disagree and be done with this. I do this because I am sure amongst fellow baptists neither of us would wish to embroil our efforts over a fool hearty discussion based in part on conjecture and a discussion which would certainly detract from the glory of kingdom. Though this is not the habit of good baptists, that is to leave foolish discussions alone, I believe you and I can bring ourselves to this cause and perhaps see it spread.

That said, as a loyal Southern Baptist, and one who wishes the moderate side had not stopped attending the annual convention - my hopes and prayers are that the SBC can get out of politics and back to the business of winning souls to Christ

This is something certainly worthy of commenting on. There has been a noticed decline in the theological diversity of those attending the convention each year. Now I think this is a sad thing, though some of my brethren are happy about it, and I hope to see a rebounding in different congregations represented. One of the glorious parts of historical baptist polity is local church autonomy. I am hoping to see a renewed growth in the diversity of the convention floor. While some issues are foundational to baptist doctrine, I believe that some peripherial issues have bogged us down for too long. We must endeavor to bring together all Southern Baptists in fellowship. Leaving politics at the door is certainly the right start.

Blessing

 

Agreed my friend!