One Man’s Perspective on the Current State of SBC Life

      These reflections come in the midst of me leading another small group through Henry Blackaby’s study Experiencing God, and my attendance at the  February 2021 SBC Executive Committee Meeting in Nashville as our state convention’s trustee. As I share my thoughts, I do so with some major disclaimers. First and foremost, you need to know that these are MY PERSONAL thoughts. I am not speaking in any formal capacity, nor on behalf of any other Executive Committee member, nor for anyone on the Executive Committee staff. Second, I share them with humility knowing that where you have three or four Baptists gathered together you have at least five or six opinions on any given topic. Chances are I could read this next week and wonder what kind of a nut wrote that! I also share them knowing that my reflections are an extremely simplistic way of viewing some very complex and integrally intertwined issues.
 
     During the Nashville Executive Committee meeting, Dr. Ronnie Floyd recast his Vision 2025—a clear and compelling vision that was to be approved at the 2020 SBC meeting in Orlando, which was canceled due to COVID. Dr. Floyd’s passion was bolstered by the fact that we could hear him in person, and that we have the expectation of meeting in person for the 2021 convention this June in Nashville. Having a clear vision is “Good News!” However, at that same meeting, we had to deal with several issues that fall into the “Bad News” category. Those issues are significant enough that even a clear and compelling vision can be drowned out by the cacophony created by unrecognized and unaddressed conflicts. That reality reminded me of an old Hee Haw skit that Archie Campbell did. In the routine, he contrasted the “Good News” and “Bad News” that can arise out of any given situation: Oh that's good.
 
    As I began to reflect on the Good News-Bad News contrast, I thought about the slogan General Motors used in their 1988 campaign to re-energize the Oldsmobile brand: “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” Stop and think with me for just a minute about some of the huge changes that have taken place in SBC life in the last fifty-plus years:

• Southern Baptists were transformed from being a regional convention of churches into a national body with churches in every state.
• Southern Baptists became the most ethnically diverse convention of churches in America.
• The southern states, where the majority of Southern Baptist churches are still located, shifted from being single-party states (Democrat) to two-party states and have consistently supported Republican presidential candidates in recent elections.
• All conventions and denominations in America have been deeply impacted by the growth of the mega-church, decline in denominational loyalty, as well as advances in communications (i.e. television) and technology (i.e. internet).     

    The changes mentioned above, and I’m sure you could add to my list, contain some “Good News,” but the “Bad News” is that they have also created tensions, fissures, and polarization. If we are honest with ourselves, we look more like the culture in which we live than we do the model of unity we are called to emulate as described in scripture (John 17:20-23, Romans 14:19, & Ephesians 4:1-6). Unless we address these challenges my fear is that Southern Baptists could go the way of the Oldsmobile. The last Olds rolled off the assembly line on April 29, 2004; however, there are still Oldsmobiles on the highway. I have been around church life long enough to know that there will be Southern Baptists in the world when Jesus returns. The question is “Will we be a thriving growing healthy body of churches or will we be merely surviving.”
 
    Before I suggest how the “Good News” in the changes I mentioned above are at the core of some of our “Bad News,” let me suggest some principles that can help us generate “Good News” in any setting.

• Keep your focus on the main thing. Some of our differences are caused by our focus on minor issues rather than major issues. Paul’s admonition in Romans 14 has direct application for us today—particularly verse 19 where he says, “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.” An old cliché comes to mind here: “We can’t see the forest for the trees.” We can become so consumed with minor issues that it is as if we are dissecting the underside of a leaf on a bush in the corner of a giant forest. And when we do that, we begin to lose all perspective. I listened to one individual during a break in my Nashville meeting who was consumed with what I would describe as a minor issue when compared to the huge issues facing one of our entities.
• Use your existing relationships to create healthy dialogue. Often times we have relationships or existing venues that can provide a natural connecting point during times of confusion and conflict. If leaders are willing to use them, they can generate honest healthy dialogue. However, if we don’t take advantage of them, we will invariably create frustration resulting in deeper division and disengagement. The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 is a great example of men willing to use existing relationships to create an environment for honest dialogue. Nothing is ever accomplished by ignoring the elephants in the room.

    In the weeks ahead I will share some more principles that can help us generate “Good News” as well as give you “my take” on how the changes I mentioned at the opening of this article are at the heart of most of the “Bad News” issues we are facing today as Southern Baptists. As I do this, I will also listen to your perspective knowing that unless we discuss honestly we will not diagnose correctly. And when we don’t diagnose correctly, we WILL prescribe solutions that will only make matters worse. Let’s talk together and see if we can see and understand more clearly what God is saying to Southern Baptists today.