Dr. Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary proposed that the SBC President Johnny Hunt be empowered to appoint a committee to come back to the 2010 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention with a proposal on the Great Commission Resurgence.
While many good individuals are on the committee, I am concerned for several reasons:
1) The GCR Committee seems weighted with mega-church pastors, with little input by small and medium-size church members and pastors.
2) Half of the committee hail from either North Carolina or Florida, with no members from Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. Consider that Alabama has been the leader in Cooperative Program gifts for 2009.
3) With the great emphasis in church planting and evangelism among minorities, I am surprised that no black members were named to the committee.
I would have been glad to see Alabama Baptist Convention President Jimmy Jackson named to this committee. Dr. Jackson has served as First Vice President of the SBC, was on the SBC Executive Committee, is a trustee of Southwestern Seminary, pastors the great Whitesburg Baptist Church that leads Alabama in giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions as well as the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. Dr. Jackson has served as Parliamentarian for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on numerous occasions.
Another positive selection would be Birmingham Baptist Associational Missionary Mike McLemore, who has served as President of the Alabama Baptist Convention and has served in many areas of denominational life. Mike is a loving man with strong conservative convictions. Dr. McLemore has the pulse of inner-city missions and has pulse of pastors and laypeople.
Another selection, which would have represented Alabama and would have added a black member, would be Dr John King, Associate Missionary with the Birmingham Baptist Association. Dr. King is a powerful preacher, a strong leader, and a loving man with influence and experience in inner-city work. With the great need for ministry in urban areas, Dr. John King would have served as a great addition to the Great Commission Resurgence Committee.
However, I do love and respect our Convention President Johnny Hunt--one of the great pastors and preachers of our generation. His heart beats for evangelism and his desire is to see our Convention move more effectively.
4 comments:
Bro. John,
I wanted to commend you on your observations concerning the Great Commission Resurgence. I agree completely with what you have said. One other fact that I discovered is that of the 19 members of the committee 12 have signed the axioms document on the GCR website. I would have liked to have seen the committee a little more evenly divided between those who had signed the document and those who had not. Thank you for your service to the Kingdom and our state convention.
John,
I pray for the success of the GCR. I hunger to see the SBC reach people for Christ in greater numbers than ever before. I believe our greatest years could be before us. The opportunity for the advancement of the gospel may be greater at this time than ever before, especially in the United States.
I do admit I share your concerns about the GCR. I do think that in light of Alabama being the CP leader an Alabama Baptist should have been placed on the committee.
Also Alabama is already light years ahead of many other Southern Baptist entities in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission.
Rick Lance leads the strongest and most committed group of Great Commission oriented state missionaries in all the SBC, in my opinion.
I also strongly agree with you about John King. He would make an excellent ethnic minority member of the GCR team. He is a committed Christian gentleman, a solid gospel preacher and pastor, a conscientious and dedicated associational missionary, an excellent lawyer with a tried and true record of understanding of the law as it relates to matters of faith.
Finally Dr. John King is an Alabama Baptist who would well serve the SBC in any capacity, especially on a committee such as the GCR.
I too, admire Johnny Hunt. Maybe he will see the need to add other members to the GCR Task Force and add someone like Dr. John King to the team.
I am sure the Task Force does not have to be limited to only 18 members. And I really think at least one or two from Alabama should serve on the GCR Task Force.
Thank you, John for a timely post. I certainly hope and pray that Johnny Hunt reads this post or is directed to its wisdom by someone whose advice he respects.
cb
It boils down a control issue in my opinion. To originally make such a statement that we are bloated 'at all levels' is wreckless at a best and outright mis-leading at worst.
There is and has been a disconnect (in my opinion) between the 'big guys' and the little guys for many years. To make such a statement as the original article 9 (of course changed to make it easier to swallow) with out having been in our churches or associations is troubling.
it is for these kinds of things that many SBC churches left over the years(and Im not speaking of the CBF). Politics, control, entouages, etc. I don't need it--nor do I like it.
My church will always be a Great Commission church---with out the brass begging me to 'resurge'.
When some mega church pastors stop whinning about how their gifts are'nt counted in the CP total,and start 'resurging (if they need to) it seems to me it would allow for more time to actually live out the Great Commission.
I too am concerned about the make-up of the committee. I do believe there is value in reviewing the way we do denominational work and missions and the timing is right for this endeavor. But, the committee includes only one woman, one ethnic, and the rest appear to be white men. All of the individuals named to the committee come with impressive credentials, but more diversity is needed.
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