Floyd v. Floyd: Error or admission?

Q.1: Kevin Kerr (pastor of First Baptist Church in Machesney Park, 2009 IBSA president) “asked about the CP commitment of churches represented on the task force which average less than 6 percent.”

A.1: “We don’t spend percentages, we spend dollars” – Ronnie Floyd, following the response of Johnny Hunt

Q.2: Tim Shrader (pastor of First Baptist Church in Litchfield) “asked how the task force ‘is assessing what needs to be done in the SBC.’”

A.2: “How are we going to change the world with the Gospel when 98 cents of every dollar given stays in the churches and 98 cents of every dollar earned stays in the pocket of the member?” – Ronnie Floyd, commenting on a “lack of biblical stewardship” as one of the Convention’s problems

(source: Baptist Press, 11/18/2009)

Did anyone else notice this? Floyd is right…and right again. We do spend dollars…but the dollars we spend come from the percentages we set aside…

Issue 1: personal stewardship

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

If Floyd is right in his assertion that “the average evangelical gives 2.4 percent to all charities” (and that of course includes non-church, i.e. non-CP, giving), we have one major hurdle before we pick at each other’s decimal points.

Does anyone else find it peculiar that many churches run behind on their budgets (at present, mine is techincally 3.5 weeks of bills behind) and yet their members find ample funds to take cruises or buy new cars? I once had an old pastor tell me he had calculated up how much money his church members would make collectively on welfare…if they then tithed that pittance, the offerings would have tripled in money collected. I then calculated what percentage my tithe was of the church’s income…approximately 15% and I was making only $18,000 a year! (i.e. below poverty level!) How strange it would seem to Paul that we are almost  required to have tithing/stewardship sermons to meet the budget (cf. I Corinthians 16:1-2) and we regularly come unprepared to the house of God!

Issue 2: ecclesial stewardship

But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. (Romans 15:23-32)

Does anyone else find it strange that we are fighting over whether our denominational representatives (the trustees) are giving 10% as a church or not…especially when the original vision of the 1925 Cooperative Program was 50% allocation?! (SBC Annual, 1976, p.54)  I’ve made this point before, but it does seem odd that we throw around the 10% rule without a mind for what total sacrifice our Convention forefathers envisioned…no wonder that it was unpopular when first proposed! By way of an update, according to the 2009 state budgets, an average of 32.41% (when weighted by dollar amounts, the allocation is 36.23%) was set aside by the states to national causes. Perhaps we should fix the amount going to the state to be allocated before we worry (too much) about how it is allocated. Most of the states are glad to split equally any money above their budget..so let’s give it to them!

Issue 3: smokescreen or smoking gun?

The fault in logic does not lie in Floyd’s responses, but in our reluctance…to give and to do so sacrifically for the good of the Kingdom. We talk about Great Commission…but do we follow Great Commandment giving (as much to neighbor as to self)? We talk about Resurgence, but do we really mean Recompense? Isn’t it time we talk plain and walk plainer?

What’s so wrong with increased seminary funding?

Having read Gerald Harris’ op-ed at Baptist Press, I have only one comment…why you all hating on the seminaries?

Dr. Harris lists Myth No. 1 about the GCRTF as “The goal of (particular members of) the Task Force to get more money to the nations is only a smoke screen to get more money to the seminaries.” Admittedly, I am a bit biased, being a seminary student, but what is the rationale for not wanting to provide for the best education for the most students of our Southern Baptist churches?

Point 1: We as SBC want to reach the world for Christ…but we don’t want to prepare new ministers to do that?

Harris also cites Axiom IX of the GCR Declaration, “We believe that North American church planting, pioneer missions around the globe, and theological education are three priorities around which most Southern Baptists will unite.” as the potential reason for this myth’s spread.

More irritating to me, however, is Daniel Akin’s own response to the myth: “The GCR is not and has never been about getting more money to the seminaries.  It has always been about international missions and North American church planting.  It is about getting the gospel to the unreached and under-served peoples of the nations and in our nation. ” How do we expect to have missionaries to send internationally and domestically, or even to our own churches to keep them mission-sending centers without theological education? Before we can tackle the bastions of Satan’s strongholds, we must have soldier-pastors who are more than adequately prepared!

Point 2: We want to fully fund our entities…as long as their names end in “Board”??

We already know that the seminaries are in trouble…the good news is that austerity measures in place at some of the six sisters have stemmed the tide of loss. Not to draw needed attention away, but why is that when mission boards run short in times of need, we offer to have special offerings for them, yet when seminaries run dry, we don’t? Perhaps it is the same reason why we prominently display missions during Christmas (Lottie Moon: international) and Easter (Annie Armstrong: domestic), but hide away SBC Seminaries Sunday and don’thave an offering for their support. Compounding this error is the requirement that missionaries have some seminary experience…”you need it, but we won’t fund it.”

Point 3: We as SBC started the Conservative Resurgence because of the drift of the seminaries…but now we just want to let them wither for lack of funds??

I have argued before about the need for a reworking of the funding formulae and to that end, I made two motions at this past Convention.  I remain speechless at how many seminary students struggle to make ends meet and pay for their schooling (EVEN with the SBC subsidy!) and yet our leadership is adamant that we are as fully funded as we need to be. It seems strange to make those assertions when some seminaries have put off necessary improvements or remodeling until money comes available and some seminary boards of trustees must pay out of their own pockets to build necessary facilities! Need I say any more?….

Thinking about what to do at Orlando 2010…

For those of you who care, I did make my two announced motions plus one more that I did not post. Of the three, all were referred to the appropriate SBC agencies and I have heard the response to two (both declined…which was expected).

Having had the drama of that all blow over, I now turn my thoughts to if I should make motions at the next Convention in Orlando. If so, what should they be about?Also, I don’t want to step on the toes of the GCRTF report…so what will they not cover?

I relish your thoughts and comments….

I would like to announce my candidacy for SBC office…

We have officially kicked off the 2010 SBC presidential campaign, but wait, there’s a twist…it appears that now you can vie for entity leadership as well.

Arena 1: The Executive Committee:

Morris Chapman, president of the Executive Committee, is embroiled in a controversy that may cost him his job . Starting the inferno were his “outrageous and shameful remarks” concerning Calvinism and the Convention. Feeding the flames was the hush-hush dismissal/resignation of vice president Clark Logan, which has drawn many questions and not a little ire. Anybody want to run the largest Protestant denomination from July until May?

Arena 2: The Mission Boards

This just in…it seems that attempts to dismiss the leader of one of the largest mission-sending organization (see also here) are now being attempted at her sister agency. Now, admittedly, there may be some historical overtones to this, but it does seem a little odd that Poe’s pendulum seems to try to cut the mission leadership away at regular intervals?

Arena 3: Will the Page-Hunt Revolution continue? More on this later…

Convention Countdown: Day -2

Today we continue our journey through the three issues that I feel will be important at this year’s Convention

Issue #3: seminaries and the future of the SBC

Issue #2: Tensions between perspectives on the faith

As I sat down to write this post, I first checked Baptist Press to see what articles had been posted. You can’t imagine my surprise and shock when the lead story is about the largest Christian radio network in the Midwest dumping a program featuring Mark Driscoll! Turns out Mark has been a bad boy and said some risque things in Edinburgh. When Baptist Press has to start their article with a Editor’s Note about explicit sexual content, you know that something MAJOR has gone down!

The issue underlying this is not really about crude language…well, not entirely. It is about the deeper, trans-biblical acculturation that we in the American church engage in and feud about regularly. Soteriologically, we are divided into at least three camps: Calvinists, non-Calvinists, and anti-Calvinists (sarcasm alert: I always enjoy when we in the Christian community can be against yet another thing!). Ecclesiologically, we kick out pastors over feuds about church leadership veiled in the elders vs. deacons debate. Pragmatically we deprive new church plants of support because their practical theology violates our teetotaling sensibilities. It even turns out the the movement de jour is also an arena of in-fighting among the power camps! And I am tired of it!

Perhaps I am naive to think that the largest Protestant denomination in the United States might actually try to work together and get along for the Gospel and the Kingdom. Perhaps I am short-sighted to think we could, at least on these non-essential areas, move beyond our Separatist origins and not “kick at the goads” everytime someone displeases us. Of course I also believe that local churches shouldn’t fight over the color of carpets or worship music selections!

Into this fray, I plan to propose a motion to form a reconciliation committee to address the first fracturing issue (soteriological disagreement). If that works (please hold your laughter for the end of the post!), I might work toward the next two in the coming years.

However, this motion is the last (of four) that I have planned to present…and I might not present it at all if the business sessions seem too full of GCR committee plans or in-fighting over the language of congratulatory resolutions. I also need to see the response to my first three and more controversial motions….for all I know, I might be stripped of my messenger credentials, put before the thousands of retirees and three-piece-suit-wearing-preacher-boys, and tarred and feathered!

Convention Countdown: Day -3

Well, it’s almost convention time and that means (at least this year) a preview of some issues that I think will be important this year…if only because I am making motions concerning them!

Issue #3: seminaries and the future of the SBC

I’m not trying to be selfish here (although helping the seminaries does help me, a seminary student!), but there are definite reasons why we might want to focus on this area in the near (read: immediate) future:

1. Demographic decline in young members and baptisms
2. Purported loss of young leadership to attrition
3. Tensions between the young innovators and the older status quo seekers

Some solutions/responses:

1. This year, seminarians in attendance at this year’s Convention will be recognized during the first Executive Committee report:

This is the text from an email sent out by John Kyle, on behalf of the Executive Committee:

During the upcoming meeting of the SBC in Louisville, as part of our Executive Committee report, we are planning to recognize seminary students who are in attendance. The focus of our report this year is the fruit of our cooperative efforts and people like you who are following God’s call to serve as pastors, church planters, missionaries, and other ministry leaders, are part of this fruit. Part 1 of our report is Tuesday morning and I would like to invite you to participate. We have reserved a block on seats at the front of the room on the right side of the stage. During our report, we’re going to ask that all the seminary students in that section rise, come forward, and stand in front of the platform. We will then extend an invitation to pastors, and other messengers, to come and surround the students. Following a song, we will have a special time of prayer asking God to bless you, empower you, and make you fruitful as you serve Him. Following the prayer you can return to your seat. It is our hope that this will be a meaningful time for you and for those in attendance.… I’m hoping we can have over 100 students participate therefore, if you know of other students who will be at the convention, please forward this invitation.

I am very appreciative of the effort to recognize the future of the Convention…and I hope that the Midwestern cohort (my group) will at least be second-highest in attendance. Perhaps we should continue this practice even when the Convention is not in the city of a major seminary! Perhaps we should subsidize (not ExComm, but willing pastors and churches) the travel expenses of the seminary students in your area to go to Convention each year.

2. Efforts (on my own part) to normalize seminary allocations:

• revival of an effort to have a seminary offering (inspired by this post)
• a motion to count where seminary students come from, so that the states can know how to help supplement the seminary budgets or direct their scholarship funds
• a motion to include extension site FTE’s into the allocation formula: this both smooths out inter-campus transitions like the one occuring at Golden Gate and catastrophic loss of campus facilities such as New Orleans in 2004. Also it modernizes the funding method to fit the more regional, less centralized seminary structure of the modern day.

I hope that others will give their input and ideas at the Convention this year. If you will be there, I’ll present these two motions at the afternoon and evening business sessions on Tuesday…be there to see me on the Jumbotron!

Time to get rowdy!

In the words of my good friend (and part of this year’s Hebrew crew) Kelly, “It’s time to get rowdy!” I try not to pour out the vitriol when I blog…but some issues require the sharpened tongue and the rapid-fire rebuke.

Let me begin by saying that I have the utmost respect for those who allow themselves to be nominated to denominational offices and trusteeships. Their sacrifice of time (and I am certain, money) to do this service for the Southern Baptist Convention is admirable and should be encouraged.

However, occasionally, well-meaning and passionate statements necessitate the response of those with less degree of tunnel vision about the issues. Such a scenario has arisen in recent days concerning the funding of the SBC entities and their inability to properly do their work.

I am fairly certain that this conversation has arisen as a watershed  from the recently released Great Commission Resurgence statement. I have read the statement and I agree in principle with all of its articles. Particularly, Article IX (A Commitment to a More Effective Convention Structure) has motivated us (The SBC, particularly her blog-friendly participants) to discuss what is effective and what is dead-weight in the 21st century world and church.

Therein lies the rub: The trustee leaders of  two oldest entities in the SBC have gone and made some rather ill-advised and half-thought-out proposals to remedy the lack of funds at the national level. The North American Mission Board chairman, Tim Patterson, has proposed merging the two mission boards to eliminate the “antiquated”, “duplicate”, and “overly bureaucratic and bloated” aspects of the organizations. The International Mission Board chairman, Paul Chitwood, has proposed changing the Cooperative Program formula “to ensure that the majority of money given to get the Gospel to the nations no longer gets held back in our own nation.”

Now both of these ideas on the surface are admirable. Rev. Patterson is simply asking for us to do what will eventually be needed: to take a very hard and very counter-traditional look at what each Southern Baptist ministry does and produces for the money we give to it. Rev. Chitwood is simply asking for the most money to go to the greatest need: to the lost.

However, both ideas are wrongly oriented. Both men miss the point (although Rev. Chitwood alludes to it): the problem is not the redundancy of the system (as is) nor the CP formula…at least not at the national level. THE PROBLEM IS THE STATE CONVENTIONS!

There is redundancy and deadwood in the system…at the state level. There is poor allocation of monies received…at the state level. There is a breakdown in how the Cooperative Program is supposed to function…at the state level.

Let us review the history of the CP: In 1925, the Cooperative Program was adopted with the guiding principles of:

1) equal division of church offerings between church needs and the Cooperative Program (SBC Annual, 1976, p.54)

2) equal division of funds between state and national conventions (see principle #4)

3) equal division of national money between domestic and international missions (SBC Annual, 1983, pp. 42-47)

4) funds given seen as a “sacred trust” which the states “were not to touch… for their own use” (principle #11)

I think that it is fairly clear that point #3 is being upheld…since every year, 50% of national CP money goes to the IMB. It is also clear that the other points are not being upheld!

After all the fighting over whether 10% CP giving was too high a threshold to require for participating churches, it turns out we aren’t even close to the original vision of the 1925 statement! When 36.2% (not 50%) of monies collected by the state conventions is allocated to go to the national convention, it is clear that we have a problem at the second level of trust! If we then consider the 13 state conventions that make up the core of the SBC (78.5% of combined Baptist budgets, 81.6 % of national CP budget, over 80% of SBC messengers, 83.1% of SBC members), the statistics are slightly better with 37.6% of the combined budgets going to the national convention.

In light of this, it does not surprise me that many state convention leaders were upset with the GCR statement. Admittedly, the plan has a glaring absence of “clear details, proposed plans or potential consequences.” But, with all due respect to Rev. Barrentine, it is a statement, not a plan of attack! Or is it…perhaps the state leaders fear the blue-haired ladies and the young whipper-snappers of the convention actually considering whether all those state ministries are necessary. Border states have little to fear…it is the core states, with breakaway retirement home systems, wayward colleges and universities, and convention centers that seize valuable assets who need to consider what fat they might be willing to cut to promote world evangelization.

In summary, let me add my own solution to the possibilities being bandied about: why not fulfill the 1925 vision as much as possible. Let’s start with the state conventions SERIOUSLY considering what ministries are indeed 20th century holdovers and how they can dispose, rework, or combine them for greater efficiency. Let’s start demanding that 50% of CP money go to the national convention NOW – not in 10-20 years when our 1% increment gets us there! An excellent idea (that needs to be more bold and go farther) is David Hankin’s Cooperative Program Advance Plan – coming from a state convention director nonetheless! Let’s start by increasing our churchs’ giving to Cooperative Program, as well as national and state missions offerings…and cut our own fat before we demand the pound of flesh from the conventions!

Let’s get started…it’s times to get rowdy, people!

*editorial note: Now I’m going to make some brownies…hopefully I’ll feel better after that! I relish any comments concerning this idea or the others highlighted, especially from anyone I have potentially offended…

Reflections on the “Generational Issues and the SBC”

I recently watched the “Generational Issues and the SBC” Panel Q&A conducted at Southeastern Seminary and found it to be most helpful for my own thinking about the future and the present of the SBC. I will treat the four speakers alphabetically and have included the approximate starting times (according the media player at the website) of the comments I quote.

Daniel Akin: (website)

“Bottom line: if you do that [violating a signed covenant],… your issue is integrity. Basically, you’re a liar, basically you’re dishonest, basically you are disqualified for ministry…. If you give your word to do something, then keep your word.” (63:00)

How appropriate in a day when we have a young man who chose:

1. to attend a fundamentalist school
2. to violate the covenant of that school to take his girlfriend to the prom

…and yet wants to whine and complain about their treatment (expulsion for violating the covenant he chose to sign and violate) of him!

“I am not a fundamentalist. I am an evangelical who affirms the fundamentals.” (16:15)

I have always found Dr. Akin to be a unfiying voice in the Convention in recent years. Yet again, I would like to thank him for encouraging me to move forward with a resolution to the 2007 Convention on soteriology.

Nathan Finn: (contributor at Between the Times)

“If your Calvinism precludes you from cooperating with non-Calvinists, then you would probably be happier somewhere else. But if your Calvinism is not the primary issue for you, but maybe an important issue, but you’re willing to work with other evangelical Baptist Christians who disagree with you on the doctrines of grace, then the Southern Baptist Convention is a great place to be.” (46:00)

I appreciate your emphasis on cooperation over Calvinism. I hope that others will agree to share a unified front against the powers of Satan and not let the friendly fire of theological discussions to weaken our ranks!

JD Greear: (blog)

“Good parachurchism…exists to assist the local church in her ministry…. Bad parachurchism tries to take local ministry from the local church,…thus separating it from the context God intended to move forward…. The Southern Baptist Convention was conceived in good parachurchism and over time, many parts of it have devolved into bad parachurchism.” (18:00)

I am glad that he has made a statement, recently reinforced by the Great Commission Resurgence statement (of which he is a signatory), that the Convention may need to be tweaked to be more effective. I’m sorry, state and national entities, but the years of programmatic and redundant ministry have passed. Just as we as a denomination need to trim our personal fat, we may need to reconsider if, for instance, each state convention really needs their own retirement homes system or not.

Greear later states: Take the lead (in doing ministry) and take what you’re doing to the institutions. See how fast they get onboard and those that don’t, “will probably get left behind.” (16:45)

David Nelson: (SEBTS article)

“I don’t think the major issue facing the Southern Baptist Convention is intergenerational. I think there are two issues. I think that there are competing visions for the Convention…. I think that we don’t all agree about what the gospel is. Those are two pretty big issues that divide us.” (22:30)

Nelson goes on to describe them:

Two visions:
1) those that enjoyed the CR and would like for things to be just like it was when the CR occurred:

• separatist stance: “Baptists have the way to do things”
• “Christian” subculture that isn’t and distance us from those we are trying to reach with the gospel

2) more ecumenical, willing to work with like-minded groups that are not Southern Baptist

• focused on cultural transformation or engagement
• interested in breaking out of the subcultures we have created

Two views of the gospel
“pray a prayer and get a better life” vs. “no life apart from Christ and maybe a life of suffering in this age”

Personally, I am in the second category on both terms (and I’m pretty sure the Bible is too!). I hope that the years ahead for the SBC will be a second Resurgence and not a second Baptist Civil War. I may blog on this issue in the coming weeks, depending on the ruling of my church’s elders about my plans.

The denominational stool revisited…part 4: trustee accountability

Four problem areas in SBC life:

1) trustee accountability

2) evangelistic emphasis

3) cooperative giving

4) discipleship and baptismal retention

It’s time, my loyal reader…onto the number one issue for the Southern Baptist Convention: trustee accountability. This is most definitely a touchy subject…and one that will most likely not be solved by my discussion of it. Indeed, this post may be my downfall for anyone who may in the future search this blog for dirt (there goes my denominational career!)

As I see it, there are three populations that interact with and interdepend on each other in denominational life. At least, they are SUPPOSED to interact and interdepend! Too often, in recent years, the pattern has been reduced to:
1) Entities and their leadership report annually to the messengers (6)
2) Messengers elect the annual slate of new trustees (1)
3) The trustees supervise the entites (3)
4) The entities report to their trustees (4)
…and the cycle continues.
Rarely, messengers will question and contact the entities (5). But I have never personally, in 5 Conventions in the past 12 years, seen the trustees or the entities report to the messengers about their decisions (2 or 6).

This is the problem: our view of church/denominational polity has become unbalanced in practice. We elect messengers and trustees in order to take care of our denominational well-being while we minister and live in our individual communities. Yet somehow we have lost touch with the entities, beyond the official annual report and any communications they may send to the churches.

Many have become disenchanted with this “party line” method, resulting in anger and discontent over some policies the elected boards have enacted. It also seems that there is no recompense, other than overturning the decisions by replacing the trustees. In fact, this method was effectively utilizied during the Conservative Resurgence to regain control of the entities. But this is not an option for us today.

First, we lack the grass-roots support to attempt to overturn the Committee on Nominations’ nominees (this may not even be a option, given Bylaw 15-K) or to elect Convention presidents for three consecutive years that will appoint Committees on Committees, which will appoint Committees on Nominations that will enact the new slates of trustee nominees (yes children, it requires five or more years of concerted effort to bring about top-down change!)

Second, it is not in the best interest of the denomination to force the trustees and the entities to “circle the wagons” and require a Convention floor fight over issue that those irritated themselves see as tertiary. In my opinion, this year’s controversy-free Convention was a refreshing respite, one that I personally would not sacrifice if I could help it.

Third, to be frank, it is those who are best at that method that it seems to be the ones who some want removed themselves! Again, it is not in the best interest for us to fight among ourselves. WE are not the enemy…we are just in disagreement!

So, you might ask, what is the solution? If I may be so bold, we simply need more communication and respect when it comes to potentially (or actually) controversial issues and decisions. But how can that be fostered in the present system? It must be (at least at some level) systemized itself…it must become part of our denominational/Convention DNA…a habit we begin and maintain.

Let us return to the two directions of accountability that I have found lacking or absent in recent years…I did research this phenomenon (in the Convention proceedings back to the late 1960’s) and have found little evidence of it since the early seventies, when the Sunday School Board changed the name of Training Union and was called on the carpet for it! So what is needed is a mechanism so that controversial trustee decisions, but not all entity choices, can be reviewed by the messengers.

First off, we do not need to hobble the trustees, making them bring every jot and tittle to the Convention floor for our approval. To do so would negate the need for trustees in the first place and would overwhelm the Convention. If we had to approve every allocation of funds, every appointment or hiring, we would become quickly bogged down with trivialities…think of how few messengers attend all the entity reports, much less actually pay attention and desire to ask questions!

No, the solution lies only in the area of controversy: policy making. I propose the following rough draft of a amendment to the ministry statements which govern the entities and the trustees in their decisions:

Any action by an entity which acts to interpret the Baptist Faith and Message, as approved by the Convention, or any governing policy set by the Convention must be, following its approval by the trustees of the entity, disclosed to the subsequent Convention and be approved by a majority of the messengers in attendance therein.

Thus hiring decisions, budgets, and other decisions which we can in good faith entrust to the wisdom of the trustees will not unintentionally be put on hold until the next June. However, any additions to or expansions of BFM or other Convention policies will be brought before the scrutiny of the messengers…again in good faith and as a check against the machinations of some thirty or forty like-minded individuals against the will of the larger community of Baptist churches.

Similar action is not unprecendented. First, the Convention has historically approved the governing charters of the entities, some of which include interpretations of Baptist views (i.e. the Abstract of Principles). Second, the Convention retains the right of review of changes to the ministry statements themselves….why not their application in the real world? In my opinion, my motion is in the spirit of and in accordance with the letter of rights #5 and #7. Third, most entities have yet to even seem to contravene the will of the Convention or her member churches…so very few of these reviews would take place at any time.

Having finished my expansion of my four needs in these past few posts, I will later discuss these lines of communication (see below) and they can be strengthened and used appropriately. I encourage you to respond with your thoughts and comments. Once I have processed any feedback you may have, I will forward this amendment to the trustee boards of each entity for their feedback, as is the recommended method for any major policy change. Again, if we work together, we can achieve harmony nad understanding on the issues that threaten to keep us distracted and divided.

Needed modes of communication for united denominational life:

1) messengers to trustees

2) trustees to messengers

3) trustees to entities

4) entities to trustees

5) messengers to entities

6) entities to messengers

The denominational stool revisited…part 3: evangelism

First off, please forgive the long delay in writing….got caught up in SBC/Indy mode….stories to follow!

+++++++

Many would think that the Southern Baptist Convention does not have a problem with evangelistic emphasis…but we do.

We can measure evangelistic effectiveness (yes, I know the Spirit moves, but we in the SBC still obsess about the numbers….) in two ways: as compared with primary worship attendance and as compared with resident membership. By the way, only 71% of church members are resident members and only 33.7% of church members are primary worship attenders…thus the growing demand for more accurate membership counts

PWA has only been collected since 1991 (thanks LifeWay Research for the data!). So in 1991, there was one baptism for every 11.55 primary worship attenders (think regular pew-fillers)…by 2007, it increases to one baptism to 17.77 attenders! That’s an average increase of 1 attender every THREE YEARS!

Resident membership was collected from 1950 (as far as I know!) to 2005…which means we can look at the decade averages! All of you statistical freaks like me can now rejoice! For the unintiated, the t-test number is the probability that the two neighboring averages from the same distribution of values…so the lower, the better! Anything above 0.05 means they are not significantly different.

Average Resident Members per Baptism (t-test with next group)

1950’s: 15.21 (1.65E-07)

1960’s: 20.69 (0.018 )

1970’s: 23.49 (0.007 )

1980’s: 27.34 (0.522)

1990’s: 28.02 (0.294)

2000’s: 28.86

pre-1980: 19.80 (4.04E-10)

1980-1994: 27.88 (0.821)

post-1994: 28.06

post-1979 : 27.95 (1.21E-12 w/ pre-1980)

Summary: The number of resident members per baptism has increased significantly, from 13.89 in 1950 to 30.51 in 2005, an average increase of 1 resident member every three years. But more specifically, the increases occurred before 1979…yeah, something that can’t be blamed on the Conservative Resurgence! Yet the flip side is that our efforts for doctrinal orthodoxy have done nothing to reverse the trend, since the number has only stabilized since then.

Let’s cut to the chase: we need to stem the flow…we need to DECREASE by 1 primary worship attender or resident member every three years…hey, let’s try every year! And for that to happen, we need some leadership…which I hope we will find in Johnny Hunt. He had the second highest baptism percentage (baptisms per PW attender) of the 2008 candidates. His 7.5% is DOUBLE the average of SBC churches! We have had the vigor of Bobby Welch…which didn’t motivate us. We had the irenic “blip” of Frank Page…which made us feel good, but didn’t kick us in the butt. Perhaps two years of Hunt will tip the trustee boards in favor of evangelistically minded representatives, that with God’s help might set the example we need in all our struggling churches and associations.

Personal note: Please pray for a revival series I am helping to co-ordinate. It will occur this October in the association(s) in my state with the lowest average baptisms. May others catch this vision to help one another bring in the harvest and may God bless our efforts and open eyes, ears, and hearts to the Gospel we bring!