SBCOutpost

Some of us were unable to attend the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. We are grateful for those who Twittered (Ed Stetzer) and blogged (Tom Ascol and others). Technology allowed many of us to listen in from the outside (like Timmy Brister). Alan Cross may have watched the entire meeting from gavel to gavel. He offers his thoughts in the following piece re-posted here with permission. We offer this post as you anticipate the return of the flag waving Ben Cole.

June 11, 2008

Convention Finale: Does the SBC Have a Future?

I’ve gotten to know quite a few people over the past two-and-one-half years as we’ve discussed the IMB policy/guideline changes.  No one seems to express what I’m thinking better than my friend Alan Cross.  Recently Alan completed quite a bit of homework on our missions work and has written down his conclusions to the information gathered from a variety of first-hand sources over an extended period of time.

Over the past few years, I have been very active in the blogosphere opposing the policies regarding private prayer language and baptism initiated by the IMB’s Board of Trustees in November, 2005. I was very excited to see others take up the struggle against these extra-biblical and extra- BF&M policies as seen through the Time to Change Statement, which I quickly signed. Even though I am a stateside pastor, I have had relationships with missionaries on the field for many years now. I have been a big advocate for the IMB and believe that they are doing great work. As the current IMB BoT chairman, Paul Chitwood recently said, “The work of the IMB is the primary thing that brings us together.” I agree. That is why it is so important to all of us.

Recently, I have begun to hear about the disastrous effects that these policies are having upon our missionary force in the field. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the young pastors I have come to know over the last couple of years is Alan Cross. He blogs at Downshoredrift. Alan has led his church to partner in India. He takes an active role in his local association. And, Alan wonders about the SBC drift - a drift into relativism.

Art Rogers pointed me to a post by Timmy Brister. “Ministerially Speaking” is a euphemism for exaggeration. Many over the years have given a free pass to those of us who preach when we have overstated to make a point. You may have heard, or said yourself, “Now this is not ministerially speaking.” The reference indicates our own growing discomfort with the reality words mean something. Exaggeration should not pass as the truth.

I repost Timmy’s indictment on us all to continue to make my point our issues tend to be systemic rather than exclusively connected to a single persona. Had Timmy taken the same data from our church he would have made similar discoveries - and dare I say we all would succumb to the evidence of our own pastoral contexts. Tom Ascol’s repeated calls for accountability when it comes to church membership make the same point. Something is amiss when we pass ourselves off as something we are not.

Please note there the peculiar reason Timmy used the illustration he did. Rather than excoriate him, or me for re-posting, pause and think reflectively on the issues at the heart of this problem. Maybe you will offer a solution or corrective. This post is offered with the author’s permission.

“Ministerially Speaking”

“Though official statements still affirm the doctrine of regenerate church membership, statistics indicate a different reality for the great majority of Baptist churches in North America.”
- John S. Hammett, Professor of Systematic Theology, SEBTS

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in class when my professor was discussing characteristics of biblical leadership, and during that discussion I learned of a term often used when talking about churches and their statistics. The term “ministerially speaking” is used when someone does not accurately present the facts or stats but rather exaggerates or embellishes the truth to their own benefit.

In Southern Baptist life, numbers and statistics seem to be a big deal. You will hear the defense and argument everywhere from the fact that we have a book in the Bible called “Numbers” to the pragmatic rationale of management principles for ministerial success. Over the course of my experience as a Southern Baptist with the heightened emphasis on numbers, I had become frustrated because of my conviction that we had auctioned the church off to corporate America and unrestrained pragmatism in the pursuit of upholding denominational dominance and triumphalism. Every time for instance, when you hear that we Southern Baptists account for 16+ million people, we of course are “ministerially speaking.” For example, while in 2004 Southern Baptists reported a total of 16,267,494 members, only 6,024,289 (37%) were on average present for Sunday morning worship. The 16 million is the number we report to the secular media, and the 6 million is the number we report to God–and that on a good day.

“Ministerially Speaking” in Focus

But at this particular juncture and season of SBC politics, “ministerially speaking” perhaps is best seen when Baptist Press announces another candidate for an SBC office. At the very heart of their reporting, you will find a lot of numbers, most of which comes from the Annual Church Profile database. For instance, let’s take the most recent candidate for president, Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Baptist Press reports,

“Cox has been North Metro’s pastor for more than 27 years. Under his leadership, the church has grown from 700 members to more than 4,600, with 3,600-plus individuals added to the church fellowship as baptized believers.”

I have to pause for a moment to emphasize a stat that I love, perhaps the most important of them all. Cox has been at North Metro for 27 years and stands as a testament to pastoral permanence in a flighty generation. I praise God for men like Frank Cox who find their life assignment in loving a congregation and leading them to reach their world for Christ.

But notice with me that the church has grown to 4,600 members with over 3,600 added through believer’s baptism. Those numbers are certainly impressive. But “ministerially speaking,” it could be even more impressive if you consider what Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist recently shared. In the February 21, 2008 editorial, Terry wrote the following:

“Other out-of-state speakers include Frank Cox, who is returning to the Alabama Baptist Evangelism Conference, and Herb Reavis Jr., senior pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. Cox, who previously spoke at the 2005 and 1998 state evangelism conferences, is senior pastor of North Metro Baptist Church, Lawrenceville, Ga. During his 25-plus years as pastor, he has led the church to grow from just under 500 members to more than 5,400.”

Now which is it? 4,600 members or 5,400? That’s a significant difference, don’t you think? But we must go on as more numbers await us.

A couple of paragraphs further in the same BP article, they add:

“The most recent information available, Southern Baptists’ 2006 Annual Church Profile Survey, lists 110 baptisms and primary worship service attendance of 1,737 for North Metro.”

According to Baptist Press, North Metro has at least 4,600 members but only 1,737 who show up on any given Sunday. We are not talking here about Sunday School, service, or ministry; rather, we are talking about those who simply sit in a pew on Sunday morning. Doing a little math will reveal that 37% of their membership are visibly present on Sunday (exactly the percentage from 2004 stated above), or put another way, nearly 2 out of 3 members do not attend “primary worship” services. Now the question then, is, why do we not talk about the numbers which are more realistic than the big, bloated numbers which so often get touted on newspaper write-ups and articles? But we must go on as more numbers await us.

Taking the same ACP data Baptist Press uses for their statistics, I have compiled the relevant data from 2000-2006 regarding North Metro as it is not really fair to look at a church over one year. So I wanted to see the church over a decent period of time, so I choose this seven-year period, and here is how the numbers shaped up:

Analysis

2000

3980 members
2636 resident members
141 baptisms
185 other additions
2003 primary worship attendance

2001

4000 members
2921 resident members
209 baptisms
246 other additions
2000 primary worship attendance

2002

4488 members
2960 resident members
140 baptisms
229 other additions
1425 primary worship attendance

2003

3931 members
3164 resident members
193 baptisms
219 other additions
1496 primary worship attendance

2004

4055 members
3278 resident members
140 baptisms
214 other additions
1676 primary worship attendance

2005

4188 members
3396 resident members
162 baptisms
199 other additions
1944 primary worship attendance

2006

4302 members
3486 resident members
110 baptisms
228 other additions
1737 primary worship attendance

Total Baptisms 2000-2006 1,095
Total Other Additions 2000-2006 1,520
Membership Growth from 2000-2006 322
Attendance Growth from 2000-2006 -266
Number of “Inactive” Members 2,565
A/A Differential* 2,615/-266
UCM Index** 60%

* A/A Differential = Total additions 2000-2006 / Total attendance growth 2000-2006
** UCM Index = 2006 Inactive Membership divided by 2006 Total Membership

The last paragraph is the totals of 2000-2006 combined. Take a moment, and consider these numbers with me.

First, while North Metro added 2,615 through baptism and “other additions,” their membership increased by only 322. What are we saying about the relationship of baptism and church membership? Ministerially speaking, the church grew by 2,615 members; biblically speaking, church membership increased by 322.

Second, again while North Metro added 2,615 during those seven years, they had a net decrease of -266 in primary worship attendance. What are we saying about the gospel and conversion when we baptized 1000+ people only to see a church decline in attendance during that same period? Ministerially speaking, the church added 2,615 people; biblically speaking, the church declined by 266 people.

Third, the total membership in 2006 was not 4,600 or 5,400 as Baptist Press reported but 4,302. But even with that number, the average attendance of 1,737 divided by 4,302 comes to 60% of the church not fulfilling their basic responsibility of worshiping God and hearing the Word preached on any given Sunday (a total of 2,565 “inactive” members. What are we saying about church discipline and the covenant community we call the local church? Imagine a corporation (if we go that route) where only 4 out of 10 of its employees ever showed up to work. How would it continue to function? So ministerially speaking, the church is comprised of 4,302 members; biblically speaking, the church has 1,737 members.

Conclusion

I could go on, but you do not need more numbers or my analysis to get the point. Numbers do matter - even the ones we cringe to look at and accept. But we must accept them. We must not be “ministerially speaking” but “biblically speaking”. My dean, Dr. Chuck Lawless, has a great blog entitled “Biblical Church Growth,” and I believe that is what we need today. I think it is clear to us all that adding 2,600+ members to one’s church should result in something more like 2,600 regular attenders (roughly speaking), not a decrease of 266 attenders. You see, behind these numbers tell us a lot about how serious we examine our churches, church membership, church discipline, the gospel, conversion, and a whole host of other things that distinctively make us Baptist. But more than being Baptist, we must be biblical, and to be biblical, we must begin with a humble confession and a honest assessment of where we are today. The problems we face will never be solved by denominational politics or presidents or anyone else “ministerially speaking.” They will be solved when we take a look at the Bride of Christ and say, “I will give my life for her that she may be pure, holy, and devoted to Christ our Head.” The reports in heaven will set the record straight, but God forbid that we wait until then to see our great need in the here and now.

It just doesn’t have to be that way, and we don’t just have to be “ministerially speaking” either.

Pastor Dwight McKissic of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, has requested that SBCOutpost publish an open response he has written to questions raised about Wade Burleson and the perceived need for an apology. With appreciation to Pastor Dwight for his candor, balance, and charity, we gladly reproduce his letter. We are unable, however, to alter the formatting that Pastor McKissic used in his original letter — sent via email. We apologize for the formatting, and will work to correct it before Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note:  Mississippi native and all-around Baptist curmudgeon, Jerry Grace, has weighed in on the Burleson censure with his characteristic sledgehammer, sending IMB trustees by the bushel to the nearest trauma unit for evaluation.  We at SBCOutpost.com glady reproduce an exerpt from Grace’s blog here, and we are especially pleased to do so without his permission.

In a matter of a few years, thousands of our churches withdrew into a new Baptist denomination that we described as our evil and liberal twin. Leaders of the conservative resurgence manned all the positions of leadership and most sadly of all the cause seemed to require the same obeisance in words as did the thousand year Reich of Adolph Hitler or the 40 year revolution in Cuba.

How dare I describe any aspects of Southern Baptists to communist regimes? Let me see here, philosophical purges, political purges, power grabs by leaders, domination by personalities, a recognized group of 41 people who make all the decisions for the rest of us, and now our largest agency managing more than 300 million dollars of money our people gave one cent at a time engaged in the act of controlling dissent of a single member at the IMB. Worst of all was the shoving down our throats of the BSF&M in 2000 without the opportunity for consideration by our reputed membership of 16 million people. Our leaders of the conservative resurgence just know better than the rest of us.

I am sick to death.

Frequently I receive anonymous comments from missionaries in agreement with my frequently uncivil views of power abuse in our convention. Most of them contain apologies for remaining anonymous because they fear for their jobs if they speak their minds.

Who are they afraid of? Why are they afraid? For God’s sake how could we have stooped so low?

Most of you who read blogs are far more educated and perhaps passionate about convention matters than the rest of Southern Baptists so what I am about to say doesn’t apply to you. But what most of our members and from the looks of the numbers who attend our convention, most of our pastors have just turned away either in frustration or disgust, leaving the few to continue the slaughter of our denomination. For those of you who fit into that category and still call yourselves Baptist, turning that blind eye to what is happening in the Southern Baptist Convention at the IMB has the same effect as the Germans who turned a blind eye to the disappearance of millions of Jews.

We have become no different. After all this resurging, the news is full of conflicts, lawsuits and unfortunately financial impropriety or its perception among Southern Baptists. Just what started this war? Nobody remembers, and those who do positively were the winners in the battle for spoils and power.

I am sick to death.

For a missionary who has moved thousands of miles from everything and everyone he knows to a life that will include little comfort and not much in the way of financial reward to fear for his job in an act of political retribution is downright despicable. Shameful. For a mission organization to have statements made by lawyers and resolutions prepared by them totally for the suppression of dissent are acts that disenfranchise the authority of all of those leaders involved, shame all of us, and bring discredit to the message of Christ to which we have claimed authority to advance. Don’t be confused that this is a vote against Wade Burleson, or Jerry Rankin, or to protect the convention from the evils of a private prayer language and a diminution of Southern Baptist work on the mission field. And don’t be confused that this is an effort the IMB must undertake to prevent acts on the mission field that ought to be prevented. (The recasting of Christianity within the religious confines and experiences of a native religion for example). This is just an act of control to demonstrate the power of a few.

You have no idea how odd I feel being a champion for Wade Burleson in this matter. But like so many other matters personalities and principal must be separated. The principal at stake here, not allowing the free expression of disagreement by someone elected by the convention, is devastating to the idea of Southern Baptists. Maybe this works fine in an elder led congregation, but I strongly doubt it. I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that such suppression is deadly in a church with a congregational polity.

I have never been to a convention before because of my fear of voting for any presidential candidate who may be a Baptist, a likely outcome at the SBC. But on this one, the principal is so important that I hope droves of pastors and ordinary members show up to express their displeasure and throw the bums out. That’s right. Throw the bums out.

And if you as an IMB board member support the effort to suppress dissension under any rationalized guise your lawyers may have helped you reach, shame on you. In language not proper for a Baptist business meeting, “It is high time that we put some butts in the street.”

If you are on the IMB and the shoe fits, wear it. For those missionaries out there who feel isolated from the leadership and the organization that is supposed to support you, I am so ashamed.

Not many folks remember the single event that started World War One given the tragic result and eventual death of 110 million people. And not many people other than leadership have much positive association left with the Conservative Resurgence, however noble may have been its incubus. What we need in the Southern Baptist Convention is not resurgence, but a revolution to put our denomination back in the hands of the people who do not view it as a pathway for power, wealth and vainglory.

It is high time that we put some butts in the street.

One of the central issues in the SBC revolves around the penchant for oppositional thinking. Simply put one is either for us or against us. This statement lifted from the words of Jesus seems to settle down on human relationships and relational configurations so that we find both sides claiming the will and way of God. For instance, what have in some quarters been referred to as “establishment bloggers” assume any call for accountability nothing but disrespect and an attempt to wrest power from those who have led in the CR/Takeover in/of the SBC.

For too long we have had “sides.” For Southern Baptists to refer to factions as sides seems a bit oxymoronic when we will all admit that where three or four Southern Baptists are gathered there are four or five opinions in their midst. Some analysts may view the recent MBC Annual Meeting as “repudiation,” and it may well be. However, what would it mean if it were a signal to those on both sides that lines in the SBC are surely subject to the tide. We talk of lines in the sand but if you have ever watched the tides come in and out, you know quickly lines change in the sand.

It is interesting one time contributor and “owner” of SBC Outpost, Michah Fries, chose the title for his MBC reflections as “Quake at the Lake.” Certainly he notes this is an “overheard” reference, but to select that for your blog reporting signals the presence of fault lines and sides. Micah reports on the goings on in a series of posts laced throughout with references to those of differing positions in the MBC. This is not criticism but reflection. There is little mistaking the tactics and patterns of Roger Moran are not favored by most here at SBC Outpost. We are glad for the shift in leadership away from such legalistic factions-creating personalities. It was interesting to note Micah offered clarifying words regarding statements made by Interim Exec. Tolliver, presumably in his “red meat” sermon.

While it would be interesting to hear a debate between Roger Moran and Darrin Patrick, I for one hope Darrin will decline. You see this would play to the oppositional thinking present in the SBC and we are not in need of further polarization but of a third way. Yes, a third way must include exposure of the egregious leadership errors chiefly illustrated by taking care of the “good old boys.” So, before you, dear reader, think this is a slap at the matters Ben Cole continues to raise on this blog, read again. No one is interested in re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (read, SBC). Rather, in answer to an oft asked question about the “vision” of some at SBC Outpost, note this author considers it necessary to move beyond the structures and systems that continue to propagate the current climate. Do not attempt to obfuscate with concern for inerrancy or your favored view of the atonement.

We tire of guilt by association evidenced by Roger Moran’s diatribes against the likes of the Acts 29 Network. We are weary, though sympathetic, of the “what took you so long” by those who left the SBC long ago.

I will take the actions in the MBC as indication those interested in cooperation are waking from their slumber. Nothing could be more promising than to think in Indianapolis we may experience this same sentiment. Could we stand in the same way as the SOC and eschew angry men desirous of leadership in the SBC who want to continue to narrow the parameters of cooperation and fellowship? May it be so.

To most of you the name C. B. Scott will not be unfamiliar. C. B. serves a growing church in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his wife Karen have taken in four homeless children and are rearing them as their own. C. B. says, “My goal is to finish well as a follower of Christ. (I started pretty shaky) Karen and I love Jesus, our kids and any kids, our church, Alabama football, and Bulldogs. We love the SBC and pray that it will also finish well.”

He is praying for a cure for MS in his wife’s life time. She deals with it everyday. She is the toughest person he has ever known. And if she’s tougher than C. B., that’s saying a lot.

*******

I read a blog post that spoke to the possibility of women serving as pastors. I do not believe women serving in the role of a pastor or deacon in a local church is permitted in Scripture. It seems that those two roles and only those two roles in ministry are prohibited for women. I can see no prohibition for women teaching in seminaries or holding other ministry positions in churches. Frankly, women chaplains in women’s prisons and certain other institutions serve the cause of Christ far better than men for various reasons.

Before anyone starts to argue that point remember prisons are not churches. The prohibition is restricted only to local churches. Many have superimposed cultural and false theological presuppositions upon the scriptural prohibitions of women serving as pastors and deacons to the point Southern Baptists are now, possibly, going to be paying off law suits for such silliness and gross stupidity as to fire a woman for teaching Hebrew in a seminary. This is especially strangely stupid due to the fact that some of the same men that hired her to teach Hebrew in the first place voted to fire her for teaching what they hired her to teach. How stupid can we be? We Southern Baptists are truly a strange lot. Read the rest of this entry »

Rev. Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr., is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, and has served as the president of the SBTC Pastor’s Conference and, until recently, as a trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Pastor McKissic has offered a copy of an article entitled “The Future of Colored Preaching” for the general interest of SBCOutpost readers who seek greater understanding of different trends and traditions of preaching in the United States. The article, written by Princeton theologian Dr. Cleo LaRue, is available in PDF format below.

The Money Quote:

“From all indications, the colored preaching of the future will be quite different from the traditional preaching of the West, and more particularly the preaching of white, western males. Although white males continue to set the homiletical agenda in American preaching circles, from all indications, their ways of preaching and their ways of thinking through the foundational components of preaching are already being viewed as narrow, confining, and in some instances out of touch with the preaching done by people of color in the southern hemisphere and among certain groups in the United States. This is especially true of American mainline white preaching. If, in fact, the twentieth century was the Christian century, the twenty-first century could well be the colored Christian century.”

Access the full article below:

“The Future of Colored Preaching” by Dr. Cleo LaRue

(David Phillips, pastor of Mission Fellowship Church in Middletown, Delaware, offers a guest editorial reflecting on seminary education and ministry outside of the “SBC belt,” as he refers to it. Last month Gary Soulsman of The News Journal  interviewed David after reading an article he wrote for the Baptist General Convention of Delaware. You may read Soulsman’s article here. After a recent occasion to host a SBC seminary professor, David wrote the following piece.)

I live in Delaware.  Ministry is different in Delaware.  It is unique in many ways, while having a few similarities to other parts of the country.  Ministry must be done differently than the institutional SBC church that is so prevalent in the South.  We don’t tell people we are Southern Baptist until we get to a membership class or unless our hand is forced.  The reputation of the SBC is extremely negative in these parts.  When people ask me if we are affiliated with any denomination I tell them we are baptist.  What kind of baptist?  Maryland/Delaware baptist.

SBC churches are few here in Delaware - 1 SBC church for every 25,000 people.  And that disparity is growing. 

Recently, I was talking with  a professor from one of the six SBC seminaries.  When this prof talked with me, I realized that his prospective of things was very Southern - very Southern Baptist.  He had not been in ministry outside the context of the deep South, and as a result, he couldn’t imagine some of the issues we were having to face.  I am also sure that most of what he teaches is aimed at the institutional SBC church family.

Now I really like the guy; he is one of the few guys at that Seminary that I think get it about ministry, about culture and about transition and change.  Anyone who actively deconstructs media with me in my presence and teaches it in multiple venues is someone I can immediately connect with.  Please don’t think I am knocking the professor.

So I asked this professor:  Why don’t you take a semester and come up here and stay with us.   Help us do ministry and learn what it is like to do ministry outside of the SBC culture and learn how to connect with people in the Mid-Atlantic?  It would certainly help your teaching.

His response? Our president “wouldn’t go for it.”  “The sabbatical needs to be a period of rest,” he said. 

He went on to say that it MIGHT get through if he could couch it as a research project, but there would be no funds available to do the research unless he could get a grant, and those are difficult to come by, or some other outside source of funding.

My evaluation of his response is that this particular seminary wants to simply put out little Southern Baptist ministers.  I took the time to look at the bios of each one of their professors and discovered a frightening fact:  none of them had listed any ministry experience outside of the SBC belt apart from a missions professor who served with the IMB and another professor who twenty years ago was an IMB missionary.  Their experience came from serving churches in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Florida. 

There is little emphasis by this, and other seminaries, with the notable exception of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, to get outside of their context and examine ministry outside of the SBC belt.  And that is a great shame.  It demonstrates that we don’t really want to impact the world, much less our own nation.  We simply want to perpetuate so much of the institutional SBC programs and processes.

There is such a great need to reach the cities - urban centers and regions where the SBC doesn’t have a great presence.  This is one of the reasons that NAMB has created strategic focus cities, of which Baltimore has become the latest.  But most of our seminary training doesn’t give us an understanding of ethnography and semiotics and missiology and anthropology.  These should be a mandatory part of our theological education because anywhere we go we have to learn to exegete culture.

Our ministers are missionally depleted.  And our professors are missionally depleted.  That’s because our seminaries are, for the most part, missionally uninformed. 

My wife and I have been discussing this and think that a mandatory part of being a professor at an SBC seminary should be to go outside of SBC belt of the country and learn and do ministry.  It should also include international service as well.  Each of our seminaries should allow for a regular semester’s leave for a learning practicum to answer at least this one question:  What do I need to incorporate in my teaching to help ministers serve in regions outside the areas where SBC culture is dominant?  We also believe that Lifeway should do the same thing.  Churches in those “pioneer” regions could partner with a particular seminary and host the professors as they immerse themselves in the culture and practices of that region of the country.  Instead of having the answers, the professor could be a resource for research and discovery.  The reason?  The SBC is becoming less dominant by the year.

Quite honestly, very few of the ministry-oriented writings of most SBC professors and ministers are of much value outside the SBC belt.  There are rare exceptions:  Reggie McNeal, Ed Stetzer, Calvin Miller, and Bob Roberts come to mind.  But it is their exposure to ministry outside the SBC culture that gives them credibility.  Most others do not have such exposure.  That needs to be corrected.

Our world is flat.  We need to be missional-minded.  Our seminaries haven’t made that an intentional part of who they are.  And the only way for them to become that way is to experience it.