The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is taking place this week in Orlando, Florida.  The SBC is taking full advantage of technology by streaming live the actual convention proceedings on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The same is true of the main pre-convention event – The Pastors Conference (PC).  I was able to follow much of the PC through the on-line stream and interact with participants and other observers via Twitter.  This article will present my take on what I thought was the SBC at it’s best.  I also will present some of my concerns.  I will offer a section of memorable quotes from speakers and the responses of twitterers.

The PC was not without a spirited debate about one of the speakers on Monday night.  You will be able to read some of the comments about that speaker’s presentation.  Finally, Baptists have some funny folks.  Several satirical twitter accounts offered some ways for Baptists to laugh at themselves.  The final section will present some of the comedy.

We will sum all of this up under four headings: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and The Funny.

1.  The Good

Most of this conference could be noted in this section as being good.  I will limit my comments to four items that stood out to me.

A.  Matt Chandler’s Sermon

Matt Chandler is a preacher that you should listen to whenever you get the opportunity.  He is a pastor in Dallas, Texas.  This past year has been some kind of year for him.  On Thanksgiving morning, he had a seizure resulting from a brain tumor.  He had surgery and then went through both chemotherapy and radiation.  All the while he has lived a powerful testimony to the person and work of God.  He fearlessly proclaims the gospel with clarity and power.

One quote from his sermon was tweeted repeatedly, and should be drilled into our hearts and minds:

Don’t simply try to control your sin, but seek to murder it.

B.  The Emphasis on and Example of Adoption

Dr. Russell Moore (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Highview Baptist Church in Louisville) preached a sermon on adoption.  He made biblical application to both the gospel (we have been adopted by God) and of caring for orphans.  He spoke of the adoption of his own children.  Later Kevin Ezell (also from Highview and President of the PC) introduced his family with both birthed and adopted children.  Finally, a pastor and his wife were aided by the PC in the adoption of a small baby, Jedediah.

C.  Francis Chan’s Sermon

Francis Chan has been until recently a pastor in California.  He is not a Southern Baptist, but Southern Baptists’ were enriched by hearing him.  While I watched and listened, I was captivated by his message calling us to have a compelling desire to intimately know Jesus.  Seldom have I seen such authenticity and spiritual power in the pulpit.  Here are a couple of quotes, but you really need to find a this sermon and watch it for yourself to get the full effect.

Would anyone say, “the day I spent with <you>, felt like I was walking with Jesus?

When people meet you, do they think, “Wow, I can see that he/she REALLY loves Jesus more than anything”?

D.  David Platt’s Sermon

David Platt closed out the PC with a sermon version of his book Radical.  I have attended years of PC’s, but not sure I have heard a more challenging and gospel strong sermon preached in all of those years.  Even Matt Chandler chirped in with this tweet:

MattChandler74: @plattdavid preaches like he’s in pain and I’m grateful to God for him.

Here are some quotes from Platt:

(Proclaiming the gospel) This is not the reason we have a convention. This is the reason we have breath

Jesus Christ drank every last drop of the wrath of God turned the cup over & said ‘It is finished’ & that’s good news.

1.6 billion people have a knowledge of God only enough to send them to hell. We must do something. We must tell them.

God help us if we cannot sacrifice plans and percentages when He has called us to sacrifice our lives.

2.  The Bad

A.  GCR Promotion

Let me begin by saying that I am in favor of the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) report which will be presented to the convention on Tuesday.  I just don’t like feeling that I’m being sold by high-pressure salesmen.  Having worked in sales, I would not sell furniture or hotel rooms with these tactics -much less a spiritual thrust.

Ronnie Floyd made an impassioned plea for acceptance of the GCR report.  I’m fine with that.  However, I am sure that godly and wise men are differing and will differ on the best way to move Southern Baptists ahead.  The rhetoric comes dangerously close to suggesting that if you don’t buy the entire report, you are somehow less spiritual and almost not spiritual at all.

I believe a greater day is coming. Tomorrow is about the gospel of Jesus Christ! – Ronnie Floyd

Tomorrow must be a day of change. Will you rise up? – Ronnie Floyd

Again, I favor the GCR recommendations.  But is it really a vote on the gospel?  When put in these terms, those who disagree are presented as being anti-gospel.  I would much rather see a thoughtful rational for the recommendations rather than this type of force feeding.

3.  The Ugly

Andy Stanley, son of Charles Stanley and a pastor in Atlanta, spoke in the evening session.  To say that he spoke to mixed reviews would be an understatement.  Stanley gave a leadership presentation.  He did not preach a biblical sermon.  That is the point of contention.  He brought a Bible and laid it on a table behind him (he didn’t use the podium/pulpit that others used).  Near the end of the sermon, he quoted one passage.  Here is a sampling of the tweets:

steveweaver: Thinks Andy Stanley should have contextualized and preached the Bible tonight.

steveweaver:  Oops, just corrected by one of my church members watching online. He did bring out his Bible and lay it on the table.

DrJoelB: Andy Stanley is great on leadership but let’s b careful what we call preaching, when the Bible is barely mentioned

bradbrisco_kc: A Stanley is a gr8 leader & communicator but is any1 else troubled by his talk @#sbc2010? It is all abt vendor of religious goods & servce

sjcamp:  Listening 2 Andy Stanley. So Weak. His axiom so far is: church should b better, better, better. How about: holy, holy, holy?

sjcamp:  Andy Stanley. All pragmatics – no Scripture! Here we go again: the biblical command is to “preach the Word!”

chadwickivester:  Is #AndyStanley the #RobertShueller of the SBC?

timmybrister:  I don’t think there will be a more stark contrast in content & delivery than Andy Stanley & @plattdavid back to bac

timmybrister:  We are about to go from customer service Christianity (goods & services) to biblical Christianity (Jesus & taking up your cross).

CurtTreece:  Wish Andy Stanley would just “walk our the door and come back in again” and preach an actual sermon from the actual word of God.

DChrisGarner:  Andy Stanley is the worst preacher I’ve ever heard at a conference I’ve attended.

scottsull7:  Andy Stanley just managed to tell us how to make church “better” without once using Scripture as a reference. Just sayin’.

bradthayer1:  ”Last point comes from the Bible. I know that’s a relief.” wow!

These comments were met head-on by those who were enjoying Stanley’s presentation.

It wasn’t the prettiest example of Baptist life.

4.  The Funny

XIANITY: BREAKING NEWS: @ErgunCaner won’t be speaking at#SBC2010, the cost of fitting him w/ both a mic & polygraph was prohibitive.

PuljolsBio: Sitting in Busch Stadium, hoping both @albertmohler and Albert Pujols hit homers tonight.

cliffmathis: Kneeling at Mac Brunson’s urging, size-challenged SBCers struggle to get up. Lend a helping hand, please.

cliffmathis:  Thinks this prayer would be a bit shorter if Brother Brunson had to kneel as well.

SBCmessenger:  Andy Stanley is going to be preaching expositionally from a John Maxwell book tonight.

SBCmessenger:  Mediating on 2 Bible verses b/f bed: 1. Apart from me you can do nothing, & 2. God helps those who help themselves.

fakebp:  BREAKING: Embarrassment ensues when @drmoore attempts to adopt @francischan following Chan’s #SBC2010 pastor’s conference sermon.

Papa John’s pizza is headquartered in Louisville, KY. This is also the city for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I just saw a TV commercial of Papa John Schnatter delivering a pizza in his recently repurchased Camaro.

What really struck me was that he left his car and was walking down the corridor of Norton Hall at Southern Seminary. The pizza was then delivered into the smaller chapel on the west side of Norton Hall.

I don’t know if these were actual students or actors that “ordered” the pizza.

For decades the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has funded Baptist work through a mechanism called the Cooperative Program (CP).  In short, individual Baptists give to their church.  This church joins with other Southern Baptist churches in giving to the work of the convention.  The convention budgets this money to pay for mission work, theological education, and a host of other ministry resources.

In recent months this process has been called into question by what some call a bloated bureaucracy.  The Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) task force was appointed by President Johnny Hunt in June.  Part of their work is to take a look at the effectiveness of this bureaucracy.

Some of the reporting about this task force has focused on the giving percentages of churches for the members of the task force.  Perhaps it is time to reconsider this underlying criteria for being a good Baptist church.

In fact this has been under reconsideration since 1979 when Adrian Rogers was elected president.  Prior to his election, churches had been greatly encouraged to give at least 10% of their undesignated budget receipts to the Cooperative Program.  Rogers church did not even get close to the 10% threshold.

Here is my point.  If 10% is required, it appears more to be a tax than a gift.  Some are being treated as if they are tax cheats for not giving at the unofficially prescribed level.

Each church has a responsibility before God and their people to handle the money in a godly fashion.  The focus of a church’s budget should be on glorifying God and extending the Kingdom of God.  How a church chooses to do this is up to them.  After all, Baptists are from the free church movement.

I am confident that if the Cooperative Program gives the best bang for the buck, then giving levels would increase.  This is why the work of the GCR task force is vital to the future work of the SBC.

In the meantime, let’s not assume that lower percentages mean less commitment to the work of God.  On a personal note, each church that I served as pastor increased their percentage level of giving to the CP.  So this is not the rant of an anti-CP guy.

The news out of SBC-land continues on a path of question and confusion.  What is going on with SBC leaders?

Here is a quick recap:

1.  Yesterday, the head of NAMB (North American Mission Board) and 3 of his top associates resigned under pressure.

2.  The Executive Committee in Nashville likewise witnessed the recent forced resignation of the Executive Vice President.  This came after the head of the Executive Committee went on an unwise rant against Calvinists.

3.  The IMB (International Mission Board) trustees engaged in an ugly running feud that included the suspension of a trustee.

4.  Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has been involved in a lawsuit from a former professor.

5.  New pastors at mega churches, First Baptist Church of Jacksonville and Bellevue Baptist Church succeeded former presidents of the SBC and are making news for all of the wrong reasons.

This list is merely institutional news.  I haven’t even said anything yet about issues regarding theology or renewal initiatives.  At the annual convention in Louisville, observers would think that all was well except for those being influenced by Mark Driscoll and the Calvinists.

So what are we to make of this?  Is there a connection between the declining membership numbers and giving to the Cooperative Program?  I will leave the answers to these questions to others.  Here is what I think about some of this.

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Morris Chapman has been at the center of controversy for the past month or so.  First, he openly criticized the Great Commission Resurgence document.  This he has a right to do so, but the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly approved this document at the annual SBC meeting in Louisville in June.

Then Chapman spent his podium time at the annual meeting on the attack.  My displeasure was his attack on Calvinism.  He presented a caricature of Calvinism rather than what Calvinism actually is.

Then he created a real firestorm by asking for the immediate resignation of Clark Logan.  Logan is a respected denominational leader who apparently did not deserve this sort of HR move.

Yesterday Chapman issued of “Clarification of Intent” on his website.  His clarification further demonstrated that Chapman does not get it.  Here are my issues with Chapman’s clarification.

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The SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) met this week in Louisville for the annual gathering.  When I was a pastor, I attended these meetings with the last one being in 1995.  Since they were meeting in Louisville and I now live in Louisville, I followed the events a little closer.  Due to my work schedule, I was not able to attend any of the sessions (except for the final 10 minutes of the convention).  I have caught up by watching the streaming videos of the business sessions.

Here are some thoughts on this convention.

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