SOME THOUGHTS FOR OUR CHURCH on SBC '19

Church,

I love you guys, and as a messenger on your behalf to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention last week, I thought it would be appropriate to at least share some brief thoughts on the happenings in our larger church family.
That's what we are talking about when we refer to our denomination.  We are a family of churches known as the SBC, and even though the convention is a very big tent with many divergent types of churches, we do (or at least should) hold some very important things in common.  ....things like the "Baptist Faith and Message 2000." 

The BF and M 2000 is our church family/denominational statement of faith.  When we started our church nine years ago by God's grace, we were surprised at just how good this statement is.  We decided to abbreviate it and to tweak it for our own purposes.  So, read it online or read it on our website!  Don't take it for granted.

If I could get right into it (!), one of the "hot-button" issues leading up to this year's annual meeting was the role of women in the local church.  One particular lightning rod of controversy centers around the ministry of Beth Moore, widely known author and speaker....and a Southern Baptist church member.  There's more to it than just Moore, but she has exemplified the most obvious point of controversy.

Recently she appeared to be bragging on social media about preaching the main sermon at her church on Mother's Day.  She also had pretty harsh words for at least one leader in our denomination who dared to say that biblical Baptists should never allow women to preach the Word of God in a mixed setting.  Some in our denomination are maintaining that Yes, we do believe in male-only local church pastors, but yet Beth Moore continues to be given a very prominent platform in our denominational conferences (like ERLC), etc.  Is this the end of the world?  No.  (I can only say so much in this post!)

The major issue garnering attention for this year's convention was the issue of sexual abuse in the local church.  This was due primarily to the fact that last year there was a major article that broke in a major American newspaper.  This article was an expose of sorts about sexual abuse within the SBC.   Think Roman Catholic scandal on a much smaller scale (not at all to minimize the tragedy).  This has been the main focus of denominational leadership ever since this article broke.

Let it be said that one of the tough things with an issue like this is that the SBC only truly exists for 2 days each year...at the annual meeting.  Other than that, there is an "executive committee" that provides leadership to the convention year-round, **but the denomination has no ultimate "say" over any local church.  Each local church is autonomous and governs itself.  The SBC can only recommend and encourage things.  Hey...our members' meetings are the most important "business meetings" going, not first and foremost the SBC!

Concerning abuse in local churches, we are wise to do the things that we have already implemented but also to continually and even immediately educate ourselves, including the countless hours of work that the SBC leadership has put into this issue, under the direction of President J.D. Greear.

That's all for now.  
Let me finally say this:  Our church is not defined by our SBC affiliation in some intrinsic or ultimate way.  If the denomination goes to "pot" as they say, well, no humongous deal for us to sever ties.  And yet, we have always been SBC, and the ideal would be for us to continue to cooperate and for the Lord to help us as a convention of churches to be all the more faithful.  There is real joy in understanding, and living in, the Southern Baptist Convention.  All praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of His church.