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Because I know that this post might have greater interest than usual, I decided to provide a brief recap at the beginning (for those who want a quick bottom line) and then take a more detailed dive into some issues in the rest of this post for those who are interested.

MY SUMMARY OF THE CONVENTION…

Several church members and friends have reached out to me inquiring “How did the convention go?” The short answer is that it went very well, in my opinion. I honestly did not see how it was reported by news outlets, but I can assure you there was a high degree of unity in the room among 8000 gathered messengers from all 50 states. There was a determination to deal straightforwardly with the issues identified in the well-publicized Sexual Abuse Task Force report. The messengers took needed and necessary first steps with no real opposition to the recommendations. My good friend, Craig Carlisle, summarized the highlights of the convention this way…

1. We commissioned 52 new missionaries.
2. We affirmed and approved the Sexual Abuse Task Force recommendations.
3. We elected conservative leadership to every position.
4. We bolstered our position on pro-life.

I agree with Craig’s highlights. Were their differences of opinion? Sure. You get 10,000 Baptists in the room and there will be some different opinions! However, someone said that Southern Baptists look much better in person than we do on social media. The convention agreed near-unanimously on all but a handful of matters.

The bottom line for me is that I came away from the convention cautiously encouraged that we had found a pathway forward from some of the serious issues we have been dealing with.

A MORE DETAILED LOOK AT KEY ISSUES….

WHAT DID THE CONVENTION DO ABOUT THE ABUSE CRISIS? The Sexual Abuse Task Force (commissioned at the 2021 SBC) and the report they released covered three basic areas: allegations of abuse, the responses to reports of abuse, and treatment of victims. The investigation included all employees of the SBC Executive Committee and all those who served on the Executive Committee itself going back to the year 2000. It was not an investigation of the whole convention; the scope was pretty narrow. Still, the findings of the investigation were horrendous and the messengers at the 2022 SBC were determined to address them head-on and take steps to ensure the SBC responds better to these issues.

Specifically, the messengers near unanimously approved two recommendations that come from the Sexual Abuse Task Force. First, messengers approved the formation of an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force. Members of this task force will be appointed by the new SBC president. This task force will deliberately and prayerfully bring further recommendations to the convention over the coming years. Second, messengers approved the establishment of a “Ministry Check” website that will contain names of SBC pastors, staff members, denominational workers, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The goal is to prevent people from moving from church to church and state to state and repeating the same vile acts. The approval of these two recommendations represents important, vital, tangible initial steps. The SBC certainly is far from finished addressing this issue, but we got off to a decent start with these actions.

DID THE SBC ELECT A “LIBERAL” PRESIDENT? Absolutely not. There were four men nominated for the office of SBC President. In my estimation, all four of them were good, faithful, godly men who were all conservative theologically. Ultimately, Bart Barber, the pastor of FBC Farmersville, Texas was elected president in a run-off. Do I agree with Bart Barber on every issue? No. However, that doesn’t mean he is a liberal. Bart is not a “mega-church pastor” like most who have served as SBC president in my lifetime. He has my prayers and support. By the way, the SBC President is an UNPAID position. Yes, Bart will still serve as pastor of FBC Farmersville and have the stress of being SBC President on top of the normal (considerable) stress of being the pastor of a local church. I am optimistic that Bart will serve us well.

I HEARD THE SBC IS “GOING LIBERAL” ON ABORTION & WOMEN PREACHERS. IS THAT TRUE? I do not believe that is accurate at all. Yes, some did not like how the interim ERLC president answered a question about abortion and pro-life advocacy. Yes, there was debate on the floor of the convention regarding the Credentials Committee recommendation regarding Saddleback Church in California. However, NOT ONE PERSON argued that abortion was not the taking of a life and that Roe V. Wade should not be overturned. NOT ONE PERSON argued in favor of the SBC approving female pastors. I was in the room. In fact, the prevailing atmosphere of the messengers in the room was decidedly toward a conservative, complementarian view of female pastors and the role of women in the church.

CAUTIOUSLY ENCOURAGED. As I stated earlier, I came away from this year’s SBC meeting cautiously encouraged. I hope the worst of the mess at the Executive Committee is behind us. I am very grateful for the interim leadership there and that recent EC committee meetings have been without conflict. I am hopeful that people will tear down one another on social media less in the coming months. I am hopeful that 2022 was the beginning of our denomination finding its way forward in a way that all but a handful of our churches and pastors will support.

I STILL BELIEVE IN THE WORK OF OUR CONVENTION. What is that work you ask? Collectively, those 47,000 SBC churches from all fifty states cooperate to send over 3500 missionaries internationally and over 5000 missionaries in North America. Our International Mission Board and North American Mission Board continue to do much outstanding work. Our six seminaries are all led by solid, Biblically conservative Presidents and train thousands of future pastors, church staff, and missionaries. Southern Baptists are the second largest disaster relief organization in the world – second only to The Red Cross. These efforts alone represent 95% of the money spent by the national SBC. In addition, there is great work being done by many state conventions and local associations across the country. Personally, by the nature of being involved in both, I can attest to the wonderful Kingdom work being done by our Alabama Baptist State Convention and the Birmingham Metro Baptist Association.

The Southern Baptist Convention has been my home since 1990. I have served at six SBC churches. I have preached in countless others. I personally have degrees from two of our seminaries, and my own ministry efforts are the fruit of Southern Baptist’s investment in me. I have seen our mission efforts up close and personal. I know the impact that is being made for Christ literally all over the world by Southern Baptists. I have countless friends serving as pastors, staff members, deacons, volunteers, and faithful members of SBC churches all over America. For these reasons (and many more) I refuse to walk away or lead my church to walk away from the SBC at this point. Am I deeply concerned about several trends I see? Absolutely. Have mistakes (and worse) been made? Yes. However, I am not ready to throw in the towel. Count me as one who chooses to be hopeful that our convention can not only survive, but thrive in the future.

WE MUST ALWAYS BE VIGILANT. Some more perceptive readers noticed the phrase “at this point” in the previous paragraph. Why do I say it that way? We must always be vigilant and watchful. First and foremost we must be vigilant and watchful of ourselves and the local churches in which we serve. We must always be vigilant and watchful of the institutions that we support, no matter how much we love them. We must always stand rock solidly on the inerrant Word of God and proclaim the clear Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must always be watchful that our churches and the institutions they support faithfully fulfill the Great Commission and “contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.”

We can NEVER just assume or take doctrinal fidelity for granted in our churches or institutions. We must always be watchful – particularly in the post-modern 21st-century culture we find ourselves in. Our first loyalty is always and forever to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. Our commitment to our Baptist institutions is only appropriate IF those institutions exist for the glory of Christ and the fulfillment of His commission. No association, state convention, or any SBC entity is “owed” anything by any local church. Those who lead our Baptist institutions and entities must constantly earn the support of our churches by their unapologetic faithfulness to Christ, His glory, His Word, and His commission. THAT reality is the only thing that will actually keep the SBC “rope of sand” together long into the coming decades.

Since returning from Nashville, I have been asked about the convention by several members of the church I serve, as well as friends and family. Some indicated they had been keeping up through the news media – which frightens me! Others indicated they had heard the convention was “going liberal.” In an effort to communicate with as broad an audience as possible and (hopefully) provide accurate information, I would like to share my personal thoughts on the just concluded SBC annual meeting and where we are as a denomination. After attending the 2021 SBC annual meeting in Nashville and being present for almost every key moment, I offer my thoughts…

There is greater unity than you might think. There were four men nominated for SBC president and, leading up to the convention, there was some very public conflict between SBC leaders. Social media was howling about all the problems and attendance at the meeting spiked to the highest number since 1996. Late on Tuesday afternoon (after the presidential election was settled after a run off and other controversial issues had come to the floor) I ran into a friend of mine who was attending his first convention. “This hasn’t been nearly as bad as I was expecting,” he said. He had been getting his information from social media. While there were certainly moments of passionate disagreement, the overall feeling of the messengers present was positive and loving. How could this be? We all agree on the most important matters – our love for the Lord Jesus and His church, our belief in the inerrant Word of God, our commitment to share the gospel and make disciples, our cooperation together in missions. As the convention was drawing to a close, I saw two SBC pastors who were publicly and passionately on opposite sides of the SBC presidential race. They were eating Nashville hot chicken together at a restaurant and enjoying good fellowship. That is the SBC.

I do not see evidence that the SBC is “going liberal.” The convention took NO steps to alter our statement of faith – the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message – that guides all of the entities in our convention. In fact, nothing along those lines was even mentioned. All four candidates for SBC president openly describe themselves as theological conservatives. While some media outlets describe Ed Litton, our new SBC president, as the “moderate” candidate, I believe that description is unfortunate and doesn’t accurately portray Ed. While I do not know Ed Litton personally, he has faithfully served as pastor of the same Alabama Baptist church for over 25 years and I have no reason to believe he is anything but solid overall in terms of both his character and his theology. The presidents of all six of our seminaries are staunch defenders of the inerrancy of scripture and require all professors to teach in accordance with and not contrary to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. We have our problems in the SBC, but I personally do not see going liberal being one of them.

The SBC messengers were determined to see the convention do better in terms of dealing with sexual abuse. All Southern Baptists are in full agreement that every church should implement child protection policies and do everything it can to be a safe place for everyone. That isn’t the issue. All Southern Baptists are in full agreement that every church should report accusations of abuse to authorities. That isn’t the issue. The well publicized issues have revolved around what the denomination can do at the national level to deal with past instances of abuse and prevent future abuse. There has also been deep concern about how some SBC leaders have responded to some abuse victims. Due to the polity of our denomination – each church is independent and there is no “top down” authority structure – then dealing with these issues on a national level is much more difficult. From my seat, the clear message sent by the messengers was “We expect you to do much better than you have done so far. Get back to work on it right now!”

The SBC does not subscribe to Critical Race Theory but DOES care deeply about racial reconciliation. In recent months, the influence of Critical Race Theory has been a heated topic within the SBC and in American culture at large. In several different ways, the 2021 SBC convention made clear that the SBC does not support or teach Critical Race Theory. In addition, the convention passed Resolution #2 titled “The Sufficiency of Scripture for Race and Racial Reconciliation” which was, in my opinion, a very strong and very well done resolution. I loved how prominent SBC seminary professor Dr. Hershael York summed up this issue: “Southern Baptists do not like Critical Race Theory but they also don’t like being told that caring deeply about racial reconciliation is CRT. They know the difference.” To that statement, I add my “amen.”

The SBC is becoming more diverse and less focused only in the deep south. It might surprise you to learn that 20% of our SBC churches are ethnic or “non-anglo” churches. That is 1 out of 5 of our churches. Our convention continues to see more diversity in our leadership and participation. We have churches in all fifty states and in some states outside the south we are planting churches rapidly. A Hispanic pastor is preaching the convention sermon in 2022. I say “BRAVO!!” to all of these facts.

The greatest reason to be Southern Baptist remains our two mission boards. One of the first things that happened in Nashville was a Sending Celebration where the International Mission Board (IMB) commissioned 65 new missionaries headed to all regions of the world. Paul Chitwood is giving splendid leadership, and we are slowly rebuilding our international missions force after some tough years a while back. The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is planting churches all over the country, coordinating disaster relief, and emphasizing evangelism. Both IMB and NAMB are doing some exceptional work and I applaud them. 73% of the national Cooperative Program budget goes to these two entities.

The areas of greatest conflict represent a tiny fraction of our SBC work. I talked with a friend of mine who had only seen news reports and social media posts. He thought the whole SBC was about to blow up, seeing reports of conflict regarding the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the Executive Committee. What if I told you that the the combined budgets of the ERLC and the Executive Committee represent less than 5% of the SBC budget? That isn’t a typo. Remember our two mission boards receive 73% of the budget and our six seminaries receive 22% for a total of 95%. The overwhelming majority of the conflict and consternation leading up to this year’s convention involved SBC organizations that receive less than 5% of the budget. To be clear, I am not making light of the serious issues involving both the ERLC and the EC, but I am simply pointing out that the work of our convention is vast and goes on every single day regardless of what conflict may be in the news.

Some on both sides of conflicts have not represented Christ well in public. I am amazed to see people who claim to be Christ followers and, on top of that, pastors and church leaders so easily disparage and attack their brothers and sisters publicly and persistently. In this age of social media, more and more people think nothing of going on the attack immediately. It is ungodly, harms our witness, and brings harm to our brothers and sisters in Christ. NO, I am not taking a “side.” Both sides of the recent conflicts in the SBC are guilty. At the convention, we often heard “the world is watching.” Yes the world is watching. What it sees sometimes isn’t pretty. We must do better.

48% voted for Mike Stone in the runoff. Present SBC leaders would do well to remember this fact in coming months. Like Ed Litton, Mike Stone is a faithful pastor who has served at the same SBC church for many years. There are many good and legitimate reasons why so many supported him. There are many good, faithful Southern Baptists who supported him and voted for him. They should not be marginalized for doing so.

We need to brush up on our Baptist polity. The national SBC has ZERO control or authority over any local church. The state convention and local association has ZERO control or authority over any local church. Each SBC church owns its own property, calls its own leaders, and makes its own decisions. That’s right. Each SBC church is an independent church. What about all of that money that we talked about earlier? The money that funds our mission boards and seminaries. Every penny of that money is given VOLUNTARILY by the churches. No SBC church is compelled to give to the denomination. Even if the national SBC made a decision that my local church felt was wrong, it would have no binding effect on my local church. None. The other side of that coin helps us understand why the actions of a handful of churches do not represent the whole SBC.

Our SBC entities exist to serve our churches. Our churches do not exist to serve our entities. Count this as a healthy reminder for all of us. We need it.

In conclusion…

One wise SBC leader many years ago declared, “SBC headquarters is the local church.” That statement is accurate. Over 15,000 of us gathered in Nashville for the SBC Annual Meeting. We made some important decisions. Then we all went home to the MOST important work. I think long time Texas pastor Jack Graham said it best after the convention was over…

“Remember this about the Southern Baptist Convention. We are a local church movement. After a well publicized annual meeting we are returning to our church fields ready to fulfill the Great Commission and make an eternal difference in people’s lives. I’m glad to be a Southern Baptist.” – Jack Graham

Amen, Jack!