Topic: “Help”

What do you do when a staff member fails morally? How bad is bad enough for dismissal? What responsibilities does the church continue to have to the former staff member? What if the failure involves a higher-profile pastor in your area or circle of influence? Is it ever acceptable to name a fallen pastor publicly? Can a fallen pastor re-qualify and be restored? In the same church? How soon is too soon? What safeguards can be established to help those who sincerely desire to remain faithful?

Speakers: Crawford Loritts and Wayne Cordeiro, moderated by James MacDonald

MacDonald: A conversation called “Help.” Let’s help churches, pastors and leaders on what we do when a good man falls morally.

Loritts: What you do begins prior to the fall, prior to when all the stuff takes place. The need to be spiritually healthy and emotionally healthy. There also needs to be a strong sense in every church about the responsibility you have in leadership – the issue of character, leadership, and that there is a higher standard for leaders. We must be godly and modeling that. I am, if I am on a church staff in any capacity, a steward of the ministry itself and the message as a whole. When someone falls into sin, Galatians 6 is our attitude, and Matthew 18 is our approach. Whenever we confront anyone over sin, there ought to be tears in our soul. The goal is that person’s restoration, not about me being embarrassed about the ministry or just removing the person, but it’s my love for that person. I want them back to spiritual wholeness.

Cordeiro: We need to take a look at the aura of our staff. Not just the sin, but the temptation before that.

MacDonald: But if everyone who has had a lustful thought was disqualified, we’d all have to vacate the ministry.

Cordeiro: Is that a confession?

MacDonald: Lust – adultery in the heart – single incidents does not disqualify for ministry. But when it does cross the line, and you are no longer exemplary (to some degree), what process would you take? If a pastor on your staff disqualified himself morally, what are the steps?

Cordeiro: Remove him immediately from the position he’s in. Partly for him, partly for others. It’s not condescending. If someone has a contagious disease, you pull him out and put him somewhere he won’t infect others. And you want him to be healed. Watch his correctability. It’s not confession that starts healing, but contrition. Repentance – a true desire to change that comes from a heart that has been broken.

MacDonald: Can you put them in some non-ministry role? There’s the family, economics, the church is watching… we want to show grace and not be punitive. Can they stay on staff?

Cordeiro: We keep them on pay but remove that mantle of authority. People want to know – Are you going to do something pastor? But you don’t throw this man away. You get him help.

MacDonald: You want him to focus on seeing his life rebuilt.

Cordeiro: Yes, and I love his family. His wife is innocent.

MacDonald: But let’s say that I can barely hold it together financially as a church member and my tithe goes to this guy. He should get a job!

Cordeiro: If he doesn’t have a heart of correctability and he wants to be honored quickly, it’s a theatrical confession. That can happen. You let him go get a job.

Loritts: 2 Corinthians 7 gives the profile of true repentance. There is a profile I’ve seen through the years. If they are trying to protect their reputation, they have not repented. If they are negotiating, they have not repented. The sign of repentance is brokenness. Psalm 51. The broken and contrite heart. Contrition is the active remembrance of the pain my sin caused. Whatever it takes for me to be whole… it doesn’t manage sin. 85% of the time I’ve confronted people with moral failures, the confession does not come the first time around. Sin management goes on.

Cordeiro: The sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and the desire to self-correct. I’m paying you 8 hours a day to work it out with your spouse. The third thing is that we will reinstate you, maybe not to the same position.

MacDonald: But possibly?

Cordeiro: Very rare. It depends on how far they stepped over the line. I don’t wait until they get so far over.

MacDonald: Have you ever had it come out and you didn’t see it coming?

Loritts: Absolutely. You’re shocked, and you confront them. You ask the questions. What’s going on? Sin that has been going on for a long time leads to compartmentalizing. People are good at self-protection and covering their steps. I watch out for personality patterns where people avoid authority and direct conversations about their spiritual health. Always first one out the door when you talk about spiritual things. The shift in the conversation… not wanting to be held accountable. We tend to broadcast more about ourselves than we intend to.

MacDonald: A man grows silent about his marriage before it goes south.

Cordeiro: You’ll be ready to come back when your wife tells me you are ready to come back.

MacDonald: You can tell a lot about a man’s marriage by the countenance on his wife’s face.

Loritts: Sometimes, we think we’re being merciful and kind and gracious to people when we put them back too soon. We further entrench them in those habits and patterns. There needs to be a degree of health and consistency, affirmation from his wife, others who know him, so that you’re restoring them. You don’t want to take the cast off too soon.

MacDonald: I’ve found the tension in our church that restoration to fellowship is not necessarily restoration to leadership. If you fall morally and disqualify yourself, you return to Go, do not collect 200$, you start over and cannot be a pastor again in weeks or months. If a pastor  returns to vocational ministry, it won’t be in this church. It’s one strike and you’re out. That doesn’t mean he can’t go elsewhere if he is restored, but not here.

Driscoll: Often times, there is accountability for the male pastor, but not a relationship structure for the wife. My experience working with younger pastors… I’ve been in on more cases where the pastor’s wife is the guilty one than the pastor. So don’t just hold the man accountable, but tend to the wife. The friendship between the husband and wife is important. You can have ministry idolatry and stand shoulder-to-shoulder in ministry, but she be neglected and alone.

MacDonald: Someone is listening and heard that, and that’s them. What should they do?

Driscoll: Come clean before you get caught. Invite accountability in immediately. You’re confessing to your spouse. You will need help personally, and this affects the church pastorally.

MacDonald: The longer it goes, the worse it gets.

Cordeiro: Better to confess than to have to admit.

Graham: If the question is about when a person is ready for ministry again, I always fall on the side of protecting the congregation. I always think in terms of – get the guy back spiritually healthy – but talking to pastors restoring people, protect your church. There are sexual predators in the church. Most people who have a problem sexually have a pattern in their life. If they got caught once, they will probably do it again. It’s the bondage of sexual sin. What did Spurgeon say? You are ready for ministry again after moral failure when you are known more for your repentance than for your sin. But that takes a long time. My predecessor wanted 4 weeks of restoration and then come back. That can’t happen. Or the guy goes down the road and starts another church. I am a shepherd and must protect the flock from wolves.

Jakes: There was a time when I would hear the severity of the sentence and be against it, out of mercy. Any time you tell someone to come forward, but if you do, you can never be here again… I don’t know if that is realistic. What’s interesting though is that we’ve only talked about sexual failure, when 1 in 6 women in this country is beaten by someone who says he loves her. Why did we go straight to sex and stay there? We have another kind of problem in this room right now that no one ever says anything about. The other observation is this. In my experience, when something unhealthy goes on in the house, it is a symptom of other unhealthy things in the house. I assume if the wife is healthy enough to help her husband to recovery, you may have left the rabbit with the wolf. Just because the husband is the perpetrator does not mean the wife is innocent. That’s a naive perspective. You have to evaluate the health of the whole family. Because we are so focused on sin alone, we don’t see dysfunction that produces the sin in the first place. We don’t see the puss that causes the black head. We are dealing with morality from a legalistic mentality, adjudicating some aspect of justice. Most families are, to varying degrees, dysfunctional. If we really want to give care to that family unit, don’t let anyone go without inspection. Few people will tell you what led them down the path. There’s something going on in that house. There’s something going on in millions of houses – not just moral, sexual failures. Domestic violence is sweeping this country – colorless, classless, pastors, elders, deacons, angry men out of control. There are all sorts of ways to cross the line.

Furtick: We seem to be focusing on monitoring individual behaviors. We need to think of the culture of our staff. We want the staff to be healthy and less prone to these moral blow-outs. We’ve kept an eye on it from the beginning. My wife’s primary role in our church has been the care and shepherding of the lead staff’s wives. We want to keep that knowledge together and have our hearts beating the same. We hope by monitoring the culture of our staff (giving date nights to all staff and couples, paid for by the church or by my speaking income) we can be proactive and keep an eye on everyone’s relationship. We also want to provide off-ramps so people can get help when they’re starting to veer.

MacDonald: I didn’t think about domestic violence, truthfully. I don’t struggle with that, and I haven’t thought of it. We gravitated to sexual issues, but there are other issues as well.

Cordeiro: Develop a culture of holiness in your staff. Don’t let it be susceptible to the world’s lack of moral resolve. If we don’t put positive air pressure on the inside… I remember hearing from a lady whose husband was beating her, and I began to love her, and the Lord said, “Don’t love her with your love. Love her with your love.”

MacDonald: That’s why I get women to counsel women.

Cordeiro: We do too, but through referral. I refer them to women.

Loritts: We are often reactionary. The way I overcome weaknesses in my own heart is not by focusing on the weakness but by having a passionate heart for Jesus. To love Him more. To love His Word. I’ve never talked to anyone who fell morally who was consistent in their times alone with God. Never. And I’ve been in the ministry 40 years. (You can read your Bible legalistically, of course, but I mean having a hunger and thirst for loving Christ more.) I have standards. I don’t do lunches with women. I don’t travel with women. Holiness and passion, though, is everything. We need to orient people to the spiritual responsibility of leadership. Holiness matters. Character is important. Modeling is important. This is not your gig or your platform. You’re representing Jesus and the people who trust you and believe in you. Be like Joseph – “How could I sin against God and against my master?”

Cordeiro: You can teach what you know. But you will reproduce what you are. You’ve got to model it – a passion for the holiness of God. It sets a culture that makes the devil backs off. If he can remove the pressure from you and make you susceptible to the dirt of the world, he has free rein in your congregation.

Loritts: Years ago, when I was traveling a great deal, I had a conviction to ask God before I ever bring reproach on the name of Christ or on my wife and kids to kill me. I really believe that this issue of holiness is a big deal. There’s too much at stake. Too many people listen to us and believe in us. They buy our books, they tune in. Too many people. I don’t want to be used by the devil to knock them out of the race.

MacDonald: God doesn’t need us. God will find someone who will do His work. We are not as important as we think we are. Our first concern must be the reputation of Christ and the restoration of people.

Topic: “Come Together”

Two of the largest churches in America, both in Dallas, one of America’s largest cities—one church is almost 100 percent black, the other almost 100 percent white. Is this a problem? What factors, beyond local diversity, are widening this divide? What causes such obvious segregating of the races? In what ways does being a minority worshiper hinder worship and service in the church? What churches are achieving success at breaking down these walls, and how? What do you see the other pastor doing better than your church does it?

Speakers: Jack Graham and T. D. Jakes, with Mark Driscoll moderating

Disclaimer: This is merely a summary of my notes, taken down live during the event. They may not be word-for-word and will need to be seen on video in order for their context to be fully understood. I will be updating this post every few minutes as the session goes on.

Graham: The way to destroy the racial divide is to get the roof off and the walls down. I got to know the Bishop for the first time ten years ago when we prayed together. We put our choirs together. We put our lives together in this. It was an incredible experience. Contextually, for me, I was born in 1950. So I’m old enough to remember in a small town in Arkansas asking my mother why one water fountain said “white” and one said “colored.” Segregation at its worst. In my home, there was prejudice and misunderstanding. (Prejudice is ignorance because we don’t know each other.) You have to overcome your upbringing, grow as a Christian, and then as a pastor learn how to seek progress. We see progress in the coming together of people in the last couple of decades at a much faster rate. We have a long way to go. There is still so much racial hate in people’s hearts and lives and churches. Some churches are dead because of hate. No other way to describe it. The churches do not welcome everyone. As a pastor, I began to ask questions. I worked in West Palm Beach, FL where things are more ethnically diverse. We can pray together and share platforms, but when we are actually in the trenches together serving and doing ministry together – that’s what took it to a whole new level. Talking about it, preaching about it cannot compare to actually living this out because when I know you, I can love you. When I see Jesus in you, I love the Jesus in you and you love the Jesus in me. We learn to be color blind at that level. I’m grateful that our church is making progress. We have 50-60 countries represented at Prestonwood. Most people go to church in their community. So as the community is changing, our church provides an atmosphere where everyone feels welcome and enjoys being there.

Jakes: I don’t think you can successfully integrate your church until you integrate your life. If all your friends are one color and you invite people of other colors in, they feel like props in a stage for your life. Twenty years ago, Caucasians would have been dominant in the city of Dallas. Today, over 50% of the population is Hispanic / Latino. Either you evolve or your church will diminish. Racism still does exist and is pervasive in religion and politics and the way we think. But let’s look at the lower tier of that. Most Americans are not racist. They’re just used to what they’re used to. During the agricultural age, slavery was promoted as a business decision. We went into the industrial age at the same time as the Civil Rights movement. That movement said we would not be held in bondage but it also put us together in a situation where we were working together. Even though we live in our comfort zones, we worked in the central marketplace of ideologies. At the erosion of the industrial age, we have gradually receded back into the trenches of our comfort zones. When you write the books you read, your vision will always be distorted. We need cross-pollination in order to have fruit. The Body of Christ will never be what it needs to be until others challenge her truths with their experiences. The embarrassing thing is that we as churches are not doing as well as the nightclubs are at integrating. We have to challenge that. There’s more to it than racism. It’s comfort. It’s the natural inclination to be in environments where people act like you, dress like you, think like you.

Driscoll: Is that idolatry? Worship of self?

Jakes: Absolutely. It is easier for whites to assimilate into black settings than vice versa. Why? Because we’ve always had to do it. You’ve never had to walk into a room where you are a minority and things didn’t fit you. That doesn’t make you a racist, but it does make you comfortable. God challenges us out of our comfort zones. This is a complicated issue. I started a church in the coal mines of West Virginia and ended up with a church that is 35% white. It can be done. But it has to be intentional. We need to irrigate our ideas. Without it, the media and every aspect of our society plays the music to your band. If we don’t change, we’ll find ourselves in a position where we acquiesce to racism without ever knowing we’ve been pitted against each other. I’m not talking about church. I’m talking about washing cars together. I’m talking about playing games, our kids playing together. There’s so much misconception. At some point, we have to be able to listen. When you do that, it creates a platform not only for the gospel but so that we can begin untangling the way we receive information. If we don’t get down to what is really true, do we really have gospel? That is the task before us. It means challenging everything. When Jack and I got together, our choir directors worked. His people sang. Our people sang.

Driscoll: Who sang better?

Jakes: There are some white people who can sing!

Graham: The main problem we have today on this issue is apathy, going back to our comfort zone. It’s indifference. Not intolerance, but indifference, which may be in some ways even worse. If you always grade your own paper, you get an A. If we look at ourselves and write our own paper, we think we’re doing good. We work with an organization in Dallas called Bridge Builders, to help our church bridge back into the city, and not only pray together but help in the building of the community. Not just us – the white folks helping poor people, but all of us working together to do something great for God. The world takes notice when that happens. They can pass on the prayer meeting, but when the world sees us working together, that’s what changes everything.

Loritts: I love your assessment, Bishop. Interestingly enough, there was more cultural diversity in the 50′s and 60′s than now. All the way up until I was 12 years old, I never knew I shouldn’t like people who were different than me. Until high school. I was hanging out with white friends and my black friends said I was selling out. My dad said to me, “Boy, don’t you ever let anyone tell you who your friends should be.” It takes courage to do this. I think the lack of moral courage that I see in the church of Jesus Christ is appalling. We give ourselves a pass by accepting our comfort and apathy. This issue is a higher issue. It reflects the integrity of the gospel. Jesus came to bring tribes and nations together. The call to Christ is a call to express the unity of the blood that brings us together. There ought to be something diverse about Christianity or it’s not authentically Christian. That was what Paul meant when he confronted Peter in Galatians. He said “You violated the truth of the gospel.” We need to kick this discussion up. I love your expression too, Jack. It has to be authentically spiritual people. We have to teach people about the implications of the gospel – far deeper than praying a prayer, being in the kingdom. What does it mean to live the gospel out and be distinctively Christian? That is the beginning of the pilgrimage of telling the truth about God in human history.

Cordeiro: In these last days, when the Spirit is moving powerfully, all of us ought to be saying the same thing. Intentionality is important. In Hawaii, the line of missions blurs. We have all kinds of people. It’s not integration or blacks and whites. It’s Pentecost. We’ve got to get to Pentecost. That’s got to be our goal.

Driscoll: How? For the average pastor who has a congregation that is comfortable, what recommendations do you have?

Cordeiro: It has to be intentional. The first beginnings have to be structural. Structure can decrease as maturity increases, but not until then. The intentionality of structuring something until it becomes comfortable can turn the tide.

Driscoll: Is being comfortable a sin to be repented of?

Jakes: I don’t think we can fulfill the Great Commission in our community. He said – Go into the whole world. You can’t pick the houses you’re going in. At a certain level, it’s sin. But it’s not always easily identified. I don’t want to use terms that are counterproductive. When you label something as racist, they have burning crosses in their mind and think, “They’re not talking about me.” But when you ask – “Who’s in your life? Who do you run with?” Then all of a sudden, I have to come out of my safety zone and enter your atmosphere. You almost have to go back to being a baby again, because you can’t trust what you see when you walk into my atmosphere, because you are seeing it from your history. And your conclusions are white conclusions about black realities, or black conclusions about Latino realities. You got to go to Ground Zero and learn how I think. How did I get here? All of us got here from generational ideologies. You are looking at it from your Presbyterian, Catholic, or Lutheran ideas. You have to become a student again and have the humility to do it. The sin is the pride that stops us from admitting we don’t know everything. That’s where the sin is. The arrogance that we must always be the teacher and not the student. Of all things that we blog about and tweet about, the thing that God hated the most is pride! Nobody blogs or tweets about that because often we have it and it goes untouched. It’s the pride of life that is the third dimension and strongest. We don’t preach about it because it grows in our garden without ever being weeded.

MacDonald: BAM! That was my contribution.

Question: As a white pastor in the south, how can I encourage having a racially diverse congregation?

Graham: Engage your community. Build relationships that are obvious. You say by your action you model this reconciliation. Find ways to work together on equal footing. We serve and help together. Bring people on your team, both volunteers and ministers on your staff team that are diverse. That says a lot. That’s not posing. It’s giving people an opportunity to serve Christ in your church. You ought to be able to serve, if you’re qualified and gifted, in the ministry.

Question: How do you make people of varying ethnicities feel “comfortable” in your church?

Furtick: I’m evaluating my failures in this area, listening to both of you guys talk. When I was in high school, I joined the gospel choir because I liked it and the people so much. It wasn’t a statement or a mission I was on – to be the white guy in the gospel choir. But I went to college, and I was the only white guy in the dorm. But we loved those guys. It was great what God did my freshman year in college. I thought – Would you ever think you would be friends with a white guy like me? He said, “Steve, you’re not white! You’re Hispanic or something!” We need true affection and love for one another. When we had Bishop Jakes preach in my church and you love his ministry and it’s not a crusade you’re on… it’s not “let’s have black preaching so our church can be diverse…” I have to go back and address more deeply my failures in this area. How did I go from being the kid in the gospel choir in high school and college (I was in Black Student Fellowship and they changed the name to accommodate me when I joined) – to having so many white people in my church? I have started addressing it. We’ll see whether or not we can change that.

MacDonald: If I could speak monolithically, I’d say that most white folks, suburbanites, are clueless when it comes to the city. James Meeks took me into the schools in the neighborhood around his church. The school in my neighborhood was replacing the track field with tax dollars, and the school in his neighborhood didn’t have lockers. I saw what was being done and thought, “I am a stupid man.” Another thing that is important is to see the benefits of the other worship. When we brought in African American music to the church, the volume went up. Our church was better because of whole body worship. Heaven will be great because the nations there will be worshipping. My son-in-law is African American. He is a joy to our family. The soil of my heart has been tilled by these subjects.

Jakes: We’ve got to have relationships. If I say something stupid, tell me. We’re going to make mistakes and we need to have people willing to help us. The greatest heroes of the Bible were multicultural. Moses down the Nile, trained in Egypt, lived in Midian, back to Egypt and then to the Promised Land. Paul taken as a missionary. God asks, “Who will go for us?” If you want to say “Here am I. Send me” then go beyond your area code.

Here are links to my summaries of all the lectures at the Union University conference: Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism. Special thanks to David Dockery and Tim Ellsworth for the invitation to live-blog this event.

1. Ed Stetzer: “Denominationalism – Is There a Future?”
2. Jim Patterson: “Reflections on 400 Years of Baptist Movement”
3. Hal Poe: “The Gospel and Its Meaning”
4. Timothy George: “The Faith, My Faith, The Church’s Faith”
5. Duane Litfin: “The Future of American Evangelicalism”
6. Ray Van Neste: “Pastoral Ministry in SBC Life”
7. Robert Smith: “The Church’s One Foundation”
8. Mark DeVine: “Emergent or Emerging”
9. Danny Akin: “The Future of the SBC”
10. Michael Lindsay: “Denominationalism in a Changing America”
11. Jerry Tidwell: “Missions and Evangelism”
12. David Dockery: “So Many Denominations…”
13. Panel Discussion
14. Nathan Finn: “Passing On the Faith”
15. Albert Mohler: “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism”

SESSION 15

SPEAKER: R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Seminary

TITLE: Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism (Audio here)

THE GIST: In 1989, Southern Baptists were looking for a future and determined that the future must be in conversation with American evangelicalism. Dr. Mohler’s imperative was that we recognize our evangelical identity in a time of Baptist controversy. Today, made the case that we should recapture our Baptist identity in a time of evangelical waywardness.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

An Overview of the Current State of the SBC

• Generational distinctions
• Death of cultural Christianity
• Decline in our numbers

A Word to the Younger Generation

• You are a hinge generation.
• You are a generation of social transformation
• You are a generation of global responsibility
• You are a generation of spiritual confusion
• You are a generation of institutional disinterest

A Plea to Younger Southern Baptists

• Give yourself to Christ.
• Give yourself to the local church.
• Give yourself to cooperation with other churches.
• Go deep (in devotion, missions, fellowship, doctrine, ecclesiology).

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

The identity question once loomed large over Southern Baptists. Every generation must ask those questions.

The media only knows “liberals,” “evangelicals” and “everybody else.” Southern Baptists are not “everybody else;” nor are we “liberals.” So… like it or not, we are “evangelicals.”

Baptists have come to understand it is best to be both “centered-set” and “boundary-set” regarding our doctrines.

The Southern Baptist Convention is currently experiencing the death of cultural Christianity.

A new slogan will not save us.

Many people who will hear the gospel preached by this generation will not respond with rejection, but simply a shrug.

Do not be a Southern Baptist because your grandmother is. Give yourself to the SBC because you will see, as you are faithful first to your local church, that this really can be a denomination that is transformed by a Great Commission passion for the glory of God.

I’m not imploring you to leave the SBC, but to save it.

SESSION 14

SPEAKER: Nathan Finn, Assistant Professor of Church History and Baptist Studies at Southeastern Seminary

TITLE: Southern Baptists and Evangelicals: Passing On the Faith to the Next Generation (Audio here)

THE GIST: As both member and observer of the next generation, Finn sees the challenges inherent in cultivating a strong sense of both evangelical convictions and denominational identity among some of my peers. Finn revisited the relationship between Southern Baptists and evangelicals and then considered what it means to pass on the faith to the next generation.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

Southern Baptists and Evangelicals

• Evangelicals have defined evangelicalism in four ways. (Theological categories / Political activism / Common affinity – parachurch / Common piety)
• Southern Baptists defining evangelicalism (Southern Baptists have disagreed on a definition of evangelical)

Three ways to think about the relationship between Southern Baptists and evangelicals

1. Southern Baptists as evangelicals. (Trends among evangelicals shape us.)
2. Southern Baptists against evangelicals. (Our commitment to the local church keeps us from finding our primary identity in parachurch organizations.)
3. Southern Baptists among evangelicals (Participating in the wider world of evangelicals)

Passing on the Faith

• Catechesis: Passing on our Convictions (through preaching, discipleship programs, life-on-life mentoring, theological education, and parenting)
• Narrative: Passing on our Stories (missions, heroes)

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

Whenever we think of passing on the faith to the next generation, we better understand that many of them will not identify with some of our evangelical and Southern Baptist experiences because many of those experiences have been informed by our predominantly white, North American, and Southern context.

While we can and should cooperate with other evangelicals in a variety of worthy endeavors, such cooperation must not come at the expense of an ecclesiological downgrade that would transform us into something other than Baptists.

We must also seek to inculcate a Christian way of reading Christian Scripture, which would include reading the whole Bible as one grand narrative spanning two testaments with one Main Character, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Southern Baptists and evangelicals must also pass on what I call a “gospel instinct,” which I believe will help us to be very hesitant about aberrant doctrines that seem to undermine faithful gospel proclamation.

Authentic conversion must include repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ and must never be collapsed into repeat-after-me’s, walking an aisle, raising a hand, attending a class, or yes, even being baptized. Salvation by sincerity is not the same thing as salvation by grace through faith, and jumping through hoops will never justify anyone.

I wonder if Lottie Moon herself would be greeted with the same adulations that some Republican politicians have received at recent Convention meetings.

Baptists as a general rule have tended to assume the Trinity rather than offer robust articulations of Trinitarian theology.

Even young people who appreciate the Convention aren’t necessarily excited about it.

We must not pass on our penchant for confusing bricks, budgets, baptisms, and bottoms with the blessing of the Almighty.

Have you ever heard the old camping adage that you should leave the campsite in better shape than you found it? Southern Baptists should pass on a faith to the next generation that is even stronger than the one we have now.

SESSION 13

PANEL DISCUSSION: Greg Thornbury (moderator), Danny Sinquefield, Paul Kim, George Guthrie, Doug Baker, Buddy Gray, Roland Porter

Questions

#1. Why are the networks outmaneuvering denominations?

Sinquefield: Younger pastors are learning from these networks.

#2. How can we network globally within denominational structures?

Guthrie: Gathering around a common cause allows us to be broadly evangelical in the essentials.

Kim: We need to focus on global church planting.

#3. What is the future of vocational evangelists and traditional revivals in our churches?

Gray: At our church, we have rarely used vocational evangelists. We train our people to think missionally and be evangelistic.

Sinquefield: Evangelists are a biblical gift to the body of Christ. But we pray for revival that is not merely structural or programmed.

Baker: I recently encountered a 28-year-old Muslim who sought to convert me. He said he had never had a conversation with a Christian, though he was only a block away from one of the largest churches in America. Some of the older methods will not work with people from other religions.

#4. Why are our churches not more multi-racial?

Porter: It has to do with the signals we send, whether welcoming or distancing.

#5. Our generation is seeking roots and heritage, but denominations have a negative connotation. How can our generation carry out the future of denominations and their benefits?

Gray: We have to figure out exactly what the vision is that we want the young people to follow. It is important for current leaders to sharpen the focus of who we are. We cooperate together in missions and theological education.

Thornbury: Denominational loyalty is not a starting point. It is a destination. We have to disciple people first in local churches. We’re concerned about movements and denominations when the Apostle Paul speaks of the church as the pillar of truth.

Guthrie: I see your generation rallying to a counter-cultural approach to life, compelled by a biblical vision for life. We must help people live in the Word, which leads them to live accordingly.

Kim: It is up to the pastor’s leadership. What I do, what I teach, what I believe, they learn.

Sinquefield: There is a wave of pressure in your generation that is convictional and courageous, looking for ways to express the faith, share the gospel, and leave the comfortable to do so.

#6. If you were a member of the GCR Task Force, what would be your number one priority?

Baker: Keep the church of Christ central and the gospel at the forefront. Filter all things through that.

Kim: Suggest that Southern Baptists need to double and triple our number of churches.

Sinquefield: Do not waste the opportunity to reclaim our great gospel heritage. Move through layers of structure that need to be redesigned, so that we really understand what the Great Commission is all about and how it can be fulfilled effectively.

Guthrie: Push to the level of dealing with biblical essentials. The conversation must take place at this level.

#7. Regarding something like expository preaching, how do you decide what is primary, secondary, and tertiary?

Dockery (joining the panel): Expository preaching should not be a test case for a primary or even secondary issue. It is vitally important, but we would not want to raise it to that level.

#8. Is there an actual Great Awakening in the Boston area now?

Kim: There are very liberal churches in the Boston area. They do not reach the universities. It is hard to give a firm answer. Probably not, but prayer groups are very active.

#9. What do you say to young men deciding whether to go SBC or Acts 29 when planting a church?

Thornbury: Are you a Southern Baptist? If yes, then go to a Southern Baptist seminary. We don’t need to go outside our family in order to reach the nations for Christ.

Sinquefield: We need to better fund church plants. State conventions and churches should be ready to partner with planters.

SESSION 12

SPEAKER: David Dockery, president of Union University

TITLE: “So Many Denominations: The Rise and Decline of Denominationalism… and the Shaping of a Global Evangelicalism” (Audio here)

THE GIST: Dr. Dockery gave a brief history of the rise of denominations, the rise of evangelicalism, and then applied insights to the future of the movement. He advocated partnerships with other Christians while remaining faithful to our particular denominational distinctives.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

A History of Denominationalism

• Early Church (Councils, East & West split)
• Reformation (Denominationalism rooted in dissent of Reformers)
• 1600′s (Expanding denominational differences)
• 1700′s (Awakenings)
• 1800′s (Revivalism and Restorationism)
• 1900′s (Holy Spirit and Sign gifts)

How do we make sense of denominational distinctives?

• Theological differences (Calvinist, Arminian)
• Church polity (congregational, episcopalian, presbyterian)
• Liturgical practices (Lord’s Supper, baptism)
• Sociological perspective (groups are renewal sects)

The Birth of American Evangelicalism

• The changes of the early 20th century led to the rise of liberalism.
• Fundamentalists (some scholarly, others reactionary) rose to challenge the onslaught of liberalism.
• Evangelicals affirmed theological orthodoxy that was not anti-intellectual, other-worldly, or separatist.
• The rise of evangelicalism led to new affinity groups and networks, working around denominational structures.
• Evangelicals participate in “grass-roots ecumenism,” but have not articulated a strong theology of the church.
• In a pluralistic context, denominations rival one another. Geography plays a part.
• Most mainline denominations have lost their way theologically.

Denominationalism and Evangelicalism: Questions about the Future

• Denominations that thrive will maintain firm convictions, while cooperating with other networks.
• We need to think globally, to see what God is doing all around the world. Worldwide Christians live in a context more closely identified with apostolic Christianity.
• Our struggles are not against one another, but against the Enemy of unbelief. Our struggles cause us to lose the mission focus of the church.

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

The history of Christianity is best understood as a chain of memory, and we need to connect those chains.

Denominationalism as we know it is primarily an American phenomenon made possible by our freedom. But this development has resulted more in the Americanization of Christianity than the Christianization of America.

Fundamentalists were unable to discern the difference between those who denied the deity of Christ and those who engaged in card-playing.

The shift towards Transdenominational networks is the biggest change since the Reformation.

Most churches are found in rural areas while most people live in urban and suburban areas.

Denominations must have convictions and cooperation, boundaries and bridges, structure and the work of the Spirit.

I’m calling for Gospel commonalities that are more important and that supersede our denominational distinctions.

Let’s move from handwringing to hopefulness.

SESSION 11

SPEAKER: Jerry Tidwell, Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Union University

TITLE: Missions and Evangelism: Awakenings and Their Influence on Southern Baptists and Evangelicals (Audio here)

THE GIST: As Baptists and evangelicals, we have been at our best when we allowed the Holy Spirit to blow to us and through us. He pointed out several myths surrounding the Great Awakenings and then some of the lingering results from their influence.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

Myths Surrounding the Great Awakenings

1. There is agreement on the number and the dates of the awakenings. (Tidwell dates the First from 1730-55, the Second from 1790-1840, a Third from 1850-90, and a Fourth from 1960-80)
2. Removing barriers of offense to unbelievers will lead to a larger church membership.
3. The Awakenings were the result of a pushback against Calvinism.
4. Prayer meetings were the catalyst for the Awakenings.

Results of the Great Awakenings

1. The Awakenings led to a more fervent commitment to evangelism and missions.
2. The Awakenings led Baptists to cooperate with other evangelical-types of the day.
3. The Awakenings led to a greater need and desire for education for all.
4. The Awakenings led to anti-slavery views and a greater responsibility was felt for Indians.
5. The Awakenings waned, not because of persecution from secular society, but because of the religious establishment of the day.

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

We have always been tempted to draw a crowd through human persuasion rather than conversion.

I used to think that the number of conversions proved the Awakenings to be a pushback against the Calvinism of the day. Actually, the historical record shows that, in the early years especially, the Awakenings occurred among the true Calvinists – the ones who were successful in beating back Hyper-Calvinists.

Isaiah, going to God on behalf of his people, does not say, “Woe is them!” but “Woe is me!” when he is confronted by the holiness of God.

SESSION 10

SPEAKER: Michael Lindsay, sociologist from Rice University

TITLE: Denominationalism in the Changing Religious Landscape in North America

THE GIST: The chief dividing line in American religion today is between believers and non-believers. The group of “nones” (those with no religious affiliation) is growing quickly. Institutional loyalty may be decreasing, but denominations play an important role in American religious life.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

There is a growing number of those who claim to have no religious affiliation.

Among these “nones,” one in five claim that religion is still important to their lives.

Americans increasingly dislike institutions, including organized religion. But institutions still matter.

The typical American congregation’s spending has increased 16% over the past 10 years. Yet, the average giving to denominations has decreased by 19% at the same time.

59% of evangelicals have changed denominational identities at least once in their life.

The Continuing Need for Denominations

1. Denominations offer accountability.
2. Denominations have convening power. (They allow leaders to marshall resources, share information, and deflect criticism.)
3. Institutional gravitas is needed in our era, because our world is complex. (Long-term sustainable influence comes through institutions – providing rules, roles, and records.)
4. Denominations reward the right things. (Awards attract the attention of the church, reorienting our behavior.)

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

We cannot all be outliers.

Power is most potent when it is taken for granted. (Institutions have this affect on us.)

Scan the horizon for opportunities and for threats; this is the pastor’s responsibility.

Pastors should visit their church members at their places of work. Knowing your people at work will help your people engage at church.

The SBC needs to be a nimble network, not a stolid bureaucracy.

SESSION 9

SPEAKER: Dr. Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary

TITLE: The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention (Audio here)

THE GIST: Dr. Akin revised his “Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence” sermon delivered at Southeastern in the Spring of 2009, calling for unity around the Great Commission.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

Unprecedented Moment for Southern Baptists

1. 95% vote empowering president of the SBC to appoint a Task Force to study the convention and bring a report on how we can be more efficient in Great Commission endeavors.
2. Geoff Hammond resigned as president of NAMB
3. Jerry Rankin announced retirement from IMB
4. Morris Chapman announced retirement from Executive Committee

8 points of observation

1. Southern Baptists have a future if we return to our first love – Jesus Christ as our first passion and priority.
2. We must make clear our continuing commitment to the inerrancy and sufficiency of the Bible.
3. We must pursue a genuinely Word-based ministry that is theological in content and on-fire in delivery. (seminaries that teach exposition / pastor theologians who model exposition / preachers who go book-by-book / preachers who value calling as theologian / gospel-saturated ministry of the Word / engaging expositors on fire as heralds of the unsearchable riches of Christ)
4. We must unite around and affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a way to avoid liberalism or sectarianism. (Appeal to Al Mohler’s “Theological Triage”)
5. We must reflect the demographic and racial make-up of our nation. (We are mostly middle-class, white, declining churches in the South.)
6. We must have the courage to rethink our Convention structure at every level, clarify our mission, and provide a compelling vision that inspires our people to do something great for God.
7. We must have pastors who see themselves as a gospel missions agency, equipping people to see themselves as missionaries for Jesus, regardless of location or vocation.
8. We must devote ourselves to cooperation that is gospel-centered around a theological core, not methodological agreement.

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

I am not optimistic about the Southern Baptist Convention. But I am hopeful.

Any appeal to Acts 1:8 to justify not getting more resources to the ends of the earth is wrongheaded and shameful.

Our confession is a solid foundation for a sound theology that avoids the pitfalls and quicksand of a straightjacket theology.

Reaching Muslims will require men. This will demand a radical reorienting of lifestyles, priorities, commitments, and perspectives. Business as usual as a denomination and as individuals will not be an option if a real Great Commission Resurgence is to take place.

The future of the SBC depends upon the types of leaders we choose to follow. The need of the hour is for agressive, visionary leaders who are daring to attempt great things for God.

We are slowly dying, but we refuse to admit that the patient is even sick.

Are we distracted by doing many good things but not giving our full attention to the best things?

Saying “everything we do is missions” is not true. Quit saying it.

We need to kill and bury all sacred cows.

Money follows vision.

We must treat the United States missiologically and do so with the same seriousness that our international missionaries treat their people groups missiologically.