The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention June 14-15 in Phoenix had the fewest registered messengers in 67 years. The count was just over 4,800.
KirklandDespite this, Bryant Wright, who was re-elected for a second term as SBC president, said of the meeting, “I do believe it could prove to be the most spiritually significant convention in over 50 years.”
The low attendance represents fact. Was it the location, the poor economy – or a big dose of apathy?
Bryant’s estimation of the proceedings represent hope. Actions taken by this convention, which are summarized starting on page one in this edition of the Courier, suggest there is ample reason for Wright’s optimism.
Wright, a University of South Carolina graduate who recently received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, has written a familiar word in bold in the lexicon of Southern Baptists: It is the word “unity.”
And he underscored what it takes to achieve it: “Unity is a byproduct of being in the will of God and on mission together.”
He put an exclamation point on his plea for unity at the press conference following his re-election as president. In a break with tradition, Wright invited SBC Executive Committee president Frank Page, International Mission Board president Tom Elliff and North American Mission Board president Kevin Ezell to join him at the table.
“As your president,” Wright said, “I am asking Southern Baptists to join me in covering these men in prayer and support as we enter a new era of leadership.” All took office within the last year.
Messengers at the June meeting saw and seized an opportunity to focus on unity. Within our denomination, division is never far from surfacing. When it does, it damages our witness as followers of Jesus. And it should embarrass us as Southern Baptists.
Wright has placed two primary challenges before Southern Baptists, which he has described as crucial: planting churches in unreached areas of North America and engaging unreached people groups internationally.
The SBC president called on the convention’s own news service, Baptist Press, and the chain of denominational newspapers to keep those two issues in front of Southern Baptists.
“The spirit of the Lord is moving in a unique way in these days,” he said, “and we hope Southern Baptists will lead the way in building up the kingdom of God to fulfill our Great Commission.”
Southern Baptists have voted for, and are counting on, increased cooperation between the two mission boards. At the news conference, the IMB’s Elliff said, “Those of us at the International Mission Board cannot wait to receive the benefit of the expertise the North American Mission Board will bring to our table in terms of church planting.”
He said it is important for Southern Baptists to know, as they give their CP dollars, that they “can trust that these agencies are working together.”
The Executive Committee’s Page, formerly pastor of First Church in Taylors, was asked how the peace-making personalities of the foursome would influence Southern Baptists at large.
“We’re pastors,” Page replied. “We’ve learned in church what it takes to get along and what it takes to not get along. And we’re committed to dialoguing in the way Christ wants us to. We had enough of church members not doing that, and we’ve seen what happens when disagreements, or even differences of opinion or differences of emphasis, are dealt with in a Christlike way versus a non-Christlike way. So I hope we are setting examples.”
Without question, the Southern Baptist Convention has entered a new era of leadership, and the presence of Wright, Page, Elliff and Ezell together at the post-election news conference signaled that.
Are Southern Baptists really entering a new era of unity, selfless devotion to the cause of Christ, a revitalized effort to reach the unreached with the gospel, and a better-late-than-never emphasis on expanding the SBC to include more ethnic groups within the fold?
The new era that Wright has spoken of represents both reality and hope. There is an already-but-not-yet element in it. Already there are encouraging signs that a more Christ-centered chapter is beginning in the long story of Southern Baptists. The months and years ahead will determine whether we meant what we said and did in June of 2011. It should be the hope and fervent prayer of each of us that a new-and-improved Southern Baptist Convention will rise from the Phoenix experience.