Convention, Church, and Celebration

Introduction

What an awesome time we had this past week at camp with roughly 100 kids and another 60-70 helpers! No broken bones, lots of fun, and most importantly, a week full of learning more about Jesus. As I shared this morning, we are blessed to share that there was at least 1 salvation and several children indicated that they want to know more about following Christ as Lord and following through with baptism. It was a hot week and a busy week, but it was a blessed week and I again want to thank everyone involved from our staff, counselors, helpers, cooks, youth, and students.

Tonight I want to follow up with our message this morning just a little bit as we see in Luke 15 that we are to rejoice whenever the lost is found - there is much to celebrate from a church standpoint, but there is also much to celebrate from a convention standpoint! Let’s start out tonight be recapping the SBC meeting

Convention Recap

Recap SBC convention meeting

Praises!

IMB send off - 83 full-time missionaries sent off and nearly 80% of them are headed to locations that they could not disclose publicly during the convention (closed countries with varying levels of persecution)

Baptisms are considerably up!

117k by IMB

227k by SBC churches in 2023

Fellowship is so sweet among our churches and pastors

Cooperation is up

Convention is unashamedly complementarian and united in this theological stance

As it’s been said before - there are largely 2 different SBC’s - the one that is online and the one that meets in person every week in the local church and once a year for our convention. I’m thankful for our convention and until you go in person, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. A couple of days of worship, hearing incredible reports, and celebrating God’s work around the world. If you’re able, next year you would benefit from taking off June 10-11 and going to Dallas for our 2025 annual meeting. It’s worth it!

Items of discussion - sometimes as Christians we grow skeptical of the news and the way that things are reported. There are Christians who do news related publications that are great at what they do in bringing things to light and calling out false teaching for what it is and encouraging the body of Christ with the Gospel and what God is doing throughout the world. Not all news is bad news, especially from Christian sources. Sadly, there are many news outlets who had lots of articles ready to go during the SBC and many of them were not faithful or fair to what actually took place. I want to address a few of the bigger issues that took place where I’ve received a good amount of feedback from people.

Law Amendment - Last year in New Orleans there was a motion to amend a bylaw in our constitution regarding what it means to be in “Friendly cooperation” with the convention. There are 5 things that you currently must do to be in friendly cooperation

A similar faith and practice to our adopted statement of faith (BFM 2000)

Approved its intention to cooperate with SBC - example of filing out ACP report

Made undesignated financial contribution through Cooperative Program or other convention cause

Does not act in a manner inconsistent with convention’s belief regarding sexual abuse

Does not act to affirm, approve, or endorse discriminatory behavior on the basis of ethnicity

To be in the SBC, you have to do these 5 things. The Law Amendment would have added a 6th bullet point that read like this:

"6. Affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture."

Last year in New Orleans, roughly 80% of people approved this amendment but it had to receive a super majority vote this year in Indianapolis (66%) to be official in our constitution. There was a lot of discussion regarding this amendment over the last few months as many people believed it to be a no-brainer to pass… others believed that it was not necessary because of the baptist faith and message 2000. There were a lot of news articles that said something along these lines, “Southern Baptist Convention will be voting to kick out women pastors” before the vote.

I want to be careful with my words here - the SBC cannot tell a church what that church must do. We are autonomous local churches and our church has the power to decide what we will and will not do. We are autonomous unlike many other denominations. As it’s been said before, the authority of the SBC lies in the local church. We voluntarily partner with nearly 50,000 other SBC churches. The SBC doesn’t tell us what we must do - we make those decisions as a body of believers. In other words, the SBC cannot tell a church the pastor they must hire - the church hires its own pastor. But the messengers who attend the SBC annual meetings have the authority and right to determine who we will cooperate with. For example, the above article says that we will not cooperate with a church that does not identify with our statement of faith. A church that believes differently than we do regarding sexuality or racism. A local church has the right and autonomy to call a pastor or change their stance on marriage or whatever they wish to do - however, the SBC also has the right and autonomy to determine what it means to be in friendly cooperation with the convention.

In Indianapolis we voted on the Law Amendment and the vote was roughly 62% in favor and 37% in opposition - just falling short of the necessary 66% to pass. Guess what the news articles began to say? “Southern Baptist Convention votes to affirm women pastors!”

In 24 hours, the narrative completely changed. But is that statement true? Did the SBC vote to affirm women pastors?

FBC Alexandria, Virginia publicly shared that not only have they ordained 3 women as pastors but they also believe that a woman can be a senior pastor. The Credentials Committee made the recommendation to deem the church no longer in friendly cooperation because of this. The Law Amendment failed, but the first part of being in friendly cooperation states that you must have a similar faith and practice with the BFM 2000. Look at article 6 of the BFM 2000 on The Church

“Its two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

Why was this church no longer in friendly cooperation? Because they believe that a woman can serve in the office of pastor/elder/overseer. The vote for this specific situation was 6,759 to 563 or 92% to 7%. Not even close. Why? Because our convention believes that 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are overwhelmingly clear on this topic. Churches are free to disagree about this, they have the autonomy to do so, but this is where our convention is at and this is what our BFM 2000 says because it’s what Scripture says.

1 Timothy 3:1–7 CSB

1 This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” 2 An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. 4 He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.

Do you see all of the qualifications to be a pastor/elder/overseer? Does it just say be a man? Absolutely not. Other than being able to teach and preach the Word, these qualifications are character qualifications. Very few men have this calling. To those on the extreme who believe that this is rooted in gender dynamics and needs to be updated and inclusive, God’s Word is extremely clear on this. There are some who try to work around this, but if we play theological gymnastics here, where will we next? Many denominations start with this issue and within a generation or less have given up even more territory such as the inerrancy of Scripture, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and other key Gospel essentials. See the United Methodist Church as an example of this as well as many other mainline denominations!

Some believe that the SBC wants to silence women. That women have no role in the church. That’s a word called bologna! If you are saved, you are saved to serve and to use the gift God has given you to use. God gifts every Christian - young old, tall short, and men and women too! Our church wouldn’t be able to do the ministry we do without the women that God has called and gifted to serve in all sorts of ministries across the board! I’m thankful for Paula this past week with camp as she used her gift to lead an awesome camp for our kids! Praise God for the women who lead and serve in our church. Our church would suffer immensely if we imposed an unbiblical rule that said, you have to be a man to do anything in church. That’s not Biblical and that’s certainly not what we believe. We believe the Bible is clear regarding the role of pastor/elder/overseer as this is restricted to only those men who are qualified by Scripture. Not all men. Not most men. Only a few.

No, we did not vote to affirm that women can be preachers and pastors/elders/overseers. Some who voted agains the Law Amendment did so because they believe that our current process is sufficient as it is. In other words, the disagreement was not theological but practical. In the days to come, this issue will not go away as we know that many denominations are struggling with where to stand on this topic. In so far as we stand on Scripture, we’ll be just fine.

The last controversial thing that was addressed was a statement on IVF that passed late on Wednesday afternoon. This one has led to more of a firestorm than the Law Amendment, at least as far as I can tell. People have publicly shamed the SBC for wanting to abolish IVF. I’m not a scientist. I’m not a doctor. I am a pastor and I was at the SBC and I can read what we actually voted on as a convention. This is the title of the resolution that was passed, “On the Ethical Realities of Reproductive Technologies and the Dignity of the Human Embryo.”

What did we say about this?

That human life is made in the image of God

That life starts at the moment of conception

That humans have a right to life

That infertility is real and sadly, impacts many Christian couples (like my folks)

That children, regardless of how they were conceived, are a gift from God

That IVF typically produces generates more embryos than can be implanted

That there are between 1 and 1.5 million frozen embryos in cryo-banks around our country and many of them will eventually be either destroyed or used for medical experiments

These are simple facts and our resolution called for Southern Baptists to reaffirm the right to life that every person has - including embryos who, we believe, are image bearers of God. We also called on Christians to consider the number of embryos generated in these processes to affirm the sanctity of human life.

The SBC did not call on IVF to be stopped. We acknowledged that there are a number of Christian and non-Christian couples that struggle with infertility who pursue this option. The resolution sought to generate deeper discussion regarding the ethics of generating excess embryos who are in many cases, image bearers of God sentenced for destruction. Possibly even bringing about more regulation to IVF in general so that these embryos are treated with care.

Lindsey and I know a couple from FBC Ozark who are a year or two older than us and were struggling with infertility and shared their story during a worship service a few months ago. They were exploring all sorts of options and their doctor recommended something called embryo adoption - something they hadn’t ever heard of. They discovered that there are over a million of these embryos that people have frozen during IVF that are frozen, waiting to be implanted. This couple pursued this option as without couples like them, these embryos are going to be destroyed and discarded. Long story short, they welcomed twin boys into the world - one of whom was a frozen embryo for nearly a decade! To God be the glory for this gift of life!

There are over a million embryos just like these 2 waiting to be brought into loving homes. This number is rapidly increasing because IVF is growing in popularity and frequency. The SBC passed a resolution saying that we affirm that these embryos are made in the image of God and are to be treated in that regard - not disregarded as a clump of cells as many non-Christians are tempted to do. As Christians, we have to think carefully about these types of ethical and moral problems that we face in a world that is increasingly growing secular.

These are just a few of the updates from Indianapolis 2024. Our convention is not perfect - I will never claim that it is. But as a member of a SBC church, I wouldn’t be here if I believed there was a better denomination out there - and I pray that every other member not only of our church but of our convention feels the same way. We’re blessed to be in a convention that loves Jesus, stands on His Word, unites together to take the Gospel to our neighbors and nations, and partners to do more together than we could ever do apart. I’m thankful for our SBC leadership and I’m excited to see what God has in store in the days to come.

Church Update

As we wrap up tonight, what an exciting week it’s been for our church at camp! What an exciting season we’re in as a church as well. From a year to date standpoint, we’re averaging roughly 320 every Sunday morning. We’ve celebrated baptisms, new members, and new life as a church. We’re facing spacing problems as we look around our facility due to a growing children’s group and a sanctuary that is routinely over 70% capacity. These are good problems, aren’t they? It is humbling to be apart of God’s work and we know that this work is not done. There are still lives in Dent County who need to be saved. There are still people in need of Jesus. Until that changes, our mission remains the same - we exist to glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, and loving God and others as we seek to make a dent in Dent County for God’s glory. There is much to celebrate - but there is much work to continue to do. As we think of the things that are coming up next, let’s devote them to the Lord and ask His blessing as we seek to honor and glorify Him.

Our invitation is different tonight - you’re at a business meeting and that means that you’re a church member and that means that you’re a born again believer. Our invitation time this evening is not one of salvation - but one of celebration and one of dedication. As we pray, and ask God to continue to use us, ask yourself how can you serve and assist in the ministry of this church in the days to come? How can we ensure that we continue to praise God for what He has done and is continuing to do? Let’s pray and as we do, respond in faith - maybe not immediately by walking down an aisle… but maybe that’s prayerfully responding in the days to come as our nominating committee begins their process of finding church workers. Maybe that’s responding in faith to help in an existing ministry in our church. Maybe that’s inviting a friend or neighbor to join us at church. Whatever that is, ask God to help you respond in faith - wherever He leads, we must go.