Honorary Doctorates, Autobiographies and Other Perks

“Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.”  James 4:10

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time.”  I Peter 5:6

“The greatest among you will be your servant.”  Matthew 23:11

The first time I ever saw an honorary doctorate conferred, I was a freshman in college.  It was Founder’s Day at Grand Canyon University, and the school was honoring an individual who had made a significant contribution to the school.  It was a financial contribution, given to help the college finish a science building, and in addition to the honorary doctorate, the building was named in his honor.  The ceremony took up the whole chapel service, a time that, according to the college catalog, was set aside twice a week for the campus community to worship God.  There was nothing about that particular ceremony that I found worshipful, at least as far as God was concerned.

Christian institutions, denominations and religious organizations seem to hand out an awful lot of rewards and I have always had trouble reconciling that with the Bible’s teaching, and examples, of servant leadership and humility with eternal, not temporal, rewards.  The honorary doctorates that Grand Canyon, and hundreds of other colleges and universities, hand out are generally given for financial contributions.  As students, we endured four Founder’s Days where honorary doctorates were given to wealthy people whose most significant accomplishment as far as the school was concerned was the effort they put into writing a check. 

From a Biblical perspective, that’s not an accomplishment, it is an obligation, responsibility and an expectation.  Those who are blessed financially are expected to give generously.  Those who serve on behalf of the Kingdom are, as the old hymn “Our Best” says, to serve “not for reward, nor for the praise of man, but for the Lord.”  The heirarchy of prominence and prestige that we have developed in our churches and denominational organizations seems to spring from a different philosophy of service than the servant leadership, self-sacrificing model that Christ taught to us by his own example. 

I’ve read an interesting combination of news reports and blogs over these past few weeks of summer, when the Southern Baptist Convention and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship both held their annual meetings.  There’s been a lot of talk about honorary doctorates and their legitimacy, and whether or not a recipient is entitled to use the title.  There’s also been a lot of talk about the controversy sparked by criticism of one of moderate Baptists’ prominent “veterans” of the “Baptist war.”  I don’t see that honorary doctorates, or autobiographies with their ceremonial recognitions, really fit in with the New Testament’s idea of humility among the servant leadership of the church.  It is human reasoning and thinking upon which we base our argument that ordinary expectations of servanthood should be rewarded, in order to motivate others to service.  That’s what justifies our hurt feelings and our sob stories when no one recognizes what we do. 

There are many people, however, who have learned to serve with humility, and are not motivated by reward or praise, but by the simple, pure knowledge that God is pleased with their work.  A wheelchair bound elderly widow in one church where I served kept her eyes and ears open for church needs to be mentioned.  An air conditioner mechanic showed up one morning to install a new unit.  A refrigerator was delivered to the kitchen.  The parking lot was resealed and restriped.  It was all done anonymously, and the church did not know who it was until she passed away, and her son revealed all of the receipts he had found.  In another church, a member who, with her husband, owned a small chain of grocery stores, called me aside and told me that any project I had in mind that would involve youth in missions would be underwritten by them anonymously.  She once asked me what the most high priority need of our youth ministry might be, and I had blurted out “a van” before I realized she was probably going to go buy one, which she did.  But no one in that church ever knew that she had given a dime. 

We would not be arguing about these things today if we had been practicing humility.

Tired of Hearing About It: A Call to End Anti-SBC Rhetoric in the CBF

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8179&Itemid=53

A group of seven individuals, tagged as “young” leaders in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) have written a letter in response to Cecil Sherman’s remarks at the CBF General Assembly held in Memphis last week.  While accepting author’s copies of his recently released autobiography, Sherman compared the struggle against SBC fundamentalists to the Holocaust, which apparently prompted the letter.

The link above is to an article in the Baptist Standard about the letter.  The full text of the letter isn’t included in the article.  The article carries selected quotes from the letter, and from Sherman. 

It doesn’t appear that Sherman was drawing an equal comparison between the moderate-fundamentalist struggle in the SBC and the Holocaust, but was simply using it as an example to point out why he feels that the past history of the struggle for control of the SBC from the losing side is important.  I don’t believe Sherman was equating the two events.  However, the comparison prompted a critical response.  You can get the general idea from the Standard article. 

I’m not going to get into a “who got hurt the most by the controversy” contest.  Suffice it to say that I got close enough to be wounded and scarred by “The Controversy” on several occasions going all the way back to the first attempt by trustees at Southwestern seminary to fire Dr. Dilday, an event which took place while I was a student there.  I know how hard it is to turn the other cheek when those who have slapped you the first time are not enemies, but brethren.  I have experienced the indescribable feeling of that knot in the pit of your stomach that you get when your job, and your livelihood, is threatened because of a position you have taken or a conviction that you hold.  I know what it is like to have to take an unplanned change on the path of your ministry calling in order to continue to provide a roof and three meals a day for your family. 

But, I am a Christian.  I have been called to vocational ministry.  And the fact of the matter is that none of those experiences entitles me to be bitter, or to hold a grudge, or to sit around and feel sorry for myself.  That’s what the world believes, and what the flesh thinks, but it is contrary to what the Lord says.  What I have discovered is that God is always faithful.  God came through at the very darkest moment of my life during the past decade and a half, and opened a door of opportunity so that I could focus on equipping the saints and advancing the kingdom.  Those are things that are much more important than ongoing bitterness and resentment over the loss of some sort of vague denominationalism. 

It appears that in both the SBC and in CBF, people are finally coming to the realization that the fighting, bickering and turf protecting has damaged our witness, clouded our testimony, and is counterproductive to advancing the cause of Christ.  It drains our energy and resources as well.  So why do we keep doing it?

 

The “Cafeteria Faith” Of American Christianity

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/5851986.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/5852851.html

But we pretty much already knew this, didn’t we?

A quote from the story:

“Religion in America is like a spiritual salad bar,” said Michael Lindsay, assistant professor of sociology at Rice University and author of Faith in the Halls of Power. “Americans pick and choose their beliefs and religious practices in a custom-designed faith system. I don’t have a judgment call on whether it’s good or bad. It’s just the way it is.”

I have a judgement call on it, and it’s not good.

What kind of god is defined by human reason?  If beliefs and practices related to faith in a divine being are determined solely by choices that are made based solely on the preference of the person practicing their own particular faith, then that person, not God, is supreme and sovereign.  Whoever “god” is becomes subject to human will and intellect.  That kind of god is powerless, and doesn’t even fit a loose definition of the term.

So if “God” exists, by definition as the supreme, divine creator of the universe with full sovereignty over all of his creation, onmicient, onmipotent and omnipresent, then it would stand to reason that He, and not we, would determine the conditions for knowing Him.  If he is sovereign, then the only way we could know him would be through revelation from him alone.

“There is therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.”  Romans 8:1-4

Trendy religion, beliefs that are changed by popular culture and thinking, and by the latest philosophy, is a faith of the flesh.

If the Pew Forum is accurate research, and people in the church have concluded that they can put together their own faith from picking and choosing their own preferences, what does that say about the quality of the teaching and preaching that we do?  And while the percentage of traditional African American church members and conservative evangelicals who believe that there is only one way to God is close to half, and much higher than mainline Protestants or Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are much more convinced of their own correctness, but are much less criticized for holding that view. 

Sometimes, when I read these things, I think about the people in my own church, and I wonder if they believe some of the things that the surveys show significant percentages of other Christians believe.  I plan to ask my Sunday School class some of these questions this week.  We may well have our work cut out for us. 

“I did not speak in secret in a land of darkness.  I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in chaos.’  I the Lord speak the truth.  I declare what is right.”  Isaiah 45:19

 

Inside a Pastor Search

For the first time in my ministry career, I have found myself on staff at a church that has become pastorless.  Our former pastor succeeded in leading what was an aging neighborhood congregation in a transitional, diverse, inner-city neighborhood to examine itself, look at the future, and make enough necessary changes to get into position to experience a time of growth and development.  Beginning with a renovation of a preschool and children’s area of the building in need of a serious upgrade, starting a small groups ministry, reaching out to younger families and couples, and eventually adding a contemporary worship service, the church has numerically remained about the same size that it was when he came, about 275 people in worship.  But it has experienced the death of about 150 of its members over his tenure, and they have been replaced with younger families with youth, children and preschoolers, and a number of younger and middle aged couples who are more reflective of the make-up of the neighborhood that is transitioning into a more affluent haven for a very diverse group of mostly professional, highly educated career people who want to move back into the city to get away from commutes into the downtown area that run as long as an hour and a half in a city with virtually no real public transportation.  About the only part of town that is “hotter” than ours, in terms of property, is the south central area that lies along the one light rail line that exists.  We’ve just been told this week that we are scheduled to have one run through our area on the next go round.

So, we are in the process of selecting a search committee and gathering the names of potential candidates to consider.  We have put a notice on the SBC’s job board, and with the BGCT’s electronic resume service with a description of our church and the kind of ministry we have.  The association has also been notified.  So far, we have received about 50, give or take a half dozen, resumes from potential candidates.  We have generally stated that the salary is negotiable, based on experience and education, that we are looking for someone who has about five years of pastoral experience, at least a Master’s degree from a seminary, and have described ourselves as an established inner-city congregation with small groups, traditional Bible study, two services, both contemporary and traditional,  diverse in cultural background, and racially diverse.  About a third of our active members are hispanic, and we have several Asian and African American families and individual members.  We are diverse in age, with about a third of the congregation being considered senior adults, a third in the 40-60 age bracked, and a third under 40, including about 50 preschoolers, children and youth, and a burgeoning, growing nursery population. We had 10 babies born into the church in the span of about three months last year. 

It is interesting to note that of the 50 or so candidates from whom we have received resumes, only about a dozen meet the experience and educational requirements.  They are either young guys in their first church out of seminary, or still completing a degree, or men in their 50’s and 60’s called into ministry after a career in another field.  Only one is from Texas, and most of the others, much to my surprise, are from states that Southern Baptists would consider “pioneer” fields.  We have a lot of candidates from Indiana, Ohio and the upper Midwest, and from California and the Midwest.  Many of them are natives of Southern states.  It seems to me, with an abundance of ministers in the South, the SBC would be encouraging people to move North and stay there.  But that doesn’t seem to be the trend.

Something else that I noticed was the relatively short period of time most of those who have sent resumes have served in their current position.  There are few that are in their third year, most are somewhere between 18 months and two years, and there are a lot with less than 18 months of service in their current position.  Our previous pastor was here for sixteen years, and his predecessor for somewhere near 14 years, so our church is experiencing only its second pastoral search in 30 years.  It may be hard to match expectations with individuals who have served for such a short period of time.

As the search progresses, I’ll share some more insights, particularly about the dynamics of a search team and the congregation as it waits to find out who its new pastor will be.

Southwestern, Lifeway to Exhibit at Ft. Worth BGCT

http://texasbaptists.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/cocb-approves-three-more-exhibitors-to-bgct-annual-meeting-including-southwestern/

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will have a booth in the exhibit hall at the Baptist General Convention of Texas this year for the first time since 2003.  Along with the SWBTS exhibit, Lifeway will be more prominently featured at this year’s convention.  Both the BGCT’s committee on convention business and Southwestern have agreed to the arrangement.

The move to exclude Southwestern from exhibits at the BGCT coincided with the election of Dr. Paige Patterson as the eighth president of the seminary.  It was the BGCT that notified the seminary it no longer qualified as an exhibitor.  According to a May 28, 2004 story in The Baptist Standard, the adoption of the BFM 2000, and the SBC’s refusal to allow Buckner to exhibit at the 1997 SBC meeting in Dallas were the reasons given for the exclusion.  John Petty (interesting last name), who was the chairman of the committee on convention business at the time said that it was the SBC’s theological statement, the BFM 2000, which was the primary reason for excluding Southwestern.

Ken Hall, who was president of the BGCT at the time, said the BGCT was in the midst of developing a “very clear statement as to who we are as Texas Baptists and how we are going to help churches and our institutions and we don’t want to be defined by the controversy anymore.” 

I applaud the current committee’s decision to reverse this policy and find a way to come to an agreement with Southwestern whereby the seminary can have a presence in the exhibit hall.  Excluding them didn’t accomplish the purpose of helping the BGCT avoid being defined by the controversy, it furthered that definition.  Southwestern is inexorably and permanently linked to the BGCT, not only historically, but in the fact that so many BGCT congregations are served by Southwestern graduates and current students, and that will continue to be the case.  It is a fact of geography.  It is also a fact that the farther down the ladder you go from the inner circles of convention leadership into the communities of people in the churches, the fewer the differences and the less the interest in “the controversy.” 

This is a small step in improving the relationship between the BGCT and the SBC, but it is a significant one.  At the very least, it shows that there are those in BGCT leadership who are listening.  This blog in particular has mentioned this specific step on more than one occasion.  I am glad to see there are those who have responded. 

 

 

Melting Ice, and a Trickle of Water

Several years ago, on a visit to Switzerland, I got to ride the Berner Oberland Bahn up to the Eiger glacier on the slopes of the magnificent Jungfrau, the “roof of Europe.”  More snow and ice accumulate on the glacier each year than actually melts and runs off, but the runoff fills several lakes and rivers, providing hydroelectric power and a water supply that is one of the country’s greatest natural resources.  During my visit, we swam in the Brienzersee, the Aare River as it runs through the town of Interlaken, and later on, the Thunersee.  The Brienzersee is freezing cold, and your body never adjusts to the water temperature.  The Aare River is also freezing, though not quite as cold.  But a few miles downstream, the water empties into the Thunersee, which is larger, and further from the glacier, and while it is still not a warm body of water, is much more comfortable in which to swim.  As the water flows, it is warmed by the sun and the earth. 

In the past several days, I’ve observed some things, and read some things on blogs and in news reports that makes me think the relationship between the BGCT and the SBC may be warming up a bit.  For a long time it has been a frozen glacier, with very little runoff.  But there are some signs, from both sides, that the ice may be melting. 

At the SBC meeting in Indianapolis, the M.E. Dodd Award was given to the pastor of a uniquely aligned BGCT congregation.  Dr. David Dykes is pastor of the Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, which is the largest single contributing church to the SBC’s Cooperative Program.  Considering that the BGCT has been virtually shut out of SBC leadership since the formation of the SBTC, this was certainly a sign of change in that relationship.  Last year, Gary Dyer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Midland, which ranks third in Cooperative Program giving and is also uniquely affiliated with the BGCT, was appointed to the SBC’s committee on nominations. 

David Lowrie reported on the BGCT breakfast at the convention this year.  Unfortunately, I missed the gathering, but was glad to hear that our executive director, Dr. Randel Everett, was in Indianapolis for the SBC meeting.  That is an encouraging sign to those of us who have been hoping for, and advocating for, a warming of relations between the two groups.  Most of the BGCT’s churches have continued to support the SBC through the Cooperative Program, and that doesn’t appear to be changing.  The historic ties between the two groups have been strong, and there is no reason they shouldn’t continue to be. 

Ken Coffee, a retired BGCT executive, has suggested on his blog that the BGCT extend an invitation to the SBC’s newly elected president Johnny Hunt to address the BGCT in October.  I think that is an excellent suggestion, and would be a great way to help melt a little bit more of the glacier.  Along with that, he has suggested that the prohibition against Southwestern Seminary having an exhibit booth at the BGCT be lifted.  That, too, is an excellent suggestion.  I’ve never understood why such a petty and unproductive action has been taken by the BGCT. 

When I attended the search committee listening session in Waco way back last summer, several of those in attendance expressed a desire that we select someone who would help end the “spitting contest” with the SBC.  In dozens of responses and emails related to this blog, the overwhelming sentiment has been to express just that very thought.  The ice is melting.  The glacier is still there, and the river is cold, but it the longer it flows, the warmer it will get. 

 

Strong Coffee: “Invite Johnny Hunt to Address the BGCT”

There are two excellent suggestions from Ken Coffee on his blog, Strong Coffee, that I wholeheartedly support.

http://kennaco.blogspot.com/2008/06/give-johnny-hunt-chance.html

1.  Invite the newly elected president of the SBC, Johnny Hunt, to address the BGCT.

2.  Let Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have a booth at the BGCT annual meeting.

I was preparing a blog post on what might be seen as a warming up, or at least a trickle of water melting from the ice, between the BGCT and the SBC, but Ken has just jumped right in and offered the suggestions. 

Good reading!  And AMEN to these suggestions!

Final Thoughts on the Indianapolis SBC

By now, the events of the SBC are history, and the blogs have been busy analyzing it all.  There are a few things about this year’s meeting that are worthy of noting. 

Frank Page’s Appointments

According to a Baptist Press report, more than 90% of Frank Page’s appointments have not previously served on an SBC committee or board.  That’s a record that has not been achieved in who knows how long?  That, along with his very fair and gentle leadership of the convention meetings, will be his legacy.  It is, in my opinion, a major accomplishment and one that will hopefully set a precedent for all future SBC presidents.  In a denomination of at least 6 million people in the pews, in 45,000 churches, there is no reason that anyone should serve in more than one capacity for a lifetime. 

There are also far too many names of individuals who work for SBC agencies and entities, particularly in executive positions, that find themselves on boards and committees and while that may not be a direct conflict of interest, it prevents good men and women from serving the denomination.  When people are involved at the denominational level, they become a channel of information and support back to their own congregation.  The more churches there are who have people serving on SBC boards, the more informed church members we have. 

The narrowness of board and committee appointments should be limited by bylaw.  A motion was made attempting to amend bylaws to prevent agency and entity executives from holding an elected SBC office.  I think a motion also needs to be made to 1) limit the number of members of any individual church from serving on boards or committees to one member at a time. 2) No husband-wife tag teams.  Once a spouse has served, the other one is ineligible. 3) No individual may serve more than two terms on any committee. Once you have served, move on so someone else can serve.  President Page has set the precedent, and I hope others will follow.

The Future

The SBC flirted briefly, and indirectly, with the fact that the digest of letters reports 16 million members with only 6 million actually attending church.  There wasn’t really direct mention of the loss in total membership reported this past year, but there were at least two points made that indicate the leadership is aware of the problem and is resorting to the very typical response of coming up with a denominational emphasis and program to deal with it. 

I was a little surprised when Bill Gaither took about ten minutes of the executive committee report to talk about the new financial planning program, “It’s a New Day” that the committee is pushing.  With statistics showing that half of the membership of SBC churches is past 60, and aging rapidly, the “giving generation” is about to die off, and in the next twenty years or so, some predict that as much as 60% of church income could evaporate with them.  Younger people tend to give less, mainly because they are facing the big, yet to come expenditures(kid’s college tuition, daughter’s wedding, etc.) , and because many of them don’t manage their money well.  So, we have a money management emphasis, complete with a testimony from a pastor who used it and managed to get his church to increase their giving by about $800 per week. 

The “Great Commission Resurgence” is a renewed emphasis on evangelism.  David Dockery did a good job of challenging the convention to make evangelism a much higher priority that it already is, and this denominational emphasis is supposed to encourage churches to do just that.  I didn’t see that there were many details included as to exactly how to go about this, and I agree that we need a renewed emphasis on evangelism, but we also need a Holy Spirit poured-out revival to go along with it.  And a lot of churches aren’t struggling with the will to be evangelistic, they are struggling with ways to put their enthusiasm to work in a relevant way, to touch a culture with which they are essentially out of touch.  A denominational program won’t fix things. 

Southern Baptists aren’t good at dealing with decline.  We’ve placed a lot of credibility in growth, and have believed that growth, even though it has come in the tiniest of percentages, and there have been warning signs of the decline to come for quite some time, is an endorsement of the correctness of our “theology.” Other mainline denominations have declined, we’ve reasoned, because they have become unfocused on the message of scripture and liberal in their approach to doing church.  In this particular convention, though, I didn’t see much more than “business as usual.”  Essentially, at this point, we are going to deal with a serious drop in baptisms, a lost in membership, and the aging of our churches by a couple of denominational emphases.  I’m not sure that an appeal to a renewed emphasis on evangelim is going to be enough this time around.

The SBC So Far

Participation

As of the time of the election of first vice president yesterday afternoon, at about 4:45, the registration had reached 7,200, which was below expectations but not surprising.  Gas in Indianapolis is over $4.00 a gallon today, and along the route on the way in, depending on where you are coming from, is as high as $4.25.  Not only that, but the major interstate highways up from the South are blocked with flooding and major detours.  I think a lot of people just weighed all of that and decided not to come. 

Tuesday afternoon drew a much larger crowd this year than it did last year, largely because the order of business moved the election of president from the late morning to the mid-afternoon.  There were 5,800 ballots cast, and I’ll bet there weren’t 2,500 people who stayed in the hall after they were collected. 

On Sexual Abusers

The word from Dr. Chapman and the executive committee on this issue was also not surprising.  The SBC’s leadership will encourage churches to use available databases on sexual offenders, particularly the Department of Justice, but it will not create such a database of its own.  While the rhetoric yesterday may sound like a lot of words with no real action to back them up, frankly I do not see how establishing such a database would be any more productive than using existing ones.  Denominations in which the clergy work for, and are paid by denominational entities have the ability to keep and use such information because they are the keepers of the employee records.  The SBC is not. 

I believe the executive committee’s statement is an indication that they are willing to work to find a way to curb the problem that exists within the SBC, so perhaps those who have a high level of interest in doing this can come up with something that will work.

New Theme:  Great Commission Resurgence

Get used to that term, because you will be hearing a lot of it related to the SBC.  In my opinion, this is somewhat of a way for the SBC leadership to deal with the sagging baptism and membership numbers without actually having to admit there is a problem, or mention it directly.  David Dockery used the term several times in the “Challenge” message yesterday.  A booklet about it was placed in every bag, and given out to everyone who made a Lifeway purchase.  Dockery’s message in particular made the connection from the fact that the SBC has solidified its doctrinal position over the last 30 years, but that it must not sacrifice fellowship or evangelistic emphasis in the process, and that’s more or less what has been happening, or so he said. 

Surprises

I was surprised by the Distinguished Baptist Statesman award going to Dr Billy Kim.  Dr Kim is a huge supporter of the Baptist World Alliance and was its president when the SBC parted ways.  Does his receiving this award signal a shift in SBC policy?  I have always wondered whether Dr. Chapman in particular was not really on board with the SBC’s separation from the BWA, which was an action taken from the floor of the convention. 

 This was coupled with a rousing speech by Dr Bobby Welch, who now heads the SBC’s effort to uncover and work with other “like minded” Christians around the world, in forming another organization of conservatives to counter the BWA.  Dr. Welch got loud and preacher-like in his presentation, but I suspect that what efforts have been made have met with little to no success.  The absence of any real statistical data or actual information of what has been accomplished was quite noticeable, the generalities and cliches were abundant, and left Dr. Welch grasping at straws to justify the expense and efforts that have been made.  Earlier in the session, a messenger made a motion to ask the executive committee and the SBC to reconsider their relationship with the BWA and I suspect that something may be coming down the pike in short order.

Another surprise relates to another award presentation, this time in recognition of Cooperative Program support.  It went to Dr. David Dykes, pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas.  Green Acres is the largest single contributing church to the Cooperative Program.  What is surprising is that it contributes through the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and doesn’t have ties to the SBTC.  The presentation comes from the SBC executive board, which makes it all the more surprising. 

Among the motions made yesterday morning was one which asked the SBC to amend its bylaws to eliminate entity or agency heads from running for SBC offices.  I didn’t recognize the messenger who made that motion, and where that winds up going will be quite interesting, but it did get a reaction, lots of applause, and plenty of seconds.  Apparently, there are quite a few people in the SBC who, in spite of their conservative leanings, see this sort of thing as conflict of interest.

I’ll write more on Hunt, and on Dockery and Page’s addresses later.

SBC Executive Committee: BFM 2000 “Sufficient in Current Form” to Guide Trustees

In the 2008 SBC Book of Reports, page 18, item number 4, the executive committee dealt with a motion I brought to the convention recommending the establishment of a task force to deal with the spiritual gift of tongues, particularly as it is practiced as a “private prayer language.”  The IMB trustees developed a policy on this particular practice, and in so doing, prompted many Southern Baptists to declare that such a policy was going beyond the BFM 2000 and was not something they were authorized to do.  Wade Burleson eventually resigned his seat over this issue. 

In declining to form a task force to study the issue, as recommended in the motion, the executive committee declared that “the Baptist Faith and Message is sufficient in its current form to guide trustees in their establishment of policies and practices of entities of the Convention by additionally observing that it is sufficient to guide the Convention’s Committee on Nominations in its selection and qualification of trustee nominees.”

That would be consistent with what the Garner Motion stated at last year’s convention, and in agreement with what both Wade Burleson and Dwight McKissic have been saying all along.  I’m not sure if the executive committee has the authority to over-rule a trustee board policy, but at least they have clarified the Convention’s position on developing policies that go beyond the scope of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.