Great Commision

The next few days are very interesting for those of the Southern Baptist Denomination. The Annual SBC meeting is happpening in the next few days through Tuesday. This is when churches apart of the convention come together for a common purpose.

Now, there are distinct differences from most denominations unique to the SBC. You see, all Southern Baptist Churches are what's called "Autonomous." You may be familiar with that word if you ever watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when King Arthur is talking to some peasants and he tells them he is King, to which one responds, "...I thought we were an Autonomous Collective." What Autonomous means is that we are all seperate. Most denominations have a governing body that is over a bunch of churches, but Southern Baptist Churches don't have a governing body. They can be apart of conventions, such as the SBC which is the Southern Baptist Conservatives of VA which most conservative Southern Baptist churches are apart of, and of course the national convention, SBC. Now, there are many advantages to being stand alone. What happens at my church has nothing to do with what happpens at say, Liberty Baptist in Hampton. Both of these churches are conservative, and have the same basic beliefs, but one is not responsible for the other. This is a good thing, especially since there are quite a bit of churches that are Southern Baptist in name, but liberal in practice.

The downside to all of this, is that it's not public knowledge that we are in fact autonomous and so when in the news, churches like Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas (who I will NOT link to as they get money for every web click) the church that protests military funerals and says things like "God hates Gays" and other derogatory words, give Southern Baptists a bad name. Now, they are in fact an Independant Baptist church (and there are numerous types of Baptists) but still people look at that, and may think I believe the same. This is the downside.

But, the point to all this, is the SBC meeting this year is rought with contraversy as it is most years, but this year I believe they are really on to something. Though we are the largest protestant denomination with 16.5 + million members, we are suffering a decline in membership and baptistm's as most denominations. There are many reasons for this, but instead of pointing fingers, this year an initiative has been started. Just as the conservatives won a LONG battle against the moderates and liberals that "tried" to take over the SBC in the 60's, they again are mounting up for a new cause. This cause, simply put, is the GOSPEL.

retooled, this new initiative is called the Great Commission Resurgence and it's purpose is to redirect us from the petty fights, and political attacks, and refocus us to our First calling, which is to go and make DISCIPLES of all nations. The great emphasis is that we would continue to pool together resources, and "monies" into one of the most ingenious funds ever created, simply the Cooperative Program. The Cooperative Program simply put is where ALL the churches in the commision send on average 10 percent, or equivelent to a tithe of their budget to the SBC. The monies, are used to help seminaries and other SBC organizations, though primarily they are used to fund missionary efforts in North America and INTERNATIONALLY for the purpose of disseminating the gospel and training people in the knowledge of Christ. It is quite awesome, and it is one of the many reasons I am proud to be a Southern Baptist.

But really, above all, I'm proud, and Ironically humbled, to be HIS, a Child of God, Saved and called according to HIS purposes! I am praying for the CONVENTION this weekend into Tuesday, and I know God is going to do GREAT things and inspire a great work to be done for Him, because of Him, and it's in His name I'll end here, Amen.

-Brian