Like many of you, I attended the annual Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) this summer in Dallas. It was my first time serving as a messenger. I walked away encouraged.
The SBC is huge, so there will always be controversies and differences of opinions. However, I observed an effort to live in the healthy tension of holding leaders accountable while also trusting leaders. I also witnessed a genuine commitment to the Bible’s teachings about men serving as pastors. As a graduate of Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth I was especially encouraged by Dr. Dockery’s report on the seminary’s renewed institutional health and ongoing recovery. A thriving Southwestern Seminary is a tremendous asset to the kingdom of God in North Texas.
The SBC did a great job celebrating 100 years of Cooperative Program giving. It truly stands as one of the greatest missionary efforts in church history. God has accomplished so much through the faithful giving of ordinary Southern Baptists. Over the past 100 years over $20 billion has been given through the Cooperative Program to proclaim the gospel all over the world.
I was especially encouraged by reports about what God is doing through church planting in the Send Network. By God’s grace, our denomination planted 767 new churches last year! The Send Network has a mission to help churches plant churches everywhere for everyone. Not only are we planting a lot of churches, but a lot of different kinds of churches. As immigrant communities continue to settle in North Texas.
I am especially excited to see the growth of multiethnic and non-English-speaking church plants. Even with this diversity, I am encouraged to learn that the survivability rate of a Send Network plant is around 85% after four years. Finally, I was also blown away to learn that $74.7 million dollars were given last year to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering!
I’m not someone who tends to get too involved in SBC debates. We don’t hear a lot of people in our church foyer on Sunday mornings talking about the SBC. However, I am grateful to be part of a local association, state conventions, and a denomination that are all so committed to God’s Word, evangelism, training pastors, planting churches, and sending missionaries. There will always be drama and debates, but I walked away from my first SBC encouraged by what God is doing in our family of churches.