We’re done for another year. Let’s try some winners and losers for the week.
Winners
Steve Gaines. He did a very good job presiding and conveyed confidence and humility in the job.
The Pastor’s Conference. Dave Miller and team conducted the first genuinely grassroots, average church and pastor driven event in my memory. Some said it would be a bomb but they pulled it off with aplomb.
Frank Page. Our CEO comes across well and the Executive Committee report was as painless as could be.
Southeastern seminary. The two SBC Vice Presidents (Walter Strickland and Jose Abella) and the first female assistant parliamentarian (Amy Whitfield) are all SEBTS folks…but no one keeps score, do they? Uh, yes, fish swim in water and Southern Baptists keep score on everything.
The Caskey Center for Church Excellence at New Orleans seminary. Their investment in the PC was well worth it. I had never heard of the organization before this week. I even had a pastor tell me his scholarship award to attend the PC came from Caskey, although those 62 awards came from the PC, so I understood.
The general non-Anglo face of the SBC. Take a look. Things have changed considerably.
Phoenix. My wonderful wife declined to come, “Too hot,” sayeth she. Actually, it was surprisingly pleasant. I even dined outside a couple of evenings. Pity whoever scheduled a meeting for next week when it is to be 115 or so degrees I hear.
The app. The downloads of docs are very helpful. The daily bulletin is uploaded at 7am.
All SBCers have opinions. I’m sure you have your own list.
Losers
I’d use a different word if one would pair well with ‘winners’ but I don’t know of one.
The Resolutions Committee. Not that any individuals are losers but this committee is supposed to have the savviest people on it so that we can get things right and not generate any loss of goodwill with the secular public. I can’t explain why this went awry but the committee did well to correct it quickly and decisively for which they deserve credit.
They guy who (gasp!) used the term “delegate” instead of the proper, if not puzzling to secular media, “messenger.”
Hooters restaurant. It was one block away from the convention center but generally bereft of Baptist patronage. I said that there was a special dispensation given this week to dine there, just not with wife or kids.
Toupees. These seem to have been replaced by Old Testament style beards. I even saw a guy whose beard looked cantilevered, a wondrous item indeed.
Guidestone health stuff. OK, I have no complaint about GS and appreciate their doing the health checks. It’s just that SBCers will leave the GS booth with their cholesterol numbers in hand and still show up at the sponsored or free breakfasts where the triple bypass buffet includes: bacon, link sausage, eggs, gravy biscuits. put the health fair stuff at the front of the buffet tables with attendants who glower.
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It was a pleasure to see many of the folks with whom I have interacted online…but don’t look for me in Dallas. Too hot.
