By popular demand your humble hacker and plodder blogger was in attendance at the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention yesterday. Actually, the reason for my presence was more marital command (my wife was in the choir for the event) than popular demand, but why quibble over the ultimate cause. I was there, eyes open, eyebrows raised, ears perked.
The meeting was dominated by the retirement of our Executive Director, Robert White, and beginning of a new ED, Thomas Hammond. White’s tenure was over a quarter century and he is an old school patrician Baptist, an indefatigible, tireless advocate for the SBC, the CP, and all of our GBMB and SBC entities. The partially hirsute Hammond (he has the requisite goatee) is a generation younger. Change is in the air. Both good men.
Dr. White isn’t going away. In fact, he’s just going down the hall to the Georgia Baptist Healthcare Ministry Foundation, an organization with a lot more money than the GBMB (something in the several hundred million in assets and which makes several million in grants each year) and a lot less staff.
I heard the best sermon I’ve heard in years from the outgoing GBC president, Mike Stone. The slight of stature, buttoned down pastor had a message on a convention in crisis was absolutely splendid, challenging, and inspiring. His intricate alliterative outline was successfully overwhelmed by his powerful delivery. He declined the traditional second term partly because he is the chairman of the SBC Executive Committee. He pastors in sand gnat country and his wife’s publicity photo has her holding a deer rifle. Kill ’em all sister, I say. Menace to drivers everywhere.
We SBCers are reflexively ironic, congratulating ourselves for good work while almost all measurable church data is declining. Over the past quarter century the population of Georgia has increased by over 50% while the number of GBC churches has inched up at about 6%. We are baptizing over a third less each year. I don’t see the state convention as the blame for this but it seems obvious that in spite of what we are saying and our mission statements the $25 million we keep in this state, mostly CP revenues, is not being used in ways that increase churches and generate baptisms. We do good things, have good people, have good programs, but growth is elusive.
Stone referenced the fact that about half of GBC churches baptize zip, zero, nada annually. Two-thirds baptize zero, one, or two souls. I don’t hold state executives responsible for this but surely someone can come up with some measures that might reduce these numbers. We get a steady diet of concerned megapastors lamenting the fact that so many thousands of SBC churches report no baptisms and I get a little weary of this. Just once I’d like to hear someone make a mention that a good part of the decline in baptisms is because we have less children. Well, I suppose it’s easier to beat up pastors and churches about evangelism than to cajole husbands and wives to do more procreating.
A few random observations:
- I always enjoy visiting with the IMB people and I chatted with a couple about the new IMB CEO and other things. Discussed how IMB trustees are sent overseas to visit our people, expenses paid by the board. I asked one of the mssys if a trustee had ever taken a trip to visit their country and mission. “Nope,” was the answer after a decade of service. This is a disgrace. I know there are a lot of people scattered all over the globe but at least once every decade a trustee should show up to visit, even if it isn’t a glamorous destination. A disgrace and a travesty to effectively say to any of our people, “Work hard…by yourselves. Don’t expect any of us to actually join you on the field in your work, though.”
- Disaster Relief has been busy in Georgia with the hurricane damage. Here’s a tip: DR, for all of the publicity it gets is a very small consumer of CP dollars. Maybe we should put more in DR and less in places that don’t show results.
- We had nominations touting both the UGA football program and that of U of Alabama. Make note folks: The two head coaches combined salary ($16 million or so) is about 2/3 of the entire GBC in-state budget. Well, both Georgia and Alabama had better years than the GBC.
- As usual, there was enough obesity to put the CDC in high anxiety. I’ll admit to contributing a few pounds to the overage but my excuse is genetic: I have a vestigial remnant of my Neanderthal ancestors that causes me to store some extra fat cells before the long winter. I hear it’s going to unusually cold this year.
- Dave Ramsey wasn’t present but still got an infomercial. They guy is a marketing powerhouse. The GBC will put tens of thousands in a partnership to be used by Georgia pastors and members of their churches. The theory is that people don’t give more because they cannot. I think that thinking is flawed. People sometimes restrict giving to their church because they don’t think the money is being used wisely. We might have better results if we looked seriously at providing value to givers instead of sending them to giving re-education camps and expecting the money flow to increase as a result. Nothing wrong with a combination approach.
- The music was scintillating. “The Great I Am” in the arrangment for the 200-voice choir and orchestra was wonderful. Puccini was on the program but got dropped. Bah humbug. I did get to hear it in rehearsal, though. Still looking for a Christian version of Gotterdammerung finale but that would require this man’s convention to feature a powerful female who screams a lot and jumps in a fire. I can think of a couple of Baptist men I’d like see cross dress followed by self-immolation.
- The men’s chorus wears tuxedos. A couple of dozen went to lunch at a nearby Chick-fil-a. As is their practice, they did an impromptu performance of the “Doxology” after dining. It was an authentic moment. Other diners stopped eating, lifted their heads to watch and smile. They were recording it with cameras and gave hearty applause when it ended. Make a note that on a day when the sun didn’t shine, birds weren’t singing, no flowers blooming, gray, dark, wet, and depressing a few people had their spirits lifted by sacred music. They went back to work and talked about it. Might be a lesson there.
- We have in Georgia a president and four, count ’em, vice presidents; a recording secretary and two elected assistants. Is being the 4th VP even resume-worthy? Egad.
- Quote of the day: Mike Stone on what to tell that obstreperous church member, “It’s easier for you to move your letter than for our pastor to move his furniture.” Uh huh.
- Likely to be repeated: Mike Stone on paying your pastor, “You ought to pay him so much the church across town can’t afford to steal him away from you.” I acknowledge that some churches like to keep pay low so the pastor doesn’t stay long.
- Sartorial award winner: They young dudebro in red leather shoes. Yeah, I saw you man. Very kewl…I think.
- Tonsorial award winner: Another young dudebro who had a crew cut except for sort of a knot on top of his forehead. Don’t know what you call that, maybe the Gerber Baby look.
- Note to aspiring megapastors: My observation is that if you take your preppy blazer and get some pressed and creased, faded jeans you’ll soon be called by a hip megachurch. Might need to work on skinnying up your posterior, though. Hey, just humble observations and putting two and two together.
See you next year.
Something wrong with me I know, but this is an entertaining post. Well done.
Sartorial splendor is kinda right up your alley, isn’t it?
We’re 17+ years w the IMB and counting, and the only time we met a trustee was during appointment week when we chatted with the subcommittee for our region. Not a criticism – just an affirmation that the experience your Georgian friends reported was not an outlier.
Best summary of the annual meeting. I thought last year’s post was great until I read this one. William, what is a word beyond great? Thanks for helping us muse a little deeper over the 2018 GBC meeting.
I don’t know you, Plodder, but I thoroughly enjoy your writing style and insights.
Plodder: On a scale of 1 to 10 I’d give your erudite writing style a 20. On another topic, I’d like to address low baptism numbers and shrinking church membership. I don’t know about Georgia but here in Oklahoma about half of the 77 counties have had populations that have either stayed about the same or been in steady decline since the 1950s. So, at least in those places, demographics is the reason for the low baptism numbers. We don’t baptize infants. There is only a narrow window of ages at which people are around to potentially become Christians and then be Baptized. That window is between around 8 and 18. If they are younger than 8 they don’t understand what being a Christian is. If they are over 18 they have left the depressed conditions in rural counties and moved to the city where there is at least a chance of finding a job. I can take you to dozens of county seat towns here in Oklahoma where the main street has mostly boarded up storefronts. A few examples would be Watonga and Hollis. For example in Hollis, things are so depressed that even the Sonic has shut down. The fastest growing counties in Oklahoma are counties which are near big cities without being in the urban core. One example would be Cleveland country is experiencing dynamite growth. First Baptist Moore is one of the anchor SBC churches in Cleveland county. Another reason that church attendance [and baptisms] is dropping is because people are so self-absorbed that they don’t mix as much socially any more. They go to work and hang out with their families but they don’t go to church, or join any type of group such as the Lions club, Fraternal Organizations, the Garden Club, etc. Kids sit around a play video games. They relate to their peers via chat rooms and Facebook etc. So activities like Boy Scouts and church youth groups are increasingly “off the radar”. There is a complex dynamic going on in society. But I believe that cold hard facts support the conclusion that a major cause [not the only cause] of low church attendance — and low baptisms — is demographics. As you say, people should to have more kids. But also, they should stop moving away to the urban areas. And they need to pulverize their smart phones and quit using… Read more »
Roger, there are some tough situations but I’m of the view that if you want to see people saved and baptized, you will.
Roger,
Sure, if one lives in a rural area, it is understandable that those churches would be small and stay small. Thtat is demographics.
But most of the people dont live in rural areas.
So for most of their churches demographics is not what hinders growth.
From what I have read and seen, the one thing that hinders growth the most is a FAILURE on our part to proclaim the Gospel to our neighbors: those we come into contact with or could come into contact with day after day.
Thats no guarantee of growth[sharing the Gospel] but without the Gospel proclaimed there is a guarantee of NO growth.
And of course money IS NOT the problem. EFFORT is.
But when we baptize all of our children at young ages [not as young as the Presbys do] we might be raising as Christians those who have not yet believed. They go off to college and never back to church. We also cant expect that many people who are saved by easy believism to be great ambassadors for Christ in a hostile world. Doctrine matters.
We should want growth but growth should not be the measure of our maturity. For when that happens we tend to get artificial growth and bloated church rolls and lets throw maney at the problem, etc., types of solutions.
Just go tell others about Jesus.
Word count says this post is a book.
Couple of guys here are known for, umm, rather wordy articles. I’m a piker in comparison.
Plodder:
Your posts are parsimonious compared to my comments.
I always appreciate your comments, Roger. Provides a dose of sanity.
🙂 And it is why I couldn’t resist.
A few thoughts on growing churches and baptizing more. There are far more qualified people than me to speak about church growth but here are my thoughts, go where hurting people are. They are everywhere. I have a huge heart for recovery ministries like Celebrate Recovery, GriefShare and Divorce Care. Send church members to mentor people in Christian addiction recovery centers. They do not need to be former addicts or divorced but just love hurting people. You will soon realize we are all broken and desperate for Christ’s love. The only thing we can truly offer others for transformation is the Gospel. These Christ centered recovery ministries are a great model for the church. Seeking to partner and heal those in broken places. Realization we are all on an equal footing, honest about our brokenness, and open about our utter dependence on fellow believers. Love first and love most.
Never been to a state convention meeting. Trying to keep the streak going.
But your description makes me think we could have a good time together.
In SC this week we had our meeting in Charleston. On Tuesday night the meeting was held at Mother Emanuel AME Church of the Charleston 9 fame. Powerful stuff. Theme all week was bringing races together for the kingdom. Heck, a Missionary Baptist church hosted the meetings. The SBC working to cross racial divides and across denominational lines. Whodathunkit…
Thought post was good but just for the record sake, I was the 4th VP sitting on stage at GBC and I didn’t serve to put it on a resume, was honored to serve because I was asked. But I get your point I promise! Just remember, even the 4th VP, just a pastor from Robertstown Ga might be reading your post. ?
If I invited you to preach in my church I’d introduce you as “former VP of the GBC.” Why worry about the ordinal number? If I were you and were resume-conscious I’d do the same.
I’m having a little fun over the thing. Four VPs? Perhaps a bit much.
Thanks for the comment. I’m honored that a GBC VP reads my stuff. 😉
Thought your post was in good fun and also on target with your overview of all that took place. I have never responded to a blog but I just thought since you mentioned 4th VP, I would just add my 2 cents!! And believe me, after sitting on stage for 2 days straight, I wish I had been 5th (if we had that) that way I wouldn’t have had to sit on stage! Yes sir, I enjoy your posts and all of those from this site. Thanks again!!
God bless you…and hey, go for 3rd next time (Yeah, I know the voting system). 🙂
Baptisms are down because we don’t have as many younger families who have children to baptize. Megachurches usually wind up with more than a handful of baptisms, but they are another reason why the number is down because per capita, they don’t baptize as many as the smaller churches do.
I deployed with a DR unit to Bainbridge, GA. Learned that the average age of those deploying was 76. Also had never put together that SEND Relief is a totally separately funded and administered agency than SBC DR. SEND Relief is doing less hoop jumping to get volunteers out, apparently. Also, one of my AMS friends speculates that the dip in baptisms might be inaccurately reported because so few churches are bothering to turn in the ACR anymore. It’s possible because that is definitely a realty.
I appreciate the comment. Various leaders have tossed out the thought that baptisms are down because of unreporting churches. I’d think that LifeWay Research could easily refute that, since around 80% (hardly a small proportion, though down from earlier years) of churches report their numbers. Besides, ACP carries over numbers from some previous years for churches that don’t report. Seems to me to be magical thinking to believe that the decline in baptisms is not a solid reality and a longterm trend.
I routinely see the ACRs for lots of churches They carry over membership and financials, but not baptisms. I definitely have no desire to see baptismal numbers meaninglessly inflated.
Sorry, I meant to say that LifeWay carries over numbers for churches that don’t file the ACP. This is done for two years, I think, so baptism numbers are adjusted thusly. I don’t know how many churches are currently in LifeWay’s pool of nonfilers who still have numbers added to the ACP totals.