Back in January I did a “things to watch in 2017” piece.
Here’s my list:
- What will be the response to the revamped Pastors Conference in Phoenix? I thought it was very well done and well received.
- Will we start to see leadership transitions in southern states? Nope.
- Will limitless missionaries start to become a reality in 2017? I’m not seeing much different.
- Will we continue to see increasingly diverse representation on trustee boards? Well, I don’t know.
- What’s to come of the Russell Moore controversy? He apologized. I hope that was the last time we let an unelected megapastor hold an entity hostage.
- Will NAMB’s annual report on church plants reveal anything interesting about their SEND planting program? I haven’t heard complaints…yet.
- Will some Baptist Faith and Message loving Southern Baptist finally challenge a church doctrinal grounds? Nope. Seems we only get serious about the BFM if the question is about female pastors or the church’s approval of homosexuals.
- What state convention will sell their expensive, underutilized, dinosaur of a headquarters building? The Florida Convention did. Their $6.15 million sale (of which they gave 51% to the CP) is chump change compared to the Georgia convention building which is 8-10 times as valuable. The GBMB has indicated a willingness to sell. The building is the most underutilized state convention HQ in the SBC.
- What will happen in Phoenix when a non-male is the parliamentarian for one of the SBC annual meeting sessions? Good job.
- Will any major SBC entity have changes at the top? Nope.
SBC This Week had their own list. I stole several of theirs for my list above. The rest of theirs:
3. How will a Trump presidency affect religious liberty? I don’t see any change. The Johnson Amendment may be in the tax bill.
4. How will the new CSB translation from LifeWay be received? Can’t answer this. I’m still getting over the “Brave Girl Bible” at the LW convention bookstore.
5. Will the LifeWay building be occupied in 2017? Yeah, I think. I don’t believe this was on most SBCers agenda, though.
6. How will the changing online education landscape affect SBC seminaries and baptist colleges? Not sure how much of the new lanscape accounts for SWBTS’ financial troubles (they terminated about 10% of their fulltime workforce) but I’d guess that we will see more changes at all the schools as time passes.
9. How might Guidestone and their constituents be impacted by changes in health care and the possible elimination of the ACA? I’m not sure. GS’ prices on MediCare supplements aren’t much of a bargain. This is an area where state conventions could help pastors assess their options but I’m not sure they will.
10. How will the rural/urban divide in America influence SBC churches and revitalization efforts? Everyone has a revitalization program. I’m not seeing much measurable success. In my circles many rural churches are probably not a great place to invest a lot of revitalization resources. Call that ecclesiastical darwinianism.
Maybe I missed some things that happened. My SBC radar screen is only so large, doesn’t cover the whole SBC universe.
Using my ministerial measurement license, I’ll rule that I’m batting 1.000.
