Nothing is over more quickly than Christmas. No more carols. No more Christmas sermons. No more trees, poinsettias, and ugly sweaters. The gifts have all been opened and many will be returned today. Kids have already broken some of theirs and are in tears. Leftovers will dominate the culinary offerings for the week. So, although I like Dave Miller’s four-sermon Christmas series (and I’d steal and use it if I didn’t already a a similar series), let’s go back to business as usual here:
Best quotes:
I’ve been talked down to by male seminary students and held my tongue when I wanted to say, “Brother, I was getting up before dawn to pray and to pore over the Scriptures when you were still in your pull ups.” Beth Moore. Easily the best quote of 2018.
We believe things need to change – that the mega-metro stranglehold on power must be broken, that diversity is essential, and that other changes must happen. Change is needed in the SBC. (Context here) This from Dave Miller (using the non-royal “we” and referring to the SBC Voices team). I use the quote because he is the latest of many who say the same thing. At some point someone has to understand that the celebrity system has benefited individuals but the denomination as a whole has not.
Manipulating readers by withholding information has no place in a denomination committed to the priesthood of all believers…The trustworthiness of Baptist influence is proven by sharing the difficult story. Retiring Baptist editor Bob Terry. We’ve always seen those in charge attempt, often successfully, to control the flow of information and news to the pews. The mods did it pre-CR. The cons do it post CR. Baptist Press does this. State papers do this. Bloggers do this. Social media dilletantes do this. Denominational employees in high position do this. In some cases alternative news outlets, even some that are worthy of revulsion, will be the only source that will share the difficult information. The best we could say about this is that it isn’t as bad as it used to be.
There are more good quotes. I got lazy in saving them. Feel free to add.
Best new book:
SBC FAQs: A ready reference. By SEBTS’ Amy Whitfield and Keith Harper. You could stop being so ignorant on SBC stuff if you had this book to consult before talking or typing. And the new book is cheaper at LifeWay than Amazon.
Best #SBC18 decisions:
The 95/5 percentage vote against the motion to dismiss SWBTS trustees. Had this passed the damage would have been incalculable.
The SBC Traditionalist organization’s decision to effectively cancel their #SBC18 event and make it into an informal prayer meeting. Along with this, their decision to end the popular Trad blog, SBC Today, in its then current form. Recognizing when to leave the field and regroup is a good thing.
There are others. Thank God we got a few things right in 2018.
Best head-scratcher
The SBC pastor, a nearly ubertraditionalist, who is starting a new church…one without the word Baptist in the name. Go figure. This is not to say that I do not wish and pray for his and the church’s success. It just struck me as odd.
Best new SBC personality:
Easily the anonymous but erudite SBC Explainer who has gathered over 3k followers since April. Nope, I am not the popular ‘splainer. He/she is smarter than I am. Probably better looking and less irascible as well. I’d speculate that there is nothing “new” about whomever this is.
In the running, Baptist-Blogger. I’m always interested in any blogger who writes stuff above a seventh-grade level. B-B turns some nice phrases and employs some notable vocabulary.
Best score of 2018:
Your humble hacker and plodder’s snaring of a room in the Birmingham SBC19 convention hotel. He who is usually a world class procrastinator jumped on it for once, and scored. See you there.
Best Obituary for 2018:
Billy Graham’s, of course. Since he died way back in February of this year, he was shamefully omitted from many notable death lists. In his 99th year, it is a testimony to his Christian stature and service that his obit didn’t include any sordid episodes. He was a faithful follower of Christ. The day of the grand revival meeting has passed. There will never be another like him.
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Add your own. No pastor works between Christmas and New Year’s, anyway.
William, I’m with you on transparency in the SBC. An old preacher told me years ago: Tell the truth and trust the people.
Apparently, many among us think they are smarter than some old preacher. I like that old baptist axiom and have practiced it faithfully as a pastor.
My dad used to say the same thing. This desire for secrecy that is seldom necessary and abundantly common today is self defeating. It is about fear and power.
If you inform people then when you need to keep something secret there is less of a climate of suspicion.
We had a treasurer in a previous church who did a horrible job, got mad and left the church and left our finances in shambles. We went to our business meetings and said, “This is our best guess at what we have in our budget. Things are messed up and we are trying to sort them out.”
It took several months to get squared away. We were afraid people might be upset. But no one ever said a word. We let them know what was happening and they were content that we were dealing with it.
My thoughts about these quotes:
1. Who cannot identify with Beth Moore’s quote in one way or another. But that is the kind of quote that needs less attention and reverence. Baptists in particular love quotes that burn other people. I’m not sure this type of dialogue should be something of which we’re proud.
2. I agree that leadership should be expanded beyond mega churches. The mega churches became popular and critical to change in the SBC because they had megaphones that could go around the denominational press. A good side was that one never had to wonder about what the mega pastors believed. You knew what you were getting.
I see the levers of power actually swinging back to denominational agencies and the press. Included in the press are various bloggers.
I remember the “truth squads” and rapid response teams that first became so familiar in the Clinton campaign in ‘92 with Stephanopolous and Begala. I can see similarities of that in SBC life.
Stories and criticisms directed at various aspects or issues in SBC life, and the SBC agencies and friendly bloggers and twitter accounts and parachurch ministries respond immediately and on cue. And without too much digging you find there has been communication between these groups.
The Megas are not really able to do much about this. Over time it will be interesting to see the pendulum swing in this area.
I am for small church involvement, more diversity etc., but for that to be effective, it must be organic. And we can’t uphold scripture by violating it at the same time.
3. Withholding information etc. Amen to that. In a nonprofit organization, especially a religious one based on the teaching of Jesus, openness is essential. But I watched the debate over continuing withhold information from people in the SBC, particularly in the areas of executive compensation.
That people still favor hiding that information shows how far we have to go. The new power brokers seem as intent on hiding that as any of the old time Moderates.
More about the other stuff later.
Best New Book – I have no thoughts on this. Probably won’t get a copy unless one is forced on me at the Convention. Best SBC#18 Decisions – I didn’t like the way the Patterson thing went down, but I am not on the inside of that, and I respect a lot of the people on the Trustee Board. Was really impressed with the interim President. They should keep him for 5 or so years, IMO, until things cool down. Didn’t know about the Trad meeting and making it a prayer meeting. Other groups might follow suit. Best Head Scratcher – the Trad guy starting a church without “Baptist” in the name. Well, if it’s a good idea based on context etc., a good idea usually wins out. Don’t know who this is BTW. I did that in 1992 with 4 other couples when we started a new church. We were put on “Watchcare” and not made a full fledged church by the local agency for a few years. The local agency also put “Baptist” in our name in all of its promotional literature. We never objected, and just let it go. Best New SBC Personality – have no idea who that is. I may have seen 1 or 2 tweets of his on Twitter, but not enough to get a feel for him. Twitter has lots of interesting and sacrilegious personalities. Best Score of 2018 – congrats on the room. Not sure where I’ll be. I go, but attended only the critical parts. Major SBC Executive Committee recommendations, Committee on Committee nominations, Committee on Nominations, and some of the agency reports. I hear the speeches in between. Really enjoy catching up with people most of all. Best Obituary of 2018 – what a category. Can’t outdo Graham. Other things I think were noteworthy – The #meToo movement in the SBC. This came at the SBC in 2 ways. First, it came in the form of Rachael Denhollander, who not only upended Larry Nassar’s horrible history at MSU, but also poked the Reformed wing of the SBC when it was revealed by her that her pastor asked her and her husband to leave their Reformed SBC Church because of her negative comments about C.J. Mahaney. So, the SBC had a genuine star among the firmament of culturally relevant women, and a local, young, Reformed pastor and group of elders who… Read more »
Continuing on the prior post – life is like that. One guy can get away with all kinds of stuff, and another does something similar and gets hammered.
Patterson was accused of not listening to and belittling women in their accusations against those who assaulted them. The most told account was a really bad piece of counseling advice from the 1960s.
Mahaney set up leadership in his churches such that when it was discovered that little children were abused, rehabilitating the abuser and reconciling the abuser with the abused families were the paramount objectives. Families who disagreed were threatened and disciplined (as in Matt Chandler’s Village Church). The abused were never focused on, given counseling etc. The abuse was kept as secret as possible so that the abusers had continued exposure to children, and because of a belief that reporting abuse to the authorities was not wise, some abusers went on to abuse in other places.
The SBC became involved because many leading lights in the SBC had friendships with Mahaney. When people criticized Mahaney, some SBC leaders accepted what Mahaney told them privately, and then went out and full throated defended Mahaney. This went on for 6 or 7 years (my best estimate).
Again, the comparison between Patterson and Mahaney and the disparate treatment they have received in SBC circles is interesting.
The other interesting developments in the SBC this year were the MLK50 Conference and the discussion around “Social Justice.” The conference was interesting. I did not attend. I have friends who did. I have seen a couple of sermons on Youtube. I have long believed that evangelical pastors have not celebrated the civic contributions of Dr. King enough. I would prefer to see more evangelicals in civic events celebrating his civic contributions. On the religious side, however, while there are intense connections between his civic contributions and religious (just like the American founding and other major events in U.S. History), there is also great danger in trying to mix the civic and the religious. It is not at all clear to me that Dr. King’s religious beliefs or religious practice are things that evangelicals will want to uncritically embrace. I am not a specialist on the theology of Dr. King, but I have read too many who are who will say that Dr. King does not fit in the evangelical family. Dr. King’s lifestyle is also a great disappointment. That can be said of many of our heroes, but that’s why we don’t have evangelical conferences named after them. That’s why I would be very much in favor of celebrating Dr. King as a civic leader who made great contributions that were religiously inspired. At such events we don’t have to address the problem areas. Much like 4th of July or other patriotic events that celebrate Washington, Jefferson, Adams et al. They all had problem areas ethically and theologically, too. The “Social Justice” thing has been beat to death. I am glad for the discussion. The uncritical drumbeat was getting old. I don’t have anything to add to it. I suspect that the proponents have the people in power to continue to push this. But I see this as the future dividing line in SBC life. Who knows where it will go. However it goes, there will be people who disagree, and the question will be to what extent that produces a lack of participation or reduced participation. Finally, the recent Southern Seminary report on its history was interesting. I read the entire thing. I am not so sure the truth was worse than reported. I agree with the report having been done. I am not sure it is matched in many schools. And it is a stroke of brilliance… Read more »
Thanks for the thoughts and responses, Louis. Some SBC entities are very responsive to issues that arise concerning them. Some are still horse-and-buggy on such things. Mohler is not taking down portraits and the stained glass at SWBTS?
Perhaps we could meet in birmingham if you come.
William, we’ll have to make an effort to do that.
The stained glass at SWBTS, something I have never seen, seems to be in territory all its own. The only thing close is the equally creepy ceiling in the rotunda at Samford’s Beason School, but even that seems less offensive because many of the honorees are ancient. The stained glass has modern honorees who are still walking around.
But Mohler at SWBTS?
I sure hope the portraits there of Carroll and Scarborough are safe and not to be replaced.