Just arrived in Springfield, Illinois, for the Midwest Advance – a large gathering of Baptists from the cool-kid states in the Midwest. None of you SEC types are allowed. They used to call this by some other name but it is a triennial gathering. The first one I went to lo these many years ago had this featured speaker from Arlington, TX, named Dwight McKissic. It was long before blogging started and I didn’t even get a chance to meet Dwight, but he preached a great message.
Todd Benkert is supposed to show up and we plan to stir up as much trouble as we can. Seriously, if you are a Voices reader, we’d love to meet you. This is an anonymous business and we love face to face meetings.
I am leading three breakout sessions tomorrow morning – back to back to back. All the info is in the program, if you are here! Frankly, I can’t remember which order these are in and I left my program down in the car. I drove 8 hours and this old codger needs a nap. But in no particular order, my breakouts are:
The Trajectory of the SBC – examining our past and present to project the future of our denomination. Where are we headed and where do we need to head?
Baptist in the Holy Spirit – I’ve been working on the series I have been posting here. Unfortunately, it is a typo in the program (Baptism in the Holy Spirit). We will look at how Baptists handle spiritual issues, examining cessationism and continuationism and issues like that.
Pastoring the Average SBC Church – So much of what we do at conferences like this is designed toward the trendy contemporary churches or about how to transition our traditional churches to become more like those. I am going to examine issues unique to those of us in average, traditional SBC churches.
Would love to have you come to any of these and join the discussion.
I’d love to get your take, the info, and notes for all 3 points of your breakouts!
I am sure the sessions will be informative and of value to all who attend.
I am also sure that during the breaks none of you “Midwest Kool-Kids” will be talking about football, but if you did, it would be a short conversation.
Something along the lines of “I hate Alabama” or “I wish we were like Alabama.”
Responses to that will be, “Yeah, me too.”
So far it is mostly about the evils of the NE Communists
I think us SEC people and the Big 10 people can agree on the travesty that is the Super Bowl matchup.
I’ll be attending Dave’s session on the trajectory of the SBC so he won’t have to teach to an empty room (all the cool kids will be over in Trevin Wax’s breakout). Seriously, though, looks like they have a great lineup. Over the years of serving in a midwestern state, this triennial training event is one I’ve always enjoyed and an opportunity to network and learn from guys on the field doing real ministry. Note: The old name Dave alluded to was the “North Central States Rally” which originally was a part of Bold Mission Thrust. Since 2000, the event… Read more »
I’m sitting in your first breakout.
Be sure to introduce yourself at the break