There would be a lot of sweating going on, profuse by some of the more portly Reverends.
There would surely be protests, multiple protests I believe. The abuse victims and advocates would be there (with both JDG and Cedarville featured on their placards and signs; the latter, BTW, I recall having a major exhibit hall presence the last year or two). BLM would be there. Will there ever be an SBC annual meeting without protests?
The usual backslapping everywhere, an indication in most cases of genuine joy over seeing old friends. Watch the eyes though. If the look is over your shoulder they’re looking for someone more important than you.
A contested presidential election. Mohler looked like a shoo-in but then the big trump flop. Bet he would be answering a lot of questions but I can’t see him losing.
Masks? There always has been a lot of masks worn at the meetings.
Ridgecrest kaput? Questions for LifeWay on this. There is no substitute for facts and figures, the ‘God talk’ of the CEO notwithstanding.
Don’t know if the newly militant Founders group would have come up with something foolish as they did last year. There’s capacity for it, I think.
Would the CBN have come out in the open? Not sure what the holdup is.
There would be the unexpected and unplanned. You never know what Southern Baptists will do.
We would have commissioned some new overseas workers, the main reason we’re here.
Bet the Broadus gavel would have gotten hammered. Time to put that in the museum guys.
I wasn’t planning to be there anyway.
See you in Nashville.
________________
Looking for the new SBC logo…I hear there is one.
If one thing can revive the SBC and put us on a new course, it is a new logo.
I think the CBN was formed, in large part, to gin up support for DJT in and around the annual meeting. If Trump wins anyway, they will be emboldened, but if he loses, they may just fade away.
Tom Ascol has said he planned to push to rescind Resolution 9. I believe that would have gotten some traction but I’m curious as to how that would have been received considering the current state of civil unrest.
I’m sure it would have been an interesting discussion. 🙂
Don’t know if a resolution can be rescinded. It’s done. Might offer an alternative. My longtime opinion: resolutions aren’t worth a pail of tepid expectoration.
Agreed. I’ve heard others debating whether or not a resolution can be rescinded. Apparently it’s never been done.
But I’m sure had the convention met race would have been the major topic. The abuse issue would have become a distant second.
Unfortunately the current situation doesn’t bode well for the “Southern” Baptist. We’ll probably need a new name to go with that logo.
Many “southern” institutions are under heavy fire. Anything that even hints at Southern history or heritage has been labeled racist.
I’m sure the SBC and it’s history will be even further scrutinized between now and the next convention.
Great Commission Baptists may catch on after all.
That was a dud. Don’t see any revival of that.
I like the “old” logo and wondered why it was not on the last issue of SBCLife. I hope the art that was there isn’t the new logo!
It looks like there are several groups working to get control of the SBC in addition to the one you mention here. If you pay attention to their rhetoric, you’d think that the current leadership of the SBC is way out in left field, heading for the gate. And it sounds like they think they had it locked up and the cancellation of this year’s convention was a plot to keep them out. I’m not around anyone who’s up on denominational politics and some of the rhetoric I’m reading is, well, outside the boundary of acceptable Christian conversation. If the statistics that the SBC just revealed are representative of where things are, it doesn’t appear that it can afford a controversy like this.
There are always controversies in the SBC. It’s in our DNA. Many, alas, are created unnecessarily.
One thing to note about different groups working to get control of the SBC. The Founders/CBN group, unnatural allies, have yet to win any vote. If they have the wherewithal to win a presidential election or maneuver to replace a trustee or two, they will be looked at differently. Now, Founders is the gang that can’t shoot straight and CBN is like Joe Biden in his basement, the more obscurity the better off they are.
William,
Great post, I think we have been spared some train wrecks. It seems as though the Lord is giving the SBC some time to pray and think hard about the direction, we are going in. The pandemic and civil unrest ( for lack of a better word) has forced us all to examine every aspect of our life, the life of our individual churches the life of our denomination and the life of our nation. Hopefully, prayerfully a year from now when we meet, we will be wiser and on more solid ground about where we are headed.
Blessings in Christ
woody
By the way, I know you can’t run your website by popular vote, but gray on black for the comments is pretty awful. As long as I’m complaining, “Load More Comments” is also pretty annoying. That’s it. Complaints over.