Dustin Lair is a husband of one, father of seven, a pastor, and a child of the King.
Ramblings from my first SBC I have to start with the obvious ones. The James Merritt speech and the Russell Moore religious liberty answer were amazing. I felt like I was a part of a historical moment in SBC life. These men’s words brought me to tears and I am beyond thankful for them. Robby Gallaty is a giant man. He can witness to anybody because they’re too scared to not listen to him. I don’t think that I ever saw David Platt blink. I’m not sure he can. He is also so serious that he scares me.
On that note I also believe that Albert Mohler might be a robot. I might have a man crush on Russell Moore. I also think he might be a hobbit. I might have ruined my chance to work at the Village Church because I took a picture of Matt Chandler sitting by himself and then tweeted it to him. I now realize that it was a very stalkeresque move.
Before and during the panel on racial reconciliation I watched at least 1000 messengers leave. I realize that it was before lunch, I also realize that I’ve been known to skip a few presentations (sorry seminary presidents) but it seemed like bad timing to me. I watched an African-American gentleman record all of the people walking out the door. Maybe he had an agenda, maybe he was bitter but I realized how our actions send messages. I’m not going to get up on a soapbox because it would be a hypocritical one, but I didn’t like how it went down.
I had some pastors I was talking to look right through me and others make me feel like I mattered to them. I realize that everybody has stuff to do, like buy 5$ commentaries, but it feels good to be looked in the eye and valued. I’ll remember this lesson with my people. There are some whackos in the SBC, but there are a lot, lot, lot, of Godly men and women. I’m encouraged. I’m blessed that my church would send me.
“Albert Mohler might be a robot”
It’s been reported by the Babylon Bee that he “runs on a modified Unix kernel developed in conjunction with Apple.”
Seriously, though, he’s obviously well-studied, always well-prepared, and a tremendously focused individual. That goes a long way.
Fun comments!
If I had one critique of the conference (and overall I thought it was fantastic and I am encouraged) is that we missed a good opportunity to really hear that Middle Eastern pastor talk (I didn’t hear where he was from). If we support Israel, fine. But let us not forget to support our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ. They are, in fact, closer to us in bond than Israel.
Other than that I thought it was great! What a great time to be a Southern Baptist!
LOL on the Chandler thing!
Yeah…a staple of these meetings are the guys who speak to you but who are actually looking over your shoulder for someone more important than you. Welcome to the SBC.