Don’t take it personally, but…
The AC system. The messengers from the North Pole were quite comfortable. Wise pastors know you can never win the thermostat wars. Just shut up and suffer whether it’s too hot or too cold.
Paige Patterson. We didn’t have to go through all this. I suspect it’s not over.
Committee on Order of Business. Sure, I get that they were put in an impossible position by Steve Gaines shuffling the VP’s self-invitation off to them but when a motion was made that might have uninvited him, the chair had to belt out a sermonette on why it was biblical for the SBC to host a politician. Not a great moment. Gaines appointed the committee, so they more or less had to take the incoming over the VP and now you know who these people were walking around all battered and bruised.
Militant Trads. Got waxed every which way during the week. Many of us agree with some of their goals but the strategies have been appallingly ill-conceived.
Tinfoil hat conspiratorialists. These should have spent the week at Dealey Plaza, not the convention hall or meeting rooms.
Brad Jurkovich. Come on, bro. You had a month to work on the nominating speech and a great guy like Ken Hemphill gave you an abundance of positive things to work with. So, why do something as tone deaf and say, “This election cannot be about one candidate’s act of grace two years ago,”? That and the line that Hemphill was “God’s gift to the SBC” were dreadful. No harm, though. He never had a chance.
Greg Abbott. The Texas governor welcomed us, and welcomed us, and welcomed us, and welcomed us. Just do it and be done with it, governor. Waaaaaay too long. The COB needs a better plan. Something like, “Governor, we’re giving you five minutes. You can take an extra five if you agree to void all the parking tickets for us. After that, we bring out Rev. Jack Reacher.
Mike Pence. I like him. I would vote for him. He had political buttons to push (abortion, Planned Parenthood, Gorsuch, Johnson amendment, etc.) and he pushed them. Should have gone up the street to Jeffress’ church and done it there.
Tom Hatley. Had his hat handed to him by the messengers. But this is our system. Anyone can make such a motion.
Albert Einstein. Time is relative. It just never seemed to end in half a dozen cases. Something to remember: if you aren’t preaching the convention sermon, don’t preach a sermon.
Wi-Fi. Somebody oughta do something. Sell a few of the AC units and put the money into free wi-fi.
Dave Ramsey. Preached one of the many convention sermons and I’m a big fan of his and have used his stuff. Like him, I’m also a greedy capitalist pig. But his infomercial was a bit much. Don’t think my opinion matters much here, though. Beth Moore should demand the same treatment as DR got.
Al Mohler. [Let’s go with ‘weird.’ Loser is a little too sharp for AM] Really? In this #metoo environment, the Smartest Man in the SBC is talking about fecund females at SBTS. The fertility rate on campus was not exactly the word needed for the moment.
The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Seems the principle complementarianism means different things. That’s no way to run a railroad. We’re going to have to work this business out one of these days. I did catch a meeting of the CMBW while at the convention. Photo in my comment below on this topic.
Tea. Exhibitors take a hint. Drop the iced coffee and offer some iced tea. If we have the convention in Seattle, you can go back to the iced coffee. This is the South. Tea.
_________
There are more…you can add them. See you in Birmingham. Try and do better there.
Editor’s Note: William is now on Twitter. You can find him here.
I’m with you on the CoB. At some point, whoever is on that committee needs to schedule for reality. The Dave Ramsey informercial always runs over. Any politician is going to run over.
People fume about attendance at the IMB Commissioning service, but let’s be honest: the SBC doesn’t value it. It’s stuffed at the end of the day, after everyone else is allowed to run over and push it into the night.
One of these years, those long-suffering, compassionate folks who run the childcare side of the operation are going to rise in rebellion and bring in the preschoolers when the session has gone 15 minutes over and hand them off….to the platform. Park all the toddlers and babies right up there for the SBC President and the other Illustrious Potentates to wrestle and distribute.
I guarantee we’ll run on time after that. No motions, amendments, or by-laws necessary.
Best idea ever!
Al Mohler repeat after me: “I cannot tell women what to do in their house. I cannot tell women what…..” The rest I am laughing continuous in belly laughter William, I don’t think I will be able straighten up for awhile. Haha
Denominations are back, and floor action is back in ours. It’s probably reasonable to go back to a 2+ day convention, not a 1 & 2/3rds-day convention.
Put Convention Sermon, President’s nominating speeches, or commissioning on Monday night. It would shorten the PC a little bit, but give messengers room to handle big issues without blowing the Tues/Wed lunches and evening events.
All of the patriotic stuff was unnecessary and took too long. Let’s just do it like a VBS rally and say the pledges and get on with it.
Anyone else surprised when Steve Gaines busted out the pipes for God Bless America? 🙂
William, good piece – about the temperature though…..although I shivered a few times – the temperature was, by and large, very comfortable to me. I would much rather shiver a couple of times than be sweating. I imagine the convention center personnel did not want to fall behind and try to play catch-up with 10000+ bodies in the room. Maybe the fact that you were wearing shorts is part of the issue??? 😉
Agree on militant Trads, and I’m a Trad…..waging the discussion to stop tossing hand grenades. Hopefully through this new leaders can arise that can work with Cals, yet also with grace, show the distinctives on which we disagree.
I’m glad to hear this from you, Jeff, and hope the sentiment is reflective of many within that camp. We can disagree without fighting or always being focused on our areas of disagreement.
And both sides need to.police their camps. The debate has been going on for 500 years and I doubt We’ll be the generation that settles it
BTW, after the debacle on 316 prior to the convention, the new group has been far less toxic and there appears to be an earnest effort to keep it that way
I have recognized that. The change is quite obvious, and helpful.
They cleaned house and started over, which was what was needed there. The thing that happened with Rick I think woke most up. Things had simply gone to far. Rick personally let his passion for his cause get the best of him, but in the long run, it may turn out for the best for the entire view point. Neither side wins, or looks good, when the fringes dominate the discussion. But that’s sadly reflective of our culture, and especially our political environment. That’s why we all need to engage with grace, even if We’re standing opposed in opinion. The same thing has happened here to me in comment sections
Al Mohler. Perhaps he sees the handwriting on the wall at last?
Agree with the Dave Ramsey commercial. What he has to say is fine, but that is not the time for it. I’d rather hear another sermon than a commercial. Same with the over the top tributes at the front of the service. We gave Ramsey over two hours, and cut short real debate on other issues.
Honestly, I was not impressed with the schedule at all. The CoB did a poor job, in my opinion, which is not worth much. I also didn’t like Ravi Zacharias taking time from the Commissioning Service. Like Ramsey, there was not really a need for him to be there. When things got cut, it was never the big names. It’s always the business from the floor that suffers.
Al Mohler received an award for 25 years of service at the Southern luncheon and he gave a heartfelt, warm and encouraging speech. He was also enjoyable to listen to during the Baptist 21 panel and 9Marks at 9. He was one of the most encouraging elements of the week for me and I needed something encouraging in light of the Pence debacle.
Please note the element of humor in my article, although I think the “fertility” comment was a bit off.
My bad! And it is a good and funny article. Although as a Seattleite I do oppose your opposition to iced coffee.
You could’ve hung meat in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Great day in the world, I nearly froze to death. Beneficiaries of my frozen state were in the Exhibit Hall – they sold me a nice Cashmere Shawl and a handmade quilt.
I LIKED Al Mohler’s commentary on dating, marriage and fertility on Southern’s campus. Made me laugh!
I longed for extended prayer times where we could’ve gathered in groups of 5 or more to pray for unity and Biblical faithfulness.
Albert Einstein… is that your reference to Augie Boto’s never-ending sermon? If so, that’s hilarious and I agree. There weren’t enough pithy comments to make it worth that much time. Good grief, man, sit down already.
“I longed for extended prayer times where we could’ve gathered in groups of 5 or more to pray for unity and Biblical faithfulness.”
I agree with this Stephanie. That was one reason I was upset when I found out Pence was coming. I would have hope we could have used that time for a unity prayer and to surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s leading etc. I was bummed. And my husband cannot stand in line for 2 hours.
Another loser…women who don’t want to be represented by Beth Moore and the #metoo movement. They lost so badly they may want to consider leaving the convention. Fortunately, most of them don’t give one care about convention politics!
Hmmmm, a man speaking for SBC women, declaring what they think, and suggesting what acts they may wish to take. Sounds so..patriarchal.