Did You Hear The One About The 3 Baptists That Walked...

into a convention meeting?

No, seriously, the Tennessee Baptist Convention was held last week right here in Kingsport, TN at the Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center. For some time now there has been an undercurrent of unrest in the convention because of the struggle between the moderate factions of the convention and the more conservative factions of the convention. It is really a carry over from the same struggle that has been afoot in the parent organization of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for decades. Things really began to heat up in the late '90's with the redrafting of the statement of faith (don't call it a creed) of the SBC known as the Baptist Faith and Message. The new one was adopted in 2000. Basically, it boils down to a few sentences in two different portions of the document which deal with the role of women in the church and in the family. I do not intend to speak to that issue in this post.

Let me pause and say at this point that I am a proud Southern Baptist. I became a Southern Baptist and have remained a Southern Baptist because the denomination allows me to live out my life as a Christ-follower in a way that most closely resembles the Biblical model we have been given, as I interpret it. Are we perfect? No, not by a long shot. Have we cornered the market on the faith life? Of course not. Do we (the SBC) say and do some pretty stupid things on occasion? Yes. We are but sinners saved by grace just like anyone else. But when you look at what Southern Baptists have accomplished and continue to work toward, the good far outweighs the bad.

With that said, I shall continue.

On the opening day of the convention Pastor Chris Stephens of Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, TN was invited to present the theme interpretation for the convention. The theme this year was "Exalting Jesus Through Fellowship." Pastor Chris was given the task of relating what that means to the convention messengers (members of the many thousand Tennessee churches elected to go and vote at the convention.) Now Pastor Chris is the pastor of a very different kind of church. I know because people I know and love are members and have attended his church for several years now. I also subscribe to their podcast which should give you even more insight into their methods. Faith Promise does not promote nor do they market the name Baptist. If you were to attend a service there and you were from a Southern Baptist background, you might not recognize many things. What they do is reach people. In the last 10 years or so they have grown from a few dozen to averaging around 2300 over the course of a weekend. They offer a Saturday night service and two Sunday morning services.

Part of the message Pastor Chris gave included some of his personal testimony and testimony concerning things his church has had to endure from other churches and, you guessed it, Baptists. Although Faith Promise is not formally affiliated with any denominational body, they choose to associate with many SBC organizations for missional purposes. Even though they are Biblically centered and right in line with conventional SBC doctrine, they have been given the cold shoulder on many an occasion because "they are not baptist enough."

Now do you remember our theme? Exalting Jesus Through Fellowship-- how does that jibe with disassociating with other Christ-followers because they don't wear ties, sing from hymnals or they sleep in on Sunday because they went to church the night before? If it truly means that we exalt Jesus through fellowship only with people and churches that look, talk and act just like us, then I must really reevaluate my place. This speaks directly to the things I have posted about ad nauseum. If we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. Instead of casting stones at bodies who reach people by "unconventional" means, we need to walk that which we talk and exalt Jesus through our fellowship. There are people all around looking for what we have and they don't even know it. Let's stop the fuss and get them on the bus!