{"id":2666,"date":"2011-09-22T05:00:40","date_gmt":"2011-09-22T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2666"},"modified":"2011-10-21T10:44:06","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T16:44:06","slug":"in-the-sbc-silence-is-no-longer-an-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2666","title":{"rendered":"In the SBC, Silence is No Longer an Option!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If implemented, Wright’s vision of “a radical change in priorities” — which also is the vision of many fellow megachurch\u00a0pastors — will not only effect changes in leadership and strategy throughout the SBC, but will radically redefine what it means to be a “Cooperating” Southern Baptist church.\u00a0 Instead of the bottom-up, grass-roots convention that we have been, we will become (if we’re not already there) a top-down, corporate denomination that tells<\/del> suggests how autonomous state conventions and local churches should act.\u00a0 That’s not the kind of hope and change that this Southern Baptist pastor wants to embrace! (Radically Reprioritizing and Redefining the SBC<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I\u00a0wrote those words on July 15, 2010 — on what would have been my dad’s 75th birthday —\u00a0I did not realize just how quickly and thoroughly that the ruling elites would attempt to redefine the Southern Baptist Convention.\u00a0 Regardless of what others might think is an overreaction to this week’s events within the SBC, the time has come for grassroots Southern Baptists to stand up for the values and principles that we hold dear before this\u00a0great Convention is destroyed from the inside.<\/p>\n

I perhaps have too much of my dad in me for my own good.\u00a0 The antithesis of a “yes man,” the original Dixie Howell Scott would often be the burr in the saddle of the pastor who wanted to unilaterally and heavy-handedly implement “his” vision for a church that had been\u00a0positively (although imperfectly) impacting the community and world with the Gospel of Christ since\u00a0her founding.\u00a0 It wasn’t that my dad did not respect the office of pastor.\u00a0 In fact, one of his closest friends during my late middle and early high school years was Brother Don,\u00a0the\u00a0Pastor of our home church.<\/p>\n

However, my dad had little respect or patience for pastors who felt that their office\u00a0gave them the power to do whatever they wanted to do, even if\u00a0it meant disregarding the rules that should otherwise apply to them.\u00a0\u00a0My dad was\u00a0a fair-dealing man who\u00a0thought that everyone — including pastors –should abide by the rules.\u00a0 When he saw pastors\u00a0blatantly disregarding the policies and procedures that the church\u00a0body\u00a0had approved, he was not silent.\u00a0 He would confront the pastor in the hopes that the pastor would see the error of his ways and begin to follow the rules that had been agreed to.<\/p>\n

Funny thing though.\u00a0 Pastors of\u00a0churches of all sizes (our home church was a medium-sized one) don’t take too\u00a0kindly to being\u00a0challenged, especially by the “little people.”\u00a0 In fact, some have even been\u00a0known to ostracize “troublemakers,”\u00a0sue “disgruntled” members or use\u00a0state government officials in their efforts to destroy the credibility of members who ask too many questions.\u00a0\u00a0Although there are notable exceptions (here<\/a>), these tactics have\u00a0been remarkably effective at shutting up any opposition to a power-hungry pastor.<\/p>\n

And, because these tactics\u00a0are tried and true, we see many churches which are destroyed from the inside-out because the pastor, through various means at his disposal, runs enough people off that the church finally collapses.\u00a0 What once was a vibrant ministry\u00a0is erased because an arrogant pastor foisted “his vision” on church in order to remake it in his own image.\u00a0 I wish I could say that this is a purely fictional account, but most readers will know of far too many churches where this scenario has played itself out.<\/p>\n

Why are churches or Conventions destroyed from within?\u00a0 Because, despite the reputation that Baptists have, most of us simply do not want to fight.\u00a0 The “fight or flee” instinct often surfaces in situations where leaders begin to unilaterally implement radical changes.\u00a0 Some members, who have been a part of that local New Testament church for longer than the new pastor has been alive, are tired of fighting.\u00a0 Instead of staying, many understandably leave before things get “really bad.”<\/p>\n

Others try to reason with the pastor, but any negative criticism is met with overwhelming force, often in the guise of “God-language” (i.e., “It’s God’s will.”\u00a0<\/em> “I have prayed about it and God has\u00a0given me a bold vision for the future of this church.”\u00a0<\/em> You can add others).\u00a0 Even though most Baptist churches still enjoy a congregational polity, most members cannot stand up to the bully with and in the pulpit.\u00a0 Flight is inevitable.\u00a0 Before you know it, the church that you knew and loved\u00a0no longer exists and the Convention that you knew and loved\u00a0is but a memory.\u00a0 (And, for those snarky commenters who will ludicrously point out, “You said you loved the church and the Convention, but you didn’t say that you loved Jesus, so I’m not sure if you love Jesus or are even saved” I will only say to you, “God bless you.”)<\/p>\n

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I will speak for myself.\u00a0 I will not be silent while those in power make up their own rules as they seek to implement radical changes which I believe will destroy the Southern Baptist Convention as we now\u00a0know it.\u00a0 I may not ever get appointed to any committees or boards within the SBC.\u00a0 That’s okay.\u00a0 After all, I am my father’s son.\u00a0 And, that will always be good enough for me!<\/p>\n

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If implemented, Wright’s vision of “a radical change in priorities” — which also is the vision of many fellow megachurch\u00a0pastors — will not only effect changes in leadership and strategy throughout the SBC, but will radically redefine what it means to be a “Cooperating” Southern Baptist church.\u00a0 Instead of the bottom-up, grass-roots convention that we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35,37],"tags":[183,1368,1367,1369,1370,454,761,1366,3392,868,3393,1057],"class_list":["post-2666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-bryant-wright","tag-congregational-polity","tag-dixie-howell-scott","tag-fbc-jax-watchdog","tag-gospel-of-christ","tag-grassroots","tag-pastors","tag-radicals","tag-religion","tag-sbc","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-yes-men"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-H0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2666"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2807,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions\/2807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}