{"id":2961,"date":"2012-02-15T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-02-15T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2961"},"modified":"2012-02-15T00:40:11","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T07:40:11","slug":"affinities-alliances-agendas-in-the-sbc-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2961","title":{"rendered":"Affinities, Alliances & Agendas in the SBC: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Affinity:<\/h2>\n

In\u00a0the title for this post, I\u00a0was tempted to use the word “Identity”<\/em> in place of “Affinity.”\u00a0<\/em> It would have\u00a0conveyed almost the same thoughts, but some — perhaps many — would have gotten hung up on that\u00a0one little word and not been able to understand what it is that I am trying to say.\u00a0 I don’t mind the word “identity.”\u00a0<\/em> In fact, I’ve been accused by some of being a Baptist Identity<\/em> kind of guy.\u00a0 On Jared Moore’s list of BI guys that he has interacted with<\/a>, I was #2, only behind the esteemed Peter Lumpkins.\u00a0 Really, Jared?\u00a0 What do I\u00a0have to do to displace Peter as the\u00a0#1 BI guy?\u00a0 (By the way, even though we have never met,\u00a0I\u00a0have an affinity for\u00a0Jared and think he writes an excellent blog — check it out here<\/a>\u00a0— even\u00a0if we have been known to spar from time to time).<\/p>\n

I find it humorous that anyone would consider me a Baptist Identity guy (not that there’s anything wrong with that), not because I\u00a0find my\u00a0brothers in the BI movement humorous (although\u00a0some can wield satire with the best of them<\/a>).\u00a0 I find it humorous because those\u00a0who label me as part of the Baptist Identity movement (if you can call it that) fail to grasp that my association with these folk did not arise because I somehow “saw the light”<\/em> and started agreeing with everything that BI stands for.\u00a0 On the contrary, I have become friends with many within the BI movement because we have an affinity for one another based not on a general Baptist Identity\u00a0but,\u00a0on our common identity as\u00a0cooperating Southern Baptists.<\/p>\n

Before the GCR, I found myself in (mostly) silent opposition to the guys over at SBC Today <\/a>and Peter over at SBC Tomorrow<\/a>.\u00a0 Sad to say, but I had not yet discovered SBC Voices<\/a>.\u00a0 I did not comment, but merely lurked.\u00a0 I had not even started my own blog yet.\u00a0 Apart from an introductory post when I launched From Law to Grace, my very first substantial blog posts were about the Ergun\u00a0Caner\/Liberty University kerfuffle (here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0They were a direct ( and rather pointed) response to Tim Rogers’ (and others’)\u00a0defense of Dr. Caner.\u00a0 Go figure.<\/p>\n

In time, I began interacting with a wide range of bloggers and blog readers\u00a0— from Peter Lumpkins\u00a0to Tim Rogers, from CB Scott (my “cuz”) to Bob Cleveland, from Lydia to SelahV\u00a0(Hariette), from Dave Miller to Rick Patrick, from Big Daddy Weave to Stephen Fox\u00a0and from Jared Moore\u00a0to Mark Lamprecht.\u00a0 While I may not agree with all of these folks all of the time, I consider each to be friends and brothers and sisters-in-Christ<\/a>, even though I have never met any of them in person, except Peter.\u00a0 I met him at a secret, smoke-filled meeting in Phoenix that I willed myself to attend even though I was holed-up in my hotel room, sick as a dog<\/a>.\u00a0 That’s the kind of pull that Peter has \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I guess I wasn’t supposed to reveal that people actually meet privately\u00a0before, during, and after SBC Annual Meetings to talk about vision, goals and strategy for reforms within the SBC<\/a>.\u00a0 Apologies to Dr. Patterson and Judge Pressler.\u00a0 My bad.<\/p>\n

Truth be told, I would have identified myself much more with the Reformed\/Calvinist brethren (I am one, even if inconsistent in my practice)\u00a0within the SBC prior to what\u00a0came to be known as the Great Commission Resurgence.\u00a0 Looking back, my journey began to take a turn at the 2006 SBC Annual Meeting in Greensboro.\u00a0 It was there that I first heard of Dr. Frank Page.\u00a0 Based largely on the passionate nominating speech delivered by (the late) Forrest Pollock <\/a>(“you can’t spell SBC without a C and a P”<\/em>) — and in opposition to the miniscule mega-church CP giving of one of the candidates — I, along with a majority of messengers, elected the non-establishment candidate, defeating Ronnie Floyd and Jerry Sutton in a three-way race on the first ballot.\u00a0 At that same meeting, I sided with the Reformed\/Calvinist wing in voting against the Alcohol-use Resolution, obviously putting me on the opposite side of that issue\u00a0from Peter Lumpkins and others.<\/p>\n

Since the Orlando Convention in June 2010, when the GCR was pushed through with much browbeating and\u00a0parliamentary shenanigans<\/del> passed by a majority of messengers, I have been a part of what might be described as the loyal opposition within the SBC.\u00a0 How did I end up here?\u00a0 Why can I now seem to get along with those who I had heretofore opposed and, no longer mesh with those who I had once been much more comfortable?\u00a0 The same question could be asked of certain non-Calvinist mega-church pastors and certain well-known Reformed\/Calvinist Southern Baptists, both of whom were not previously known for their joint cooperative efforts.<\/p>\n

The answer to those questions lies in a word —\u00a0AFFINITY<\/strong>.\u00a0 I have found that I have much more in common and a much stronger connection with those whose primary<\/strong>\u00a0identity is\u00a0Southern Baptist (of course, that is after Christian, which should be presumed unless and until evidence to the contrary proves otherwise).\u00a0 For example, my affinity would look something like (L to R):<\/p>\n

Southern Baptist — New Mexico Baptist — Conservative Evangelical — Calvinist — Baptist<\/h5>\n

Based on the concept of affinity, my natural liking will be toward those\u00a0who I have more in common with and who identify more closely with me.\u00a0 That should not be hard to understand.\u00a0 For example, many churches have discontinued traditional, age-graded adult\u00a0Sunday School and instead implemented Bible studies based on affinity groups.\u00a0 This is not only happening within individual churches, but it is happening within groups of churches.\u00a0 When I served in Virginia, the Baptist General Association of Virginia admitted a few churches from Georgia into the BGAV.\u00a0 At first I thought this was strange, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.\u00a0 Those Georgia churches, who would\u00a0most likely be considered moderate Baptists<\/a>, would have had a stronger affinity for some of the more moderate churches (and the Convention as a whole) in Virginia than for their fellow churches in the more conservative Georgia Baptist Convention.\u00a0\u00a0Affinity, not geography, was what ultimately drew these Georgia churches\u00a0to\u00a0cooperative ministry with their\u00a0Virginia brethren.<\/p>\n

And ultimately, it will be affinity which will either draw Southern Baptists closer together or which will drive us further apart.\u00a0 What we are witnessing today is the\u00a0slow death of the Southern Baptist Convention<\/a>, not primarily because of\u00a0politics (although politics is heavily involved), but rather because of the diminishing affinity that we have as Southern Baptists for one another\u00a0coupled with the increasing affinity\u00a0that we see demonstrated for groups that\u00a0do not primarily<\/strong>\u00a0identify as Southern Baptists.\u00a0 It’s one thing to love one another.\u00a0 After all, we are commanded by our Lord to do just that.\u00a0 It’s something different to like one another.\u00a0 Affinity cannot be commanded or coerced, especially when it comes to\u00a0voluntary cooperation.\u00a0 However, the more that we like one another, the easier it is to cooperate together (and trust each other)\u00a0for the sake of missions and ministry.\u00a0 The less we like each other, the harder it becomes to stay connected in cooperative partnerships.<\/p>\n

As we\u00a0begin to understand how\u00a0and why some of the SBC’s establishment leaders seem to identify more strongly with,\u00a0and be attracted to,\u00a0certain non-Southern Baptist groups, we will perhaps begin to grasp why new alliances and reform agendas have\u00a0been created\u00a0in the last five years.\u00a0 Check back on Friday for\u00a0an exploration of some of those alliances and agendas that are at play within the SBC and what that might mean for the future cooperative efforts of the\u00a0churches of the Southern Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Affinity: 1.\u00a0 a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc.;\u00a02.\u00a0 a person, thing, idea, etc., for which such a natural liking or attraction is felt.; 3.\u00a0 relationship by marriage or by ties other than those of blood ( distinguished from consanguinity).; 4.\u00a0 inherent likeness or agreement; close resemblance or connection. (Dictionary.com)…<\/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":[6,7,14,24,35,37],"tags":[1572,1575,1574,117,1565,1567,1571,285,3376,398,403,433,1573,3383,1121,1242,670,755,1576,775,1568,1570,854,1240,876,1569,3393,1566,1184,1032],"class_list":["post-2961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-calvinism","category-ergun-caner","category-great-commission-resurgence","category-religion","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-affinity","tag-agendas","tag-alliances","tag-baptist-general-association-of-virginia","tag-baptist-identity","tag-calvinsim","tag-cb-scott","tag-dave-miller","tag-ergun-caner","tag-forrest-pollock","tag-frank-page","tag-gcr","tag-georgia-baptist-convention","tag-great-commission-resurgence","tag-jared-moore","tag-mark-lamprecht","tag-moderate-baptists","tag-paige-patterson","tag-paul-pressler","tag-peter-lumpkins","tag-reformed-doctrine","tag-rick-patrick","tag-ronnie-floyd","tag-sbc-today","tag-sbc-tomorrow","tag-selahv","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-southern-baptist-identity","tag-tim-rogers","tag-virginia-baptists"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-LL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961","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=2961"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2985,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions\/2985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}