{"id":2969,"date":"2012-02-17T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T11:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2969"},"modified":"2012-02-17T01:06:30","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T08:06:30","slug":"affinities-alliances-agendas-in-the-sbc-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2969","title":{"rendered":"Affinities, Alliances & Agendas in the SBC: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s face it.\u00a0 Some folks are easier to like than others.\u00a0 For some of my fellow Southern Baptists, I am one of those folks!\u00a0 When it comes to cooperative missions and ministry in the 21st Century, simply being “Southern Baptist”<\/em> is no longer sufficient to bind us together even though it is the most efficient avenue to fulfill the Great Commission.\u00a0 While we might sing “bless be the tie that binds” <\/em>(at least\u00a0those who know it)\u00a0and give the right answer to who should ultimately bind us\u00a0— JESUS — we know from personal experience that\u00a0voluntary partnership and cooperation must be based on\u00a0a shared mission, vision, goals, and beliefs.\u00a0 However, even that is not\u00a0always enough to bind us together.\u00a0 What Southern Baptists must possess, in addition to these four areas, is an affinity for one another which makes serving side-by-side possible<\/a>.\u00a0 We might have to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and we should at least like one another, but no one can make us become\u00a0best friends who want to do stuff\u00a0together\u00a0— in this case, The Great Commission.\u00a0 At least not when we have more than one best friend to choose from.<\/p>\n

For all the talk about Calvinist conspiracies <\/a>and Baptist Bogeymen<\/a>, there is obviously an effort well underway to reform the Southern Baptist Convention.\u00a0 It is not secret, unless, of course,\u00a0you count unilaterally sealing\u00a0GCR Task\u00a0Force records for 15 years <\/a>secret.\u00a0 Unlike the Conservative Resurgence, which inspired grassroots Southern Baptists to help\u00a0restore Biblical fidelity and accountability\u00a0to the SBC and her institutions, this\u00a0generation of reforms, known as the “Great Commission Resurgence,”<\/em> has been an establishment-led movement which has sought to consolidate power and control in an ever-smaller number of leaders.\u00a0 Just who are these leaders who seek to implement a radical redefinition and reformation\u00a0of the SBC?\u00a0\u00a0That question, “Who Is Reforming Us?”\u00a0 <\/a><\/em>is one that Rick Patrick and others have been asking.\u00a0Unless\u00a0and until we can answer that question, we will not be able to fully understand the reforms that are being implemented at lightning\u00a0(i.e., non-conservative) speed.<\/p>\n

The simple answer would be, “The Calvinists!”\u00a0<\/em> While Reformed Southern Baptists (whatever one might mean by using the word “reformed”<\/em>) are no doubt an integral\u00a0part of the current reformation movement within the SBC, the changes that have taken place — particularly since the GCR — cannot be solely attributed to our Calvinist brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Of\u00a0course, publicly talking about even the perception (much less reality)\u00a0of\u00a0the rising\u00a0influence of Calvinism within the SBC will surely get\u00a0you forty lashes (or, at least, a verbal tongue lashing accusing you of McCarthyism<\/a>, which is, other than being called a Nazi,\u00a0the last refuge for\u00a0liberals).\u00a0 That some within the current establishment leadership of the SBC seem comfortable\u00a0adopting the political\u00a0tactics of the Obama-left in this country should give all Southern Baptists cause for concern.<\/p>\n

Before my\u00a0Reformed brethren start lovingly and gently correcting me for my errors, let me add that this reform movement, of which Calvinists are a part, is by no means limited to the Reformed wing of the SBC.\u00a0\u00a0Despite some high-profile Calvinists within the Convention, their numbers, notwithstanding the Founders Movement,\u00a0would simply not be able to radically alter the course of our Convention within such a short period of time.\u00a0 If that is the case, then how can this movement possibly have any success at implementing a radial reform agenda for the SBC?\u00a0 In a word, alliances.<\/p>\n

What we are witnessing in the SBC is not primarily a Calvinist vs. non-Calvinist battle for the heart and soul of the Convention, but rather a battle between competing\u00a0agendas and visions\u00a0for the future of the Convention.\u00a0 One side is comprised mainly (not exclusively) of large church pastors (both Reformed and non-Reformed and Celebrity Pastors of all stripes) and non-large church pastors who seem to be both younger, more restless\u00a0and more Reformed.\u00a0 This alliance, which seems to have been born following Frank Page\u2019s defeat of Ronnie Floyd in 2006, is neither nefarious nor conspiratorial.\u00a0 It is, however, highly political.\u00a0 Nothing wrong with that.\u00a0 It is what it is.\u00a0 One\u00a0of my readers summed up the underlying problem with this particular alliance:<\/p>\n

“I think our biggest problem, that is an overarching principle with all of this is the issue of Christian celebrity and authoritarianism. I think it all goes back to that in some way or another. Power politics. And some are just very good at it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You got that right, sister!\u00a0 Some are just that good at power politics.\u00a0 Since Frank Page’s stunning defeat of Ronnie Floyd in 2006, there have been some who have re-grouped and re-doubled their efforts to maintain the positions of leadership to which they have become accustomed.\u00a0 They have\u00a0used the system to implement a radical agenda and new vision for the SBC.\u00a0 I don’t believe that this was done for illegitimate motives, but there were times when it appeared that\u00a0questionable means were used to accomplish the ends.<\/a>\u00a0 However, elections have consequences.\u00a0 If the establishment alliance\u00a0can win at the Annual Meetings, then they can continue to implement their agenda, an agenda that they believe will have a positive impact on the churches of the SBC.<\/p>\n

There are others on the opposite side who themselves have begun to form alliances.\u00a0 This other alliance, of which I would consider myself a part, is comprised mainly (not exclusively) of non-large church pastors who seem to be older (if 45 is old) and less Calvinistic (inconsistent Calvinists like myself, non-Calvinists, and the few truly anti-Calvinists)\u00a0and, who are more likely to be supportive of the Cooperative Program, local Associations, and State Conventions.\u00a0 I\u2019m well aware that I am painting with a broad brush, but this is how I see the alliances and agendas which continue to form in response to the GCR’s\u00a0radical redefinition of the SBC.<\/p>\n

They say that “politics makes strange bedfellows.”\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Perhaps that’s true, even in the highly political climate of the Southern Baptist Convention.\u00a0 But, there’s nothing strange about grassroots Southern Baptists of all varieties — Reformed, semi-Reformed, non-Reformed, anti-Reformed, large church, small church, urban church, rural church, traditional church, contemporary church — forming an alliance to stop\u00a0the radical redefinition and reformation that we believe will ultimately weaken our cooperative missions and ministries.\u00a0 With a Name Change likely to be revealed next week, this is not the time to stand down.\u00a0 It is past time to speak up and remind OUR leaders what it means to be a cooperating Southern Baptist!\u00a0 If not now, when?\u00a0 If not you, who?<\/p>\n

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<\/h5>\n

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Let’s face it.\u00a0 Some folks are easier to like than others.\u00a0 For some of my fellow Southern Baptists, I am one of those folks!\u00a0 When it comes to cooperative missions and ministry in the 21st Century, simply being “Southern Baptist” is no longer sufficient to bind us together even though it is the most efficient…<\/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":[7,24,35,37],"tags":[1589,3372,403,433,3383,1588,1138,735,3391,1591,1366,1590,3392,854,868,3393,996],"class_list":["post-2969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calvinism","category-great-commission-resurgence","category-religion","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-calvinists","tag-cooperative-program","tag-frank-page","tag-gcr","tag-great-commission-resurgence","tag-liberal-tactics","tag-liberals","tag-obama","tag-politics","tag-radical","tag-radicals","tag-reformed","tag-religion","tag-ronnie-floyd","tag-sbc","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-transparency"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-LT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969","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=2969"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3021,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969\/revisions\/3021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}