GPS = ACTS

I have a new post up today over at sbcIMPACT! Let me encourage you to head on over and check it out. Click here.

NAMB Trustee Beginnings...

I have a new post up at sbcIMPACT! discussing my new role as a North American Mission Board Trustee. I would invite you to head on over and check it out. The following link will take you there: http://www.sbcimpact.net/.

My Alumni Luncheon...

One of the events of the Southern Baptist Convention that I look forward to each year is the gathering of the alumni of my seminary. The event is normally marked by good food and a brief report concerning the health of the seminary. The good food has consistently been BBQ at least for the past three years. You can imagine my shock when I realize that our alumni luncheon is nothing more than turkey sandwiches and soup. I'm not talking about the fancy kind of turkey sandwiches on fancy bread with subway-type fixings. I'm talking about white bread and lunchmeat. Now you may not sympathize with me yet but please realize that I paid $10 for the priviledge of making myself a turkey sandwich. This compares with the "free" chicken sandwich-wrap-kind-of-thing that I received the day before at the B21 luncheon. It was tasty, came with chips, sweet tea, and even a brownie. I guess to be completely truthful--I did get a strawberry/lemon tart thingy today with my sandwich. Now I am not completely unsympathetic with budget shortfalls that the seminary may be facing. I really don't expect them to feed me a free lunch (remember I paid for this one). I just was really disappointed not to get what I expected--BBQ. It may be that that is all that my $10 would buy this year at the convention center--if so I would have preferred to have purchased a burger in the snackbar. Now perhaps I was a little miffed to be making my own sandwhich (for $10) when I was on the same plane as the president of my alma mater sitting in Coach while he was in First Class. Maybe it's the fact that he had his personal vehicle driven to Kentucky (while he flew) apparently so that he would have his personal ride available. By the way I have no idea what the purpose was or how it may have actually been necessary. May it's the fact that the meeting went on and on...

Ok, I feel much better now...

SBC - Tuesday - 10:14pm

Tuesday's convention activities are now posted at the sbc.net website. You can view them here.



Great day for the most part. I'm very tired and I have another full day ahead. I have lots of opinions and adventures to share. I'll have some time tomorrow to catch you all up on a few things. Good night...

SBC - Monday - 7:35pm

I just have time for a very quick update. The boys and I finished dinner at Spaghetti Factory and headed by the hotel for a brief rest. We're headed back to the convention center in just a few mintutes. Let me just quickly say that this morning's speakers were all tremendous. My favorites at the conference so far in order of preference would be #1 Francis Chan, #2 Ed Stetzer, #3 J.D. Greear, and #4 Tom Elliff. These are all worthy watching from the archives. You can find them at www.sbc.net. I'm expecting Johnny Hunt to be exceptional as well tonight. Let me add that Pastor Eric like Francis Chan the best of all so far. Scott like Fred Luter the best. I should note that two days of listening to preaching (even great preaching) has left me exhausted.

SBC - Sunday, 10:05pm

It was a great day at the SBC Pastors' Conference. The highlight for me was a reunion of sorts of several of my college friends. We had great time laughing and telling stories for several hours this afternoon.

The music at the Pastors' Conference was excellent tonight. My favorite speaker was J.D. Greear. He distinguished between Religion and Gospel and there was much that I found applicable. I am happy to report that all three of us were alert and present through the entire evening. We picked up our credentials making the three of us legitimate messengers.

Following the meeting, Pastor Eric, Scott, and I stopped by White Castle. This was the first time for the boys--they were not impressed.

I haven't seen Pastor Fernando, Donna, and the boys yet. Pastor Eric texted him and The Caballeros will be leading worship for the Hispanic gathering at 8:00 in the morning. We're going to show up and participate at least for a portion of their meeting.

SBC - Sunday - 8:32am

I'll start the day by sharing a little from my time alone with God. I was up a 7:00am and headed down to the lobby in search of coffee. I found a quiet corner, a $2.15 cup of coffee, and some great time with the Father.

God is: "The Head Over Every Power and Authority" (Col. 2:10). This is good to know with so much chaos going on in the world. He is head over President Obama. He is head over the Iranian president. He is head over the North Korean president. He is head over our SBC leadership. He is head over me!

Proverbs 17:19 says, "Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who speaks boastfully invites disaster". The SBC has been guilty of both quarrelling and boasting. May I be careful today to practice peace-making with a healthy dose of humility.

Luke 7:36-50 describes the account of an immoral woman lavishing love upon Jesus by washing his feet with her tears and kisses. Jesus' explananation is that those who have been forgiven much will love much. Passionate and loving worship of our Savior comes easy to those who understand their depth of depravity and the amazing and gracious forgiveness that Jesus provides. I want to prepare myself to lavish love upon the Father in my worship times today and tonight.

SBC - Saturday - 9:48pm

Wow! Busy Day! We arrived safe and sound around 2:00pm, gathered our luggage, found our rental car and headed for the hotel. Persons of note on our flight from Dallas to Louisville included Dr. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (my seminary) and Dr. O.S. Hawkins, president of Guidestone Christian Resources. There were many pastors on the plane--you can always spot them!

After checking in, we headed out to TGIFridays for lunch/dinner. I was shocked to see Scott Coltor order some kind of green-looking wrap thing. Pastor E. and I ate manly food. Next we found our way to The Southern Baptist Seminary and showed ourselves around. It is an impressive campus with an impressive history.

I was dropped off across the river in Indiana at my good friend Richard's hotel. He and I then headed out for dinner/snack at some Italian place on the edge of the river. I had soup and salad (already stuffed). We had a great discussion about both of our ministries. Richard was my student minister when I was in college and also allowed Tina and I to serve on staff under his leadership at FBC, Monterey, Tennessee. Richard is currently on staff at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville and directs the Sight Ministry. He writes a blog here. His primary ministry is to individuals struggling with same-sex attraction. Richard is a brave man of God doing cutting edge ministry that is impacting lives. I'm proud to call him friend!

SBC - Saturday - 6:23am

We made it through security and to the gate without incident. I don't know why but I always get real stressed going through security. It's the fear of the unkown. Our flight is delayed until 8:00am and so we get a little more time to chill at the airport. I've already downed an Egg McMuffin Meal. Eric called Scott in Fort Worth and woke him up . He is going to be on our flight out of DFW.

SBC - Saturday - 3:40am

Eric will be by to pick me up in about forty-five minutes. I'm insanely diligent to make sure that I'm at the airport two hours before my flight. I'm not sure if that is still the recommended time frame or not--I just know that I always have a couple of hours to wait at the gate. I don't mind. I am planning on finishing Conlan Brown's novel "Firstborn". I started a month ago and then my wife somehow got it away from me andI haven't seen it since. She coughed it up last night when I was packing. Conlan is a very talented young man who attended Cornerstone at one time.

The highlight of the day will be dinner with Richard Hollomon. Richard is a good friend who has been influential in my life. He was my BSU director way back at Union University. Tina and I were able to serve together under his leadership at FBC, Monterey. That was my first full-time ministry position. Jaren was just baby at the time and so we're talking sixteen years ago.

BTW, if you don't know already, he covention proceedings including the Pastors' Conference will webcast at http://www.sbc.net/. I would encourage both of my readers to watch some of the convention to get a sense of what it is all about. The Pastors' Conference is a giant worship service with maybe a dozen sermons over the period of a day anda half. The convention itself is just a "ginormous" business meeting. The convention center has wireless and so I should be able to interact with the blog/facebook/email throughout the time that I'm there. I'll try to give a big "heads-up" if something significant or entertaining is going to happen. For example, on Tuesday at 8:40 the agenda calls for "Introduction of Motions". This will be the first opportunity for messengers to bring motions from the floor. This is where we will get a sense of what may be coming...

Great Commission Resurgence...

I have posted an article today at sbcIMPACT! concerning the Great Commission Resurgence. Let me encourage you to head on over and take a look. I would love to hear your comments. You can get to the article by clicking here.

Great Commission Resurgence

Dr. Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has written a document entitled "Great Commission Resurgence". Let me encourage you to carefully read Dr. Akin's document and then if you are in agreement to affix your signature.

You can find Dr. Akin's, "Great Commission Resurgence" here.

An Interview with Dr. Johnny Hunt

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Johnny Hunt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The interview has been posted today at sbcIMPACT! Let me encourage you to head on over and take a look. You can get there here.

SBC Pastor's Conference - Sunday Evening

The 2008 Southern Baptist Convention begins this Sunday evening with the Pastor's Conference. While I will be there live and in person, you have the opportunity to participate by watching the live streaming video on the internet. The video stream will be available for free at http://www.sbc.net/. The convention is in Indianapolis and so there is a two hour time difference from Colorado.

The theme for the Pastor's Conference will be Prayer, Brokenness, Revival and Evangelism. There are three speakers on Sunday evening: Dr. Johnny Hunt at 6:35 (Indy time), Dr. Daniel Simmons at 7:15, and Dr. Tom Eliff at 8:10. There is quite a bit of music interspersed throughout the conference. It all begins at 5:30 (that's 3:30 Colorado time). I would encourage anyone who can to check out as much of the conference as possible. It will be good stuff! The emphasis of the pastor's conference on Sunday evening will be prayer.

The pastor's conference website includes the following statement concerning Sunday evening's conference: "What would happen if thousands of pastors left Sunday night with a commitment to have prayer meetings that are more than praying for the sick, but meetings where people long for God to move in their midst? The key to the church in Acts was prayer. That is not often the case in the 21st century church."

Watch the Pastor's Conference on the internet and then post a comment on my blog. We can discuss what we learned and how to make application.

A Contract With Southern Baptists - Part 2

Baptists Must Be . . .

Based in Humility - a necessary foundation - part one

Authorized by Scripture - a necessary standard - 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17; Psalm 119; Hebrews 4:12; James 1:21-25

It's one thing to proclaim a high view of Scripture--it's quite another to live a high view of Scripture. the Battle for the Bible has been won and it's time that we begin to live out the Bible's principles. Set aside for the moment those passages that we might have interpretive disagreements over. Let's focus on practicing those passages that we can all agree upon. Let's love our neighbor as ourselves. Let's bless our enemies. Let's give away our stuff and trust in God. Let's decrease so that Jesus can increase. Let's serve without expectation of recognition. Let's lay down our lives for each other. Let's take up our cross daily. Let's wash each other's feet--even those whom we consider to be our Judas. Let's bridle our tongues. Let's affirm as the Baptist Faith and Message states that, "It (Scripture) reveals the principles by which God judges us". It's insane to argue for the authority and inerrancy of a book, that in practice, we largely ignore. "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves" (James 1:22).

A Contract With The Southern Baptist Convention - Part 1

A CONTRACT WITH SOUTHERN BAPTISTS

Seven Non-Negotiables Necessary for Revitalization

Baptists Must Be . . .

Based in Humility - A necessary foundation - 2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 51:16-17; Matthew 18:4, 23:12; Philippians 2:1-8; James 4:6,10; 1 Peter 5:1-6

It couldn't be clearer: God resists the proud! Our denomination, our leaders, our pastors, our churches . . . we're all guilty of believeing that we are God's gift to the world. We arrogantly believe that we have a corner on the truth and unfortunately for us, "The Truth" (Jesus) seems to have left the building. "What is the source of your quarrels and conflicts?", James asks (4:1). "You lust and do not have . . . you are envious and cannot obtain . . ." (v2). The conclusive answer to James' question about conflict is: "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (v6). Our arrogance is no less than an offence to God. We must humble ourselves doctrinally and acknowledge the very real possibility that we may not know it all. How about attempting to humbly listen to those with whom we differ? We just might learn something new about a God who is far greater than our ability to comprehend. We must humble ourselves relationally and begin to serve each other rather than competing. We need to discover the joy giving to each other and submitting to the will of those that we may consider inferior. We must humble ourselves corporately and consider the reality that we are not the only ones God chooses to use. This may be a surprise to some but . . . The "Kingdom of God" is bigger than "The Kingdom of Baptists". We must humble ourselves spiritually and confess our lack of maturity. We must repent of focusing on primary leadership positions and pushing and shoving our way to the head table. "'Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus . . . He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:5,7).

What if You Could Vote from Home?

What would it look like if our national convention this year in Indianapolis was actually composed of our churches? What if every one of our 42,000+ churches was engaged in the many conversations that will take place on the convention floor? What if hundereds of thousands of votes were cast from all around the world? What if IMB personnel overseas as well as bi-vocational pastors in small rural areas were allowed to watch the convention online and participate by voting online?

Last year in San Antonio only 3,567 churches sent messengers to the SBC. Less than 9% of our churches participated by sending messengers! How can we say that our national meeting in any way represents the views of Southern Baptists? It's time we make a change.

I have submitted a resolution to the Resolutions Committee calling for online voting at future conventions. Should it come out of committee than I will gladly speak for the need to engage all of our churches in these important decisions that are being made concerning the future of our denomination. If the SBC is declining (and it appears that it is) then it is time to bring the whole SBC family to the table to discuss solutions.

The resolution that I submitted is as follows:

WHEREAS, each year only a small percentage of churches send messengers to the annual convention, and

WHEREAS, most of the churches being served by bi-vocational ministers are not ever able to send messengers to the annual convention; and

WHEREAS, messengers may already register for the annual convention online; and

WHEREAS, the annual meeting is already being live-streamed on the world wide web; and

WHEREAS, technology exists to allow for online voting; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-11, 2008, call for online voting to be made available at future conventions so that elected messengers may participate in the convention without having to incur the expense of traveling to the convention city.

3 Former SBC Presidents Support Huckabee...

Baptist Press is reporting today that three former SBC presidents have announced their support for Governor Mike Huckabee for president. According to BP, "James (Jimmy) T. Draper Jr., Jack Graham and Jerry Vines all said they were supporting Huckabee, a fellow Southern Baptist and former president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention." You can read the entire BP story here.

Most Influential Southern Baptists...

Baptist Press reports that The Daily Telegraph of London has published its annual list of the most influential liberals and conservatives in American. Southern Baptists have made both lists.

On the Conservative side...

#4--former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

#9--Sen. John McCain, R.-Arizona

#35--former GOP House Majority Leader Tom Delay

#43--Sen. Tom Coburn, R.-Oklahoma

#65--Richard Land, the head of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

#71--actor Chuck Norris

#81--Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council

On the Liberal side...

#1--former President Bill Clinton

#50--House majority leader Steny Hoyer, D.-Maryland

#72--former President Jimmy Carter

You can read the Baptist Press article here.

Seven Relational Remedies...

"I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel..." (Philippians 4:2-3).

Paul identifies a relational problem in Philippi and then sets out to provide a relational remedy in the verses that follow.

We would do well to practice these seven remedies in all of our relationships...

1. "Rejoice in the Lord always!" (v4). It's very hard to be angry or bitter when your are busy praising God.
2. "Let your gentle spirit be known to all men!" (v5). Gentle means humble and patient. I'm pretty sure that "gentle spirits" aren't divisive and venomous.
3. "Be anxious for nothing!" (v6). Worry about nothing? That's right--nothing!
4. Pray about everything! (v6). EVERYTHING! We're too busy to fight when we're praying.
5. Guard your heart and mind with God's peace! (v7). Peace is the absence of conflict. When you feel conflict coming on...run to God!
6. Think positively! (v8). We naturally tend to focus on the negative. Paul lists the positives. Be optimistic!
7. Practice being Jesus! (v9). We're really good at knowing stuff and really bad and doing what we know. Practice Jesus!

I will have these things in mind as I go to San Antonio this weekend for the Southern Baptist Convention.