Great Commission Resurgence

A good friend of mine pointed out that my slow fade from the blogger world left me with a negative final word concerning the Great Commission Resurgence. I have to agree that I do not want leave a negative word hanging in cyberspace.

I must admit I was impressed with the tone of this year's SBC annual meeting and I did end up voting in favor of the GCR emphasis. All the right things were said.

But I stand by my earlier post that words alone spoken to and about fellow Southern Baptists are not going to change the Kingdom composition of our world. The convention did inspire me to return home to my church and seek to make a Great Commission difference in my church and community.

One small means by which I have sought to implement this is to incorporate a moment of prayer for an IMB or NAMB missionary in our Sunday morning worship. Another step I have taken is to spend less time on things such as blogging.

Not sure what happens in the future when I have deep ministry thoughts that must be expressed. But for now, gonna focus on some other things.

Just remember....I am for the Great Commission.

(Any other questions Joel?)

Great Commission Resurgence Fever? Not Yet.

I must confess I have yet to catch the Great Commission Resurgence fever.

In fact, I am a little confused by first document and second by its attending hoopla. Now, to many that may simply reveal my limited passions and intellect. It may also reveal that I am not part of the “official” SBC blogosphere.

My first confusion is that when I read it, I do not notice anything new. I would hate to think that there are a wide number of Baptist churches and pastors that have suddenly been introduced through this document to the Lordship of Christ or the importance of the Great Commandments or that our churches should have a healthy commitment to the Great Commission and Biblical preaching. Other than a vague (and timeless) statement that we should “seek to do things better” I am blind to the paradigm shift that has the SBC web a-flutter.

Some of what I hear in this discussion is the all too common tendency that is in all of us to think, “if I were in charge everything would be different (when I say different I humbly mean incredibly better)”. There is a bit of an antiestablishment energy to the debate. For better or worse what I read has the quality of a disgruntled opposition party within the denomination. (Opposition may be a bit too strong a word, but disgruntled seems to fit pretty well.)

Which I find ironic because the Great Commission Resurgence is the ultimate SBC insider document. Crafted and promoted by the SBC President and various SBC agency heads, we now know it was trotted out before a gathering of a group of “pastors of strategic churches” for final approval before regular Baptists were given a chance to sign their affirmation. This strikes me as “reform by the usual suspects”. Aren’t these the very folks that have been holding the official and unofficial reins of SBC leadership for some time now?

My greatest frustration with the GCR is that it too closely identifies the Southern Baptist Convention with a three day meeting in June and denominational agencies instead of with than with what happens the other 362 days in communities across our nation. It is not about denominational structure, it is about the churches. Keeping the conversation at the denominational and structural level allows us to flex our theoretical and rhetorical muscles without always doing very much where it matters most. I find it revealing with all that has been written about the GCR, at the time I write this there has been one lone response to Tony Kummer’s question at SBCVoices concerning churches that our currently living out the GCR. As long as we discuss blueprints we don’t have worry about the rubber hitting the road.

To be honest there is nothing specific in the document that I disagree with. There is also nothing specific enough in the document that excites me. I simply don’t see what all the fuss is about.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled pep rallies for the Great Commission Resurgence…..

Influence -- Galatians 2

There may be few stranger coupling of words in the English language than “circumcision party”. Physically it doesn’t seem like a party for anyone involved. And according to Paul in Galatians 2, theologically it is no better.

The circumcision party of Paul’s day was clutching to empty forms of failed religious efforts. And worse they were requiring that everyone else join them in this futility. The Gentiles were now being asked to do what the Jews had found they could never do.

Even those who knew better were susceptible to this error. The appearance of circumcision party caused Peter to change his practice, along with the rest of the Jews. Even that great friend of the Gentiles, Barnabas was pulled off course.

Influence may be one of our most precious commodities. In chapter one we marveled about the kind of influence Peter and James might have had on Paul, how they contributed to his growth and maturity.

But that influence cuts both ways. When we get it wrong, in tone or spirit or effort or doctrine, it can have terrible effects.

I pray that I would recognize and remove anything in my life that is having a negative influence on the work of God.

Quotable Thursdays

The seldom-stated truth is that many of us have a longing for God and an aversion to God. Some of us seek Him and flee Him at the same time. We may scrupulously observe the Ten Commandments and rarely miss church on a Sunday morning, but a love affair with Jesus is just not our cup of tea.
Brennan Manning
The Furious Longing of God

Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.
Darius’ Zero Tolerance Policy
Ezra 6:11 (English Standard Version)

A man can’t be always defending the truth; there must be a time to feed on it.
CS Lewis

I would guess that of the sermons I’ve heard in the last twenty-five years, 15 percent had a discernible point; I could say, ‘The sermon was about X.’ Of those 15 percent, however, less than 10 percent demonstrably based the point on the text read. That is, no competent effort was made to persuade the hearer that God’s Word required a particular thing; it was simply asserted….Ministers have found it entirely too convenient and self-serving to dismiss congregational disinterest on the basis of attenuated attention spans or spiritual indifference. In most cases, the inattentiveness in the congregation is due to poor preaching—preaching that does not reward an energetic, conscientious listening. When attentive listeners are not rewarded for their energetic attentiveness, they eventually become inattentive.
T. David Gordon
Why Johnny Can’t Preach
via Challies.com

Wondering about Closed Doors Conversations

Every once in a while, my wife and I will have a closed door conversation. We will stay in the car for a while or sit on the back porch or send the kids to the other side of the house. Usually it is no big deal, just stuff that doesn't really pertain at that moment to anyone else but my wife and I.

In Galatians chapter one Paul hints at some closed door conversations. His emphasis in this opening chapter is that the Gospel that he preaches came from God, not from man. It is not a human philosophy or mortal theology, but the revelation of Jesus Christ. Who he spoke to and what he spoke about does not pertain to the subjects at hand.

But he does mention two people he did have conversations with...Peter and James the brother of Jesus. But he does not say what they spoke about.

Closed doors or not, this inquiring mind wants to know. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall.

With James, he may have asked, "what was it like to grow up with the only sinless person in history...and not notice!" Paul, devout student of the Scriptures, who so vigorously persecuted the church and sought to destroy the name of Jesus must have commiserated with another who really should have known better.

And with Peter he must have certainly wanted to know the inside scoop of Jesus earthly ministry. What was it like to be with Him on the Mount, in the sea and on the road? What was it like to hear Him teach, to see Him heal, to have Him wash your feet?

Most importantly, what was it like to be forgiven for your greatest failures?

We obviously cannot know what they discussed, nor are we supposed to. It doesn’t really pertain to us. But it did to Paul. As much as he relied on the intimacy of his walk with Jesus, he turned to these two to grow him and encourage him.

To whom do you turn to in order to be sharpened in your faith these days?

May you have a brother, may you be a brother with whom you can close the doors and have your faith and ministry strengthened.

Quotable Thursdays

Government: If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.

Eddie Hastings status bar on Facebook

People know what is sin; they just don't believe in it anymore. We mix up happiness and holiness, and God is no longer the reference point.

Michael Horton

Westminster Seminary

USA Today article

Without an idea of sin, Easter is meaningless.

Mark Driscoll

Mars Hill, Seattle

USA Today article

We began to put so much emphasis on how our way of doing church affected the lost, we failed to notice how it was affecting the saved.

Dr. Chuck Kelley

New Orleans Baptist Seminary

blaming a breakdown in discipleship for our evangelistic downturn

Our task is not to mirrow our culture but to convert it, and the cross calls us to do that in the most radical of ways.

Derek Tibball

The Message of the Cross

Quotable Thursdays

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.
John Donne

Eewh, Satan is bad. Really bad.
Susan Moffett

More matter, with less art.
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
A one sentence homilitics course.

Observe how the character of the Holy One, blessed be He, differs from that of flesh and blood. A mortal can put something into an empty vessel, but a into a full one. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He puts more into a full vessel, but not an empty one.
Traditional Rabbinic saying
quoted in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary

This is a dream I've had since lunch, I'm not giving up on it.
Michael Scott