Month: June 2021

Southern Baptists appoint 64 missionaries in Sending Celebration

NASHVILLE (BP) – International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood made a confession to the thousands gathered in the Music City Center on Monday (June 14). As 2020 dragged on, he said, challenge after challenge made the IMB’s goals seem further and further beyond reach.

“I questioned at times if we would be able to do everything that is necessary to appoint, train and deploy new missionaries in the midst of a global pandemic,” he said at the IMB Sending Celebration. “But by God’s grace and with His help, your sending of missionaries through the IMB has not. even. slowed.

Southern Baptists worship during the IMB’s Sending Celebration for 64 new missionaries June 14. Photo by Karen McCutcheon

“We’ve had plenty of hurdles and more than enough disruptions, but more than 500 new missionaries have been appointed since the pandemic began. … Our work has not been thwarted.”

Sixty-four missionaries were presented in preparation for joining 3,631 appointed by the IMB and sent throughout the world. The vast majority of the new missionaries stood behind a screen, as they could not be identified due to security concerns in their location of service.

Several could be identified and told their stories to attendees. Brandon and Lisa Gregory will travel to Estonia this fall, where they will assist in church planting efforts. That hunger to take the Gospel to the nations began on their honeymoon eight years ago in Ireland.

“We went around on St. Patrick’s Day and could only find one person who had heard of St. Patrick, and that was a missionary,” Brandon said. “We couldn’t find a church, either. That sparked within us a desire to move to the field.”

On a visit to Brandon’s parents in Washington, they heard of the ministry at Reliance Fellowship in West Richland, 200 miles southwest of Seattle. They joined Reliance and continued in the church’s ministry while Brandon attended classes through Gateway Seminary.

One hurdle to face is learning to speak Estonian, which isn’t common outside of the country. Language training will come through the IMB, but in the meantime the Gregorys are using a variety of ways to at least hear the language and start getting accustomed to it. That includes finding Estonian music online and, of all things, Peppa Pig episodes on YouTube in Estonian for their two children, ages 4 and 2.

“We must be for the mission every single day – 365 days of the year,” IMB President Paul Chitwood said at the Sending Celebration for 64 new missionaries June 14. “How often are the nations on your heart? How often are you praying for the people groups around the world to hear the good news of the Gospel?” Photo by Karen McCutcheon

Chris and Casey Willis grew up in Augusta, Ga. They both attended Warren Baptist Church and are now, as adults, being sent out by Warren as missionaries to Uganda alongside their four children.

The family has lived in Uganda since September 2018, having raised their own funding to work alongside an IMB team ministering among refugees fleeing war in South Sudan.

“Even before that, Chris and I had talked about how much we’d love to be a part of missions,” Casey said.

A life in foreign missions had to overcome its own hurdles. The couple married and Chris accepted a solid, steady job as a claims representative with the Social Security Administration. They had a baby, then another, then two more. Casey homeschooled them while Chris worked for 16 years with the SSA.

“We were very comfortable, but began to get uneasy that there was something else for us,” Casey admitted.

A discontent at Chris’ job also set in. Both say God led them back to having a heart for the mission field. Both went on separate mission trips to Uganda. In 2015, the couple also began working with the refugee ministry at Clarkston International Bible Church near Atlanta. Both say that experience softened their hearts for refugee work.

Another factor in their missions calling is their home church. Roger Henderson, Warren Baptist’s former missions pastor and former IMB trustee, went on a trip to Uganda with Chris. Before he retired, he ensured the couple would experience work in the area and into South Sudan.

“Warren has a heart for sending out missionaries,” Casey said. “They’ve been so supportive and their culture led us to pray about entering the mission field.”

The Gregorys also noted how God had worked on them individually as well as collectively to reach this point. Lisa’s father grew up in Israel and Palestine, working as a contact with Christian missionaries. She heard those stories and felt a sense of wanting to go and serve as well.

God directed their path in numerous other ways as well through conversations with their family and friends. Brandon’s grandmother was a very influential Christian who took him to church and would read stories about the missionary David Livingstone.

Lisa Gregory pointed to a powerful example of the realization that others need the Gospel as given through the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, Amira. On the way to church one day, the drive took them by a mosque celebrating the last day of Ramadan with balloons and decorations. Amira asked about it and, upon hearing about a different religion, made a direct observation.

“But mom,” she said. “There’s only one God. Who’s going to tell them?”

Chitwood urged all those in attendance to see their mission as one that literally doesn’t end and to be the one who answers Ameri’s challenge.

“We must be for the mission every single day – 365 days of the year,” he said. “How often are the nations on your heart? How often are you praying for the people groups around the world to hear the good news of the Gospel?

While not everyone who hears the Word of God will be saved, he admitted, the role of the missionaries and those supporting them remains unchanged – deliver the Gospel.

“Someone will be saved,” Chitwood declared. “Someone from every nation. Someone from every tribe. Someone from every people. Someone from every language will stand before His throne.

“That’s why we’re here [together]. Our work is not done.”

SBC: GuideStone saw growth in 2020 despite pandemic, Hawkins honored

NASHVILLE  O.S. Hawkins, outgoing president of the SBC’s financial services GuideStone, gave the entity’s report to 14,827 registered messengers plus guests packing the auditorium at the Music City Center in Nashville the morning of June 15. Hawkins confirmed that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, GuideStone had shown its largest growth yet.

Despite the pandemic and stock market volatility, Mission:Dignity, GuideStone’s financial ministry benefiting retired Southern Baptist ministers and missionaries, finished 2020 with $10.4 million from 9,606 donors. Some 1,870 were helped with honorariums throughout the year.

Hawkins also said that two million copies of his Code book series have been sold, with all proceeds and author’s royalties benefitting Mission:Dignity. The newest in the series, The Bible Code: Finding Jesus in Every Book in the Bible, sold out and has recently returned to bookstore shelves. Spanish translations of three Code books are available.

The Book of Reports stated that a total of $8, 072,459 was paid to Mission:Dignity recipients in 2020, an increase from $7,362,271 the preceding year.

In response to a messenger noting difficulties because of the high cost of insurance premiums, Hawkins said that GuideStone was working to reduce costs under the leadership of Chu Soh and the Insurance Line of Business leadership team. The Guidestone report in the Book of Reports explained a new “one-time, step-down” health plan premium relief program that “went live” in April 2020 whereby churches and individuals with financial challenges wrought by the pandemic could lower their insurance premiums up to 50 percent while maintaining medical coverage.

Following a time of prayer for his successor Hance Dilbeck and his wife, Julie, Hawkins concluded GuideStone’s portion of the morning.

Later that morning, Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee, issued a welcome to messengers and guests. Floyd invited O.S. and Susie Hawkins to come to the stage. Calling Hawkins a “personal and cherished friend,” Floyd noted that when Hawkins leaves the helm of GuideStone in 2022, he will have completed 25 years of service as president and CEO of the organization.

A standing ovation greeted the couple. A resolution honoring Hawkins and his service would be read later, Floyd said.

Vision 2025 adopted with amendments

NASHVILLE  SBC Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd opened his Tuesday afternoon presentation on Vision 2025 to messengers at the 2021 SBC annual meeting with a sobering reminder of the plight of the lost from Revelation 20.

Speaking before some 15,678 registered messengers with guests in the overflow area because of the packed auditorium, Floyd called the adoption of Vision 2025 “the most urgent thing that we must do.”

The “call to reach every person in every town, every city, every state, and every nation” involves a five-pronged initiative characterized by five strategic actions:

  1. Deploy 500 new IMB missionaries
  2. Add 5,000 more congregations, a yearly increase of 1,250 congregations including 600 church plants, 200 replants, 100 new campuses of multisite churches, and 350 new church affiliations annually
  3. Emphasize calling out the called: training and equipping pastors
  4. Reverse the trend of declining baptisms by encouraging the evangelization of young people ages 12-17
  5. Increase Cooperative Program giving among churches

Floyd called on messengers to join the Vision 2025 prayer team.

Following a time of corporate prayer, Jeremy Morton, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, formally submitted Vision 2025 to messengers for adoption.

Discussion followed as messengers expressed support for or questions about Vision 2025.

A proposed amendment to change the wording of strategic action 4 was accepted as friendly, and the emphasis of evangelism will be broadened to include all “18 and under.”

Speaking against Vision 2025, messengers Ben Raspberry of Morgan Chapel Baptist in west central Alabama admitted agreement with the actions of Vision 2025, but noted there was “less confidence in the leadership of the convention” and called for more “openness,” noting that “there are many who are hesitant to ask our churches to give more and more when we cannot find out what is happening with the funds that are spent.”

Messenger Benjamin Cole Prestonwood Church in Plano requested the addition of a sixth strategic action: “prayerfully endeavor before God to eliminate all incidents of sex abuse and racial discrimination among our churches.” Cole said that although he was in agreement with the five strategic action, the proposed addition would better “capture the heart of God.” The amendment passed.

Vision 2025 was adopted by messengers as amended.

Greear’s farewell address honors past, urges Great Commission unity

NASHVILLE  J.D. Greear began his farewell address to the 14,227 registered messengers plus guests filling the Music City Center’s auditorium the morning of June 15 by recalling the challenging pandemic conditions that led to his three-year presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention.

When COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the 2020 SBC annual meeting, Greear, pastor of The Summit church in North Carolina, retained the SBC presidency. His tenure would be marked by tensions within the convention exacerbated by the pandemic. His final message as president would both do homage to the past and call for action in the future.

“It’s been a long 30 years these last three years,” Greear said as laughter rippled throughout the auditorium. He also called his time as president “a joy, an honor, an unspeakable blessing” that he had cherished.

No one could have been ready for 2020, Greear said, noting that he had finished his 2020 challenge sermon series as the pandemic struck.

Lockdowns provided time for spiritual reflection, but also revealed “fault lines and fissures” in the Southern Baptist Convention, Greear said. “COVID did not create those divisions; it just exposed them.”

Putting his “cards on the table right up front,” Greear said it was “a defining moment in our convention … a crossroads that may be the most important in our generation” since the Conservative Resurgence of four decades ago.

At that time, Southern Baptists had to decide if they were going to “hold fast to the authority of God’s Word” or follow the path of every major denomination into the “darkness of liberalism and the wilderness of cultural accommodation.” The Conservative Resurgence righted the doctrinal ship at a time when even Baptist seminary professors “openly undermined, even mocked” the gospel in the Baptist Faith & Message.

Of the generation of men and women who led the Resurgence, Greear said, “Their courage God used to save our future,” and called for applause, which followed.

Who are we?

Moving to the present, Greear called the current moment equally defining for Southern Baptists: determining the direction of the SBC.

No room for compromise exists regarding the Baptist Faith & Message, he said, noting its stance on the sufficiency of Scripture, the exclusivity of Christ, the sanctity of marriage and God’s complementary design for gender, positions all affirmed by the 13 SBC entity heads, state executives, SBC officers and associational leadership.

The question, rather, is not about doctrine but culture and identity.

“Is the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 still the basis of our unity? Is the Great Commission our rallying point?” he asked. “Are we primarily a cultural and affinity group or do we see our primary calling as a gospel witness for all people and all places at all time? Who are we?”

He cautioned that Jesus had warned there “is more than one way for a generation to lose the gospel.”

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees

While the curse of liberalism exists, Jesus warned of a potentially greater danger: the “leaven of the Pharisees,” which grows “in the soil of orthodoxy.”

Using Matthew 23 as his text, Greear discussed pharisaical attitudes that can negatively affect our gospel witness.

  1. The Pharisees conflated the “traditions of men” with the “authority of God.” Today, Greear said, this occurs when we take cultural, stylistic or political preferences as divine truth.
  2. The Pharisees focused on the minor parts of the law while ignoring the weightier parts. Today this looks like “insisting on accountability in our leadership while allowing gossip and slander and cynicism to go unchecked in ourselves,” he said. Such attitudes result in institutions creating “unnecessary obstacles” for victims of sexual abuse or an SBC that spends more energy decrying Critical Race Theory rather than “lamenting the devastating consequences of racial bigotry.” Greear called for “robust, careful … on our knees discussions” about issues of social justice, guided by Scripture and not the world. “The vast majority of Southern Baptists and all of your convention’s leaders, both Black and White, recognize that CRT arises our of a world view at odds with the gospel,” Greear said, warning that calls for justice seem hollow when suffering and racial injustice are ignored.
  3. The Pharisees ignored God’s focus on the outsider. Instead they “obscured the portal for the outsider with conveniences for the insider,” making the gospel inaccessible. The danger today is when we forget how outsiders may perceive our “statements and resolutions,” Greear said, in which our “haste to condemn our society’s answers” leads us to ignore the legitimacy of honest questioning.
  4. The Pharisees loved the praise of men. Greear recommended servanthood and warned against becoming “white-washed tombs.” He called baseless accusations against Christian leaders “reprehensible,” giving examples of social media misused to accuse others falsely. Such actions make us “smell like death even when our theology is squeaky clean.” If we do not change, we risk not only alienating our brothers and sisters of color, but also losing our own children, Greear cautioned. “What a tragedy if we withstood the leaven of liberalism only to suffocate under the leaven” of the Pharisees, he said.

Of his presidency, Greear said a surprising discovery was how unified “rank and file” Baptists were about the primacy of the Great Commission.

“You want to see us focus on the main thing,” Greear told the crowd, noting how horrified Southern Baptists are at both sexual misconduct and coverups.

A negative surprise, Greear said, was loudness of the voices of those who would keep Baptists a “cultural affinity group” or a “political voting bloc.”

“Great Commission Baptists are for the most part ready to walk into the future, but we are spending way too much time ripping each other apart or listening to those who do,” he warned, calling such attitudes “demonic,” citing James 3:14-17 and cautioning that they distract from the gospel.

Calling for a renewed focus on the Great Commission, Greear announced three commitments.

  1. Announcing “we are going to be Great Commission Baptists,” Greear called for evangelism to be the forefront of the convention with a renewed commitment to personal evangelism and assisting church plants. Not only are “people of color welcome in our convention, but they will be an essential part of our future,” he added, citing NAMB statistics that 22 percent of SBC congregations are non-Anglo, representing the largest growth in the SBV. Calling for diversity not because it’s “cool, woke or trendy,” Greear told leaders of color: “We need you. There’s no way we can reach our nation without you” to which the audience gave a rousing and lengthy standing ovation.
  2. “We will exalt the gospel above all” as the “North Star of our convention,” Greear continued. The gospel will “expose our errors” and correct our course: “The gospel saves our souls and calls us into truth.”
  3. “We will unify around the gospel and the Great Commission,” Greear urged last.

“The gospel that unites us is bigger than the cultural differences that divide us,” Greear said, again urging messengers to work together and eschew politics: “God has not saved us primarily to save American politically. He has called us to make the gospel known to all,” his comments drawing loud applause.

“We are Great Commission Baptists … we are not the party of the elephant or the donkey, we are the people of the Lamb,” Greear said, reassuring messengers that this does not mean ambiguity on the things Scripture is clear about. He concluded with a reminder of the gospel from John 17.

Send Conference launches with thousands called to be ‘Together on Mission’

NASHVILLE (BP) – Worship led by Michael W. Smith and CeCe Winans, a rousing sermon from Tony Evans and a concert by Crowder kicked off the Send Conference 2021 Sunday night (June 13) at Music City Center.

Surprise guest CeCe Winans joined Michael W. Smith on the Andraé Crouch classic “Jesus Is the Way” in the opening session of the 2021 Send Conference June 13. Photo by Karen McCutcheon

Actually, the event started a little earlier, with a powerful prayer session led by Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in nearby Hendersonville, Tenn. Although the Send Conference, co-hosted by the International Mission Board (IMB) and North American Mission Board (NAMB), will feature plenty of preaching, Gallaty exhorted pastors to return to the basic spiritual practices of seeking intentional silence and solitude and listening to the Holy Spirit’s still, small whisper.

“We cannot sermonize our way out of this current moment, so we need to be in tune with the God who tells us to lean in and rest,” he said.

Afterward, a crowd estimated at nearly 10,000 gathered. Smith and Winans, who was a surprise guest, led worship before NAMB President Kevin Ezell and IMB President Paul Chitwood introduced Evans, the night’s keynote speaker.

Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, preached the opening session of the Send Conference. “We have watched our nation decline because there aren’t enough accurate reflections of Christ invading the culture,” he said. Photo by Eric Brown

Evans drew parallels between his son’s tenure with the Tennessee Titans and the notion of two teams running in opposite directions with opposite goals – a metaphor for the nation’s current political and cultural divides. Acknowledging the racial tensions and class conflicts of the day, Evans petitioned Christians to be the third team on the field of life: officials who are on the field, not of the field.

Evans said referees know they may be booed by angry parties on both teams, but they understand they are not meant to be liked and rather simply abide by the rulebook that dictates the game.

“The real problem arises when the officiating authorities start wearing opposing team jerseys because it is then that they lose their third-party authority in the game,” Evans said. “We carry Kingdom authority as His officials, but many people are so heavenly-minded that they’re not helpful on earth while others are so earthly-minded that they’re no help to heaven.

“Our true calling is not to be part-time saints but fulltime Christians pulling heaven down to earth as true reflections of the imago Dei. We have watched our nation decline because there aren’t enough accurate reflections of Christ invading the culture.”

Speaking briefly after Evans delivered his message, Ezell and Chitwood emphasized the importance of the conference theme: “Together.” Photo by Karen McCutcheon

Evans completed his football analogy with a reminder that fans don’t pay to see a huddle, but the execution of the play discussed in the huddle. The Send Conference, he said, was like a huddle. The question was: Would those gathered go out and score? Or just be happy with having had a private conversation?

In an aside dedicated to ongoing race relations discussions in the Church, Evans reminded pastors that there is no segregation in the call to be crucified alongside Christ.

“God is not colorblind, but neither is He blind to color,” he said. “We are of every tribe and nation, and God sees us. But the only subject of the Bible is the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. We are never to allow the politics of men to break up our togetherness, so stand together as the Lord sends you.”

Speaking briefly after Evans delivered his message, Ezell and Chitwood emphasized the importance of the conference theme: “Together.”

Crowder led the crowd in a rocking yet worshipful celebration of unity and Kingdom-mindedness. Photo by Eric Brown

“We intend to do this together,” Ezell said. “And I am so grateful for you and all of our IMB missionaries and I know at the same time you are very thankful and supportive of our NAMB planters and missionaries who are all over North America.”

The two mission entity leaders encouraged the audience to pray for missionaries.

“It’s not about IMB sweater vests or NAMB socks,” Chitwood said. “It’s about those beautiful feet that are taking the Gospel to our nation and to the nations. We praise the Lord for every one of them who are out on the front lines, here and far, who are serving.”

The night came to a close with Crowder leading the crowd in a rocking yet worshipful celebration of unity and Kingdom-mindedness. Crowder expressed his delight, after the long pause in live concerts because of the COVID-19 pandemic, at simply singing what he called “church music,” with what he described as a very large choir singing along to familiar songs.

Associations key to SBC revitalization, presidential candidates say

NASHVILLE (BP) – Local Baptist associations are vital catalysts for unity in the SBC and the rebound of Cooperative Program giving, according to the three candidates for convention president who participated in a forum Sunday (June 13) hosted by the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders (SBCAL).

Northwest Baptist Convention executive director Randy Adams, Alabama pastor Ed Litton and Georgia pastor Mike Stone each recounted their experience with associations as well as their encouragement for associational leaders. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr., the fourth announced presidential candidate, did not attend the SBCAL Presidential Candidates Forum because of other obligations in advance of the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, which begins Tuesday (June 15).

The forum was part of SBCAL’s annual conference, which began Sunday and continues Monday at the Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel. Moderated by Josh Ellis, executive director of Houston’s Union Baptist Association, the 30-minute conversation focused on whether associations remain relevant in the modern SBC.

Adams said he considers associational mission strategists “the key cooperative family in Southern Baptist life.” An associational leader is the only denominational worker most pastors know, he said, adding that any state convention or SBC initiative will have broader participation among churches if associations are included as ministry partners.

Adams said the “worst strategic mistake” Southern Baptists made in recent years was diverting CP money away from state conventions after the Great Commission Task Force recommended in 2010 that more funds be channeled to SBC-level ministries, Adams said. State conventions in turn cut their funding of associations, and associations had to scale back their efforts at connecting churches to the denomination.

CP giving from churches will rebound from its decade-long decline if more congregations connect with their local associations, Adams said. If Southern Baptist revitalization doesn’t occur at the associational level, “it’s not going to happen nationally or regionally.”

Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala., said if he’s elected SBC president, he will ask associations to lead churches in a season of fasting and prayer “for each of our associations, our state conventions and our national convention.”

When the SBC is fractured, “I believe the association is the place to solve those problems,” Litton said. Associations can “bring together pastors and other leaders in your churches” to share their experiences “so that we can once again begin to unify.”

The hard work of loving one another begins on the associational level, Litton said, noting that when “we come to the national convention, we love everybody,” but on a local level “it’s easy to see each other as competition.”

Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga., said his commitment to Baptist associations has been reflected in his leadership at the local church and state convention levels. The staff at Emmanuel has “become almost an extension of the ministry of the association,” providing training for smaller congregations on behalf of the association.

When Stone served as chairman of the Georgia Baptist Convention Executive Committee, he helped craft a policy that limited to three years the period a church could cooperate with the state convention without also cooperating with an association. When churches are disconnected from their association, Stone said, cooperation at all levels of Southern Baptist life begins to break down.

“Everything flows from the local church,” Stone said. “So the first layer that we have of our cooperation in the Southern Baptist Convention is the local association.”

The forum closed with prayer led by Ellis for all the presidential candidates.

SBTC at SBC reception welcomes Texans

NASHVILLE  More than 400 guests attended the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention reception Monday evening, June 14, after the day’s events connected with the SBC’s annual meeting. Held at the JW Marriott, the reception was billed as being “for current Texans, former Texans and anyone wanting to be a Texan” and drew pastors and friends from across the state and nation. Guests enjoyed snacks, desserts and fellowship at the come and go event, which is hosted yearly by the SBTC at the SBC’s annual meeting.

Many came to greet Nathan Lorick, the SBTC’s executive director-elect who will assume the convention’s helm July 1, and to express appreciation to outgoing executive director Jim Richards.

Earlier in the day, the SBC Executive Committee recognized Richards with a resolution of affirmation, honoring his contributions and retirement.

Tony Evans Urges Southern Baptists to Unite and Be ‘Fully Committed’ to Christ

NASHVILLE Dallas pastor Tony Evans urged Southern Baptist messengers gathered in Nashville to set aside earthly differences and to be “fully committed” to the Great Commission, saying “it’s time” to declare “Jesus is Lord” to the world.

Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, spoke to messengers during the North American Mission Board’s Send Conference, which was held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in June.

Preaching about the Great Commission from Matthew 28, Evans discussed a multitude of issues — including race and politics — while encouraging Southern Baptists to stay focused on their primary goal.

Pointing to John 2:23-25, which says Jesus “didn’t trust” a group of people who recently believed in him, Evans said, “Jesus Christ is not with all Christians equally.”

“He would not commit himself to them, because he knew they hadn’t been fully committed yet” to Christ’s cause, Evans said, referencing the text. “So you can be on your way to heaven and not participate in Christological authority.”

Underscoring how the modern world can be changed by only a few individuals, Evans referenced the chaos sewed by the 19 hijackers from Sept. 11, 2001.

“If 19 men in the name of the wrong God can reshape how our country operates, what do you think the SBC can do in the name of the true God when we are fully committed to our cause?” he said. “So it’s time now to go public. It’s time now to make your declaration. It’s time now to declare: Jesus is Lord. I am not ashamed. And I’m going to take my stand for the risen Christ. And I will do it with love, but without apology.”

Too many Christians, Evans said, are divided over politics.

“God is not going to skip the church house to fix the White House until the church house decides to be a Kingdom location, rather than … just a denomination affiliation,” he said.

Most Anglo Christians, he said, “are Republican because you’re concerned about the moral decay, decadence, abortion, scope of government, marriage laws. You are concerned for righteousness.” Most African-American Christians, he said, “vote Democrat because of the thought that there will be more justice, that there will be more equity. There will be more inclusiveness. There will be more sensitivity to the poor.”

But “God doesn’t ride the backs of donkeys or elephants,” Evans said to applause.

Evans referenced the story of Joshua talking to a messenger from God prior to the fall of Jericho. Joshua asked the messenger, “Are you for us or for our enemies?,” and the messenger replied, “neither.”

“God stands above this,” Evans said of politics. “And since no political party fully represents the Kingdom of God, either [in] character or content, regardless of how you vote, you should be at your heart of hearts, a Kingdom independent. Because you represent another King, and another Kingdom. And you and I are to never allow the politics of men to break up our ‘together’ — to divide the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Discussing racism in the world, Evans said, “the racial problem is a gospel issue — not a racial issue.”

“It’s the gospel applied to race,” he said. “But because we’ve gotten sucked up by the culture, we spend more time discussing cultural dynamics than biblical authority. And Jesus says all authority belongs to me.”

Southern Baptists, Evans said, should not walk away from the Send Conference unchanged. He compared the conference to a huddle in a football game, saying “70,000 people” in a stadium “don’t pay $100 a ticket to watch 11 grown men bend over” in a circle. Instead, the fans want to see what the players can do after the huddle.

“They want to know, having huddled, can you now score?” Evans said, before referencing the thousands of messengers gathered at the Send Conference. “… So this is a great huddle. But after your Send Conference is over, you’re gonna have to break huddle. Now the question is, did you score? Or did you just have a nice, private gathering?”

East Texas pastor Bill Collier dies

SBTC field ministry strategist and longtime pastor William (Bill) Robert Collier, Jr., 76, of Bridge City, died on June 9, 2021, in Houston. 

Born at Banana River Naval Air Station near Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Oct. 2, 1944, Collier graduated from high school in Falls Church, Virg., and joined the Marine Corps. The Vietnam veteran married Annette Sims, his wife of 54 years, in 1967. Following a 25-year career at the Jefferson Chemical Company (later part of Texaco), he earned an associates degree in ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Collier pastored First Baptist Church of Fannett for a decade before being called to pastor Liberty Baptist Church in Bridge City. Following his retirement from full-time ministry in 2014, he became an SBTC field ministry strategist in Southeast Texas and continued to supply pulpits and serve in interim pastor roles.

Collier had a passion for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone he met. His heart for evangelism took him on mission trips to numerous countries all over the world.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a granddaughter.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Anette Sims Collier; four sons and daughters-in-law: Jeff and Emily Collier; Jay and Sarah Collier; Keith and Amy Collier; Brent and Patti Collier, and 10 grandchildren. 

Greear reflects on SBC’s past, present and future in BP interview

NASHVILLE (BP) – Twenty years from now, historians are going to call the upcoming annual meeting a defining moment for the Southern Baptist Convention. It will determine if the SBC chooses to let the Great Commission and the Gospel define its mission or if it will be seen as a geographical, cultural and political voting bloc. It will determine the basis for SBC unity.

At least that’s the position of James David Greear as he finishes his third year as SBC president. Greear’s association with the SBC presidency began in 2016 when he withdrew his candidacy after neither he nor Memphis pastor Steve Gaines broke the 50 percent threshold despite being the only two candidates. Add in an unexpected third year as president due to the cancellation of the 2020 annual meeting amid COVID-19, and Greear – better known as J.D. – has been a leading figure in Southern Baptist life for half a decade.

“We need to leave St. Louis united,” Greear told messengers five years ago before making the motion to elect Gaines by acclamation. Despite the current day’s divisions in the SBC, unity is a hope he not only holds on to, but sees tremendous evidence of.

“I’ve spoken at most state conventions across the country, and I see Southern Baptists who just want to be about the Great Commission and reaching our neighbors who aren’t like us,” Greear said. “Yes, we all have our political opinions and hold them differently. But our differences on secondary matters ought not be the defining reality of the church.”

That observation has come from his time with “rank and file Southern Baptists across America, whether in big cities or small, rural towns.” The focus, he observed, is on evangelism and missions and not “tertiary and secondary questions.”

“They want the main thing to be the main thing,” he said. “They recognize that our society is changing and diversifying. If we’re going to reach our society, our leadership is going to have to change with it.”

Greear cited the North American Mission Board’s report that 63 percent of its church plants are led by people of color. Fifty-one percent of the appointments he made to SBC committees are also people of color.

“When you see people stepping forward to lead, that’s a demonstration of God doing something,” he said. “He is pursuing a unity of diversity and unity of cause in the SBC that’s preparing to take us in the future of reaching all of our country with the Gospel, not just people in one ethnicity and geographical area.”

According to Greear, the volume level of criticism during his presidency does not match his experience in actual number of critics. But it did lead to unexpected attention in other areas.

“You have a loud and vitriolic small minority that want our Convention to be about preserving the status quo or being divisive over secondary issues,” he said. “I joke that it’s like when Toto pulls back the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. This big, booming voice actually belongs to this one tiny man. That experience has actually been a pleasant surprise and given me hope.

“However, I wasn’t prepared for some of the cheap shots that came against me, particularly my church. People at The Summit couldn’t understand why everything we do is suddenly controversial. We’ve had others take out Facebook ads targeting church members and trying to sully my reputation.”

The SBC’s biggest challenges moving forward are going to begin with the basics, Greear said. That starts with how Southern Baptists see themselves and their mission.

“It’s going to depend on whether or not we’re a Great Commission people, if we’re basing our unity on that or if we’re going to be preservers of a geographical or cultural heritage,” he said. “I’m not talking about compromising on things like the sanctity of marriage, religious liberty or the sanctity of life. Those things are political, and we will always be clear on those things.

“God has not called the SBC, first and foremost, to save America politically. He’s called us to testify the Gospel to all peoples. The rules of engagement are different as to your primary purpose, and that’s going to be a challenge going forward. Are we going to rally around the Great Commission? Are we going to reach those in all parts of the country, not just the red or blue parts?”

The focus, Greear said, should be on presenting and living out the Gospel for a younger generation. Greear pointed to NAMB’s projection that by 2030, more than a third of Southern Baptist churches will be no more than 20 years old.

“I talk to younger pastors, Black pastors, Hispanic pastors all the time who are wondering why they should be a part of this Convention when there’s so much slander and distortion and exaggeration,” Greear said. “That’s going to be a challenge. If we’re going to posture ourselves in a spirit of the Pharisees that treats the traditions of men like they’re the commands of God and be preservers of the status quo, then at that point Jesus said you’re like a whitewashed tomb. The exterior is pretty but you’re filled with bones.

“If we don’t say we’re a Great Commission Gospel people, we’re not only going to lose our [pastors of color], but the next generation of Southern Baptists.”

It is “absolutely” possible to address issues such as racial reconciliation and sexual abuse without placing the Gospel in a secondary position, he said.

“Racial reconciliation is one of the fruits of Gospel transformation,” Greear said. “We always say that vertical reconciliation leads to horizontal transformation. It’s also evangelistic for us. Are we just going to be a church for southern Republicans? Or are we going to be a Convention that reaches everybody? Churches that are seeking to fulfill the Great Commission should reflect the diversity of their communities and proclaim the diversity of the kingdom.

“Sexual abuse is the same thing. What kind of Gospel are we preaching that doesn’t lead to us protecting the most vulnerable in our congregation?”

He added that it is always possible to place a fruit of the Gospel above preaching the Gospel, and is something that must be guarded against. But “in this day and age we’ve got to focus on areas where the Gospel is transforming us. That means how we relate to people around us who aren’t like us as well as to how we protect the most vulnerable.”

Greear said that type of witness in no way includes a compromise on biblical fidelity, but the opportunity to provide a living example of it. An SBC that “loves Baptist doctrine, God’s Word and the Great Commission” doesn’t bend on pro-life positions, religious liberty or issues related to the sanctity of marriage or God’s design for gender, Greear said.

He further confirmed that “without caveat” The Summit Church, all SBC entity heads, state convention executives, SBC officers and other leaders affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the exclusivity of Christ and the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture. Those standards and following the example of Christ are crucial for how the SBC will progress.

“Jesus taught us this when He went to the cross, though in the form of God He considered himself a servant,” Greear said. “That is the mission.”