The Southern Baptist Convention

This past Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Southern Baptist Convention near my hometown. To be perfectly frank, the first night was a total bore, and I was more than a little distressed to find that I had been signed up for each day, every shift (I wound up skippin' some). Monday however was very interesting.
At these kinds of events there are always two kinds of pastors. One I call the "punk rock" pastors. I call them this because of their total abandonment of traditions held by the church and put their faith totally in the Bible. This all sounds great, but they are also extremely zealotous and they often wonder why many of us listening are not quite as willing to give away all our possessions, live in a commune of sorts and give all our money away to people in Saudi Arabia. The pastors there who represented the "punk rock" pastor group were Francis Chan, Alvin Reid and the spectacular Davis Platt. The second type of pastor there was "the old guard" members. These guys see the merit in some of those traditions, but they also see the merit in the newbies passion for their work. They strike a balance and often appreciate the insights of the "punk rock" pastors, even though they often rebel and chastise the Old Guard for becoming complacent. Members of the Old Guard include Tom Elliff, Michael Catt and Johnny Hunt (one of my favorites).
In this specific situation, I tended to agree more with the Old Guard. These guys seem not so confrontational, they seem to take stock of every fact and figure and then make a decision. The punk dudes however seem to base some of their conclusions on emotionalism and sensationalism. They also can sway others to their point of view based entirely on a strictly surface level basis. I must say that David Platt is an amazing orator, but I disagreed withy him on many points. Many others at the convention however really became fired up during his sermon concerning missions. Missions are indeed important, but money is also spent in other ways that further the kingdom. Just because people can't get the money to go to a foreign country doesn't mean that the money is being spent on something evil. Discipleship, mentorship and general aid are also very important parts of the great commission, not just missions.
The rest of the week was spent swagging (stuff we all get; swag!!!) and generally shirking my duties with my friends Josiah, Wayne, Matt, Nathan and our ministerial staff, minus Travis, our
pastor. One of the funnest things to do at the convention was a computer quiz which quizzed you on your knowledge of the Ethics & Religion Liberty Commission. I know, it's sounds like a snore, but if you took it at just the right time, you won a Lifeway gift card, which also sounds boring, but they happened to have some cheap-o CD's there at the Lifeway in the expo center.
So overall, I had a blast and learned a lot about how our convention works.

Cool Beans,

Noah