My Trip To The Southern Baptist Convention

Every night, I lay in bed and ask myself what I learned that day. Over the last few days, I learned alot. I was in Nashville, Tennessee. I was at the Southern Baptist Convention, and I learned a lot about the denomination that I love.

Before I get into this column, I want all the readers to know that I am an unashamed Southern Baptist. I love being a Southern Baptist. I get angry when I hear people say negitive things about the SBC. I am upset when people move away from my church, and in their new town they begin going to a Church that is not Southern Baptist. Now, I do not believe that Southern Baptist Churches are the only churches, but I do believe they are the best churches.

In Nashville, this week, I learned that we really didn't mean to boycott Disney back in 1997. I have always had problems with our boycott of Disney. I personally believe that there was some "people issues" involved in our boycott. (I believe the boycott was partially a response to Jim Henry's Presidency). This week we decided to end the boycott. I do not believe Disney responded to our demands. I cannot remember Disney ever changing any of its policies. I guess we figured the boycott was not working. Of course, we said we proved our point. My question is, "What point did we prove?" The only point I think we proved was that the average Southern Baptist Church member did not follow the boycott the church leaders voted on in 1997.

On a brighter note, I learned that the Southern Baptist Convention still makes the news. It is good to know that we still matter. We didn't do much to gain national interest this week, but the simple fact that we met was enough to make the news.

We also were protested. However, this year was the fewest amount of protestors I have ever seen at a convention. As far as I could see, there was no more than fifty protestors at any given time. Normally there are hundreds of protestors. I also only saw two groups of protestors, when normally there are several. This year I only saw protests from the pro-gay crowd and the anti-war crowd. I am not sure what to make of the lack of large spread protesting. I guess I learned that protestors don't like to stand out in 90 degree heat. I also learned that the news media was interested in 50 protestors way more than they were the 15,000 Baptists inside the building.

The last and most important thing I learned was that Baptist still love the lost world, and want to see lives transformed by Jesus Christ. Evangelism and Baptistism were the twin foci of our event. Over the last few years, we have seen our national baptism numbers drop. Our convention made its case for a new commitment to these two critical issues. I applaud them, and I will pray to do my part.

I love the SBC, and I love going to the convention. I think every pastor should do this if it is possible. There is nothing like hearing a stadium full of preachers sing about Jesus with all their heart. There is nothing like hearing from our missionaries about their great work. There is nothing like hearing the voice of Adrian Rodgers call all of us Pastors to keep the faith. There is nothing like running into old friends from college and seminary.

I learned there is nothing like the Southern Baptist Convention.