Praying for Great Commission Resurgence Task Force

Ronnie Floyd, chair of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, has asked for 5,000 Southern Baptists to commit to pray daily for the work of the task force. I have responded to that call.  In voicing my prayers I want to make certain that I pray according to God’s will for them.  Each member represents various parts of our convention.  We have two ladies on that task force representing the ladies, we have pastors representing pastors, we have state convention executives representing state convention executives, and we have entity presidents representing entity presidents.  I would ask that you look over the list of 22 and express what we do not have represented. It looks as if we have representatives from every constituency of our convention.  Some may challenge the balance of the representation but that is another discussion for another day.  All of that said, I would like to share with you how I plan to pray for this Task Force.

First I am praying for freedom of expression among the various members. There are members of the task force that passionately presented a need for a study of the need for a Great Commission Resurgence.  One is Dr. Albert Mohler, who presented the motion on the floor.  Dr. Mohler not only presented the motion, but he passionately argued for the need to create this task force.  Dr. Mohler expressed at the B21 event before the convention that he was going to present the motion and pleaded with these young pastors not to allow the motion to be amended in any way.  Dr. Mohler, as a messenger from Highview Baptist, has every right to do this and his passion is something that draws me to his point of view.  However, his passion seems to sometime betray his intent.  Remember his passion in 2007 at the San Antonio convention?  He later apologized to his staff for allowing his passion to move him to anger.  Second, there is Dr. Frank Page, immediate past president of the convention, who argued very cordially and convincingly from the floor for the need for this task force.  Third, you have Dr. Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, who is the driving force behind the Great Commission Resurgence document.  Dr. Akin presented his 12 Axioms in a chapel service and then Dr. Hunt used 10 of them to present the document we had before us.  However, we never voted to approve the Great Commission Resurgence document, the one item I thought would be front and center at the convention.  So the question remains: What are the driving principles from which the Task Force is working?  These three men have openly called for and presented very convincing arguments for the need for a task force.  Now, these men are appointed to the very task force they said needs to be formed in order to fulfill Article IX.  On SEBTS’s official blog, Dr. Akin’s, VP of Finance suggested that the GCR was not about Article IX.  However, it appears that the task force is going to focus like a laser on Article IX.

While these men I have mentioned are fair and balanced in their approaches, they are vocal.  Add to that mix others such as the chairman of the Task Force and one can see at least four very vocal personalities.  These personalities have the ability to dominate the agenda and promote something that they can agree on leaving the less vocal members to either agree or be labeled by some as being against the Great Commission.  Thus, I pray for all Task Force members to be free to express their differences.

Second, I am praying for an open minded approach to assessing our needs as a convention. Leading up to the convention there was a stir beginning between Dr. Johnny Hunt and Dr. Morris Chapman.  Of course Dr. Chapman addressed their differences at the convention and openly stated his respect for Dr. Hunt.  Dr. Hunt has openly expressed his desire to see the Southern Baptist Convention be what God wants and certainly respects the leadership currently in place.  However, when the document first came out Dr. Akin openly expressed that state conventions were “bloated and bureaucratic”.  There really is nothing the Task Force can do to change the structure of the state conventions, but they can certainly target unfairly some areas where change really is not needed.  For example, the Task Force could recommend a para-church organization to handle all of our church planting, when in reality church planting is the responsibility of the local church, not a convention.  Also, if I take $40,000.00 to and partner with another church that will also put up $40,000.00 to plant a church, I should not be able to count that as Cooperative Program giving.  Why? I only cooperated with one other church.  Cooperative Program giving is when I cooperate with all of the churches in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Also, when assessing our convention’s needs, there should be a time that we speak about the duplication of services.  For example, everyone knew that there would be a recommendation to form a Great Commission Task Force at the convention.  The North American Mission Board went ahead and formed such a task force headed up by denominational employees.  Is this not something that our NAMB trustees should lovingly instruct Dr. Hammond to pull the plug on?  Why are Southern Baptist spending Cooperative Program funds to pay the expenses of two task forces to study the Great Commission?  Therefore, I am praying for open-minded thoughts as our task force members assess the needs of our convention.

Third, I am praying that no political forces will prevail on the Task Force’s direction. Everyone knows that when you get more than two people together you have a political structure.  There are politics in everything.  Southern Baptists are tired of seeing committees formed to study something only to find out that one of the leaders of a committee will get a plum appointment in some entity.  Southern Baptists are also tired of seeing committees formed only to find out later that two or three appointed to the committee were given an agenda going in, and that that agenda was the real purpose of the committee all along.  I pray the Task Force truly desires to see a Great Commission Resurgence in Southern Baptist Churches and is not simply using GCR rhetoric in order to further some personal agenda or vendetta.

Fourth I am praying for transparency in their work.  We are beginning our budget process at the church I currently serve.  One question that came up concerned when the budget needed to be before the church.  I suggested that we set three dates.  First, when we present the budget to the church.  The second date would be set aside for discussion for anyone who desires to ask questions or make amendments.  The third date would be a vote on the budget without questions.  The committee members responded with a question that blew me out of the water:  Why does anyone want to discuss the budget?  I explained that we were a congregational church and that it was the congregation that approved the budget.  I went on to explain that any congregation would stop giving to a budget if members did not feel they had any say as to where their money was going.  It is called transparency.  There is nothing to hide or push through.

It is the same with the GCR Task Force.  There needs to be openness and transparency.  I commend the GCR Task Force for their open Q & A in August as reported by Illinois Baptist.  This moves us one step closer to making certain everyone gets a chance to have input and lessens the pushback when something concrete comes forth as a recommendation.  While there is this meeting I pray there will be more meetings in places that will not be so burdensome on pastors that have questions.  The meeting in Arkansas is a great step in the right direction but it is held on Wednesday and in a location that makes people go out of their way to get to.  I would suggest regional meetings with open Q&A in more commonly traveled locations.  I am also praying that the task force will not wait until one week before the 2010 convention to release their recommendations.  If there is going to be the reorganization that some expect, then one week to discuss it among those voting is simply not enough time.  Even if the task force continues this type of transparency all along the way with open dialog and open flow of information to Southern Baptists, a one week release of the recommendations before the convention will not be enough time to ask other questions.  As long as that one week release does not contain something that has not been openly presented to us previously, it will lessen the questions that may come forth.

In conclusion, I look forward to participating in the SBC with a clear directive of fulfilling the Great Commission.  I look forward to challenging my church to do our part in reaching the world for Christ.  I also look forward to meeting our Father daily as I lift up the Task Force in their work.