I Signed It

Maybe it was pressure. Maybe it was resignation. Maybe it was conviction. But I recently signed on to the Great Commission Resurgence document. It is the beginning steps of what could be some good steps in Southern Baptist Life.

If that sounds like less than a ringing endorsement of this document, it is not because I do not appreciate the effort of moving the SBC into a more effective tool of helping people throughout the world so they can hear a clear presentation of the gospel with the purpose of discipling them and establishing churches which will disciple more people.

I took a long time to think through this. I have tried to read and speak to people on both sides of signing the document. At first, I had decided not to sign on. My reason was that talk and documents are cheap. In the last half of the 1990's, the SBC passed some resolution which would organize us into an effective tool of evangelism and education. It was so effective that we have forgotten the name.

But I signed it. I signed it because it is a starting point to move the SBC past the squabbling of the last few years and into a real commitment to actually doing the Great Commission locally and globally.

The next step will be taken at the SBC National Convention in Louisville in June. There will probably be a great push for it. A Study Committee will be appointed and approved. The report will come back with some changes and talked about at the 2010 Convention. State conventions will start to put their imprint on it. Bureaucracies will defend their turf...

Oh no, I am almost talking myself into rescinding my signature.