Myth-busters' Clarification

Task Force releases 'myth busters' clarification By Joe Westbury, Managing Editor Published November 5, 2009

DALLAS, Texas — Taking on the role of myth busters, the Great Commission Task Force released a statement following their Oct. 27 meeting clarifying their role in calling for denominational renewal.

The series of year-long meetings, which originally were to be open to the public, have been closed to media and others and resulted in widespread speculation about the group’s dealings – especially when it comes to restructuring the Southern Baptist Convention.

Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the group, said the press release was meant to clear the air on a half-dozen high profile myths that have been circulating since the Task Force’s first meeting in Atlanta in early August. The myths have been so rampant, Task Force member and Southeastern Seminary President Daniel Akin recently began a myth-busting blog and Index Editor Gerald Harris addressed the issue in the Oct. 22 issue of the paper in an editorial titled “You’re only as healthy as your transparency.”

BP

Southern Baptists start churches among a variety of people groups ranging from ethnics to cowboys to the homeless in North America. The GCR Task Force, meeting in Dallas on Oct. 27, went on record to say that it has no intentions of partnering with non-Southern Baptist entities, such as Acts 29, to further its church planting efforts. Cody Huffman, above, prepares to share a message with the crowd gathered just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, for a worship service coordinated by Circuit Riders Motorcycle Ministries and Rushing Wing Church.
The six myths addressed in the document dealt with the role of the Cooperative Program; partial out-sourcing of the denomination’s role in church planting; influencing the presidential search committees for the North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, and SBC Executive Committee; diminishing the role of state conventions or associations; addressing theological issues such as Calvinism; and the timing of the release of the Task Force’s findings.
The statement, as released by Floyd, said the Task Force:
1. is not considering any abandonment of the Cooperative Program.
“We are asking questions about how the Cooperative Program can remain our central system of missions funding, not whether it will remain so. We were charged to ask the hard and most strategic questions about how Southern Baptists can more faithfully fulfill the Great Commission together – and together means together. We want to encourage churches to give even more enthusiastically and to see and celebrate a great increase in stewardship at every level.”
2. is not considering any recommendation that Southern Baptists partner with any parachurch or non-Southern Baptist ministry, specifically Acts 29.
“We are thankful for what every Great Commission church, denomination, and ministry is doing for Christ,” Floyd said, “but we are assigned the task of looking at how Southern Baptists – very specifically – can work together more faithfully.”
3. is not trying to determine the work of search committees and trustees currently seeking new leadership for their SBC entity.
“Presidential searches are now underway at the North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, and the SBC Executive Committee. Given our assignment, we can’t ignore the obvious,” asserted Floyd.
“This is an historic moment for Southern Baptists. We have an assignment focused [on being released at] the SBC in Orlando [in June 2010]. These boards have their own ongoing assignment, leadership, and stewardship. We will do our own work, and pray for others as they do theirs.
“Will our work as a task force have any effect on these entities? Our determined goal is to do more, not less, for the Great Commission in every area. I am sure each of these boards shares that very same goal.”
4. is not seeking to diminish the work of either state conventions or local Baptist associations.
“To the contrary,” Floyd corrected, “we want to forge a future that maximizes Southern Baptist work at every level – and change is happening at every level. Our concern is to see every Southern Baptist work encouraged and even more fully engaged for the Great Commission.”
5. is not devoting its time or energies to a discussion about specific theological issues discussed within the Southern Baptist Convention.
“This is not about Calvinism, anti-Calvinism, or any other ‘ism.’ This is about faithfulness to the Great Commission – period. That is our theological agenda,” he reiterated.
6. is not planning to wait until Orlando to release its report and recommendations. “Our avowed intention is to bring as much as we can to the February meeting of the SBC Executive Committee,” Floyd continued in the prepared statement.
“This is a huge challenge, but we are pushing ourselves hard. Orlando is our ultimate deadline, but only for the final form of our report.”

Open discussion, huge responsibility
Also during the meeting, Task Force members received input from state executive directors who released their own set of concerns. Twenty-two of the denomination’s 42 state leaders attended the meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. See related story on this page.
Bill Mackey, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, chairman of the Fellowship of Southern Baptist State Executives, introduced David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, who made a major presentation to the Task Force. Members then entered into a period of open discussion with the state executive directors.
Speculation about the work of the Task Force and questions about its eventual recommendations framed at least part of the background for the discussion with the state executives, Floyd acknowledged.
“We were looking for an honest conversation and a meeting of hearts and minds. The state conventions are vital to our total Southern Baptist work, and this dialogue was vital to the work of the task force.
“Let me be clear. We are dealing with big questions and big ideas here,” Floyd said. “We need every consecrated Southern Baptist mind and heart sharing with us in the process.
“We will be listening to Southern Baptists all the way to Orlando, and we welcome every voice. This is a huge responsibility.”
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Reflections on 'The Rap' and kudos from the parliamentarian

By J. Gerald Harris, Editor

Published: December 3, 2009

Since our Georgia Baptist Convention meeting I have preached in another state convention, traveled to Germany and Latvia, enjoyed a family vacation in the Sunshine State with all ten grandchildren, had another birthday, and had some time to reflect on our recent GBC meeting at First Baptist Church in Woodstock.

In our annual convention gatherings I have always tried to present The Christian Index as a relevant, Georgia Baptist-centric publication that also addresses moral and cultural issues from a conservative, thoughtful, provocative perspective. Through the years the comments about my reports have been mildly complimentary and placidly approving, but rarely resulting in the sale of any newspaper subscriptions.

Nevertheless, we pressed on with our report year after year undaunted by the lackluster response to our plaintive appeal for new subscribers. We faithfully set up our Christian Index booth amidst all the other ministry displays with the bright hope that one day messengers and guests alike would find the appeal to subscribe to our state paper as compelling as Calvinists’ find grace irresistible to the elect and make a mad rush to sign up on the dotted line.

At the end of each convention we would pack up our goods, fold up our Index display board, eat the remainder of the reduced-priced post Halloween candy that we had not given out to potential subscribers, and trudge back to the Baptist Missions and Ministry Center, not necessarily clothed in laurels and victory.

When we discovered earlier this year that the ministry reports would be limited to a restricted time, placed on a video, and edited to insure that the time constraints were upheld, I knew that I could not preach my typical sermon – oh, excuse me – make my typical report within the framework of the time allotted.

So, one night after eating a pepperoni pizza just before going to bed I had a vision of three persons on our convention staff doing an interpretive dance. While I was not inspired by the interpretive dance the idea of doing a rap suddenly penetrated my skull, lodged in my brain, and struck a responsive chord.

So, I wrote the rap, contacted the Communications Department of the GBC, and the rest is history. The response to the video production has been nothing short of amazing. This whole experience has taught me a valuable lesson – Georgia Baptists are sometimes more likely to respond to the ridiculous than the sublime.

What kind of report will I give at the Convention next year? It is difficult to tell this early, but someone suggested that I come onto the convention platform on a zip line. I have also had someone suggest I do my report as an Elvis impersonator.

All I know is that the ridiculous worked this year; we had more folks sign up to subscribe to The Index than in the previous six conventions combined. I also have been inundated with invitations to do the music for multiple youth retreats and lock-ins. I am of the considered opinion that those invitations were offered in jest. If not, call my booking agent in New York at (800) 555-1234.

To be honest, we may be back to the mundane for next year’s Index report, but if your church would like to use this year’s rap video to promote The Christian Index in your church just give us a call. You can preview it on our website at www.christianindex.org and have a copy sent by calling Heidi Hager at (770) 963-5590.

Actually, the Georgia Baptist Convention annual session was marked by many non-frivolous moments and experiences. The hospitality of First Baptist Woodstock was incredible and worthy of emulation. The business sessions were harmonious and effective. The preaching of Jeff LaBorg, Dan Spencer, and Bucky Kennedy was anointed and inspiring.

Dr. J. Robert White’s state missions report was thrilling and very informative; and the ministry and salvation reports from the rain-soaked participants (almost 1,000 of them) from LoveLoud were truly heart-warming.

Barry McCarty, the parliamentarian for this year’s convention, may have summed the Woodstock meeting up about as well as could be expected of anyone. McCarty has become a fixture at Southern Baptist Convention national meetings for almost 25 years.

In 1986, SBC President Charles Stanley called the American Institute of Parliamentarians and asked them to recommend the best-certified professional parliamentarian in the country who was skilled in church polity. McCarty was the man recommended for the job. Since that time he has stood by the side of multiple SBC presidents to assist them in conducting Convention business.

When the 188th GBC Annual Session met in Woodstock, McCarty, who pastors a church in Dallas, Texas, stood by the side of Georgia Baptist Convention President Bucky Kennedy to assist him in the business sessions of the Convention.

At the conclusion of the Tuesday morning session McCarty turned to me and said, “I have a quote for you, if you are interested.”

I was interested in what he had to say so I got out my pen and paper like an alert, on-task reporter.

He said, “I have been the parliamentarian for a lot of church business meetings and for a lot of Christian denominational gatherings and after observing this convention for two days I have concluded that Georgia Baptists are a happy group of people who have confidence in their leadership.”

Without question McCarty spoke from an experienced and objective perspective; and for what it’s worth, I agree with his assessment.

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Mel Blackaby: from pioneer missions to megachurch pastor

[This post is from the Christian Index.]

By J. Gerald Harris, Editor
Published September 24, 2009

JONESBORO —

“I never envisioned myself living in Georgia or becoming pastor of First Baptist Church of Jonesboro. All I could see was the vast need for pastors and church leaders in Canada,” proclaimed Mel Blackaby.

Even though Blackaby did not anticipate coming to the Bible Belt to pastor a megachurch he is now firmly entrenched in his role as pastor of the Clayton County church.

The Jonesboro pastor continued, “

When I went to Bow Valley Baptist Church in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada they had one resume. I had one church in the states that contacted me that had 400 resumes.

“I was happy serving the church in Cochrane and planned to spend my life in a pioneer missions area, but God began speaking to me about coming to the South. God seemed to bless the prayer conferences and the revivals I preached in the South, but no one was asking me to come pastor their church.

“However, during that time God was preparing me to come to pastor a church somewhere in the southern states. He was teaching me to walk by faith and shaping my pastor’s heart. Eight large churches contacted me during that time, but my impression of a megachurch was mostly negative and I perceived that the pastor of such a church was mostly a corporate executive. I could never see myself as a CEO, but as only a pastor.”

Gerald Harris/Index:
Pastor Mel Blackaby, left, and Minister of Music Rick Stone take delight in serving together at First Baptist Church, Jonesboro. Blackaby joined the church as pastor in June 2008.
First Baptist Jonesboro extended a call to Blackaby in June of 2008 and he officially began serving as pastor on Aug. 1.

Blackaby admitted, “

I had to move from a pioneer mission mindset to a megachurch mindset. I have always believed that Christ was the head of the church and wanted to find out His plan for our church rather than just launch my own agenda. I wanted to find out what He was doing and just partner with Him in His divine plan.”

Mel is the son of Henry and Marilyn Blackaby and one of five grown children, all of whom are engaged in a full-time ministry. The Jonesboro pastor was born in California while his father was a student at Golden Gate Seminary. He became a Christian at age nine during the time his father was pastor of a church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Blackaby recalled, “

As a child I didn’t know any other Christians in school and when I visited my friends’ homes I noticed the difference in their homes and my home. There was cursing and drinking and I realized the difference Christ can make in one’s home. That, more than anything else, prompted me to put my faith and trust in the Lord.

“As a teenager I never saw myself as a leader and struggled with how God could use my life,” Blackaby admitted. “At the same time I sensed God was calling me to serve Him, but I had some personal dreams I wanted to pursue. Since our family was involved in pioneer missions we were poor. I wanted to get out, make some money, travel, and see the world.

“It got to the place that every time I read my Bible I felt guilty, so I quit reading the Bible. I also didn’t feel like praying, so I quit that as well.

“I had started my studies as a physical education major in the university, but dropped out of school to go to northern Alberta to work in a lumber camp. I was making a lot of money, but the work I was doing was very dangerous.

“One day I was in the process of cutting down a large tree. When the tree fell, the bottom of this tree swung around and crushed my leg. As I lay there in that snow bank with a shattered femur, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, ‘If you are not going to be of any use to me on this earth, then you have no reason to live and I can take your life any time I wish.’

“In three months the Lord took away my entire identity. I lost my ability to play sports. I lost my girlfriend. I lost my job and my ability to make money. I even lost my driver’s license, because the police came and took it away due to my reckless driving record. So at 20 years of age I didn’t know who I was. I knew I needed to change.”

From that moment Mel Blackaby resolved to die to self and follow the Lord.

After recuperating from his accident Blackaby decided to leave Canada, move to Abilene, Texas, and enroll in Hardin-Simmons University. Upon graduating with a major in history he married the former Gina Merriam, a young lady he had met in Canada. Gina had served on a mission team in Vancouver for six months as a part of the Home Mission Board’s ministry during the 1986 Exposition.

After her mission endeavor in British Columbia Gina moved back to her home state of California where she and Mel maintained a long-distance relationship.

Blackaby explained, “Gina was being taught “Experiencing God” at the same time Dad was writing it. I met her as I was leaving Canada to go to Texas. The longer I was in Texas the more I realized the girl I had met in Canada before I left for college was the girl I was destined to marry.

“She called me every Wednesday night and I called her every Saturday night. I would run the guys out of my dorm room, cut down the lights, light a candle, and we would have our date over the phone.

“Gina took a train from California to Vancouver to spend Christmas with our family in 1987. One evening I took her to the top of a tall building where they had a revolving restaurant. You could see the whole city from that vantage point and there I proposed marriage to her. We were both 22 years old and had no idea what we were doing, but we believed it was of the Lord.”

Upon graduating from Hardin-Simmons Mel and Gina were married and moved to Fort Worth, Texas for the purpose of furthering his education at Southwestern Seminary.

Today the Blackabys have three children: Christa, 15; Stephen, 13; and Sarah, 11. They keep a busy schedule, but love traveling, sports, and riding horses. Mel also has a Harley Davidson and enjoys riding his ‘bike’ with Bubba Cathy, fellow church member and senior vice president of Chick-fil-A.

Since arriving in Jonesboro Blackaby has been slow to make dramatic changes, but wanted to involve all the church in having a time of significant prayer. He remarked,

“We typically schedule people out of prayer meeting. Many churches have a prayer meeting on Wednesday night, but most of the church family is engaged in other activities during the prayer time.”

To remedy that problem Blackaby has turned the Sunday evening worship service into a Fresh Encounter Prayer Service. As a result the people involved in corporate prayer has grown from 100 to 1,000.

Blackaby testified, “This is unifying the church. All ages are coming and praying together. I have heard parents say that their children’s prayer lives are much improved. We are also seeing a lot of prayers answered.

“There is also a didactic element to this prayer time because people are learning to pray. We are also crying out to God each week for revival. We know that God is up to something.

“I think people here in the South are beginning to become desperate for God. We can no longer be comfortable in our faith here in the Bible Belt. We must cry out to God for His intervention.

God will give us a measure of success here when we can see that our people are having a growing hunger to know Christ. Then they will have a desire to obey Him; and He can use them in greater service.”

Mel Blackaby is a prolific writer and has several books to his credit. He has also partnered with his dad in writing several books including the 2009 publication “Experiencing the Spirit: The Power of Pentecost Everyday.” You can hear Mel Blackaby in the Speechless Conference in Toccoa in October.

The younger Blackaby recently told his father, who is also a member at Jonesboro’s First Baptist Church, “

Dad, you ought to give me more respect now that I am your pastor.”

William T. Johnson and Caroline Gentry

This is a two-year-old picture of then-five-year old Caroline Gentry of Athens, whom I have never met and who does not know me. The picture appeared in the current issue of The Christian Index, originally published in Philadelphia, moved to my home town by Rev. Jesse Mercer, first pastor of my church, and now published in Atlanta by the Georgia Baptist Convention. Caroline's mother is Katherine Pope Gentry, from Washington and a graduate of my college, Presbyterian College of Clinton, SC. Her father is Lt Col John Gentry, former commander of my Georgia National Guard unit in Washington. Her maternal grandmother is Susan Hopkins Pope, daughter of Carl S. Hopkins and Katherine Johnson Hopkins of Washington. Her maternal grandfather is Edward Barnett Pope, Jr., a Navy veteran and son of Edward Barnett Pope, also a Navy veteran, and Ruth Carney Pope. Her great-grandparents include Marion Pembroke Pope and Elizabeth Barnett Pope. I have known all of these people, except for the child and her father. I expect she is unaware of this heritage.