Dear Church Family:
I want to first of all thank you for giving me the privilege to represent you as a church body at the annual SBC meeting held in Phoenix, AZ, June 11-15. I also thank you for entrusting me to participate on your behalf in the business portion of the meetings, including election of convention president and other officers, as well as voting on resolutions presented by the Executive Committee on SBC policy and procedures. I was one of approximately 4850 messengers in attendance.
As a courtesy to you and as a matter of accountability, I am including the most important aspects of the information which came from the meeting. This information includes:
· Resolution #1 – A statement overwhelmingly adopted by the Convention concerning Southern Baptist’s stance on religious liberty around the world. We publicly affirm the right of citizens of all nations around the world to have the freedom and right to convert to another religion or no religion; to seek to persuade others of the claims of one’s religion; and to worship without harassment or impediment from the state. This statement is in response to the recent developments in African and Middle East nations wherein the people are seeking freedoms, among them religious freedom, and are being repressed.
· Resolution#2 – A statement overwhelmingly adopted by the Convention to call on President Obama to direct the US Department of Justice to follow through on its constitutional responsibility to defend vigorously the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) against all legal challenges. This statement is in response to some in our 112th Congress who seek to use their persuasion to redefine marriage.
· Resolution#3 – This resolution was the most contested and received the most attention from the national news media. This was a statement considering the Southern Baptist issue of evangelizing those immigrants to our country whether they are recognized as legal or illegal. The resolution was adopted after lengthy discussion as to whether or not the resolution was inadvertently advocating amnesty for the illegal residents already here. The resolution, as I understood it, was intended to make a statement that regardless of a person’s national citizenship, we as Christians and Southern Baptists should make it our priority to evangelize them with the gospel. Many Christians are divided on the issue of amnesty for these people, but none of us should be divided on whether or not they need to hear about Jesus while they are here. The resolution was adopted after the committee came back and added an amendment which stated “this resolution should not be construed as being in support of amnesty for any undocumented immigrant.”
· Resolution#4 – A statement overwhelmingly adopted by the Convention to reaffirm to the world the Southern Baptist conviction and teaching of the Biblical doctrine of the reality of Hell. The statement includes the following language: “(we) hereby affirm our belief in the biblical teaching on eternal, conscious punishment of the unregenerate in Hell; and be it finally resolved, that out of our love for Christ and His glory and for lost people and our deep desire that they not suffer eternally in Hell, we implore Southern Baptists to proclaim faithfully the depth and gravity of sin against a holy God, the reality of Hell, and the salvation of sinners by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.” This resolution was in response to the most recent conversations making national headlines about a supposedly Christian leader, Rob Bell, and his declarations in his latest book entitled “Love Wins” questioning the church’s historical teaching on Hell.
· Resolution#5 - A statement overwhelmingly adopted by the Convention to call all Southern Baptist churches to embrace corporate prayer and repentance for revival. This resolution was in response to the sad facts that our churches have become preoccupied with materialism, and too often embracing unbiblical priorities in our spending, our giving, our response to the poor, and our allocation of resources. This materialism has led us to prayerlessness, lukewarmness, neglect of biblical church discipline and shallow relationships with God and with one another.
This meeting was very gratifying to the soul, as it was interspersed with great sermons from various pastors and came at the end of a two day Pastor’s Conference at which I was greatly encouraged and challenged. I was also privileged to get to witness two commissioning services of missionaries and to be greatly challenged to lead our church to help reach one of the 3800 unreached people groups that still remain.
Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to participate.
Yours in Christ,
Preacher
