As I remember, there was a lot of discussion, time, and
effort expended over the last year and a half or so, regarding the subject of a
name change for the Southern Baptist Convention.
Former SBC President Bryant Wright bowed to great concerns
allegedly from church planters and others around the country who seemed to feel
that the moniker “Southern Baptists” was a challenge to the task of planting
churches in the Northeast and other areas of the USA. Surely a new name was needed for the tired
old convention. So Dr. Wright appointed
a task force made up of many familiar names to look into this terrible situation
and to make their learned recommendations to the convention messengers when we
met at our annual meeting in New Orleans this past June.
After much research, soul searching, and discussion, it was
finally decided that rather than changing the legal nomenclature of the
Convention (too expensive and too much red tape) what we needed was a new “descriptor”
which would more accurately describe who we are.
Let me say at this point, that I personally had no problem
with changing the name of the Convention to more accurately define the more
global nature of our work. It had been
brought up at other Convention meetings in the past, and I felt there was some
merit to the thought, but alas nothing had come of it. I might add that previous attempts had come
from the floor of the Convention, which in my opinion, was the proper way to
bring up the matter.
In recent years, however, there have been “needs” that have
behooved SBC Presidents to appoint special committees to look into serious
situations such as the need for a “Great Commission Resurgence” and the
perceived urgent need to change our Convention’s name to make it more palatable
to those in other regions of our nation.
Some have questioned if the two former Presidents even had the authority
to do such a thing, but as my buddy Joed Rice’s late father might have said, “…That’s
another thing!”
So at any rate, the Ad Hoc Committee in their wisdom did not
deem it incumbent on us to change the official name of the Convention, but
still felt that it was imperative that we add the descriptor, “Great Commission
Baptists”. The upbuilding of the Kingdom demanded quick action. The recommendation came to
the Messengers of the Convention, and like obedient sheep we passed it, thereby
taking the terrible curse of the “Southern” term out of the equation – and presumably
making folks in the northeast and great northwest much more open to the Gospel message.
The news went out from New Orleans in June, and now we were
free to use the new descriptor in hopes that the lost world would like us
better now that we had a nickname.
I really don’t intend to beat a dead horse, but in the
aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the “Frankenstorm” that pummeled the eastern
seaboard, our SBC Disaster Relief volunteers kicked into action as usual,
moving hundreds of volunteer chainsaw crews, mud out crews, and feeding units
into New Jersey, New York, and other hard hit areas.
How interesting it was to note that as New Jersey Governor
Chris Christie held a recent news conference, he was high on his praise of the
first responders along with the National Guard, American Red Cross, and the
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS who were already on site.
The SBC North American Mission Board tells us that SBC Disaster Relief
Crews are cranking out more than 400,000 meals per day which are being
delivered by the Red Cross to those who are in need.
Southern Baptists. Imagine that. I doubt that very many would turn down those
hot meals, or send away the chain saw and mud out crews just because “Southern
Baptist Disaster Relief” was written in blue across their bright yellow
T-Shirts and caps.
Perhaps what we do for the Lord in the way of ministry to
others carries a whole lot more weight than what we call ourselves. And just
maybe, this visible manifestation of God’s love and grace may have more of an
impact on lost people than any descriptor a committee might come up with.
(And that’s another thing!)
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