sbc IMPACT! blog Set to Launch on September 1

Friends,

I wanted to make you aware of this new, helpful blog for Southern Baptists. I have been asked to be a contributor and am excited about this new forum. As a contributor, I will be interviewing different SBC folks and also writing stories about exciting things happening in the convention - including a story in September on NOBA! Please join us in the discussion at www.sbcimpact.net whenever you are able to do so. Here is the official invitation:

sbc IMPACT!, an exciting, new collaborative blog site, will officially launch on Saturday, September 1 at www.sbcimpact.net.
sbc IMPACT! is the vision of a group of Southern Baptist bloggers who desire to host a truly edifying, thought-provoking, civil community for the examination and discussion of issues that affect Southern Baptist churches.
Instead of dwelling upon SBC politics and personalities, sbc IMPACT! will be a place where issues, even the tough issues, can be discussed and debated in a God-honoring manner. It will be a place where Southern Baptist ministries, churches, and missionaries can be highlighted and lifted up. It will be a place where differing views can be stated in an atmosphere of dignity and respect.
In short, the contributors at sbc IMPACT! want to work to bring Christ-like character, honorable speech, and real ministry to the discussion of Southern Baptist issues in the blogosphere. Our contributors are SBC pastors, ministers, lay-people, and bloggers. Take time to visit our Contributors page and get to know us. Take time to send an e-mail of encouragement.
Tell everyone you can that an exciting, new blog community is coming to SBC life. Add us to your blogroll. Come and visit when we launch on Saturday, September 1. And please do not hesitate to join in the community and conversation. We value your ministry, your kinship in Christ, and your views. We know that you have something valuable to offer your fellow Southern Baptists.
We’ll be “tweaking” the site and making a few changes between now and the launch date, so be patient with us. Hopefully, if you will take a careful look at our Purpose Statement and Standards for commenting, you will truly understand our hearts and desires for this endeavor. Meanwhile … if there are any topics or issues that you would like to see discussed in this forum, just leave us a comment.
God bless all. We’ll see you on the 1st!

Roger

Contextual Ministry and Reaching Courtney

Courtney is 28, single, educated, attractive, slim, and has never attended church, though she has several questions about church that make me squirm. She transferred to our area nine months ago from Roanoke and received a sizeable salary increase.

She is buying a condo and leasing a yellow ’06 Porsche Boxter. (She had a Mazda Miata but it got hit in the side.) Oh, and she also has a cat. (I don’t know what kind. I don’t really care for cats.)

Courtney has never been to an SBC church, has never heard of Lottie Moon, the BF&M, or Morris Chapman. She thinks that Baptists do something with snakes, but is not sure what (or why).

She had an abortion in 2001. Last Sunday at Kroger she saw a woman with a really young infant. It made her feel strange – maybe some guilt there. (She doesn’t talk about it.) Her parents are divorced and her dad has never known about the abortion.

Courtney likes reggae, genuine relationships/sharing, “meaning” in life, and she wishes that she could do something about poverty, hunger and/or AIDS. (She once sent $50 to one of the organizations that pledges to help hungry children. She wonders if the money really got to them.)

There are 1000’s of people like Courtney in our area. (Forty-six percent of Boone Countians were born outside of KY.) Perhaps they didn’t all transfer from Roanoke, but most would not feel “right” in a lot of our churches.

Associations who help their churches learn to relate to the Courtneys of the world have a promising future.

Associations who cannot or choose not to address these challenges will increasingly talk about how great the 60’s were and will become less and less effective.

Rick Robbins, DoM
Northern Kentucky Baptist Association

Are Para-Church Groups Spiritual Adulterers?

What would your response be to a person that says:

• I like you, come over anytime, but please don’t bring your wife?
• I love you, but I refuse to spend time with you if your wife is present?
• I can’t stand being around your wife, let’s go spend time together without her?

The hair on the back of my neck stands up just to read such statements. Most of us would find such statements reprehensible. Those would be fighting words if said to us, wouldn’t they?

Are para-church groups that claim to be lovers of Jesus Christ, but do not connect persons to the church (the Bride) spiritual adulterers? How can you say you love the groom (Jesus) and disregard the bride (the Church)? Again, the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I think of it in those terms.

When we support para-church groups or persons that aren’t connecting converts to a local fellowship of believers, it is like supporting a relationship with the “other” woman instead of the bride. How can we even imagine leading people to enter a love relationship with Jesus and not help them to love spending time with his bride, the church?

Are these para-church groups’ spiritual adulterers? The “other” woman? Vying for the affections of new believers?

Ed Stetzer recently asked: Can You Love Jesus and Ignore His Bride? (Read his comments here). He was addressing recent research about the huge number of young people that drop out of church after high school. When they land on a college campus, they often find groups that want to “love Jesus” together, but they don’t intentionally connect the students to the local church. How can that be?

Are these and other para-church groups’ spiritual adulterers? If they don’t encourage those who love Jesus to love His Bride (the Church), it would seem to be the case.

What do you think?

Bobby Gilstrap, DoM
Huron & Southeastern Baptist Associations
Michigan

Associations Will Die ... Or Will They?

If your association ceased to exist how long would it take for area churches and members to notice you were gone?

There is great debate in some circles as to the real value of the local association. Can it survive? Some say “yes” while others have cast doom on the association's future. Are you aware that well known futurist have forecast that a multi-level denominational structure like the Southern Baptist Convention cannot survive in today's post-denominational environment? Most have said that either the association or the state convention must be eliminated from the SBC denominational structure. (For supporting articles, click HERE and HERE and HERE.)

Because of the funding structure in most new work (mission) areas, the state conventions have the ability to "fund" or "not fund" local associational missionaries. Several states are now moving to "phase out" associational directors and are proposing to replace them in some fashion with state convention representatives. Will the churches in those areas notice the difference?

What do churches in your area value about the local association and its ministry?

Will associations be the ones to suffer demise? OR will state conventions fall by the wayside? OR are futurists totally off base ... not seeing the value of the SBC maintaining both levels within its structure.

I CLOSE BY REPEATING: “If your association ceased to exist how long would it take for area churches and members to notice you were gone?”

Bobby Gilstrap, DoM
Huron & Southeastern Associations
Michigan