Convention Report # 4

tagged: Annual Meeting, Dave Samples, SBC, SBC Issues, SBC News, Southern Baptist Convention

Convention Report # 4

Tuesday Morning Session

Posted by Dave Samples

It was pretty uneventful this morning if one was looking for fireworks. The messenger count was 6,150 as of 8:25 this morning. I haven’t checked to see how that compares with previous years. The results of the Crossover Indianapolis effort over the weekend was announced as 759 professions of faith.

Motions brought forward this morning in the first business session were as follows:

Jack Wilkerson is asking for a bylaw change to prohibit SBC entity presidents from serving as convention president due to the potential for conflict of interest.
Chuck Sams brought a motion calling for a change to the membership article in the constitution that would prevent a church with a female senior pastor from being a member in good standing.
John Kittrell brought a motion asking for events at the annual meeting to be “child-friendly”.
Rick Reeder wants to take a love offering for the flood victims in Indiana.
Richard Smith brought a motion calling for the posting of the American flag with a member of each branch of the armed forces standing guard over said flag.
Larry Walker brought a motion asking the SBC to restudy affiliating with the BWA.

The SBC Operating Budget of $9,470,373 was approved without discussion. The CP Allocation Budget of $205,716,834 was also approved without discussion. The proposed calendar and the nominating report were also approved without any discussion.

Morris Chapman shared in his report that the SBC Executive Committee does not favor setting up a sex offender data base because of church autonomy. He did make a very strong statement concerning sexual predators.

The money quote from Frank Page’s message in my opinion is as follows: “The problem with the SBC is that the churches are declining. Blame the denomination if you must but the problem is me.” His point being that the decline in membership and baptisms is the direct result of SBC members not sharing their faith. “The problem lies with me.” He called for a “Great Commission Resurgence.”

In other news, I found myself sitting behind Wes Kenney and Bart Barber. Both are very kind and graciously introduced themselves.

Of interest this afternoon is a business session at 1:55, the continued Executive Committee Report at 2:10, election of officers at 2:45, new motions at 3:15, a challenge by David Dockery at 3:30, final opportunity for new motions at 4:25, Southwestern Seminary Report at 4:45, and Election of Officers at 5:00. The meeting was ahead of schedule throughout the morning so tune in early if you want to watch the internet feed.

One final note….Chick-fil-A had the longest line at the food court in the mall.

Blessings!

Dave

Roger Ferrell says:

June 10, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Dave,
Thanks so much for these reports! It’s almost just like being there, except you guys probably have air conditioning and mine stopped working Sunday afternoon, so it’s been 86 in my house… and 96 outside here in Atlanta. The HVAC guy just came to my house and fixed it an hour ago by flipping a switch. Now why couldn’t I have done that Sunday?

I think the problems in the SBC may take a little more work than that, but we appreciate your reporting and it sounds like things are going well. It sounds like there is much humility there, and much prayer.

We are glad to hear it.

One question on the numbers: since you said there are about 6,100 people there, and every state convention employee I know is there, and many NAMB and IMB and Lifeway employees are there, and many seminary employees are there, and the trustees of our agencies are there, and the Guidestone folks are there, how many SBCers do you think are there who are not getting paid (or paid for) to come?

I ask this with a point (and hopefully a point of discussion): if over half of those attending the SBC are those who are part of the current denominational establishment, how does that affect the likelihood of radical organizational change?