Georgia Baptist Convention 2019 Recap

The Georgia Baptist Convention was earlier this week and as I expected it flew by.  Any discussion  of this year’s meeting that neglects to praise the folks at New Hope Baptist Church for the amazing job they did hosting us this year is simply incomplete.  They are blessed with great facilities and amazing volunteers that represented their church and the Lord Jesus Christ so well as they served Georgia Baptists.  Thank you!

I was not able to attend the Inspirational Rally this year so my recap will not include that except to say by all accounts it was a special time for those able to be there.  I am grateful for all of the prayers, calls, and messages inquiring about our daughter Hannah.  Her surgery on Monday morning to place two pins in her broken hand went very well and we are looking forward to a full recovery.

Preaching Conference

Three men brought messages for the preaching conference: Nolen Wood, Jordan Easley, and Tommy Fountain, Sr.  I understand Fountain filled in for Todd Houston who was unable to be with us as he was not feeling well.  It’s a preaching conference so you’d expect that the men invited to deliver messages are all quite capable pulpiteers and you’d be right.

Wood preached from Acts 10 addressing the topic of race and a strong reminder that the gospel is for everyone.  Easley skillfully addressed the topic of drinking alcohol helping those in attendance better understand from Scripture why he is a “teetotaler” and why all Christians should be too.  Fountain preached from Acts 2 on the topic of evangelism stressing the importance of making evangelism the cornerstone of all we do and urging the audience to avoid disputes that distract from that task. 

Combined, each message is a facet of living the Christian life and no doubt touched different people there in different ways.  Each preacher had their moments but the one that stood out to me was the chart used by Fountain illustrating the dramatic decline in the number of baptisms in Georgia Baptist churches over the last ten years.  The information shared by each man was important but for me that was the most convicting in light of the fact that 47% of Georgia Baptist churches did not baptize anyone in the last year.  We must do better!

Monday Evening Session

The first of three sessions included worship led by Sons of Jubal, the missionary sermon delivered by my friend J. J. Washington, and the President’s Address.  For those who may not be aware, I serve on the staff of the church pastored by the current president, Dr. Robby Foster.  It should come as no surprise that this part was a little more special for our church this year. 

I was grateful for the video of baptisms that have occurred around our state in the last year and that we made time to celebrate those.  I was also grateful that we made time to recognize past presidents.  This is the 198^th meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention and as such we should always remember we stand of the shoulders of those who came before us.  This is one of the ways we remember that important lesson.

Tuesday Sessions

Our sessions on Tuesday were very special for me with the worship times lead by the praise team for Northside Baptist Church.  It was made all the more special by the inclusion of my wife on that team.  I am so proud of the job they did!  It was not about them or even about our church; they faithfully pointed us to Jesus Christ and made sure everything was about Him and for His glory.  You would think I would have gotten a lot of video of those times on Tuesday but alas, no.  I was too involved in worshipping our risen Savior!

The Executive Committee Report laid out a vision for a different approach to supporting our 3,600 Georgia Baptist churches providing details of the five teams GBMB are being restructured into.  We also adopted a budget in support of the new structure that is slightly lower than the current year.

The Mission Georgia report explained some of the other things we will see the Mission Board involved with in the coming days such as opposition to human trafficking, pre/post-natal care, literacy, refugees and internationals, foster care and adoption.  We were blessed to hear from different people who are already engaged in these areas of ministry making an impact right here across our state.

During the parts of our convention where messengers are able to bring new business to the floor or speak about other things, no one approached the mics.  There was literally no other business brought before the convention.  Officers were elected without incident and I have to say, the display of unity among messengers was refreshing.  Sometimes we disagree on things and that’s okay provided we handle those disagreements properly.   I am glad to see us united under the leadership of our new Executive Director Thomas Hammond.

Southern Seminary Luncheon

Since graduating from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in December 2015, I have not had an opportunity to attend an alumni luncheon at one of our conventions until this week.  In previous years there has always been something else to which I had been committed but this year I had no such commitments so sign up I did!  There were over 50 of us in that small room and we enjoyed a time of fellowship, a great report on the status of the seminary, and a solid message from one of our alumni.  I was especially grateful for the opportunity to chat with Dr. Troy Bush who is the pastor of Rehoboth Baptist Church in Tucker, Georgia. 

A consistent theme I have noticed among our SBC seminaries generally and our GBMB colleges and universities specifically is growing enrollment, innovative program development, and clarity of mission.  They are focused on preparing men and women for vocational ministry as well as for careers in the secular world equipped to serve as marketplace missionaries in their professions.  Trends in higher education indicate challenging years ahead for higher education, including Christian higher education, but so far, our schools seem to be bucking that trend.  For that, I am grateful!

Concluding Thoughts

I had the opportunity to see so many friends yet I know there are so many I missed!  I wish I had more time with those I could see and I wish there had been more time to see those I just missed.  I went back to the exhibitor area a couple of times looking for certain folks and just missed them.  Perhaps in the coming year God will bless us with the opportunity to visit and catch up or maybe next year at Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon.  I’ve already got the dates marked on my calendar!

I was genuinely impressed by the high number of younger Georgia Baptists who made the trip to Fayetteville this week.  There are so many impressive young leaders across our 3,600 Georgia Baptist churches and our state convention needs them to be involved.  Actually, we need more of them to be involved!

Along the same lines, I was encouraged to learn of the increase in the number of messengers from 966 attending the 2018 convention to 1,128 this year.  As the new structure of the Mission Board it implemented and each of our six regions becomes more active, I hope more churches will see the value of sending messengers to the 2020 convention and those that follow.

It is a new day with our new Executive Director at the helm leading us.  Thomas Hammond is the right man to lead Georgia Baptists during this season of our ministry and he is assembling a best-in-class team to help meet the challenges of our day.  With so many challenges, some may find it easy to be discouraged but I am not among them.  My keyword coming out of convention this year is encouraged. I find our new leadership, new structure, and new direction encouraging. 

Finally, let me commend a recent article on The Christian Index website called “Historic adoption of restructuring, missions emphasis positions Georgia Baptists for the future.”  Scott Barkley is the author and he does an amazing job capturing everything that took place at our convention this year.  You will be blessed by his coverage of the convention.

 Friends, bright days are ahead for Georgia Baptists and I think they will be our best days.  I hope to see you in Macon next year!

Blessings,

Chris