Young, Southern Baptist...and Irrelevant? by Brad Whitt

  The following are excerpts from a piece published today in South Carolina’s The Courier and also on Dr. Brad Whitt’s site (if you have not placed Whitt in your feed-reader, I suggest you do so asap).

Brad writes>>>

I’m not “young, restless and reformed.”

I guess you’d say that I’m young, Southern Baptist and, it seems, increasingly irrelevant.

You see, I’m just a pastor’s son who grew up with a love for my denomination — a Southern Baptist boy by birth and conviction…

As I travel around the SBC, I can see that I’m in the majority; nonetheless, I can’t get away from the overwhelming feeling that in our current denominational world, I am presented as the dinosaur — albeit only a 37-year-old one. It’s obvious when I see who is lifted up as the future of our convention — the hip and cool up-and-comers with whom I have little in common — that my breed is in danger of becoming extinct.

I don’t mind wearing a coat and tie when I preach (at least on Sunday mornings), and I still love to hear a powerful or dynamic choir special. I believe in giving an invitation at the end of every service. Public invitations are still effective. The church where I serve baptized more than 100 people just last year.

I like for the auditorium lights to be on so that I can read my Bible. Also, I don’t get so tired from preaching on Sundays that I need a stool, and I still preach from a pulpit (or, technically, a podium)…

While the current batch of “young leaders” so many reference these days appear to be weaned on non-Southern Baptists like Tim Keller and C.J. Mahaney and are taught to give rock-star status to John Piper and R.C. Sproul, I grew up loving men like Adrian Rogers and Jerry Vines. Both men invested their lives in and among Southern Baptists…

I am not ashamed of being a Southern Baptist, and I am proud and passionate about my SBC involvement. I have benefited personally from the cooperation among Southern Baptists, and I don’t believe that there is a more effective and efficient way for churches of all sizes to make an eternal impact on this world for Jesus...

The bottom line is that not everything in Southern Baptist life is broken. It appears to me that the larger issue is that much of that which has been and continues to be good about the SBC is simply out of favor with many of those who have managed to rise to positions of leadership within our convention. They have gained possession of the microphone, and they have determined that we’ve got to do things “radically” different — whatever the facts might be.

Definitely, some things need to be fixed and some just need to be tweaked, but changes should come from within by committed Southern Baptists who have invested themselves in the cooperative missions and ministries of Southern Baptists … and the Cooperative Program. Right now, too many “outsiders from within” have influence, and they resent who we are, what we do and how we do it…

If the Southern Baptist Convention is to grow and thrive, it won’t happen from the actions and attitudes of those who view our cooperative missions and ministries as outmoded and ineffective, or who see stateside ministry as “bloated” compared to missions overseas. It will take a greater emphasis from me, and others like me, on cooperation for the sake of the gospel if we are to succeed in our combined efforts to win the lost. There is no limit to what Southern Baptists could accomplish for the Kingdom if we didn’t care who received the credit…

The entire piece is worthy of your consideration.  We need more young Southern Baptist leaders who love the convention enough to want to see viable change take place.  What we do not need is to remake the Southern Baptist Convention into the image of the young, restless, and reformed.

With that, I am…

Peter

READ YOUNG, SOUTHERN BAPTIST…AND IRRELEVANT? in its entirety…

Comments

[Les Puryear]

Bravo!! A young man who "gets" it. The current move of the SBC to attempt to be more hip and cool is what happens when our convention is led by Seminary presidents and professors instead of pastors and missionaries.

Excellent post!

Les

[Rick Patrick]

Amen, Brad. Please print thousands of copies of this article, rent a small airplane and drop them over Louisville, Wake Forest, Nashville and Atlanta.

[peter lumpkins]

Les & Rick

Thanks. I applaud your agreement...

With that, I am...
Peter

[Ron Hale]

Peter,
Young evangelistic Pastors like Brad is who I'd like to be hearing at the SBC Pastor's Conference and other conferences.

Why do we need Piper, Acts29 guys, a bishop from Africa that was kicked out of the African Reformed Church for Pentecostalism?

If we have guys hyper on Piper ... fine ... go to his conferences.

My motto for the next few years is: I will not be Calvinized!

Thanks Brad for you article!

[Howell Scott]

Peter,

Thanks for posting this. Brad, in this piece, speaks for me and so many others like me who are not ashamed to be Southern Baptists and who truly believe in (as opposed to giving lip service)cooperative missions and ministry. God bless,

Howell

[David R. Brumbelow]

Good, thought provoking article.

Why aren’t guys like this asked more often to preach in our SBC meetings? Why can’t we be proud to be Southern Baptists? Why are the leaders of the Conservative Resurgence so seldom referenced and honored by so many in the SBC of today?
David R. Brumbelow

[Scott Morgan]

Peter,

I love the SBC and I hold to Baptist Distinctives and I'm a calvinist . BTW... I just led two breakout sessions on evangelism at the Alabama Baptist Evangelism Conference and my heart leaped for joy seeing my SBC brethren worshiping our Lord through preaching and singing. I got to pray with a few hurting pastors after my session and I tried to encourage them with the Word.
I talked to Brad Whitt today and love him so much. Yes, we differ on the doctrine of salvation at some points but I share his love and yours for our SBC but please know that the Tom Nettles, Tom Ascols,and Mark Devers love our convention as well. As a matter of fact I told all the people in the breakout sessions that I'm not ashamed of being called a Baptist.I will be headed to the Ligonier Conf in Orlando March 23-26 and rest assured that I will be agreeing with my padeobaptist brothers on some points but be assured that I'm distinctively a Baptist. There will be some Baptist preaching at this conference. Blessings my fiend.

[Ron Hale]

Scott,
It's getting to the point where anyone can say, "I love the SBC", what we now need to know is ... what did your church give to the SBC this past to: CP? Lottie Moon? Annie Armstrong?

[steve240]

You might find the following blogs of interest about C.J. Mahaney and the group he leads, Sovereign Grace Ministries:

www.sgmsurvivors.com
www.sgmrefuge.com

They tell another side. Hope this helps.