We thank God for Paige Patterson as he was one of the main leaders in the fight for the Southern Baptist Convention to return to being a Bible-believing group of believers some years ago. We thank God for Fred Luter leading the convention to keep the main thing the main thing — that is prayer, revival and soul-winning. We thank God for Frank Page being the executor of the two-year long prayer campaign. We thank God for Al Mohler who, for years, has been a clear, authoritative, Godly, and balanced voice on the sexual revolution in our country and our culture among many other issues. And we thank God for giving the new ERLC leader, Russell D. Moore, the wisdom, knowledge, and vision to put together this crucial summit at such a time as this.
It is obvious that this summit has been well prayed over and well thought through. We don’t know what is going to happen the next couple of days, but the first night was absolutely on point.
J.D. Greear, who delivered the keynote, is a bad boy who was off the chain. (For those who are ebonically-challenged, that means he was super-good.) God really used him, and the video of his message should be made available on Youtube or Vimeo for other pastors and Christians to benefit from as soon as possible. Jimmy Scroggins was also off the chain, and even though he stood strong for the Word of God against the abomination of homosexuality, he certainly did everything in his power to make our homosexual friends feel welcome by wearing no socks and pink pants. Greg Belser blessed our hearts because he reminded us of the old-fashioned preachers who would not tolerate a lot of the things that are going on in our society today, but he was trying his best to show love and grace.
Our only light-hearted criticism is that, since the subject of the summit is sex, it would be nice if the men had their wives sitting beside them while they discuss this issue. As you know, in our society, it is increasingly becoming unsettling to see a bunch of white men talking about sex.
Even though we have disagreed with some Southern Baptist positions down through the years (For example, when they boycotted Disney World a few years ago, we think they should have left Mickey Mouse alone.), one of the reasons why we have appreciated the new Southern Baptists is because, for the most part, they do things decently and in order. They also have a huge influence in our society, but they are humble and do not brag about it. We used to kid them by saying that they are the most organized group of Christians in the world, but oftentimes, they are also the most dead Christians in the world. Well, we can’t say that about them now because, due to the emphasis on prayer in recent years, you can now sense the power not only on the preaching, but last night, you could sense the power of the Holy Spirit on the prayers, the preaching, and the panel. Because of the emphasis on prayer over the past two years, the fire is back. The power is back. The anointing is on more and more of our Southern Baptist brethren.
This editor’s life verse is Zechariah 4:6 which says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” The power of the Spirit of God is moving on at least some of our Southern Baptist brethren. I believe that God has raised the Southern Baptist Convention back up to help lead all Christians at this most critical time, not only in the history of our nation, but in the recent history of Christianity.
If you are not too busy around 8 o’ clock CT on Tuesday morning, we strongly encourage you and your staff, no matter what denomination you are a part of, to tune in to BCNN3.TV and participate in the ERLC Leadership Summit on the Gospel and Human Sexuality live. Click here to tune in.
–BCNN1 Editors
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