Cooperation Makes a Difference

First Baptist Church of Southlake is a Southern Baptist Church. That simply means that we have aligned in basic agreement with thousands of other like minded churches to pool our resources to advance the cause of Christ via the Great Commission.

As a part of that cooperation we are also aligned with the smaller Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. This is a cooperative of churches in Texas that have joined together to support the Southern Baptist Convention.

If you are new to this, here is how it looks. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the overarching international group. It is the large umbrella. The Southern Bapist of Texas (SBTC) is a smaller umbrella to support the SBC. BUT,(this is important), it is an inverted hierarchical structure. The power of the convention does not sit at the top, but the bottom. The convention exists at the behest and direction of each local church. That means, small, little FBC Southlake is part boss of the SBC and SBTC. They don't give us orders, we give them orders.

Each state has at least one, sometimes more, state conventions that cooperate with the SBC in many ways. In my biased (but accurate) opinion, the SBTC is the best state convention. We belong to this great organization. When the economic crisis hit last year one of the negative impact was on missions of the SBC. The board did not have to lay off any missionaries, but it did have to halt processing and sending out more. This week at the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, Kentucky the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention gave a check to the mission board for $100,000. This is to fund the sending out of new missionaries. That is an amazing act of faith and commitment to the Great Commission. My church was a part of that. Through our giving we helped fund missionaries who would not have been able to go to the mission field otherwise.

That's not all. The way the dollar moves from church to missionaries happens differently in each state. When someone gives money to our church, a portion of that is forward onto our state convention, the SBTC. The SBTC gathers our money, and every other church that chooses to participate. Then the SBTC forwards an amazing 54% of all that money to the international SBC. The SBC then allocates those funds mainly for missions at home and abroad. That 54% is what is remarkable. There is another state convention in Texas. The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) it only forwards about %20 (last I heard) to the SBC. The rest it keeps because it has to pay for its bloated, beaurocratic entities. That is pitiful! The SBTC has been committed to minimal beaurocratic expenses to keep missions at the forefront. I am thankful to be a part of the SBTC.

Click to go to the Southern Baptist of Texas website.

Click to go to the Southern Baptist website.

Southern Baptist Convention 2009

This week is the annual convention of the Southern Baptist Convention. There always seems to be a lot of negative press about us Baptists (sometimes deservedly so). I would like to highlight a couple of positives.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest elective gathering in the world.
In the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike Southern Baptists provided 3.7 million meals in the first 30 days.

In the days, months, and years after the tsunami in the Pacific Rim Southern Baptists have help construct dozens of orphanages.

Before the convention starts every year the Southern Baptist’s organize a coordinated effort to do ministry and evangelism in the city that is hosting the convention. This year 107 churches, 3000 people joined together in Louisville, Kentucky. 1012 people placed their faith in Christ as a result.

The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ministry is the third largest in the USA, only behind Red Cross and United Way.

The great thing for First Baptist Southlake is that we were a part of all that. The money that is used to fund all of those fantastic ministries, and even more that weren’t mentioned yet, comes from churches like ours all across the world. A portion of the money that people give to our church is sent to the Southern Baptist Convention. This is called the “Cooperative Program”. This is a great, God directed strategy for mutual participation in the Great Commission.

Fishing At The SBC

No I didn’t bring my rod and reel, but I did go to a great seminar by Dr. Roy Fish. He was my evangelism professor while I was at seminary and I love to listen to him. His seminar was on the need to be more intentionally evangelistic. It was a great seminar.

He told a story about a neighbor he had named Eddy. Dr. Fish has always been an evangelist but when he moved next door to Eddy he thought he would take it slow. Eddy had a great fear of preachers anyway. He would become physically nervous every time Dr. Fish would come around to visit with him.

Over time Dr. Fish began to make some progress in getting to know Eddy. He helped him in his yard on occasion and felt like he was going to win him to Christ eventually.
On weekend Dr. Fish was out of town and his wife called him. “Eddy died of a heart attack.” That news broke Dr. Fish’s heart. He resolved not to let his neighborhood die and go to hell if he could do anything about it.

So, he moved. (At this point in the seminar uproarious laughter occurred.) Dr. Fish prayed and asked God to give him a new start in his new neighborhood. He prayed that he could develop friendships with his neighbors for the clear purpose of sharing Christ with them.

Here are some other thoughts that captured my attention from this seminar:

1. Sowing is just as important as reaping.
I may never win souls like Dr. Fish has, but Jesus says in John 4 that some sow and others reap, but that both rejoice. (See John 4:34-38)
Sowing is incredibly important. Putting the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the hearts and minds of others is extremely valuable. The question is, am I even doing that much?


2. We’ve got to focus on young people.
At the current rate, statistics indicate that there is a generation of young people that will be lost. That means that when the current generation of Christian older people are no longer here, there will be few to replace them.
We have to make it a priority to share the gospel with children and teens. We need to intentionally sow the seed of Christ into their lives on a consistent and regular basis.


3. The greatest motivation for being evangelistic and sharing the gospel…
The reality of HELL!

There is a movement in society, and even Christian society, that denies the reality of hell. Jesus could not be more clear about the truth that there is a hell and people do go there. No soundly saved saint should want any to perish in their sin and spend an eternity in that awful place. Hell is real, and we have a part in taking the life saving message of Christ so that some will be spared from that horrible place.

At The Southern Baptist Convention

This week I am in San Antonio Texas for the annual Southern Baptist Convention. Sunday and Monday they have what is called the “Pastor’s Conference”. At this they have several noted speakers that come and give messages and sermons. I heard two great speakers last night.

Dr. Paige Patterson gave a testimony on pressing on through suffering and opposition that was very good. The hope of the Christian life is that our temporary struggles, pain, and suffering will be far outweighed by the future glory of being with Christ in heaven.

I also heard a great sermon by Dr. Jerry Vines. He is a fantastic expository preacher. I really enjoy not only the content of his sermons but listening to the way he crafts and molds his messages. He preached out of Acts 8 about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. The main point, we need to be looking for God ordained opportunities to share Jesus Christ.

Additional Observations about the SBC:

1. It is huge!!!! It is being held at the convention center in downtown San Antonio and the place is enormous. I am not sure how many people were there last night, but it was thousands.

2. I like San Antonio. I went by the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Great places to see, although it would have been better if Michelle were with me.

3. It’s pretty hot.