Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
Guest Post | Seven Reasons Why Pastors Should Attend the SBC Meeting in Columbus by Ronnie Parrott
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Ronnie Parrott. Ronnie is Special Assistant to the SBC President, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, & Pastor of North American Church Planting and the Cross Church Network.
This article was previously posted on the Baptist21 website. It is used here by the author’s permission.
This coming June 16-17, thousands of Southern Baptists will gather in Columbus, Ohio, for our annual meeting. In light of the approaching convention, I want to share 7 reasons why I believe pastors should join us in Columbus.
1. Gospel Legacy. This will be the 158th session of our 170-year history. That’s right… 170 years and 158 meetings. It’s important for us to understand the faithful gospel legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation since 1845. We have not been a perfect denomination. In fact, we have a tainted past when it comes to subjects like racism and abortion. But we have sought to repent of our past and chart a biblical way forward.
When faced with a liberal trajectory, faithful men and women fought to bring our convention back to understanding the biblical inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures through what is known as the Conservative Resurgence. Over the last 170 years, many under the banner of Southern Baptists, have contended for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The task of continuing this great gospel legacy now rests with us.
2. A National Call For Prayer to All Southern Baptists. One of the highlights of this year’s meeting is a prayer gathering. On Tuesday night, June 16, Dr. Ronnie Floyd and other SBC pastors will lead our convention attendees in a time of intentional prayer over many different matters concerning our denomination and country. Thousands will unite under one roof, asking God to bring about a great awakening across the world and accomplish the Great Commission in our lifetime. This extraordinary gathering of men seeking God through prayer and petition is one not to be missed.
3. Church and Mission Sending Celebration. The SBC was formed on the belief that churches could do more for missions together than they could apart. The North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board are two key entities that work with our churches to identify, equip, and launch missionaries and church planters around the world. In effect, they help churches plant churches.
On Wednesday morning of our annual meeting, we will witness the commissioning of a hundred missionaries around the world. We will see their faces, hear their stories, and pray for them as they take the next step toward landing on the field for the name of Christ. Kevin Ezell and David Platt will lead this service along with Ronnie Floyd. This sending service will be a powerful moment for our pastors and is sure to be a ceremony unlike any other of our time.
4. The President’s Panel: The Supreme Court and Same-Sex Marriage. The Supreme Court is set to take up the issue of same-sex marriage with a decision this summer, most likely late June. As new realities approach concerning same-sex marriage, a panel will convene at this year’s SBC intended to help prepare churches for what will follow the Court’s decision. The decision will have an impact on every local church in our denomination, and as pastors, we must be informed on how to best lead through these days, gaining ground on the forefront of the culture wars.
5. Events Surrounding the Annual Meeting. When pastors attend a SBC annual meeting, they don’t just go for the meeting. The meeting consists of 3 1/2 days of jam-packed, edifying events. Here are a few of the events you do not want to miss:
- The SBC Pastor’s Conference – The Pastor’s Conference begins on Sunday evening before the SBC and continues throughout all of Monday. The dates for this year’s pastor’s conference are June 14 and 15. The conference consists of a full day and a half of preaching from various pastors and leaders from around the country. This year, speakers include David Platt, James McDonald, J.D. Greear, Paul David Trip, Ronnie Floyd, and many others. You can view the full line-up at sbcpc.net.
- The Baptist21 Panel. Columbus will mark seven years of the SBC hosting the B21 Panel at the annual meeting. The panel takes place during the Tuesday lunch of the annual meeting, immediately following the closing of the morning session. Each year brings new panelists and new questions for discussion. Though the full list of panelists have yet to be announced, some names include, Albert Mohler (SBTS President), David Platt (IMB President), and Russell Moore (ERLC President). We truly hope you won’t miss this exciting panel as key leaders in the SBC discuss the most pressing issues facing the church and what these matters mean for our mission.
- 9 Marks at 9. Each year 9 Mark holds a two-night event at 9:00 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday of the SBC. Each night’s activity is led by Mark Dever and includes guest panelists in a question and answer format. The events are always incredibly helpful for pastors and leaders. While this year’s events have not been formally announced, you can keep watch on the announcement at org.
- SBC Ministers’ Wives Luncheon. While you as pastors are attending the Baptist21 Panel on Tuesday, June 16th, LifeWay hosts a luncheon specifically to minister to your wife. Speaker and writer Angie Smith will be headlining the event, and it is sure to be a tremendous time of encouragement and fellowship. One minister’s wife will be awarded The Willie Turner Dawson Award, an honor given annually since 1958. Information about the event, as well as nomination forms for the award, are available on the website.
6. Network and Fellowship with other Pastors. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always a personal highlight of my time at the SBC. The opportunity to network beyond one meeting a year is one of the great realities of social media. But no amount of social media can replace the time you are afforded with someone face to face. Brothers need brothers, and the SBC meeting is a time to eat together, laugh together, and talk ministry together. For this, I’m thankful.
7. A Time to Refocus. Each year, thousands of SBC pastors and laypersons, representing thousands of churches throughout our country, gather together to worship our King Jesus. For two days, we subject our hearts and minds to our mission as a denomination to train pastors, equip churches, and launch missionaries. These are our priorities. This is what we do. It’s our DNA. Though oftentimes we drift into our own small kingdoms, forgetting our priorities, the annual meeting helps us reengage in our calling with renewed passion. We go back home to our churches and get after it in the name of Jesus.
So I invite you to Columbus. Come, join us as we gather together for a few days to worship our risen King Jesus, launch missionaries, hear about the training of a new generation of pastors, and pray for God to move and work like never before.
I hope to meet you there!
Ronnie Parrott
Here’s a detailed look at this year’s annual meeting:
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Guest Post | Replacement Church: 3 Reasons Christians Skip Church by Jeff Crawford
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Dr. Jeff Crawford. Dr. Crawford is the President of Cross Church School of Ministry and a Teaching Pastor at Cross Church.
This article was originally posted on Dr. Crawford’s personal blog on March 30, 2015, and is used here by permission.
Christianity Today recently reported that nearly half of polled senior pastors believe that in the future some people will experience their faith exclusively via the Internet. The results were culled from a recent Barna Group survey.
The report goes on to dissect whether or not this is problematic. I would say that it is, YES, very problematic. Not seeking faith assistance via the web, but seeking it exclusively. I use the Internet all the time to supplement my religious experience. I listen to podcasts, read articles and blogs, engage in social media, etc. In fact, I believe most Christians do. But the Internet becomes theologically void when it replaces rather than compliments the faith experience of the believer in a local church.
Why?
Because the Internet, social media, podcasts of your favorite preacher, or whatever cannot duplicate an irreplaceable tenant of the faith… “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” – Hebrews 10:25
At this point we see that the problem is not the Internet, but rather the problem is one of the heart. And we also see that the temptation to “neglect” going to church to meet together with other believers is not something new to our American culture but has plagued the heart of believers since the earliest days of the church.
So the question that should be asked is this: Why would a Christian not want to be a part of a local church? And by implication, replace the local church experience with a virtual experience or something else?
The answer to that question could take us in many directions, but here are a few that come to mind.
1. “I love Jesus, I just don’t like the church.” I’ve heard this through the years ad nauseam. If you dig on this you will typically find additional comments like “church people are hypocrites,” and “church is boring,” and on and on. While not discounting the hurt many people feel from bad church experiences (I have some stories of my own to tell), the whole “I love Jesus but not church” thing smacks of arrogance to me. Basically, an “I’m too good for you” attitude. Theologically, such a statement is offensive to God. How can you say you love Jesus but hate His bride? If you said you liked me but not my wife, I’d say, “See ya!”
2. “We have a game on Sunday.” Or a gymnastics competition, or swim, or cheer, or whatever. Just pick the sport and insert. Sunday used to be sacred. No group or organization dared tread on Sunday because of a thing called church. That was so long ago, though, that most people outside the church don’t link the two together anymore. And sadly, too many inside the church no longer link them together either. Fall ball, spring ball, summer ball, travel ball. The culture of travel sports is dominating the mindset of parents. Yes, I put this squarely on the shoulders of parents. Most of who don’t have a clue how often they really are out of church. In their mind, church will always be there (next Sunday) but baseball is only for a season. And kids are only kids once, right? Yes, that’s right. And once again, I put this to the parents who, as I said above, don’t have a clue what they are actually modeling and teaching their kids. Do we really think it’s going to become easier for the next generation to say “Yes” to Jesus and “Yes” to church? My great fear is that once ball season is over, and kids grow up, and Mom and Dad come back to church (maybe) and the kids don’t, Mom and Dad will look at each other with puzzled expressions and cry out to their pastor, “I don’t understand why my son isn’t interested in church?! After all, we raised him in church!” And that’s the point…. You didn’t.
3. “We have church with just us.” This form of neglecting the gathering together with other believers sort of flows from the above two excuses. I’ve heard folks talk about how they “have church” at the ball field, or how a group of buddies will “have church” on the golf course, or how a family with a spiritual control freak father will “have church” in their house. So there is one major problem in how all these groups “have church”… it’s not CHURCH. Yes, where two or more are gathered, God is in the midst of them. And that is all good and well, and I’m not saying there’s no benefit in this, but just like the Internet, what can be a good supplement makes a poor replacement. A church has a pastor. A church functions to draw people in. A church functions to evangelize the lost. A church brings in the tithe. A church sends missionaries to foreign lands. A church worships as a whole, not in parts. But that group of buddies on the golf course, or that huddle of parents sharing a devotion before the first pitch, or that dad surrounded by his wife and kids (and maybe even another family) in his living room does none of these things. So call it what you will, but it’s not a church.
I could go on and on. But I suppose in the end, it’s all about what you give your life to. Christ calls us to give our lives to him and to live out our faith in a community of believers called the church. The church is God’s instrument to change the world. Travel tournaments, holy huddles, and the Internet just can’t do that.
Dr. Jeff Crawford
President, Cross Church School of Ministry
Teaching Pastor, Cross Church
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.