Ronnie Floyd

Archive for August, 2015

August 17th, 2015

4 Words Every Southern Baptist Needs Today

Join the Movement, Southern Baptist Convention

In this critical hour in our nation and world, I want to challenge each Christ follower and church to live by these four words.

In a day when people want to define their own truth, I believe we need to anchor our lives and ministries in God’s truth. I am speaking about truth that has always been true, is true, and will be forever true. Our churches, leaders, state and national conventions, and our state and national entities need to be fastened to the truth of God.

If we are not anchored in God’s truth, we will drift away from it. Our people and churches are challenged more in this area today than ever before.

Fastening ourselves to Scripture is the only way to avoid ending up in a ditch or drifting away from God’s Truth. In my newest book, FORWARD, I share in depth about the importance of truth.

I am anchored to the Bible. I believe in biblical inerrancy. I believe God inspired the Scripture; therefore, it is entirely true, authoritative, and trustworthy. It is God’s truth without error.

Do not assume your people believe and abide by this. Yes, this is our hope, but we must always lift up God’s truth, His Scripture, as the authoritative and infallible word on all things.

The assault on God’s truth is relentless, and our people need to be encouraged to abide by God’s Word continually. Please do all you can wherever you are to lift up God’s Word. What He says, He means. God always has the final word.

We need courage more today than ever before. There is so much at stake in our nation and world. Pastors, churches, and conventions must exhibit courage, always in love.

We need courageous pastors, leaders, churches, and conventions. The need for courage will only grow in the coming days. I can illustrate this for you with two examples from just last week.

Union University, located in Jackson, Tennessee, announced last week that they have withdrawn from the Council of Colleges and Universities because two member institutions have endorsed same-sex marriage. It was the courage of President, Dr. Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver, and the Board of Trustees at Union who exhibited courage in this situation. I applaud Dr. Oliver and the board, and may God keep Union University forever latched onto Scripture.

Since 1985, Dr. Barry McCarty has served as the Chief Parliamentarian of the Southern Baptist Convention. At the end of last week, it was announced that Dr. McCarty and his sweet wife, Pat, are joining a Southern Baptist Church and becoming Southern Baptists. Why? I will abbreviate what he stated:

Southern Baptists’ commitment to Holy Scripture and our statement of faith
Southern Baptists are speaking out on culture issues with clarity and integrity
Southern Baptists are penetrating lostness in North America and the world

It took courage for Barry and his wife to make this decision. We love Barry and Pat. Even though they seemed like family already, we welcome them formally and rejoice in their future not only as Southern Baptists, but also as faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I call upon us humbly today to live and lead courageously.

As we are fastened to Scripture, living and leading courageously, we cannot lead looking backward. We must keep our eyes on the future. What does God have for you in your future? What does God have in the future for your church? What does God have in the future for our convention?

I cannot paint a perfect picture of what it will look like in my future or the future of my church; therefore, I certainly cannot do that for you or our convention. What I do know is where I am in my life, ministry, church, and leadership, which leads to my prayer of conviction and surrender daily: “Lord, I am Yours, willing and available to do whatever it is You desire me to do in my life, ministry, church, and leadership. Whatever it is, the answer is ‘Yes’.” I try to lead my church this way daily.

Learn from the past. Focus on the future.

In this context, I am speaking of our Southern Baptist Family. As we are fastened to Scripture, living and leading courageously, and keeping our eyes on the future, we need each other more than ever before.

As a pastor or leader of a Christian institution or ministry, I would not want to fly solo in our culture today. I want to be part of a strong convention, denomination, or network that is latched onto Scripture in a firm manner. This is why I have reiterated that we must position ourselves as a convention that is ready to receive churches that fully agree with us doctrinally, missionally, and cooperatively into our denominational family. Thousands of strong, evangelical, Bible-believing churches need a family such as ours.

Southern Baptists, we need one another and we need other churches and ministries who believe like we believe biblically, missiologically, and cooperatively. Our task is bigger than any of us. We must find a way to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and make disciples of all the nations.

We cannot do this alone. We need family.

Now is the Time to Lead,

Ronnie W. Floyd

Senior Pastor, Cross Church
President, Southern Baptist Convention

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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide.

To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.

Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd

Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.

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August 14th, 2015

4 Reasons Why You Can Be Hopeful About the Southern Baptist Convention

Bible Studies for Life

The size and complexity of the Southern Baptist Convention often makes it the recipient of unfair criticism. I believe there are reasons why you can be hopeful about our convention today and for the future.

This does not mean there are not issues to be addressed. As President, I am privileged to be involved in matters across our convention. Yes, some things need attention and change.

But today, I want to focus on four reasons why you can be hopeful about the Southern Baptist Convention.

1. Our conversation today is about fulfilling the Great Commission more effectively.

For the past five to six years, our conversation as a convention has become focused on the right thing: Presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations. Our convention is focused on this grand effort and is working at both the state and national levels on how we can best assist our churches in their God-assigned task of reaching the world for Jesus Christ.

This conversation in the past has, at times, been sidelined by the wrong things, leading to divisiveness and disunity, resulting in a lack of trust. Some of where we are in our statistics today is a result of the years where non-essentials became highlighted and negativity became fashionable.

But be encouraged! We have seen the focus turn toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and we are continuing in that direction.

2. Our convictions today are setting us apart from many others.

Due to our two-decade long and needed battle over what we believe about Holy Scripture, our Southern Baptist Convention today is not warring over the cultural issues that are dividing so many denominations. Why? Because we believe the Bible is the Word of God and we believe it together.

While many denominations are signaling to the culture an uncertainty about many of these issues and even warring internally about them, we stand with clarity and unity. Thank God for our pastors and churches that are faithful to Scripture and courageous in their convictions. Because this is where our churches are, our Southern Baptist leaders can stand emboldened in this challenging hour.

3. Our Convention today is becoming younger in age and more ethnically diverse.

If you were present in Columbus, Ohio, at our 2015 convention, you saw how much younger we are and how much more diverse we are becoming ethnically. This should encourage each of us greatly.

What is happening nationally in our convention will occur eventually in your state convention. Perhaps it is already. It needs to occur in our churches. The future depends upon it.

Fifty-eight percent of the new churches we planted in North America last year were non-Anglo churches. Prayerfully, this will continue to increase. With our focus on church planting nationally and internationally, we will see a younger and more diverse audience increase.

4. Our recent experiences are leading us to a growing hope.

Since I have been President, I have tried to call us to extraordinary prayer for the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America. The most recent convention in Columbus exemplified this in many ways, where thousands joined us in prayer during the Tuesday night session for the next Great Awakening and to Reach the World for Christ. In fact, I believe the entire convention, along with the ministries, meetings, and conferences that preceded it were highly positive and hopeful experiences.

Then, as thirteen thousand of us gathered this past week in Nashville focusing on living our lives on mission with God, it is evident that God is working. What we saw and experienced in our SEND Conference in Nashville is the coming Southern Baptist Convention where the arena is filled with enthusiasm and life, abounding in young adults and ethnic diversity.

Therefore, be encouraged. If you missed the 2015 Southern Baptist Convention, watch this recap video. If you missed the SEND Conference this week in Nashville, you can watch the recap here. Each have their distinct purpose, but this is what we are doing together. Be encouraged.

Yet My Eyes are not Blind to Reality

Dear friends, though I am increasingly hopeful about our present and our future, my eyes are not blind to reality. While I believe so passionately in our hope for the future, I am just as burdened by:

Descent in evangelism and baptisms
Lack of contagious and sacrificial giving in funding our mission to reach the world for Christ
Minimization of the need for extraordinary prayer and the power of God

These begin in the local churches that comprise the Southern Baptist Convention. Somehow, some way, we need to prioritize these matters more than ever before in our churches and the result will be a robust explosion in our churches in reaching the world for Christ together.