Two Great Articles Today at Baptist Twenty One

J.D. Greear writes to young Southern Baptists who care about reaching the world but not so sure about the Convention. His article is here.

At one place, he writes:

"I have chosen, and our church has chosen, to remain an active part of the SBC. I have served on the Great Commission Task Force (GCRTF) for the past year, working at the request of the President to dream about strategies for greater missional effectiveness for our Convention. For me, this has had, and has, nothing to do with saving a Convention. God may or may not choose to use and preserve the SBC in the future. The SBC is merely a tool that God has used to assist His churches in accomplishing the Great Commission. The “tool” for the task is not the point, the task itself is, and if the tool ever gets in the way of the task, we should discard the tool and pursue the task. But I believe that there are some things about the SBC that are very strategic in this day and hour for the forward progress of the Great Commission, and I believe that it would be both unhelpful and unwise to walk away from it yet. So all this, for me, is about the Great Commission, and us together getting it accomplished in the world."

Greear closes with this challenge:

"So, to my younger Southern Baptist friends, this is why you need to come to Orlando. You need to affirm this movement in our Convention toward the priority of church planting and the centrality of the local church. This is an historic hour.

"My heart is full of confidence. God did something 20 years ago in the Southern Baptist Convention that was almost unheard of and has no counterpart in American religious history: He brought us back from the swamp of liberalism. The conservative resurgence was, in every way, a move of God. I cannot believe that He did that just to let us die in the wilderness of missional ineffectiveness. What God starts, He is always willing to finish. The naysayers have already prophesied the doom of our Convention—just like they did in Nehemiah’s day, in Jesus’ day, and in the early church. But they were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

"But we need your help. Do not commit the sin of Meroz, whose tribe was cursed because he did not come “to the help of the Lord” when the battle was being fought (Judges 5:23). I’d urge you not to be caught on the sidelines in this strategic hour of battle.

"Please, let’s be together in this movement in Orlando.

"So there it is… To our church planting teams in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Africa… this is for you guys. We’re expecting great things from God, and attempting great things for Him. Believe together with us, OK?"

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I say again, "May his tribe increase!"

Bio of David Platt who will be on the Baptist Twenty-One panel at the SBC next week. Here.

And yes, I am signed up for panel and plan to take in all of it.