Images from the 2021 SBC annual meeting in Nashville from June 13-16.
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Baptist Press
NASHVILLE (BP) – The SBC’s future hinges on a reemphasis on evangelism and missions, four former presidents agreed during a panel discussion before the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting.
Former SBC presidents Steve Gaines, Johnny Hunt, James Merritt and Fred Luter, who gathered for a session on the Vision Stage in the exhibit hall of the Music City Center on June 14, one day before the annual meeting opened, found agreement on the convention’s greatest needs.
Merritt, pastor at Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Ga., who served as SBC president from 2000-2002, said evangelism is “for the most part not on our radar on a day-to-day basis.”
“How often do we pray, ‘God put someone in my path today that I can talk to about Jesus?”’ Merritt said. “The two most embarrassing questions you can ask a Christian is when is the last time you led a person to Christ, and when was the last time you tried?” [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
NASHVILLE — One year after COVID-19 forced the cancelation of the 2020 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists came out in force in Nashville on June 15-16 with the highest messenger count since 1995 — and the largest since the turn of the century in 2000.
The messenger count totaled 15,726, marking the largest gathering since 11,959 messengers attended the SBC annual meeting in 2000 in Orlando. The number also far exceeded the 11,641 messengers who attended the last SBC held in Nashville in 2005. [Read more…]
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
WASHINGTON — The largest portion of teenagers in the U.S. believe that more than one religion may be true, Pew Research said in its latest revelation from a study of the religious beliefs and practices of teens and their parents.
Among 13- to 17-year-old teenagers, 45 percent believe many religions may be true, far outpacing the 31 percent who believe only one religion is true, Pew said. A much smaller portion, 15 percent, believe there is little to no truth in any religion, and 8 percent believe no religion is true.
Pew included a teenager and a parent from each household surveyed, and found that the religious beliefs of teenagers largely mirrored those of their parents. The largest portion, 47 percent, of parents included in the study said many religions may be true, compared to 33 percent who expressed an exclusivist view of religion, and 19 percent who said there is little or no truth in any religion.
When divided by religious affiliation, evangelical Protestant teenagers registered the largest portion of respondents, 66 percent, who believe in one religion, compared to 28 percent of the subset who believe many religions may be true, Pew said.
A majority, 57 percent, of respondents who identified as mainline Protestant told Pew they believe many religions may be true, compared to 28 percent of mainliners who believe only one religion is true. Catholic responders more closely mirrored mainline Protestants, with 54 percent of Catholic teens professing many religions may be true, and 31 percent saying only one religion is true. Among teens in the study who professed no religious affiliation, 6 percent said only one religion is true, and 46 percent said many religions may be true. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — Three researchers who have played various roles in the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines have a common thread — they were members of the Baptist Student Union (now Baptist Collegiate Ministry) at Vanderbilt University in Nashville while Bill Choate was BSU director at the university (see related story). Choate is now the BCM director for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
He remembers the three students — Buddy Creech, Josh Denny and Sheri Wilcox — well and has remained in contact with them over the years.
“What a blessing it is for campus ministers to be part of college students’ lives during their formative years,” said Choate. “Out of that time can come life-long friendships. Those relationships are really the greatest blessing of my personal investment in this ministry.” [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist & Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Recent statistics reveal that less than half of the United States population has been fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
According to Becker’s Hospital Review (visit site for full list of statistics), a total of 135,867,425 Americans have been fully vaccinated. That represents 40.9 percent of the country’s population as of June 1, according to data from the Center for Disease Control.
Only five states reported that more than 50 percent of their population was fully vaccinated — Vermont, 56.38 percent; Maine, 54.45 percent; Massachusetts, 53.84 percent; Connecticut, 53.68 percent; and Rhode Island, 51.76 percent. [Read more…]
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE — Saying they faced a defining moment, the “most important crossroads” in a generation, departing SBC President J.D. Greear challenged Southern Baptists to hear the concerns of the entire body while unifying around the one true Gospel and the Great Commission.
“If we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture as the rule for the church, let’s not rush into making the rules for the church we wish God had made had he understood the situation in 21st century America,” Greear charged the overflow crowd of messengers and guests Tuesday (June 15) at the Music City Center. “I am committed to letting the Scripture, and the Scripture alone, be our rule for faith and practice. Anything else is unnecessarily divisive.”
Greear said the moment required courage like he said was shown during the Conservative Resurgence of 40 years ago.
“Our defining moment,” he said, “is about whether we will let the Gospel that our forefathers preserved for us define the identity and determine the mission of our Convention.”
He exhorted Southern Baptists to make clear their disdain of racism and sexual abuse while avoiding characteristics Jesus assailed among the Pharisees in Matthew 23. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for considering their own traditions equal to Scripture, adhering to minutia of the law while avoiding the meat of the law, and ignoring God’s focus on the outsider. [Read more…]
By Kevin Willoughby
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE — As a musician since the age of 11, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told Southern Baptist evangelists he knows the first thing he has to do when he picks up an instrument is to tune it so each note sounds like it should.
Huckabee was the guest June 13 of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists (COSBE) at that group’s annual Sunday worship service before the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting. The service took place at Hermitage Hills Baptist Church in a northeast Nashville suburb.
Guy Penrod, longtime lead singer with the Gaither Vocal Band, also was a COSBE guest.
Instruments everywhere in the world that are not tuned to an unchanging, rigid, fixed standard are agonizing to listen to, Huckabee said in response to a question posed by evangelist Jerry Drace, a COSBE past president.
“I am deeply concerned that so many children are being raised up in a world where what they think, feel, believe becomes the standard,” Huckabee said. “We need to have our children and grandchildren tune themselves not to a trend, fashion, thought or vocabulary. [Read more…]
By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org
MILAN — Being uprooted is a common occurrence for church plants.
Rarely, however, does it happen in the manner in which Elevate Church experienced it.
The budding church in Milan — which is less than two years old — recently changed locations after a series of miraculous events.
Last fall, Dale Denning, pastor of Elevate, was invited to meet with the leadership team from Connect Church, a fellow church plant in the Milan area. The result of the meeting ultimately changed the direction, literally, of Elevate Church.
“When I met with them, they basically said ‘we want to give our building to Elevate Church,’ ” said Denning. “They told me that they would like for our church to start using their facility, and that their members would join with us.”
Although Connect’s building was only seven years old, the church leaders at Connect told Denning that this was a step God was leading them to take. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
NASHVILLE — As one would expect, Tennessee led the way in number of messengers (2,012) registered for the Southern Baptist Convention, held June 15-16 at the Music City Center in Nashville.
The messenger count totaled 15,726, the largest attended convention since 11,959 messengers attended the SBC annual meeting in 2000 in Orlando. The number also far exceeded the 11,641 messengers who attended the last SBC held in Nashville in 2005.
This year’s annual meeting was one of the first major events held in Nashville since COVID-19 hit the nation last year. The 2020 annual meeting in Orlando last year was canceled.
The SBC annual meeting was a welcome relief to the city of Nashville which suffered a dramatic drop in tourism in 2020. “The Music City Center is thrilled to be hosting the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest events in the nation since the convention industry had reopened post pandemic,” said Charles Starks, president and CEO of the Music City Center. [Read more…]
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