Unity Archives - Baptist & Reflector

FAMILY UNITY REQUIRES EFFORT FROM ALL

June 10, 2021

By Scott Shepherd
Worship And Music Specialist, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

“What’s Critical Race Theory?”
“Why did Russell Moore resign?”
“Can women be pastors?”
“Who are you going to vote for as SBC president?”
“Why did Beth Moore leave the Southern Baptist Convention?”

No, these aren’t hallway conversation predictions for the Southern Baptist Convention. Rather, they’re the types of questions I’m asked at home every day — at the dinner table, during morning coffee chats, car drives and a never-ending volley of text messages and Facebook Messenger replies.

The same discussions that dominate our national discourse (and, at times, fuel our Southern Baptist debates) have slipped into the Shepherd household.

And here’s the hard part: Sometimes members of my family come to drastically different conclusions. It’s challenging enough when I disagree with folks in a church or denominational setting, but how am I supposed to walk through these issues with the ones I love most?

I think the apostle Paul has a perfect answer:“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” — Ephesians 4:1-3 [Read more…]

THE SBC AND MAINTAINING MISSION FOCUS

June 2, 2021

By Randy C. Davis
President and Executive Director, TBMB

We are going to meet. We are actually coming together, in person, to represent more than 40,000 churches that comprise the network of churches called the Southern Baptist Convention.

While gathering for the annual SBC isn’t that earth shattering in itself – after all we’ve been doing it every year since 1845 through wars, pandemics, heated (and needed) theological debates, cultural shifts and massive economic downturns – it is a big deal this year because of the unceremonious way the global COVID-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to us having the convention last year. And like you, I’m excited to be gathering together.

However, there is a great danger to our future gathering if we allow our focus to stray from our purpose and results in “mission drift.” Possible? Absolutely, look at institutions like Harvard and Yale that were birthed as bastions of Christian values and biblical conservatism. You’d have to search long and hard to find a vestige of those roots on today’s campuses.

I’ll repeat what I’ve heard my friend and president of the International Mission Board, Paul Chitwood, say many times. “When the Great Commission is not the lead topic of conversation in Southern Baptist life, the other topics tend to divide us.” [Read more…]

GREEAR DECRIES DIVISION, REPUDIATES PHARISAICAL SPIRIT IN SBC EC ADDRESS

February 23, 2021

By Timothy Cockes
Baptist Press

JD Greear

NASHVILLE (BP) – Saying the global pandemic didn’t cause the crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention, but revealed “a deeper, more insidious crisis,” SBC President J.D. Greear challenged members of the SBC Executive Committee to “repudiate” a pharisaical spirit and unite for the sake of the Gospel.

“The last year has revealed areas of weakness in our beloved convention of churches,” Greear said Monday (Feb. 22), during the president’s address to the EC at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. “Fissures and failures and fleshly idolatries. COVID didn’t produce these crises. It only exposed them.” [Read more…]

BURNING WALLS AND BUILDING BRIDGES

January 19, 2021

By Charles A. Fowler
President, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City

The violence that took place at Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 is indefensible. It is an egregious violation of law and an extremely sad chapter in the history of our nation. Regardless of how justified some people who take such extreme and destructive actions may feel, violent events like this deserve to be condemned and hopefully those who planned and perpetrated those acts will face the rule of law.

Sadly, what we saw in Washington, D.C., is an escalation of many events that have taken place in our country over the last few years. It is heartbreaking that on a daily basis news stories inform us about violence that is destroying communities and taking lives all across our nation.

These events confront us with the sobering reality that our nation is in crisis and has been for some time. Many no longer value human life. Others are blind to the presence and painful cost of racism. Many fail to recognize the importance of community. [Read more…]

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