A Kinder, Gentler Conservatism – Christianity Today Magazine
Has a new day dawned in SBC politics? And will the supposed non-theological changes begin a new drift away from the importance of theology?
My brief take: How important was the Southern Baptist conservative resurgeance? My guess is that if the men who led the Convention as they have for the past twenty-five years had not lead as they have, I would not be writing to you from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lousiville, KY. In fact, I would not be involved to any degree with the Convention. Their service has been necessary, despite the political fall out and obvious cronyism.
However, from my own limited vantage point, the SBC leadership was not headed in a healthy direction. My thoughts are mostly subjective, yet, it appeared to me that the up and coming proposed leaders have less theological depth, less biblical commitment and less substance biblically and spiritually speaking. Their preaching ministries have been more reflective of the age of pragmatism than commitments to expository preaching and grounding their people in a biblical pattern of approaching life and ministry.
This is not to say that the new leader of our Convention will be much different. How he intends to broaden the participation is excitingly frightening [can I say that – yep, it’s my blog]. I can’t help but believe that theology will be less important in his approach to appointments. That is the frightening thing. Perhaps his appointments will include some fresh voices who have strong convictions, but because they did not run in the right political circles, have been excluded. We shall see.
I can tell you, I am so very encouraged by what I have been exposed to this week at Southern. I will post more on it next week. Suffice it to say, the level of conviction and depth has not waned at all at this instiution. I pray that the new winds will not push this place to new lows.
