Several people have asked me to address the most recent issue related to the Pastor’s Conference line-up, and I wanted to take a moment to address it. However, we also need to address the work of the SBC.
The primary controversy on the pastor’s line-up stems from the issue that Hosanna Wong, a female “teaching pastor,” in a non-SBC church has been invited to perform “spoken Word” (poetry) at the SBC Pastor’s Conference. The BF&M 2000 is clear that the office of pastor is to be held by a man. By deciding to give a stage to people who operate contrary to some key southern Baptist beliefs, we have self-inflicted a wound to our unity and convention. The Pastor’s Conference should inspire and unite pastors as they are challenged from God’s Word, and it should point us to the mission God has given us.
Recently, these types of controversies seem to be cropping up more and more. We are in a pattern where we passionately discuss one controversy, but before we can find real solutions to it, the next controversy has arrived and distracted, leaving behind a bunch of unresolved issues in the SBC. We are also in a pattern where we become so distracted by each and every controversy that we fail to discuss, diagnose and solve key threats to our convention and Great Commission advance. We need to address and resolve our theological issues in a manner which enables us to do the Great Commission work Christ has given us.
As a result there are some things we need to keep in mind.
1. We only have a couple of days each year where we can handle important business as a convention. After that, the issues are handed back to the entities to work on. When it comes time to Orlando, and even now, we need to make sure we use our time to tackle the larger important issues, not just the specific controversies.
2. New controversies will always pop up. We can deal with them, but it needs to be clear and quick, and then get right back to fixing the other major threats to our convention and mission.
3. We need to make sure we are as passionate about the work of the mission as we are about the theology of the convention. We fought very hard for a conservative approach to the convention, however, if we fail to focus on the work of the mission, and do the work of uprooting and preventing abuse, and building transparency to regain trust, we will end up losing our convention.
These should be our focus as we seek to cooperate to reach the world for Christ.