Dr. Don Whitney, who used to be one of my professors at Midwestern, and is now a professor at Southern was the topic of an article that was published today over at Baptist Press. Actually it would be more accurate to say that a recent message on the topic of Church Discipline. I was just speaking yesterday with a group of area pastors about the need to be more faithful in implementing church discipline in the local church. We worked hard for a number of years at my last church to implement discipline and thankfully it was already part of our dna here at Frederick when I got here. I am convinced that the American church is need of many things. We need more consistent evangelism, discipleship, worship and fellowship. We need more effective pastors and more committed laypersons. What I think we need more than anything, however, is repentance. As pastors we have an obligation to lead our people to treat sin as serious and the biblical practice of Church Discipline is a necessary ingredient.

I would really encourage you to read the article. You can find it by clicking here.

I have returned home after 3,000 miles of traveling. I know my minivan better now than I ever hoped to know it. It was an enjoyable trip and a relaxing one, even though we drove and drove and drove and drove and drove. Thankfully my daughters are good travelers.

I’m just now beginning to formulate my thoughts about the convention meeting last week. I’ve read the thoughts of others whom I respect and find them to be incredibly varied. Some have argued that it was the best convention they’ve attended in some 30 years. Others have argued that it was the worst. It’s interesting to me to listen to the various perspectives. I decided that I would throw in a few of my thoughts as well, not that you are all that interested in them. These are not exhaustive thoughts, and may be repetetive for a few of you, but I hope that can be helpful none-the-less.

My opinion of the convention would probably fall somewhere between the two opinions mentioned above. I am not of the opinion that the convention was the most incredible that has occurred in recent years. It was much too uneventful for that. At the same time, it was a good convention, in my opinion, for that very same reason. I don’t mean that the convention was pointless, but rather that there seemed to be a spirit of harmony that has been missing over the past few years. There weren’t nearly as many jabs at various subgroups in the convention which I appreciated greatly. There seemed to be an effort to rally together around a common theme, regardless of past disagreements, which I enjoyed.

Presidential Election: The presidential election obviously did not go as I hoped. I was supporting Avery Willis and was disappointed to see him not win the election. Having said that, I was not disappointed to see Johnny Hunt win the nomination. Based on the questions and answers that Baptist Press provided, the only candidates I would have been displeased with would have been Frank Cox and Wiley Drake. Johnny’s stated commitment to evangelism/missions as well as the inclusion of younger pastors resonates with me. I hope he remains faithful to his opinion that the new policies at the IMB are unwise. If he would continue to apply pressure, it might be that the trustees will continue to listen and consider the need for change.

Great Commission Resurgence: Over and over and over again we heard talk of a Great Commission Resurgence from speakers, entity heads and convention attendees. This is fabulous for a number of reasons. First it is about time that a majority of speakers recognized that our convention needs some change. That’s a bit of a different tone than we heard over the past few years where that theme has primarily been ignored. It’s good to hear, and see, the concern. Secondly, though, it’s good for me to hear the call to a return to GC principles. While we must have a commitment to the primacy of scripture it cannot be an academic call only. Academic information without appropriate application is merely intellectual pursuit and not reflective of God’s call in scripture. I’m thankful for the call to be a GC people. Aside from one fairly glaring exception, the speakers from the platform seemed to embrace the idea that we need change and that there is hope if we will attempt to address our culture with a biblically faithful yet culturally relevant message.

Convention Message: Al Gilbert delivered the convention message. In a message that surely upset a few people, he challenged the convention by asking us to perform a “death-check”. He called us to recognize our own state of decline and to make necessary changes to move forward. His call to address our “bloated and unfocused” as well as “top-heavy” organizational structure was music to my ears. I continue to be convinced that we need an overhaul at the associational, state convention and national levels. I hope that Gilbert’s message resonated with more people.

Beyond that Gilbert’s statements in reference to the next generation were interesting. This quote in particular should be a wake-up call to a few people. “Soon, we will be passing the baton to the next generation, and I don’t know about you, but they tell me they are not sure they want it,” Gilbert said. “That should make us sad and that should make us ask how we want to hand it off to the next generation.”

Resolutions: Most of the resolutions were the usual myriad of pointless meanderings, except for the resolution that was a combination of Tom Ascol, Malcom Yarnell and Bart Barber’s resolution on Regenerate Church Membership. The consistent pursuit of Ascol, Yarnell and Barber (who was at a microphone but didn’t get to speak) to get the resolution amended so that it would mean something was much appreciated. The overwhelming approval of the convention speaks well of our time together. I know many pastors who will be using this resolution to help their people understand the need to be more responsible in terms of church membership. I sincerely appreciate these men working together to insure that it was approved.

Additionally the resolution offered on Ethnic Diversity was fantastic. I thought it could have a little more teeth, but I appreciated it none-the-less.

Business: This year’s business time was fairly benign. Aside from one motion made, which I’ll mention more in a minute, it was a fairly insignificant meeting. The one motion which was interesting, was provided by Jack Wilkerson, who recently retired from the Executive Committee of the SBC. His motion was to restrict SBC entity heads from serving as President of the SBC. This motion was referred to the ExComm, I believe, for consideration. It is my hope that the motion, which would have to come as an amendment to the SBC constitution, would be allowed to come to the floor next year in the form of a motion for the convention to vote on. I would vote in favor of the motion wholeheartedly. The President of the convention doesn’t have a lot of actual power, other than to nominate the Committee on Committees which puts together the Committee on Nominations. If the president, then, was also the president of an SBC entity, he would then be in a position to appoint those who will be responsible composing the Nominating Committee which would in turn nominate the trustees of that president’s entity. In other words, the president would have direct influence in appointing his bosses. Although this has happened in a few instances throughout SBC history, it does not justify its continued existence. In my opinion this reflects, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest. In an effort to be above board it would seem to me that this is a no-brainer.

Friends: One of the greatest aspects of the SBC for me, is the ability to further relationships with some incredible friends and develop relationships with new ones. The opportunity I have to connect with these guys helps remind me of the potential in our convention. It always leaves me wanting more time to soak up these guys’ knowledge. I can’t get enough of it.

Misc: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few various and sundry items from the convention that I found interesting, comical, disturbing or some combination of all three.

- We’ve got to do a better job screening our music. When the Gaither Vocal Band got up and sang a song about being somewhere between Jesus and John Wayne I almost proposed a motion against poor music right then and there.

- Serving is a privilege and a blast. Somehow Dr. Frank Page decided to place me on the Committee on Committees. Serving on the committee was a blast but was also humbling. It’s intriguing to watch how our convention works. It’s definitely something of a science. The other added bonus was getting to sit on stage for a few minutes during our committee’s report. It’s impressive to look out at some 8-10,000 seats, only half of which were full. If you look closely at this picture, you can see me on the side. It’s something like a “Where’s Waldo” picture.

- Dr. Frank Page finished his two year tenure as SBC President this year, and handed off the reigns of the Presidency to Johnny Hunt. In my opinion, Dr. Page has been the greatest SBC president since I have been aware of convention life, which would be some 25 years. I am grateful for his peaceful, yet firm, leadership. We need more men like Dr. Page. I agree with Ben Cole at this point that John Marshall may soon be that man.

- Tony Dungy showed up, which was interesting. Nothing really profound here, other than it’s cool to see an NFL coach at the SBC annual meeting.

- My almost motion. A few of you know that I strongly considered making a motion to ask the President of the Convention to compose a Research Committee to study and report back to the convention next year about the feasibility of merging the IMB and NAMB into one organization. Although I was prepared to make the motion, I spoke to some individuals from both organizations and was persuaded to pause for the time being. I still remain convinced, however, that it is an idea we need to consider and will strongly consider proposing the same thing next year. In fact, if you would join me in praying about it I would appreciate it.

Conclusion: Well, that about sums up my initial thoughts. All things considered I think it was a very good convention, and one that left me encouraged and looking forward to next year. It was not a convention without faults, obviously, but I have hope for the future. Of course, I’m something of an optimist so that might have something to do with it as well.

Finally, in an unrelated but very interesting note, the Royals just beat the Cardinals in St. Louis, again! Tomorrow we go for the sweep with Greinke on the mound.

Today continued to be a good day in Indy. The general consensus among those I spoke to was that this was the best convention they had attended in quite some time. Between the unity of the convention and the direction of our leadership I am heartened and encouraged. Today was particularly encouraging as we passed Tom Ascol, Malcom Yarnell and Bart Barber’s resolution on Regenerate Church Membership. It’s about time.

Today was also fantastic because I got to spend the afternoon (which is free time at the convention) with my wife. During that time I ate at Chik-Fil-A twice and we went on a boat ride down the Indy Canal which was a blast. I’m telling you, my wife and two meals at Chik-Fil-A makes for a killer afternoon.

I also spent a bit of time this morning speaking with Jim Hardwicke, who many of you will know as the former pastor of Frederick Boulevard. It was encouraging to hear from him about what God was doing in his life and to share with him the exciting things happening at Frederick!

Speaking of Frederick Boulevard, I was encouraged yesterday to learn that our church was recognized as one of the top 500 givers to the Cooperative Program in the entire SBC! If you know me well you know that I love the CP. It is incredibly encouraging to once again be reminded of the missions heart and faithful commitment of our people at Frederick Boulevard. It’s a lot of fun to be Frederick’s pastor.

The convention highlight of the day, however, was the IMB report tonight. Tracy and I cried as we listened and watched Dr. Rankin and the other members of the IMB family remind us of the greatness of our task, the greatness of our missions sending agency and most importantly, the greatness of our God. It was a wonderful way to end the convention. I am going to attempt to get a copy of the dvd from this evening to show it to our folks at Frederick Boulevard on a Sunday evening in a few weeks.

Well, I am going to sign off now. I’d love to write more and I may in a few days. Now, however, I need to go to bed. I’ve got to be up in 7 hours when we’ll jump in our van and drive to Wilmington, NC for my brother’s wedding. Ugh.

I promised that I wouldn’t be live blogging, nor blogging much at the convention, and that has held true. This convention has proved to be the busiest yet for me. I have been swamped with meetings. There are a number of people I’ve wanted to spend time with but simply haven’t been able to due to time constraints.  Nevertheless, I have thoroughly enjoyed this annual meeting.

The voting today was interesting, particularly in relation to the presidential election. Although the candidate that I favored, Avery Willis, did not win, I am encouraged to see that Dr. Johnny Hunt was elected particularly because Dr. Hunt has affirmed that he is opposed to the guideline changes at the IMB. It will be good to see a president continue to help oppose those extra-biblical policies. I also think this election, at least in part, reminded us of the power of the nomination speech. Ted Traylor, in my opinion, was far beyond the rest of the nominators in terms of quality and passion regarding his nomination speech. It was reflected, at least in part, by the vote total, in my opinion.

This day also had it’s goofy moments, as all conventions do. The strangest one, I think, for me anyway was hearing the Gaither Vocal Band sing that they were somewhere between Jesus and John Wayne. Hmmmmmm?

This convention has been good for me to be reminded of some of the tremendous statesmen that we are blessed with. Men like David Dockery, Jeff Iorg, Jerry Rankin and Danny Akin, among so many others, gives me great encouragement about our denomination. Spending time with younger guys as well has encouraged me. Guys like Nathan Finn, Doug Baker and Ed Stetzer (who’s not really as young as the rest of us but who thinks he is:-) ) and so many others prove that our convention has incredibly gifted people coming up to take the mantel of leadership in our convention and I am excited to see it. Guys like these are phenomenally intelligent, but are even more so passionate about Christ. They give me great excitement about SBC life to come.

Tomorrow should be a good day as we see what happens when the Resolution Committee reports out there resolutions as well as the IMB report which will be given tomorrow night.

I also should add that I have been contacted today via phone, email and text message by so many of you wanting updates on the convention and I’m sorry I haven’t replied to most of you yet. I just simply don’t have time. Hopefully I will have some more time in the next few days. Additionally it has come to my attention that this site is not showing up correctly in some internet browsers. I apologize for that. I don’t have time right now to fix what’s wrong, but I’ll attempt to work on that once I get back home. Please bear with me until then.

I am currently sitting in my hotel room relaxing after a long day here in Indy. Tracy and I made it here last night much quicker than we anticipated and thankfully missed all of the flooding that has covered Indiana just south of Indy.

Today was a busy day, but an enjoyable one. I spent a good bit of this morning meeting with some great folks. I had the opportunity to sit down with Ed Stetzer for a while and discuss his new book. A two part interview will be posted first thing in the morning. Make sure that you don’t miss that. I also spent a bit of time this afternoon with Avery Willis. The more I get to know him the more I am impressed with his genuine humility. During our conversation he couldn’t stop speaking about the need for our convention to experience revival. We need a President like that. Meeting Nathan Finn face to face was a great treat. I’m looking forward to spending a bit more time with him over the next day or two.

After all of this I had the great privilege of being a part of the Committee on Committee meeting. Serving on that committee has been a highlight of the convention for me. I’m excited about our report that comes out on Wednesday morning. In addition, after the committee meeting, Tracy and I were privileged to enjoy a dinner with the IMB. We got to listen to Dr. Rankin as well as a few other missionaries and wonderful, visionary pastor J.D. Greear. My passion for missions was only stirred to greater depths as I listened to them communicate about what God is doing around the world.

With that I think I’ll sign off for the night. It’s been a long day and tomorrow comes early. By the way, don’t forget to check Alan Cross’ blog during the day as he should be posting updates throughout the day. In addition I hear that Ed Stetzer’s going to be twittering again tomorrow so you should run by their as well and try to keep up with what’s going on at his site. We start the business sessions tomorrow so be sure to try and keep up. Between the business session and the presidential election it should be a fun-filled day!

Ok, so I know that I said I probably would not be posting again before Indy. Well, I wasn’t planning to until I received an email this afternoon from Dr. Nathan Finn who shared with me about a new site that he is contributing to, along with 4 other professors from Southeastern Seminary including the president, Dr. Danny Akin, found at BetweenTheTimes.com. Nathan, while speaking about the blog says, “We will be posting on a variety of topics, including theology, culture, mission, the SBC, and book reviews.”

To see Nathan continue his good work in writing is always encouraging but to see him joined by a number of able minded professors is particularly encouraging. I look forward to reading what is written there and I hope that you will take a few moments to do the same thing. I’m also looking forward to seeing one of our seminary presidents taking on blogging. It should be fun to watch.

You can connect with the new blog by clicking [here].

This should probably be my last post before heading to Indianapolis. I’m backed up with work to do and I’ve got a wedding to perform this weekend so I don’t think I’ll have time to write anymore. I wanted to write a quick note and mention a couple of things to look for while I’m gone to the convention.

• First, I will not be live blogging. I’m not planning to take my laptop into the convention hall this year which will be a first compared to the past couple of years. I will, however, be in communication during the convention with my good friend, Alan Cross. Alan can’t be in Indy this year but will have access to his computer. If anything important pops up, I will let Alan know and he will get the word out asap. Be sure to bookmark his site and be prepared to check his updates out.
• Although I won’t be live blogging, I’ll try to provide a nightly update on the convention. I am often very busy during this week so I’m not promising anything. I know, however, that it is pretty typical for my site traffic to triple during convention week so I know many of you are looking for info. I’ll do the best I can to provide it.
• I’m privileged to be a part of Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation’s blog tour to promote their new book, “Compelled by Love“. As part of that I will be posting a two part interview on Tuesday during the convention. Part 1 will feature a written interview which we did this week. Part 2, however, will feature an audio interview with Ed that we’ll be recording Monday morning in Indy. Be sure to watch for that. The book is fantastic and Stetzer and Nation help provide some excellent resources.
• Thankfully our church has been very generous in their commitment to missions giving through the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings and as a result Tracy and I have been invited to a dinner with the IMB and then a luncheon with NAMB. I’m looking forward to spending that time with the great missions thinkers in our convention.
• Ok, this one is kind of goofy, but I figured I’d have some fun this year and mix everybody up. I think I’m going to sport a suit every day of the convention. After my jeans and shirts over the past two years, I thought that would be a fun change of pace.

I have previously made my commitment to Avery Wills for 2008 SBC President clear. I believe he is the man who is best suited to lead our convention forward at this place in convention life.

One of the men in the IMB that I highly admire is Dr. Rodney Hammer. I first met Rodney while in training to go overseas with the IMB. Tracy and I lived side by side with Rodney, his wife and son. I learned then, while listening to Rodney teach during our training, to value his opinions significantly. Today Rodney briefly commented on SBCOutpost and offered his opinion about the upcoming SBC Presidential election. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would reproduce it here in hopes that even more people might consider his words.

SBC Friends,

I believe that Avery Willis is the one SBC presidential candidate that can bring what the SBC needs now…focus and leadership in spiritual renewal. Repentance and Revival will bring the fruit, the spiritual health, and the evangelism and mission results we so desparately desire. Beholdened to none except Christ, focused on the Kingdom, an Irenic conservative known and beloved throughout the Convention for his focus on spiritual health, revival, discipleship, evangelims and missions. It’s not his platform…it’s his entire life and ministry. The appointments and practical leadership will also see greater involvement of younger, more diverse, gospel and Kingdom focused Southern Baptists as well.
Bill Wagner is a good man. But Avery Willis is, I believe, God’s man for the hour and the model of what we need.

Amen Rodney, I couldn’t have said it better myself.