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 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.

I signed a statement this past week. It was a statement that some wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ put together that speaks of our shared passion for the world to come to Christ and our commitment to helping make that happen. That statement is specifically designed to encourage the trustees of the International Mission Board to work to repeal the recent changes made to their guidelines for missionary service that have since cost many, many otherwise qualified candidates from serving overseas. This disappointing conclusion, arrived at by our IMB trustee board, is something that I have publicly communicated my displeasure about for quite some time so I won’t rehash that here. I would ask, however, that you read the statement yourself and consider signing it as well. You can do so by clicking here.

This week, in lieu of music, I want to post a video that was uploaded today to the IMB’s new site, CommissionStories.com. The creator of this video emailed me today and alerted me to it and after watching it, I wanted to pass it on to you. It is a remarkable testimony of God’s grace in a very, very dark place. I hope it encourages you this weekend.   

For some reason, however, I am not able at this point to resize the video and make it fit here on MicahFries.com. So, it’s not posted here on my blog but I’d still like you to take a look at it. You can view it by clicking here.

In a recent post I pointed you each to the writings of an IMB missionary to Ecuador, Guy Muse. Guy and his wife, Linda have been featured in a Baptist Press article today. BP particularly looks at some exciting church planting efforts that they are leading. I would encourage you each to run over and take a look at what God is doing through their efforts. It’s encouraging! 

Click here to read the article.

The title of this post is the remarkable quote from J.P Lipscomb as he spoke about his wife, Linda, who died on Valentine’s Day after a bus accident while serving in Asia with the IMB. As I read this article on Baptist Press today I was forced to be still for a moment and think through his words. The whole quote was actually: “Linda knew she was dying, we never had any respect for death. Death is given too much respect. … The only way you can get to heaven is to die.” I wonder how many of us have that kind of attitude when it comes to living for Christ? Throwing caution to the wind, racing towards the Kingdom, aggressively promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of the cost.

I’ll be honest with you,  I often struggle with having this kind of attitude.  Scripture is so clear to us in 1 Corinthians 15 when it says, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Too many of us struggle with living in fear of death. We live in terror of pain. We walk around worried that someone won’t like us or that something might bother us when reality tells us that all that anyone can do, at most, is kill us and what kind of punishment is that? It’s the gateway to eternity! Why do we fear the greatest hope that we have? 

I would encourage you to read the story of Linda Lipscomb and her death. I hope it challenges you like it has me.  

I am very excited to share with you the news that our church will be hosting our first GO Conference in October of 2008! This conference is an opportunity to be exposed to cutting edge missions on a very personal level. We have lined up a variety of incredible speakers including Dr. Bob Roberts and Dr. Jerry Rankin. We also have more speakers who have yet to be confirmed but who we will announce in the near future.

In addition, this conference will feature the opportunity to get to know various missionaries who are serving both here in America and overseas on a personal level. We will have a number of NAMB and IMB missionaries here on the campus to share in our services and lead break-out sessions. 

The conference will be October 24-26, 2008. Don’t miss it!