B21 RADIO INTERVIEW WITH THE PATH (CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY RADIO)

Baptist 21 writers Jon Akin and Walter Strickland recently sat down with Chad Bresson to do a radio interview for THE PATH. The Path is a Christian radio station that broadcasts out of Cedarville University. Bresson asked Baptist 21 about the events of the Convention and what is in store for Baptist 21. You can check out the interview here.

Here are some of the questions asked in the interview:

1. Tell our listeners about Baptist 21.
2. Why would someone want to join the Southern Baptist Convention in 2009?
3. Why are young people not excited about the SBC?
4. Baptist 21’s vision sounds simple. Why is it necessary?
5. Is there a generation gap in the SBC?
6. On Baptist 21 you mention participation in the annual meeting as a problem the SBC. Can you still say that after this year?
7. As younger ministers in the SBC what is Baptist 21’s vision for the SBC?
8. What concerns you most about the SBC?
9. Why is it that the SBC is distracted from being “Gospel-centered?”
10. How can Baptist 21 change the lack of gospel-centeredness in the SBC?
11. Why is the Great Commission Resurgence a good thing in SBC life?
12. “2 Years from now Baptist 21 will be a success if…”?

You can also listen to interviews done at the SBC with: Danny Akin, Johnny Hunt, Ed Stetzer (2nd part), Alvin Reid, Mark Dever, JD Greear, Albert Mohler, and others.

Christmas in August

Christmas in August:

At this year’s SBC Dr. Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, challenged the Southern Baptist Convention to have a Christmas in August to make up for the Lottie Moon Mission’s Offering shortfall this year. Due to this shortfall, there are qualified missionaries that will be left at home because we cannot send them. In order to stem this trend, Baptist21 would like to encourage this Christmas in August campaign for the “propagation of the gospel” among the unreached nations and peoples of the world.

There are many churches who are jumping on board with this challenge, we hope many more will.

From the Southeastern Website:

In the midst of tough economic times, Southern Baptists are being challenged to dig deeply and financially support international missions by giving to a special Lottie Moon Christmas offering during August.

Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., said on Tuesday, June 23, at the Southern Baptist Convention that it is his desire to see Southeastern students, alumni and friends, and eventually all of the Southern Baptist Convention, to give so more can go overseas…

In light of news that the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention – the international missions arm of the SBC – is no longer financially able to send all of the eligible missionaries, Akin said, “It breaks my heart that people want to go, but we don’t have the funds to send them. I am not going to tell our students to look for a home assignment just because of a shortage of funds. I am going to tell them to look for a movement of God to get the necessary funds to get them to the fields… Southern Baptists are a Great Commission people. At moments of crisis and need, I have watched our people step up and respond time and time again.” He said the recent shortfall in the annual Lottie Moon Christmas offering “provides us with another opportunity to demonstrate our devotion to Christ and passion for the lost. That is what Christmas in August is all about.”

In addition, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is rallying people to this cause.

From a Special Webpage dedicated to Christmas in August by Southwestern Seminary:

Every Christmas for more than 100 years, Southern Baptists have promoted the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This offering, named after one of our great missionaries to China, was established in the winter of 1881 and has, since that time, enabled missionaries to traverse the world with the Gospel. Last year, however, the offering fell short of its necessary goal by nearly $30 million. This shortfall has resulted in the indefinite suspension of crucial missionary endeavors and a reduction in the number of full-time missionary appointments.

Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt and other SBC leaders have called for a special offering to be taken in local churches during the month of August as part of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. While you can give year round to the Lottie Moon offering, your gifts to Christmas in August will help offset the shortfall from 2008. Contributions will allow the SBC to continue sending missionaries all around the world. Please consider having such an offering in your local church.

Southwestern Seminary receives no money from this offering. We have developed the free resources below in support of the SBC, to further the Great Commission and to help a sister SBC agency. Please encourage your church to contribute to the International Mission Board for the purpose of reaching 6.5 billion people on this planet for Jesus Christ. Their eternal destiny depends on it.

Check out this website where this is a link to give directly to the Lottie Moon Offering, as well as a link that provides more information about Lottie Moon. In addition, they have created a Christmas in August Logo to be used by churches as they move their people to sacrificial giving in the month of August.

Please rally your churches to have a special day of worship to give to this offering as we long to see the name of Christ made famous among the nations to the Glory of our Great God.

Resources:

An Article in Florida Baptist Witness about Sustaining Missionaries from Ken Whitten, Pastor of Idlewild in Tampa.

Between the Times- has posted a blog about Christmas in August

JD Greear – has blogged about Summit’s plans to participate in a Christmas in August offering.

SWBTS’ Christmas in August Page- has resources for churches to use, including some logos, web banners, and bulletin inserts.

Here is also a video produced by Southwestern:

Baptist21 Podcast: Jon Akin’s Sermon on GCR Axiom 2-Gospel Centered

Part one of this series (Lordship of Christ) is available here.

Jon Akin is taking his congregation through Bible texts that relate to the different axioms of the GCR and showing why the local church should care about the GCR. Part 2 of this series deals with axiom 2, “A Commitment to Gospel-Centeredness. We call upon all Southern Baptists to make the gospel of Jesus Christ central in our lives, our churches, and our convention ministries. (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:17-21).” Jon Akin’s passage for his sermon on Axiom 2 is Matthew 4

[podcast]http://www.baptisttwentyone.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/JonAkinGCRaxiomTwo.mp3[/podcast]

Video from Dr. Akin’s GCR Sermon: Clip of Axiom 2

Baptist21 Podcast: Interview with J.D. Greear (pt.2)

Part one of this interview is available here.

Connect with the baptist21 podcast through I-Tunes here or through our Podcast Feed here.

In part two, J.D. talks about church planting nationally and internationally, church revitalization, multi-site, small groups, challenges facing the SBC, and more.

[podcast]http://www.baptisttwentyone.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/JD-Greear2.mp3[/podcast]

Interview Questions:

Note: This interview came pre-convention

• The Summit plants nationally and internationally, are there any differences in your process for planting nationally and also internationally?
• What advice would you give to those who are wrestling with either church planting or attempting church revitalization?
• What process do you all go through in important decisions at Summit, such as going to multi-site?
• What did you think of the 9marks Journal on Multi-Site Churches?
• What are the strengths of small group model as opposed to traditional Sunday School?
• What will the challenges be for the Evangelical World and the Southern Baptist Convention in the 21^st century?
• At what point would your church decide you would no longer give to the North Carolina Baptist Convention or the Southern Baptist Convention?

Thoughts from an IMB Missionary about Restructuring for Gospel-Centered Ministry

By: Marcus DeWare (pseudonym of a Guest Blogger who is a missionary in a high-security area)

I recently returned from an annual meeting of IMB colleagues.  Serving on the field sometimes requires families and individuals to be isolated from co-workers.  This annual meeting is a great time to congregate with co-laborers to worship God, encourage one another in our work, console those who are hurting, and to hear how our Master is moving among the various people groups we are targeting with the gospel.

On July 1, the IMB implemented a global restructuring and the changes will continue for several more months.  The motif of change reverberated throughout our whole meeting.  We have a new catalog of acronyms (and for anyone who has spent time with people from the Board, you know our company acronyms can be dizzying).  We have a new leadership structure. We have new team groupings.  The unreached people groups we are passionate about targeting are the heart of this re-organization.  These changes hope to facilitate front-line workers to be freed up and better equipped in their task.  These changes were more difficult for some than others.

I observed that the people who are affected most by these changes are the ones that are the most removed from front-line positions of evangelism and church planting.  Most people I talked to at our meeting who are front-line personnel do not feel like their assignment or task has changed at all. The people who are experiencing the most change and uneasiness are those serving in support positions and administrative roles.  Most everyone in our company does not like change, but we all embrace changes that will make us more useful for the sake of Jesus’ fame among the nations.

The changes we are experiencing as the missions agency of the SBC can help inform the changes the SBC may experience in the near future as a result of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I was one of the first people to sign the declaration. I love our convention and am grateful to God for the opportunities to be discipled in an SBC church, trained for gospel ministry in an SBC seminary, and sent out to the global harvest through our SBC missions agency.  I am expectantly looking forward to how the structure and arrangement of the SBC will be changing in the future so that all Southern Baptists may impact the globe for Jesus’ fame.  Several observations from our recent annual meeting are useful the SBC in the coming months and years.

1. Focused on lost people.  Testimony after testimony at our meeting highlighted how God is using a plethora of evangelism and training tactics to win the lost and equip national believers to reach their people. Jesus told the disciples to lift up their eyes and see that the harvest is plentiful. Our convention voted by a large majority last month to collectively look to the harvest fields of the world.  I sense a real desire among Southern Baptists to cooperate in a real way that penetrates lostness in our world.
2. Cooperation. SBC missionaries come from diverse backgrounds.  We are diverse in some of our theological convictions. Some are Calvinists and some are anti-Calvinists. Yet, the issues of one’s soteriology are rarely a factor in our efforts to reach people.  Perhaps, many field workers take for granted that we are all on the same page soteriologically because of the strenuous appointment process we go through.  Despite the differences we all know that no one will experience salvation unless they first hear the gospel.  Some may attempt to get the gospel to peoples ears by using humanitarian methods; others may employ business models, while others still teach in established institutions or do cold call evangelism. The methods are as diverse as our personalities. Despite the differences, we celebrate the victories and stir one another on to continue in good works. I look forward to the day Southern Baptists are so united in completing the Great Commission that we are described by outsiders as being united in one-mind.
3. Looking to the future and not dwelling on the past. IMB workers have seen God do great things through their ministries; they also admit that they have screwed up from time to time in their work.  However, my co-workers are not dwelling on their past victories or failures except to learn from them. Our collective vision is for the future and what God wants to do for his glory among the nations and our people groups specifically.  Southern Baptists do well to imitate this mentality. There is no need to finger point or make accusations.  The future ahead is a place none of us have ever visited.  Together we can take on the future without fear and carry the torch of the gospel learning from our past not idolizing the victories or criticizing the failures.
4. Sacrificial life-styles. Our family of missionaries certainly is allowed to see wonderful acts of God in bringing the nations to himself.  We are also a group of people that experience great suffering and sacrifice.  Last week, our group grieved the loss of an innovative and passionate colleague.  We live in many countries where M’s are not welcomed; so, people live day to day knowing tomorrow in their host country is not guaranteed.  Sometimes corruption and government interference restricts our ability to access our people.  Yet, we do not lose heart.  We joyfully make sacrifices that are necessary to get the gospel to the lost.  We even demonstrate that in our giving.  Approximately 200 personnel who are fully supported out of the CP gave just under $50,000 to a special LMCO at our meeting.  We are an example of the CP reinvesting in missions!  Will the people in our convention continue to make sacrifices (financially or otherwise) to get the gospel to their neighbors and communities?

I am praying for the SBC and the GCR Task Force.  I pray that through any changes the SBC may adopt that the convention will be more suited to do the work the gospel demands of us all as Southern Baptists.  Change is inevitable.  We can either impact the change or be impacted by it.  Through proactive steps and the visionary leadership of godly men and women in our denomination I believe the SBC still can look to great days ahead for the purpose of reaching the nations.  We exist as a cooperation of autonomous churches because of the gospel; we ought to maintain that gospel-centeredness through the changes and to the next generations.