The GCRTF was commissioned to study what we do as a convention and bring back recommendations (and challenges) to the SBC about how we can more faithfully and effectively cooperate together in the Great Commission. In the challenges section every Southern Baptist entity is challenged to take steps to see a GCR take place in our world, and that includes associations! This is great. The only way a GCR will happen is if we all own it. Many already are and have been for some time.

Since the release of the GCRTF report some have feared that the GCR recommendation to phase out the cooperative agreements will “devastate” the work of local associations and state conventions. They think they will cause massive job loss and less mission work in the fields of North America.

The TF has consistently said that these recommendations are about penetrating lostness by redirecting significant resources to places with very little access to the Gospel and a strategic focus on church planting.

So, how can associations or state conventions thrive, focus on church planting, and penetrate lostness if they receive less funds to do so?

It is in this context that Baptist 21 wanted to do an interview with Bill Agee to highlight the work he did as the DOM in the Central Baptist Association (CBA) in Phoenix, Arizona. He made adjustments to tighten the focus of the association, and in the process led the association to dominate in church planting.

We think this story is significant for the SBC and the GCR discussions because it gives us just one example of what a GCR might look like and the impact it might have if we all own the vision. Many have been doing it for quite some time!

Important Points in the Interview:

• Bill led the CBA to streamline away from a committee structure to 3 teams that were given priority: 1) Pastor development, 2) Church strengthening, and 3) Church planting.
• Bill argues that the role of the association is to assist churches in carrying out the vision God has given to them, not the churches helping the association do ministry.
• Money follows Vision! CBA budget tripled in Bill’s time there because the churches saw that the association was now about them, and they knew that when they gave money it would come back to touch the field.
• Bill set a goal early on to return 100% of what the church gave back to touch the field, which meant making investments so staff could be paid. Today that association, under new leadership, has almost 2.5 million dollars in investments and returns 129% of what the churches gave back to the field.
• The average association nationally returns only 3% of what the churches give back to the field.
• CBA chose to focus on “dominating” in a few things instead of being stretched thin and trying to do a bunch of things. One area in which they dominated was church planting. 73 churches were planted over a 10 year period in a key western city.
• In order to assist churches in planting, Bill worked with builders before new communities were built to ask them to draw a location for a church into the plan before they submitted it to the city, and the association would purchase the land beforehand. This meant the churches didn’t have to go back for zoning approval later.
• When Bill arrived the association had a $200 a month church planting budget, and when he left it was at $20,000 a month!
• CBA, in order to concentrate on 3 priorities, sold their building and rented office space at a local church.
• CBA reduced the number of employees to become leaner and more focused on serving the churches.
• CBA didn’t receive cooperative agreement funds.
• Bill says GCRTF recommendations will not devastate the work of local associations. He says that pioneer areas especially have nothing to worry about.

Before Bill worked as a DOM he was a church planter. He and his wife moved site unseen to South Dakota after being married to plant a church. In 10 years they planted a church in every community around them for 60 miles. Recently Bill Agee was appointed as the Church Planting Strategist for FBC Woodstock to begin a church planting school at FBCW. Consider attending the school if you are at all interested in church planting. It will be held September 20-22.

Listen to the interview and hear the story of one of our many Baptist associations that shifted their priorities and made a tremendous impact on a key city!

Bill Agee Interview

Some of the Questions Asked:

• Bill’s background in church planting and convention ministry?
• Bill’s work at the Central Baptist Association in Phoenix?
• Was his association helped by cooperative agreement funds?
• How many churches did the Central Baptist Association plant? What changes allowed the association to focus so heavily on church planting?
• What is the role of an association? Strengths? Weaknesses?
• Will the GCR recommendations, especially phasing out cooperative agreements, “devastate” the work of associations? How can associations adapt what they are doing to thrive in the future?
• How associations can go about asking tough questions and prioritizing mission?

The game is changing, and at every level in the SBC we are going to need to adapt to keep up with the changes. We at Baptist 21 are grateful for local associations, state conventions, and our national entities, and we believe their brightest days could be in front of them if they rise to meet the challenges of change. Here is one example of an association where streamlining didn’t destroy mission work; it advanced it! This is one model of what a GCR could look like in a local association.

Further Resource: Baptist 21 highly recommends also listening to Mike Day’s address at the Baptist Identity II Conference at Union University in 2007. He talks about the role of the association and changes that are being made. The address is titled, “The Future of Baptist Associations and State Conventions.”

Video Part 1 of B21 Panel

B21 Panel @ Advance the Church from Nathan Akin on Vimeo.

Video Part 2 of B21 Panel

B21 Panel @ Advance the Church (pt 2) from Daniel Akin on Vimeo.

Podcast Audio of B21 Panel @ ATC

Check out B21 Podcast on I-Tunes

Additional Resources: Audio from the Advance the Church Conference 2010 – Check out the talks from the Advance Conference on “Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South”

Special Thanks: We did not think we were going to get video of the panel but Scott Thomas’ Assistant Adriel Ifland was kind of enough to capture the video for us. We are thankful for her kindness and help.

Future Baptist21 Events: Baptist21 will host two future events. The first will be held in Arnold, Missouri next Monday and will feature Darrin Patrick, Alvin Reid, Bruce Ashford, and Kenny Qualls discussing “Men on Mission.” Hear Darrin Patrick discuss the event. Register today for free books and lunch.

Also, b21 will host a panel lunch at this year’s SBC. The panelists will include Matt Chandler, Danny Akin, David Platt, Albert Mohler, Ed Stetzer, and more. Registration and more information about that event.

Baptist21 picks back up on Jon Akin’s sermon series through the Proverbs.

Here is an excerpt from his first blog about this series:

Proverbs is a favorite book for many Christians. But for many that is because they view the proverbs as “the Hebrew version of Dear Abby” (Russell Moore). They see Proverbs as giving practical tips on how to live life, but the proverbs of King Solomon are MORE than that. Proverbs presents to its readers the path of wisdom that leads to life and the path of folly that leads to death. So, folly is more than immaturity or silliness. Folly is failing to see the world clearly and following a way that seems right but leads to death (14:12). Wisdom is more than mere intelligence; rather, it is viewing the world rightly. There is a moral dimension to wisdom. Wisdom is avoiding the path of wickedness that ultimately leads to judgment and death. To him who has ears to hear the Spirit reveals two things in Proverbs:  1) Wisdom is humble dependence on Yahweh (faith) and 2) Wisdom is NOT a thing. Wisdom is a person you need to embrace! Proverbs presents two competing paths, two competing personas: Wisdom and Folly (cf. Prov. 9). They stand at the street corners and call you into a relationship, but who’s voice will you listen to? If you are failing to meet the wisdom of Proverbs and are walking the path of foolishness in the way you use your tongue, the way you parent your children, the way you handle your money, the way you work your job, and a hundred other every day issues of life, it is because you are not listening to the voice of Wisdom. The Wisdom of God calls out to you with a Galilean accent (1 Cor. 1:24). The question of Proverbs is will you hear the voice of the Greater Solomon (Matt. 12:42)?

Part One of Jon Akin’s “The Gospel and Proverbs,” the Solomon narrative in 1 Kings

Part Two of Jon Akin’s “The Gospel and Proverbs,” Proverbs Chapter 1

In part 3, Jon Akin concludes the first chapter of Proverbs.

Previous Sermons in the Series:

Part one of this series: (Lordship of Christ) – Philippians 2

Part two of this series: (Gospel-Centeredness) – Matthew 4

Part three of this series: (Commitment to the Great Commandments) – Matthew 22:34-40

Part four of this series: (Inerrancy and Sufficiency of the Bible) – 2 Timothy 3:14-17

The recording for part five is not available.

Part six of this series: (A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches) – Matthew 16

Part seven of this series: (A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching) – Acts 16

Jon Akin sermon series through the Axioms of the Great Commission Resurgence Declaration continues with Axiom 8 “A Commitment to a Methodological Diversity that is Biblically Informed.” In examining this axiom, he teaches his people through 1 Corinthians 9.

Axiom 8 States:

VIII. A Commitment to a Methodological Diversity that is Biblically Informed. We call upon all Southern Baptists to consider themselves and their churches to be missionaries in non-Christian cultures, each of which requires unique strategies and emphases if the gospel is to penetrate and saturate every community in North America. (Phil. 2:1-5; 4:2-9)

There are essential and non-negotiable components of biblical ministry like proclamation, evangelism, service to others, prayer, and corporate worship. At the same time, we are convinced there is no specific style or method ordained by our God through which we must engage in these biblical ministries. In the past, Southern Baptists were characterized by a remarkable uniformity in both style and substance, but those days have long passed. Though we must remain united in substance, we must embrace a healthy, biblically informed diversity in our methodology if we are to effectively evangelize North America.

Different contexts demand diverse strategies and methods. We must think like missionaries and ask, “What is the best way to reach the people I live amongst with the gospel?” Various ethnic believers and social/cultural tribes will worship the same God, adore the same Jesus, believe the same Bible, and preach the same gospel. However, they may meet in different kinds of structures, wear different kinds of clothes, sing different kinds of songs, and engage in different kinds of ministries. We must treat the United States missiologically and do so with the same seriousness that our international missionaries treat their foreign people groups. As long as our varied methods communicate gospel truth, with theological integrity, unto God’s glory, we should not allow our different approaches to divide us.

In the interview, Scott talks specifically about Acts 29′s strategy of reaching men, what they look for in a model planter, how they keep churches gospel-centered, and thoughts on the Southern Baptist Convention. Scott was very gracious, kind, and encouraging to Jon and I throughout our time together. He was also kind enough to sit and talk with us for thirty minutes following our interview. We truly enjoyed our time with Scott and we believe you will enjoy his interview.

Scott Thomas Interview

Check back in the future for more Podcasts and details about two upcoming events from b21: Missouri in March and Orlando in June.

Connect with Baptist 21 on Twitter, Facebook ,or through email

Previous Sermons in the Series:

Part one of this series: (Lordship of Christ) – Philippians 2

Part two of this series: (Gospel-Centeredness) – Matthew 4

Part three of this series: (Commitment to the Great Commandments) – Matthew 22:34-40

Part four of this series: (Inerrancy and Sufficiency of the Bible) – 2 Timothy 3:14-17

The recording for part five is not available.

Part six of this series: (A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches) – Matthew 16

Jon Akin sermon series through the Axioms of the Great Commission Resurgence Declaration continues with Axiom 7, “A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching.” He has been taking his people through Bible texts that relate to the different Axioms of the GCR and showing why the local church should care about the GCR. In this sermon, Jon Akin takes his people through Acts 18.

Axiom 7 of the GCR States:

VII. A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching. We call upon all Southern Baptists to affirm and expect a pastoral ministry that is characterized by faithful biblical preaching that teaches both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures. (2 Tim. 4:1-5)

Biblical preaching is central to building healthy churches that pursue healthy agendas within the context of a healthy Convention. We need a new battalion of well trained pastors who preach the whole Bible with clarity and conviction. Authentic preaching must develop systematically the Bible’s theological content. It should understand both the Old Testament and New Testament to be Christian Scripture that together communicates one grand narrative about the world’s creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, with the person and work of Jesus Christ as the climax of the Bible’s storyline.

We also believe that genuine preaching is more than mere Bible teaching, no matter how orthodox and articulate. Healthy preaching should apply biblical truths in a way that makes unchanging truths relevant to contemporary believers. It must also be gospel preaching that pleads with men to be reconciled with God and expects the living and powerful Word of God to produce results and usher in conversions. It must be preaching that convicts sinners, encourages saints, changes lives, and glorifies God.

Disclaimer:

Many of us (even myself at times), cringe when it comes to talking about the issue of diversity in the church. In this blog it is not my goal to use the guilt of the past as a bludgeon to move believers into action, but to begin a conversation that assumes that we are the generation that is capable of more than agreeing that change needs to happen. So let’s go to work for the Kingdom.

I often daydream about a scene of an unchurched person walking their dog one late Sunday morning. As this person and their pet turn right on the main road, they peacefully walk by the local church as the service is being let out. As this person and their pet walk by, the pet owner begins to notice that there is something peculiar about the scene in the church parking lot, but cannot quite put her finger on it. There are people of different ages, socio-economic status, and ethnicity in joyful community as they make their way to their vehicles. The pet owner continues on with her walk, but is often reminded about what she saw in the parking lot that day.

The closest scene that resembles my daydream is in a parking lot after a ball game when home team is victorious. But the trivial rallying point of athletics pails in comparison to the weight of the human soul being made alive in Christ, and living in biblical community (the church) with believers from all walks of life. Stated plainly, it is no task to rally diverse individuals for something external to themselves (sports, music, politics), but gathering diverse individuals into the bond of brotherhood for the sake of God’s glory strikes at the core of humanity: particularly a humanity that has been made new in Christ.

As I began my own ministry I struggled when it came time to find a church to serve. My desire was to serve an economically, generationally, and racially integrated church, but the reality was that I had two primary options, serving in a largely African American church, or in a mostly Anglo church. As I began to struggle through these issues, my heart began to long for some sort of middle ground.

Defining the “Middle Ground”

I began to promote an abstract concept of what a middle ground ought to look like, but my ideas proved to be hollow and superficial. As a result of my hollow conclusions, I began to meditate on scripture, and a fairly simple vision developed. The middle ground that I longed for was the Church, the Church in all of her intended glory, as an earthly manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven. With that said, I do not want to over simply the issue by stating the obvious (namely, the church should look like Heaven) because believers are agreeable to such a goal, but the difficulty is developing a process for the Church to arrive there.

Step One: Candid conversations among friends
(More steps forthcoming)

An important step for the church to make toward mirroring the Kingdom of Heaven is to have candid conversations that span across cultural, socio-economic, and generational lines that are rooted in genuine relationships. Christians across this country desire unity in the body, but are afraid of having blunt conversations because the last thing they want to do is offend their brother or sister in Christ. As a result of this fear, thousands of Christians are walking around with good Kingdom intensions, but are crippled with the anxiety of the unknown.

A special note on the issue of race: By encouraging conversations across cultural, lines that have been drawn for us in generations past, I am by no means asking everyone to turn off our brain and erase our nation’s history from our minds. Our history is a part of our heritage, and its effects are real and should not be ignored. On the other hand, I encourage each of us to ponder the fact that the primary identifying mark of the believer is Christ, not race (Col. 3:1-11). As those who identify themselves with the Gospel, we are new creations and have been given the ministry of reconciling to all men and woman to Jesus Christ, crossing racial, linguistic, socio-economic, and generational barriers (2 Cor. 17-20).

In my humble opinion, there has never been a generation in this nation’s history that is more capable of having God honoring and candid discussions about Kingdom issues as those who comprise the church today. In generations of old the goal for Christians was to be blind to race and culture (treating everyone as though they were the same), but I think that is less than an ideal solution. In the current cultural milieu, the celebration of diversity does not have to be sacrificed for the sake of unity. In fact, the diversity of the body under the unifying blood of Christ is a powerful testimony to those both inside and outside of the church.

It is not our intent to lob a series of ideas into the blogosphere. We would like to model (to the best of our ability) how these steps flesh out in real life and ministry. Attached to this blog is a conversation that I had with some friends, and I pray that it would be one of many honest, Christ-centered, Kingdom minded conversations that are had across the country. Of course you do not have to cover the same issues or content that we covered, these are just issues that we thought were important (you do not have to have a moderator either). If you have any questions our suggestions about anything pertaining to these, issues please comment below and the Baptist 21 crew and I would be delighted to interact with you.

-W-

Diversity and the SBC Interview

Podcast Participants:

• Thabiti Anyabwile-
  • Senior Pastor: First Baptist of Grand Cayman
• Peter Rochelle-
  • Executive Director: Camp Oak Hill, Raleigh, NC
• Brad Paradis-
  • Pastor of Education: Faith Baptist Church, Youngsville, NC
• Benjamin Quinn-
  • (moderator) Baptist21 Contributor
• Walter Strickland-
  • Baptist21 Contributor

b21 Panel @ God Exposed

Open Door is also committed to training a future generation of men to teach other men (2 Tim. 2:2). So, Pastor Milioni has set up a cohort called “Shepherd’s Training” to train men in the congregation as potential elders of future church plants. This training involves personal mentorship from an elder or church leader. It also involves curriculum and training through topics of leadership, preaching, pastoral ministry, and theology. The interns are instructed through reading, writing, and cohort discussion. This is an exciting ministry and it is my hope that every Church would seek to implement something like this in their church. I believe every Southern Baptist Church should seek to implement preaching, missions, and training of the future generation like Open Door has done and is doing. I am grateful to call Open Door my home Church and to be a part of what that church is doing for the good of nations and the name of our Lord Jesus.

Interview with Pastor Dwayne Milioni (part 2)

Questions:

• Open Door Baptist Church is not a mega-church, how can small churches go about getting involved in church planting like Open Door has? THIS NEEDS TO BE HEARD BY ALL OF OUR CHURCHES
• How has planting churches overseas through the IMB been?
• Are there any differences between planting nationally and internationally?
• It would be your hope that more churches would take a role in planting churches overseas?
• Why is team planting our focus at Open Door Baptist Church?
• Why are you such a big proponent of Expository Preaching, and do we struggle with that in the SBC?
• Open Door has an extensive Internship program, tell us a little about why and what the end goal for the internship is? Also, tell us a little bit about how to implement this into a church?
• What advice do you have for young men aspiring to Gospel Ministry?
• Why do we do small group ministries?
• Why did Open Door move to a multiple Elder model?
• What are the challenges for Evangelicals and more specifically, Southern Baptists in the 21^st Century?

Quotes:

• “What a great question to ask is, how can we get the 90 plus percent of our churches excited about missions and church planting… investing intimately in it” (In the context of getting smaller churches, which is the majority of the SBC, involved in church planting and missions)
• “Find, if you don’t have all the resources, first you want to cooperate with other likeminded churches” (also from the first question)
• “Commissioning belongs to the local church” (speaking about local churches taking a greater role in overseas church planting)
• “We pour our lives into our church planters for years… we take on the responsibility to recognize calling”

Part one of this series: (Lordship of Christ) – Philippians 2

Part two of this series: (Gospel-Centeredness) – Matthew 4

Part three of this series: (Commitment to the Great Commandments) – Matthew 22:34-40

Part four of this series: (Inerrancy and Sufficiency of the Bible) – 2 Timothy 3:14-17

The recording for part five is not available.

Jon Akin sermon series through the Axioms of the Great Commission Resurgence Declaration continues with Axiom 6, “A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches.” He has been taking his people through Bible texts that relate to the different Axioms of the GCR and showing why the local church should care about the GCR. In this sermon, Jon Akin takes his people through Matthew 16.

Axiom 6 of the GCR states (From the Pray4GCR Website – Please sign up to pray at this site if you have not.)

VI. A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches. We call upon all Southern Baptists to focus on building local churches that are thoroughly orthodox, distinctively Baptist, and passionately committed to the Great Commission. (Matt. 16:13-20, 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 5)

Baptists have always been a people committed to building local churches that reflect as closely as possible the faith and practice of New Testament churches. We sense numerous threats to contemporary Baptist churches including worldliness, laziness, faddishness, heterodoxy, arrogant sectarianism, and naïve ecumenism. Our churches must be committed to a biblical orthodoxy that informs every aspect of church life. Sound doctrine must guide every priority our churches embrace and every task they undertake.

We must be especially mindful to resist contemporary threats to our historic, biblical Baptist identity. Our churches must remain committed to the Baptist distinctives of a regenerate church membership, believer’s baptism by immersion, the priesthood of all believers, congregational church polity, local church autonomy, and liberty of conscience for all people. Each of these distinctives must be embraced under the Lordship of Christ as revealed in Christian Scripture and interpreted by gospel-centered congregations. We must be willing to alter our practices to better accord with a robust Baptist identity, including in many churches a more responsible baptismal policy, the recovery of a redemptive church discipline, a healthier relationship between pastors and their people, and a commitment to an every-member ministry.

Mission is not a ministry of the church, it is at the heart of the church’s identity and essence. We must encourage our churches to see themselves as the missionary bodies that they are. Pastors and other leaders must be willing to teach and model for their people how to be missionaries in their community, regardless of their vocation or location. Churches must have a global perspective and recognize those members who are called to serve overseas long-term and engage in short-term global missions. Churches must labor to both plant new churches in unevangelized areas of North America, especially the great urban centers, and revitalize existing congregations. We long to see a Convention where every church is a church planting church in its unique Jerusalem, its Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.