Why I Am A Southern Baptist 

04/14/09 By Brad

Just recently, Thom Rainer (president of LifeWay Christian Resources) did an informal Twitter survey on what people think when they hear "Southern Baptist".  You can read the full blog here.  It was a little disheartening and eye opening.  However, after spending some time thinking on the answers and my own perspective, I realized that now is a great time to be a Southern Baptist.  I will get to my own reasons in a minute, but first let me give you my background.

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania (hence my love for all Philly sports teams as well as Penn State!) in two churches.  The first was a very small Bible church in Lewistown, PA.  The second was quite a bit larger, and it was a Bible church in Exeter Township, PA, affiliated with the IFCA (Independent Fundamental Churches of America, now called IFCA International).  IFCA has many good qualities, and their doctrine is very good and clear.  I have no issues with IFCA, but it is obviously different from being Southern Baptist.  There are similarities, such as the autonomy of the local church, but one of the big differences lies with the Cooperative Program (CP).  Through CP giving, we fund almost 11,000 missionaries in North America and around the world, plus state and local associations and the ministries they provide.

In May of 2001, my wife and I were a part of Word of Life Fellowship, and moved to their camp in Hudson, FL.  Our friends invited us to their church, and that was our introduction to First Baptist Church of New Port Richey and Southern Baptist life.  We haven't left.  The Baptist Faith and Message (read here) is a good read, and is the statement of faith from the SBC.  I joined the First Baptist staff in February 2005.  One of the first things that happened was that my Pastor (Guy Sanders) handed me a copy of "A Hill On Which To Die" by Judge Pressler.  This had history of the SBC and the resurgence that took place bringing the Convention back from liberalism.  The more I read, the more I liked.  Then, I began to get involved with our local association, the Suncoast Baptist Association, and the Florida Baptist Convention and more with people from the SBC.

Twitter, Facebook, blogs and podcasts further connected me with great people like Dr. Alvin Reid, Dr. Al Mohler, Thom Rainer, Ed Stetzer, Sam Rainer, Jeff Hessinger, Paul Turner, Brian Mills, Matt Chandler, J.D. Greear, Johnny Hunt and others.

Here are some things you may not know about Southern Baptist's.  We have disaster relief teams that are many times the first on the scene.  The American Red Cross gets the credit, but many times it is SBC disaster relief doing the work and funding large parts of the effort.  (Learn more about Florida Baptist Disaster Relief here.) 

The SBC also has many colleges and seminaries around the country that teach and prepare men and women for life and ministry.  GuideStone Financial Resources helps churches and church staff plan for the future financially.  LifeWay Christian Resources continually develops material, trains leaders and provides resources for churches big and small.  The material they provide is top notch and theologically accurate.

But those are all things that are an added bonus, and not the main reason why I am a Southern Baptist.

In the book "unChristian" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, there is the story of a man who is unhappy with the church because his former pastor used to believe in baptism by immersion, but then got a better job with another denomination and now baptizes by sprinkling.  That doesn't fit me.  As I grew in my relationship with Jesus, and my journey of faith continued, and as I studied the Bible and made up my own mind on what it said and how we were to live, I came to realize that what Southern Baptists believe fits what I believe exactly.  I realized that what I believe about telling people about Jesus and how important it is meshes with what Southern Baptists think.  Now, to be sure, not all in the SBC agree with me, and not all churches in the SBC are Great Commission Churches, but there is a growing trend of men and women in the churches and on college and seminary campus' who don't want to have the SBC viewed like most of the comments that Thom Rainer got from his survey.  There are a growing number of us who want to serve the community and reach out to others in need as we are sharing the Gospel with them.  There are more and more of us who look at the life of Jesus and see how He came for one reason, and that was to die on the cross for our sins, but that along the way, He met real needs of the people He encountered.  There are growing numbers of us who don't want to be known only for what we are against, but instead what we are for.  There are a growing number of us who want to put aside petty fights about casserole and carpet color and music style, and get down to business of teaching, serving and evangelizing.

In any denomination or any church there are going to be things you aren't happy with, and don't agree with.  And so that's when talk of change begins. In most cases, that's where it stops.  There has been a call put out to Southern Baptist's to actually change and not just talk about it.  Dr. Alvin Reid, Professor of Evangelism (among other things) at Southeaster Baptist Theological Seminary, a man with whom I have gotten to know only in the past few months, but has had a tremendous impact on my life and ministry wrote a blog called "We Have Reached a Tipping Point" on his site.  Please read this article (and anything else he has written).  In this blog, Doc explains Southern Baptist life and where we are today, and tells us that we have to move forward and we have to stop speaking of change and we must simply change.

Our current SBC president, Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, is another ringing the bell of change to move away from what others perceive from Southern Baptist's and make our convention, our schools, our seminaries and our churches to be Great Commission oriented, serving others, reaching others and relevant to the culture.

So why am I a Southern Baptist?  I am by choice and conviction.  I am because we are not content to stand still, but always pressing forward, not trying to do things as we did in the 1950's or the 1980's or the 1990's.  I am because of our emphasis on evangelism and missions.  I am because of our emphasis on discipleship and growth.  I am because we're not just about growth numerically, but growth spiritually -- getting closer to Almighty God through Bible study.  I am a Southern Baptist because many of our churches cooperate together to help others.  Our association's student ministry network is working to provide smaller churches with materials, lessons, Power Points, t-shirt designs and more that we have already created and they could benefit from.  Our state convention is working to bring material to younger student pastor's that is developed and taught by those who have been in student ministry longer.  We're not concerned with royalties, payments or recognition.  We're concerned that more people hear the Word of God, have an intimate encounter with Jesus, have their lives changed, and grow in their relationship and faith.

That's why I am a Southern Baptist.