The Frog

On June 23 of last year, Jimmy Draper got Southern Baptists' attention with his "LifeWay@Heart" column. He used the oft-told frog-in-the-kettle analogy to shake and awake us out of our lethargy in regards to evangelism.

If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, I am told, it will leap out right away to escape the danger. But, if you put a frog in a kettle that is filled with water that is cool and comfortable, and gradually heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late. The frog parable has been used to illustrate how humans have to be careful to watch slowly changing trends in the culture.

Noting some disturbing trends in SBC life, Draper wrote, "I'm afraid the Southern Baptist Convention resembles the frog a bit too much these days."

Zeroing in on his major concerns, Draper continued, "I fear there is a lack of urgency in our churches to baptize." He then expressed his desire to see more young ministers involved in the life of the denomination and said, "Some of us older folks ... have failed the younger generation by not creating a dynamic atmosphere and showing them the relevancy of being Southern Baptist."

 

The Exodus

It is true that the present generation of Southern Baptist leaders will eventually have to relinquish their mantle of leadership to the next generation. This transfer of leadership is inevitable. Chronology and reason demand it.

The older generation has paid a considerable price to preserve the fundamentals of our faith and facilitate the conservative resurgence. Their perceived reluctance to relinquish the reins of leadership may be due to being over-protective or even fearful that the spoils of victory won in the battle for the denomination will be squandered or neglected.

Nonetheless, scores of Southern Baptist pastors retire every month and we are witnessing the exodus of some of our most notable and strategic leaders.

 

The Emergence

The sons and daughters of the conservative resurgence are emerging to assume the roles God is providing for them. They are well educated, bright, visionary, gifted and energetic. They are beginning their ministry in a postmodern culture that is not particularly committed to forms, traditions or institutions.

The emerging young leaders are sometimes perceived as being too culturally driven, too consumer-oriented, too tolerant and not denominationally minded. Yet the older leaders are seen as too provincial, too dogmatic, too unyielding and not relevant to today's culture.

 

The Denomination

The Southern Baptist Convention came into existence on May 10, 1845, and has grown to become the largest Protestant denomination in America with the greatest Christian missionary force in history. Churches affiliated with the Convention are autonomous, but are able to work together in friendly cooperation because they can have a much greater impact than the sum of the impacts of the individual churches. Through the Cooperative Program, SBC churches are part of an enormous enterprise with the ability of combining their resources to establish and advance the cause of Christ.

There is a greater reason to be a cooperating Southern Baptist church today more than ever. Why? The world is in more desperate need of the gospel than ever, because there are more lost people than ever. Our SBC institutions are more committed to missions and evangelism than ever. Our seminaries are more committed to the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture than ever. The urgency and emergency of the hour demands our cooperation and missionary advance.

 

The Challenge

I believe we are living in the age of the Laodicean Church. Fortunately, we still have some Philadelphian churches (loving, mission-minded churches) in the midst of this Laodicean church age. The Laodicean Church boasts of its wealth, size and influence, but their words have a hollow sound. The truth is that this church, which has an exaggerated view of it's own importance, is not very healthy. It is living on the reputation of a rich and noble heritage. In fact, it is in a staggering decline.

But the idea of failure or decline is detestable to most Americans. We are driven to succeed. In fact, most believe that "If it works, it's right." But that is not what the Bible teaches. Success according to the Bible is faithfulness to the Lord and what He says in His Word. Numbers, facilities, and finances are not the litmus test of success, but devotion to Christ and an uncompromising allegiance to His commands and commission.

For example, Joel Osteen, pastor of America's largest church, Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, appears to be having tremendous success in his ministry. I have heard him on television on several occasions. I have never heard him speak an untruth, but it appears that Jesus is entirely peripheral in his messages. Any-thing that pushes Jesus to the margins is a heresy. His basic message seems to be: "Do good things to gain God's favor so He will do good things for you."

Lakewood's attendance has grown exponentially and the church recently bought the Compaq Center, a former sports arena, which is being remodeled to hold an even larger congregation. Of the new facility, Osteen said, "It's not a churchy feel. We don't have crosses up there. We believe in all that, but I like to take the barriers down that have kept people from coming."

We must never be seduced by the concept that "If it works, it's right." However, in a valiant effort to reverse a downward trend some churches have looked to the glory years of the past and tried to sustain them or in some cases recreate them.

Other churches have tried to adapt to the culture in hopes of drawing people into the fold. Some have just refused to count numbers, but are trying to make the numbers count by calling church members to a deeper commitment. At last, some churches have resigned themselves to a slow death and their only goal is to delay the inevitable demise.

The great challenge is to have healthy kingdom churches in this secular, postmodern, hedonistic society and to strengthen the work of our denomination through friendly cooperation, because as a denomination we can do together what we cannot do alone.

 

The Solution

In the midst of all these challenges is the need to pass the baton to the new generation of leaders. What kind of denomination will best serve the needs of the 21st Century? What kind of legacy do we want to leave? How can the transition take place with grace and decorum?

Bill Harrell, longtime leader in Georgia Baptist and Southern Baptist life and pastor of Abliene Baptist Church in Martinez, says, "No established older leader begrudges younger leaders stepping into places of responsibility. We invite people who are led by the Lord to be leaders, but to lead properly one must have a wealth of experience which can only be acquired over a period of time."

Chris Humphries, an emerging young leader and pastor of Pine Grove Baptist Church in Gillsville, declares, "The Bible says, 'The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their grey head.' Even though there are times as a young pastor that I may desire to flex my 'spiritual' muscles there is still much wisdom and experience to be gleaned. Therefore, I choose to humble myself and listen to those who have gone before me."

It would appear that humility on the part of all parties concerned would be extremely helpful. The Apostle Paul admonishes humility over and over again in his epistles, urging us to "Put on therefore, as the elect of God ... kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another..." (Col 3:12-13a).

But Paul did not just preach humility; he practiced humility. During his first imprisonment in Rome other preachers were preaching where he once had stood and proclaimed the gospel. The methods and motives of these men were less than satisfactory in Paul's eyes. But method and motive were not Paul's prime concern. The message was. Paul wrote, "What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."(Philippians 1:18).

Wayne Bray, pastor of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Millen, recently wrote me and asked, "What is a young leader to do when it seems he stands at the collision point of a non-theological conflict?"

He was not sure he had the answer for others, but testified, "I love God and desire to serve Him with all of my heart. I believe in the work of our Georgia and Southern Baptist Conventions. I refuse to jump off the ship.

"Too much has been invested in our denomination to allow a generation to neglect its incomprehensible potential for future evangelism and mission expansion. Cooperation has always been the key to the success of our Convention and the future will prove likewise."