Being the son of the GCR Task Force Chairman has been an interesting experience so far. My father has spent countless hours during the last few months as he has sought to do what Southern Baptists asked this task force to do, “To bring a report and any recommendations to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 15-16, 2010, concerning how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” He has juggled this masterfully as he has led our family, our church, and this task force to be Great Commission people.
During this time I have enjoyed the privilege of serving my small role in the GCR movement. With a task as big as the GCR, there has been several of our church staff who have helped along the way. I have coordinated task force member blogs, assisted with Powerpoint, helped put together task force notebooks, driven task force members to various locations, and been a prayer partner along with thousands of other Southern Baptists. During these two Christmas weeks, I will be relieving all task force members from blogging responsibilities and give a perspective from someone who is not a member of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. As the task force sits at the halfway point to Orlando, here are the thoughts of a 25 year old Southern Baptist, educated in Baptist schools, who just happens to be the son of the GCR Task Force Chairman.
(1) This task is complicated. If I ever hear someone say, “Just scrap everything and do it this way,” I am likely to sit back and sigh. As I have learned more and more about the SBC during this season, the more I realize that everything is connected and change does not happen without influencing other areas. In other words, nothing happens in isolation. There are people whose lives are touched with any decision in the SBC and these decisions are ones that should be weighed heavily in prayer.
(2) This task is worthy. Having said above that the task is complicated does not discount that this task is a worthy task. The time and energy spent by these task force members has been well spent on figuring out how we can do more for the Great Commission as a convention. It’s a healthy thing for families, churches, businesses, and even conventions to take a hard look at themselves and ask some tough questions. This task force is doing that very thing. Praise God I have been raised in and am a part of a denomination that is willing to do this.
(3) This task force is a group of Godly men and women you can trust. One of my great joys in this GCR process has been getting to meet and to know these different task force members. These are denominational employees, pastors of small membership churches and large membership churches, pastors’ wives, and a layman. If I could relate one thing to the people in the SBC it would be this: God has put together an unbelievable, Godly team who really do want to see our nation and world come to Christ. You can trust them.
Those are a few thoughts for the day. I’ll continue with a few more thoughts next week.
