Reports of Our Death are Greatly Exaggerated

By Dr. Paul Chitwood | Published: June 18, 2013
Facebook Twitter Email

The 2013 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting kicked up very little Texas dust. Other than a resolution about the gay agenda finding a home in Boys Scouts of America, the biggest news coming out of Houston was the scarcity of Southern Baptists who showed up in Houston.

Low messenger registration, along with reports about declining baptisms and church membership, caused the media and doomsday prophets to place their news releases on the SBC in the obituary section. While I am as concerned as anyone about the unwillingness of many of our churches to fill out an Annual Church Profile and some of the woeful statistics that were reported, I don’t believe the SBC is in need of an epitaph.

To borrow a line from Mark Twain, I think the reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. What is my cause for optimism?

Declining baptisms and falling church membership are by no means a reason for celebration but the fact that more than 300,000 believers were baptized in our churches is causing much rejoicing among the angels in heaven (Luke 15:7).

A Lottie Moon Christmas Offering of more than $149 million for overseas missions is not the best missions offering Southern Baptists have ever given, but it is the third best. And $149 million is a lot of money!

Our overseas mission force has tragically shrunk to less than 5,000. Still, more than 4,500 Southern Baptist missionaries are taking the gospel to more than 180 nations. And those missionaries reported more than 23,000 new churches and more than 300,000 baptisms overseas. (Click here to check out the report from the International Mission Board.)

The majority of our churches are plateaued or declining but we still have more than 45,000 churches and are planting approximately 1,000 new churches every year. When accounting for churches that closed and new churches that were planted or affiliated, the overall number of SBC churches grew this past year. (Click here to check out the North American Mission Board’s report.)

For all of the shocking statements about Southern Baptists no longer being “relevant” and the lists of things we must do to “stop the bleeding,” I am simply not convinced that it’s time to begin casting for “The Last of the Baptists.” Rather, I believe that, as long as there are among us those who “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3), Baptists will be around to “hear the trumpet call of God” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Until then, will we be able to boast of being the “largest Protestant denomination” or continue to have the “largest missionary sending agency in the history of Christianity?” While we are grateful for the ways God has chosen to use and bless Southern Baptists as a people, we are also mindful of Scripture’s admonition to “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31).

Posted in Church Planting, International Mission Board, NAMB, Southern Baptist Convention | 2 Responses

A Father’s Day Tribute

By Dr. Paul Chitwood | Published: June 11, 2013
Facebook Twitter Email

“Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. Then he taught me, and he said to me, ‘Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.’” (Proverbs 4:1-4)

My father, Thomas Lee Chitwood, was born in 1946 to a disabled coal mining father and a factory-working mother. He grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee and, by American standards, was poor. Upon graduating high school, he immediately began work climbing poles and installing residential phone lines for South Central Bell. His 45 year career was temporarily interrupted when he received his draft card in 1965. He married while he was in the army and after his military service returned to South Central Bell and worked as an electronic technician.

In 1972 his marriage failed and he gained custody of my brothers and me, then ages four, two, and one. His parents did what they could to help us and he always did what he could to help them. To this day, he and his siblings care for my 94-year-old grandmother in her home, my grandfather having died in 1992.

Several years after his divorce, my father remarried and, in time, had his only daughter. Having been raised in difficult circumstances and raising his first three children in difficult circumstances has never preoccupied my father. He is one of those hard to find men who, apart from his faith, seems to find his greatest joy in his family. Of all the roles he has in life, those who know him understand the roles of son and father define him. And in those roles, he will, every time, do what he thinks best for his family no matter what it costs him.

I have learned many lessons from my father, lessons about faith, family, work, farming, fishing, and countless other subjects. Most lessons I have learned from observation since his humility and reserved personality do not produce an abundance of prepared lectures or pontifications. Whether watching my father’s instruction or, on those rare occasions, hearing it, experience has taught me to “pay attention and gain understanding” (Proverbs 4:1). The lessons I have learned have helped me live and live well (Proverbs 4:4).

My father’s commitment to Christ as a boy and his recommitment to Christ when I was a boy have had a greater impact upon our family than anything else I can imagine. I am eternally grateful to have been raised by a Christian father.

In fact, of all my Heavenly Father’s countless blessings, my earthly father is among the greatest.

Posted in Family, Personal Reflections | Leave a comment

Part of the Tribe

By Dr. Paul Chitwood | Published: June 4, 2013
Facebook Twitter Email

As Southern Baptists travel to Houston for next week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, I am reflecting upon some of the reasons I am a part of the Southern Baptist tribe.

First, deacons from a Southern Baptist church showed up at the door of our rented house when I was five years old. My father was raising three sons on his own. We had just moved from the government projects where we had been living with his parents and two of his younger siblings while he got back on his feet after our mother had filed for divorce. A couple of deacons from First Baptist Church of Jellico, Tennessee came by to invite our family to worship. I’m not sure what those men were thinking since, other than trouble, we didn’t have much to offer First Baptist Church! But they knew they had much to offer us in a loving church family that ministered to us in our brokenness and helped my father give the guidance that boys need.

A second reason I am Southern Baptist is due to another visitor from that church a few years later. The visitor this time was our pastor, Allen Harrod. Pastor Harrod was there, at the invitation of my father, to speak with my older brother who was considering giving his life to Christ. My younger brother and I listened in as our pastor shared the gospel. We all trusted Christ and were later baptized together, entering into the membership of a Southern Baptist church.

A third reason I am Southern Baptist also relates to First Jellico. The pastors, Sunday School teachers, Vacation Bible School leaders, and so many others taught me that the Bible was “totally true and trustworthy… and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried” (Baptist Faith and Message). As I grew older and became familiar with other religious faiths and denominations, I was easily convinced that the beliefs of Southern Baptists were most closely aligned with what the Bible teaches.

Among the many other reasons I am Southern Baptist is that I believe God would expect me to embrace the most efficient and effective means of accomplishing the Great Commission. While Southern Baptists don’t have the Great Commission market cornered, I haven’t seen any other denomination, network, or movement that rivals the work being done by the cooperative efforts of Southern Baptists.

Southern Baptists evangelized me, helped raise me, discipled me, educated me, licensed me to preach, ordained me for ministry, and have always helped facilitate opportunities for me to obey the Great Commission. For these and many other reasons, I can’t imagine being anything other than a Southern Baptist.

 

Posted in Southern Baptist Convention | Leave a comment

Encouraging Words in the SBC Calvinism Report

By Dr. Paul Chitwood | Published: June 3, 2013
Facebook Twitter Email

I was privileged to receive an advance copy of the Calvinism Advisory Group Report that recently became public. The advisory group was assembled by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, Frank Page, PhD. Page refers to himself as the CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention but defines his title as the “Chief Encouraging Officer.”

In a marvelous display of leadership, Page requested advice to the SBC from a group of distinguished Southern Baptist leaders who fall on differing sides of the Arminian/Calvinism debate in SBC life. Page himself has gone on record as embracing only one or two of the traditional five points of Calvinism but, in his role as Executive Committee President, sees the need for unity within the diversity of opinions on this issue.

After reading through the report, I offered this response to Page:

“I enthusiastically affirm the spirit, content, and conclusions of the report. Furthermore, I fully commit myself to living according to the wise counsel contained therein and pray that every Southern Baptist will do the same. My gratitude to you for this undertaking and to the members of the advisory group is rivaled only by my tremendous gratitude for the findings of the committee. Needless to say, I am greatly encouraged! Might God grant unity and Great Commission faithfulness and effectiveness to Southern Baptists!”

Those who have followed our work in Kentucky know we have been committed to maintaining a “Big Tent” approach to denominational life. With regard to Calvinism, we hosted Frank Page, David Dockery, Hershael York, and Steve Lemke in a conference several months ago. The conference was well-received and, according to Page, served as a model for how Southern Baptists should proactively seek to engage these and similar issues. Check out video from conference sessions, including Page’s Vision for a Unified SBC here:

My prayer is that these efforts on the state and national levels will help the tone and end results of our conversations and debates on matters of theology to be “clarity, charity, and unity.”

While I rejoice to be living in a day when Southern Baptists take theology seriously, I know the most urgent need of our world is still for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe our theological discussions are honoring to our Lord to the degree that they ignite within us a greater zeal for evangelism and a greater commitment to cooperation for the sake of accomplishing the Great Commission. For, as those who have been called to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, we know “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns” (Matt 24:46).

On that day, might the Lord of the harvest find Kentucky Baptists faithful workers in his harvest!

 

Posted in Denominational Life, Southern Baptist Convention | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Structured to Serve Churches

By Dr. Paul Chitwood | Published: May 29, 2013
Facebook Twitter Email

The new staffing structure at the Kentucky Baptist Convention is designed to accomplish the mission described by our new mission statement: “The Kentucky Baptist Convention—Created by churches, for churches, to help churches reach Kentucky and the world for Christ.” Our goal is to keep the local church at the center of everything we do.

Why? Revelation 19 reminds us that the Lord Jesus is coming again not to claim denominations, mission organizations, Christian schools or homeless shelters. When gospel-centered, all of these can be effective ministries of the church but, agai71n, Christ is not coming for these.

Christ is coming for his bride! The shouts from heaven declare: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come.” (v 6-7)

The heavens then proclaim: “…his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (v 7-8) For the glory of Christ, we want to do everything we can to ensure the Bride, i.e., the church, is ready for her wedding day. To that end we serve to help encourage, strengthen and multiply churches.

To accomplish this mission, our new structure includes the addition of a Church Consulting & Revitalization Team as our largest ministry team. The team consists of five regional consultants along with eleven ministry consultants. The regional consultants are available to help directors of missions, associations, churches and church groups, but they are particularly assigned to help pastors. The five regional consultants live in the regions where they are privileged to serve. Here’s a list of these five men:

  • Jeff Crabtree – South Central Region
  • Alan Dodson – South Eastern Region
  • Todd Gray – West Region
  • Ronny Raines – North Central Region
  • Alan Witham – Central Region

In addition to the regional consultants, the CCR team has eleven ministry consultants. These consultants serve the entire state in their specialized ministry fields. They are available to work with directors of missions, associations, churches, church groups and pastors. Here’s a list of these eleven consultants:

  • Karl Babb – Transition/Conflict Resolution
  • Peggy Berry – Ministry Transition
  • John Bennett – Preschool/Children
  • Shelly Johns – Women/Senior Adults
  • Don Spencer – Church Financial Benefits
  • Darryl Wilson – Sunday School/Discipleship
  • Jason Stewart – Worship/Music
  • Roger Palmer, Joe Ball, Patrick Greer, David Rouse – Youth (all serve with Crossings Ministries)

Team Leader Steve Rice, a long-tenured pastor whom God used to strengthen and revitalize the churches he served, gives credible and gifted leadership to this team and is also available to assist churches. If the CCR Team can help you in any way, please contact them at (866) 489-3571 or at (502) 489-3571 or through www.kybaptist.org/church-revitalization.

 

Posted in KBC Reorganization | Leave a comment
show
 
close