Being a pastor is a privilege.  I am afforded the opportunity to step into the front door of people's lives and experience with them their innermost feelings, fears, joy, and grief.  Many times, when walking with a fellow brother or sister through the valley of death, the privilege is a difficult one to accept. 

Such has been the case this week.  A precious and beloved gentleman in our congregation has been fighting cancer, and unless our good Lord steps in, the fight is almost over.  This is a devoted husband and a loving father of four precious children.  For the last few nights I have spent time talking on the phone to one of these children in particular.  The conversations have been incredibly blessed and we have addressed topics from glorified bodies to the whearabouts of Christ during the three days He was in the tomb.  Looking back over the content of these conversations, one recurring tendency is noticable; the shift back and forth from understanding death to be a great gift and understanding it to be life's greatest enemy. 

As the conversations progressed, these two themes would naturally come about.  It was never forced or coerced.  It was never strained or manipulated.  This teenager would find herself comforted by death for a moment, followed by a feeling of complete horror at its looming probability.  This leads me to discuss two points:

First, my experience in these conversations has reminded me once again of the Bible's perfect description of humans.  It is rather natural, and at times crucial, for us to be moved by our circumstances from one heartfelt position to another.  Sometimes these positions are contradictory.  Other times, as in the case of my teenager friend, they are complimentary.  Yet, for all of us at some time or another, we must cope by moving side to side across the wide spectrum of feeling.

Consider with me the the first and second chapters of Job, in particular Job's wife.  After Job experiences the first round of testing from God, presumably Job's wife was supportive and in agreement with his proclamation to bless the Lord even in distress.  Scripture does not suggest otherwise.  Yet, after the second round of testing, Job's wife makes a radical change of position and exorts Job to "curse God and die."  This seems like radical behavior from a woman who is perhaps not fully aware of her actions.  Yet, the fact remains that Job's wife is a beautiful picture of our own human tendacies to quickly move from love to hate, from feelings of safety to feelings of danger, from trust to uncertainty.  If you want to understand the human heart and mind, consult Scripture.  There never has and never will be a more precise case study.

Second, my experience in these conversations has reminded me that like so many things, death exists in a theological balance.  My teenager friend is perfectly consistent as she moves back and forth between welcoming death and fearing it.  The Bible does the exact same thing.  Let's first consider why humans fear death.  The Bible makes very clear that death is, in fact, our enemy.  I have heard many a good-intended person try to over-emphasize the gift of death by under-emphasizing the pain of death.  As a result, folks wrestling with the possibility of death are left frustrated as to why they are still concerned and still upset about the prospect of dying or losing a loved one.  Such a unbalanced presentation is harmful.  Paul clearly and emphaticlly writes that "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26).  Use of the words "enemy" and "destroyed" convey the importance of why Christ will ultimately triumph; He will conquer death, our worst enemy.  Christ Himself was moved by death on more than one occasion and angered by sin that has caused the need for death.  Thus, it is unreasonable and unbiblical to suggest that good Christian folks should be singing a happy tune about death.  In and of itself, death is a harsh enemy that will come under the most brutal judgment by God.

And yet, we can find comfort in what death provides for us and we can learn to share the heart of God in the way he views the death of His children.  Psalm 116:15 says that "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."  The very pronouncement of death by God upon Adam and Eve was certainly a judgement and the beginning of the enemy's grip on humanity, yet it must also be seen as a merciful act that provides a gracious release from a sin-cursed body.  It is the embracing of this move to something better, to something greater than allows some to be "at peace" with death.  Certainly not at peace with the reality of death, but at peace with what death will bring.

This is why death will always be the greatest enemy to those who do not believe.  It can never be viewed as mercy or grace because nothing is understood to be gained by death.  Even those who are suffering from immense pain do not gain anything by death.  They simply lose something.  Most people who deny the reality of God or who stick their head in the sand to ignore Him will also quickly move on to another subject whenever death rears its ugly head.  For them, there is plenty to fear from death.  It is the end of everything.  Forever.

So, like so many other areas of Christian life, death hangs in the balance.  And wherever our good people are when they are dealing with death, that is exactly where they should be.  Our job is not to move them to another way of thinking.  Our job is to love them.  And when possible, remind them that the peace of God can and will guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  All for the glory of God.         

Check out a conversation me and a Lutheran pastor from Chicago named Scott Stiegemeyer have concerning the horror movie genre and its theological significance.  (I'm "hallo" on the site).

http://www.theblackesteyes.com/2010/06/body-count-podcast-1004/

The first day of the Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL has come and gone.  As of now, there are over 11,000 messengers registered for the convention meeting and I was pleased to see so many young faces in attendance.  I, of course, have been writing about the final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force for many months, so let me give a brief account of what happened during the motion.

First, all the team members of the task force were on stage with Dr. Ronnie Floyd, chair of the task force, providing most of the commentary.  Team members came up to the podium in groups of three to announce the 7 components and recommendations of their report.  As I suspected, the task force was making one motion to include all seven components.  A brief video was shown highlighting the decline in baptisms in the SBC and the number of lost people world wide. 

After a few more encouraging words from Ronnie Floyd, the floor was open for discussion.  As usual, the comments ranged from well-spoken, thoughtful responses to off-topic, irrelevant remarks.  By far the most compelling and well-crafted recommendation came from Dr. John Waters, pastor of First Baptist Church Marietta, GA.  He suggested to amend the recommendation in component three to strengthen the necessity of the Cooperative Program while still retaining the Great Commission Giving language.  I personally felt like his request was an innocuous one - the priority of the Cooperative Program is clearly stated in component 3, yet Waters' recommendation certainly did not hurt or add anything major to the report.  After some brief discussion and a moment of confusing "point of order" complaints, the task force wisely decided to accept the additions of Waters' and brought him on the platform to "sign off" on the accepted additions.  This was a victory for the task force because it gave some of the opponents of the final report a feeling like they got a "word in" on the motion, while in reality not a single thing was changed. 

Another motion to hold off on the report for another year until the various committee's could provide a cost-analysis and report in 2011 was briefly considered and then defeated, in part because Al Mohler's biting response that the final report is worded in such a way as to trust the agencies and committees that have been elected to use their judgment when implementing the report's conclusions. 

So, when the vote was finally cast, the messengers of the 2010 Annual Meeting overwhelmingly voted in favor of the GCRTF final report.  Now we will see how the report's components are implemented at the various organizational levels.  There is much work to be done.

As I prepare to leave tomorrow for Orlando for the annual meeting of the SBC, I wanted to repost my May 11th article concerning the Final Report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.

For almost a year now members of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) have been discussing a strategy to increase the effectiveness of the Southern Baptist Convention as a "Great Commission" people.  They were assigned the task at the 2009 Annual Convention of creating a proposal for the 2010 meeting that would propel Southern Baptists forward in our goal to reach the world for Christ.  Last week the task force released their final report which will be presented at the Annual Convention meeting in Orlando, FL the week of June 13th.  As is to be expected, the report has been met with both positive and negative reviews.  I would like to simplify and summarize the report's proposals in "lay people" terms as a good many of my readers do not regularly follow the ongoing news of the Southern Baptist Convention leadership.  I do believe this is an important report, whether for good or ill, and we should prayerfully consider it. 

The report is entitled "Penetrating the Lostness" and begins with a statistical reminder of the urgent need to share the gospel.  The stats demonstrate that out of 7 billion people in the world, 6 billion are lost and another 3.5 billion have never heard the gospel message.  Another stat shows that baptisms among Southern Baptists are considerably down today than they were in 1950.  Thus, something must be done.

Next, the report asks the question "What is Holding Us Back?"  Acknowledging that financial resources are necessary to win the world for Christ, the report highlights the actual contributions received at the national level.  The Cooperative Program (CP) is designed where churches set aside a certain percentage of their undesignated giving for the Cooperative Program.  The SBC encourages churches to set aside 10%, although most come in at around 6%.  This amount is then forwarded to the state convention.  The state then decides how much they keep for their own expenses and ministry, and then forwards the rest to the national level.  The average state convention keeps 63% of CP dollars, meaning that the SBC gets around 37% to budget.  So, since churches are not giving a full 10% to the CP and since the states keep a good portion of the funds, there must be a renewed awareness of the necessity for consistent CP giving.

From here, the report offers 7 components to be adopted at the 2010 annual meeting. 

#1
The first component is to establish a mission statement that unites all Southern Baptists for the Great Commission mandate.  That proposed statement is:  "As a convention of churches, our missional vision is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations."

#2
The second component calls on Southern Baptists to embrace a set of core values.  They list these values as:  Christ-likeness, Truth, Unity, Relationships, Trust, Future, Local Church, Kingdom.

#3
The third component, and one of the more controversial recommendations, is that SBC churches recommit to the Cooperative Program as the "most effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending our reach."  That, of course, is all well and good.  The controversial part is when an aspect of this component also wishes to recognize all monies given to other SBC entities, whether it be causes of the national convention, state convention, or local association, be deemed as "Great Commission Giving."  This is the classic and common issue that all churches have dealt with in one form or another.  What do we as churches do when our folks begin giving more to designated causes than they give to the overall ministry of the church, namely the tithe (if you want to use that word for New Testament giving) by which the operating budget of churches is met.  Critics of this component claim that "Great Commission Giving" will in the long run have a detrimental effect on the effectiveness and enthusiasm for the Cooperative Program. 

This component also calls on churches to adopt goals of $200 million annually for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and $100 million annually for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.  In comparison, the 2007-2008 amounts for Lottie Moon were 133,904,643 and Annie Armstrong were 57,208,220.

Interestingly, no goal was offered for the Cooperative Program. 

#4
The fourth component addresses the "reinvention" of the North American Mission Board (NAMB).  This, in part, addresses the need for NAMB to begin helping and encouraging SBC churches to become "church-planting" churches, and to increase their effectiveness of training and discipling believers.  This component also calls for the elimination of "Cooperative Agreements."  These are simply a way that NAMB and state conventions have historically worked together, primarily by NAMB sending back a portion of CP dollars to the state conventions for specific ministry work.  The report wants NAMB to retain those funds that will aid in the establishment of a new and more effective NAMB. 

#5 
The fifth component calls upon the International Mission Board (IMB) to have the freedom to break away from any geographical limitations and have the ability to serve and assist unreached people groups in North America.  The report states that the divide between North America and the rest of the world is a thing of the past.

#6
The sixth component calls for a unified strategy amongst the state conventions and the Executive Committee of the SBC in order to more effectively promote the need of the Cooperative Program and encourage greater CP giving in our churches.

#7
The seventh component is another controversial aspect of the report.  It calls for Southern Baptists to approve a 1% increase to be received by the IMB, breaking the historical 50% mark by moving up to 51%.  This 1% will be met by reducing the funds of "Facilitating Ministries" by that 1%.  A quick look at the SBC budget shows that there is only one entity in the "Facilitating Ministries" line, that being the Executive Committee.  So, essentially the report is calling for the Executive Committee to take a 1% reduction in funds in order to give it to the IMB.  Some are concerned that this component does not match up very well with component 6 which calls for the Executive Committee to increase its work with the state conventions to increase CP awareness.  How, they say, can they increase this work when funds are being removed from them. 

The report then ends with a series of challenges for individuals, families, churches, associations, state conventions, Lifeway, seminaries, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Guidestone, and all SBC leaders.   

5 + 5 = 10

6 + 6 = 11

The solution to the second equation is wrong.  But that doesn't necessarily mean the method by which we reach the solution is wrong.  I think we would all agree that regardless of my error in the second problem, the methodology and practice of basic addition is still intact and correct.  Thus, the method is not always the problem.  My human error of correctly applying it is the concern.

I'm just saying.