mission

Review of the SBC Annual Meeting 2025 in Dallas, TX

Again this year I had the privilege of attending the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention as a messenger. The two days spent together with fellow messengers are essentially the only two days of business for the denomination. The polity of the denomination functions similarly to a church with congregational governance. Major decisions, budgets, appointments, leadership, etc. must all happen in a gathered room with messengers making those decisions. Below are some observations from this year’s meeting.

Historic. The 2025 annual meeting of the SBC was historic in nature. Exactly one hundred years ago (1925), two integral components of SBC life began: the Cooperative Program, the Baptist Faith and Message. The Executive Committee was also established around that window (formed in 1917). With the advent of the Cooperative Program, baptists from all over the United States were able to give through their state conventions and then on to the national convention. The Cooperative Program operates as follows. Each state convention keeps a percentage. In North Carolina, the BSCNC keeps 50 cents of every dollar and then sends 50 cents onto to be distributed nationally. Of every CP dollar given roughly 50% goes to the IMB to send international missionaries, 25% goes to the NAMB to support church planting, replanting, and SEND Relief (disaster relief efforts). The six seminaries receive a proportional amount of what is left based upon enrollment. And a final small percentage goes to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission as well as the Executive Committee. The cooperative element of Southern Baptist life allows missionaries to go to the field, churches to be planted, and seminary students to be trained. The genius of the Cooperative Program is that forty six thousand churches can combine their giving to support institutional mission and educational structures.

The Baptist Faith and Message was first adopted in 1925 establishing a confession of faith that articulated doctrinal clarity for a denomination that at the time was eighty years old. Building upon the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, the BF&M has become a guiding document that instructs and determines friendly fellowship between churches. Revised in 1963 and 2000, the BF&M serves Southern Baptists as a confessional document for consistent doctrinal application.

The Executive Committee also began in that era (1917) as the standing leadership for the denomination to accomplish tasks and responsibilities for the denomination outside the annual meeting. The EC then and now serves the purpose of the legal and formal representation of the will of the messengers between annual meetings. 

We should not minimize the significance of the institutional history of the SBC. With mainline denominations shuttering doors and prominent seminaries moving or declining, the health of the SBC one hundred years after the establishment of these three components is something to be grateful for. Southern Baptists do not always agree. We face challenges annually and will continue to do so. But our shared history, love for cooperative missions, and willingness adapt to our polity make us a denomination with lasting capabilities. 

Difficult. Sometimes denominational actions are difficult. Over the past several annual meetings, the messengers have done things good and bad. From waiving attorney client privilege for an internal investigation regarding sexual abuse allegations to implementing reforms in the area of accountability for pastors and churches to facing legal bills, decisions at the annual meetings have consequences anticipated and unanticipated. One of the more significant actions of this year’s messengers was approving a financial plan with budgeting considerations for addressing lawsuits. Over the past several years, SBC actions have been perceived as defamation and lawsuits against the EC, SBC, and Credentials Committee have been filed. Fighting these legal challenges is costly. The desire of the messengers in recent meetings has overwhelmingly been aimed at pursuing integrity and transparency. So this year’s budget requests funds for legal fees. While no one likes spending money on legal fees, the SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US existing in a litigious society. While we may lament the necessity to pay legal bills we are obligated financially and legally. 

Troubled. At almost every recent SBC meeting, I’ve attended, there have been motions calling for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to be defunded or abolished. One of our seminary presidents referred to the ERLC as a “troubled” entity. Rank and file baptists have expressed frustration at the ERLC for calling out conservative and Republican politicians and for accepting funds from sources that are not aligned with the SBC in values and worldview. The ERLC has the unenviable task of addressing policies in a divided political climate. A motion was made to abolish the ERLC once again. While the vote to abolish fell short, more than 40% of the messengers voted to abolish. We should pray that the ERLC board and officers hear the concerns and adjust accordingly. In my estimation, it would be devastating to lose the commission as a voice for the SBC in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, when such a significant percentage of the messengers vote concerned, the entity should take notice.

Grateful. Parents, we raise our children, not to live at home, but to leave our homes, get married, and begin families of their own. While we may always desire our children to remain close, a sign of good parenting is sending your children away prepared and ready to face the world. Likewise, one of the greatest signs of our denominational values and health is in our sending. Our mission mandates sending (Matthew 28:16-20), and our denomination exists essentially as a cooperative body for mission sending. In 2024, the IMB commissioned 423 missionaries, connected thousands of Southern Baptists on short-term mission trips, and advanced in Project 3000 by engaging unengaged people groups. Last year more than 63,000 people professed faith in Christ due to IMB efforts, thousands of new churches were started, and 84,000 new leaders were trained. We cooperate confessionally in order to send missionaries. Why? Because 166,338 people die every day across the world and enter a Christ-less eternity. 

Highlights. At the luncheon for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler noted the health of the Southern Baptist seminaries. Your six Southern Baptist Seminaries (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention) are six of the ten strongest seminaries in the US. This is because the seminaries are committed to theological fidelity. This past graduation at SBTS, students from more than 13 countries graduated and walked. There were actually students from the Ukraine and Russia to graduate from SBTS. While their countries are at war, the gospel unites believers for the spread of the gospel. Dr. Mohler also made two other observations that should encourage us. First, while Southern Baptists will gather and argue about a great many things, at least we are healthy enough as a denomination to gather, argue, and debate. Many other denominations are not healthy, not gathering, and certainly not growing because they are not committed to biblical inerrancy and authority. Second, the SBC annual meeting may be one of the only places in the world where people in skinny jeans and others with fat ties can gather for mission cooperation and denominational decision-making.

Part of what makes being a Southern Baptist good is that we are diverse. We are imperfect. We disagree. We are overwhelmingly conservative, biblical, missional, and complementation. But we are diverse in the application of doctrine and practice.

If you would like to hear more about the SBC Annual meeting 2025, visit us at Wilkesboro Baptist Church on June 18 at 6 pm. I’ll be giving a more thorough review to our church family.

Replicating Leadership: Biblical Polity, pt. 5

A number of years ago, Wilkesboro Baptist restated our church’s mission. We affirmed publicly that our mission is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus. This mission statement is essentially Jesus’ commission to his followers in Matthew 28. In affirming this mission, we articulated four specific mission steps for accomplishing this mission: worship, learn, serve, replicate. I’ve written on this subject here on my blogpost on multiple occasions and written a book entitled Commissioned as an explanation for how we as a church will lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus.

Our four mission steps direct our programming and activity decisions and describe a process for helping members to live on mission.

  • To worship means that we gather to celebrate and declare the glory of God and his gospel through song, sermon, and ordinances.
  • To learn means that we join with other believers in Sunday school classes, discipleship groups, and doctrinal studies to deepen our faith in doctrine and devotion.
  • To serve means that each member at WBC is gifted and designed to serve in our church, community, and the world in worshiping God and spreading the gospel.
  • To replicate means that we are to replicate the life of Christ in other believers by inviting them to worship, learn, serve, and follow Christ.

Worshiping, learning, and serving are typical steps or programs in the life of nearly any church. But the church does not merely exist to be active in programs, the church exists to make disciples: to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus. To replicate is to make disciples. Making disciples is the imperative command from Jesus to his followers in Matthew 28:18-20.

Our church can worship, learn, and serve without fulfilling our mission. In order to fulfill our mission, we must replicate the life of Jesus to others. In our context replicating takes place when we invite others into a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Here’s an example from our worship step. Just recently one of our high school seniors invited her boyfriend to worship with her at church. He began attending and was convicted about his need for Jesus. We met and talked about his need for salvation, and he committed his life to become a follower of Jesus. That is replicating. Someone was invited to worship with us, and upon hearing the gospel, he became a follower of Jesus.

Here’s an example from our learning step. We recently had a faithful Sunday school class birth (replicate) a new class at church. That new class is already full. In that class are multiple discipleship groups that recently birthed new discipleship groups. When a class births or a discipleship group births, we are replicating opportunities where members can learn to follow Jesus.

Here’s an example from our serving step. Nearly all of our adult Sunday school classes have a co-teacher model. We do this for practical reasons. It is healthier for a class not to have a teacher expected to prepare and teach every week of the year. Co-teaching creates rest for the primary teacher. Also, co-teaching adopts a model where teachers are being replicated within Sunday school classes readying the classes to birth. When we serve together we are helping others to follow Jesus.

These steps have been instrumental in the health and mission at Wilkesboro Baptist. But these steps have left me with a serious question:

If it is healthy for our servants and leaders to replicate in their groups and teams, then how do I as the Senior Pastor model replicating in my calling and ministry?

As a follower of Jesus, I seek to accomplish each of these steps in my Christian walk by inviting others to worship, helping them to learn, and equipping them to serve. But how do I replicate as a pastor?

I believe that having a plurality of elders is the God-ordained means for me to replicate the life of Jesus into others by developing them as pastors and elders. With a plurality of elders, I will have the opportunity to invest in staff and lay elders with the goal of replicating the life of Christ in those who will lead our church. In essence, affirming a plurality of elders at Wilkesboro Baptist Church is the next step in our church’s acceptance of our mission: leading our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus.

As I’ve thought about this, what better way to fulfill our church’s mission than to raise up lay and staff elders within our congregation whose very calling is to lead others to follow Jesus by shepherding them?

Last summer, our staff led a pastor’s forum that included our summer intern and some young men called to pastor. Those forum conversations were encouraging and insightful for all involved. These kinds of forums and leadership conversations are things we can continue for staff and lay elders as well as pastoral interns and other potential elder candidates.

Here are some examples of what replicating leadership could look like:

  • Staff and lay elders (hereafter, just elders) will gather regularly for prayer and spiritual development.
  • Elders will work through leadership decisions together.
  • Elders will be empowered to shepherd the congregation and to make ministry decisions.
  • Ministers, pastors, elders, interns, and potential elders will be invited to read and discuss books on pastoring, theology, leadership, mission, and culture.
  • Elders will be empowered to oversee ministry at Wilkesboro Baptist Church and to invest in the next generation of servants and leaders.
  • Potential elders can be identified, prayed for, and invited to consider serving in leadership positions in the life of the church.
  • Potential elders, pastoral interns, and young ministers may never become staff members at Wilkesboro Baptist, but they can develop a ministry philosophy as well theological fidelity by participating in leadership development at a healthy church.

Here’ s a final anecdote. One of the greatest privileges of my ministry life was serving for fifteen years at Mud Creek Baptist Church. I learned a great deal about ministry, theology, pastoral care, and leadership. While leadership development (replicating) may not have been the intention of my staff ministry position, it was certainly the result. And what I experienced was not unique to me. There are a number of Baptist churches being served by former staff members at Mud Creek. We have been able to take what we learned there and apply to our current ministry situations. Wilkesboro Baptist Church is not a perfect church, but it is a healthy church. Developing a church polity with a plurality of elders is a pathway to developing leaders. Developing leaders may serve WBC, but they may also leave WBC to fulfill a calling to mission and leadership outside of WBC. One obvious example is our former Minister of Communications, Gary Buffaloe. Gary served at WBC for more than 3 years. At the beginning of 2022, Gary left our church staff to plant a new church in Boomer, NC at Camp Harrison. Gary and his team at Warrior Creek Church are fulfilling the mission of leading others to follow Jesus, and WBC got to play a part in kingdom advancement.

A plurality of elders is a vision for replicating leaders for our church as well as for the mission of spreading the gospel to and through other churches and ministries. This model is biblical. Paul replicated the life of Jesus in students like Timothy, Titus, and Luke to serve the purpose of spreading the gospel to the nations.

Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash