On arguably the most stressful day in an already stressful year, ministers from across Birmingham and central Alabama took comfort in remarks made by Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In an election-day Zoom meeting, Floyd sought to encourage pastors dealing with upheaval on multiple fronts.
“You’ve done so much in one of the most extraordinarily unprecedented moments any of us have ever lived,” Floyd said. “Meeting on this very unique day in American life is just beyond our imagination, what we’re seeing and living in the last several months.
“I’m reminded in all this that the greatest need is we’ve got to find a way to come together in every way to move forward, to take the gospel Christ to every person in the world,” he said.
“And that’s really why I’m here, to try my best, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to help us in that.”
‘Making it happen’
The Birmingham Metro Baptist Association, which now includes churches from the Bessemer area, invited Floyd to speak to participants during its Virtual Ministers Conference on Nov. 3. Local pastors, Floyd indicated, are essential to keeping churches on course in the face of the ongoing pandemic, social and racial unrest, and political polarization that has shaken the country.
“Y’all are the ones making it happen,” Floyd said. “We all know that it really comes back to the heart of every one of our churches. There’s nothing greater than being a pastor of a local church.”
Despite the difficulties imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Floyd said, Baptist churches don’t seem to be suffering too many membership or financial losses.
“The great news is that churches are coming back. We’re seeing great activity. It’s all very, very positive in the first month of this new fiscal year for the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m very, very encouraged by that and so thankful to God,” he said.
And while it’s been strange to not have a convention this year, plans are moving forward for next couple of years.
‘God is seeing us through’
“We’ve been in a mode here about how to navigate through Southern Baptist life without having a two-day meeting once a year,” Floyd said. “But God is seeing us through. We’re already actively planning not only the 2021 convention that will be here in Nashville next June, but also there will be a group going to California for the 2022 convention that will take place in Anaheim, right by Disneyland.
“By faith we’re moving forward. We’re trying to keep our focus on that.”
Floyd said the 2021 conference will feature a four-year plan for Southern Baptist churches.
“We’re going to bring forth a vision that we believe God has given us to try to bring together a lot of different streams of Baptist life and leaders of Baptist life at every level to try to move us forward, to really a deep, deep focus toward sending missionaries and doing everything we can to re-energize evangelism of this denomination through our churches and through all that we do together,” he said.
“We believe that God’s going to let us do that in 2021. That will be a four-year vision that will move us forward in great ways, and that is a path for clarity and measurement and understanding, something our churches can put their arms around and go forward in.”
Q&As
After Floyd’s opening remarks, he offered BMBA members a chance to ask questions in a private session.
BMBA Executive Director Dr. Chris Crain said ministers asked for Floyd’s input on many of the issues of the day, ranging from COVID-19 to race relations and politics.
“We felt that especially in this very difficult time in which we’re living, it would be good to hear his encouragement as we face the challenges we have before us,” Crain said.
Some ministers were concerned with the issues at stake with the election and how the outcomes could affect people of faith. Others wanted to know how to pray for struggling Southern Baptist entities such as Lifeway Christian Resources, which is suffering publishing losses and mired in leadership conflict. Still others asked what the SBC is doing to ensure that churches are ministering to all races and ethnicities, Crain said.
Crain said he was especially happy that Jacob Simmons, pastor of Hope Community Church, could get Floyd’s expert advice and feedback, since it was only Simmons’ second day on the job.
Floyd also shared initiatives being developed to increase baptisms, and “to have a renewed emphasis on sharing the gospel with students and teenagers and how that will be an important catalyst to growing the church,” Crain said, noting that it especially resonated with him as the father of teenagers.
Floyd called on pastors “to continue to focus beyond personalities, and to focus on our values and ethical standards.” He exhorted pastors to let God take the lead, and make sure opinions were backed up by the Bible.
“Every time we want to talk about issues without the Bible, we get in trouble,” Floyd told the ministers. “I don’t want to look at things through a cultural lens. That’s a no-win, one-way street.”
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