Even though the Great Commission Resurgence grabbed the headlines, three undercurrents of young pastors, John Calvin and Mark Driscoll pulled like riptides through the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Louisville June 23-24.

“Young pastors” for years have been the blossoms tended in the Baptist nursery, youth group, college and seminary vineyard.

It seemed just as they ripened into edible, reproducible fruit, they would fall from the vine and become detached from their Southern Baptist identity.

Their big question in several venues was “Why should I be a Southern Baptist?”

During a panel discussion not a part of the SBC, but which all the high profile principals endorsed and attended at Sojourn Community Church, the microphone flew back and forth like a hot potato when the moderator asked, “Why should I support my Baptist State Convention?” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler finally grabbed it and said pastors and churches “forfeit the right to speak into the situation if you don’t support it financially.”

Note that when given a chance to enumerate a long list of Southern Baptist initiatives and achievements that merit support, including funding the seminaries most of the young pastors were attending, the rationale to support the Convention was to earn the right to “speak into the situation.”

This is something every denominational leader who nods to the notion that we want young pastors to be on board with Convention ministries needs to understand. These guys don’t necessarily want to join the parade in progress.

They are committed, passionate and eager and would like to march in front with the 76 trombones, not bring up the back with the bucket until they have achieved some mythical level of age and experience.

Young pastors sense that for the first time they have real advocates at the highest levels of denominational life and it showed in what the SBC registration secretary said was the youngest convention crowd in a long, long time. Three of the four sermons interpreting the theme “Love Loud” were from preachers in their 30s.

SBC President Johnny Hunt is a strong mentor personally and through events at his church. He bought lunch for every one of the 400-500 who attended the panel discussion at Sojourn.

Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin, 52, is suddenly on every program of substance to which the young pastors flock while more traditional offerings go wanting for attendance.

Akin leads an institution whose purpose is to educate young pastors and other church staff, and he provides opportunities for them to hear, meet and network with non-traditional speakers.

This student generation rejects the notion that no one outside the traditional SBC speaker circuit has anything to offer.

Al Mohler, 50 in a few months, and already president of Southern Baptists’ oldest seminary for 17 years, understands in a visceral way young pastors’ impatience to incorporate their vision into Southern Baptist life without having to wait for gray hair. In part because Southern was celebrating its 150th anniversary, Mohler seemed ever visible at the convention.

These three rule the Big Top as of June 2009. Are they universally adored? Of course not. But they have the courage, audacity, passion, resources, impatience and the crowd of young pastors behind them to color the SBC in a hue they find more attractive and prepared to meet spiritual, cultural and demographic challenges today — not tomorrow.

John Calvin, born 500 years ago, is one of two men prominent in the meeting, although not present. He is the theological hero of many young pastors and the other prominent but not present figure was Mark Driscoll, a pastor in Seattle, who might be their alter ego.

By all accounts Southern Seminary is a Calvinist institution now and Mohler believes that is a return to our oldest seminary’s roots. A survey last year said 30 percent of all our seminary graduates consider themselves Calvinist.

Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Morris Chapman took them all on in his report.

He spoke so strongly against Calvinistic theology that Akin found it necessary to apologize for him to his “Calvinist brothers and sisters” at the Sojourn meeting. Akin does not consider himself a five-point Calvinist but there is room in his friend quiver for those who do.

In discussions of the Great Commission Resurgence motion, one messenger said a task force is unnecessary because Baptists can’t even agree on what the gospel says about salvation.

He said Calvinists would eventually split or destroy the Convention.

That kind of comment in another day would likely have killed any proposal. Instead, it was basically ignored and Mohler’s motion for Hunt to name a Great Commission Resurgence task force was approved overwhelmingly.

Young pastors find helpful networks or create them. Acts 29 is a church planting network magnetic to those who believe the best way to impact lostness is to plant churches that will plant churches.

For instance, J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit in Durham, wants his church to plant 1,000 others during his lifetime.

And Acts 29 is Calvinistic. If the Convention will be a homing place for this generation, it will be open to non-traditional relationships.

While church planting rises as the de facto Baptist evangelism strategy, disagreements rise over methodology.

Hunt might put a half million dollars into a church plant in Las Vegas, while a state convention would fund a church planter with $14,400 a year for two years. There must be room for various methods.

On the annual meeting’s first day, one motion after another urged the Convention to disassociate from Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and an Acts 29 founder.

They asked that his books be taken from LifeWay book stores; that SBC entities that invite him to speak at their conferences report any costs for those meetings and finally that Akin, Southeastern Seminary evangelism professor Alvin Reid and Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research be “investigated,” evidently for association with and defense of Driscoll. Driscoll is a plain speaking pastor building a large church in what could be America’s least churched region.

While people in the genteel south might not appreciate his candor, young pastors and their leaders understand he offers insights from his field and they are not willing to separate themselves from that input.

Driscoll is another barometer that says a generational shift has traditional messengers and denominational staff leadership pushing against walls that will not hold.

Ready or not, stamping, snorting, sniffing young bulls are pawing impatiently at the SBC structures.
 
Other observations
The Great Commission Resurgence, proposed by SBC President Hunt and written primarily by Akin, was front and center not only of the two-day SBC meeting, but also of ancillary meetings in the two days before that.

Many Baptist state convention executive directors remain cool to the idea, although it captured the imagination of messengers.

Any leader with a wet finger in the air will feel the wind blows toward the Great Commission Resurgence. After decades of unease since the “conservative resurgence” failed to inspire Baptists to greater missions effectiveness there is a clear eagerness for something, anything to jumpstart our cold batteries.

Hunt said “it all starts with the churches” and he is right. Task forces can reveal, report and recommend but with the autonomy of SBC agencies, state conventions, associations and churches, no task force can impose a papist ruling.

One goal is to conduct this review to show church members they can support state, national and international efforts with increased confidence – and hopefully at increased levels.

Three with North  Carolina ties are on the 18-member GCR task force: Akin, Greear and Al Gilbert, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Executive Director-treasurer Milton Hollifield was named to the North American Great Commission task force of the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

NAMB recognized the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina for leading all state conventions in gifts to the 2008 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions.

Steve Rummage was elected SBC second vice president. He is now from Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., but just left Charlotte’s Hickory Grove Baptist Church in May.

C.J. Bordeaux of Durham and Cindy Bush of Wake Forest were named to the Committee on Nominations.

Business sessions rolled like a freight train on a decline. When the SBC declared Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas as “no longer in friendly cooperation” messengers were referred only to a business item in the daily bulletin without Broadway’s name ever being mentioned. When resolutions passed on the closing morning, they were not read or discussed, simply referred to by item number in the daily bulletin.

All the music during worship times was praise music. I heard nary a traditional hymn.