The Great Commission Resurgencein teh Southern Baptist Convention

[Fusion!]

"Paul was the greatest Christian theologian as well as the greatest Christian missionary who ever lived. Therefore, there should be no dichotomy between the mind and the heart. The two should be beautifully wed together in terms of service to the Lord" Dr. Danny Akin

I believe this is the heart of what is happening and needs to happen in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Dr. Danny AKin, President of Southwestern Baptist Seminary, has been calling for a great commission resurgence for a while now. There has been much debate in the SBC as to what direction we need to take. A few weeks ago a website dedicated to the Great Commission Resurgence in the SBC came out quickly leading many well known Baptists to sign in (myself included). Why all the fuss? I think it is because for a while the SBC has had no vision. of what it is to do. It is the only denomination to have had a conservative resurgence in the 70's and 80's wherein the liberals were kicked out. Now the question is what will it become? The reason I post this here is because another trend in the SBC has been a growth in Calvinism. In the book Young Restless Reformed, it highlighted the SBC and Southern Baptist Seminary as the places where Calvinism was spreading. As such, Dr Akin talked about how Calvinism plays a role in all this. He says,

In its healthier strand, Reformed theology gave way to the modern missionary movement. I don’t hesitate to point out that the father of the modern missionary movement was William Carey, who happened to be a 5-point Calvinist. The father of Baptist missions in America was Adoniram Judson. He was a 5-point Calvinist. You can trace both Carey and Judson’s inspiration for missions back to David Brainerd, who was a 5-point Calvinist. And of course, the most famous Baptist preacher ever, in any context, was Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a wonderful gospel preacher who built the largest church in the world at the particular time that he was alive. All of that is something that should be applauded.

What’s the negative? The negative is that there has always been in Reformed theology a strand that unfortunately moves toward fatalism. It also sometimes moves toward antinomianism.

But I’m more concerned about the fatalism strand, because that particular strand then unfortunately devolves into being anti-missionary and anti-evangelistic.

Very encouraging and sobering. If you go to the interview (read all 4 parts) I commented on there. I mentioned that I was proud that both pastors at my church have been living the call of the great commission by going to a local college and witnessing to the students. I'm proud of them and have seen them in action myself. My first thought on all this will be that if we want to see Reformed theology get a hearing int he SBC it must live up to its name. I am proud to say that I have two great pastors at my church who have been missional before it was popular in the SBC. Quite simply, they let their light shone wherever they go. One is a barrista at Starbucks and the other has had more evangelistic talks with people at his local Taco Bell than anyone I know. And they both go to Cal State Fullerton every Friday to witness to the students. It will take our Reformed pastors their example for the Calvinists in the SBC to get going. There's more to say I'm sure, but I challenge you to go to the links I provided and interact here as to how we can contribute (specifically as Reformed Baptists) to the GCR in the SBC.