Some 8,600 messengers elected by their local churches converged on the City of San Antonio, Texas this past week for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. In my 22 years as a pastor, Sandy & I have been to 8 SBC meetings. This was the first one we had attended in a few years.When we arrived in San Antonio late Sunday night, the hometown NBA Spurs were handily winning game 2 of their best-of-7 championship series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. (They ultimately would sweep the Cavs, 4 games to zip.) On the taxi ride in from the airport, we listened along with the cabbie to the game’s 4th quarter on radio. As we stepped into the lobby of our downtown hotel, the desk clerks, bellhops and guests were all cheering their team’s victory, just played out on the hotel’s big screen TV. Moments later, from our 14th floor room, we could see an adjacent high-rise hotel with its exterior balcony lights illuminating the night sky with the
message “Go Spurs”. Then, on into the late hours, while we tried to sleep, car horns celebrating the Spurs’ win could be heard continuously from the busy streets below. San Antonio definitely loves its Spurs, and during the NBA Finals, it seems the whole town had gone hoops crazy. But there’s a lot more to this Southwestern city than Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and company.All my previous trips to Texas have been confined largely to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. I’ve told that to a few native Texans and they’ve typically responded, “Oh, then you haven’t really been to Texas.” With this trip I
started to realize a bit more of what they were talking about. San Antonio is a large city—(at 1.2 million residents, it’s the 7th largest in the USA)—but it has worked hard to maintain a more relaxed, smaller town flavor. In contrast to the seemingly more urban Dallas (which is actually slightly smaller), San Antonio has a greater number of residents that have lived in the region all their lives, and their families have been there for generations. This was certainly true of many of the cab drivers, food servers, and sales clerks with whom we spoke. Without a doubt, most were extremely friendly, helpful and courteous. The city itself is also very beautiful, with its rich Mexican cultural heritage (which includes great Mexican cuisine, by the way) and lots of trees, shade, and appealing green space in the downtown area, especially along the popular River Walk area. Historically, San Antonio is perhaps best known as the site of the Alamo. No, not the car rental agency, but the famous battle. You remember the 
Alamo, don’t you? That’s where John Wayne…er…I mean, Davy Crockett—and 188 other brave heroes—died fighting for freedom rather then surrender to Mexican General Santa Anna. In my opinion, San Antonio was a great host city for our convention. I’ve been to a number of convention cities that were not near as friendly or as easy to navigate. The residents of San Antonio truly went out of their way to make us feel welcome.Now, on to some of the highlights of the convention itself: SBC President Frank Page has served with distinction since his surprise election one year ago in Greensboro. Presiding over this year’s
proceedings, Page’s warmth, humor, humility, sincerity, and inclusive spirit set a wonderful tone for week. The theologically-conservative, mission-minded pastor of a large (but not mega-) church—First Baptist of Taylors, South Carolina—Frank Page well represents grass-roots Southern Baptists and his leadership style has been absolutely refreshing. I particularly like (and identify with) his line: “I believe the Bible, I’m just not angry about it.” May his tribe increase! I was delighted when he was re-elected without opposition to a customary second term.The messengers also passed a motion reaffirming the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, identifying it as the denomination’s “only consensus statement of doctrinal beliefs”, noting that it’s not a creed but a guide. As such, SBC boards and agencies were reminded that the BF & M provides the basic parameters for the hiring of all seminary professors and the appointment of all missionaries.
The messengers also received reports from our various SBC entities. It was great to hear that Cooperative Program giving reached record levels in 2006. So did giving to Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong (our seasonal international and
national mission offerings). Praise the Lord! (Mount Hermon also had a record year in 2006.) Furthermore, International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin reported that more than 475,000 new believers were baptized and more than 23,000 new churches planted last year through the work of IMB missionaries. Rankin encouraged SBC churches to partner with overseas missionaries through short-term mission trips and prayer and financial support. (That’s exactly what we’re seeking to do at Mount Hermon.)Unfortunately, while missions giving is up and overseas baptisms are climbing, baptisms here at home have continued to decline. It was reported that of our 44,000 SBC churches, 17% baptized no one in 2006! And 68% of SBC churches baptized 10 or less. Furthermore, concerns were expressed in regard to the large numbers of inactive members on our church rolls. Southern Baptists, with 16 million members, are the 2nd largest religious denomination in the USA (after the Catholic Church). But, as one speaker reminded us, the exact whereabouts of many of our church members are unknown even to the FBI and CIA!
While it was noted that our conservative resurgence during the 1980s & 1990s returned us to a high view of scripture—which was needful—we still have a great and desperate need for
repentance and revival. It seems we’ve been focusing on trying to raise our baptism levels as a denomination, when we really need to be taking a hard look at ourselves, particularly in regard to our attitudes, our treatment of one another, and the pursuit of personal holiness in all areas of our lives. This was a recurring theme in the sermons preached at this year’s convention as well as the pastors’ conference that preceded it. To this I add a hearty “Amen!” Church health must always precede church growth. Furthermore, I think it’s always important to remember that one can be as straight as a gun barrel theologically while also being as cold as a gun barrel spiritually.As he has in years past, President George W. Bush addressed this year’s meeting live via satellite. He thanked Southern Baptists for their prayers, adding that "God has blessed our nation with prosperity and great abundance, and I firmly believe, like you, that we should use our resources to help those at need here at home and help those in need abroad. And this is a central part of the work of the Southern Baptist Convention. … You're living out the call to spread the Gospel and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
And here's some really good news you may not have heard. Nearly 1,000 people—959 to be exact—made first-time decisions for Christ during the “Crossover” evangelistic outreach! Praise the Lord! “Crossover” is an annual event preceding the SBC meeting whereby volunteers witness through block parties, cultural celebrations, free medical clinics, door-to-door visits, etc.
One of the personal highlights of the week for me was meeting former Arkansas governor and current presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. He was doing a book signing at the LifeWay booth. You may or may not know that Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister and pastored SBC churches prior to first running for political office in the early 1990s. If you have seen any of the recent presidential debates, you will realize that Huckabee—while thus far relegated to the second tier of candidates—is articulate, intelligent and stands firmly on his Christian convictions. Do an Internet search of his recent comments regarding creation. Read the transcript or watch the video footage. You will be impressed. Huckabee hit a home run in responding to the question of a secular news reporter on the subject. It was a pleasure for me to meet Governor Huckabee and chat with him for a few minutes. I bought two of his books. He personalized one each for me and my son. I assured him of my prayers as he continues his quest for the White House.Well, that’s my report on this year’s SBC. Other than our flight home being two hours late (because of bad weather), our luggage getting lost in Dallas (but recovered the next day), and our alarm system accidentally going off (and getting stuck in the on position) when we arrived home at 2:30 AM, everything else was uneventful!
Pastor Danny
