I wanted to add a couple of more things to "Friday is for Friends" from yesterday (click here to review what you might have missed). But, this is the "Baptist" version, so you Lutherans, Pentecostals, and Wesleyans might not enjoy it as much!

Johnny Hunt's Article in SBCLife

First, Johnny Hunt brings it, and brings it straight, when he writes:

Jesus prayed that His followers would be unified so that the world may know You sent Me (John 17:23). That prayer is desperately needed for our Convention today...

I, for one, am ready for a change -- a positive change that calls us to build on our Conservative Resurgence and focus on building great churches, evangelizing the unsaved, reclaiming the wayward, taking the Gospel to the lost and the least, starting new churches, and sending several thousand new missionaries to the unengaged, unreached people groups of the world. And, if I can read the Convention messengers, they felt the same way in Indianapolis...

I want us to bring the next generation of young leaders into an active participation in our Convention. We have lost much of a generation of pastors, and if we lose the younger generation, we have no future.

We have tried to "tell" them to come back, but to no avail. However, we need a new plan. Simply put, it is not working to "welcome" them and not "affirm" them. We have to acknowledge that many people are doing church differently in many contexts right here -- we must acknowledge that you do not have to travel to Africa to find a different culture. North America is full of people who think differently, worship differently, and lead differently than my own generation. Paul would value this as diversity. We, as a Convention, are blessed with a wonderful group of godly, young pastors coming along behind us. And, if they share our confession and want to be in this partnership, it is high time we affirmed them and welcomed the diversity of scripturally sound ways that they do church in their context...

This is a big task, and trends are not good -- the Convention annual meeting is getting older and smaller every year...

Do you really believe that we can turn the tide? No! And neither do I. But God can!...

I believe we stand at a crossroads. We can continue to fuss over minor issues or, as Dr. Rogers gave us the charge, we can unite with a common mission. The expectation of the Conservative Resurgence was that we would agree on enough doctrinally that we could focus on the nations -- let's begin now, and let's do it together.

Read the whole article here.

Baptist21.com

And speaking of young leaders, some young pastors recently created a new site called "Baptist21.com." A few observations:

1. I know some of these guys and am very impressed with their desire to learn from the past and press to the future. From their web page:

Baptist 21 is grateful for a Southern Baptist heritage where the Gospel has been faithfully passed down and effective Great Commission ministry has been undertaken. Many believe there is a crisis ahead for Baptists, particularly Southern Baptists, in the 21st century. Our commitment is to work diligently in the present by honoring the Gospel faithfulness of the past, contending for the Gospel, engaging current cultures with the Gospel, and cooperating toward future Kingdom effectiveness among Southern Baptists in the 21st century and beyond.

2. The blog has thus far been pretty insightful, dealing with preaching the gospel, young leaders, and universalism.

3. I think it is the first blog (other than the my own) where I am in the header. However, two problems with that. First, it has my old picture with the big Baptist bouffant hairdo (rather than the new version here). Second, is Paige Patterson pointing at me or James Merritt?

Go check out the blog.

Emir Caner to Truett McConnell

Finally, Ergun Caner sent me an email that his brother, Emir, is going to be president of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia.

Congrats to Emir and to the school.