Vision is missing! Problem can’t see it in churches.

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is calling the denomination to re-focus on the Great Commission. Here is my quick synopsis: What I see are three wise bullet points. People need to embrace biblical change that fits with progressional sanctification. Too many stopped in their progress and think they have landed. Second, you need strong biblical leadership. There might be pastors who think they are in God’s will and are not. Well, that one is pretty easy to sort out. Look and see if what he is doing lines up with Scripture, and meets the requirements in 1 tim and 1 peter, case closed. The Third is vision requires change. Joh Pollard says, “People underestimate their capacity for change.  There is never a right time to do a difficult thing. A leader’s job is to help people have vision of their potential.”

Here are the three challenges.  There are stalled Christians in their progressive sanctification not wanting to attain their potential. Second, their are pastors and leaders scared to follow through with the vision thing because of the waves it will create – the waves of change. Third, it is obvious that for decades based on the numbers leaving the church, based on the number of biblically illiterate in this country, based on the numbers of pastors leaving the ministry – churches have been led in the wrong direction by their leaders, and in many cases led by the people unwilling to change because of lack of vision on either side.

Is there only one way to do church or is some sort of change needed? A resurgence in developing disciples seems to suggest church services are getting deeper, going a bit longer,with pastors & leaders having more accountability for starters, that’s hard to swallow for some on both sides. Churches like Mars Hill, Seacoast, New Spring, Elevation Church all fit this for sure and are growing disciples like crazy! The challenge is how will the church help people have vision for their potential when they seem content to stay where they are and when it requires more effort as Paul suggested it would, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” With that said, here is what Hunt had to say.

During his presidential address earlier today to 7,100 messengers at the SBC’s annual meeting in Louisville, Dr. Johnny Hunt cautioned Southern Baptist laypeople and pastors against being prideful and un-teachable. “The Bible says God sets Himself against people of pride,” Hunt stated. “It’s one thing to pastor a church [and] to have someone in the audience who doesn’t like you, [but] it’s another to be standing behind that sacred desk — and the very God that you’re representing has opposed your ministry. Nothing could be more frightening. “I just want to go on record saying: I flat need Jesus.” The SBC leader said his call for a Great Commission Resurgence must start with the local church and a renewed commitment to give and evangelize. And that, he said, would mean more resources for the Cooperative Program (CP), the denomination’s partnership of missions support. “If we commit greater amounts to reaching the nations, church planting in America, and intentional evangelism in this nation in which we live, the CP will rise in such a way that we will think it was a Cooperative Program Resurgence instead of a Great Commission Resurgence,” said Hunt. “We do not have a money problem — we have a vision problem.” Southern Baptists are not looking for a program to follow, but a vision to embrace, he added

Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 June 2009 15:19