If I acquiesce and claim the new nickname of Great Commission Baptist, will folks stop insinuating I am a "whiner" and a tad racist? Will I be less likely to fall into the nostalgia of "idolatry"?
If I raise the white flag, and sing "I Surrender All" as I march to Zion, will folks think better of me?
If I renounce my "southern" roots in the Southern Baptist Convention will that make me less "southern"? less Baptist? more "great commission" oriented? and a more spirit-filled, loving, disciple of Jesus Christ?
Will folks like me more? Hear my testimony more clearly? Accept Jesus as Lord more often?
I don't know. I'm just mulling this whole thing over. After all, someone in my Sunday School class is bound to ask me what's going on when they read about this in the state Baptist paper. Should I tell them it is just a "nick-name"? It's optional. That it doesn't mean all that much? It's not all that important? It's just so churches in areas beyond the Mason-Dixon Line don't have to divulge that they are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and thereby avoid being a stumbling block in their area?
It doesn't mean we "Southern" Baptists are "bad" or "less than" all that. Some just don't want to be a hindrance. They think we need to move past our past and forward into this new day and time.
Ya think if I join the choir and sing in harmony with those who don't like "Southern Baptist", that things will be better in the world and more folks will come to our church? Or more kids to VBS this summer? Or will we have to change First Baptist East to First Baptist "Neutral" to accomplish that? selahV
by the way... HOW ARE YOU KNOWN? /link
