The Future is Looking Bright
On Tuesday, a group of 7 from our church plant here in Tampa made the trek to Orlando to be a part of the SBC 2010 annual convention. There were thousands of people in attendance. This year’s meeting had been hyped up for months to be a defining moment in the history of the SBC. A “Great Commission Resurgence” (GCR) was the theme and a report on how the Great Commission was going to be infused back into the SBC was the focus. We sat in the Orlando convention center with about 10,000 others as people who wanted to make changes in methodology to better accomplish Christ’s task of making disciples, baptizing, and equipping people, battled (it was kward at times, let me tell you) against others who wanted to keep doing things within the denomination the same way they had been done for years. I felt like I was at some political event.
In the end, the majority of the people, who wanted reforms and who wanted to get back on the track of doing things Biblically, joined forces with the minority, to overwhelmingly support the GCR. This means church planting will be back on top of the priority list within the SBC. I think those of us who are involved with Aletheia can be very excited about the future ramifications of this. What this means is more emphasis, more resources, and more people who are on board with fulfilling the Great Commission. And let’s think about it for a second…how did Jesus intend for us to do this in the first place? He intended this to be done through an agent, a vehicle that He created through His people…the church! The church exists to see the Great Commission fulfilled in people’s lives. So Tuesday was a day of celebration for those of us who are going to continue to be a part of God’s vehicle. And in order to continue to expand God’s commission, we must start new churches. This is what Aletheia is all about. We want to see as many churches planted in as many cities, in as many countries as God wills.
So praise God for His commitment to His mission. And praise Him for the COmission that He has given us. And praise Him for His love for the lost. And praise Him that we are pushed to continue to change our methodology, but never the theology that He has given us in His very own Words!