(Originally published October 14)
The Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas will be held in Fort Worth, on November 10-11, 2008. I urge you to make an effort to attend.
In the 1980s and 1990s, many of you faithfully came to the convention every year to save the BGCT from Fundamentalist control. I am so grateful that you did that, and I assure you that our BGCT leadership – both then and ever since then – are grateful, too.
It is because of you that Texas Baptists are free. No one group controls Texas Baptist thought; no one controls our institutions and ministries; we are a free convention.
Therefore, I think we should consider the annual convention our annual Texas Baptist Independence Celebration and make a special effort to be there.
The wonderful teachers I knew at Southwestern Seminary all had their integrity and faith questioned; in fact, many of them were fired. My heroes from when I was a young minister were banished from leadership in Southern Baptist life. Tragically, most state conventions were not strong enough to resist the lies and unethical tactics practiced by Fundamentalists.
Today, Louisiana College and Baptist universities in many other states exist in a climate of fear and turmoil. Many other Baptist universities have struggled to free themselves from Fundamentalist control.
In Texas, we have worked hard to keep our institutions free from such threats, and – praise God – our institutions are free today.
This alone should be reason to come to the Annual Meeting every year – to celebrate our freedom and independence as free and faithful Texas Baptists.
But we also have tremendous ministries to celebrate: children’s ministries that impact the world; retirement ministries that honor well‑lived lives of service; border and hunger ministries that show our deep understanding of the full Gospel; and ethics-driven ministries that challenge us to live our faith, not just talk about it.
We are responding to God’s leadership by starting Cowboy churches, ethnic churches, and house churches across Texas. Our student ministries are sources of witness and support to the students in our colleges and universities.
We should gather together each year to celebrate these institutions and ministries – and to rejoice in our freedom. It should be our Texas Baptist Independence Celebration, and I hope you will make a point to be there. I look forward to seeing you.