A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE: Making Things Grow
By David R. Currie,
Coordinator

Those of you who know me will not be surprised by the source of inspiration for this column because I am an earthy person. I ranch. I hunt and fish. I love the land. Cities and I have never been comfortable with each other.

Not long ago I spent the day at the ranch with my boys spraying mesquite trees and prickly pear with a herbicide. Why? So something else better can grow, particularly grass. Killing mesquite and prickly pear will pay off in the future with more good grass for the sheep and cattle.

Another thing we often do at the ranch is gather cow manure to spread in our garden. We feed the cows protein cubes, eighteen 50- pound sacks each Saturday, and then fill the empty sacks with cow manure. My boys have yet to see how character building this endeavor is. But the fact is, the manure makes the garden soil much better. It makes things grow.

I am reminded of Leo Bibb, the wonderful character created by Frederick Buechner in a series of four novels. In one them Bibb, an evangelist, has a conversation with a Princeton professor who claims to be agnostic. The professor tells Bibb to look at all the “manure” religion has caused through the years. Bibb admits that the professor is correct in some respects, but not totally. He concludes that when left in one pile, manure stinks, but if spread out, it makes seeds grow. I love that story.

What, you might be thinking, do all these “earthy” illustrations have to do with Texas Baptists? I am glad you asked.

The last 17 years in Southern Baptist life have been deeply depressing for many of us. I have written of my depression regarding these events many times. I am sickened that Southern Baptists abandoned Bold Mission Thrust. I cannot believe Russell Dilday was fired, or Dan Martin, and others. What is happening at Southern and Midwestern seminaries now, after already happening at Southeastern, is nearly beyond comprehension. The SBC Christian Life Commission, where I once worked, is an embarrassment to me. And that anyone could treat the WMU the way SBC leaders have treated it boggles my mind. I have written about these things before.

Based on my “earthy” illustrations and experiences, I have a new idea. Maybe the SBC takeover by the fundamentalists can be a good thing. Maybe Romans 8:28 is true in this situation, if we allow it to be. Maybe some wonderful new things can grow. Maybe some things have died so that better things can grow.

The Southern Baptist Convention had become, and is, a huge bureaucracy. We are the largest Protestant denomination in America. Maybe we were becoming too comfortable and stagnant. Maybe we needed to change some things and would never have done so had this mess not occurred.

Take theological education for example. Southern Baptists have six large seminaries. We are doing theological education with a mass production model. Maybe it is time for some other models — models that allow time for mentoring, for hands-on training in ministry.

Texas Baptists should concentrate on providing theological education throughout our state. We already have Truett Seminary at Baylor and Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons. Wayland has a masters of religion program. All our universities might have Masters programs. We also need a Bible college. Diploma programs, for older students who do not have a college degree, would be helpful, especially if dispersed throughout the state. Some university needs to be providing religious education training. We need a system to provide theological education for the laity. If we are going to start 1,500 new congregations in the next five years, we need to provide a way for the pastors and the lay leaders to be trained without having to live near Fort Worth. Fort Worth does not need 1,500 new churches—Texas does.

Some wonderful things could grow in relation to home missions. Last year, the HMB took in $28 million more than it sent to states for mission work. I called a member of the BGCT/HMB study committee and asked this individual if he knew where this $28 million went. He said he did not know, and that the only explanation he could imagine was that the money was spent in Atlanta or put into savings.

And he went on to tell me about visiting a pioneer state where the HMB funds 97% of the state convention budget. He said the state has only 50 SBC churches and yet has 16 people in the state Baptist bureaucracy drawing a salary. The HMB money was not being spent starting new churches, but funding the state bureaucracy.

In relation to home missions, something new needs to grow. Notice how the talk in Washington is about returning programs to the states from the federal government. People are saying the programs will be more accountable and effective if administrated closest to the people.

How about returning home missions back to states? Let the BGCT enter partnerships with pioneer states, and then allow local associations to adopt cities and areas to start new churches. Let’s get individual Texas Baptists, in cooperation with their churches and associations, doing pioneer mission work. Let’s start churches, and then let the local churches in pioneer states grow to the point they can support a state convention.

We even need to examine foreign missions in light of Baptist polity, which says that Baptist headquarters is the local church. There needs to be a way for states, associations, and local churches to support their missionaries in a cooperative manner and still maintain personal ties. We should be able to send BGCT foreign missionaries through either the SBC or CBF.

Writing this article has been exciting for me. I have decided to quit being depressed about what might have been and focus on what can be. We need to see what might have died in order for something better to grow. We do not need to be punitive toward the SBC or any of its leaders. That would not be Christian. But we do need to take this opportunity to see what good might come out of what seems so bad. I urge you to allow this column to spark your spirit. Dream about what Texas Baptists can do to further the Kingdom of God. Let us make new things grow that further the Kingdom

April 1996