A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE: History Is Watching
By David R. Currie,
Coordinator

TNT had a recent made-for-TV movie titled Two for Texas. Kris Kristofferson ( a great song writer) played the lead as a guy who joined up with Sam Houston and Jim Bowie to fight for Texas independence. During the movie, Bowie left Houston to go to the Alamo. As he was leaving, he shook Kristofferson’s character’s hand and said, “Remember, history is watching.”

Bowie was right. History was watching. Today and forevermore the world will remember the names Sam Houston, Jim Bowie,and Davy Crockett. Think about it. Can you ever remember a time when you did not know who Houston, Bowie and Crockett were? I can not. There is a series of pictures in my mother’s house of me as a five year old dressed up in a Davy Crockett suit.

Please read the article on the front page by Mark Wingfield, editor of the Kentucky Baptist state paper. He points out that everyone is watching Texas Baptists today. I believe he is right. Not only are people today watching Texas Baptists, but history is watching.

The leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention has deserted our Baptist heritage and the core Baptist witness of grace. Texas Baptists, by far the largest state Baptist convention, have refused to follow their unbiblical example. History is watching to see what we are going to do next.

Allow me to suggest a few things we should not do.

First, we should not seek to punish the Southern Baptist Convention and its agencies and programs. Punishment is a response unworthy of people of faith. The SBC may have left our Baptist heritage but punishment is not a proper response.

Second, we should not seek to cater to the SBC. We, as a state convention, are an independent entity according to Baptist polity. We are free to relate to the SBC and any other Baptist organization as we determine. We should not attempt to please the SBC but rather God. We should not allow the SBC or any other Baptist organization set our priorities.

Third, we should not seek to keep churches who primarily support the direction of the SBC, and not the BGCT, from exercising their freedom as local churches. We must not put “building the Kingdom of God” on hold to try and please some folks on a totally different page than most of the convention. We must treat them fairly and wish them well to follow God as they feel led.

What should we do as a state convention? I suggest we focus on one question, and one question only: How can the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the churches who freely choose to cooperate with us be effective in building the Kingdom of God? That is the question we must seek to answer.

That is what history is watching and will remember.

Will we as Texas Baptists have the courage and commitment to Jesus Christ and the Gospel of grace to focus on this question only, regardless of how it changes our partnerships and our priorities? Will we have the courage and commitment to follow Christ, regardless of the criticism others may give us? Will we as Texas Baptists commit our financial resources to programs and institutions which share our vision of the Gospel? The world of Baptists are watching. History is watching.

If Texas Baptists have the courage and commitment to focus on building the Kingdom, regardless of the criticism and the cost, we may well change history. Other state conventions of Baptists may have the courage to follow our example. The result could be that in twenty years there is once again a large Baptist witness, proclaiming to the world the grace of God.

History was watching when Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett gave their lives for their commitment to freedom. History is now watching to see if Texas Baptists value their freedom and God’s Kingdom enough to follow God’s leadership and lead the way for free Baptist everywhere. Will you be a part of making history?

Editor’s Note: Bill Leonard will speak on “History’s Watching: Texas Baptists and a New Road to the Future,” at the annual TBC banquet, June 25 in Houston. A reservation form is on page 11.

March 1998