Texas Baptists Committed - A Rancher's Rumblings, November 13, 2007

Now that the BGCT annual meeting is behind us, I urge you to turn your attention to a historic meeting to be held in Atlanta from January 30-February 1, 2008. The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant is being organized by 30 Baptist organizations in North America.

The New Baptist Covenant Web site gives the following description of this event:

The New Baptist Covenant is an informal alliance of more than 30 racially, geographically, and theologically diverse Baptist organizations from throughout North America that claim more than 20 million members. Representatives of these Baptist organizations have reaffirmed traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality, as well as their obligations as Christians to fulfill the biblical mandate to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the marginalized, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.

To learn more about it, please take a look at the Web site. There, you can register for the event and reserve a hotel room. We also have a block of hotel rooms reserved for TBC supporters. For more information on our room block, contact Carol Scott at carolscott@txbc.org.

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When you get to the Web site, please take some time to view the “special interest sessions.” These “break out” sessions will deal with the following topics, all based on Luke 4: 19:

Breaking Cycles of Poverty
Can We All Get Along? Finding Common Ground with Other Faiths
Engaging the Criminal Justice System
Faith and Public Policy
Peacemaking
Proclaiming God’s Good News (Evangelism)
Prophetic Preaching
Race as a Continuing Challenge
Reaching Out to the Sick
Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State
Responding to Natural Disasters
Sexual Exploitation
The HIV/AIDS Pandemic
The Spirit of the Lord upon Me
Welcoming a Stranger
Youth at a Crossroads

Each session will be presented four times (except Prophetic Preaching, which will be presented in two 3-hour sessions) on January 31 and February 1.

Several Texas Baptists will take part in these “special interest sessions,” including Richard Jackson, George Mason, Ellis Orozco, Diana Garland, Mark White, Jimmy Dorrell, Suzii Paynter, and Mary Darden. There will be many other speakers with whom you are familiar.

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The Plenary Sessions will feature outstanding preaching and will include the following preachers:

Dr. Charles G. Adams, pastor of Hartford Baptist Church in Detroit
Dr. Tony Campolo, professor emeritus at Eastern University and founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education
Dr. Joel Gregory, professor of preaching, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University
Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist Church, Decatur, Georgia
Dr. William J. Shaw, pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia and president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

We will also have the opportunity to hear former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, and Senators Lindsey Graham and Charles Grassley. These political leaders will focus on their own challenges in living out the Gospel imperatives of Luke 4 and, along with the other outstanding speakers, help to show America that many Baptists – rather than being defined by what we are against – are working for unity, ministry, and evangelism.

My friends, this is a historic event in which every one of us should be involved, if at all possible. I can’t say for certain what the future holds for traditional, mainstream Baptists, but I do believe that this event can play a large part in determining a new future. It is an investment that you can make in the lives of future generations of Baptists and our Baptist witness in America for many years to come. Please make every effort to be a part of this wonderful time of worship, dialogue, and education.