Not surprised, Nathan Finn has written an excellent piece this morning. Please read the whole article.
His conclusion (emphasis mine):
If the SBC is to have a viable future in God’s economy, then we must recover the gospel in our local churches. We must repent of our programmatic idolatry and recommit to being a gospel presence in our communities and to the uttermost parts of the earth. We must be willing to hold forth the words of life to our culture and not just condemn it for its moral ills. We must be willing to be self-critical. We must be willing to admit that we do have problems that more baptisms will not solve. We must be willing to quit labeling those with whom we disagree as “fundamentalists” or “liberals,” no matter how much it helps to further our personal agendas. In fact, we must be willing to jettison our personal agendas. Our only agenda should be the gospel, presented with what I call a “Baptist twist,” by which I mean our Baptist understanding that the gospel is best lived out in the context of local bodies of regenerate, baptized believers sold out to the lordship of Christ and committed to the Great Commission.
Brothers and sisters, the only hope the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention have for real revival is a gospel revolution. Some will say we do not need it because we are not liberals or because we still baptize 350,000 toddlers, previously immersed believers with tender consciences, and transferring Methodists and Presbyterians every year. Some will oppose it because we may have to change the way we do some things. Some will think I am blowing smoke and that the real problem(s) in the SBC is one of the above-mentioned skirmishes. But I’m not buying it, and neither should you. I hope you will join me in praying that God will bring real revival to the SBC.
Thank you, Nathan, for bringing our greatest need in focus. May we all have such a gospel-centered perspective and passion.
I have been praying since the Spring of 1973 for a Third Great Awakening, the one which will win the whole earth to the Lord Jesus Christ. I began praying to this end as a result of preaching to a Pastors’ Prayer Meeting of the Sandy Creek Baptist Assn. My message was not he first, but it was one of the early messages in that prayer effort which lasted for over 10 years, My first message was on the subject, A Great Awakening. Iwasnvid to preah the Fifth and Tenth Anniversary Messages of that Prayer Meeting. Interesting enough I communicated with one death brother in another state who had been praying for revival since the 1950s. I suspect there are many who have been seeking His favor for some visitation for many years. Sooner or later, He must answer. His time will be best. Let us plead the promises to Abraham for a seed as numerous as the stars of Heaven, the sand of the seashores, and the dust of the earth, a number which no man can number. The issue is not if; it is when.