NASHVILLE (BP) – Life as a Southern Baptist includes working among others for a goal, SBC President Clint Pressley told Executive Committee trustees and guests. And even when getting there can seem more like a meandering line than a straight one, it still brings reasons to celebrate.
“We’re strong in the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said Monday night, Feb. 16 at the BNA Hilton adjacent to the Nashville airport. “We’re not perfect. We don’t overlook problems. But it’s OK to say we’re strong, Gospel-centered, mission-driven. Consumed by a desire to see people won to Christ.”
Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., completes his second one-year term as SBC president this June at the annual meeting in Orlando, the theme of which is “Walking Worthy.”
The drive to see others come to Christ, he noted, is what keeps Southern Baptists involved in the convention, even amid disagreements.
“We live with some level of discomfort when it comes to the Southern Baptist community,” he said. “Any leader who goes into an organization, spends [time] in that organization leading with discomfort. There are always things in whatever it is you’re leading that you do not like.”
Pastors in the room know this well, Pressley added, by seeing parts of their churches doing well while others … aren’t.
“Even now in the Southern Baptist Convention, we’re not where we want to be,” he said. “But thank God there are signs … that [the direction is] right.”
Pressley thanked SBC First Vice President Daniel Ritchie’s impact on speaking to students and Second Vice President Craig Carlisle’s devotion to praying for others, with a prayer list containing hundreds of people. He noted recently deceased Southern Baptists Morris Chapman (“the statesman”) and Wiley Drake (“the legend”) for their lifelong devotion to the SBC, then turned to thank Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin for his service on the occasion of his upcoming retirement. Pressley expressed thanks for the EC work of Jeff Dalrymple in sexual abuse prevention and Jeff Iorg’s as EC president.
“Look, I don’t always agree with Dr. Iorg,” he said. “But what I do know is when the man walks in, there’s an adult in the room, working to solve problems on behalf of the convention, on behalf of what you believe in.”
Pressley shared items for which to be thankful, including the Cooperative Program’s “anti-demise.” He focused on the Gospel itself, the genuine love Southern Baptists have for one another (approximately 20,000 attendees are expected at the Orlando meeting), the “clear hope this side of heaven” and the evidence of God’s work in the world.
“I’m thankful that the Southern Baptist Convention lives with the heartbeat of the Gospel and a desire to see people know the Gospel,” he said. “We desire to train men and women to share the Gospel.”
There are also matters to keep in continual prayer – right thinking, right living, a joyful sense of God’s power and a grateful attitude.
Pressley spoke out of Colossians 1:1-14, ending with a note on gratefulness in verses 12-14.
“If you’re praying for someone – if you’re praying for me – pray this,” he said on the passage that ends with confirming the redemption and forgiveness from sins found through Christ. He also pointed to Psalm 103:12’s reminder that our transgressions are as far as the east is from the west and Micah 7:19’s point that all our sins will be cast into the sea.
“Brothers and sisters, let us remember what to be thankful for,” Pressley concluded. “Let’s remember how to pray. Let’s make sure the Lord will fine us this year, as Southern Baptists, walking worthy.”