The New Southern Baptists

I grew up in the Southern Baptist denomination. Stereotypes abound but I have only personally experienced the adversity to dancing and alcohol in my home church; these only from older leadership, not necessarily the members themselves. On Monday I was privileged to meet with the Director of Missions of the Metro-East Baptist Association at their office near Saint Louis. The Southern Baptist Conference is broken into state associations and then further into area associations. The job of a DOM, as I understand it, is to oversee the churches (perhaps 30-40 in this case) in their area association. I had originally scheduled this meeting to introduce him to the work that InterVarsity is doing at SLU and to see if he might know of local churches that would be interested in supporting our work. We had a good time talking and sharing stories and he invited me to join him the next day for a roundtable discussion of college ministry and Next Generation (NextGen) church planting. Though I had no extra clothes with me, I complied.

As I arrived at the office the next day, dressed in literally the exact same clothes, I was introduced to several church planters, college ministers, and pastors from around the state and especially the Southern/Central Illinois area. We began to discuss issues ranging from college culture to evangelism to church membership. As I sat in the presence of these men and women, I was stunned by their vision and dedication to the Gospel. I don't know what I was expecting but Southern Baptists have long been stereotyped as traditionalists and hyper-conservatives. Yet, here I was sitting among cutting edge church planters with honest hearts dedicated to the exact same thing I am - college students meeting Jesus. I was able to share stories of what God is doing at SLU and how we have seen students respond to the Gospel. But, more than that, I was able to sit under the wisdom of leaders in a denomination that I have often questioned as I have left home and stepped into ministry. Suffice it to say, things are not always as they seem. I left the building on Tuesday afternoon with a greater sense of respect and admiration for my home denomination than ever before and I can honestly say that I am proud to belong to the Illinois Southern Baptists. May God continue to bless us with many meetings and time to share stories of His Great Work among us. I am honored to serve alongside you as the Kingdom meets the Campus.