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| Main floor of Southern Baptist Convention at Indianapolis Convention Center |
You may have been aware that the Southern Baptist Convention this year occurred here in Indianapolis. As usual, the first two days (Sunday and Monday) were the Pastor's conference, while the business of the convention took place the final two days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
You also may be aware that Becky and I are members of a Southern Baptist Church - Northside Baptist Church here in Indianapolis. Neither Becky nor I grew up SBC, but since '93, we've been members of 3 Southern Baptist churches for 26 of those 31 years: Stonebrook Baptist Church (Nolensville, Tennessee), Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, and Northside Baptist Church (both in Indy).
I'll also state that this wasn't the first Convention I attended. In '08, when the convention was also in Indianapolis, I volunteered to help welcome the Women's Missionary Union (WMU) meeting, and was able to go through the wonderful exhibit hall. A year later, Becky and I went to a chaplaincy lunch in Louisville, and, of course, went to the exhibit hall. (We sat in on a live taping of Southern Seminary President Al Mohler's radio program, with his guest Russell Moore.)
Back to the present... uh, recent past. Our church was asked to provide volunteers for the convention, and planned on sending several for the Tuesday, June 11th session. There were three shifts that day, and Pastor Jared Barham scheduled the volunteers who wanted to stay all day for two, so they could spend the third at the convention meeting and/or the exhibit hall. So I took that day off so I could participate.
Shortly before the conference started, though, the prayer committee was asked to send a couple to be greeters for the prayer room on Sunday evening, so Becky and I went downtown and served there. Interestingly enough, the prayer room was located next to the volunteer headquarters.
Tuesday, we got in a van at Northside at 6:45am That sounds early - I'm usually awake at that time, but I also picked up my blind friend and fellow church member Brandon Marcum. (Easier than finding and paying for downtown parking spaces.) Brandon and I were free the morning session, and then greeted during the afternoon and evening sessions, helping direct people who had any questions.
I got to enjoy the worship at the beginning. One of the selections blended the Gettys' song "Come, People of the Risen King" with the classic Wesley hymn "Rejoice, the Lord Is King." During that time, I looked at the schedule, and suggested to Brandon that we start in the exhibit hall and come back for the commissioning of International Mission Board missions. About the time for that segment, we decided to stay in the exhibit hall or go to the auditorium. We both agreed to stay.
There were a lot of great exhibits there. The majority were connected with Southern Baptists - booths for the seminaries and Bible colleges (including other schools that weren't officially SBC), Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the International and North America Mission Boards, Send Relief (which does some disaster relief, but also works with refugees), and smaller booths for various ethnic ministries in the states (e.g. Chinese, Hatian, Messianic Jews).
A large space was occupied by Lifeway Ministries, which is the publishing arm of the Southern Baptists, including Sunday School and Vacation Bible School material as well as non-fiction books. I'm not complaining - they also had free coffee! More importantly, Brandon was able to talk with G. Duane McCrary, Jr., Manager of Adult Ongoing Bible Studies about ways to make resources more accessible for the blind.
Schools weren't the only ones that had booths not directly connected to the SCB. Child Evangelism also had a booth, promoting their internet ministry to children. There also was a booth for Musical Evangelist Bruce Sechrest. One interesting booth was by a ministry called Faith Assistant, which had a sign reading, "Try our Christian Artificial Intelligence." How's that for stirring the pot? I heard a podcast where a Christian group used AI for a video, and came to the conclusion that like all technology, it can be used for God's glory but we must be careful. On the other hand, another has come to the conclusion there is nothing redeemable about it (Becky agrees). I don't know enough to weigh in, except to remember there was a Canaanite city named Ai.
While I would have enjoyed the morning session and seeing missionaries commissioned, I was blessed by my time in the exhibit hall. However, I didn't get to see any of the controversy that the latter sessions dealt with.
Three years ago, I was following the contested election for SBC President, which had four candidates. There were more this year, but I didn't really consider any of the candidates. I did have the honor of being in a FB group with out-going President Bart Barber.
I'll admit I'm looking forward to the next conference I can attend.
