"People are lost. They are dying. They nave no hope. And they need the Gospel message."
– D. August Boto, interim president of the SBC Executive Committee #SBC18 #SBCAM18— Baptist Message (@BaptistMessage) June 12, 2018
And in one afternoon, the SBC undoes all the wokeness that the social justice baptists have been striving so hard for… #SBC18
— Logun Wynn Stevenson (@LogunWynn) June 12, 2018
SBC is still as confused as ever…out with the politics and in with prayer. Out with divisiveness and in with unity around the Bible, prayer, fasting, and repentance for making thousands upon thousands of false converts. #SBC18
— Pastor Ryan Minkler (@PastorRyMink) June 12, 2018
Al, it's disheartening to watch as once again the tide of syncretism swells over leaders who are far more enamored of their own power, position, and recognition by the world. I'm not there, but those of us who aren't are on our knees.
— Robin Jackson (@rjacksix) June 12, 2018
Maybe this year they will finally recognize the gifts that women bring to the Church universal and decide to ordain women to preach! #sbc18
— Phillip A. Harris (@philharris29) June 12, 2018
If you are at #SBC18 please get up and walk out when @VP takes the stage.
— 🏳️🌈 stephen carter 🏳️🌈 (@stephenedwardc) June 12, 2018
To their credit, many Messengers recognize that the close identification of evangelicals with the squalor of the Trump administration is politically harmful to them. They aren’t a majority, though, else Pence would never have got the invite in the first place.
If you have the time and means, track the Twitter #SBC18 stream for a while. The thing that really shines out of it is how psychologically burdensome, how downright damaging, it is to be a serious-minded Southern Baptist. The cultural Christians left church a long time ago, and there’s nobody left but the hard-corp — and a tremendous number of them are badly screwed-up people. Worse, they are incapable of stepping-outside the bubble of their little club and seeing how ridiculous and doomed they actually are, because for most of them their sense of self, and self-worth, is linked to the well-being of the club.
They are The Donald’s most stalwart supporters, and they must be defeated and pushed aside, but most of them have such a small, shoebox-sized view of the world that they have no idea what they have done to their families or their country. A part of me, in spite of myself, feels sorry for them.