There are a lot of folk, including some of our Southern Baptists of Texas family, who do not understand how our state and national conventions work. I agree that, sometime, the very term “convention,” can come across a bit cold. Some see these as some kind of hierarchy over and apart from the local churches…a “they-we” thing. It is this kind of interpretation that causes some of our Southern Baptist people to not understand the importance of annual Baptist family gatherings, like we are having at FBC, Odessa, Oct. 28th & 29th.  What is, and what is the purpose of, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (state) and the Southern Baptist Convention (national)?

Let’s start with how the great majority of Southern Baptist people define “church.”  First, there is no such organization as “The” Baptist Church. There are 40,000-plus Southern Baptist churches. The vast majority of Southern Baptist folk believe that every saved person is a member of the family of God and is a member of what is, often, referred to as the “invisible” or “universal” church, referring to all of God’s redeemed. These same Southern Baptists believe that the great emphasis of the New Testament is on the local, visible church, used this way about 90 percent of the time, the term “church” is referenced…the church at Jerusalem, the church at Antioch, etc.  Most of us have heard, or been a part, of a church family celebrating its 100th anniversary.  Though these folk may have started out as a small Bible study  group, on a given day, 100 years ago, a local group of baptized believers made the decision to join together,  to formally organize…covenanted together…a New Testament church. Each Southern Baptist congregation is “self-governed” and very independent, though totally dependent upon our Lord and his inspired, inerrant Word.

Because of both the need and the desire to work together to be more effective in carrying out the Great Commission, representatives of local Southern Baptist churches formed state and national conventions. For us, it is the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (state) and Southern Baptist Convention (national). Both for the protection and unity of member churches, the representative of the local Baptist churches that formed the SBTC made it a “confessional” convention. This simply means that those churches that are a part of the SBTC family have affirmed the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Your church is, likely, a “confessional” church, meaning that those who are members affirmed the membership requirements of your church. Both the SBTC and the SBC are nothing more than “servant” mechanisms, subject to the local churches, that provide a means for Southern Baptist churches to “pool” their resources to more effectively carry out the Great Commission. Our state and national conventions have employees, agencies, boards, institutions, departments, trustees, committees, etc. But, the “final voices of authority” for all Southern Baptist ministries are the local Southern Baptist churches, represented by their messengers in their annual meetings. The headquarters for both the SBTC and the SBC ministries is the local Southern Baptist church.

There are some important core values that make it possible for 2,700-plus SBTC churches to work together as one family. We are committed to, and in agreement with, some basic biblical doctrines, summarized in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.  We are committed to the same great assignment, getting the message of the gospel of Christ out to multiplied millions of unsaved people in our world. Our major focus is evangelism and missions. And, we are totally supportive of the traditional Southern Baptist Cooperative Program. These kinds of Southern Baptist family relationships and  Cooperative Program giving enable each of our churches, and each member of these churches, to have a witness that reaches from home to the uttermost parts of the world, each day of the year…a really amazing thing.

In our Odessa meeting, the representatives of our local SBTC churches will be considering a proposed budget of nearly 29 million dollars. These millions of Cooperative Program dollars represent our proposed “together” ministries for 2020. But, apart from this, maybe the most important thing that will take place will be our recommitting ourselves to those core values that enable us, as one family, to become more and more effective in reaching the lost of our world with the gospel of Christ. Your church is very important to our Southern Baptists of Texas family. Do all you can to make it possible for one or more of your members to join other local church representatives in Odessa on Oct. 28th & 29th. You can stay current with all of our SBTC family happening by reading the TEXAN. Contact Gayla to get it delivered to your mail box, free of cost, email them (gsullivan@sbtexas.com) or you can read it online.

T.C. Melton is a retired pastor and former area coordinator for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention

WINNIE—Pastor Brian Johnson headed to the church gym at First Baptist Winnie just before midnight, Sept. 18, determined to open up the building as a shelter for victims of Tropical Storm Imelda, which inundated southeastern Texas with up to 43 inches of rain, claiming five lives.

Ankle-deep water greeted Johnson as he opened the gym door.

“The next time we open the door to people, we are going to be able to serve them. That’s what we are working for,” Johnson told the TEXAN as the church begins its recovery.

Even though its buildings proved initially unusable, FBC Winnie quickly opened its grounds to relief groups as trailers filled parking areas and 18-wheelers off-loaded and picked up supplies brought by various agencies in Imelda’s wake.

“Trucks bring materials here to be loaded on other trucks and distributed to Vidor, Hamshire, Splendora [and elsewhere],” Johnson said.

Nehemiah’s Vision brought refrigerators for storm victims; Convoy of Hope came with water, food, snacks and other supplies; Samaritan’s Purse brought teams of workers and equipment; chaplains arrived from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; organizations such as Shepherd’s Pie came with food. The Golden Triangle Baptist Association brought cleaning materials, including anti-mold treatment, for storm victims. Sheetrock is expected soon.

Since the storm, DR groups have shared space, gear and jobs with church members in what Johnson called a “massive undertaking” that required additional power sources. Electricians donated their time; Entergy personnel came rapidly upon request to install equipment to support the additional power usage.

The response of the disaster groups was “immediate,” Johnson said, and his flooded church became the central clearinghouse for the surrounding area, in which 80 percent of the homes were affected by the flood.

Church members began steadily volunteering with Convoy of Hope, helping to distribute water, food and materials to individuals and later, to carloads of people.

In keeping with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief practice, help also arrived in the form of a large mud-out team from the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

The crew deployed after SBTC DR Director Scottie Stice phoned his Louisiana counterpart, Gibbie McMillan, to request assistance. The Louisiana team stayed at FBC Hamshire, working there and moving, as directed, to assist other local churches such as FBC Winnie.

Stice added that SBTC DR teams from across Texas have also been joined by SBDR crews from Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky and TBM, while volunteers from Colorado and Utah stand ready to come.

“The priority is to get affected churches and pastors back online as soon as possible so they can minister to their communities,” Stice said.

SBDR teams helped clean out the gym and salvageable structures, including the youth building and a Sunday School wing, at FBC Winnie.

It was Johnson’s first experience with Southern Baptist DR volunteers, many of whom are retired. The pastor was at first concerned that the older volunteers might be negatively affected by the sweltering heat.

He needn’t have feared.

“Those older guys showed younger guys how to work. They didn’t quit till the job was done,” Johnson said. “They had a system: someone would measure, another would put a chalk line showing where to cut [the sheetrock].”

“They work smart,” Stice said of trained Southern Baptist DR crews.

Within days, the Louisiana team completed mudding out at the church. Miraculously, the gym’s sealed, painted plywood walls prevented water damage there.

“The water didn’t sit very long. It rolled in and out in a matter of half a day and the gym was O.K.,” Johnson said, adding that the gym walls had been tested repeatedly for moisture.

The church has adjusted its schedule, foregoing Sunday School for now and moving to a single Sunday service held in the gym at 9:30, early enough to allow members time to volunteer afterward. Wednesday nights still feature a community-wide meal, followed by adult, youth and children’s programs.

Johnson admitted that Imelda has brought higher levels of anxiety and discouragement to many.

“Everybody just got through fixing their homes [from Harvey] and then it happened again,” he said, describing the sadness of seeing piles of debris and damaged goods piled in front of houses.

Still, the pastor noted spiritual benefits from the disaster. At least a half dozen salvations have occurred as BGEA chaplains have shared the gospel with victims.

Folks have pulled together.

“I can already see how people have united, how the gospel has been shared, even our future vision of the church has been shaped,” Johnson said. “When this is all said and done, I think that we will probably be in a facility that is going to meet the needs of the community better. Anything that we build back, we’re going to build not to flood. The church will decide.”

As the community adapts to the new normal, individuals will be able to access FEMA help. Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced Oct. 4 that President Trump had issued a Presidential Disaster Declaration for Chambers, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery and Orange counties.

For FBC Winnie, like many other churches, uninsured against flood, rebuilding may take time.

Johnson is not worried. He preached on Haggai following the flood, reminding the congregation of around 200 that the Lord says the gold and silver are his.

“We need to go and we need to work on building our community, on building God’s house, and if we’re faithful to follow him, God is going to provide the finances. Like I told [the congregation], I don’t know any churches that disciple people and win people to Christ that are in trouble,” Johnson said. 

Editor’s note: For more information on how to apply for Individual Assistance, residents of the six affected counties can call 1-800-621-FEMA or visit www.disasterassistance.gov, Gov. Abbott’s office stated.

GRAPEVINE  Five years ago, Ivy Shelton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Waskom, recommended the church perform background checks on volunteers working with minors, including people already serving in children’s and youth ministries. A few members of the East Texas congregation resisted. And one couple, so offended by the proposition, left the church.

When pastor John Powell of Emanuel Baptist Church in New Caney proposed the same security measures at a former church, deacons openly opposed him. Powell admitted his attempt to impose the policy was “ham-fisted,” but the opposition was startling.

“I thought it was a much bigger deal than anyone else thought it was and it didn’t go over well,” he said.

That was then.

Today, young families visiting Powell’s 2-year-old SBTC church plant demand child safety protocols. And the members of FBC Waskom, steeped in the inescapable news of child sexual abuse, welcome bolstered abuse prevention protocols.

With experience ranging from rural West Texas towns to East Texas suburbs, and from a young church plant to a 120-year-old congregation, three SBTC pastors attending the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s National Conference, Oct. 3-5, spoke with the TEXAN about their efforts to shepherd their flocks. Conference speakers representing victims of abuse, child-safety advocates and SBC leadership addressed the theme “Caring Well: Equipping the Church to Confront the Abuse Crisis.”

Powell, Shelton and Matthew Beasley, pastor of Ridgecrest Church in Greenville, spoke with the TEXAN about how they have been and will continue implementing abuse prevention protocols and ministering to victims of abuse.

Personal experience informs Beasley’s vigilance. Having suffered abuse as a child (though not within the church) he prioritized shoring up safety standards when he arrived at Ridgecrest in 2012. New policies required all volunteers working with minors to take abuse prevention training provided by Darkness to Light. An extensive church remodeling project included restructuring the children’s ministry area to accommodate new safety protocols. And two years ago, Ridgecrest Church partnered with MinistrySafe, a program that helps churches establish abuse prevention policies.

Like Powell, Beasley met resistance from married couples who worked together with children. Some balked when the church implemented new standards prohibiting related adults from working together without a third adult present.

“To me it was a non-negotiable when we’re talking about the safety and security of children,” said Beasley.

As a church plant, establishing child-safety policies is part of the church’s DNA, Powell said.

“Everyone seems to know someone who’s been affected by this,” he said of his suburban congregation. “And so it’s been a very easy process. And, for me, the church has been behind it 100 percent of the way,” he said.

At the conference, Shelton realized his church could improve existing policies. While existing protocols try to deter what one conference speaker called the “outside threat” posed by perpetrators seeking access to victims in youth and children’s ministries, Shelton said they ignore the possibility that the abuser is already in the church. With a history of abuse but no criminal record to show for it, the majority of perpetrators will pass a background check.

“That was something I had never thought about,” said Shelton. “So, I’m going to take that home and really think about that and try to implement some practices to address that.”

All three pastors said young families looking for a church expect to find strong safety protocols within the children’s ministries—otherwise they will look elsewhere for a church home.

Suffering with those abused

Preventing abuse within the church is only part of the culture pastors must cultivate.

“If the church is supposed to be a place where people heal, then we need to be so careful with those who have gone through abuse situations so that the atmosphere is such that they can heal and we hear them,” said Shelton.

Beasley’s abuse experience has informed how he pastors. It has also made processing recent victims’ stories difficult.

“To see the flippant attitudes people take toward abuse … is absolutely crushing,” he said.

Biblical care requires that the church take seriously any report of abuse, the pastors said.

“We need to believe survivors of abuse and err on that side,” said Powell.

Giving ear to their stories may require more than a pastor, they admitted. Because female victims of abuse may not want to confide in a male pastor, the pastors said it is important to have prominent female lay leaders or staff willing to hear those stories of abuse. And, like with child safety policies, having protocols in place to help abuse victims allows the church to respond quickly, effectively and compassionately when abuse is reported.

The Caring Well Challenge equips congregations to that end. A handbook produced by the ERLC, “Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused,” and an accompanying video series can train church members in how to help victims of abuse within their congregations.

Emanuel Baptist Church is part of a pilot program using the new material. Shelton said he will introduce the program at his church.

All three churches use or will begin using MinistrySafe. To encourage more SBTC churches to utilize the program, the SBTC will pay for up to five church members in 1,000 churches to take the training.

The pastors said programs, policies and training serve an essential purpose in creating a safe environment for all church members. Yet pastors must also foster an environment within the church that does not dismiss the reality of sin within the congregation but cares for those harmed by it.

“But ultimately, it has to wind up in the hearts of the people,” Powell said. “They have to get their minds around it. It’s a comprehensive work of an entire congregation to push toward an ideal and goal and not just implement a program and be good.”