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Transparency, accountability anchor Randy Adams SBC bid

Editor’s note: The TEXAN earlier interviewed SBC presidential candidate Albert Mohler for an article posted online Jan. 27, 2020, and reviewed his candidacy in an Oct. 23, 2020 article. Both Mohler articles are accessible at TEXAN online. The May print edition of the TEXAN will include an interview of the fourth announced SBC presidential candidate, Ed Litton.

VANCOUVER, Wash.—Randy Adams intends to underscore transparency and accountability of Southern Baptist Convention entities if elected SBC president during the June 15-16 annual meeting in Nashville.

One of four announced nominees for SBC president, Adams has been executive director/treasurer of the Northwest Baptist Convention since 2013 and is a member of the Go Church plant in Ridgefield, Wash.

Adams, online at randyadams.org, led the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s Church Outreach Team from 2004-2013, encompassing BGCO work in evangelism and missions, church planting, leadership development, associational outreach and chaplaincy. He also served as a pastor at three churches over a 19-year period.

He was a trustee of California’s Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (now Gateway Seminary) from 2002-2012, serving as chairman from 2009-2011.

Adams addressed the priorities he would set forth as SBC president in answer to questions from the Southern Baptist TEXAN.

1) Four proponents of biblical inerrancy have declared their willingness to serve as SBC president. What is distinctive about your vision for serving in this role? 

The SBC has suffered the worst decade in its 175-year history of advancing the Great Commission. We must return to the path that enabled us to become the greatest missionary force in our nation’s history. In 2010 the SBC left the path of local control of mission strategy and chose a centralized, top-down control of North American missions. Baptisms have since plummeted to a level not seen since the 1930s, down more than 100,000 per year. New church starts have dropped to levels not seen in over 40 years. Our international mission force has been reduced by 2,000 missionaries. Cooperative Program (CP) mission giving has dropped by over $60,000,000 since 2010, or $160,000,000, considering inflation.  

Renewing the effectiveness of our Great Commission advance will happen as we return to a New Testament missiology in which decisions about strategy and resources begin with the local church, supported by local associations and state conventions, with resourcing from the national entities. Actions in three specific areas will put us on the path to needed reform:

1) Transparency builds trust. We must have transparency in finances and performance metrics. Our SBC entities must “open the books” so that every church can know how their mission dollars are spent.

2) Accountability preserves trust. In the past several months there have been noteworthy examples of massive failure in which there has been no clear accountability. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) joined an amicus brief on behalf of NAMB, filed in the U.S 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, in which they argued that the SBC is a “hierarchy” with the SBC serving as the “umbrella” organization over all churches, associations and conventions. This violation of Baptist polity and governing documents puts every Southern Baptist church at risk. A few months ago we learned that the former chair of Lifeway’s trustees approved a compensation/transition package of more than $1,000,000 to the outgoing president without informing the board’s Executive Committee or Compensation Committee. This same trustee remains on Lifeway’s board, while also having three book contracts with Lifeway in violation of SBC Bylaw 15F which forbids direct or indirect compensation to a trustee of an entity. Our churches deserve better.

3) Participation in the annual meeting of the SBC must expand to every church. This could happen as associations and state conventions provide locations in which to participate in the annual meeting, or it could be done through technology. The time has come to enable all our churches to participate without the expense of traveling to a distant location for the annual meeting.

My vision is birthed from experience as one who entered the SBC family through collegiate ministry at Montana Tech in Butte, Mont. I was a petroleum engineering student, preparing for what I thought would be my life’s work. That changed because of the one and only Bible-teaching Christian group on campus, the Baptist Student Union. Through BSU I learned to love God’s Word and to share the gospel. I also learned the value of cooperation and the Cooperative Program (CP). I learned that Southern Baptists were committed to reaching the lost with the message of Jesus, even in places far from the South like Montana.

While pastoring in McAlester, Okla., the executive director in Oklahoma asked me to lead the state convention’s evangelism and missions team. In this role I learned how cooperation works best between local churches, associations, state conventions and national SBC entities. My leadership of the Northwest Baptist Convention has furthered my understanding of how Southern Baptists can cooperate to advance the mission of God. 

2) What are two of the foremost challenges facing the SBC today?

Restoring trust in the SBC missionary system is our greatest need. In 2007, 34,322 churches contributed to missions through the Cooperative Program (CP). By 2019, that number fell to 29,064 churches, a decrease of 5,258 churches, and 40 percent of SBC churches did not contribute to CP missions in 2019. Moreover, the budget percentage of CP per church fell from 6.20 percent to 4.82 percent in just one decade.

The second challenge is that of returning to true collaborative and cooperative partnership between NAMB, state conventions, local associations and local churches. NAMB has greatly reduced their work in the South and nearly eradicated partnership with state conventions and associations outside the South. Despite claims that centralization of church planting would increase mission effectiveness, the opposite has happened, even as NAMB’s church planting budget has grown to $75,000,000, an increase of over $50,000,000 in less than 10 years, 

3) Has the COVID pandemic amplified or accelerated these challenges?

The COVID pandemic has made everything more difficult. For one thing, the inability to meet together in conferences, training events, and even gathering for fellowship, has placed a strain on relationships. While we are seeing a decline in baptisms and other Great Commission metrics due to COVID, we are learning that our people are biblical stewards, not merely religious consumers. Giving to our churches has not suffered during the pandemic as much as many feared. 

4) How would you hope to use the SBC president’s influence/bully pulpit to impact these major challenges?

Restoring trust in the SBC missions system requires more than anecdotes. You must look at the broader picture and the trends. Too often this information is not provided because in a period of decline leaders often fail to reveal the brutal facts. After a decade of decline we must ask and answer the all-important question, “Why?” 

I will also call for an end to the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) by our SBC entities, and for most of those currently silenced by NDAs to be released from them. They are used too often to prevent exposing what might be deemed “whistleblower” information. Integrity does not fear Southern Baptists having a right to know the truth.

5) What would you say to those, particularly Black pastors, who are considering leaving the SBC because of discouragement over racial tension?

Racial tension in our nation affects every community and each institution in which there is diversity, including the church. The SBC is a large convention of churches, with great linguistic and ethnic diversity, more than any other network of churches. Nearly a third of the churches in the Northwest Baptist Convention, which I serve, worship in a language other than English. I am frequently in Korean, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese language churches, among others. The beauty of the SBC is not simply our diversity, but that our diverse network of churches unites for making disciples of Jesus Christ among all the peoples and languages of the world. Southern Baptists find unity in our theological convictions, as outlined in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, and in our common mission commitment to the sending of missionaries, the education of pastors and missionaries and the evangelization of our nation.

One final point is that the source of much of the racial tension in the SBC is a lack of relationship to formulate ways to approach the issues and build respect for each other. This is not the sole source of tension, but it is a major source, from what African-American pastors have told me. We need to talk together, plan together and pray together.

6) Why should any pastor or church remain with the SBC, or join it—what is good and strong about our convention right now?

When someone surrenders to ministry and missions in your church, you have a network of schools and seminaries for training, a network of churches in which to serve, and mission capabilities that are unmatched. With all our troubles, and they are substantial, Southern Baptists still train more leaders, start more churches and send more missionaries than any other ministry network. We are a people who strive to obey the Scriptures, which we hold to be inerrant and completely sufficient for faith and practice.  

Y’all come back now!

My suburban church is running about 50 percent of what it ran 13 months ago; my Sunday School class is also about half as big as it was. That’s been the story for months, even before any of us had received a vaccination. I understand that some are particularly at risk, and there are some other pretty good reasons to come back slowly, but I have come to believe that some of us are just out of the habit. I get that, but we mustn’t just accept that tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest. 

There are some important things in peril if we corporately, or I individually, stay away from our church body longer than necessary. If you’ll consider the metaphors the Bible uses to describe a church, you see what I mean. 

A church is like a family with God as our father, Jesus as the firstborn heir, and we as children, sisters and brothers. Did you grieve missing birthdays or holidays with family members over the past 12 months? I did. In fact, I’ve determined that I will not willingly have again a Christmas as strange as Christmas 2020. Big talk maybe, but you probably know what I mean. I missed grandkid birthdays, funerals of friends and a host of other things that will never be repeated. My point is not to whine but to say that family matters deeply to most of us. Do we grieve what we’ve missed with our church family in the same way? Are we eager to once again rejoin the comfort and joy of seeing our church kin? It should be important to us for our own sake and for the sake of our brothers and sisters. 

A church is also like a body, connected and interdependent. The head of the church made up of all the redeemed of all the ages is Jesus Christ, and he is also the head of your local church. But we are the members, the limbs and organs and digits and eyes. The thing the Bible emphasizes is how important we are to the well being of other church members, even as our specific gifts and roles are distinct. While I would grant that we live out our gifting in places beyond our regular gathering, that face-to-face time with the brethren and sisteren enables our ministry to each other when we are not together. There is also the fact that we regularly think of those with whom we are closest; regular gathering reminds us of those who are not as much like us in age, culture or interests—the rest of the body. 

I think the longest Tammi and I have been apart has been about three weeks when she was caring for an ailing relative. I thought about her constantly; everything reminded me she was not here in the house. We were still married and we still talked, but we were apart. That length of time made me miss her more as the days rolled on. Do you ever feel that way about your church? Yes, the relationship continues while we are away for a long time, but it’s missing something that you sense more urgently the longer you don’t see one another. We all continue to be family, and we even keep track of each other in an incomplete way, but the intimacy of the relationship begins to wane over time. 

Maybe you lose that desire to be together after a while. I’ve seen people just “get out of the habit.” Often there is a reason for staying away for a while, good or bad. To me it is dreadful to be away from your church family so long that you no longer mind it—an ominous threat to your spiritual vitality. Fact is, no church uses the giftedness of a person who doesn’t come. I don’t believe that you benefit from the gifts and encouragement of other church members when you are never around them. You will inevitably cool spiritually when this happens. When you can’t go for health reasons or extended travel, you think of being away as unfortunate, temporary. When you can go but choose to not do so until you feel like it again, I’m concerned that you won’t. I’ve seen it happen and you likely have as well. 

So here’s my sermonette. When you can, go back to church. Maybe for you it needs to be after you’ve been vaccinated—fine. For others it may extend to a family member you care for and that loved one’s vaccination. Okay, we’re on the same page. But fear getting out of the habit or growing cold in your love for your church family.

And for church staff. I’ve been one of you and found delegating to others one of my weakest points. Last year was a lousy year for delegating the ministries of the church to church members. Last year is over. When the church begins to ramp back up its regular ministries you may need to go after your formerly regular volunteers, twist arms and empower those who have been faithful in the past. As strange as church ministry has become for church staff members, it’s likely just as strange to lay leaders. 

Watch your church online as long as you absolutely positively must, and no longer. Take advantage of that Facebook Live thing when you’re home due to the plain-old flu some Sunday. But through it all, eagerly anticipate a face-to-face reunion with those God has made your family.   

ERLC: Equality Act would erode fundamental freedoms

WASHINGTON—The Equality Act will explicitly contradict the “fundamental liberties” guaranteed in the Bill of Rights if it becomes law, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission told a U.S. Senate committee on March 17.

In written testimony for the Senate Judiciary Committee, the ERLC said the far-reaching gay and transgender rights proposal “would needlessly penalize and discriminate against millions of Americans who possess no animus toward those this bill purports to aid. As law, the Equality Act would undermine pluralism, legalize coercion, imperil religious liberty, eliminate conscience protections, and erode the very freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment.”

The ERLC submitted its analysis on the same day the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Equality Act (H.R. 5), which would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the classifications protected in federal civil rights law. “Sexual orientation” includes homosexuality, bisexuality and pansexuality, while “gender identity” refers to the self-perception of a person regardless of his or her gender at birth.

The Democratic-controlled House approved the bill in a 224-206 vote in late February, and President Biden has endorsed the legislation. The measure faces a difficult path to approval in the Senate, where supporters will need 60 votes to overcome an expected filibuster.

After the House vote, ERLC President Russell Moore described the Equality Act as “poorly named because, among other negative effects, it would punish faith-based charities for their core religious beliefs. Every human being ought to be treated with dignity, but government policy must continue to respect differences of belief.”

In its testimony, the ERLC offered three major reasons for its opposition to the proposal. It said the Equality Act:

“[W]ould bring sweeping and historic changes to religious liberty with devastating effects to this foundational freedom.

“[W]ould be the most pro-abortion bill ever passed by Congress.

“[[U]ndermines decades of hard fought civil rights protections for women and girls.”

The proposal fails to protect the freedom of religion and conscience of faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies, as well as religious hospitals and health-care workers, according to the ERLC’s testimony.

It “would force faith-based child welfare organizations to either abandon their deeply held religious beliefs [on such issues as marriage and family] or be shut down,” the ERLC said. Regarding health care, faith-based providers typically serve people of all backgrounds, including those who identify as gay or transgender, according to the testimony. But those with moral or religious convictions “cannot perform every procedure a patient requests,” such as gender reassignment surgery, and would “risk losing their jobs” if they refused to do so, the ERLC said.

The Equality Act “would explicitly curtail” the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the ERLC said. The 1993 law, which was passed nearly unanimously by Congress, requires the government to have a compelling interest and use the narrowest possible means in burdening a person’s religious exercise.

The bill would violate the conscience rights of health-care workers who oppose participation in abortions by redefining “sex” to consist of “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition,” according to the ERLC’s testimony. It also would threaten the Hyde Amendment, a 45-year-old ban on federal funding of abortion, the ERLC said. “There is nothing equalizing about forcing Americans to fund abortions through taxpayer dollars.”

Moore joined more than 60 other pro-life leaders in a separate letter sent Wednesday to Judiciary Committee leadership in opposition to the legislation, which they described as potentially “the biggest setback to the pro-life movement since Roe v. Wade,” the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion throughout the country.

The ERLC also said the measure “disregards the privacy and safety concerns” of women by removing legal protections for single-sex spaces such as locker rooms and shelters. In addition, the proposal would threaten the advances of females in athletics and academics under Title IX by permitting biological males to compete against them, according to the ERLC.

The bill would dissolve “clear boundaries around” government authority, “bringing the full weight of government against religious institutions and individual Americans simply for holding fast to their fundamental beliefs about anthropology and personhood,” the ERLC said.

In its testimony, the ERLC cited a resolution approved by messengers to the 2018 SBC Annual Meeting that reaffirmed “the sacredness and full dignity and worthiness of respect and Christian love for every single human being, without any reservation.”

The hearing by the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee—titled “The Equality Act: LGBTQ Rights are Human Rights”—consisted of verbal testimony by the bill’s supporters and opponents from Congress and outside organizations.

Advocates for the Equality Act say it is needed to protect throughout the country the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) people in such categories as employment, housing and public accommodations—which include establishments that provide goods, services or programs, as well as, according to the bill, health-care providers.

Opponents, which include some feminists, say they oppose unjust discrimination but contend the Equality Act would have ill effects such as those outlined by the ERLC.

In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a watershed decision regarding federal employment law by ruling in a 6-3 opinion the category “sex” in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to LGBTQ employees.

SBTC DR responds to record freeze: feeds Fruitvale ISD students

FRUITVALE  As temperatures finally rose following February’s record freeze, many Texans struggled with flooded homes and businesses from burst plumbing.

Such a dilemma faced rural Fruitvale ISD in Van Zandt County. The district’s single two-story facility houses pre-kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school campuses. With the February thaw, burst pipes flooded the lower levels, rendering cafeteria and dining areas unusable. 

A call from the Texas Department of Emergency Management to Scottie Stice, SBTC DR director, sent two QRU mobile kitchens to prepare meals for some 400 students, faculty and staff at the district on March 4-5.

DR volunteers Fredye Quain of Athens, Freddie Dikes of Abilene, and Ronnie and Connie Roark from San Antonio, assisted by Fruitvale cafeteria staff, prepared 1,547 meals over two days, serving 375-400 at breakfast and lunch.

Kids and staff enjoyed breakfast biscuits and sausage. The district provided milk, juice, water and strudel. Lunch varied from chicken fajitas, flour tortillas and green beans to sausage wraps and pinto beans … and chips and cookies.

“The kids were so excited about having Pringles and Oreos,” Connie Roark told the TEXAN, adding that all COVID protocols were observed. DR volunteers and cafeteria staff wore masks and gloves; staff carried food to serving areas.

“It was fun to see a small town school,” Ronnie Roark said.

Fruitvale cafeteria staff working alongside the DR volunteers commented on how “calm it was in the food trailer,” Connie added. “We told them we prayed every morning over our unit, that we rely on God. They were Christian ladies. It was a good opening.”

One part-time Fruitvale worker told the crews he was a retired missionary, although “missionaries never really retire.” He remarked that he saw his job at the district as an opportunity to serve others. 

A Salvation Army large mobile kitchen set up at Fruitvale and will serve the district in coming weeks, Stice said. “We stood in the gap between the initial need and when the Salvation Army could come online,” he added. 

The QRU is designed for such short-term flexible responses.

“We were pleased to be able to serve the community of Fruitvale this way,” Stice said. 

SBTC DR training is also ongoing, both online and in-person classes. Visit https://sbtexas.com/disaster-relief/dr-training-schedule for details.

“Jesus is alive!”: Discovery Plus “Resurrection” tells the hope-filled story of Easter

Editor’s note: Here are a few upcoming productions that might be of interest to your family.

Sometimes, you watch an Easter television special and wish it had never been made.

Other times, though, you watch an Easter television special and are so moved by it that you encourage others to watch it, too.

The latter is the case with Discovery Plus’ upcoming special Resurrection, a feature-length motion picture that debuts on the streaming platform March 27, telling the story of Christ’s latter days on Earth, through his resurrection and ascension. The film captures the emotions of his disciples following his death and then after his resurrection, as they’re hunted and persecuted.  

It was produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, the team that also made The Bible, Son of God and A.D.: The Bible Continues. 

An embargo keeps me from saying too much, but if you enjoyed those earlier projects by Downey and Burnett, then you’ll likely enjoy this one, too. Resurrection is a film that Christians who affirm the Bible as God’s Word can embrace.

“Jesus has risen!” John says in the film.

It was made using footage from the “vast library” of biblical material from Downey and Burnett, a press release said. (In other words, it wasn’t filmed during the pandemic.) 

“Faithful audiences crave content that speaks to their faith and values, and we can think of no better home for this film than Discovery Plus,” Downey and Burnett said in a statement. “… We look forward to sharing Resurrection’s ultimate story of hope with the Discovery Plus viewers and are grateful to be able to share this epic story with families just in time for the Easter season.”

David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery, Inc., said the film “is emblematic of our ambition” to “provide a subscription service for everyone, including premium storytelling for the entire family.”  

“We are thrilled to partner with Mark and Roma on this powerful film,” Zaslav said.

Discovery Plus remains one of the best streaming options for families with its vast catalog of home improvement, nature-themed and educational programming. Resurrection only adds to the list of reasons to give it a try. 

Also worth watching this spring:  

Flora & Ulysses (Disney Plus) — A 10-year-old cynical girl takes in an injured squirrel, only to learn it has superhero-like powers (it can write — using a typewriter — and fly, too). She names it “Ulysses,” and it helps her re-discover the wonders of the world. More importantly, it helps her mom and dad reunite. This box office movie is based on a book and is one of the best family films thus far of 2021. Rated PG for some mild action and thematic elements.  

The Muppet Show (Disney Plus) — At long last, the original series starring Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy lands on Disney Plus. Created by Jim Henson, The Muppet Show ran from 1976 to 1981 and followed the Muppets cast — backstage and on stage — as they took part in hilarious skits for a variety show. They also welcomed such guests as Steve Martin, Diana Ross and Mark Hamill. TV-PG.

The Snoopy Show (Apple TV) — America’s favorite beagle gets his own show in this hilarious new series that stays true to the original Peanuts classics. In the first episode, we learn the backstory of how Charlie Brown met Snoopy and how Snoopy befriended Woodstock. Apple TV is home to multiple Charlie Brown titles, including classic holiday specials and a few movies. TV-G.   

Bobbi Jo: Under the Influence (VOD) — It’s the powerful story of Bobbi Jo Reed, a former drug addict and alcoholic who has rescued thousands of individuals from following her path. She does by that sharing her own personal story of how Christ saved her life and her soul. Due to mature themes of abuse — Reed was raped — this documentary is best for older children and teens. She’s been sober more than two decades. Visit TheBobbiJoMovie.com.

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and entertainment for more than 15 years. He is the husband to Julie and the father of four young children.