Author: Jayson Larson

Worship service invitations take center stage at pastor breakfast

MABANK—Call it an invitation to an invitation.

Casey Perry, a longtime Southern Baptists of Texas Convention pastor, recently hosted 11 pastors at his home to share about the importance of offering an invitation after preaching God’s word. The breakfast meeting was also attended by Jim Richards, SBTC’s executive director emeritus, Ronnie Yarber, another longtime SBTC pastor, and Wayne Livingston, an SBTC field representative whose area spreads across East Texas.

Richards, Perry, and Yarber were instrumental in the formation of the SBTC two decades ago, but on this morning, their focus was on the future of gospel invitations—which are not as much a staple of worship services as they once were.

Perry, 87, shared about a number of invitations that have either had a personal impact on himself or others. When he was 9, he recalled seeing a young man walk the aisle at church and give his life to Jesus. That moment had such an impact on Perry that he continued to think about it and, about a week later, gave his own life to Christ one evening while working cows in a pasture. The next meaningful invitation happened soon after, when he went forward to announce his decision to the pastor and the church.

At age 12, an invitation provided him the opportunity to proclaim his desire to follow in obedience to the command of Christ regarding baptism and, three years later, he walked the sawdust aisle at a Baptist youth camp in New Mexico to surrender his life to the ministry during a time of invitation.

“It would not have happened without an invitation,” he said.

Perry said an invitation should plainly and clearly call people to accept Christ, give listeners an opportunity to join the church, or re-dedicate their lives to the Lord. “I think one of the things we really miss with our invitations today is, I don’t think we’re calling out the called” to ministry service, he added.

Each pastor on hand was given a copy of Roy Fish’s book, “Coming to Jesus: Giving A Good Invitation” provided by the SBTC. Fish was a lifelong pastor who was committed to personal soul-winning and evangelism education. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s school of evangelism and missions is named for Fish.

Later, in giving a brief sketch of SBTC’s history, Yarber expressed the convention’s heart for assisting its pastors much in the way that was happening on this particular day.

“The fact is, if you’re affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention,” he said, “you’re affiliated with a body of believers and churches that cares for you, that wants the best for you, that prays for you, and that has a ministry to offer you.”

High Pointe’s Sanchez appointed to SWBTS faculty

Southern Baptist “model pastor-theologian” Juan R. Sánchez has been appointed associate professor of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, President Adam W. Greenway announced today.

“Juan Sánchez brings to Southwestern Seminary the combined experience of pastoral ministry, deep academic preparation, and theological scholarship that will richly benefit our students,” said Greenway. “Indeed, Dr. Sánchez is a model pastor-theologian for our students who are preparing to minister in pulpits across the Southern Baptist Convention. Although serving in the School of Theology, he will also teach in the seminary’s Hispanic Programs, further bolstering our already strong Spanish-language offerings. Dr. Sánchez joining our faculty is yet another evidence of God’s incredible blessings to us on Seminary Hill.”

Sánchez, who will continue to serve as senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, is scheduled to deliver the convention sermon at the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Anaheim. He is the first Latino pastor to be elected by messengers to give the address.

“One key way I seek to raise up the next generation of pastors and missionaries is through our local church, High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin,” Sánchez said. “Lord willing, as I enter my final 10-15 years of pastoral ministry, I want to focus my energies outside of High Pointe by investing in theological education where I live. Since I pastor in Austin, it makes perfect ministry sense to give myself to Southwestern Seminary. My aim is to take part in the work God is doing there and, by His grace, raise up the next generation of leaders for the church.”

A past president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, since 2016 Sánchez has served as assistant professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He earned Master of Divinity (1999), Master of Theology (2002), and Doctor of Philosophy (2015) degrees from the Kentucky-based seminary and also holds a Bachelor of Music in music education from the University of Florida (1994).

“Dr. Juan Sánchez is an accomplished theologian and pastor who has taught and ministered to pastors and students around the world in both English and Spanish language instruction,” said Gregory A. Wills, dean of the School of Theology at Southwestern Seminary. “He has written four books and many articles and chapters. He has served in a variety of leadership roles among Southern Baptists and in evangelical organizations, including serving as president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. He loves the church of Jesus Christ and has served as the pastor of the High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin since 2005. He has loved and served his wife Jeanine and their five daughters with model devotion and care. In all these areas he has sought carefully to submit in faith to God in utter trust of his Word. Students who have the opportunity to take his classes will find great profit indeed.”

Sánchez, who will serve on the faculty of the School of Theology and teach theology courses in both English and Spanish, is the board chairman of The Gospel Coalition and co-founder and president of Coalición por el Evangelio. He is the author of several books, including 1 Peter For You, Seven Dangers Facing Your Church, and The Leadership Formula: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders in the Church. Sánchez is currently writing with Edgar Aponte a systematic theology textbook in Spanish to be published by B&H Español to be released in 2024.

Prior to beginning his service at the Austin-based church in 2005, Sánchez served three churches in Florida in youth and music ministry roles, as associate pastor of First Baptist Church, Eastman, Georgia, and as senior pastor of Ryker’s Ridge Baptist Church in Madison, Indiana.

In addition to his ministry experience, Sánchez served in the United States Navy.

Sánchez’s appointment is effective immediately.

Hope rising from the ashes through SBTC DR work in Colorado

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo.—Hope arises from the ashes, as volunteers with Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief are proving in Colorado.

SBTC DR crews hurried to the Rocky Mountain State to assist survivors following the 6,025-acre Marshall Fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes near Boulder from Dec. 30 to early January. Texas crews worked alongside Baptist DR volunteers from the Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas-Nebraska, and Colorado conventions at communities in southeastern Boulder County.

Two SBTC DR bunkhouses transported quickly north at the request of Colorado DR are housing workers at operations based at Boulder’s Reclamation Church.

Recovery teams from Bonham and Bellville arrived in mid-January and set to work immediately. Their job? To sift through the ashes and help homeowners discover valuables spared by the inferno. Teams also offer spiritual support, praying with survivors.

Sifting through ashes can be a seemingly fruitless task

“Seldom do we find what they think is of value,” Bellville team leader Mike Phillips told the Texan.

But sometimes they do.

Baby Jesus in the ashes

Chaplain Pat Merrell of Childress described meeting Melissa and Mark, two Louisville, Colo., homeowners helped by the Bonham crew.

Merrell, who had deployed as a chaplain with the Bellville unit, was called to the Bonham crew’s site when team leader Monte Furrh realized the homeowner could use a sympathetic ear.

“When I walked up the sidewalk, [Melissa] looked up and a big smile came,” Merrell recalled. “She was so excited to see me.”

Melissa asked Merrell to “excuse” her for not getting up, pointing to her foot and its cast wrapped in a protective plastic bag. She had broken the foot after the fire. Merrell pulled up a chair and the two women visited.

Melissa said she had grown up in a Christian home in Maine but admitted to drifting away after moving to Colorado, Merrell said. As they were talking, DR volunteers uncovered a treasure the homeowners thought lost forever: the family’s manger set.

Tears of joy streamed down Melissa’s face after she spotted the manger’s intact baby Jesus.

“I just wanted to show you baby Jesus,” Melissa told Merrell, cupping the ceramic piece in her hands while Merrell snapped a photo for her.

That recovered emblem led to greater conversations about the Jesus who is always with us, Merrell said.

“He went through the fire just like you have. He has led you out and he is always with you,” Merrell told Melissa. After work was finished at their place, Melissa and Mark joined in prayer with the SBTC DR team, who presented them with a Bible. At Melissa’s request, they all sang “Amazing Grace” before praying.

“People are receptive to what we are doing up here,” Phillips said. “I believe we are planting seeds. When we have a chance, we let them know why we are doing this: that we love the Lord. They are surprised and sometimes relieved that we are willing to talk about God.”

More found treasures

Another manger scene was among the lost valuables recovered by Bellville volunteers on January 21 as they continued work near the town of Superior.

The Bellville team had split into two crews who worked at neighboring houses. The recovery of a platinum wedding band encouraged one homeowner, but his neighbor, Carrie, was even more thrilled when volunteers uncovered an irreplaceable nativity set that had been made by her grandmother.

Volunteer Brian Batchelder of Abilene said they were sifting for other items when they held up a piece of pottery that turned out to be part of the manger set.

“She was so elated, and we were elated,” crew leader Phillips said. “It gave us energy to keep going.”

As the volunteers finished work, the group gathered with the homeowners to give them a Bible and to pray.

“Can I pray for you all?” Carrie asked.

“We don’t get that very often,” Phillips mused. “She prayed us out of there.”

Wet snow swirled about volunteers on January 21, but even so it was a very good day, Phillips indicated. Homeowners who had lost almost everything and the volunteers who came to help were reminded once more about what really matters … and how hope can rise from ashes.

“Jesus used the teams to give homeowners hope,” Merrell said after the Bellville crew started back to Texas on Jan. 23.

For information on becoming a credentialed volunteer, visit https://sbtexas.com/disaster-relief/#training.

Legendary pulpit to be used during SBC Pastors’ Conference

On any given Sunday, pastors stand behind large pulpits, small pulpits, pub tables, or music stands. Many of those pulpits, though, have a history.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on the pulpit at Mayhill Baptist Church, a small church in the mountains of New Mexico. I saw the worn edges, the scrapes from years of use, and realized I would stand behind a beautiful piece of craftsmanship with a long history.

That moved me deeply. Week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, that lil’ pulpit was the launching pad for countless sermons. And there I stood, behind that worn pulpit to proclaim the word, joining a long line of faithful pastors before me.

As we planned for and dreamed about the SBC Pastors’ Conference (June 12-13, Anaheim, Calif.) and our commitment to expository preaching, I knew the pulpit we used was not everything, but it sure was something. After a lot of prayers, I shot my shot. I reached out to Dr. Steve Gaines to ask about the “Bellevue Pulpit,” and Dr. Gaines and Bellevue Baptist in Memphis generously and graciously agreed to loan it to us for the conference.

Sure, most of us know Dr. Gaines used it after taking the helm from the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, both faithful expositors and past Presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, but I also learned it was used by Dr. R.G. Lee and Dr. Ramsey Pollard, who were faithful expositors and past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention.

From the early 1950s to just a few years ago, the “Bellevue Pulpit” was the launching pad for countless sermons that proclaimed the excellencies of Christ and the good news of Jesus. We are thankful for Bellevue Baptist’s generosity and willingness to allow us to add another page of history to their pulpit, and are excited for our preachers to stand behind it to proclaim the Word once again.

NAMB, IMB, Guidestone join as partners

We are excited to announce that North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, and Guidestone have linked arms with us as gold-level sponsors. They join our platinum-level sponsor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and folks like Samaritan’s Purse and Maranatha Tours as our key sponsors. A few more organizations or entities are finalizing their plan to partner, too, and we are so thankful, not only for their generosity but for believing in our vision.

Similarly, conventions like Kentucky Baptist Convention, Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, churches like First Baptist Orlando, Summer Grove Baptist, North Jacksonville Baptist, Greater Hills Baptist, and several individuals have given anywhere between $2 to $30,000. Like our own churches and our churches’ partnerships with the Cooperative Program, it is difficult to survive and thrive without faithful giving across the board––big tithers, small tithers; big churches, small churches––all combine to move the mission forward.

And so it is with the Pastors’ Conference. We cannot do it without key sponsors and significant gifts, but we also cannot do it without a large group of generous people, churches, and entities that simply believe in our vision. So, once again, I am asking for your help. Whether you can give a few dollars or a few hundred, every penny donated will help us put on a great Pastors’ Conference in Anaheim. Please prayerfully consider partnering with us, and click here.

Pastors’ Conference site re-launch coming soon

We have steadily increased our footprint on social media and are about to re-launch our website with the theme for the SBC Pastors’ Conference. On Twitter and Facebook, we continue to highlight encouraging articles, seek prayer requests, and inspire pastors in the hard work of ministry. Make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook but stay tuned to http://sbcpc.net and you may end up being the first to see the unveiling of our conference theme!

Rockdale panel discusses pro-life issues on Sanctity of Life Sunday

ROCKDALE—On January 16, Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Rockdale hosted a panel discussion titled, “The Local Church and the Pro-Life Movement.”

The panel’s date coincided with Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on the Southern Baptist Convention calendar. This emphasis Sunday each year falls near the January 22 anniversary of the infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, that has been applied to legalize abortion for nearly any reason.

Panelists were Abby Johnson, nationally known pro-life advocate and founder of Love Line, a ministry for single parents needing support in raising young children; Nathan Lorick, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; Pam Nolan, director of Place of Hope, a pregnancy resource center in Rockdale; and Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life. The discussion was moderated by the church’s youth pastor, Collin Breakhouse. Meadowbrook’s pastor, Stephen Ammons, organized the event but was unable to attend while recovering from COVID-19.

Many questions the panel discussed were submitted by the live audience attending the event.

A church’s role in the pro-life movement

Local churches of any size can help by doing some things and avoiding others, panelists agreed.

Johnson cited complacency, the idea that somebody else will do it, as a big problem. “The Bible is pretty clear what God expects of us while we’re on this earth—to stand for the ‘least of these,’” she said, adding, “When we are complacent, we are guilty.”

More than one panelist was concerned about judgmental attitudes that drive women to abortion clinics for support. “The longer people walk with Christ the more they forget what it’s like to not [walk with him]. We expect people to come in the door righteous and whole. At that point we become sinful and self-righteous. Christ is pursuing them—why shouldn’t we be pursuing them? Follow the life of Christ and the people he touched. You’ll find hurting, dirty, broken people. The people he confronted were self-righteous and sinful,” Lorick said.

“It’s about life,” he continued. “The church may have the intention to help young women in need, but they don’t know how to help, or we don’t want to have to deal with controversial issues. But brokenness is brokenness; the church has to be prepared to help when a young lady walks in with a need.”

Churches can keep up with pro-life events like the January 22 Rally for Life at the capitol in Austin by using the internet, Pojman suggested, adding, “Check the websites of pro-life organizations around the state.”

Nolan recommended that her church and community “come and see what God has done through Place of Hope. You’ll see the needs. Come and pray for us at a board meeting. Help us with other kinds of support.” She related a case at the center where a mother pressured her daughter to have an abortion because the mother had had one as well, but that Place of Hope’s prayer chain was deployed and the girl ultimately chose life for her baby.

After Roe v. Wade, or not

The audience was very interested in recent talk about the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade during the current U.S. Supreme Court session, but panelists cautioned that even this wouldn’t be the end of the struggle.

“We are getting on average 20 calls a day since the Texas heartbeat bill went into effect” from women currently unable to get an abortion, Johnson said. “If there are 350 PRCs (pregnancy resource centers) in Texas, all are likely seeing a growing demand for help.” Pointing out that about half of the states could outlaw abortion after an overturn of Roe v. Wade, she added, “That’s when our work starts.”

Pojman is cautiously optimistic about an overturn of Roe, speculating that the Court has already decided what to do with Roe but likely won’t announce anything until the end of this session in late June. Depending on the outcome, so-called “trigger bills” can go into effect.

“Texas has passed a bill, the Human Life Protection Act, that protects babies from the point of conception, but it won’t go into effect until Roe is overturned,” he said. “It will be up to church-based ministries to take care of women who no longer have the option of going to Dallas and Austin for an abortion.”

He then noted a couple of advantages Texas has as a pro-life state, referring to $100 million the state has allocated to help mothers for the first three years after the birth of their children.

“This governor [Greg Abbott] is committed to life, to adoption. His daughter is adopted out of a church-based adoption center,” Pojman said.

He also responded to a question regarding a response if Roe is not overturned. “My hopes have been dashed many times,” he said. “But we continue to make progress. We’ll keep working. We’re not going anywhere. But I think we’ll get something from SCOTUS that is a step in the right direction.”

Johnson, who worked for an abortion clinic before becoming a Christian, was asked about the people who would be put out of work if abortion was illegal in Texas. “Telling them about the love of God is the first thing I do,” she said. “I want them to leave the abortion industry, but I want them to do it because God loves them. I want to tell them, ‘God has something better for you!’”

Why we care

The question of why pro-life work should be important for churches and believers prompted a clear response from Lorick, who said, “It matters to God! It is the gospel at work, with feet. If the church is not going to do the things that capture the heart of God, what are we here for?

“The key is to find a step where we can be involved in a PRC or make a donation or advocate for pro-life laws—we can pray. Start small,” he suggested. “Delayed obedience is disobedience. When God puts it in your heart, he’s going to provide an opportunity. When we all take that next step, we become a pretty big army.”

SBTC DR UPDATE: Teams head out to help in aftermath of Colorado fires

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo.—Volunteers with Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief are heading to Colorado to help clean up damage caused by the 6,025-acre Marshall Fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes southeast of Boulder in January.

SBTC DR bunkhouses stationed at Melissa and Waxahachie are already en route to the Rocky Mountain State, driven by volunteers Mike Lene and Norman Prewitt, SBTC DR Director Scottie Stice said. Colorado Baptist DR will use the units to house volunteers working out of Reclamation Church in Boulder, Stice said.

“CO DR asked for the bunkhouses ASAP and we responded,” Stice explained, noting that two recovery teams from Bonham and Bellville are also preparing to deploy. The teams will be shoveling ash and assisting people in sifting through debris for valuables left after the fire.

“Some people have lost everything in this fire and our volunteer teams from across the state are ready to serve and assist them,” Stice said, noting that additional teams may be requested. “We want those affected by the fire to know that there is hope and they are not alone.”

SBTC DR at the ready

A hallmark of all Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is readiness, as was shown recently by SBTC DR’s recent preparation to help survivors of December’s tornadoes in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

SBTC DR units were set to deploy in tornado response, but their assistance as part of the SBDR national network was not needed at this time.

Daniel White, SBTC DR associate, explained the process in an email to DR volunteers: “When a disaster strikes out of state, we wait on the affected state to ask for our help. Civil authorities spend days conducting search and rescue operations, and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are not allowed into the area until that is complete.”

Each state hit by the recent tornadoes has a strong SBDR ministry, White said. Arkansas needed no help; Tennessee received ample assistance from neighboring states and the state’s own volunteers; Missouri Baptist DR was assigned to help western Kentucky and call upon SBTC DR as needed. SBTC DR teams were scheduled to deploy but stood down when the work proved less than anticipated.

“The states all had more teams in the field than work to be done,” White said.

DR task force meets in Ennis

Meanwhile, SBTC DR task force members gathered Jan. 7-8 in Ennis to debrief 2021 and look ahead to 2022.

“We had good discussions about the major response of the year, which was to Hurricane Ida, especially in Golden Meadow and Gonzales, La.,” Stice said.

The need for additional SBTC DR workers was among the topics broached. For information on becoming a credentialed volunteer, visit https://sbtexas.com/disaster-relief/#training.

Send Network Español senior director joins SWBTS staff

Southern Baptist leader Felix Cabrera has been appointed associate director of Hispanic Programs at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, President Adam W. Greenway has announced.

“The appointment of Felix Cabrera to help lead our Hispanic Programs is further proof of our resolve to meet the needs of more faithfully trained Hispanic and Latin-American Gospel workers to the end that the Gospel will advance among all Spanish-speaking peoples everywhere,” said Greenway. “I am grateful to God for the blessing of having Dr. Cabrera join Southwestern Seminary’s already stellar team and look forward to even greater things from this area of urgent institutional priority.”

Cabrera, who will remain in his current capacity at the North American Mission Board as senior director of Send Network Español, will serve the seminary in a part-time capacity to assist in building Hispanic Programs, including developing new undergraduate degrees.

“Dr. Felix Cabrera brings to the Hispanic Programs of Southwestern’s Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions a wealth of ministry experience as a gifted church planter, pastor, denominational statesman, and theological educator,” said John D. Massey, dean of the Fish School, which houses the seminary’s Hispanic Programs. “He is a proven and gifted leader in Hispanic ministry among Southern Baptists and is a welcome addition to the team. He will take SWBTS en Español to new heights.”

A native of Puerto Rico, Cabrera currently pastors Iglesia Bautista Ciudad de Dios in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is executive director of the Convention of Southern Baptists in Puerto Rico. He also served as second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 2018-2019. In his role with NAMB, where he has served since 2019, Cabrera oversees the church planting strategy in North America for the Spanish-speaking context in addition to serving as the regional director of Puerto Rico.

“I am convinced that my calling until the Lord changes it is directed in three areas that converge: pastor the Lord’s flock in a local church, train men and women theologically in the context of the academy, and prepare leaders and send them to plant churches,” Cabrera said. “For this reason, the opportunity that Southwestern Seminary is providing me fits so well with who I am and what I do. I am excited, honored, and expectant to be able to serve alongside my mentor, Dr. Mark McClellan, to continue and expand the legacy of SWBTS toward our Spanish-speaking Hispanic community. I am grateful to Dr. Adam Greenway for giving me this important task.”

Prior to serving with NAMB, Cabrera was the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Central (IBC) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a church he planted in 2011. Additionally, he has served as the assistant director of Spanish studies and assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he developed the curriculum for the certificate and master’s level programs offered in Spanish.

“Felix Cabrera is one of the strongest and most well-prepared Gospel ministers I have ever worked with,” said Mark McClellan, director of the Hispanic Programs at Southwestern Seminary. “He will bring to Southwestern’s Hispanic theological studies and ministry preparation an unprecedented combination of leadership, theological preparation, missionary passion, and an exemplary model for present and future Hispanic and Latin American church and ministry leaders.”

Cabrera has served Southern Baptists as a member of the 2017 SBC Resolutions Committee and in 2015 as a member of the SBC Committee on Committees. He currently serves as a member of the SBC Hispanic Leaders Council, as well as a member of Lifeway Christian Resources Hispanic Pastoral Council.

Cabrera earned a Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in leadership from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2020. He earned a Master of Arts in Pastoral Counseling from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in 2015, as well as Master of Arts in Church Planting from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2017. His Bachelor of Business Administration was earned from the Universidad de Puerto Rico in 2001.

Dance joins Guidestone as Director of Pastoral Wellness

Dr. Mark Dance is joining GuideStone Financial Resources in the newly created Director of Pastoral Wellness position.

Dance previously served as a senior pastor for 28 years in churches in Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee before joining Lifeway Christian Resources in 2014. He is the co-founder of Care4Pastors. Most recently, he has served as Director of Pastoral Development for Oklahoma Baptists.

“When I was called to join the ministry of GuideStone, I felt deep in my soul a responsibility to care for pastors, not just in their financial and health lives, but for the whole pastor and pastor’s family, to help them do well and do right by being well, serving well, and finishing well,” GuideStone President-elect Hance Dilbeck said. “As I’ve spent these last several months becoming acquainted with GuideStone, I was excited by the prospects of Mark joining us here to advance the vision we believe we have received from the Lord.”

God has opened many doors for Dance to minister to pastors, he said.

“Pastors have been a priority to GuideStone for over 100 years, and I am thrilled to build on that legacy with Dr. Dilbeck and his team,” Dance said. “Pastors are still leading through a historically challenging season, so our GuideStone team desires to lock arms with other ministries to help pastors and other ministry leaders fulfill their calling. I have never been more excited about a ministry opportunity than I am today.”

Throughout the pandemic, GuideStone has noted, along with many health providers, that mental health claims have increased, which often have corresponding increased costs in the health care plan overall.

“Pastors are having a hard time finishing well,” Dilbeck said. “As we’ve talked through ways to help pastors find the care they need so they can be the husbands and shepherds they’re called to be, this vision around complete wellness—spiritual, physical, financial, mental, health—has more fully taken shape. We believe that we can continue to do the things GuideStone does well, the financial and health wellness focus, and influence these other aspects of wellness.”

Dance’s work will work in concert with pastor wellness programs sponsored by other Southern Baptist entities.

“Perhaps most excitingly, we aren’t taking this on in a vacuum,” Dilbeck said. “Mark will bring relationships he has already established with our sister Southern Baptist entities, state conventions and other like-minded ministries, so that we can assist in serving our pastors in a holistic way. This isn’t a change in focus for GuideStone—we’ve always said we exist to honor the Lord by being a lifelong partner with our participants in enhancing their financial security. That focus is not going to change. We recognize that when pastors are well in every aspect of their life, their financial security becomes even stronger.”

Dance has three earned degrees, a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard Payne University, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Janet. They currently live in Tulsa, where he serves as an interim pastor, and will relocate to Dallas. They have two adult children, Holly (married to Brandon) and Brad.

A future of cooperation, not competition

The boys were hometown heroes, loved, admired, and respected by groupies who believed their favorite to be the best. In Piri Thomas’s popular short story, “Amigo Brothers,” Tony and Felix were 17-year-old, up-and-coming boxers from the lower east side of Manhattan. They were also the best of friends. They grew up together, trained together, and represented their community together. They were the pride of their Puerto Rican community. But when the regional championship round came down between the two of them, for the first time they would fight against one another instead of fighting for and with one another.

As the match drew near, “even when joking with each other, they both sensed a wall rising between them.” And when the bell rang in Tompkins Square Park on that much-anticipated day, the whole town showed up to watch the ‘toe-to-toe slugfest.’” The boys beat one another senseless right there in front of the whole community. There was so much blood. So much pain. There in the ring, to the roaring amusement of those who championed them, the best of friends became the hottest of enemies. The best became the worst, and their people loved it.

For several decades I have watched as little-known, aspiring pastors have walked with each other through theological training, celebrated each other’s wins, and became icons of Southern Baptist community. As they contended for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, they captured the attention and earned the respect of our confessional community. Others, like myself, have come up in their shadows learning and growing into men and women of God faithfully devoted to the doctrines and mechanisms of our cooperative framework. But over the past several years, I have sensed a wall rising between us. Have you felt it, too?

Instead of fighting for and with one another, there is more fighting against one another today than I remember. Perhaps that is not entirely accurate. Perhaps it is the more public, more accessible nature of our arena that has changed the nature of inner-denominational competition. Either way, today our confessional community watches and chimes in on social media, with fire in their eyes and an unquenchable appetite for blood on their pallets.

In some instances, the best of us have become the worst, and our people have loved it.

The Southern Baptist (Great Commission Baptist) community is unlike any other faith community on the face of the planet. Autonomy and voluntary cooperation are the diet and exercise of our missional camaraderie. But if we’re not careful, they can be relegated into the one-two punch of heated contest. The social stages where our community of faith has grown to love, admire, and champion the best of us can quickly become the arena of bloody slugfests between us.

Who are we kidding? This reality is no longer a matter of “one day.” It is today. And every day.

...When we feel the walls rising between us, we should take a step back. To fight with one another instead of against one another, we’ll have to redirect our energies toward cooperation instead of contention again.

Tony Wolfe Tweet

But aren’t we friends? Haven’t we agreed on the main things and, by extension, agreed to give grace on the other things? After all, “How could two walk together unless they agree?” Our community has determined and codified our shared doctrinal convictions in the Baptist Faith and Message. We voluntarily cooperate within those parameters toward our common goal, that the nations might know and worship the one true God through repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. That means we hold the line on certain things, and we look past other things. It also means that where the line is blurry, we don’t take public shots at one another. And certainly, if we do, our community of faith should shutter, not rejoice. It may not be popular to a bloodthirsty crowd, but friendship through healthy disagreement is in the very nature of cooperation.

Great Commission Baptists today are working out some blurry lines in our confessional relationship: the role, functions, and positions of women in official church ministry (other than the office of pastor, of course); the tightening of our practices to guard against sexual abuse and minister to its survivors; the extent of our Executive Committee’s authority and its role in our cooperative mechanism; contemporary philosophies, implications, and applications of our uncompromising shared conviction against racism in every form; the role of the church and the denomination in politics; and more. Because we have no ecclesial hierarchy, 47,000+ churches are working through the theological and practical ministry underpinnings of their day, as they have for 176 years.

There should be some friendly sparring. It sharpens us. It trains us. It makes us stronger, and better. But friendly sparring is not a public event to be held on an open stage. And even privately, when we feel the walls rising between us, we should take a step back. To fight with one another instead of against one another, we’ll have to redirect our energies toward cooperation instead of contention again.

In Thomas’s short story, Tony and Felix both fought hard. The damage to each was brutal. Each side of the blood-thirsty crowd roared with approval, convinced that their man had won the bout. They awaited the judges’ final decision, although the divided community had already made up their minds—half for one and half for the other. But to their surprise, when the ringmaster took center stage to announce the judges’ decision, the boys were nowhere to be found. They had walked out of the arena shoulder to shoulder, congratulating each other on a fight well fought, each better for their efforts and neither caring about the win.

They were cooperators before they were competitors. And because of their devotion to one another, they were cooperators after they were competitors, too.

I still believe the best days of Southern Baptist Great Commission cooperation are ahead of us, not behind us. For this to be reality, at some point the competition must stop, even to the crowd’s disappointment. We must return to fighting with and for one another instead of against one another. If we are to rise to the Great Commission opportunities God has placed before us in the next generation, we’ll have to walk away from the ring shoulder to shoulder, not knowing or caring who won some of these fights. We were cooperators before we were competitors. Let’s resolve today to be cooperators now, too.

After Roe is gone

I graduated from high school the year of the momentous U.S. Supreme Court decision that imagined a right to destroy an unborn human life within an American’s right to privacy. It was a few years later that I became aware of it, and of the horror it celebrated in a nation that regularly claimed the moral high ground among its neighbors.

The years between that awareness and the reversal of Southern Baptists’ advocacy for abortion on demand were the only years I seriously considered leaving the denomination. I have since been an officer of a statewide pro-life group, a columnist who writes more strongly on this subject than nearly any other, and a collaborator with several pro-life groups in Austin that have affected legislation that has, in turn, saved thousands of lives in Texas. For the first time in nearly 50 years, I dare hope that our Supreme Court will repent of Roe v. Wade, returning the right of states to protect its unborn and their mothers. It’s all the buzz among pro-lifers as the 49^th anniversary approaches this month.

We imagine an America where preying on young pregnant women for profit is no longer a multi-billion- dollar industry, where our federal government no longer favors anything arguably called “abortion” because they fear being thought of as against women. We imagine a generation where people like George Tiller or Kermit Gosnell are considered mythic monsters rather than actual characters, honored by their neighbors. We might even a imagine a time when sexual abstinence before marriage attains a higher level of respect in our culture. Some things will change if Roe is overturned, many of them really unimaginable.

But some things shouldn’t change. Pro-life advocacy will still be necessary, because young people will still conceive children they can’t care for. The network of volunteers that has arisen in the past 50 years will be needed just as badly, though perhaps by fewer girls. One of the things we discovered since Roe is a group of girls that had formerly disappeared from their high schools if they became pregnant. Some of them were in families that picked up some of the burden for their daughters and nieces, but many were in families unable to help for financial, social and spiritual reasons.

Our pregnancy resource centers originally organized as crisis pregnancy centers aimed at fighting abortion but had to become more than that. As the movement matured, these oases of love and life became places where kids could learn basic life skills, pick up a car seat, and get a case of diapers or baby food. An army of middle-aged women learned to counsel and witness to girls who visited the centers. They became repositories of all sorts of useful information for girls who had not been raised by competent adults. PRC volunteers became those competent adults. Those girls won’t disappear if Roe is gone; the volunteers must not either.

Overturning Roe will dissipate the pro-life struggle back into the states. I can see Texas effectively banning abortion, running Planned Parenthood out of the state because they can no longer make millions (or access public funds) here. That, by the way, will prove what many of us know about Planned Parenthood: this talk about “women’s health” or “reproductive services” has always been a cover for their lucrative abortion product. Remove their ability to sell the one product that makes them profitable and their concern for women will vanish.

But pro-life states like Texas will not necessarily stay that way. Our culture will not become pro-life because we regain the ability to protect unborn life. People will still do whatever they want while avoiding responsibility for their actions. Babies will still be seen by many as a regrettable consequence of sexual liberty. There will be a constant clamor to loosen the laws in the name of freedom. We will need pro-life activists in Texas because lobbyists for abortion will relentlessly chip away at laws protecting babies in the same way pro-lifers chipped away at Roe’s impact over the past decades. Perhaps the tide will be against abortion generally, but that can change, we know that. It will remain important that we have legislators who honor the sanctity of human life, and that we have those who scrutinize proposed legislation with a mind toward a bill’s impact on the rights of unborn persons. Even in Texas.

I continue to pray for the end of Roe v. Wade as the judicially imposed “law” of the land. As I am given opportunity, I will work to that end. Pro-life people are poised to do the right things after Roe is gone because we have built a pro-life infrastructure during America’s dark decades. Our care, our love for our neighbors, must not wane as our nation emerges from its greatest shame.