Al Gore wrote a book with this title.  The title itself suggests that whether I like it or not the truth is the truth.  There are some inconvenient Southern Baptist truths.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry is the most effective collegiate ministry in North America. BCM staff and students reach more people for Christ, using less money (multiply the amount of money a Campus Crusade staff member must raise times the number of CCC staff members) on more campuses, connects those converts to churches, and maintains accountability to SBC churches.  We may like the direct appeal of CCC or some other group, but no group is more effective than BCM staff and students.

Churches with RA’s and GA’s baptize more children than churches that do not have these programs.  This is not criticism of any other program, but it is a statistical reality.

Dead churches reach lost people.  Repeatedly some “guru” talks about how 70% of the SBC churches are plateau’d or dying.  But try telling that little boy who was saved in that dying church that Jesus does not like where he was saved.  Tell the deacon who prays faithfully for his church how he is wasting his time.  Tell those ladies in the WMU who lead their church to set higher goals for mission giving that they are part of dead group.  The Holy Spirit determines life.  Not “gurus.”

The Cooperative Program is a very personal way to do missions. I know, I know… it can’t be personal to put money in a plate and never see the outcome.  Do you have to see it for it to have an effect? (Apply the same logic to the Resurrection?)  The people who are impacted are the ones to judge the value of the ministry.  The lost man in Baltimore who is reached because your church’s CP funds helped start a new church thinks it is personal.  I am with him.

The funding of world missions has less to do with our structure than with our giving. Tithing solves the problem of funding faster and more effectively than any re-structuring efforts.  The Covenant for a New Century proves it.  New structures were accompanied by declining giving and CP percentages. Fifty percent more tithers in churches that give generously to the CP would solve SBC financial problems, even in the seminaries.

The majority of church members and pastors are aware of and happy with the way CP dollars are distributed. Two independent surveys done by research firms have established this.  And the unanimous vote of the CP resolution in the 2009 ABSC meeting reflects this truth.

Younger leaders are committed to the SBC. A bunch of them are on the ABSC Executive Board.  And their churches give generously to the CP and our missions offerings.  They have chosen to be Southern Baptists and I feel good about the future with them in charge.  The complaint to the contrary is the result of older preachers who refuse to call younger ones to denominational sacrifice and service.

Inconvenient truths are still true.

This blog is posted every Friday.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it