I have been reading the comments on Steve McCoy’s blog and appreciate them so much. The SBC needs your input and encouragement. Most of you expressed appreciation for the past and are challenged about the demands of meeting our culture in a redemptive way today. As I said in my comments on Steve’s blog this morning, this rings a real bell with those of us older ministers. We, too, struggled to get “outside the box”. We did things that were often criticized, but also strongly supported and encouraged. It was our desire to reach our community for Christ and to be part of God’s reach around the world.

We reached out to different races, the hippies and gypsies of the 60s and 70s, the yuppies of subsequent years. We did it in non-traditional ways sometimes. One church in Oklahoma City took out a full page ad in the OKC newspaper which was headlined “Public Condemnation of First Southern Baptist Church Del City.” However, the support from others was always there.

I just want you all to understand that you are not the first to wrestle with the challenges we face today. We need those struggles and we need your passion, energy and devotion to being all God would have us be as we engage our culture. So, thanks for dialoguing with me this year. Looking forward to seeing you Sunday. If you can’t make it, I am going to try to make the video of the meeting on the internet. I’ll let you know about that.