The B21 panel, presented by Baptist 21 and hosted by Sojourn Community Church went down during the Southern Baptist Convention last month. I am probably the last person to post it on his blog (considering the thousands of video views), but I need to in case you are the only person who has not yet watched it.

The panel examined reasons for young pastors to involve themselves with the Southern Baptist Convention, the place for seminaries in training up the next generation, dual involvement with the SBC and Acts 29, and more provocative topics. You can watch it in two parts below.

Of course, I was live-twittering the event, as you will see on the video. The picture I took is here.

The videos prompts me (probably) to write more about two things in the coming weeks:

First: why I think that if you are in a denomination, you should really be "in." Several people have asked me why I mentioned giving 10% to the Cooperative Program. Well, I think if you are in, you should act like it. And, I believe in the partnership.

The last church I planted gave 10% to the Cooperative Program (my denomination's cooperative missions giving strategy) and 3% to my local association (like a district), and 7% to direct church planting. Why? I know that all denominations make mistakes and waste money, but I have confidence that mine is doing well. Not perfect, but well. And, the valuable partnership we have is worthy of support support.

So, I will probably write more on that soon.

Second: why I believe you should stick with young leaders even when they make mistakes.

I was moved when Daniel shared about of our relationship in the video. He confessed that he made a lot of mistakes. And, yes, I took some arrows for him. But, I am glad I did. God has used him in powerful ways. I remember back when Sojourn was 2 people-- and now it is a great force for the gospel in urban Louisville.

I think of several other young pastors for whom I have stood up. They have made mistakes and we have worked through them together. But, I believe that the results of patience and exhortation are worth the arrows along the way.

I just wonder how our convention would be different if older leaders stood with the younger leaders-- encouraging, admonishing, and helping. After all, as I said at the pastors conference, these are your children. We can walk with one another, not work against each other.

I feel a blog post coming on for that, too...

But, that is for another day.

Enjoy the videos.