Saying “Gospel Above All” is “more than a slogan,” Southern Baptist Convention president J.D. Greear urged unity in remarks this week at the annual meeting of the Association of State Baptist Publications.
Citing Romans 14, Greear suggested Paul’s exhortation and admonishment to believers not to pass judgment on nonessentials applies to some current issues in the SBC. “Gospel Above All” is the theme chosen by Greear for the upcoming 2020 SBC Annual Meeting, just as it was for the 2019 Annual Meeting. He said for the theme to become reality, Southern Baptists must not divide over tertiary issues.
“Paul had a definite perspective on what was right, which is what to me makes his instruction all the more relevant,” said Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C. “Because he’s not talking about issues that don’t matter. He’s saying, ‘In this issue, I know I’m right, but I just don’t want to let this issue create division in this body, and unity in the body is more important than uniformity on perspective on these things.’”
During his presentations to state Baptist executives and editors, Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, unveiled “Vision 2025,” and also cited Paul in emphasizing the need for strong relationships in order to achieve unity and to accomplish the collective goal of reaching “every town, every city, every state and every nation” with the Gospel.
“We’ve got to rediscover the power of relationships,” said Floyd, who added that Paul’s epistles show clearly, “the Gospel traveled on the tracks of relationships.”
Floyd, who assumed the SBC EC role in May 2019 after almost 33 years as senior pastor of Cross Church in Springdale, Ark., said he views his role “through the lens of a pastor,” and said the EC “exists to serve churches.”
“That’s what we do,” he said, adding: “We’re going to champion pastors.”
Source: Baptist Press
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