Why Andy Stanley Was Right to Call out the SBC

A semi-controversy erupted last week during the Southern Baptist Convention when popular megachurch pastor Andy Stanley used Twitter to “call out” the overall tone of the convention in Baltimore. (Read his full comments here).

Here are some of his tweets, written at the same time that the SBC was calling for more prayer for revival:

• “Instead of praying for revival leaders of the SBC should go spend three weeks with @perrynoble Why pray for one when you can go watch one.”

• “Praying for revival equates to blaming God for the condition of your local church.”

• “Why not call the Church to pray for the things Jesus & New Testament writers prayed for? Why add Revival to the list?”

• “Churches that need reviving most are the very churches that resist it most.”

Stanley conceded that the conversation spiraled beyond what he had intended it to be after he and others began diverging on what they meant by “revival.”

Rather than debating the merits of starting a “Twitter war,” I want to discuss the thrust of his message, one that I wholeheartedly agree with. The overall message we got from the convention was to try harder, pray more, and keep doing what we’re doing. The religious term they hijacked for it was “revival.” As I wrote last week, prayer and revival sounds great, but the way it’s being used is ultimately a cop out. It’s a crutch. If revival doesn’t happen, it’s God’s fault, because he didn’t answer our prayers.

We don’t need “revival.” We need to change. Praying for revival (as interpreted through the convention) is like the kid unwilling to study praying for an A+ on the test. We already know what we need to do. We need to change. As Ed Stetzer (respected researcher for LifeWay) put it, “If the fifties come back, a lot of Southern Baptist churches are ready to go.”

You don’t need to keep praying when you know what the answer is. You just need to do it. Andy Stanley acutely called out Southern Baptists out of frustration of what he saw from a denomination that he was raised in. Last week I was sharing the same frustrations, albeit with a fraction of his Twitter followers.

But more than just a clash of ideas, this gets real practical, real quick. Why am I so passionate about this? Because this is why Mt Vernon is growing.

Mt Vernon isn’t growing because we prayed for revival. Mt Vernon is growing because we had the courage to change. I firmly believe more churches can experience the same “revival,” not by simply praying for it, but by changing what needs to be changed and seeing it come alive.

QUESTION: Was Andy Stanley right to “call out” the SBC? Do we need less calls for revival and more change?