At the Recent Southern Baptist Convention, the King Was Greatly Praised

What has happened to evangelicals in America? Has the age of Trump truly ruined any measure of Christian witness and purpose in the world?

I’ve spoken about this often, and there is scant evidence to prove me wrong, at this point, although I pray for it.

In what could likely be labeled as Exhibit #372, I’d like to discuss what happened at the most recent Southern Baptist Convention.

The Southern Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. The most recent convention was already under a shadow, in regards to sexual misconduct in the church and how best to handle those issues, as a church body.

The former president of the Southern Baptists, Paige Patterson, was recently relieved of his post, given several reported cases of alleged rape among students, and his response to those allegations.

There were also some uncomfortable comments about a teenager’s body that became too troublesome to ignore.

Of course, his comments suggesting wives should stay with abusive husbands didn’t help, either.

None of what went on with Patterson was godly. It was time for him to go.

And we recognize people are fallible. The SBC did the right thing in replacing him. They could just move on, repair the damage, and continue in their purpose.

That’s not what they’re doing. They’re transforming.

For this year’s convention, Vice President Mike Pence was invited to speak. It wouldn’t have been an issue, were it not that this convention is meant to be a gathering of church leaders, for prayer and commitment to the goals of unity and purpose. Some church leaders were uncomfortable with the idea of a politician coming to speak, wishing to avoid the appearance of politics.

Wise.

“We must do all that we can to preserve the purity of the gospel, and this invitation works against it,” Pastor Garrett Kell said, according to The Tennessean. Kell argued Pence’s speech slot should be replaced with prayer in order to avoid the optics of the evangelical church aligned with a political party.

Last week, they voted, and Kell’s concerns were dismissed, as the group decided to keep VP Pence’s invitation alive.

Dear #SBC18

Mr. Pence may well be a believer, but mixing politics and Gospel ministry works against unity, love, and Gospel progress.

This is a tone deaf move. Yes, we should pray for him and other leaders as God calls us to, but he shouldn’t be speaking at the convention. https://t.co/BN32CWaSao

— Garrett Kell ن (@pastorjgkell) June 11, 2018

Here is my full statement on why the #SBC18 should withdraw its invitation for Vice President Mike Pence to address the convention. pic.twitter.com/zuznErOjg1

— Garrett Kell ن (@pastorjgkell) June 12, 2018

Said Grant Ethridge, chairman of the conventions committee on order of business:

“As a committee, we feel to not show hospitality to those in authority would be a bad testimony for Southern Baptists.”

He added, “I believe we respect the position regardless of whether or not you supported or voted for the person.”

He’s absolutely correct. You respect the position and office, but that doesn’t mean you turn a prayer gathering into a political rally.

Pence knows how important keeping a line open with evangelicals is, considering their support in 2016. In fact, 80 percent of white, self-described evangelicals voted for Trump.

So what did VP Pence, himself considered to be a strong evangelical, choose to speak about? Were the concerns of seeing the convention degraded into some sort of two-bit political rally unfounded?

They were not.

Pence devoted much of his speech to touting the Trump’s administration’s achievements since taking office.

“It’s been 500 days of action … 500 days of promises made and promises kept,” he said.

He enthused about Trump’s meeting this week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and received a big ovation by mentioning the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a longstanding goal of many U.S. evangelicals.

Incredible.

No peace was achieved, only a photo-op that served the tyrant of North Korea more than the United States, and a buzz about the relocation of the U.S. Embassy, even though our ambassador there will be commuting between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, since he has no office in Jerusalem (and Trump signed the 6-month waiver, immediately after the Embassy ceremony last month).

Pence drew more loud applause when he declared Trump “the most pro-life president in American history” and noted that he has appointed many conservatives to federal judgeships.

He just signed an omnibus bill that doles out nearly half a billion dollars to Planned Parenthood, but, hey, MAGA, or something.

Pence did exactly what he was sent to do. He carried out his task and disrupted the purpose of the convention to bring glory to the king.

Donald Trump.

The majority of the crowd forgot why they were there and cheered on Pence’s speech, some even calling for “Four more years!”

Mike Pence is said to be a strong Christian, but at an evangelical convention, where was his focus?

Someone did the math, and it’s an eye-opener.

In his SBC convention speech yesterday, @VP used:
President 61 times
Trump 12 times
Donald 6 times

God 9 times
Christ 2 times
Jesus 1 time@JohnFea1 @MichaelRWear @TheAlanNoble @jackjenkins @ShaneClaiborne @jimwallis @KevinMKruse @tedolsen @Sojourners @brianmclaren pic.twitter.com/awVMz2i7OB

— Ryan Burge

That’s disgusting.

What’s interesting is that Pence wasn’t originally scheduled as a speaker, but his office reached out to the convention leadership and requested a spot days before the convention was to be held.

A third of the 10,000 attendees voted against having Pence speak, and some skipped his 30-minute speech, opting, instead, to remain outside and pray during that time.

Good for them.

Pence acts at the behest of his boss, Trump, and the fact that he would use up valuable time at this convention to praise Trump, rather than to give a substantive message that could unify the church body says a lot about how far he’s willing to bend any Christian values he may claim.

It says just as much about those who saw no problem with Donald Trump’s name being repeated more than five dozen times, while God only was mentioned nine times, and Jesus Christ barely rated a mention, at all.

I suggest that if the Southern Baptist Convention truly intends to heal the wounds and fix the wrongs of recent memory, they remove themselves from the political world and focus on the coming Kingdom, because this was a disgusting display, and it should never be repeated.