SBC 2010: B21 Lunch

For the first time I went to something called the B21 lunch. It was a collection of younger minds (honestly there were 3 younger minds and the establishment there) to discuss topics going on in Southern Baptist life. It was phenomenal to hear what the younger minds said. According to their literature, "Baptist21 is a group of young Southern Baptists pursuing Gospel-Centrality through the Local Church among the Nations to the glory of King Jesus in the 21st Century: We believe this is best stated: Gospel. Church. Mission."

Dr. David Platt (Pastor, Brookhill Church)represented the changing of the guard for what the long-lived establishment wants the new guard to look like (conservative, thoughtful, expository, biblically minded, great example). With one exception – Platt challenges the lifestyles of those living the American Dream and calls them to live sacrificially for the cause of Christ. His message is that God has called us to sacrifice everything for the Great Commission, therefore we must follow Jesus in Radical fashion to live out the Great Commission. My favorite part of his emphasis was not what he said, but how Johnny Hunt responded to it, saying that he had been challenged by Platt to give up some of his own comfort already having accomplished the American dream… Dr. Johnny Hunt (Pastor, FBC Woodstock) is phenomenal leader and his genuine heart/transparency is what makes him truly great!

Matt Chandler (Pastor, The Village Church), was also on stage. He is on the board of directors for Acts 29, and is also a Southern Baptist, thus his church is dually aligned. He was quizzed about why he is dually aligned. To summarize his message, he is Acts 29 because he loves and has a heart for church planting. He is Southern Baptist because he is conservative in his theology and loves our seminaries. He was also quick to point out that the GCR had a major role in bringing him back into the SBC fold. It is my hope that the denominational leadership will listen to his critique of SBC church planting efforts so we can properly resource, train, coach and equip church plants (something Acts 29 does exponentially better than SBC).


Dr. Jimmy Scroggins (Pastor, FBC West Palm Beach) was the last guy who caught my attention. Although he is the pastor of a very influential church, I really had never heard anything about him or the work he had accomplished. He is the pastor of FBC West Palm Beach, Fl. What I appreciated about his comments is that he expressed concern over many of the things many of us have been thinking. He said that although he likes the idea of the Cooperative Program, there are many things he dislikes about it. For instance, he does not agree with the way all the dollars are spent. There are concerns over the structure, overhead and such as well that bother him. It was an honest, fair, and much appreciated expression of concern.

With all this being stated, the best part of the B21 lunch was the free books that came with the affordable $7 lunch price tag. Everyone received 4-6 books, which was awesome. The one book I wanted (Radical by David Platt), was one of 5 I received. All in all, it was a great event to attend and I’ll look forward to attending in the future.

* I did not take any of these photos myself, I found them online.