I was raised in Anchorage, Alaska by fine parents. We went to a local Lutheran church, and I have good memories of that church, and of the people at Central Lutheran Church. I would learn later in life that this church was a part of the ELCA—the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I would learn even later that this denomination had become rather liberal over time. But all that would have been lost on this young, red-headed boy.
One day my friend invited me to “RAs” at a local Baptist Church—First Baptist Church in Anchorage. I would come to know that this stood for “Royal Ambassadors”—essentially a boys mission organization. I loved it. We met on Wednesday night, and began after Wednesday night supper—also something I loved. I found myself going to my friend’s house on Wednesday evenings, about the time they would be getting ready to go to church. They, I suppose, felt compelled to invite me as they headed to church. I would jump in the car and tag along.
At First Baptist I was struck by how friendly and outgoing the people were. Again, I loved it. RAs would eventually give way to Wednesday night youth group activities, which I also loved. Attending on Wednesdays led to attending on Sundays. Sunday School and worship in the morning, and then a variety of evening activities. Training Union in late afternoon, followed by Sunday evening service. I would eventually become part of the youth choir. Again, I loved it.
One Sunday during the morning service I realized I was lost. I was scared to death. I would have known very little theology. But I knew enough to know I was lost. I went home that Sunday rather miserable. The next Sunday during the morning service I again realized I was lost. When the invitation came I virtually ran down the aisle, grabbed the pastor’s hand and said: “I am lost. I want to be saved.” That is a very short version of a longer story—a story that is likely similar to tens of thousands of others who came to faith in their local Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) church. I am very thankful for that church, and the whole SBC to which it belongs. I have a lot of reasons to be thankful. Let me share five of them.
1. I am grateful that I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in an SBC church
Alaska, my home-state, is an interesting place. Alaska has only been a state since 1959—the forty-ninth state (Hawaii was the fiftieth). I was born in 1965, and all throughout my childhood and youth there was a robust Christian presence in Alaska. We may have been rough around the edges, but I was always bumping into vibrant and passionate Evangelical Christians. The church in which I first remember hearing the gospel—First Baptist Church—goes back to 1943 (sixteen years before statehood). So, Baptist work in Alaska long pre-dated even statehood. I am forever grateful that Southern Baptists came to Alaska, and that the gospel was preached to the people of Anchorage—including me.
2. I am grateful that Southern Baptists emphasize the importance of conversion
This may seem an unremarkable thing to celebrate, but the necessity of conversion is not as universally affirmed as one might expect. I am extremely thankful that Southern Baptists happily affirm the necessity of faith and repentance—the necessity of conversion—not least because I was converted through Southern Baptists. We are not alone in this, and for that I am thankful. But nonetheless, I am grateful that the call to conversion is a part of the deep sub-structure of Southern Baptist identity. We are committed to the gospel. And because of the gospel, we are committed to good, scholarly, Evangelical theology, regenerate church membership, the believers’ church, and the classical tenets of Protestant orthodoxy. And because we are grounded in these commitments, we call persons to repent and believe in the gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:14–15).
3. I am grateful for Southern Baptist missions
The North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the International Mission Board (IMB) are central to Southern Baptist life. NAMB focuses on missions in North America, and the IMB focuses on missionaries to the entire rest of the world. Southern Baptist churches pool their resources and give to the Cooperative Program, which in turn funds both the NAMB and the IMB, along with other SBC entities like the six seminaries. This means that as IMB missionaries are sharing the gospel around the globe, they are funded through the SBC’s Cooperative Program. Rather than spending their time fundraising to keep themselves financially afloat (and kudos to those in other organizations who do this!), IMB missionaries around the world are able to focus on ministry, knowing that the SBC has their (financial—but not just financial) backs. Likewise, church planters in North America receive significant support through NAMB, allowing them to focus on building the church and reaching the lost in their city instead of fundraising from scratch with zero dollars.
4. I am grateful that Southern Baptists chose to re-embrace their identity as Bible people
In the last twenty years or so of the twentieth century, Southern Baptists chose to re-affirm our commitment to the infallibility or inerrancy of Scripture. Our denominational battle was not pretty and no doubt there was collateral damage. But it is virtually without parallel for a denomination, once gone liberal, to return to Evangelical orthodoxy. I studied at the “old” Southern seminary, and now I teach at the “new” Southern—which has returned to its original conservative foundation. I have seen both worlds, and I am thankful that Southern Baptists chose to return to the older paths. At the same time, as Tom Nettles has said in a variety of publications, a denomination is not reformed simply by affirming it believes the Bible. Reformation and renewal and revival can take a long time, and no doubt the SBC has work to do.
5. I am grateful that Southern Baptists have chosen to support theological education
I have taught for twenty-eight years at Union University, the oldest educational institution associated with (what would become) the Southern Baptist Convention. Union was founded in 1823, and the SBC was founded in 1845. In a few months my wife and I will move to Louisville, Kentucky, where I will take up a full-time teaching position at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. But I am thankful to Southern Baptists not only for my current and future employment, but for the tens of thousands of men who have been biblically trained to serve as pastors, and for the men and women who have been trained to serve as missionaries across the world by our seminaries. Equipping ministers at this scale and depth is only possible thanks to generation after generation of faithful Southern Baptists who have supported such institutions. I, like others, stand on the shoulders of giants. And these giants are not just the prominent names who have gone before me—like James Petigru Boyce, B.H. Carroll, and others. But these giants also include the not-so-well-known men and women in the pew who have prayed for Southern Baptist work and financially supported Southern Baptist work year after year after year.
Conclusion
I have a lot to be grateful for, as does every Christian—especially those who are members of a Christian denomination which has clung fiercely to the faith once delivered to the saints. In God’s providence, much of what I am thankful for comes from the SBC. Thanks be to God that we belong to a denomination that preaches the gospel, maintains the necessity of conversion, labors in missions, believes in the Bible, and supports theological education. Every Southern Baptist should be able to join in thanking God for these gifts. We may still have work to do, and no doubt we do, but it is also worth being grateful for every good gift which comes from above.
