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Biennial: Day One

6:45 p.m. Major internet outage. Here are my notes from the afternoon celebration:

Rev. Dr. Gary Nelson, a Baptist:

1950’s 75% of people thought it was a good idea to go to church.

Less than 10% of urban Canadians now attend

Now, Canadians not mad 80% believe in God but 83% believe in God.

The church needs to reintroduce its self to the community

Luke 19 – Zaccheus

Jesus is in the crowd, not synagogue (God is a seeking God)
Jesus knows him by name (Walmart syndrome: greet people at the door, greet at the church)
Jesus identities with this man.

Are you willing to be in the crowd? We are not to judge what has been.

MODERATION Panel:

Differences between Canadian and US? – Context Urban vs. Country – Still a sense to go to church in US, not so much in Canada.

“Borderline Church” – book

How do I challenge people to cross the cultural border?

Faith, unfaith, and other faith intersect – Borders

Don’t change a congregation that you don’t love.

“Missional church conversation occurs with 50 year old white guys.”

2:00 p.m. “What is the lifespan of a church? When should a church die?” – Good question

Question: Where are the young people in ministry? (My public comment: Young people are going into ministry but the future of the traditional M. Div program is changing and seminaries and churches need to know the new changes.)

1:45 p.m. People still flowing in. About 75 in the room now. Glad I found a spot by a power outlet.”What are the current trends and needs in culture that need to be addressed?”

Comment: “Have faith” from the pulpit not working any more.

Comment: Communities are changing with diversity. How are we to change?

Comment: “My church is growing and have young and old.”

Comment: Emerging and missional churches are future. Moderator: How many are a part of an emergent church? A few people raise their hands.

1:30 p.m. Statement of Concern: Envisioning Our Church in the 21st Century. This gathering is an open conversation on declining attendance and income for church budgets, changing societal norms and needs, the struggle to be relevant to younger generations, waning denominational loyalty, and inability to recognize and respond to new opportunities for ministry.

Good mix of young, old, culture, and geography.

Awaiting moderation and comment.

10:30 a.m. The San Juan convention center is new and beautiful. You are greeted with local music. Very festive in here. Great to see many American Baptists. There are few kinks to work out with registration and arrangements. The expo room is open. Check back for more posts. 3:00 p.m. starts off the celebration time. This location is wonderful. Remember to use the hastag on twitter #celebrate11 for updates and interaction with others.

Looking forward to the “The New Normal” event which will feature Dr. Peggy Kendall, associate professor of Communication Studies at Bethel University, and author of Reboot: Refreshing Your Faith in a High Tech World. Dr. Kendall also hosts a website on Technology and Faith (http://pkendall.squarespace.com). Friday morning’s session will feature Dr. Gary Nelson. An urban missiologist, Dr. Nelson is President of Canada’s Tyndale University College and Seminary, former General Secretary of Canadian Baptist Ministries and author of Borderland Churches: a Congregation’s Introduction to Missional Living. Both sessions of “The New Normal” will encourage conversation among Dr. Kendall, Dr. Nelson and those in attendance.

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My Social Media in Puerto Rico

Check out the blog this week as I will be live blogging at the American Baptist Churches Biennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For you Baptist folks, or observers, I’ll give all the live coverage of events, business meetings, votes, and festivities.

In addition, I’m giving an interactive lecture on social media entitled, “Sink or Swim: Treading the Sea of Social Media” on Saturday at the Pavilion Experiences during the Biennial. Three 50 minute repeating sessions 9 – 9:50, 10 – 10:50, 11 – 11:50 (morning) on June 25th at the Puerto Rico Convention Center. The immediate application will be how to better connect and integrate social media for you, your church, non-profit, or even business.

Make sure you stay tuned into On The Bema and follow me on twitter: @alanrud Here is a little sneak peak of a social media tip we’ll talk about:

http://flash.locamoda.com/wiffiti.com/cloud/cataclysm.swf?id=66244&title=1

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American Baptist Missionaries Safe in Japan

Image via Wikipedia

With this horrible tsunami many are trying to get word about their loved ones. Our American Baptist missionaries in Japan are safe. International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches U.S.A. reports:

Stan Murray, Area Director for Southeast Asia and Japan has sent this report:

Roberta is safe! She had to evacuate with the students (up to 22,000) at Kanto Gakuin University and will not be able to return to her home until at least tomorrow. Japanese practice for these events all the time and are cooperative in carrying out the plan. The Hwangs should be fine if they were home. Soshin School, where Lee Ann teaches and where they live, is a very high point in Yokohama.

E-mails from John Armagost and Leslie Turley have come in and they are safe. Alisen Armagost was at a different location at a soccer game but she has now checked in with her parents and is safe. Armagosts are far from the affected area. Turleys are also safe and do not expect much of an issue when the wave reaches Okinawa. I have yet to hear from Roberta Stephens and the Hwangs. While they live closer to the shoreline in Yokohama, they are both on pretty high ground so should be fine. I have tried repeatedly to phone and e-mail them. No success yet. I will let you know when I do hear. Continue Reading…

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Adventures in Denominational Leadership

The ABC headquarters in Valley Forge, PA (The Holy Doughnut).

This past Sunday it was announced in church that I accepted an invitation to serve on the General Board of the American Baptist Churches U.S.A. I will be one of three New York State American Baptist representatives that will represent our region on the denomination’s leadership board. No, I’m going anywhere. I’m still serving as the pastor of The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa and my ministry here will not be interrupted.

This presents a wonderful personal opportunity and a tremendous opportunity for the church. The church benefits from having a pastor serving as a voice on our denomination’s leadership board by representing the interests of New York State American Baptists. In addition, being able to bring a young perspective in a mainline denomination is an exciting prospect.

Many of you maybe wondering, “What is the General Board and what do they do?” That is a great question. In order answer some questions for my church and other interested parties, I have pulled together a quick FAQ on the General Board:

What is the General Board and what do they do?

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More Biennial News

It seems the fallout from the American Baptist Churches Biennial in Pasadena, continues to make press. The Associate Baptist Press reported on the biennial and gave some interesting insights on the biennial and on the failed bylaw changes vote . I want to highlight the major points in the article.

Delegates, meeting in Pasadena, Calif., torpedoed a major restructuring that had been backed by denominational officials but criticized by many progressive leaders and churches. They voted 377-217 in favor of the bylaws changes — failing, by a handful of votes, to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass them.

Torpedoed is a strong word, but I guess to some it was a major defeat. It is still not the end of the world.

The changes would have spun off the denomination’s two mission boards into quasi-autonomous entities, altered the form of representation on ABCUSA’s main governing board and changed the method by which American Baptists approve policy statements and resolutions. In particular, progressive congregations and organizations feared that the changes would further marginalize their voice within the denomination and make it more difficult to rescind past ABC statements condemning homosexuality.

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Biennial Reflection & Voting

There have been some surprising developments here at the American Baptist Churches Biennial meeting. The most pressing and major issue that had to be approved by the delegates (those sent by local churches, which includes myself) was NOT passed. The motion to amend the bylaws and change the structure of the ABC was narrowly shout down. The current bylaws require a 2/3rds majority by the delegates. The motion only received 63% support, which barely fell short of 66% needed. It seemed that the changes were going to be easily passed, but that was not the case. Please check out the amended bylaws that did not pass here. There have been very few bloggers talking about this, but one blog addressed this issue well: Mindi Framingham. Also, my new friend Tripp Hudgins provided a great video blog of his review.

The general reaction I am hearing here is that during the business/discernment session the denominational leaders did not properly address the questions asked. There were several clarifying questions raised during the session. The delegates felt that most of the panel who answered the questions did not provide the needed insight into the “why” or “how” behind the changes. Having read the changes proposed, I felt that the new bylaws were slightly confusing. One delegate suggested that these changes should have been shared and given out in a printed document form two years ago at the Washington D.C. biennial. This year, the changes were available in PDF form on the ABC website. It would have been more effective to pass the document out two years ago and let the local churches, regions, and committees discuss the changes. Now, delegates say they are left with feeling that the denominational leaders did not provide the necessary explanation to the delegates.

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Mission Crisis Update

Day two of the Biennial was very productive. The second day begun again with Leonard Sweet, but this time he spoke about how Jews prayed (and still do) the psalms. He sought to bring to light the nature of Jesus’ words on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Of course, as most Bible students know, these are words from Psalm 22. Psalm 22 begins will sad words, but ends with a glorified understand standing of God’s power. In the ancient world, when you began a song most people would know the entire song. Today, if you sing “Amazing grace how…” most people could finish that first line because they know the song. Most Baptists will not understand the nature of a psalter, which many Christians sing on a regular basis in worship, because Baptists threw out any ritual that resembled Anglo-Catholic faith. I have learned the value and beauty of singing the Psalms as they were intended at the United Methodist congregation I served at for 2.5 years.

At lunch time, I attend the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board lunch. MMBB always does a great job of making an event nice. The MMBB money is well spent… err, I mean managed. Seriously, MMBB is one of the best retirement organizations for a denomination out there. MMBB’s performance usually beats the major indexes. I sat next to some International Mission people from the ABC and got the low down on the missionary situation.

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Biennial Day One: Be Epic

sfs_sweetlen_intro[1] The first day of the American Baptist Churches Biennial in Pasadena, CA began Thursday. The major events of the day were special General Board events and other smaller group meetings. The biennial was still coming together yesterday as vendors and workers set up rooms and displays. I continue to discuss the “Missionary Situation” with many of my friends, colleagues, and other ABC attendees. In addition, I learned that one of bloggers on my blogroll, Tripp, who is a pastor of an ABC church in Chicago area, is here. I was able to be in contact with Tripp. The wonders of the globally connected world.

Day one of the Biennial, which was mainly pre-biennial events, primarily consisted of Leonard Sweet’s speaking session (over 3 hours) in which he contrasted the old world vs. the new. His phase for this contrast is the Gutenberg world (pre-1973) and the Google world (post 1973). He picks 1973 as a point of division because that is the year the internet was invented. Sweet contends that we as churches and pastors must understand that we are the google world. The google world is a world of Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and the internet. The google world is a world of information in the form of images. The Gutenberg world is a world of texts and books.

Sweet related this concept to how churches must understand the world is changing and we must adapt. The most striking connection he made with this concept was to worship. He did not advocate for contemporary worship or innovative worship, but rather whatever worship a churches does it must be epic. He spoke of his congregation and how it was full of 20 and 30 year olds worshipping in high-high liturgical worship. He encouraged the attendees to see worship as God centered, but to think about how culture is highly image based.

Great stuff here. More to come,

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Missionary Crisis?

I just arrived in Pasadena, CA for the American Baptist Churches Biennial. Every year, the ABC gathers as a national body to address important concerns, vote on pressing issues, worship, learn, and celebrate. This will be my fourth ABC biennial that I have had the honor of attending. This year’s location is fantastic.

Before I left, I heard numerous comments about a very concerning situation involving American Baptist missionaries. It seems that that American Baptist missionaries will now be responsible for seeking to secure the majority of their funding sooner rather than later. As I understand it, in the past, missionaries were not required to raise the majority of their financial support. Now, due to a variety of reasons, ABC missionaries will now have the burden of asking churches for more money. These reasons include lower support for missionary giving and lower returns in investments that support missions.

ABC of Ohio has made an appeal to their churches about it. The letter can be read here.

Missionaries should not have to spend their time lobbying individuals, churches, and non-profits to support themselves. One of the reasons for being a part of a denomination is to have the national body do some of this administrative/financial work. I can understand the need to have missionaries to be responsible for part of their funding (say 10%-20%), but the majority? Many of these missionaries have families and cannot raise enough money to support a family of four for a year or two.

If all this is true, this presents a crisis for our ABC missionaries. More to be updated later. I am sure that I will learn more from the denominational reps at the biennial.

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