I've never been to an actual SBC annual meeting, so I can't really say with any certainty exactly how it works. Most of us know only what we see on TV: lots of people gathered in some large auditorium, singing, listening to speeches, debating resolutions, and so forth. It frankly looks a little like a Party Presidential Convention, sometimes complete even with addresses from politicians. President Bush has addressed the convention via videotape a couple of times, and a couple of years ago, Condoleeza Rice addressed in person.
As best I can tell though, the action on the floor is only the culmination of much behind the scenes work and back room wheeling and dealing. The SBC is a political animal, Christian or otherwise, and politics is a big part of what the annual convention is all about. The conservatives in the convention were known for years for having pre-convention meetings in hotel rooms to decide how they were going to nominate a presidential candidate, and last year some well known bloggers got together to get the now-infamous Garner Motion passed. For more on that, you can click on this link.
On the floor, there will be several things going on. Here's a partial list:
1) Presidential Election - I'll have more on that in a day or two.
2) Resolutions Debates and Votes - I blogged last week about one of those resolutions, the Resolution on Integrity in Church Membership.
3) Reports from Southern Baptist Entities - The presidents of all of the SBC's seminaries will tell us what is happening there, as well as the heads of SBC entities like the North American Missions Board, the International Mission Board, and Lifeway.
There will also be lots of preaching and praise and worship of the Lord. It should be an interesting couple of days. You can follow it all live on the SBC's web site - http://www.sbc.net/.
Coming up next - a look at the candidates for SBC president this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment