I am Proud to be a Southern Baptist

I am a Southern Baptist for several reasons:

1. I believe their interpretaion of the Holy Bible has led them to a statement of faith as close to perfection as sinful man has produced.


2. I believe the Cooperative Program is the most effective way to spread the Gospel to everyone (see Acts 1:8).


3. OK, so it's also the tradition I was brought up in. That doesn't mean, however, that I haven't seriously questioned and studied my faith as a tradition and come to my own conclusions regarding it's rightness and truthfulness.

On occasion, I'm not exactly proud to be a Southern Baptist. These would include anytime the late Jerry Falwell opened his mouth, when Bill Clinton (or Jimmy Carter for that matter) profess to be Southern Baptist) or when we as a denomination go off the deep end and do something as stupid and short-sighted as this.

Still there are other times when I am quite proud to be a Southern Baptist and an employee of Southern Baptist churches. Yesterday, I read an article in USA Today that made me very proud.

Among the 30 faith-based disaster relief agencies USA Today was able to track, the SBC is the largest. More than 175,000 Southern Baptists have taken off work and gone to New Orleans to work, sweat and help rebuild what has been called a notorius city of sin. The next largest group, Habitat for Humanity has only sent 71,000.

I'm proud that I'm a [small] part of something so big. Sure, it's only my money that's made it's way to New Orleans, but I have become certified as a Disaster Relief volunteer. Should the need arise, I now know how to make myself useful in a makeshift feeding trailer than can pump out 35,000 hot meals a day.

The point is this: I'm proud that we can focus on "the main thing" and quite literally feed Jesus' sheep, instead of constantly quibbling about nonsense.