Why I Am Still A Baptist

In the latest newsletter of the Baptist Heritage Counsel of Georgia, Bill Wilson contributed an essay entitled, Why I am still a Baptist. Bill Wilson serves as the pastor of First Baptist Church, Dalton, Georgia.

Below is the portion of his article which I found most interesting...

Second, as grateful as I feel for our past, I must tell you I am concerned about where we are today.

The plateau we find ourselves on, the waning energy I sense around the moderate world, the concretization of institutions and methodologies, the devotion to vehicles over vision has me worried. Too many of us have "married" our young institutions and organizations, to the detriment of being able to envision a new and more expansive future. I believe it is time for us to refocus our attention on vision and give less of our attention to vehicles.

While the vision of a positive, authentically Baptist alternative to fundamentalism is alive and well, I do not believe we have fully arrived at what God intends us to be or do as we enter the 21st century. It is quite possible that the best vehicle for carrying us down the road of being authentic Baptist has not been created yet.

I recognize many think that feeling this way and saying this aloud is akin to disloyalty to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, but I say this as one who is committed to and grateful for the ministry of CBF. I believe the future vehicle for moderate Baptist life is yet to be revealed and that if it is to be a viable future, we must be pliable and flexible with regard to structures and organizations.

I believe CBF will play a key role in whatever that network or organization is, but that "IT" is still in the incubation stage...and probably always will be. I hope and pray that we will be willing to see ourselves as a forerunner of what could be, rather than a finished product...even willing to diminish ourselves if something greater emerges. that takes a level of maturity and a big-picture approach thinking that is lacking too often among us. My concern is that we simply continue to do what we are doing and that our impact wanes and our plateaued status turns into one of retreat. Some of us have not given up on the idea of a growing,expanding, broadeing moderate Baptist/Christian movement in America and beyond.

What is IT? If not the CBF, then what? A merger of sorts with ??

It's okay to criticize, but Wilson could have elaborated on his own vision and what this future "vehicle" might be....