S B C U P D AT E
J. D. Greear addresses the SBC Executive Committee during a 2019 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Image by Eric Brown
Presidential Reflections BY J. D. GREEAR
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obody saw 2020 coming, right? Just about every pastor in the SBC had just finished their “Vision 2020” series, feeling creative and unique with our play on terms, when COVID-19 locked our country down. I know I speak for many when I say it has been the hardest year of ministry I’ve ever experienced. The lockdown revealed a lot of things about our churches, and us, that were challenging. Many of us had to stop gathering altogether, at least in the ways we were used to. Many of us grieved over the deaths of church members, and we felt the strain on church unity. We understood the dangers of gathering, but we also understood the devastating effects of living in isolation. Then we had to cancel the SBC annual meeting, and I became the answer to a Baptist trivia
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question—what SBC president served three years but was only elected to two terms? Worst of all, we missed meeting together. Absent the fellowship we experience at the annual meeting, some of our disagreements got exaggerated. Southern Baptists—Great Commission Baptists—unify best when our focus is on our shared mission, united around our precious Gospel. As my predecessor, Steve Gaines, loves to say, “Baptists are like hunting dogs. When dogs are hunting, they work in harmony. But when they stop hunting, eat supper, and stare at each other, they start growling and fighting. When Baptists evangelize the lost, we work together. When we stop, we fight.” We also saw the Lord work in tremendous ways. We saw Great Commission work continuing and even thriving in our entities, and true revival
