NBC Report

[KeithE]

[Lamar Wadsworth]

Clinton's comments on I Cor 13:12 remind me of a great quote from the late J. D. Grey: "I have no quarrel with those who believe that scripture is inerrant. I do beg to differ with those who think that they are inerrant."

[David Flick]

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

Speaking of fixing it so that this thread shows up in two forums, how about putting all of the threads from this forum* in the BF&P forum so that when this forum* is closed down (it was billed as "temporary") they don't go away. Some of this stuff is both more important and more pertinent than a lot of what gets eternalized on BF&P, I think.

Haruo

*"this forum" = the NBCC forum; if you are reading this in the BF&P forum this may help

[Cathy]

Even though I was rolling around all alone at the NBC I really enjoyed it and would go again. Next time I will consider getting a couple of my girls to join me. I called my 18 year old a couple of times to tell her about what was going on and how great it was.

I was very impressed with the first Plenary session I made it to Thursday morning with Tony Campolo and Marion Wright-Edleman. I had heard Campolo on some podcasts. He really keeps you tuned in. M W-E was very good and I plan on transcribing her Poem/Prayer to use sometime. (Is there already a transcript?) From where I sat there was a good mix of ages and I was pleased with that as well as the ethnic mix.

I walked into the Al Gore lunch and there was a fellow church member and her husband. We had already figured out that we had a lot of the same leanings (in church polity class) so although I didn't expect to see her I was delighted and there was one and only one empty seat at that table right next to her. Empty seat no more. Should have exchanged cellphone numbers so we could meet up again.

I went to sessions on Healthcare and public policy. They were good. The public policy a bit better than healthcare, but it was not pitched to physicians. I think one of the speakers in public policy was a republican!! I think I have seen him on TV before. Public policy was well planned and good presentations from all. A Canadian woman there was quite bright. Faith and public policy in her case I believe was an academic pursuit as well as vocational.

I noted that the sessions seemed to have mixed ethnic and gender presenters for the most part. All audiences had a mix as well.

The evening session was great and the spirit of the entire day was wonderful. What an honor to have John Grisham there and I was very impressed with what he had to say. It mirrored the frustration of many Baptists in the South. I went back to the hotel and listened to Shaw from the night before, Wow!!

I made the mistake of signing on the the VPN and doing a bit of work on Friday morning so was late to the session. I watched the videos later. Went to the Gore Film but since it was just an out of date version of the previous day I could probably have used my time more wisely. "Poverty" was already in session when I got out.

Friday at lunch I sat down at the table with a CNN worker and later was joined by a woman I knew who had left our church and gone to another. She had a friend there and others joined us including a man that went to seminary with my father and knew him and some of his old friends. At dinner I sat down with a local sitting alone again and then was joined by a couple of women from a Georgia mid size city FBC church. They told an interesting story of their pastor sort of gingerly broaching the subject of the meeting and indicating that they should not believe everything they hear about the political nature of the gathering and that he would be going with an open mind. Immediately a woman in the church that was very missions oriented endorsed the meetings purpose and said that they should very definitely be supporting the meeting. That church had a group of about 14 there she said. She was sharing a room with another woman who asked me about my Georgia roots. We are cousins!!! Both descendants of Angus McCurry through his son John McCurry and are a bit more distantly related through the Herndons. So I guess you are never alone in a Baptist meeting in GA.

Friday night.....Wonderful. Not much more that I could say that hasn't been said about the sermon and messages. Of course, when Clinton wandered into the SBC history I thought to myself I don't think he is suppose to go there. Again I will say that for some of us in the South that still belong to churches in the BGCT that have not entirely broken from the SBC there is a lack of identity that sometimes requires a bit of reflection to flesh out who we are and where to go from here. I think it was definitely a healing thing for me to hear.

The music Friday night was spectacular. The childrens choir, congregational singing, special music adult choir, saxophone (do I have the service time off on this?), Morehouse Glee Club (I almost wish Clinton was a little later arriving than he was). I sat between two preachers wives sitting with their husbands. they were both great and at least one of the husbands was a very hardy singer. It was a wonderful spirit filled service that I will not forget.

I listened to a couple of the speakers I missed during the evening and have watched a couple more videos here in Athens. I continue to be extremely hopeful and prayerful that much will come from this meeting. I hope to retire in less than two years. I put my MD and position on the session sign ins and would be pleased to be able to offer my services (just occasionally able to work at a church sponsored clinic now).

Could we get the scripture passages that were read added to the schedules on line? If they were in our published schedule I failed to get home with it. And I would like to have the names of the songs with the info on those.

Don't think I mentioned how fascinating and inspiring I though Satchers story was. Wish I could have met his Mama. Just so much more than you can tell without the schedule in front of you and probably could not do it justice then.

Ed, thanks for the rent car advice. I cancelled the airport rent car took Marta in to the hotel and got a rent car at a better rate off the airport on Saturday. Marta was two blocks away and I will just ride Marta to the airport from there.

[Neil Heath]

It was great to meet some more of the BL family this past week, but I see in reading these forum posts that I missed many more who were there. I was a commuter, coming in from Macon on Wed. and Friday just for the afternoon and evening sessions...sort of. I left before Carter and Clinton spoke, knowing I could catch them online later. I wanted to get home earlier than midnight.

It was a wonderful event to be a part of, and I was inspired and affirmed by the time I spent there. How nice to be a part of a meeting where fellowship and worship and information were the focus rather than voting on divisive issues! I hope it does lead to further meetings and joint projects of all kinds as we each share our gifts and expertise within the body to do more together than we could separately, even as denominational entities. I think the kingdom of God will be impacted positively as a result of what has begun. If it continues, and I think it will, we may be quite surprised at the forms it takes. Never underestimate the creative power of the Spirit.

I saw several former Ga. Baptist employees like myself, all enjoying the freedom to attend such a meeting. I know there were others who gladly joined us in spirit and wished to be there. But I also know there are Baptists in Ga. who never knew the NBC meeting happened, including some moderate friends who are still in the SBC fold and don't make the effort to stay connected and informed. How sad. I grieve for those I consider to be in bondage today, even as we celebrate anew the wonderful freedom in Christ that simply cannot and will not be constrained by human words or deeds!

Neil