New Baptist Covenant site has been updated

[Ed Pettibone]

Ed: And here is one of the updates;

Urging that we - Covenant to Pray

As the word goes out that Baptists will be gathering in Atlanta January 30-February 1, God willing, to affirm a New Baptist Covenant it is clear that all that goes into the preparation for the meeting and all that happens in the meeting should be covered by prayer.

The theme of the meeting comes directly out of the pivotal words of Jesus as he is invited to read the Scripture in his home town synagogue. He could have chosen any text, but he chose Isaiah 61:1-2. He had come to the certain conviction that God had called him to be the messiah spoken of in Isaiah. So he reads: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….” After rolling up the scroll, he looked at them and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:21.

Baptists of North America
Pray with thanksgiving that we serve the God who loves us and the whole world enough to send his Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation and for the redemption of all who believe


Leaders of the New Baptist Covenant
Pray with thanksgiving for the work of the North American Baptist Fellowship and its leaders, especially President David Goatley, in helping to bring the New Baptist Covenant Celebration together.


Preparation for the New Baptist Covenant Celebration
Pray for our Baptist people across North America that they will sense God calling them to be present at the meeting

The Celebration Event
Pray that the Jesus theme will ring authentically and clearly in the hearts, first, and in the words of those who have been asked to speak or give leadership in all the sessions.


The Outcome of the Celebration
Pray that Baptists will go away from the [Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant] with practical and exciting ideas they can use in their own churches and small groups to put into practice the heart and work of our Lord in their homes and communities.

[Tim Dahl]

Man, I wish I could go.

However, I've been told that leaving my wife alone with a brand spankin' new 1 month old baby would be a bad idea. Fellow ministers assured me that there would be other opportunities to go to something like this... I sure hope so.

What do you think... bad idea?

Tim

[Haruo]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Dahl]

The little tike is due somewhere around Jan. 8, 2008.

Tim

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Dahl]

Ok, ok, ok...

You got me. The baby will be "around" a month old when the Celebration happens... Since it will be younger than a month, does that mean it's ok for me to go!!!


Tim

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Dahl]

Ed, you are to kind sir.

I've talked it over with my wife; and I'm staying home. After we got past the, "Are you crazy?" part, it was all good.

Be Well,

Tim

[Jerry_B]

[Haruo]

[Ed Pettibone]

[jerryl]

I continue to vacillate between Jerry_B's position and Haruo's. For my tastes, and money, there's too many politicians on the roister for speeches and too little detail about what else is going on. (And a lib saying this is playing right into Williams hands.)

Here what I understand at this point. We'll have speeches by:

Charles Adams
Tony Campolo
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Al Gore
Lindsey Graham
Chuck Grassley
Joel Gregory
Bill Moyers
Julie Pennington-Russell
William Shaw
Marian Wright Edelman

(The only person here I am not at least a bit familiar with is Charles Adams.)

Too heavily loaded with politicians IMHO.

and '16 special interest sessions'. And these will be about what, and they will be lead by whom in what format? For 20,000 people, I thought we could be talking about 100 special interest sessions.

And the website is confusing, what is the 'New Baptist Covenant'? Is it a meeting? Is it '...is an informal alliance of more than 30 racially, geographically, and theologically diverse Baptist organizations from throughout North America that claim more than 20 million members?'

I thought all the official participants were members of the North American Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. Doesn't that mean these groups aren't part of a 'informal alliance' but part of a rather formal one?


Then on the other hand we are talking about something that is a bit continuation of concurrent conventions of the three largest African-American bodies. After their history of splintering, maybe we should just be celebrating their cooperation. And there will be a lot of people from my background who will be surprised and confused that there are more than one group of 'National Baptists' not to mention the Progressives. And I'm sure that people from backgrounds different than myself have a hard time distinguishing between ABC-USA, CBF and those nasty AofBers. Maybe we do need something less structured and more about getting to know other folks and their organizations.

jerryl

[Ed Pettibone]

[jerryl]

[Ed Pettibone]

[jerryl]

[Jerry_B]

Many good things may very well come out of the New Baptist Covenant and I hope the trip to Atlanta is a good one for you, I just don't see it.

It is interesting that at a time when people are moving away from denominational structures that the NBC is trying to get people to attend something that looks a whole like an old fashioned denominational meeting. I guess old habits die hard.

Maybe I am being too pragmatic concerning the NBC, but the last thing in the world I want is to sit in another meeting listening to how we aren't doing enough to help people and how we should be more unified. I know that already I don't need to travel to Atlanta to hear it all over again.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Dahl]

Man, I wish I could be there.

I think it can turn out to be a wonderful event. Honestly, if not for this kind of thing; people like me wouldn't know who the other baptist groups are out there. It's great to be able to pick up a phone and call someone, but you have to know who you're calling. Again, I wish I could be there.

Be Well,

Tim Dahl

[jerryl]

[jerryl]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Jerry_B]

I asked the question "What is all the fuss about?" and nothing I have read or heard here has really answered that question. If you're excited about being present at a potentially historic meeting, knock yourself out, don't let me stop you. But I still want to know what the fuss is about.

Concerning what I am doing well since you asked
I pastor a church in very rural Texas (three services a week), I am going to visit a prison tomorrow, my wife is tutoring kids for free in addition to substituting at the school and finishing her Master's Degree online, leading the church to clean someones yard as a local mission project so they can avoid being fined, we gave out over $500 dollars worth of school supplies and serving within the local association. I am a Rotary member to help with the annual stock show and I will be in the school later next month to pass out Rotary dictionaries to the 3rd and 4th graders. And I am dad to greatest 3rd grader in all the world. Now that I think about it I don't have time to go to Atlanta and be at a potentially historic moment, I've got all the potential I need right here.

[Ed Pettibone]