ERLC Conference

[Sandy]

https://erlc.com/upcoming-events/2019-e ... conference

After years of poor leadership and time wasting, the ERLC is actually having a conference that is worthwhile. The list of speakers looks promising. I wouldn't be interested in hearing Ronnie Floyd or Brad Hambrick, but there are several others there, Beth Moore, Rachel Denhollander, J.D. Greear, Meagan Lively, that I would really like to hear. I hope this is recorded and made available, I'd buy it if it were.

[Sandy]

Due to coming down with a cold, I was able to watch parts of the Caring Well conference put on by the SBC's ERLC this past week. It was held in Dallas and attracted something over 1,000 participants on site and an unknown number online.

Having a conference has long been the means for promoting personalities and their ministries of those in the convention who are well connected and have campaigned and played politics to get to a position of influence and leadership, or to address something that some leader felt needed to be addressed from behind a podium since there's no real authority for the denomination to do anything. This took a different tone.

I don't think the slate of presenters was a very strong one considering the issue and the events that brought it to light. Those who have been critical of the lack of effort put forth by Southern Baptists with regard to abusive clergy and church leadership were kept at a distance. From what I've observed, several of those who did present didn't seem as if their presentation had limits put on it, though there are still some annoying deferences that keep popping up. I wasn't impressed by the fact that Boz Tchividjian, who seems to make the rounds of lots of "conferences", was in the line up so didn't watch his presentation. Reading a description of it later I am sorry I missed it. He pointed out that local church autonomy seems to be a convenient excuse behind which to hide when sexual abuse in the church comes up in the SBC but it wouldn't interfere with denominational efforts to punish churches for calling women, gays or lesbians to their pulpits. Baptist News Global did an excellent job on the coverage.

https://baptistnews.com/article/caring- ... Zt3XedKjuQ

[Haruo]

That was indeed a good article, and I'm surprised a Liberty U. professor would say some what he said.

[Sandy]

The recap of the conference is pretty good, too, along with the references within.
https://sbcvoices.com/caring-well-confe ... y-3-recap/

The interview by Russell Moore with Rachel Denhollander (there's a link to it in the article) is especially excellent. The SBC made a huge effort to claim to be saving the denomination from the slippery slope and all of that but some of the leaders to whom credit is given for steering the denomination back to right theology were involved in wrong activities that covered up abuse in order to cover their rear and keep publicity from flowing.