by Sandy » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:14 pm
I saw a report somewhere in an article about the attendance, maybe in the Baptist Standard's coverage, that more than 1,000 people had logged on and watched the streaming coverage at some point. The day has arrived when filling a room, convention hall, or large church for a gathering such as this is no longer practical. If you want an event to have an impact, and get the message out, either stream it over the internet, or have a lot of sites set up where you can transmit it by satellite.
Personally, I must confess to not ever really having been all that interested in New Baptist Covenant, from the very start of it. The most interesting aspect of it for me has been observing the blending of the African-American Baptist groups into the mix. That's interesting largely because they tend to be much more conservative theologically than the caucasian Baptist groups that are involved, primarily CBF and ABC-USA, particularly regarding inerrancy, which they articulate and interpret in a manner common to the SBC's expression of it, and speaking in tongues, which, among Baptists, is almost uniquely practiced among African Americans.
Beyond "dialogue," and meetings which get Jimmy Carter behind the podium again, I don't see that this is accomplishing much. Having to make excuses about other events, and bad timing, for the poor attendance pretty much tells me that this movement, at least under Carter's leadership, is dead in the water. I'd at least have expected that in Atlanta, Jimmy and Rosalyn would have at least attracted a crowd that would have filled the modest-sized sanctuary at Second Ponce. But the outcome of this year's events glaringly points out that an overwhelming number of Baptists don't look to Carter as a spokesman, motivator, or leader of any kind, and aren't willing to invest much, even their time, in the New Baptist Covenant.