Atlanta meeting, 2017

[Neil Heath]

Thought this might be an easy way to keep track of who's where at the CBF National Assembly in Atlanta this week.

I'm headed to Atlanta on Wed. morning. We'll be working Hospitality from 11:30 - 2:00 that day, then we're free. We'll attend several of the meal-related events, and hang around the exhibit hall, I'm sure. Anne is more interested in the actual programs and main events than I am. I just go to see all my friends and catch up with them. Looking forward to seeing Keith, and Ed and Trudy there. Anyone else?

[Dave Roberts]

I'm sorry not to be there. Am still in cardiac rehab here, but have a great time.

[KeithE]

Stop by there briefly and looked for Neal and the Petibones but could not find them. Did briefly talk with Bruce. Drove back to Huntsville tonight. I guess the Resource Fair did not start until tomorrow.

Had a good time golfing but my son beat me by 3 strokes. Guess I'm getting old.

[Stephen Fox]

My heart was there and I called widely to catch a ride from Cartersville Ga or exit 191 on 20 in Heflin Alabama but logistics did not break my way. I was focused on Thursday to catch the New Covenant luncheon and some breakouts. Shoulda called Keith, but I think he was there for the Weds session. Thursday seems to be the biggest bang for the buck.

Plus I have a relative who monitors this board and texts me incessantly. Didn't want to say anything that would come to that persons attention to avoid the annoyance.

I really wanted to go for the fellowship. Contacted churches in Rome and our friend Lamar Wadsworth of Heritage in Cartersville.

Could be my last chance for a national convo, so there was that as well.

Would appear the GA CBF could arrange for at least one church van on the four corners of Atlanta 40 miles out for folks who don't want to mess with downtown Atlanta, even if they charged five dollars per transient.

But they cant cover everything, it appears.

Somebody has to do the thinking somewhere and lot of focus on Illumination this year.

Guess just have to go with the fond memories with good many of the rest of yall at the Fish place in Atlanta in 2006. I really did enjoy that gathering Even Flick.

[KeithE]

My heart was there and I called widely to catch a ride from Cartersville Ga or exit 191 on 20 in Heflin Alabama but logistics did not break my way. I was focused on Thursday to catch the New Covenant luncheon and some breakouts. Shoulda called Keith, but I think he was there for the Weds session. Thursday seems to be the biggest bang for the buck.

Plus I have a relative who monitors this board and texts me incessantly. Didn't want to say anything that would come to that persons attention to avoid the annoyance.

I really wanted to go for the fellowship. Contacted churches in Rome and our friend Lamar Wadsworth of Heritage in Cartersville.

Could be my last chance for a national convo, so there was that as well.

Would appear the GA CBF could arrange for at least one church van on the four corners of Atlanta 40 miles out for folks who don't want to mess with downtown Atlanta, even if they charged five dollars per transient.

But they cant cover everything, it appears.

Somebody has to do the thinking somewhere and lot of focus on Illumination this year.

Guess just have to go with the fond memories with good many of the rest of yall at the Fish place in Atlanta in 2006. I really did enjoy that gathering Even Flick.

Sorry if I had known you wanted to ride there I could have met somewhere Tuesday night or Wed, but my son had to be back by Thursday morning.

If you ever want to get together let me know (256) 656-1328.

[JE Pettibone]

We are back in Portland, left Atlanta at 9:00 A.M. Arrived PDX at 11:10 A.M. Sorry to have missed this mornings Business meeting. More about CBF the meeting latter

Took a train in from the airport. Stopped by the Portland Convention Center and And picked up our registration packages for the ABC Biennial. Had a quick lunch there, before we came back to the Coach here in Jentzan Beach via city bus. Picked up a months worth of mail forwarded by Trudy's brother in Florida. Worked on responding to that which needed a quick reply.Will be back to the center by 7:00 PM.,
Probably will not be back on line until Sunday. I know at least 4 others who where at the CBF Assembly who will be here in Portland.

[Haruo]

We were late getting to Portland, got to the Convention Center about 7 pm, so we missed our Asian Caucus Dinner. We'll be at the ABSW breakfast in the morning. Looking forward to seeing Ed & Trudy, and anybody else who is around.

[JE Pettibone]

Opening business session, Worship service and, Celebration of welcoming for the New General Secretary of ABC/USA( Lee Spitzer where full of life and excitement.

Public transportation in Portland does not live up to it promotional material. I will say the Light rail is more reliable than the buses.

I have to get to bed, been up 23 hours , Well I did snooze off and on during the 4 hour 15 min flight from Atlanta. I will be up by seven, don't know if Trudy will make it before noon. But she is scheduled to usher tomorrow evening.

[Neil Heath]

We had a good time at the CBF meeting. One of the first people I saw was Ed P, saw Trudy later. We passed in the halls several times. Saw Joseph Villines and his son, John Francis, at one of the meals. Sorry I missed seeing Keith, too. We had hoped to see several other old friends there who weren't able to come.

All the sessions were good. We really enjoyed music from the artist in residence, Joseph M. Martin. He is an amazing pianist. I have sung a number of his anthems in choir.

We left Friday afternoon instead of attending the final evening session. As always, it was good to be home.

Next year's meeting is in Dallas, then Birmingham, then Washington DC, if my info is correct. Looks like the 3 year rotation with TX, NC, and GA is ending. We probably won't make it to Texas, so I hope to see you all in 2 years!

[JE Pettibone]

Opening business session, Worship service and, Celebration of welcoming for the New General Secretary of ABC/USA( Lee Spitzer where full of life and excitement.

Public transportation in Portland does not live up to it promotional material. I will say the Light rail is more reliable than the buses.

I have to get to bed, been up 23 hours , Well I did snooze off and on during the 4 hour 15 min flight from Atlanta. I will be up by seven, don't know if Trudy will make it before noon. But she is scheduled to usher tomorrow evening.

[Haruo]

We had a fine time yesterday having lunch with the Pettibones at Milos' City Cafe, recommended by my Portland-resident brother Graham. We were tired enough we thought we'd better not try for the Sunday evening worship, so we left mid-afternoon to drive home. Not being a fan of freeway driving, especially congested freeway driving, I suggested we take the back road from Battle Ground through Cougar to Randle and Morton. Wonderfully scenic and all, but after we left Cougar we saw a sign saying FS road #25 (which we purposed to take) was blocked due to snow. Further up (about the high end of Swift Reservoir) we saw a second such sign, and decided they really meant it, so we turned around and went back through Woodland to I-5. As a result we got home shortly after midnight. Slept in (Mrs. H. is still sleeping, I need to go get her up.)

The Sunday morning worship service had a new (to me) text for HYMN TO JOY, I need to find it. Should have taken notes. But no credits were given.

Good sermon by Dr. Spitzer.

So ABC is modelling diversity bigtime now: we have a Puerto Rican President and a(n ethnically) Jewish General Secretary.

Evergreen was very well represented at the meeting. It was almost like being home.

[Sandy]

I didn't see much commentary on the content of the CBF gathering. Just curious. Anyone have insights as to where this might be headed?

https://baptistnews.com/article/lgbtq-c ... XjDTGnyvcs

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: I have an Idea that CBF will continue into the future as it has for the past twenty five years, as a missions/service organization dedicated to meeting the needs of individuals and churches as much as the financial support of interested parties will permit.

[William Thornton]

Not my organization. Not my money. But where the cbf has been headed for 15 years is smaller, less financially stable. The big study group had more fuzzy speech than any similar group I've seen Ina long time. I would expect that the national organization would go the way of Gushee.

If any longer term result of the SBCCR was unforeseen it would be that the 40% or so minority would start so grand and decline as they have.

[JE Pettibone]

Not my organization. Not my money. But where the cbf has been headed for 15 years is smaller, less financially stable. The big study group had more fuzzy speech than any similar group I've seen Ina long time. I would expect that the national organization would go the way of Gushee.

If any longer term result of the SBCCR was unforeseen it would be that the 40% or so minority would start so grand and decline as they have.

Ed: William to me it looks like you are judging CBF by the standards of a "denomination" that has long errantly viewed CBF' as a competitor.

Empire building has never been a CBF goal. It may be that some of us over estimated the numbers of folk who dreaded the expending control of by the power hungry ultraconservative/Fundamentalist coalition that took over the SBC Seminaries and agencies. Our dread seems to have been justified when looking at the declining SBC statistics over the past 2 decades.

[Sandy]

Additional changes to the CBF staff in Decatur include the outsourcing of services to reduce fixed costs, including human resources, information technology, marketing and events. Changes include the elimination of two senior-level positions on the CBF Leadership Team: Coordinator of Organizational Relationships, Bo Prosser, and Associate Coordinator of Projects and Services, Ron Fairley. Prosser, who joined the CBF staff in 2002 as Coordinator for Congregational Life and shifted into the role of Coordinator of Organizational Relationships, will continue to serve in a part-time capacity as leader of CBF’s Ministerial Excellence Initiative and as a coach and consultant to CBF’s church renewal initiative called Dawnings.

Somewhat understated. This is characteristic of what I've read coming from CBF for the better part of the last decade, now. The executive director called it "retooling and right-sizing." Most discussions here after CBF General Assemblies have involved how much budget got cut, and some sort of "restructuring" and reorganizing the staff, ostensibly for more effective operation, but always producing a cut in the amount of money required to run the operation, and even with budget cuts, a shortfall in contributions.

Yes, this is a common occurrence in multiple denominations these days, including virtually all of the conservative evangelical ones. So its not just CBF, and in all fairness, they formed and came along at a time when the paradigms of church were shifting, and a post-denominational period had already taken root. For a while, it seemed that might be to CBF's advantage, but it still looks too much like the denomination it came from to make much impression on the nondenom folks who are really not looking for a new way to be Baptist, they are looking for a way to be Christian without the denominational label and baggage. But really, they''re not looking for that, either, since most of them find something besides church and faith to meet their needs.

CBF has developed some programs that seem pretty on target when it comes to ministry, and of course, they've carried over a very strong missions emphasis from their background in the SBC. But the approach seems flawed. Time is invested re-organizing and re-structuring, and the programs are laid out and displayed a bit differently, with some changed, some remaining the same, but in spite of the changes in the rollout and layout, appeals to the constituency to give more aren't productive. The constituency gives less. This same thing is happening in the SBC, and in most other denominations, so there must be a common thread.

[William Thornton]

Ed, you're probably right and have certainly been consistent in this over the years.

I consider several CBFers my friends and am grateful for them.

[Stephen Fox]

I talked to some people in Ft Payne today at Chick Fil A who were in Atlanta for the CBF this year. When she said Baptist convention I immediately thought of Phoenix and said why would you want to go to that circus.

Then I had to back track.

I think we have a plan where Nurturing Faith will now be on the shelf of the magazine racks at the County Library in Ft. Payne.