Ed: Mark gave these "reasons" as to why it would not be stupid for David to drive to B'ham for that regional celebration of the New Baptist covenant when there will also be a similar meeting in Oklahoma.
Here are several excellent (and some semi-TIC) reasons to come to B'ham during the New Baptist Covenant:
1. A chance to be somewhere besides Oklahoma
2. A chance to worship at 16th St. Baptist Church
3. A chance to be near the heart of Crimson Tide football
4. A chance to spend quality time with Fox
5. A chance to to do hands-on mission work with the heathen tribes of nearby Georgia
6. A chance to avail oneself of Alabama's world-renowned cultural, educational, and literary resources
7. A chance to eat some good catfish and barbeque
But my friend mark Consider this.
The New Baptist Covenant is not an event, it is a document encouraging Baptist of every stripe to find ways of working together.
1. The purpose of the regional meeting is; a. To get baptist of different stripes within a region together to learn about one another. b.To make it convenient for those who have limited resources of money and time to participate in events similar to the original celebration held last January/February in Atlanta. C. And in doing a & b to lay the groundwork for future collaborative work.
2. In my understanding of Baptist Polity, the building is not the church. Although the 16th street building is well known due to the bombing that killed three young ladies, the 16th st building is not sacred. The 16th street Baptist Church is the body of Baptized believers who meet regularly at that location. It is they, their parents and grand parents who where among the most visible leaders in the civil rights movement of the 60's and 70's, but they will tell you of other congregations in the city (not all Baptist) who worked shoulder to shoulder with them. I have no doubt that they will be wonderful host for the NBC regional celebration but I will suggest that if one wishes to to experience the Church that meets there, most any other Sunday would be a better time.
3. Hey Auburn sometimes plays in B'ham too. And of course B'ham is home to its own
University of Alabama [b]at Birmingham [/b].
4. Flick has had that privilege, I even took a picture with Flick's camera, of Fox and Flick together. It has been posted on these pages.
5. And that is why you made such effort to attend the Atlanta event in January ? And it is the SBC that does that "Cross over ---------" thing in the cities where they meet. I won't talk here about how they inflate those figures. Other than to say, they have met in Indianapolis three times in the past twenty years and I haven't seen any great impact there.
6. You are kidding aren't you?
7. Now Mark, if one wants REAL
great cat fish, I suggest they leave B'ham, drive past the true home of the TIDE at Tuscaloosa and go on over past Meridian Mississippi to the town of
Forest about half way between the state line and Jackson. And while B'ham does have some good Bar-B-Q Oklahoma does also. And if they didn't, there are a enough Texans involved in that Oklahoma NBC event I bet they could whip up a batch as good as any you have tasted. BTW my spell check recognizes Bar-B-Q but not barbeque.