Statement regarding Iranian Attacks on Israel

Sunday, April 14, 2024

RE: Iranian Attacks on Israel

I had been taking some time to unplug. I don’t just mean stepping back from social media—I mean taking a big step away from all kinds of media, putting away the phone, and clearing out space to listen in stillness. When asked Saturday night if I wanted to make any sort of a statement about the events in the Middle East, I had to ask, “What events in the Middle East?”

I want not to think about war. I want not to know about a 66-year-old retired schoolteacher who was murdered in Kfar Aza on October 7. But unplugging the phone and ignoring the world doesn’t make the violence of our world any less real. War may be real and unavoidable, but Jesus gives a greater peace.

At our most recent meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention stopped to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. October 7 had not yet happened. Iran was at the time pursuing their aggression against Israel in more subtle ways than they did on this weekend’s sabbath. Southern Baptists stopped to pray for Israel just because Israel is in constant need of prayers for peace.

So, to those who suffer from Iranian violence and oppression through their proxy warriors in Hamas and Hezbollah, please understand this. Southern Baptists are praying for you. Southern Baptists are on your side. Southern Baptists support the defeat of these terrorists and the establishment of a just and lasting peace in Israel. If you are worried that we who live far away from the conflict have stopped paying attention and have forgotten about you, I can assure you that we have not.

The sacred writings we share in common with the Jewish people give us the words of a Jewish leader who lived through war and came out singing on the other side. I close with some of the words he wrote in Psalm 27.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,
My adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
Though war rise against me, yet I will be confident.

One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter on the day of trouble;
He will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me,
And I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

A Mistake I Made in New Orleans

I am writing to inform you of a mistake I made while presiding over the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans last year.

In the Tuesday morning session, at the first opportunity to introduce new motions, Keith Myer moved "that the Organization Manual of the Southern Baptist Convention be amended to add the ministry assignment for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to assist churches and other Southern Baptist entities by promoting awareness of and resourcing the prevention of and response to abuse." In the Tuesday afternoon session, Spence Shelton from the Committee on Order of Business recommended to refer the motion. The Convention passed the motion to refer.

But something went awry. I made a mistake.

Spence moved that the motion "be referred to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the Executive Committee for consideration and report back to the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention." But when I stated the motion at its disposition, I declared that the motion was referred to the ERLC. I failed to hear that it was also being referred to the Executive Committee. I failed to state that the motion was being referred to the Executive Committee. I misheard, misunderstood, and misstated the motion.

Weeks later, when Phillip Robertson asked me about how the Executive Committee should prepare for the motion, I informed him that Keith's motion was referred to the ERLC, not to the Executive Committee. Just to make sure, I went online to Acts 2, scanned forward to the motion, and listened to what I had said. Yes. ERLC. No need for the Executive Committee to do anything.

Weeks later still, Recording Secretary Nathan Finn released the 2023 SBC Annual. Keith had reached out to Phillip to ask about addressing the appropriate EC subcommittee about his motion. Because the Annual had been printed, I told Phillip that he could show Keith in the SBC Annual that the motion had not been referred to the EC.

Then I looked at the Annual, myself.

Nathan had gone back to the recording and had listened to Spence's statement of the motion. He printed what Spence had said, which was what the Committee on Order of Business had voted to recommend.

The presiding officer's restatement of the motion IS the motion according to Parliamentary Procedure. But the SBC Annual is the official record of the Annual Meeting. These two sources say two conflicting things.

So, I have apologized to Keith, and I now apologize to all Southern Baptists for the mistake that I made. The mistake does not kill the motion at all. It was successfully referred to the ERLC. It will be reported back to the Convention's messengers in 2024 in Indianapolis. The Executive Committee, acting on my advice, has not including the motion in its agenda for next week, but the EC still meets again in June.

This is the part of the job I wanted to do so well. I'm very embarrassed to have made a mistake like this. I'm sorry.