Thread by @natejbrooks

Interpreting the SBC Annual Convention for my presbyterian brothers and sisters: A 🧵. 1/

Unless you've had your head in the sand, it's no secret that the SBC Annual Meeting happened this week in Anaheim. Every year, there are countless hot takes and they're tough to sift through. I am the one voting faculty member @ReformTheoSem who is in the SBC. 2/

So if you're looking for a summary from some one who 1) Is winsomely reformed and 2) Was in the room when it happened, please give this thread a perusal. My goal here is to clear up confusion, and what better way to do that then offer a Q&A, WSC-style set of tweets. 3/

Q1: Did the SBC go liberal?
A: No. All 6 of our seminaries affirm inspiration and inerrancy. All 4 of our presidential candidates affirm inspiration and inerrancy, deity of Christ, biblical miracles, bodily resurrection, virgin birth. 4/

Those claiming we have gone "liberal" have a very different definition of "liberal" than theological liberalism. This new liberalism speaks more to how Christians engage with the world than anything else.5/

Q2: Did the SBC elect a "woke extremist" as president?
A: No. We elected a small-town pastor from Texas (Bart Barber). He ran on a platform of charity towards those we disagree with, supporting the sexual abuse task force, and that the SBC can be diverse yet unified. 5/

Even though I agreed more doctrinally with a different candidate, I voted for Bart Barber because "winsome" is as important as "reformed." The more reformed candidate has declared our convention to be slipping into apostasy, vilified those supporting abuse survivors, 6/

and sought close association with those who protected abusive pastors. Our convention voted 60/40 for Bart (@bartbarber) for a reason. Look through his feed and see if he seems like a "woke extremist." 7/

Q3: Did the SBC endorse female pastors?
A: Yes and No. Look, SBC polity is a mess. Unlike Presby denoms, we have all kinds of different governing structures (and I don't think that's healthy...but that would be a digression). 8/

Some churches have women who are titled "Pastor of Music," for instance. However, they are not elders. Indeed, those churches may have only one elder - the lead pastor. So what do you do? We're figuring that out. The issue is one of imprecise terminology, not of liberalism. 9/

And I say that as a thoroughgoing complementarian. And it's important to remember that Presby denoms like the EPC have ordained women without plunging into apostasy. We have two ordained EPC ministers at @RTSCharlotte. Again, not an issue of liberalism but of words. 10/

Q4: Did the SBC play abuse politics?
A: One significant charge was levied that some of our most longstanding abuse-survivor supporters ignored and mishandled the abuse of one of their most vocal critic's wife. The twists and turns and allegations in this situation are many. 11/

In sum, our convention decided to trust the testimony of those who have faithfully backed survivors for years rather than the calls for an independent investigation from a group who has consistently bullied survivors online, harassed our seminary leadership, 12/

identified with neo-confederates, insinuated that the SBC has gone apostate, and argued that women should not be allowed to receive MDiv degrees from our seminaries.

Is that playing politics? In a cynical world, we see politics everywhere. But I'm willing to trust decades of 13/

faithfulness, and so were the overwhelming bulk of our messengers. As our chief parliamentarian reminded us - the annual meeting is not twitter and it's not a personal blog. It's a place for the denomination to make decisions and we decided clearly how we wanted to handle it. 14/

Q5: Did the SBC endorse LGBT+ lifestyles?
A: No. We adopted a resolution declaring them sinful. The issue is that our legal counsel and investigative partners are national Pride-affirming entities. However, we employ Christian lawyers from that firm.

And we contracted Guideposts to investigate because of their expertise, not their stance on Pride. This is actually part of the Reformed approach to life - we may learn and be helped by those outside the faith. Neo-Fundamentalism demands absolute separation, which we rejected.15/

Q6: Did the SBC endorse abortion?
A: No. A growing vocal minority has adopted the "abolitionist" position instead of the "pro-life" position. Abolitionism rejects halfway measures like fetal pain bills for "normalizing" certain types of abortion 16/

and advocating for homicide charges for abortive mothers (without any reference made to fathers).

Most in our convention are traditional pro-life advocates, seeking to end the evil of abortion. There's no drift here. 17/

Q7: So you're saying this was a good convention:
A: Yes! This convention wasn't conservatism vs. liberalism. It was neo-fundamentalism vs. conservatism. Our convention affirmed that we want to purse racial reconciliation, support the lives of the unborn, 18/

be charitable to those who disagree. And most important, we passed the recommendations of the sexual abuse task force to begin addressing our denomination's cruel treatment of survivors over the last 2 decades. 19/

The work of @R_Denhollander, @toddbenkert, @ronniep, @BruceFrank1, @jdgreear, @DGrantGaines, and others has been outstanding. 20/

I'm walking away from this convention encouraged about the direction of the SBC - and I say that as someone thoroughly reformed, complementarian, and conservative. 21/

So friends, don't listen to the voices on the margins. The SBC is growing healthier, not sicker. We still have a ways to go. But you can know that SBC isn't a synonym for apostasy. It's a synonym for brothers and sisters in a different lane heading the same direction as you. End/