Brad Whitt, in the Baptist Courier of (South Carolina) [republished in the March 19 Biblical Recorder and online], writes an honest assessment of being a young pastor and feeling irrelevant to the current trends of the (Southern Baptist Convention).

Simpsonville, where he pastors, is a growing suburb of Greenville and Spartanburg. He seems to have a growing church, and he knows from his lifetime of being a preacher’s kid how things have been.

I sympathize with him. I felt this way in 1969 as I returned from Houston to Bishopville, S.C., where I was in my first senior minister step up from two associate pastor positions at Easley and Hartsville, S.C.

He sees the dangers of the current trends and is still trying to cope with remaining Southern Baptist.

Good luck, buddy, I don’t think you will be happy in the future if you are not happy now. 

Some of us know what autonomy meant. We know how we got along despite our local differences and supported missions with joy. Now the situation is one of mistrust/not giving as we did to wider mission efforts/focusing so much on local church growth that little is left for much else.

Although long past my college days, I recently had the opportunity to attend the 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Seminary. The theme of the conference was “Conversing with the Culture.” Without a doubt, it was the most worthwhile Christian college event I have ever attended. I would now give anything if I could have attended a Christian college and had the opportunity to participate in such a program as this. Unfortunately, nothing close to this existed then. It also gave me great hope for our church and country to see so many young people eager to embrace the gospel, defend the gospel, and share it with the world. A word to pastors, youth ministers, parents, teachers, and BSU directors: Take it upon yourselves to recruit as many college and highly motivated high school students as you can to the 20/20 Conference next year at Southeastern. These youth are our future. The seminary administration and faculty pour their hearts and souls into making this annual conference a blessing for the students.