Nate Millican

Recently, I attended the MLK50 conference in Memphis, TN. I was happy to go and looked forward to learning more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as how the gospel informs and empowers us to be, as Tim Keller says, “just persons.”[1]That is, those changed by the gospel should be persons of justice, particularly in reference to racial issues. In God’s secret and gracious providence, and and unbeknownst to me, he wanted me to attend this conference where he would expose some serious deficiencies (read sin) in my heart.

Candidly, I was spiritually unprepared for much of what was shared, both in keynote addresses, breakouts, and short testimonials. When I say “spiritually unprepared,” I’m specifically referring to the nature of my heart. The heart is the place where our choices, intentions, and feelings come from. There were many times where I affirmed the speaker’s words with a hearty amen or looked to several friends and stated, “wow.” The “wow” was in regards to a statement that dripped with such gospel clarity and power that it was almost stunning. And yet, disappointingly, there were many times when irritation sprang from my heart and even, at times, dismissiveness.

Why did this happen? What was going on and, still goes on, within me? Let me share several reasons why I believe I reacted the way I did during the conference.

I failed to see the reality of spiritual warfare.

I failed to keep in mind the reality of Ephesians 6:12, where Paul writes, “for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rules, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” A good friend reminded me earlier this year that our struggle is not against one another but against a very real demonic presence and power that seeks to bring disunity, bitterness, and chaos. Spiritual warfare is alive and well. He wants to wage war on this front. We see this rooted in the truth of Genesis 3 where the root of enmity and relational and ethnic tension is found. We see it in the very next chapter where Cain murders Abel; the downfall of humanity failing to see one another as created in God’s image is frightening. Today, as image bearers fail to see the beauty and awesomeness of God’s image in one another in our racial distinction the same insidious scheme of the devil is palpable.

My irritation and dismissiveness were playing a part in giving “ground” to the devil, as I was choosing not to see the urgency and seriousness of the issue at hand. In doing so, I was not only failing to love my neighbor, but it necessarily meant that I was not loving God with the totality of my being. Love is always action-oriented; it is never passive.

1. Tim Keller, General Justice:  How God’s Grace Makes us Just (New York:  Dutton, 2010), 17

[Read more…] about Why I am not Moved by the Issue of Race as I Should

Denver, Colorado, is a cool city. What’s even cooler than the Broncos, Rockies, and a chill city-culture is the Kingdom work that is taking place in and around the city. We had the opportunity to connect with some church planters and pastors several weeks ago over lunch where we discussed some of the ins-and-outs of SBC life. It was an honest discussion. Several were encouraged about the direction of the SBC, in particular some of the recently filled positions of leadership and the commitment to engaging unengaged people groups and planting churches. Others felt disconnected and isolated from denominational life and to be honest, some were okay with this, while others wanted to be more involved.

One brother who recently planted a church and who also serves our military as a reservist wanted to know what steps and decisions are being made to be more mindful and sensitive to racial equality. We shared about some of the steps and decisions certain entities are intentionally taking to work towards being more ethnically diverse. He walked away encouraged. Communication was another subject that came up. One brother said, “We’d love to celebrate the wins in SBC life, but a lot of times we simply don’t know what’s going on.” Communication—yep, we can always do better in this department.

Overall, the tone of our time together was fruitful. Several brothers expressed gratitude to be able to engage with men such as Jon Akin (Director of Young Leader Engagement with the North American Mission Board) and Ashley Clayton (VP of Cooperative Program & Stewardship of the Executive Committee) – men who are committed to letting pastors and planters know that they’re not alone and we truly can do better together as we link arms. In fact, Nathan Lorick was in attendance too. Dr. Lorick serves as the new Executive Director for Colorado Baptists. He shared briefly at the end of our time together. His passion of working tirelessly for Colorado Baptists and making much of Jesus was not only apparent but contagious, too – it made us want to move to Colorado to be a part of the vision he’s casting!

All in all, we left encouraged for many reasons. One, we were able to meet and interact with almost 40 pastors and planters serving Jesus all across Colorado. Second, we had an honest, healthy discussion about ways in which we can improve. By God’s grace, may we (pastors, associations, state convention, and the national convention) never get to a place where we believe we’ve “arrived.”  Let’s seek to engage one another to put Jesus for the sake of others.

 

One of the prominent metaphors in Scripture is that of a body. The metaphor is an apt one, as it’s easy to understand that each and every part of the body has a part to play. For the body to work properly and to reach its maximum potential, there needs to be interdependence. Imagine the ear saying to the eye, “I don’t need you to see; I’ll do it all by myself!” Additionally, each of the parts (that make up the whole) must exude a robust commitment to interdependence; half-hearted or nonchalant fervor will not only undermine interdependence but at times it could even hurt the body.

Why the call to interdependence in our convention?

I’m not referring to the myriad roles comprised in the body such as seeing, hearing, or speaking, but I’m speaking to the purpose which God has given to His people, the church or the body of Christ. Namely, it is our task to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:18-20); it is our task to diligently work at the goal of presenting every man, woman, boy, and girl as complete or mature in Jesus (Colossians 1:28-29). It is our task to please Jesus in all that we do (2 Corinthians 5:9).

Craig Hamilton, in his book Wisdom in Leadership, writes, “We need each other. We can’t do it without each other…God has designed all kinds of people with all kinds of strengths, and he has designed us to work together. We need each other. I need you, and you need what I have. What you don’t need to be is an all-rounder.”

The beauty of the Cooperative Program is that we see the interdependence of the body on full display – from theological education, where we train and equip men and women for ministry; to recruitment, assessment, training, and the setting apart of missionaries, both domestic and international; to navigating through the ethical and cultural issues of our day, it is abundantly clear that as Southern Baptists we are indeed Better Together.

 

I live in the shadow of South Mountain in Phoenix, more specifically a suburb of Phoenix called Ahwatukee. Yeah, I know, Phoenix is easier to pronounce! South Mountain happens to be one of the largest municipal parks in the country with over 50 miles of hiking and biking trails. Consequently, I live in a very health-conscious culture. Among hiking and trail riding is the ever-popular sport of cycling; think spandex, helmets and long rides. Okay, maybe don’t think spandex!

In the church where I serve, there are dozens of men and women who cycle. They get up early and often litter the landscape of various roads all throughout the town where I live. In fact, there are signs everywhere indicating lanes specifically for cyclists. Some of these individuals will do rides as long as 100 miles – yes, 100 miles! Actually, most won’t even bother with going on a ride if it’s not at least 25 miles or so.  You might be thinking to yourself, “Any moment now he’s going to enlighten me as to how cycling is relevant to the Cooperative Program. This is the TalkCP website, so I’m assuming at some point he’s going to make the connection.” Great thought – here’s my humble attempt.

Though cycling can be an individual sport, I’ve rarely encountered individuals who ride by themselves. Instead, they coordinate rides with other like-minded individuals with similar physicality, experience and equipment.  On some occasions when a group of riders get together, some of the skill levels present are divergent enough that two groups of riders will form. One group may be just 2-3 miles per hour faster, which doesn’t sound like much, but on the road cycling mile after mile this makes a big difference. Sometimes there’s a rider in the second group that will think to themselves (rightly or wrongly) that they’d like to make the jump from one group to the next. As they muster the fortitude of will and pedal furiously to reach the second group, something happens: they’re suddenly not only having to exert more energy to make the transition to the next group, but they’ve also removed themselves from the benefits of drafting. What is drafting? Put simply, drafting is a phenomenon that takes place when a group of riders in a shared experience act as a whole, thereby reducing the energy needed to complete a ride. In fact, some cyclists say that drafting rides use up to 30% less energy than solo rides.

My point is a simple one. A cyclist by himself cannot do what a team of cyclists can do together. Being better together is not only a reality for cyclists, but it is also true for the cooperation and collaboration of churches all across North America. The parallel is a simple one, isn’t it? Imagine your church attempting to fully fund a missionary in Central Asia to reach Muslims. The financial burden would be great, and the burden would be compounded as you think through the pervasive lostness in Central Asia. Think through the financial responsibility and burden of sending young man after young man off to plant a church and embracing the role of a dad or mom where you “own” all of the expenses, rather than an uncle or aunt who stops by their niece or nephew’s dorm room to take them to a meal. But imagine the joy and impact of a myriad of men and women rallying together to equip, resource and fund a couple to go to Central Asia. [Read more…] about Better Together!