My point for today is number nine on my “Contract with Southern Baptists” Here it is:

“I will seek to emphasize the importance of the small church in Southern Baptist life. More capable leaders from small churches should be considered for appointment to SBC Boards.”

I have seen many differing figures on the number of small churches in the Southern Baptist Convention but I am sure that over 80% of all Churches in the Convention have fewer than 100 in attendance on any given Sunday. This would mean that over 35,000 churches would fall into this category. These churches are a very important part of the success of our Baptist work over the years.

I am sorry that in the Convention during the last few years, there has been an over emphasis on the mega churches. Proof of this is seen in the fact that there has never been a small church pastor that has been elected as the President of the Convention. Of course there are many reasons for this, but I feel that many of our small church pastors are very capable servants of our Lord and they should have more involvement in the governance of the whole. If I am elected I will do all I can to recruit help from their ranks for appointment to our Boards and to serve on special committees. These men have in many cases sacrificed much to work in their churches and we should recognize their efforts.

When I was a professor at Golden Gate, I made a decision to become the pastor of one of these churches and to work to make it grow. I found this task to be very hard. I discovered that it is easier to start a new Church than to resurrect one from the grave.

After I made the commitment to help these churches, it was not long before I was called to be the pastor of the Snyder Lane Baptist Church in Rohnert Park, California. At one time it was running about 150 and owned a nice building with about 3 acres of land, but in the last years it decreased to only about ten who attended every Sunday. After being the pastor for two years we are running 40 in worship and have a Spanish mission with about 70 on Sundays and an Iranian mission with an average attendance of 30. I figure that we are reaching about 150 on any given week.

The last several years has given me a new appreciation for the work that small church pastors do. Almost every day there is another call that I need to answer. I must deal with such emergencies as a wayward child, a sick mother, a family argument, a death in the family, etc. These have to be dealt with and the small church pastor is the only one who can solve some of these problems. In today’s mega churches there are pastoral staff members that are trained to handle all these emergencies. I appreciate what they do, but the everyday hands-on experiences are necessary for us to really understand the average Southern Baptist Church.

I want to do everything I can to help these churches. The President of the convention is limited in what he can do, but he can use the “Bully Pulpit” to encourage the small churches, and also to let people be aware of the good work they are doing. If I am elected the small church will be a high priority.