The past five years of turmoil surrounding the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee led to growing chatter about whether the entity had outlived its purpose, but the voices seem quieter with the recent installation of Jeff Iorg as the EC’s new leader.
In his first official report to Southern Baptist messengers as the EC president and CEO (June 11), Iorg not only outlined his vision but also shared how he plans to go about it. He included some of the finer details of what to expect when he addressed the EC board of trustees June 10 ahead of the SBC Annual Meeting.
In both presentations, Iorg’s straightforward approach to the matters at hand resonated with those in attendance, and he was met with exuberant applause.
“Someone has to manage the work of the convention the 363 days it’s not in session every year. We receive these responsibilities gladly,” Iorg said. “I’m glad to devote the next years of my life in helping to solve these problems … but I did not set aside retirement to manage Southern Baptist bureaucracy.”
Already working
Iorg, who shifted from a planned retirement out of the president’s seat at Gateway Seminary in California to the EC at the urging of others, has already been working behind the scenes in the run up to the annual meeting.
Pending litigation, navigating next steps related to abuse reform and helping the EC stabilize its financial footing are among urgent items facing Iorg.
He and the EC also have a new slate of motions coming from the annual meeting to address, and he plans to tackle each one — and all assignments — “with efficiency and effectiveness.”
“God is telling me we are here to facilitate the work of Southern Baptists … to manage and minimize the administrative processes,” Iorg shared. “We want to do our work quietly and efficiently so we can get on with the real work of winning more and more people to Jesus Christ.”
Priority of the gospel
In fact, Iorg told messengers he believes the greatest challenge facing Southern Baptists is maintaining mission discipline.
“The mission matters most, which affirms other things do matter but not as much as God’s eternal mission. To maintain mission discipline, we must first clarify God’s eternal mission and then choose leadership and convention actions that contribute to mission discipline,” he said, pointing to Ephesians 3:8.
“We must learn the spiritual discipline of not allowing the good to crowd out the best.
“We must learn to glance at certain issues while keeping our gaze fixed on God’s eternal mission. Our eternal mission is offering the gospel … to every person in the world,” Iorg explained. “Our most direct way of being involved in this mission is sharing the gospel with other people individually, personally and personably, every single person hearing the gospel that way.
“Why would we exchange our spiritual birthright of God’s eternal mission for a mess of convention or cultural pottage? Why would we allow anything else to substitute for God’s eternal mission?”
Iorg said one challenge to pursuing God’s mission comes from the common mission substitutes of:
- Political activism
- Social justice
- Convention reform
- Doctrinal conformity
“God’s eternal mission is not political, social or organizational. Our mission must not be either,” Iorg noted. “Our overarching eternal mission is introducing people to Jesus Christ and teaching them to live as His disciples.
“We must have the courage, every one of us, the courage to resist media pressure, social media attacks and agenda-driven advocates who are convinced we should devote ourselves to these priorities.
“While many things matter, God’s eternal mission matters most.”
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