In what was surely the longest annual meeting in recorded history, or so it seemed to me, longtime Alliance members and at least one Alliance Founder were caught catching some zzzz’s in the comfy chairs of the Park Road Baptist Church Narthex. I point this out only because I was extremely jealous that I did not get an opportunity to join their napping regimen.

“But we could hear you over the loudspeakers!” did not help this particular Alliance Founder’s case. Indeed, his only saving grace was the fact that he happens to be my former pastor and I love him too dearly to scold him.

What can I say about a four and a half hour business session that drove many to nap? Do not fear! I will not ask you to wade through a summary of the meeting! But I do want to say that despite the impossibly long agenda, you really did stay with me most of the time and, at the risk of being delusional; I did not get a sense of frustration on your part. We had a lot of important information to convey and you seemed eager to receive it.  With so much change confronting our organization, I was grateful for your attentiveness.

So we have a new leadership team and we’re shutting down the Washington office in June and we’re recommending changes to our Constitution and By-Laws. Is there anything that is NOT changing? Yes, there is at least one thing that has not changed yet and it might just be the very best thing about us; that is, we routinely engage in honest and respectful dialogue about thorny issues that require careful listening and prayerful discernment.  Despite our sometimes passionate responses, we are gentle with each other. I just love you guys for it.

So what is this “thorny issue” of which I write? Entitled A Statement on the Separation of Church and State As it Relates to Sanctioning of Marriages in the United States, this statement invites “all clergy affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists and its partner organizations to refrain from acting as an agent of the state by signing marriage licenses, at least as long as the same licensing is not available to same sex-couples, and, ideally, as a permanent practice.” 

It quickly became apparent among our merry little band that while some of our clergy had considered the dilemma of acting as an “agent of the state,” others were embracing the notion for the first time. So after much honest and respectful dialogue, we chose to refer the statement to a task group for further discussion and perhaps a proposal of how best to educate clergy on the issue(s). Members of this task group are Mandy England-Cole (Charlotte), Doug Donley (Minneapolis) Richard Groves, chair (Winston Salem), Liz Harris-Lamkin (Atlanta) and Holly Hollman (Washington, DC). They will report back to the membership at next year’s convocation.  

Those hardy souls who endured to the very end of the meeting heard Stan Hastey give his final “State of the Alliance” address which was a hopeful word for all of us. Surely, the seeds sown by Stan, Jeanette and a host of others have fallen on fertile soil. Will you help me water and weed, pinch and mulch so that the Alliance continues to bloom ever more brilliantly as a witness of God’s grace and goodness in a world that desperately needs these blossoms? Oh, if you need to take a short nap along the way in order to keep up your strength, I’ll help you scout out the comfy chairs.