Tonight's session was not very exciting, probably the highlight was when "Mr. Resolution" Wiley somebody was nominated for 2nd vice-president of the SBC. He is known for bringing multiple resolution and making multiple motions, most that are not passed. He was up against Dr. Roy Fish from, I believe, Southwestern Seminary. You can probably guess who won.
So, instead of rehashing boring business events, I wanted to comment on the Young Leader's Summit. I have had some time to think and read what others thought about it. I do believe in the movement and I feel that this summit was a great idea, but I see something a couple of things in our younger guys that are huge problems.
1. I see a problem with the attitude in our younger guys, we have this "they owe me" attitude. This is very dangerous. These men in leadership are there because they worked to get there. They served on the crappy committees and paid their dues. We can not walk into the convention and demand to be put in places of higher leadership without first starting at the bottom. We have to earn the right to be heard, with that said the older men are starting to recognize that they need to listen to us and get us involved; the great thing is that they want us involved.
2. This leads me to the next point, since they want us involved why are we not getting involved. We have wanted so long to have a voice and now we have the oppurtunity to have one or do we only want a voice if we are in the higher positions of the convention? As I look around the convention hall I see mostly older men, I wonder where are even the men in there 30's and 40's. I saw one of the most respected SBC leaders in his 40's leave the convention after he spoke, not sticking around for the entire convention. I don't know what he is doing, he may have a legitimate reason for leaving, but I see a trend with some of these 30-40 year olds, they only want to be involved if they are speaking or on an important committee. We need to step up and be involved. Younger leaders need to first come to the convention and they need to be apart of the committees, even the bottom level of committees.
The most discouraging moment of the YL Summit came when Jeff Harris said, "I don't want to be on a committee or a board, that is not me" (not exact quote). It seems that these guys ask and ask for things from the SBC, but they don't want to pay the price. Yes, the SBC needs to work with us, but are we willing to work with the SBC?
Soon you should be able to see or hear the Summit at this link
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Bryan, you can't say that YL's have a "they owe me" attitude and then say they don't want to serve on committees. Either we want something or we don't.
I don't think many or most YL's have a "they owe me" attitude. What are you basing that on? Where did you get that out of the meeting? The meeting was really about being missional. It wasn't about positions or power or being owed something.
Second, Jeff isn't saying he isn't willing to serve (if I get him right and I think I do), he is showing that this isn't about him or us wanting power. He asked for leadership and vision, not from a young leader but any leader.
I think you have fundamentally misunderstood most younger leaders, though I'm sure you speak for some.
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