NEW BAPTIST COVENANT

Last Wednesday through Friday evening I attended a convocation called “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant.” About 15,000 people gathered at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Though no longer a Baptist myself, I remain keenly interested in what this fellowship of faith does.

The meeting had historic import to bring together this many Baptists of African-American heritage with their Caucasian counterparts, as well as believers of other races. The 30 organizations allied in the meeting represented 20 million Baptists in North America. The theme of the celebration was based on the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18,19. Quoting the words of Isaiah, Jesus declared:

“The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The objectives of the “New Baptist Covenant” are to:

§ Create an authentic and prophetic Baptist voice for these complex times;

§ Emphasize traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality, and

§ Promote peace with justice, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and marginalized, welcome the strangers among us, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.

The plenary morning and evening sessions and the afternoon special interest sessions all developed the theme. I was greatly impressed and inspired by the presenters.

I myself appreciated most of all the prophetic preachers, especially the men and women of African-American heritage. Most of the media reporting focused on the big name speakers like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Grisham.

Music guests were unbelievable with their wide range of talents … praise worship bands, choirs, vocal soloists, keyboardists, violinists, and a saxophonist. A favorite for me was the Wardlaw Brothers, five guys from Vidalia, Georgia, singing a cappella.

For too long in recent times, Baptists of another stripe have dominated the news with their doctrinal bickering and pontifical self righteousness, while appearing to shut their eyes to a hurting world. I hope a new day has dawned for Baptists.

Click on www.newbaptistcelebration.org and even go to "videos" to hear some of the speakers.