The future of the SBC will be decided by the many decisions Southern Baptists will make now, said Dr. Al Mohler, President of the The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY. Mohler gave a lecture on the future of the SBC on Aug. 19 on the campus of Southern Seminary. 

Here's my synopsis of the decisions facing Southern Baptists according to Mohler. If the SBC will be relevant in the changing culture we must choose between:

* Having a bureaucratic or missiological logic.
* Our identity being tribal or theological.
* The basis of our work together to be confused or convictional.
* Our logic will be more secular or sectarian.
* We'll have to become younger or dead. We're losing 2/3 of our young people.
* We'll be more diverse (ethnically) or more diminished.
* We'll have to become more strategice or more anemic.
* We'll have to be more bold or more boring, saying the same thing, the same way with no surprises.
* We will be known for being happy or bitter. The SBC is known for crankiness on the floor of the annual convention. The crankiness is typically over non-essential, extraneous issues that detract from our mission.

For a much more thorough and accurate summary of Mohler's presentation see: http://desertchronicle.blogspot.com/2009/08/mohler-on-future-of-sbc.html.

I'm encouraged by Dr. Mohler's leadership about the future of the SBC. He obviously has given careful thought to the future of the SBC and is to be commended for his forward thinking for the cause of the gospel.