Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

Let me be very clear. I am a former Southern Baptist who attended Southwestern Seminary. When I was a young minister, fellow alum Rick Warren was a role model for pastors. He was not only a challenging teacher and preacher, but he was emerging as a successful church planter with Saddleback Community Church. It is now one of the largest congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

My respect for Warren as a pastor continues. I have a couple of his books on my bookshelf. Due to some family experiences, Warren has been a strong champion for Christians to address mental health issues. He championed evangelicals fighting AIDS overseas. In recent years, he led the Saddleback church to ordain three women as staff pastors. His successors in pastoring Saddleback will be a married couple with the wife recognized as “teaching pastor.”

Even so, Warren misses the boat on some key issues. As the recent meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention mulled over whether to withdraw fellowship from Saddleback because of its ordination of women, the veteran pastor showed up and took a microphone on the floor to exhort his fellow messengers in this way (as reported in press accounts): “Are we to keep bickering over secondary issues?” he said. “Or are we going to keep the main thing the main thing?”

Brother Warren, diversity, equity, and inclusion ARE the main things. Affirming the giftedness of all people, working for racial reconciliation, and protecting the vulnerable are at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are not peripheral concerns. The fact that Southern Baptists have not kept these at the forefront has contributed to its current problems.

Warren is a strong proponent of personal evangelism, but he has emphasized disciple development at Saddleback as well. The confession that “Jesus is Lord” is in the first step in the Christian life. There is a reason that early believers referred to the Jesus movement as “The Way.” The Christian life is a journey of walking with God, seeking God’s guidance, and sharing God’s love. This is the main thing—becoming the type of person who loves everyone as Christ did.

As I write these words, I remind myself of the danger of tunnel vision, failing to comprehend the full impact of following Christ. We are called not only to personal transformation but to share the coming Reign of God will all people by modeling His Way.

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