If you had told me 3 years ago that I would be sitting, at Ronnie Floyd’s invitation, in his church listening to him, Johnny Hunt and Al Mohler talk about the SBC as being in decline and the need for us to deconstruct that which is complex and bulky to get to what is efficient in accomplishing God’s Mission – I would have thought you insane.

But there I sat, front and center, listening to them say some of the things I had been thinking for years.  Even taking some hits from some dude channelling the spirit of Roger Moran until interrupted and chastised by both Hunt and Floyd, being further corrected by Mohler.

How did I get here?  Am I dreaming?

Some will complain that these guys are just classic middle adopters, attempting to lead from the middle.  Others will say that they’ve offered nothing new.  I’ve heard others say they are simple politicians, finding the flow of the crowd and getting out in front.

Those things may be.  I can’t tell you, but you see, the thing about a middle adopter is, he’s adopted.

These guys seemed pretty genuine to me.  If not, time will tell.  The telling of their sincerity will be in Orlando and it is something for which they asked.  Judge us by Orlando.

Fair enough!

Before I quit blogging about the SBC, I said that if the statesmen of the SBC stood against the wall while I stood to the mic, then the SBC will fall away into decline and there would be no stopping it.

The big deal about the principles and ideas being put forth by the GCRTF is that those speaking are not on the fringe of power within the SBC, but they are the leaders and statesmen.

About time.  Well done.  Thank God.

Yep, I’m going.

I’m not sure if I’ll bother live blogging, but I might tweet.

If you are interested follow my twitter or the MissioScapes twitter feeds.

I’ll probably write a post event perspective for later in the week.

Interesting what this evangelical pastor has to say about the church’s involvement in the political process.  All three videos = just over 20 mins…

You may recall that Ray Boltz “came out of the closet” last year and openly confessed that he is living a homosexual lifestyle in Florida now.  You can read my article and the link to the Washington Blade magazine that carried the news in an interview with the singer:  Ray Boltz Confesses He Is Gay.

He’s just released a new single paralleling the desire of homosexuals’ to marry and the struggle to do so in America with the 1960′s era struggle of a white man’s struggle to marry a black woman detailed in the 1967 Supreme Court decision from the suit “Loving v. Virginia,” in which Chief Justice Warren wrote, “Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man, fundamental to our very existence and survival.”

You can read the lyrics, hear the song and read what Boltz has to say about it on his blog:  Ray Boltz Blog.

I’ve heard it several times predicted, and Ray seems to agree, that this issue will be the next great civil rights struggle in America.

*NOTE:  No bashing in the comments.

Interesting clash of ideologies among evangelicals.  I read one report where a man was calling for prayers for the new president to fail in his aspirations and agendas.

The opposite perspective among evangelicals is represented most famously by Donald Miller, who prayed during the Democratic National Convention and tends to represent a great number of younger evangelicals by most observations.

So…  You are called to pray for the leaders of our nation.  How do you pray for Barack Obama?

Side note:  what did you think of Rick Warren’s Inagural Prayer?

One of my great hopes for race relations in America is that there will be healing now that someone that is not a full blooded white dude has been elected.  The best case scenario is that minorities will feel that they are included in the leadership of America and that minority children will really believe the saying, “In America, you can be anything you want to be.”

Nevertheless, I have heard some skepticism on this issue.  That President Obama will not be able to meet the expectations put on him by minorities and frustration will grow.

Do you think that race relations will get better or worse in the next few years?

Why?

Can the church help?  If so, how?

I voted today.

If you haven’t, you should.

I am concerned about our process, though.  I walked up and just told the registrar my name, though I had my registration card and driver’s license in my hand.  I had seen several before me just say their names and he simply let them sign and vote.

No id required.

*sigh*

No wonder Indianapolis has 105% of its eligible population registered to vote.

My prediction is that Oklahoma will vote Republican and Barack Obama will receive the majority of the electoral college and become president elect.  That seems pretty clear to me, though I confess some anxiety over the issue.

What was not so certain is the two tax initiatives for citizens of the City of Tulsa.  A few months back, Tulsa wanted to develop its riverfront area in the fashion of suburb, Jenks.  The additional tax to fund the project was shot down by the voters, primarily because of the failure of the city leaders to maintain the infrastructure (mostly the streets) with the tax money it had already collected.

The cry went up and the vote came down.

So the leaders said they learned their lesson.  They came up with not one plan, but two, to fix our streets.  If one initiative passes, only its projects are funded, so the new slogan is, “Vote Two for Tulsa.”  The promise?  This time, WE PROMISE that all the tax money we raise for streets will actually make it to the streets.  Really.  We promise.

Ahem.  You have not learned your lesson.

The solution is not that you will raise a new tax, in a floundering economy, when your people are concerned with the future, in order to provide what you promised before and have yet to deliver.

Tell you what.  Reduce the size of local government and make room for the improvements from monies diverted to projects less necessary and you’ll have both the improvements and support of the citizens of Tulsa.

Sheesh!  How hard is this?

One of the smaller and not often noted additions to the economy is the increase of margins with the decrease of fuel costs.

Many suppliers cut their margins to keep their products as close as normal when rising fuel costs increased the cost of everything.  For them, the fall of prices brings their margins back to a more comfortable place.  For those who did not cut their margins, they are facing larger than normal profits.

All of this is based on the presumption that the prices that went up quickly following the fuel costs will not fall as quickly as they are dropping.  Anyone think that is an unrealistic assessment?

If not, then small businesses should stabilize somewhat and some may even flourish.

My friend, Marty Duren, has a really good post on the mix of the four topics mentioned in the title.

You should read it:  Thoughts on “Pulpit Freedom Sunday”

Fascinating confluence of ideas and events in politics this last year, wouldn’t you say?  Tammy Bruce, a liberal feminist is for Sarah Palin’s nomination for what seems to be the reason Dr. Laura is against her.

RealClearPolitics – Articles – A Feminist’s Argument for McCain’s VP.

and

The Dr. Laura Blog – Sarah Palin and Motherhood

The most interesting section to me, was from Tammy Bruce:

There is a point where all of our issues, including abortion rights, are made safer not only if the people we vote for agree with us – but when those people and our society embrace a respect for women and promote policies that increase our personal wealth, power and political influence.

This is all absolutely fascinating.  Especially when you look at the latest polls:

Gallup has McCain up 49% to 44%

and Zogby has McCain up by almost the same numbers over Obama in a poll released yesterday.

[HT:  Tammy Bruces article Thom Rainer via his Twitter feed, Zogby poll Ed Stetzer via his Twitter feed.]

Hmmm.  Twitter is more useful than I thought.  Mine’s twitter.com/artrogers.