One of the most challenging aspects of Christian leadership today is staying focused on our core mission—the Great Commission—and devoting our efforts to fulfilling strategic goals toward that end. Competing agendas constantly shout for our attention. Focusing our attention on what really matters is even harder today.

Since our denomination lacks centralized authority and one ultimate leader, a few individuals must call all of us to fulfill our most important tasks. Dr. Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee (EC) along with the other entity presidents, are trying to do this. At the Nashville convention in June 2021, the EC will recommend an all-out denominational effort to fulfill five goals called Vision 2025. This is a concentrated effort to shift our focus from a thousand other things vying for our attention to a few key drivers that will make an eternal difference.

The first of those goals is to “increase full-time, fully-funded missionaries by a net gain of 500, giving us 4,200 full-time, fully-funded missionaries through the International Mission Board.” The second goal is to “add 5,000 new SBC congregations to our Southern Baptist family, giving us over 50,000 congregations.” In short, more churches!

The church is the primary means through which the kingdom of God advances around the world. The church is important for so many reasons—from its inter-generational scope to its multi-faceted ministry impact. The best way to make a difference in communities now and for eternity is to start more churches. There are still towns without any evangelical church in North America. There are still neighborhoods without any gospel-preaching church. There are still ethnic groups in North America with no congregation worshipping in their language or culture. And, the major cities in the United States do not have enough churches to reach their burgeoning populations.

We need more churches, which means we need more church planters, Christians who will join church planting teams, churches and individuals who will fund church planters and plants, and denominational leaders working as partners to coordinate these efforts as effectively as possible. There is a place for all of us in this effort to expand the number of SBC churches.

At Gateway, we prioritize starting churches—all kinds of churches in all kinds of places. We provide generous scholarships for church planters and encourage students to join church planting teams, while many of our leaders (like my wife and I) model the importance of this by serving in a church plant.

Southern Baptists are at our best when we are sending missionaries and starting churches, which is reflected in these first two national goals. If you wonder why you should serve with Southern Baptists, let these two reasons compel you! Sending missionaries and starting churches is at the heartbeat of who we are, what we do best, and what we must do together in the future.


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Perspective: SBC 2023

Dr. Iorg discusses what unites the SBC in light of next week’s annual convention.

Jeff Iorg
President
Dr. Jeff Iorg is the president of Gateway Seminary. Prior to his service at the Seminary, Dr. Iorg was the Executive Director of the Northwest Baptist Convention for almost ten years. He was also the founding pastor of Greater Gresham Baptist Church in Gresham, Oregon, and has served as a pastor in Missouri and a staff pastor in Texas.

Intentionality

 The greatest problem in our world is lostness. The only solution to lostness is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jeff Iorg
President
Dr. Jeff Iorg is the president of Gateway Seminary. Prior to his service at the Seminary, Dr. Iorg was the Executive Director of the Northwest Baptist Convention for almost ten years. He was also the founding pastor of Greater Gresham Baptist Church in Gresham, Oregon, and has served as a pastor in Missouri and a staff pastor in Texas.

Listen

Lead On Podcast
June 4, 2023

“Life is Curriculum”: How Leaders Grow after Seminary

Dr. Iorg encourages leaders to continue growing after Seminary. He identifies seven ways to cultivate and work towards spiritual maturity. 

Lead On Podcast
May 28, 2023

Dealing with Angry People

There is a lot of anger in the world right now and a lot of that anger is spilling over into the church. This week Dr. Iorg discusses different ways to engage with and disciple angry people in your ministry.


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Spirituality of Jonathan Edwards | JEC at Gateway Seminary

Dr. Chris Chun hosted a digital symposium with Dr. Michael Haykin and Dr. Robert Caldwell to discuss Edwards’ spirituality, devotional life and theological impact in American Christianity.

Chris Chun
Professor of Church History | Director, Jonathan Edwards Center
Dr. Chris Chun is the professor of Church History and the director of Jonathan Edwards Center at Gateway Seminary. Chris’ doctoral research at St. Andrews University was focused on the eighteenth-century Edwardsean Baptists in Britain. He also has served as president of The Evangelical Theological Society (Far West Region).

Faculty Dialogues: Dispensationalism or Not

In this episode of Faculty Dialogues, Dr. David Rathel and Dr. Paul Wegner held a live discussion on their views on dispensationalism.

David Rathel
Associate Professor of Christian Theology
Dr. Rathel is the associate professor of Chrisitian Theology at Gateway Seminary. Prior to Gateway, Dr. Rathel supplied pastoral care to churches in the United States and Scotland, served as an Adjunct Professor of Theology and Philosophy for the Baptist College of Florida, and provided teaching assistance for the University of St Andrews.

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