So … what happens when bad news comes?

Today, Wednesday, August 12, we arrived at our office, fired up our computers and learned that Dr. Geoff Hammond and three others in his leadership team had resigned at the North American Mission Board. Bottom line? Bad news!

It’s not bad news because I am mad, or upset, or anything else. After all, who really cares what one denominational servant thinks about what goes on at another denominational servant’s office anyway? In many respects there is a world of difference between Alpharetta, Ga., and Arizona. It is simply bad news because of timing. Here we set on the precipice of what could be our greatest day in terms of “God’s Plan for Sharing” and then oops … we seem to be stumbling again.

It is bad news because it hurts. I am certain there are Godly, good people on both sides of this issue. Dr. Hammond is a great man of God and a Jesus follower. But so is every member of the board. This is not about who is on God’s side and who is not. This is about a national agency that just went through some tumultuous years and seems to be going through them again. And so my heart hurts for all of those involved.

I am proud to be called a Jesus follower … and a Southern Baptist, but there are some mornings that it does hurt. I am praying for a day when we can celebrate a clear vision for North America and a consistency in leadership … and I mean long-term leadership. For that day I am asking God!

Could it be that God’s Plan for Sharing is coming down to us from God’s throne and not Alpharetta? I firmly believe it is. Just think … every Southern Baptist bears the biblical mandate to share the Gospel. That, my Arizona Southern Baptist friends, didn’t come from Alpharetta … it came from the Master! And so … to that end I will give my life … even on the bad days.