Staff Articles
Gary Snowden is the Missions Mobilization Team leader. His early experience
includes: 9 years computer and data processing for the banking industry,
bi-vocational pastoral experience, and 2 years as a teaching fellow at
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served for 16 years as a
missionary of the International Mission Board in Argentina and Mexico
including teaching at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Buenos
Aires and the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary in Mexico City. He
has written a variety of materials including several for use in theological
education. He is currently associate pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Lee's Summit. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the
University of Texas at Austin and Master of Divinity and Ph. D. degrees from
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX.
Send an
email to Gary Snowden:
gsnowden@baptistgcm.org
Challenging Words - Saturday, October 31, 2009
As most readers of the E-Message undoubtedly know by now, the BGCM is actively engaged in an ongoing strategic planning process that will prayerfully result in a new and challenging five-year strategic plan to guide the convention's direction in the future. The task force working on this plan is a diverse and talented group that brings a lot of insights and creativity to bear on the challenge. In addition to on-line surveys and congregational listening sessions that were used in the past and are being employed again this time to gather information, several key leaders of innovative and cutting-edge ministries were identified and task force members were requested to seek an interview with them to seek their answers to ten probing questions that together explore the keys to their success, current challenges they perceive, ways they effectively communicate their vision to their constituents, etc.
It was my privilege as a part of this process to interview Dr. Tony Campolo. Many of you know of him through his writings or having heard him in conference, perhaps most recently at the Baptist Border Crossing event in Kansas City this year. While his organization is heavily focused on holistic ministry to the poor and oppressed both in the U.S. and in at least four different third-world nations, he exudes a passion for communicating the gospel message of salvation in Christ that would do credit to a full-time evangelist of old. One of the most insightful and revealing comments he made to me in the course of our phone conversation was that he perceives the greatest threat to his organization to be the temptation or tendency toward secularization. While many of the religious right would and indeed have accused Dr. Campolo of being purely interested and focused on the "social gospel," his heart clearly beats with the desire to see the lost find redemption and wholeness through Jesus as Savior.
I've long been an admirer of Dr. Campolo, having heard him speak the first time many years ago when he was the featured speaker for our annual seminary conferences in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On that occasion, we had the opportunity to host him for breakfast in our home and I found him to be just as challenging and interesting in an informal setting as he is when he thunders forth a prophetic message challenging the church to fulfill its role as a transforming force for Kingdom advancement. A good introduction to his philosophy of ministry if you've never read any of his works is Red Letter Christians: A Citizen's Guide to Faith and Politics. I know you will find his words to be challenging.
