An open letter to Dr. Kevin Ezell, the North American Mission Board and my fellow Southern Baptists

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

My name is Tony Gulbrandsen and I am the Senior Pastor (also the junior pastor, youth pastor, worship pastor, janitorial pastor, and any-other-title pastor) at Immanuel Baptist Church in Racine, Wisconsin. I thought I should begin with an introduction since we really don't know each other at all, but there are a couple of things I need you to hear from the field.

First, I am increasingly broken at the blatant favoritism that exists in our midst. If God were to really bless my ministry, I expect we could be running 200 on a Sunday morning. I would consider that a tremendous blessing. Yet, even if that were to happen, I would not be invited to speak at the Pastor's Conference. I would not be asked to lead a seminar at any conference. I would not be invited to bring a sermon at any number of our churches. Because I would still be a small church pastor in Wisconsin.

Now, before you go thinking my pride is bruised, it is not. I actually don't want to go and speak or teach anywhere except to my people on Sunday. But even if I wanted to be invited to such things, we all know it isn't going to happen. The blatant favoritism I am talking about is the exaltation of pastors who have "successful" ministries in numerical (and I might add, worldly) terms. I am not saying that those pastors are less Godly than I am, then I would be just as guilty as everyone else. My point is that we are "rewarding" the wrong things in our convention. We reward based on numbers and very little else.

Which brings me to Dr. Ezell and NAMB. While I certainly think things needed to change in regard to North American Missions, I am saddened that the change had to come at such a price. Suddenly, those of us who have been working in the field for many years were marginalized as not getting the job done. Our NAMB missionaries were forced to abandon ministries they had been building for years because their job title and description were changed unilaterally. There was zero opportunity for churches in those "missions" areas to talk to NAMB about our unique ministry contexts. There was no sense of partnership with the local church. There was simply dictates handed down (or so it felt) from above. For those of you Southern Baptists who don't know this, if a state convention does not meet a threshold of members, that state convention has no representation on ANY of the boards of our convention. So, NAMB decided to change everything and we had no voice, no vote, no ability to raise objections. We were told our missionaries could change or not be funded.

I re-read all of that and realized that I am sounding like a real whiner. So, let me stop laying out why I feel the way I feel and get to a solution that I think is necessary for the continuation of many churches in the SBC. We are the small, the marginalized, and, yet, the majority (if ACP numbers are to be trusted). The time has come to include voices from all walks of the SBC. It is time for our various entities to actually live what they claim to believe. According to The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article XIV. Cooperation - Christ's people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches... Now, the argument is going to be that there was no authority exercised over the churches. But that is simply a false argument. In a small and struggling association within a small and struggling state convention, to threaten funding of missionaries is a form of authority. Bend to our will or there will be no money. That's control. And, in my opinion, a direct violation of the above quoted article. Yet, because we are small and struggling, we are lesser, so our opinions don't matter. Our objections are whining. Brothers and sisters, this ought not be.

The day has come for a more open cooperation. A cooperation that recognizes bi-vocational pastors of congregations of 20 are still pastors, and the people in those churches are still Christians who voluntarily participate in Cooperative Program. They are not in any way lesser than the full-time pastors of congregations of 2000 (who also voluntarily participate in the Cooperative Program). I want to be hopeful that a letter such as this will, at least, start some conversations about change within the SBC, but all our boards are full of pastors and laypeople from larger churches, associations, and conventions. The problem, as I see it, is self-perpetuating. And I am saddened that any part of our cooperation is based on perceived strengths or weaknesses. Smaller is not lesser any more than larger is better.