Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly
Allow me to share some thoughts about the CBF General Assembly in Jacksonville last week.
For me, the general assembly has become a homecoming. I am so grateful to reconnect with friends and colleagues from years past. It is also homecoming because CBF is my theological home. These are the Baptists that share my convictions and passions.
I believe in the leadership of Paul Baxley (who preached at NDBC back in March). While not every CBF church is aligned with us, space is made at CBF each year for the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB) and the gathering grows each year. This year it was wonderful to celebrate 90 years of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty where we heard stories of churches standing up for religious liberty. We heard from the Rev. Dr.
Michael Woolf, pastor of Lake St. Church in Evanston, Il who was recently arrested for protesting an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Il.
It felt so important to stand with Baptist Women in Ministry just weeks after the Southern Baptist Convention doubled down on their refusal to allow women into places of ministry. BWIM has become a critical voice among Baptists (and beyond) to challenge some of the last bastions of the patriarchy. I was riveted hearing the preaching of the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA. Dr. Wesley preached at the Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer luncheon.
CBF is a fellowship hitting all the right notes right now. It is speaking up for the vulnerable, it is creating space for diversity (while rejecting tokenism), it is asking the right questions, listening to the right voices, and celebrating the right people. I’m proud to call CBF my home and proud that Northside Drive calls CBF home as well.
Scott Hovey
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