Report from CBF GA

June 24, 2025

Beloved:

          Had I known the Cubs were playing the Cardinals in St. Louis this week, I might have rethought attending the Cooperative Baptist General Assembly here. At breakfast in my hotel lobby this morning I felt a little like I’d fallen into a cult.  These folks not only attend baseball games, they wear their teams head to toe and talk baseball nonstop!  But, of course, there are too many Baptists in this place for me to get too judgy about people’s weird allegiances. 
          I’ve been attending this meeting every few years for three decades now.  My seminary professors who used to come have all retired now, as have a good many of my contemporaries.  Most everyone here is younger than me.  The group is far more diverse, by race as well as gender.  Baptist women pastors are a dime a dozen rather than the needle in a haystack bushel when I was coming up.  From the don’t-ask-don’t-tell recommendations around LGBTIA+ inclusion just a few years ago ~ there's a table full of rainbow swag and information about becoming a welcoming and affirming church.  Other changes are less heartening.  Money has grown tighter than ever.  The primary goal of CBF is to send and support global mission work.  Fewer missionaries, all of whom must raise their own program money, is the most dramatic change of practice in the years I’ve been attending.  One of their fundraising venues here is a marketplace where they sell fair trade goods from their respective countries. You know I love a chance to shop and serve simultaneously.  Let me know if you need any jewelry, toys, housewares, etc and I’ll be your personal shopper too.  
          Heat advisories are everywhere in the midwest.  I for one will not be among the Baptists at Busch Stadium, in case you were wondering.  I will be in the a/c knitting or reading or shop-talking with other preachers.  Take care and I’ll see you next week when I am back. 

~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette