the "dreams to memories" ratio

In his very compelling book, "The World is Flat", in which best selling author and New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman writes extensively of how certain technological innovations have leveled the playing field in a global economy, thus "flattening" the world, he offers this reflection on what he has observed in his travels around the world about those companies that will be able to survive in the future:

"Analysts have always tended to measure a society by classical economic and social statistics: its deficit-to-GDP ratio, or its unemployment rate, or the rate of literacy among it's adult women. Such statistics are important and revealing. But there is another statistic, much harder to measure, that is even more important and revealing; Does your society have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories?"

He goes on to explain that by this he means those dreams of the positive life affirming variety. He quotes business consultant Michael Hammer who once said, "One thing that tells me that a company is in trouble is when they tell me how good they were in the past."

There is an obvious association to be made here to Southern Baptists and our denomination in general and to the local church in particular. When too many members of any organization spend too many hours and too many days looking backward, that organization is in serious trouble.

Leaders in our churches and in our denomination need to wake up to a reality that savvy lay people in our churches already know- that is that the world is changing rapidly and while we focus on the glories of the past, the future is already here and a new future is being defined almost hourly. In an environment such as this, we need MANY more dreams than memories.

As an example, consider South Asia and the pacific rim. China and India are gaining ground rapidly on the west and it is only a matter of time before the two thirds world will be the dominant market place. As Jay Kessler once said, "the east and west have passed in the night." Soon there will be more Asian Christians than North American believers. The American church will one day have to come to grips with the reality that it is not the center of the universe. There is a movement of the Spirit that is taking place in other cultures and in other places that transcends our particular brand of cultural Christianity. Christ called us to carry the gospel in to every dark corner of the world, he did not mandate that we make Southern Baptists of every nation tribe and tongue.

Most people I know who have spent time overseas and have observed what God is doing in the nations, have more dreams than memories.

My concern for the SBC is that we are so distracted by the past, that we are not engaging present realities. We obsess over inconsequentials. At the exact moment that our dreams should be getting bigger, our tent is getting smaller. I agree with Ed Stetzer who recently was asked what he would tell young pastors who ask if they should bail on the SBC:

I would tell them, “don't.” As a matter of fact, I just wrote an email to a young pastor of a well known megachurch asking me if it was worth it—and I told him it was. But, honestly, I find myself making that statement with more frequency today than ever before. We have already preached most of my middle-aged Purpose Driven friends out of the convention and now it seems that some want to so the same to the next generation. We need understand that if we keep choosing our traditions over our young pastors, we may have our traditions; we will not have our young pastors.

Don't get me wrong, I know that our doctrinal purity is of great importance. We cannot truly worship Him, unless we truly KNOW Him. We are right to hold up doctrine to the intense light of discernment and careful scrutiny. As I have written many times here, I believe that the loss of doctrine is a scandal of our age. I am calling for a strong anchor in our faith AND a broad sail for our forward movement.

I am only saying that if we are not careful we will wake up one day and find that we have been so concerned with our memory, that we have had no time for our dreams.