NASHVILLE (BP) — What do the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the Porsche 911 sports car have in common? According to SBC President Clint Pressley, an enduring design that cannot be equaled but that must be tweaked for a stable future.

“Porsche was so superior to their competition that for years their slogan was: Nothing else even comes close,” Pressley said during a Feb. 17 address to the SBC Executive Committee (EC) in Nashville. “When it comes to missions sending, when it comes to education and funding our ministries, it could be said of the Cooperative Program: Nothing else even comes close.”

Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., offered his analysis during a two-day meeting of the EC at the Hilton Hotel on the grounds of the Nashville International Airport.

When Porsche debuted the 911 in 1964, it had flaws, he said, including a propensity to spin out when traveling at high speed around a corner. But Porsche knew it had a winning design and stuck with it, opting to adjust rather than redesign. The SBC should take a lesson from that approach.

The convention runs on what Pressley has dubbed “two rails:” The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) and the Cooperative Program (CP). With such a design, he said, Southern Baptists must avoid two extremes.

“On the one hand, we avoid the status quo,” Pressley said, cautioning against “acting like the design doesn’t need some adjustment” and “telling churches [to] ‘just give your money’ without displaying some compelling reason for them to do so.”

The other extreme to avoid, Pressley said, is “a scorched earth approach” that begins “dismantling and disparaging the design just because there are some fixable flaws in the system.”

The best way to navigate the years ahead is responsible stewardship of the SBC, he said, drawing from the apostle Paul’s council in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 to be “servants” and “stewards.” Pressley offered a series of thoughts on how Southern Baptists should manage their convention.

‘Celebrate more our confessional fidelity’

Many large denominations and parachurch ministries have drifted from the gospel and the inerrancy of Scripture during the same decades the SBC kept its hold on both, Pressley said. “That is a remarkable thing when you think about the size of our denomination.”

Remembering the doctrines on which Southern Baptists stand is crucial, he said, “because if you assume the gospel, you lose the gospel. If you assume inerrancy of the Bible, you lose inerrancy.”

‘Celebrate the good financial responsibility of our entities’

Contrary to the claims of some critics, SBC entities “operate with responsible transparency,” Pressley said. That transparency stems from the convention’s Business and Financial Plan as well as the SBC system of electing entity trustees who are members of Southern Baptist churches.

Some adjustments in the SBC’s operating procedures may be advisable, Pressley said, including “a standardized training for trustees” at all entities. Additionally, “it would be wise to keep up a clear, constant communication with the churches because there are so many good things going on.”

‘Do a better job of celebrating the missional integrity of our entities’

“They have stayed on the mission,” Pressley said. The International Mission Board (IMB) shares the gospel and plants churches. The North American Mission Board (NAMB) plants and revitalizes churches. Seminaries train biblically faithful pastors.

“If there is something that, as a convention, we are doing that is distracting,” he said, then “we stop and we pause” and make sure “this over here doesn’t take away from the mission.”

‘Celebrate the relational continuity’ of the SBC

Cooperation must extend beyond giving money to investing in fellow Southern Baptists, Pressley said. That should include gathering in person as often as possible and eschewing the negativity that can characterize social media.

“Our entire ecosystem, the whole thing, is based on relational capital,” he said.

As Southern Baptists prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of both the BF&M and CP at this summer’s SBC annual meeting in Dallas, Pressley urged them to stay the course and take a page from Porsche’s playbook.

“The SBC and the Cooperative Program,” he said, “nothing else even comes close.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — David Roach is a writer in Mobile, Ala.)