One year ago today I gave my 2007 predictions and before I give you ten 2008 predictions, we'll grade my success over the past year. The 2007 predictions were . . .
(1). Frank Page will be reelected President of the Southern Baptist Convention at the June, 2007 Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Frank was reelected as predicted.(2). Al Mohler will announce in late 2007 his candidacy for the SBC Presidential election in anticipation of the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
Al has told his executive staff he will be a candidate.(3). Steven Gaines will not step down as Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee and the church will eventually enter into a more settled peace.
It has happened just as predicted.(4). The Baptist Identity Conference at Union University slated for February 15-17, 2007 will provide more memorable, maybe even infamous, quotes from the speakers than any Southern Baptist Conference in the last thirty years.
Many memorable quotes, but David Dockery summarizes them all when he said, ""It is now time for us to move from controversy and confusion to a new consensus, to a new commitment to cooperation."(5). The new IMB policies on baptism and private prayer language will be modified.
That they were. The baptism policy became simply a 'guideline,' and the wording was changed slightly, but the most enlightening revelation of the year was the LifeWay poll regarding private prayer languages and the beliefs of Southern Baptists.(6). The Oklahoma Sooners will go undefeated in 2007 season and play in the BCS National Football Championship in 2008. (Update: The Fiesta Bowl is NOT the 2007 season. :) By the way, my next post may be "Lessons on Predestination: Boise State vs. Oklahoma! )
But for the injury to Sam Bradford at Tech and the fluke second half and field goal at Colorado, this prediction would be my best one. :) Wait for 2008.(7). The nation of Israel will launch a preemptive surgical strike against Iran’s nuclear reactor in March or April of 2007 in conjunction with a battle in northern Israel and southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
A miss. I am in good company with the Sunday Times on this one.(8). The International Mission Board will set a record in both Lottie Moon gifts and Cooperative Funding in 2007.
Bingo. (9). There will be a more first time appointees to serve as Southern Baptist trustees and members of standing committees and convention committees than in the past three years combined.
Bingo.(10). There will be more Southern Baptist blogs on December 31, 2007 than January 1, 2007.
Right again. The prediction was about quantity, not quality. :)Summary: My OU and Israeli strike predictions were the only two that were off base. 80% is not bad. Now for next year's predictions.
2008 PREDICTIONS
(1). A pastor with a strong commitment to the Cooperative Program will be elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2008, defeating Al Mohler.
(2). The Oklahoma Sooners will play for the BCS National Championship on January 8, 2009, in Miami, Florida, the very city where they won their last National Championship in January 2001.
(3). The average price of gasoline will reach $4.00 a gallon by the summer of 2008.
(4). After declining an offer by Sheri Klouda in 2007 to settle for future lost wages, Southwestern Seminary will make an offer to settle in June 2008 when it is realized that the Klouda case is actually going to trial - only to discover, too late, that Sheri Klouda will ultimately allow a jury of peers to declare the verdict and judgment.
(5). The Klouda jury judgment in the summer of 2008 will be over eight figures.
(6). Hillary Clinton will be elected President of the United States in November 2008.
(7). The stock market will be static in the first half of 2008 (periodic big one-day losses and steady, small daily gains), only to rocket past 15,000 by year's end.
(8). The IMB Executive Committee will be informed that they do not have the authority to bar from participation a duly elected trustee, and that if they wish this trustee to not participate in trustee meetings, they must make their rationale for this desire known to the Convention at large - at a time and place that the trustee in question will be allowed to speak in response - and then the convention will decide.
(9). The world will mourn the loss of Billy Graham.
(10). The biggest national news coming out of the Southern Baptist Convention will be the report and/or response of the SBC Executive Committee to the motion to investigate the possibility of establishing a sexual predator database that will identify those Southern Baptist staff members and pastors who have been either convicted - or credibly accused - of sexual abuse.
Remember, these are only predictions.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
On January 1, 2009, I made Ten Predictions for 2009. It's time for the day of reckoning. Good thing we live in the age of grace (the New Covenant), or I'd be stoned. Smile. How well did I do? Well, you can be your own judge, but let me just say I was startled by the uncanny accuracy of #'s 3, 4 and 9. The others? Well, let's just say I'm out of the prediction business for 2010.