FROM THE President, John Upton
The BWA & the Power of Praise
Having just returned from the Baptist World Alliance’s 20th Congress in Honolulu I am riding on a spiritual
high. The opportunity to serve the BWA as president is both a humbling honor and an exciting privilege. It has
called out within me a determination to offer my very best and a commitment to call upon God’s wisdom and the
wisdom of others. The BWA for so many of us is a lifeline of hope and support and it takes wisdom beyond one’s
self to offer that well. The words may not always be the most eloquent but with courage we can speak the truth
we know trusting the Word will speak through our words.
As I sat in the worship services of the congress, both morning and evening, I came to understand the source
of the power that drives the BWA. The source of that power is so ordinary that it is almost illusive. At the congress
we exercised it with such frequency that I nearly missed it. I realized that the source of the power was in our praise.
We devoted so much time to the giving of praise that at one point I had to stop to ask why we gave so much time
to the giving of it. I was the congress program chair and it wasn’t until we were worshiping that I paused to ask
the question. My initial thoughts were not comforting. Praise is such an ordinary thing. It seemed on first thought
to be so benign. Are there not plenty of other things we could do that would be more useful? Weren’t we at the
congress for the deepening of compassion, for guidance, for cleansing and forgiveness, for the renewal of our
minds as well as for the renewal of our sense of purpose, for encouragement and comfort, for declaring what
God wants for the world and what God wants from us? We came to be energized for better living and bearing
better witness in the world.
Yet, so much of our time was devoted to praise. Why did we do that? Is it something God must have? It was
on closer reflection that the real power and nature of praise began to emerge for me. First, it occurred to me that
praise must touch the very heart of God. Having sung to the world for ages and ages the song of such beauty and
love, how good it must be for God to hear some echo of the song sung back to him. As a parent and grandparent,
it always stirs me to hear my children and grandchildren echo back the love I have felt for them all their lives. So
it is with God, our heavenly Father.
Secondly, I realized that if we live beneath the stars, no matter what constellations we may see in the night sky,
and give no expression of wondering thanks, if we sense that all things are held in gracious hands and then stifle
amazement, if we hear the great music of life and sing nothing back, then we are dulled, numbed, and deadened.
It makes us dishonest, too. We are not well if nothing in us opens to expressions of praise. The BWA Congress
with so many nations gathered was really about God’s global Baptist family singing back the great music of life.
Finally, it became evident that praise, to a startling extent, is subversive. At its center is a cry for radical freedom
under God. There are forces, people, institutions, and ideas that are making claims on us all. These powers exert
control to shape and manage our world as they will. But to live in praise of God is to assert the limits of all other
powers, to get free of their grip and grow smarter about where we put our trust and confidence.
It is easy for the world to say that faith in God is fantasy. Too many of our young people are being sold
this message. But on such a week of praise as we had, faith in God begins to sound like true realism. To say
government can save us, that’s fantasy. To say that science or economics can save us, that’s fantasy. But believing
that deliverance and redemption in the world will only come because of God’s gracious power and trusting God
to make it so, that is the closest we may ever come to realism.
And so, it turned out that the global family gathering to praise God was not a nice thing to do. It was an urgent
thing to do. It was urgent because it becomes a disposition of life. We stand on new grounds of gladness. We
practice hope in God by what we do and by who we are becoming together.
The congress pronounced over and over again, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” I’m not sure we noticed while we were
saying those words the fierceness of those words. It is a fierceness that can change the world. I believe this is
the power of the BWA. It is why I value the BWA with all my heart.

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