A Catholic Arrives to the Southern Baptist Convention

Getting to this year's Southern Baptist Convention felt like a reenactment of that classic 80s movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

First, there was an early morning drive to the airport only to discover that almost all parking lots were full. A couple drives around the airport and I found an option. 

Next was a turbulent flight crouched tightly in the middle seat while a hyperactive kid was incessantly bugging me: "What game are you playing? Who are you texting? Can I set this food on your tray? Can you push the button for the stewardess? I can't reach it." Queue headache medicine. 

After landing, it took what seemed like hours of wrong turns and coaxing drivers to get a transit to the right airport terminal to find the light rail that took me downtown. Even work weary Dallas travelers remarked to me, "man... you look tired." 

I got off about a half mile from the convention, so with a week's worth of clothes on my back, I made the walk in nearly 100° heat and full Texas sun. Afterwards, the journey to my hotel involved missed trains, wrong trains and even longer walks in the heat with my feet clearly feeling the blisters by now.

What is the point of all of this? Aside from demonstrating a clear case of first world problems, I guess my point is that I would tell all my evangelical friends: Don't ever say I don't make personal sacrifices for the cause of Christian fellowship across denominational lines!

And how small those sacrifices are compared to what so many others have gone through (and continue to go through) elsewhere in the world. I'm safe, well-fed and there's a comfortable bed waiting. We can do better without even much risk.

Before closing for the night, I'll leave you with these thoughts. I saw a sign in the convention area: Every church has a part to play in reaching every nation (posted by the IMB - International Mission Board).

I don't know the intentions of the authors. How wide of a scope did they imagine in this statement? More importantly, how wide of a scope do YOU think it has? 

Is this just for Southern Baptists, or at least other evangelicals?

Can Catholics think this way of Protestants? Can both liberal and conservative churches regard each other this way? Can we all believe that each church, each denomination, each theological system has a unique role to play in reaching people that other churches, denominations and systems either can't or won't reach--despite their imperfections (or maybe even through their imperfections)?

Sure, there are limits, but what if our limits are too, well, limiting?