- Southern Baptists arehard pressed right now,

and not just with declining membership,

but with some tough subjectslike abuse and racism.

Many of these issues willno doubt be addressed

at their annual meeting in Birmingham,

but President J.D. Greear wantsto keep one issue above all.

- There really is only one way that we see

the church go forward,

and it's putting the Gospel above all,

and pushing evangelism as the task.

- [Heather] Greear literallypractices what he preaches.

His 10,000 member churchencourages everyone

to simply evangelize oneperson, and it seems to work.

Under Greear's leadership,

Summit Church has plantedclose to 300 churches

in the US and overseas.

Putting the Gospel first is also the focus

of Greear's new book.

It's a strategy he believes will inform

and improve the way Southern Baptists

view some of their thorniest issues.

- What does it say about our Gospel

when we refuse to either deal with

or create the structures necessary

to prevent preying on thevulnerable, and to prevent abuse?

- [Heather] New researchshows that one in three

Protestant churchgoers believechurch too has only begun,

and that more church abusecases have yet to be revealed.

Greear says while hewelcomes the spotlight,

he cringed at a hard hitting news report.

- When I first heard aboutthe Houston Chronicle article,

my gut reaction was to pray,

"Lord, protect our reputation.

"Help the Gospel not to go backwards.

"And help us to, don't letpeople skew the information."

I just, it was one of those moments

where I felt the spirit of God say to me,

"That's not what I want you to be praying.

"I'll guard your reputation.

"I want you to be willingto do whatever it takes

"to provide safety, amore safe environment

"for the victims and the vulnerable."

- [Heather] The Birminghammeeting will also discuss ways

to combat racism, andhow best to elevate women

in the church while maintainingtraditional theology.

While the 2020 election campaignwill be informally debated,

no high profile politicalleader will be invited

to speak this year.

Greear says putting the Gospel above all

means Southern Baptists should be able

to charitably disagreeabout their politics.

- It's okay for different Christians

to come to different conclusions.

We can agree on the coreissues, life, religious liberty,

the empowerment of the poor,the equality of the races,

the sanctity of marriage.

We can agree on those things,

and even come to different conclusions

about which particularcandidate would be better

for the country at this time.

- [Heather] He arguesthat even Jesus' disciples

had different political beliefs,but kept the Gospel first,

and that made all the difference.

Reporting in Durham, North Carolina,

Heather Sells, CBN News.