Dissent is in my bones. I grew up in a First Baptist Church in Northeastern Oklahoma, known for rowdy business meetings. It was common for news of those meetings to spread through the community before closing prayer.
Derek Crawford
Keep in mind, this was years before cell phones. Even as a young child, I remember thinking, “How do people act so mean, then sing ‘Amazing Grace’ together?”
Some of the yellers were deacons. Others were Sunday school teachers. Still others were simply church members I saw every Sunday filling the pews and actively voicing their dissent in the democratic spectacle of Baptist congregational polity. Now, as a pastor in my late 40s, I honestly believe my passion for peacemaking stems from the spirited Baptists who nurtured me in the faith.
I am part of the generation of ministers who followed the Southern Baptist Convention battles of the 1980s and the mid-’90s. Even though the work was done by 1999, when I entered vocational ministry, the war stories never subsided. A dear friend of mine who lived through the ordeal puts it this way: It was freedom versus purity.
“The problem is that both sides arrived at these positions through their own interpretive lenses.”
The problem is that both sides arrived at these positions through their own interpretive lenses. The peacemaker in me has led me to ask many questions. Every time I read archived stories from that period of Baptist life, I seek out the people involved and contact them. I have found most people enjoy sharing their story. As a result, I have learned that moderates and conservatives really do have more in common than they realize.
This point became clear to me this past weekend. I had the honor of joining a crowd of Baptists at the Bill J. Leonard Summer Institute, sponsored by Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Dean Corey Walker and his team rolled out the red carpet, providing a beautiful time of fellowship and reflection. The event’s theme was “Our Legacy of Dissent.”
The theme reflected citizenship responsibility and social justice for Christ followers in several ways. However, the underlying theme of dissent loomed over the moderate response to the “conservative resurgence” in the SBC. This reality was expected. Most of the people in the room were products of the “old” Southern Seminary.
The emotion in the room was evident as I listened to the “war” stories. Most everyone has moved on, actively serving in Baptist life outside the Southern Baptist context. There was plenty of laughter and smiles. Yet it never took long for the hurt to surface. Molly Marshall and Linda McKinnish Bridges had the crowd in tears with laughter, recounting stories of a “memorial urinal” in a men’s room and rooftop escapades. But their time had to include the journey that led to being pushed out the back door of Southern Baptist life.
As I was welcomed to the event and warmly embraced by so many, I left pondering an important truth. I was in the presence of many key leaders who rejected the conservative resurgence, yet not one of them rejects Jesus Christ. Not one person holds a low view of Scripture. There were no heretics. Every person I met is faithfully serving a church and doing their best to introduce the lost world to Jesus Christ. The labels I heard about the faceless moderates faded when I stepped into the room and met them.
“The labels I heard about the faceless moderates faded when I stepped into the room and met them.”
But the theme of dissent will not leave me.
During a conversation at our table, a pastor friend made a stark observation that the conservative transition of the SBC was sparked by dissent. As the folklore goes, Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler chose dissent when they masterminded the plan to “take back” the convention. Dissent was present as blueprints were developed to politically align Scripture as a tool to divide rather than to teach. Dissent was present when faithful Southern Baptists were written off because they did not check all the boxes on a given agenda.
This has led me to a couple of observations.
First, dissent must be measured by intent and method, not just the end result. As stated earlier, the “moderate” position allowed conservatives the freedom to believe what they wanted. The expectation, though, was that moderates would have the freedom to maintain their positions. The conservatives’ dissenting opinion would not allow that.
One challenge for the current SBC is that forced uniformity can only go so far, especially as Baptists. Right now, the fight is about female pastors, when female pastors are not an issue. The fight will move on to something else if the current trend does not change.
Second, Bridges made a profound comment. Even before 1979, the seminary in Louisville was not Camelot. The SBC had been navigating fracture lines for decades. Duke McCall recalls in his memoir that while serving as president of the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville, he faced looming threats from breakaway factions that jeopardized the convention’s stability. However, the consensus was that we must set aside differences for the sake of missions and evangelism.
The battle cry of the conservatives was my way or no way. This trend is finding a friendly home once again, only this time conservatives are aligning with voices suggesting that women should not vote, let alone serve in leadership positions within local congregations.
History has the awful tendency to repeat itself. I remain active in Southern Baptist life. My experience this past weekend is a reminder that there is plenty of room for all of us in Baptist life. The problem is that, just as the Southern Baptist tent shrank last century, the trend is rebooting now. People with extreme far-right positions are using theological language to manipulate the masses.
We must learn from the past and stand up for traditional Baptist principles that have made us strong, faithful Christians in a world that needs Jesus.
Let us dissent in a way worthy of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Bill, for the reminder. Peace remains an option among Baptists.
Derek Crawford is a minister and educator in South Carolina. He and his boys love going to his wife Charli’s softball games.