By Bob Allen
The new president of Brewton-Parker College opened his administration by leading the faculty in signing the Baptist Faith and Message, a move the Christian Index predicted “will surely endear him to Georgia Baptists.”
Steve Echols, former president of Tennessee Temple University elected to lead the Georgia Baptist Convention-related school in May, announced at convocation Aug. 25 that because Brewton-Parker is a Southern Baptist institution and proud of its heritage, the faculty, cabinet members, athletic staff and student development staff would sign the faith statement adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000 as its doctrinal position.
According to a report by Brewton-Parker marketing director Mandy Corbin, Echols explained that the college has ascribed to the faith statement as its “doctrinal position” since 2011, but the ceremonial signing Aug. 25 “was a visible display of our commitment.”
“The affirmation of adherence by these groups highlighted that we are a Georgia Baptist institution that serves Georgia Baptist churches,” Echols said.
Echols said the groups that joined him in signing the document were asked because “they have a direct impact in informing and shaping our students concerning matters of doctrine.”
“We want to assure our GBC churches that Brewton-Parker College will practice fidelity to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 in all we teach and propagate,” he said.
Echols, who formerly taught at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and led Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga, Tenn., from January 2012 until its closure earlier this year in a merger with Piedmont International University in Winston-Salem, N.C., was elected by unanimous vote May 19 to succeed Ergun Caner as president, who resigned in January after just one year.
Caner, a lightning rod for controversy since bloggers raised questions in 2013 about the veracity of his “ex-Muslim” testimony that made him a popular speaker in Southern Baptist Convention venues after 9/11, said he was stepping down because he had lost the will to fight six months after losing a son to suicide.
Caner recently announced on Facebook and Twitter the formation of a new Center for Global Apologetics.
Tennessee Temple University was founded in 1946 by Lee Roberson, originally a Southern Baptist who studied at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary under the legendary New Testament professor A.T. Robertson before leading Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga out of the Southern Baptist Convention to become an independent Baptist church.
In 2013 the Tennessee Baptist Convention passed a resolution affirming Tennessee Temple for electing a Southern Baptist as president and affirming the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as its doctrinal position.
Revisions to the document in 2000 narrowed doctrinal parameters in an earlier version adopted in 1963 by assigning roles of male headship and wifely submission in marriage, barring women from serving as pastors and removing a qualifying statement: “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”