The Southern Baptist Convention held last week was hailed by many as an historic event — a changing of the guard; a broadening of the tent; a defining of their values. I hope this is so. I hope and pray that it signals a return to a more “centrist” position after nearly three decades of excluding greater numbers of fellow Baptists year by year.
Now that we've had a few days to reflect on the events of the convention, what are the lessons we are taking home from Greensboro?
Lesson # 1: Don't mess with WMU.
For years WMU's auxiliary status has galled Southern Baptist power brokers who resent the mission organization's habit of acting independently. They cannot determine, for example, which groups WMU works with and they cannot control who is elected to their governing board.
This year, the SBC leadership believed the time had come to change things, so the Executive Committee recommended that the convention extend to WMU an “invitation” to become an agency of the convention. As such, its board would be nominated through the SBC process and elected by the SBC messengers.
The assertion by an Executive Committee spokesman that they wanted the WMU to come into the SBC only because they “love them so much” caused audible guffaws to be heard. When the messengers lifted their ballots in a show of hands, the vote was not even close. Thankfully, WMU remains, at least for now, an independent auxiliary of the SBC just as it has been for 118 years. We may have full confidence that it will continue to act with kingdom responsibility.
Lesson # 2: Southern Baptists have become too narrow-minded.
Ironically, some have been saying this for years but until some of their own began to be ostracized by SBC decision-makers the message fell on deaf ears. Now, however, having run off and frozen out many of their fellow Baptists who could not agree with their inerrantist language they have begun to turn on each other. Not surprisingly, those being attacked don't like the feeling and they are reacting.
Joining them are noted conservatives with name recognition. Joyce Rogers, addressing the Pastors Conference, invoked the memory of her late husband in pronouncing that he (Adrian Rogers, a primary figure in the move to greater conservatism) would be against becoming too narrow. Ed Young, pastor of First Baptist of Houston, Texas, and former president of the SBC, also spoke to the Pastors Conference. “Southern Baptists have forgotten who they are,” he said. “And because of this, we do not know where we are going. I believe that we as Southern Baptists are on way, way, way too many side streets.” He continued, “Our theology is biblical, it is not systematic. Therefore we as Baptists, we are not Calvinist; we are not Arminian; we are Baptists. That's who we are, and we always come down somewhere in the middle.” It is curious that Southern Baptists who called for a more middle-of-the-road approach were scorned by their fellow Baptists a few years ago. Young obviously means the middle of the far-right lane.
The hard-line approach, however, has been the favored position of SBC leaders of the past. This approach was responsible for the SBC's departure from the Baptist World Alliance and for the alienation of many former Southern Baptists.
Lesson # 3: There's power in them there blogs.
Since the conservatives took control of Baptist Press, articles coming from convention sources have been decidedly one-sided and lacking in objectivity. The news service ceased to be a source of news and became, instead, a public relations arm of the convention. When persons newly-elected to serve on trustee boards observed attempts by their fellow trustees to control information and manipulate the process of decision making, they became disenchanted. Lacking other means of telling their stories, they began to write of the need for greater integrity and accountability on internet web logs (called blogs).
It remains to be seen how this new medium of communication will continue to affect change in the SBC and other organizations. We can say positively, however, that it impacted the election of the SBC president this year.
Lesson # 4: The proof is in the performance.
Supported by bloggers who demanded more openness and integrity in policies and management of SBC agencies, Frank Page was elected as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, having garnered 50.48 percent of the vote on the first ballot. Many of the current SBC leaders had publicly supported either Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas or Jerry Sutton of Tennessee, both pastors.
For only the second time since 1979 the convention elected a president other than the man pre-selected by the SBC leadership. The first occurred in 1994 when Jim Henry was elected convention president. At the time, many predicted a move toward greater openness, but the direction was not sustained in the years that followed.
Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., says he will appoint only those who are sweet-spirited and supportive of the Cooperative Program and that he will continue the practice of appointing only inerrantists to convention positions.
Will the election of Page promote a “kinder, gentler” SBC as he predicted in a news conference following his election? Will it make any appreciable difference to Virginia Baptists? Time will tell.
Since 1989 the Baptist General Association of Virginia has contributed $160 million to Southern Baptist Convention causes. In that length of time, not a single person committed to the BGAV has been nominated to serve on the convention's Executive Committee. Since the formation of the offshoot Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, every nominee to the Executive Committee from Virginia has come from that group. If Frank Page is serious about integrity and openness; if Cooperative Program (Cooperative Ministries) giving really does matter; if the SBC really is developing a softer side, Page will demonstrate it through his appointments. I have requested an interview with him to go over these concerns.
The proof for Virginia Baptists will come only when his nominees include faithful BGAV Southern Baptists. If he chooses to continue to snub all who are not in lock-step with SBC leadership, then only the names and faces will have changed and we Virginia Baptists will have to conclude that the Southern Baptist Convention does not want us. Now our money — that's a different matter!