Making good on his promise that the New Baptist Covenant celebration would not be political in nature, former president Jimmy Carter set the tone for the meeting in a news conference before the opening session.
Asked by a reporter from the Boston Globe if he would comment on Senator Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama and whether he would compare it to Kennedy's failure to endorse Carter in 1980, Carter said simply, “I think I'll wait until Saturday to answer that question. I'll answer it on Saturday but not here .…” The reporter pressed: “Does that mean that you will have an endorsement on Saturday?” Carter replied “No, it just means I will answer your question on Saturday.” The other reporters — including this one — got the message.
The celebration of a New Baptist Covenant was conceived during a conversation between Mercer University President William Underwood and the former president in Carter's home when they envisioned a gathering of North American Baptists across racial and organizational lines.
About two years ago, Carter invited leaders of major Baptist groups to convene as his guests at the Carter Center in Atlanta. By the time the group met last year, Carter had asked another Baptist former President, Bill Clinton, to join them.
Clinton's participation as well as Carter's criticism of President George W. Bush led some Southern Baptist Convention leaders to declare last year that both the planning gathering and the celebration were politically motivated to benefit Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency.
Such claims, however, proved false as speakers honored the intent of the gathering and Carter's admonition and avoided politicizing the program in any way. Only once did a speaker deviate from this practice. A pastor, one of four presenters in a breakout session on prophetic preaching (attended by about 200 preachers), said he would not use the platform of the conference to tell anyone which candidate he supported until Saturday, after the celebration ended. And, he added, when he did it, he would tell “his name and what city he's from in the Midwest” — an apparent reference to Sen. Barack Obama. While about half of the group laughed at the light-hearted reference, many others did not appreciate even this mild encounter with politics. As a matter of principle, this reporter simply left the session.
All other speakers set personal opinions and political preferences aside for the sake of the higher, non-political spiritual kingdom. Contrary to prevailing practices of partisan politics, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley had high praise for Carter, a Democrat; and former President Clinton spoke well of Republican Presidential contender Mike Huckabee. Huckabee and Clinton were born in the same town in Arkansas and both served as governors of that state.
What did happen in the celebration can be described, but it cannot be adequately communicated. Baptists from every racial hue and from differing points on the theological continuum gathered comfortably and joyfully together. “I was sitting beside an older African-American women wearing a full length mink coat,” noted Jim Johnson, pastor of Williamsburg Baptist Church. “We held hands along with others and prayed at the conclusion of the last service. After the prayer, we looked at each other and spontaneously hugged. It was the fitting thing to do and it felt good.”
Others, too, commented on how strangers of different races struck up comfortable conversations with one another as they trekked to and from the sessions through the vast Georgia World Congress Center. Seeing small groups of blacks and whites together chatting talk like old friends was common among celebration attendees.
The speakers, worship leaders and preachers riveted their songs and messages to the central theme of the celebration: Isaiah's words as quoted by Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (Luke 4:18-19, NIV).
Baptist celebrants experienced an array of thought-provoking theological challenges; heart-wrenching testimonies of suffering servants; and unsettling statistical analyses pertaining to the poor and powerless in our country and around the globe. The sessions produced a satisfying yet disquieting blend of head and heart that inevitably ushered the worshiper into the presence of the Holy One.
While celebration organizers consider the next step based on suggestions they solicited from attendees, the general consensus among those who gathered was that Baptists should plan similar celebrations on the local level.
In this issue of the Herald, the reader will encounter stories covering the major speakers with a wonderful summation of the celebration by Marv Knox. The full video addresses of every speaker may be found on this website: www.newbaptistcelebration.com.