(ABP) — Adrian Rogers' widow captured unexpected attention at the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference by asserting her husband would not approve of narrowing parameters of fellowship in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Joyce Rogers, whose deceased husband was a former Southern Baptist Convention president and the key figure in the conservative rise to power, cautioned Southern Baptists against becoming too exclusionary.
Her message, during a Pastors Conference tribute to her husband, echoed the warning from Southern Baptist Convention messengers who later elected Frank Page as president. Page, a South Carolina inerrantist who won over two candidates closely tied to the conservative power structure, said he intends to broaden participation in the convention.
“Adrian Rogers would not have been a part of some things going on today, getting narrower and narrower about some issues,” she told the crowd, who welcomed her with a standing ovation.
Although he would try to convince someone of his viewpoint if that person disagreed, Rogers, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., would not exclude someone from service because of the disagreement, she noted.
“Adrian Rogers was a gracious man who worked for unity in [the] body of Christ,” Joyce Rogers said. “He believed with all his heart inerrancy was a hill to die on. But he still sought unity in the body of Christ.”
“Will you continue this race that one ran so well with truth, courage and integrity? Be men of integrity, pure and faithful to the end. … I want to challenge you pastors to be courageous, always standing for moral truths and what is right no matter the cost.”