ATLANTA (ABP) — Some of the Southern Baptist Convention's most prominent bloggers reacted positively to a summit they held with former President Jimmy Carter May 17 in Atlanta.
Carter and the leaders discussed building a broad range of Baptist support for an unprecedented gathering of Baptists in North America, set for next year in Georgia's capital city. The “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant” is scheduled for next January.
While some SBC denominational leaders have rejected official participation in the event, the bloggers' online reflections on the meeting seemed to indicate cautious optimism that a broad group of Baptists — if not official Southern Baptist involvement on an institutional level — will take part in the gathering.
“Ultimately, if the Southern Baptist Convention does not have a presence, it does not mean that Southern Baptists cannot have a presence,” said Marty Duren, a Georgia pastor who operates the SBC Outpost blog (www.sbcoutpost.com), in a May 18 entry. “I'll keep a close eye on the proceedings, but I want to be hopeful rather than doubtful. I don't have to agree with everyone who is there to find commonality with some and that might be worth the effort after all.”
Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson, who also met with Carter, said he anticipated that many Southern Baptists would question his theology, politics and judgment because he had met with, and been impressed by the Christian sincerity of, Carter and the other leaders of the New Baptist Covenant effort.
“My prayer is that we as Southern Baptists can get to the point where our relationship with Christ and each other is more important than our political, philosophical or national ideology,” he wrote on his “Grace and Truth to You” blog (kerussocharis.blogspot.com). “We are part of a kingdom that transcends the natural. It is eternal and spiritual. The head of that kingdom is Christ and He himself said 'By this shall all men know that you are my disciples; if ye have love one for another.'
“I shall maintain my conservative values” Burleson continued. “However, I refuse to let others define who or who is not my brother in Christ. Nor will I relent to the demands that I not associate with those Baptist brothers who are different than I.”
Besides Burleson and Duren, bloggers participating in the meeting were Texas pastor Benjamin Cole and Alabama pastor C.B. Scott. Organizers said other non-blogger Southern Baptist leaders had been invited but were unable to attend.
The leaders of the New Baptist Covenant effort have said they hope to draw as many as 20,000 Baptists from various denominations to Atlanta. They plan to discuss ways of working on a “compassion agenda” to address social justice and human rights rather than squabbling over doctrinal or political differences.
When Carter and former President Bill Clinton announced the effort in January, some Southern Baptist leaders denounced it as an attempt to advance Democratic hopes among Baptist voters in the 2008 elections.
But some bloggers — including Cole and Burleson — who are popular among younger SBC leaders have criticized the dismissal.
The most recent meeting was an attempt to bring as many Southern Baptists into participation in the 2008 gathering as possible. It came on the same day that Carter announced the line-up of speakers for the gathering, which will include several well-known Baptist Republicans. Among them are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination; South Carolina Sen. Linsdey Graham; and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.
According to Cole, Carter's overtures were well-received. He said he had been taught by his SBC elders to be “almost embarrassed” that Carter is a Baptist.
“Today, however, I cemented the growing conviction that Southern Baptists of the fundamentalist type have compromised my fair evaluation of brethren differently aligned,” he wrote, in an entry on his “Baptist Blogger” site (baptistblog.wordpress.com). “There is a way to be Baptist that holds firmly to your individuality but allows for flexibility and respect for others similarly immersed in the name of the Triune God.”
Cole continued, “If Southern Baptists would commit to issues of social justice with the same rallying cry that founded the Cooperative Program [the SBC's unified missions budget] for the task of world missions — namely that we can do more together than we can apart — we might find the good and pleasant blessing promised of God when brothers dwell together in unity.”
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Read more:
SBC officials reject Carter, unity talk, but not all Southern Baptists join chorus (1/12)
Clinton, Carter, others planning 2008 confab seeking 'new Baptist voice' (1/8)