Indianapolis: The Issues

by T.C. Pinckney                                                                                                 Vol. V, No. 3, June 1992

Who's running? What will we be voting on? If you plan to be in Indianapolis 8-11 June for the Pastors Conference and the Convention, questions like these are on your mind. No one can anticipate all that may come up at the Southern Baptist Convention, but this article makes a stab at pulling together what is known now.

Nominees: Three pastors will be nominated for SBC president. Taking them in chronological order of the initial announcement they are:

--Jess Moody, pastor of Shepherd Hills Church in Van Nuys, CA, announced last September that a group of nonaligned pastors had asked permission to nominate him. He is considered a theological conservative, but has not been identified with any SBC group. He is regarded as running on a "centrist" platform seeking to "heal" the denomination by pulling all groups back together. (Comment: As appealing as the prospect of no more struggle is to all of us, it is essential to recognize that there are significant theological issues. Indeed, if anyone ever had any real doubt of that fact, the actions of Pullen and Binkley Memorial Churches in NC in "blessing the union" and licensing to preach homosexuals have provided irrefutable evidence of the depth of difference. We should never be harsh, but we must always be firmly grounder in and guided by the inerrant, infallible Word of God.)

--Nelson Price, pastor of Roswell Street Church, Marietta, GA, and currently first vice president of the SBC has stated his commitment to continuing the conservative resurgence in the SBC and to enlarging the involvement of those "with whom we share doctrinal kinship but who have not been a part of the conservative movement." He describes himself as "unequivocally an inerrantist."

--Ed Young, pastor of Second Baptist in Houston, TX, has acceded to a request from Joel Gregory to nominate him. Young said, "I am a Southern Baptist, theologically a thorough-going conservative who believes in the Baptist Faith and Message Statement. I am not for theological pluralism. I believe in the Cooperative Program, and I won't change." Second Baptist has grown from 4,431 members to more than 18,000 in the 14 years of Young's tenure. The church led the SBC with 1,007 baptisms in 1990 and had 838 in 1991.

--Other Possible Candidates: Moderate leaders have said they do not intend to nominate a candidate in Indianapolis. However, there is some speculation that Keith Parks, president of the Foreign Mission Board who recently announced his October 1992 retirement, will become the moderate standard bearer. Dr. Parks has been asked twice about these reports and has denied knowledge of anyone intending to nominate him. He said he has not been asked and he has no intention of being nominated.

Homosexuality: A major issue. See separate article.

Golden Parachutes: There is no official action pending, but the subject has received widespread publicity. It would not be surprising for a motion to be made from the floor strictly limiting the amount of Cooperative Program funds spent on farewell gifts to departing executives. The argument favoring such costly recognitions is that these men have borne extremely heavy responsibilities, often have undergone great stress, and their peers in secular life receive much higher material rewards. All these point are true.

The arguments favoring strict limits to such expenditures are that: These men have received quite adequate salaries and will be enjoying comfortable retirement pay. They do not have a need for the money. Second, the money was given by ordinary Southern Baptists for the work of God's kingdom, most particularly winning souls. Probably not one in 10,000 Southern Baptists, if asked, would say they donate their tithes to provide large ($50,000+) retirement gifts. Third, in many areas of secular life there is no farewell gift of comparable monetary value. In the military, for example, the retiree receives his discharge papers, perhaps a free lunch from his office or unit (paid for out of their pockets, not from official funds), some home-made humorous mementos, and if he has done a really great job a medal worth about $1.95 cash ... and no one expects more. Fourth, one could argue that such gifts demean the godly service these folks have given. Love is not measured in dollar signs.

In a perfectly understandable and even commendable desire to demonstrate love and respect for those who have served the Convention so well for so long, trustees have allowed their gaze to stray from the fact that it is not their money but God's. If they really asked themselves whether God would prefer the money to be used for such gifts or toward winning the lost, surely their decision would be different. The trustees are not bad men and women; quite the contrary, they are almost without exception very fine Christians. It is just that they have allowed themselves to be caught up in a pre-existing practice without thinking through its implications.

Service to God is its own reward. God promises to provide for our needs, not our wants. Somehow we Southern Baptists have permitted a pecuniary spirit to come among us. Trustees should not offer such gifts; retirees should not accept them if offered. It is time average Baptists in the pews spoke up and put an end to this practice.