State Wrap 2005

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                        Vol. XIX, No. 1, January 2006

     editor, The Baptist Banner

Introduction: One might think that, as the conservative resurgence is increasingly successful across the Southern Baptist Convention, this annual article would become easier and simpler. Not so. In fact, as fewer and fewer states are embroiled in the liberal-conservative struggle, other challenges appear. And depending on the particular state and specifics within it, a much broader array of issues comes to the fore.

I invite you to consider carefully what future issues face the SBC and its state conventions as you read this article. Once finished, turn to “Challenges” in this Banner for some thoughts regarding the future.

Focus States

Last year Kentucky led this group, but there has been a major improvement in the Blue Grass State. At the November ‘04 KY convention three strong conservatives won the presidential and vice presidential races by a tri-race total of 246 votes. This year three other conservatives won with a cumulative advantage of 678 votes over three “moderates,” all endorsed by the liberal group Mainstream Baptists of Kentucky. It may be that KY liberals are becoming discouraged.

The state is clearly moving more conservative as grassroots Baptists become more involved and realize how liberal some state institutions have become. Notably, messengers overwhelmingly approved a four-year phase-out of their relationship with Georgetown College after Georgetown decided in September to establish a self-perpetuating board. Under the agreement between Georgetown and the state convention, the college will begin electing its own trustees in 2006 and the KBC will phase out the $1.3 million Cooperative program allocation over the next four years. The depth of the problem at Georgetown is demonstrated by the fact that they hired a Muslim. A Muslim teaching in a Baptist college?

Word is that Cumberland College is almost as bad as Georgetown, but on the other hand, Cumberland advertized that it wants to be fully with the KBC. Campbellsville is trying to become conservative, and Clear Creek advertized that they are committed to inerrancy. With this report KY is removed from the list of focus states.

Louisiana replaces KY as a problem state even though liberalism seems to be no greater than last year. Nominees endorsed by the Louisiana Inerrancy Fellowship for president and 1VP were defeated by competitors endorsed by “moderates”. The LIF had successfully endorsed the previous three presidents beginning in 1999. The difference this year seems to be that several large church pastors are seeking to run things and supported the moderate-backed nominees. However, both presidential candidates affirm inerrancy and the recent shift of the state convention to a more conservative stance, but the new president has expressed concerns with the way changes were implemented.

Apparently, the amount of liberalism in LA is about the same as last year. Louisiana College remains a major problem.

Messengers rejected a proposal to place the state newspaper, the Baptist Message, within the state structure as part of the new communications team. The vote would have required a two-thirds approval but got only about one-third in a show of ballots vote.

Understandably, the meeting paid great attention to the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A post-convention news release stated, “Perhaps no other state convention can celebrate the Cooperative Program like Louisiana Baptists. Hit by the twin hurricanes ... the Louisiana Baptist Convention is attempting to directly assist and coordinate national assistance to over 200 churches decimated by the storms.” What a challenge faces the LBC.

Mississippi is not in good shape. Fifty-eight churches are aligned with CBF, and those churches have members on state boards. Moreover, the state headquarters opposes the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Disturbingly, graduates of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary are not helpful to conservatives, don’t know what is going on, and say they have never heard of the Baptist Faith and Message. How can this be?

Conservatives have started the Southern Baptists of Mississippi Association (not a new state convention) which gives 55% of receipts to the SBC while the state convention gives 33%. Support for the SBMA is growing.

North Carolina is improving. The new president and 1VP were backed by Conservative Carolina Baptists, and the president defeated a female pastor who is a leader in the NC chapter of CBF. The presidential vote was encouraging: 1962 to 845. For 2VP a middle of the roader beat the CCB candidate 1443 to 1103.

One positive budget change: money designated for CBF will no longer be considered as Cooperative Program dollars. This change should reduce the number of messengers authorized to liberal churches.

Messengers defeated a motion by Ted Stone, a Durham-based evangelist, to eliminate three of the four NC giving plans, retaining only the one sending CP dollars to the SBC. But the motion is gaining support: in 2004 it failed by nearly two to one; this time it received 44% support.

By a very large majority messengers directed the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s board of directors to develop and implement a policy regarding any church that “knowingly affirms, approves, or endorses homosexual behavior. ... Such policy must deal clearly with homosexual behavior and include that a church which knowingly affirms, approves, or endorses homosexual behavior is a church not in friendly cooperation with the convention.”

Tennessee is an interesting state. It’s president is the only state president who has no appointive powers. Instead, in TN the Committee on Committees selects nominees to serve on the Committee on Nominations, and the Com. on Nominations selects nominees to serve on the Com. on Committees. Thus, once any one group achieves a majority on both committees, it can be self-perpetuating. This is exactly what has happened with liberals dominating both these committees and hence the selection of nominees for other state bodies.

One minor improvement this year is that in the second of two required votes the state president was given a vote on the Executive Board. This is a small positive step, but what is really needed is to bring TN into conformity with the process that works so well in every other Southern Baptist state convention and in the SBC itself: the state president should be given constitutional authority to appoint members of the Committee on Committees. While this appears at first blush to be a great increase in the influence of the president, closer examination shows that it really places more power in the hands of messengers to the annual meeting ... because they elect the president. In Southern Baptist polity ultimate power is supposed to flow upward from messengers and local churches. It should not be vested in an individual or small self-perpetuating group (such as the Com. on Committees and Com. on Nominations). Of course, Tennessee Baptists have the right to arrange their polity anyway they wish, but they should also have the wisdom to appreciate the importance of the generally accepted Southern Baptist process.

The new TN president is a theological conservative who personally supports the resurgence but has not been active. He was elected with only 18 votes more than the other nominee, a very open and active conservative. The 1VP is a solid conservative who was elected over a pastor whose church contributes to CBF. The 2VP election was a real landslide! One of the prime leaders of the resurgence in TN was elected by just a five vote margin over a pastor who is an inerrantist but who opposes the resurgence.

TN has had a major issue with its educational institutions, and this year it began to come to a head.

Belmont University wants to go its own way, severing its affiliation with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Belmont’s proposal was that immediately the TBC would stop funding Belmont (scheduled for $2,330,304 in 2006) and Belmont would begin selecting its own trustees including up to 40% non-Baptists. Messengers approved the modified budget, but final resolution awaits legal evaluation of a 1951 contract which reportedly contains language stating that if Belmont passed from Baptist control, its property would revert to the possession of the TBC executive board. Stand by for the next chapter of the Belmont saga.

There are also serious questions about the biblical integrity of Carson-Newman College which chose to award its distinguished alumnus of the 2005-2006 year award to Ralph Elliott. It was Elliott’s heretical 1961 book, The Message of Genesis, which alerted many Southern Baptists to widespread liberalism in our convention, and that realization, in turn, led to the Conservative Resurgence.

There are 26 churches in TN which contribute to CBF. Carson-Newman has a trustee board with 33 members. Of those, 14 have memberships in a pro-CBF church. By comparison, 8 of he 38 Belmont trustees, one of the 23 Harrison-Chilhowee trustees, and none of the 36 Union University trustees are from TN CBF churches.

In sum, TN has continuing challenges, but it is somewhat more conservative this year than last and conservatives are more optimistic.

State Budgets

 Twenty-six states increased their budgets for 2006 ranging from 0.22% IA, to 7.0% HW. In addition to HW, three others also made substantial increases: 5.9% WY, 5.8% SBCV, and 5.0% New England. Eight states reduced their budgets, with the most dramatic decrease being 17.5% in the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. You may recall that the North American Mission Board stopped supplementing the DCBC budget because they are so liberal. Six states kept the same budgets, and I have received no information on Ohio. Other states decreasing budgets were: AK -4%, DK -12%, KN -0.3%, LA -4.5%, MI -12.8%, Min-Wisc -1.8%, & VA-BGAV -2.1%.

Regarding contributions to the SBC, most states made no change. Five increased the SBC percentage: CO & NY +0.25%, IN +0.3%, TN +2.5% (made possible by the zeroing out of Belmont and the redistribution of those funds), and Pennsylvania-So. Jersey +0.1%. One-tenth percent may not sound like much, but this is the 13^th consecutive year of increase for PA-SJ.

The states giving the highest percentages to the SBC are: The Southern Baptist of Texas Convention 53%; the Southern Baptists Conservatives of Virginia 50%; and GA between 49% and 50% (50% computed after a preferred item is deducted).

North Carolina has four giving plans. Plans A & D give 32% to the SBC. B sends 10% to SBC, 10.9% to theological education in NC, and 11.1% to “Special Missions”. C is like B except the 10% is sent to CBF, nothing to SBC.

Two states have multiple ways to channel Cooperative Program funds that go out of state. (1) The Baptist General Convention of Texas sends a form to each church on which the church indicates whether it wants to participate in the BGCT adopted plan: 79% to BGCT budget, 21% to the SBC, CBF, BGCT missions or specified other causes divided as the church indicates on the form. Alternately, the church can choose its own percentages for the BGCT budget and any missions cause (SBC, CBF, etc.) it selects.

(2) The Baptist General Association of Virginia has three tracks (World Missions 1. 2, and 3) plus churches can design their own. In WM1 34% of a church’s contributions go to the SBC CP. In WM3 28% goes to the CBF, nothing to the SBC. In WM2 only about 7% goes to SBC entities. Of course, in the self-designed tracks the decision is up to the church. Of Virginia’s BGAV churches 320 give through WM1, 710 WM2, 103 WM3, and 290 via self-designed plans.

Clearly the BGAV gives to the SBC the smallest percentage of any state convention.

Resolution Review

Fifteen states adopted resolutions honoring disaster relief workers and/or those who provided material support: AL, AZ, AR, FL, IL, KY, LA, MD-DE, MI, NM, NV, OK, SC, SBTC. Seven supported traditional marriage and/or opposed same-sex unions: AL, IN, MI, NW, NV, SC, SBTC. Six passed resolutions regarding the perils of government education and/or affirming that public school children should be exposed to alternatives to evolution: KY, MO, NW, OK, SC, SBTC, TN. Five expressed in resolutions their support of our troops and their families: AK, FL, NM, OK, SC. Four expressed appreciation for Dr. Adrian Rogers and sympathy for his family: AL, CA, LA, TN. (Some states had completed their conventions before Dr. Rogers died.) Four also noted the 80^th anniversary of the Cooperative Program and praised its importance: AK, AR, OK. SC. Three opposed gambling: AL, AR, KY. Two opposed the sale of beer on college campuses: AR, AZ. And two opposed acceptance of homosexuality: AR, WV. No other resolution was adopted by more than one state.

State Roster

Remember that in this article the terms “conservative”, “moderate”, and “liberal” refer to the individual’s denominational stance, not necessarily to his theology. Someone who is theologically conservative may cooperate with liberals organizationally.

AL: In pretty good shape and improving. All officers are conservative. Negligible CBF influence with none or virtually none on the state board. Samford University has been the major problem, but the president is retiring, and the school may call a more conservative president. The U. of Mobile is moving conservative.

AK: A small convention with only 74 churches and 28 missions. Officers are nice guys but unwilling to take a stand. The state is fairly liberal politically and otherwise.

AZ: All officers conservative. All votes at the convention unanimous. 2005 was the strongest year yet for CP giving. More evangelistic than last year.

AR: The new president is an inerrantist but one who consistently cries peace, peace. He defeated the candidate of the conservatives. The latter was then elected 1VP. Reportedly some conservatives think the battle is over and have relaxed ... a sure formula for return to the bad old days. Also, intentional interims are having a negative effect.

CA: President re-elected, on “moderate” side. Fortunately messengers defeated a motion that would have had the CA state convention to choose who would fill SBC board openings from CA. This would contradict the SBC constitution and caused a major problem. There are serious problems in CA with Baptist-building acquiescence.

CO: In the executive director’s report he said, “We are a strong conservative state convention free of division and controversy. This is a wonderful legacy we Colorado Baptists have been given.” He is right. All officers are conservative.

DK: A small state with 88 churches and missions. Had 7 church starts this past year. Officers conservative. Messengers affirmed unanimously the Dakota Baptist School of Theology and Leadership, a new ministry designed to train pastors and laymen in biblical studies and church leadership. It is college level and uses a virtual classroom (via your computer). It is brand new and does not yet have a website, but you can get more information by calling the Dakota state office at 701-255-3765. Costs only $50 per course! People in any state can use it.

DC: So liberal that NAMB has stopped providing $500,000 annually. Last year DC cut its budget $250,000. This year another cut: $214,700. Messengers sent the budget back to the Finance Committee and instructed the state’s Executive Board to approve a new budget. The Executive Board met and approved the original budget proposal on 1 Dec. The seriousness of the situation is clear in a 17 Nov. letter to DCBC Ex. Board members, “DCBC’s auditor recently cautioned DCBC against continuing to pass bogus budgets if we desire to remain a solvent mission agency.”

FL: President a solid conservative; two VPs unknowns. Overall the state convention is very conservative. There is a nascent problem in relaxing criteria for positions of trust. Chuck Colson spoke on the hatred of Christianity by militant Islamists and secular naturalists: “One hundred million Muslims in the world are influenced by Islamofascism and they are at war with us.” The convention emphasized the importance of a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage and sought signatures to place it on the ballot in November 2006.

GA: A strong, conservative state convention. All officers solidly conservative. The big challenge was Mercer University, the second largest Baptist-affiliated educational institution in the world with 7,300 students.

Just hours before the convention opened, the GBC executive committee met and agreed to present a motion to sever ties with Mercer. Mistrust of Mercer has grown for years and was inflamed in October by discovery of a student led gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender organization that had existed since 2002. The Mercer Triangle Symposium, billing itself as the university’s “GLBT Rights Student Organization,” sponsored a National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 and publicized the event in The Cluster, the campus newspaper. In addition, it published the names of 29 faculty and staff who supported the organization and its goals. Among those showing their support were professor of Christianity Margaret Dee Bratcher and assistant professor of Christianity Janell Johnson. The motion passed on a show of ballots by an estimated 98% approval. To become final it requires a second vote in November 2006.

Georgia Baptists recorded a victory when it was announced that Shorter College was returned to the convention. Shorter trustees and administration had sued the GBC in 2002 to go their own way. The GBC will release funds for the college previously escrowed.

Messengers also welcomed a record 104 new churches into the convention, 32 more than last year!

HW: Over the last 2 or 3 years HW has become a bit more conservative as good pastors have come from SBC seminaries. Officers theologically conservative but not involved in movement.

IL: Officers strong, active conservatives. There may be a few churches sympathetic to CBF but no activity. Welcomed 8 new churches.

IN: All officers strong conservatives. Only 1 or 2 CBF leaning churches. The state has trained more than 500 disaster relief volunteers and sent over $150,000 to help states that experienced natural disasters this past year.

IA: Approximately 100 churches & missions in the state. Welcomed 4 new churches. Marked 50 years of SBC work in Iowa. CBF activity has declined with one exclusively CBF church and one dual CBF & SBC.

KN: There has been no resurgence battle in KN, so it may be impossible to judge where theological conservatives stand. President is strong, VP unknown. No visible CBF activity.

KY: Covered earlier under “Four Focus Churches”.

MD-DE: Officers are all conservative, president theologically though not movement. State is becoming more conservative each year. At the meeting a NAMB video invited Baltimore to become a strategic focus city. A motion carried unanimously that the executive director form a committee to research what MD-DE can do to influence the Maryland public school curriculum to be more biblical and family friendly, and bring a report to the 2006 convention.

MI: President and 1VP are solid conservatives; 2VP at least theologically conservative. The challenge for Michigan is to effectively plant changes. There has been no change in over 10 years. Currently the state lacks a vision.

Min-Wisc: 145 churches and missions in the two states.  174 messengers and visitors.  All officers elected by acclamation; their backgrounds are unknown.

MO: All officers conservative and elected by acclamation. Messengers adopted by an 82% to 18% vote a series of changes to the state constitution which implement “single alignment” ... under the new provisions an MBC church cannot be dually aligned with another state or national organization, such as the liberal Baptist General Convention of Missouri or the CBF. MO is the first state to pass such a measure.

The MBC has been locked in a four-year legal battle with five institutions (Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist College, the Baptist Home, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, and Word & Way newspaper) ever since their trustees voted to amend their charters to make their boards self-perpetuating. The case has gone back and forth as attorneys have spent months on procedural matters. The MBC has enjoyed a string of court victories in recent months and MBC attorneys say they are hopeful that Cole County Circuit Judge will hear the case in January.

MO is now a strongly conservative state. The theological and denominational battle has been won. Now they face the question, how do we proceed? Do we simply replace previous programs with new programs, or do we seek increased holiness, increased commitment from both clergy and laity?

MT: About 140 churches and missions. The new president is conservative, 1VP unknown. However, there are no known liberals in the state. (Liberals are not drawn to tough areas, preferring to take over someone else’s work.) The state has changed to a “team” ministry which in one association has resulted in six church plants this year, a unique experience.

NV: All officers conservatives. A quiet convention.

NE: There are 241 churches & missions in the 6 New England states. Elected Paul Kim their first non-Anglo president and the first Korean president of any SBC state convention. Kim and his VP are sound conservatives. Only a couple of CBF churches. As young pastors are called to more pulpits, conservative strength grows.

NM: About 400 total churches. All officers conservatives. NM is a very loyal SBC convention. There are a few individual liberals but no organized effort. There is reported to be great spiritual hunger and signs of an impending awakening. The bad news is that in NM church life is not “usual” or the “standard”. Consequently, Baptists there face a challenge of getting folks to make a commitment to a church. NM is hosting a World changers conference in June 2006. Information is available by going to the NAMB website and clicking the World Changers link.

NY: The president and 2VP are strong conservatives; 1VP theologically conservative but not an activist. All leadership is conservative. There may be one or two CBF-leaning churches.

Northwest: All officers are conservative. Almost no CBF presence.

OH: No information received.

OK: President is a solid conservative but not an activist. 1VP is an inerrantist. 2VP unknown. There are a few CBF churches on the margins but no change over the last year.

Evangelism receiving emphasis. This year 298 churches doubled their baptisms, and 85 went from zero to between 1 and 24. Three association’s baptisms grew by more than 50, with Kay Association baptizing 120 more this year. Also, 18,370 people were trained in personal evangelism.

OK has three large websites: code2life.com has 6,000 testimonies of faith; mostimportantthing.com has 800; and the new majorthing.com already has 500.

PA-South Jersey: The officers are all conservative. The executive director is committed to the CP.

SC: The new president is an inerrantist but not a conservative activist. He won 334 to 231 over the pastor nominated by conservatives. 1VP & 2VP are solid conservatives. Adopted bylaw changes limit trustee membership to in-state churches and declare the Bible to be the supreme authority for activities and decisions. SC is not meeting goals for starting new churches. Conservatives have some divisions which could become real problems.

TX-SBTC: 1,722 churches. Obviously, all officers are strong conservatives. Changes are taking place. Now about 6 to 8 BGCT churches per month are joining the SBTC, a good bit less than a couple of years ago. However, more Afro-American and Hispanic churches are joining. Plus 6 to 8 new churches are being started each month. These last three categories of churches have much lower offerings than the long-established churches which just a few years ago comprised the bulk of additions. Therefore, the budget is not growing as rapidly as it once was.

TX-BGCT: Some 6,000 churches affiliated. Elected the first Afro-American to serve as BGCT president. He is also very active in CBF. As churches have transferred to the conservative Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the BGCT has had financial problems. However, this year they increased the total budget 4.1% to $49,437,000 ... but that is still $1,441,000 less than their 2003 budget. The BGCT continues to leave the SBC as fast as it dares.

UT-ID: A solid conservative won a two-way election as president. Dan Ozuna, former 2VP, was elected 1VP; he is a solid conservative. The 2VP is an unknown. There is no known CBF activity.

VA-BGAV: Low attendance: 850 messengers, lowest since 1957's 733. The executive director attributed attendance to lack of controversy and the Northern Virginia location, and no doubt he is at least partially correct. There may be a third factor: growing disillusionment by church members with the BGAV’s anti-SBC, very liberal stance.

The new president is Bert Browning, pastor of Huguenot Road BC, Richmond. Browning has been a CBF national council member 2002-2005 and regional CBF-Virginia representative 2000. 1VP is a layman. 2VP is Barbara Filling, pastor of Mount Pleasant BC, Charles City. All elected by acclamation. Each was nominated by a member of Virginia Baptists Committed, a “moderate” advocacy group. As noted in the Budget section above, the BGAV reduced its budget by 2.1% or $300,000.

Positive change: For the first time Averett University, Danville, is not included in the BGAV budget. Last year the BGAV ended a long-term affiliation with Averett in a dispute over homosexuality and biblical authority.

WV: 191 total churches and missions. 7 joined this year. All elected officers as well as the unsuccessful nominees for president and 2VP are sound conservatives. There are no WV CBF churches; some churches are dually aligned with the American Baptist Convention.

WY: No background information received.