CONVENTION SPOKESMAN, INERRANTIST, COPPENGER IS MIDWESTERN NOMINEE

by Herb Hollinger                                                                                                                     Vol. VIII, No. 5, May 1995

He is an articulate spokesman for the "conservative resurgence," an avowed inerrantist and most probably the next president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

Mark T. Coppenger, 46, has been nominated to succeed Milton Ferguson at the smallest of the six Southern Baptist Convention-owned seminaries. The 35-member board of trustees of Midwestern will interview Coppenger and his wife, Sharon, June 1-2 and then vote on his nomination.

Coppenger has been vice president for convention relations for the SBC Executive Committee since early 1991. In that position, Coppenger has emerged as a national spokesman for the SBC's conservative positions.

Beginning with the SBC annual meeting in Houston in 1979, conservatives have won every presidential election, a key to the strategy developed to name like conservatives to boards of trustees which, in turn, control the agencies and institutions. From the beginning, conservatives have decried what they termed "liberalism" being taught in the SBC seminaries.

If elected, Coppenger makes it plain, he intends the seminary "in the heartland" to clearly identify itself with biblical inerrancy.

"The seminary needs leadership which not only believes in inerrancy, but also stands for it and administers by it," Coppenger told the trustee search committee in a position letter.

In that regard, Coppenger is uniquely equipped. As the public relations point man for the SBC, Coppenger has written materials, pamphlets, produced video and television clips, and produces SBC Life, a monthly publication for the Executive Committee – all in the fashion of articulating, defining, and spreading the convention's conservative positions.

Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Executive Committee, thinks Coppenger is highly qualified to become Midwestern's president.

"He has done an outstanding job for the Executive Committee and will bring the same enormous skills and brilliance to Midwestern's presidential office. He is a true academician and a genuine Christian whose faith is deeply rooted in God's Word and whose utmost desire is to please our Lord Jesus Christ."

Chapman cited Coppenger's experience in the classroom and said it has given him a "vision to see young Southern Baptists going from our seminaries fully equipped to be effective witnesses throughout the world. I can easily see why God would call him to serve on one of our seminary campuses. While we will miss him greatly ... we rejoice in this new opportunity of service for him, his wife, Sharon, and their three children."

And Midwestern Seminary seems like a natural for this native Tennessean who considers Arkansas as home.

Six years on the faculty of the evangelical Wheaton College near Chicago, two years as executive director for Indiana Baptists, and a "good feel for new work area churches," helps him feel he is a "Midwesterner." His wife is the daughter of Rheubin South, colorful executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention until his untimely death in 1986.

Midwestern is still small and young and is positioned for dynamic development, Coppenger said. "Midwestern is a seminary waiting to happen."

Coppenger is no stranger to controversy.

As pastor of First Baptist Church, El Dorado, Ark., Coppenger faced an historic church in decline. The former pastor was a man "strongly identified" with the leaders of the now-Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the moderate Baptist organization critical of SBC leadership and a vocal critic of the conservative changes in SBC seminaries.

Then when he went to Indiana in 1988 as state executive director, he faced a convention organization in financial straits. When he came to the Executive Committee in 1991, two staff members of Baptist Press had been fired. The committee created a public relations post with one of the purposes to combat the rhetoric of the moderate critics by clearly articulating and defining the SBC's policies and positions. Coppenger, with a doctorate from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., in philosophy and extensive teaching experience in ethics, philosophy of law, aesthetics, and philosophy of science, was the perfect choice.

Serving 25 years in the Army Reserve and National Guard, now a lieutenant colonel and assigned to the Army's Office of Public Affairs at the Pentagon, gives him the discipline needed in a battle to win the hearts and minds of Southern Baptists.

Lewis Adkison, Colorado Springs, Colo., pastor and chairman of the trustee board and search committee, said Coppenger was "very clearly" the top choice among 24 resumes and recommendations received. The trustees said they found six criteria in Coppenger most appealing:

1) academic credentials

2) love of missions

3) pastoral experience

4) strong in evangelism

5) a known conservative

6) vision and leadership

Adkison told news media, following the announcement April 24 at the regular trustee meeting, that the candidate needed to be "all for the direction of the SBC, believe the Bible without reservation, and be an inerrantist."

Search committee members made it plain to news media that more balance is needed in the Midwestern faculty – with inerrantists. However, when asked if they foresaw any difficulty with the faculty, Ronnie W. Rogers, a Hot Springs, Ark., pastor and president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, said they don't expect it to be a problem.

Also, regarding a topic which has been a recent headline at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Rogers said "in the framework of inerrancy," Coppenger would agree that women should not serve as senior pastors.

Rogers called Ferguson's cooperation with the search committee and trustees "exemplary."

Ferguson, 65, had planned to retire July 31, 1996, but told trustees, "I will respond positively and favorably to any change in the best interests of the seminary." Although he said the Aug. 1 date for a new president is "a very short time frame in educational leadership," Ferguson said "we will reorder our priorities. We can do it and we will do it. My primary concern is the welfare of the seminary."

Rogers said trustees will keep their commitment to Ferguson to continue his salary and benefits to July 31, 1996. Ferguson will receive his $61,000 salary plus a housing allowance when he moves out of the presidential home on the campus. Trustees also voted, in honor and appreciation for his 23 years of leadership, to give him a gift of $50,000 on Aug, 1. 1996.

Adkison said the committee met twice with Coppenger; once in mid -March and then an extensive interview April 20-21 in Memphis, Tenn.

Asked about the vote on June 2, Adkison said the search committee would ask the full board to use a two-thirds vote for approval, the same as is required to hire faculty. Coppenger will be a member of the faculty.

"He was the unanimous and enthusiastic recommendation of the committee, Adkison said,

The Aug. 1 effective date will accommodate the need for Coppenger to move his family from Nashville to Kansas City, get his children in school, and be ready for the fall term of the seminary, Adkison said. The Coppengers have three children: Caleb, 18; Jedidiah. 15; and Chesed, 11.

The salary package for Coppenger will be given to the trustee board at the June 1-2 meeting, search committee members said.

A 1970 magna cum laude graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, Coppenger earned a doctor of philosophy degree from Vanderbilt in 1974 and a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist "Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1983,

He was a trustee of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., 1987-88, and chairman of the SBC Resolutions Committee in 1989. [BP]