The State of the States
by T. C. Pinckney Vol. XI, NO. 1, January 1998
Summary: Most Southern Baptists see only few and partial reports of what happens at the annual conventions of other states and so have no overall picture of what is happening across the denomination. This wrap-up is based upon Baptist Press reports from every state convention and personal conversations with contacts in all of the larger conventions.
In a word, conservatives continued to make progress throughout the convention with the notable and significant exception of Texas. Conservatives lead in twelve state conventions (CA, CO, FL, GA, IN, Md-Del, MI, NC, OK, SC, VA-SBCV, WV), one more than last year, and have strengthened their position in four of those (CO, Md-Del, NC, SC). Liberals control eight states (AL, AR, DC, KY, MO, TN, TX, VA-BGAV), although conservatives are making progress in AR and MO. The situation is mixed in eight states (AZ, IL, K-N, LA, MS, NM, OH, P-SJ), one less than last year because MI moved into the conservative column. Of these mixed states, AZ is somewhat more conservative than moderate, K-N is moving a bit more conservative, and LA conservatives are making good progress. The other twelve conventions/fellowships are new-work states where weakness and struggle for growth absorb all energies (AK, DK, HI, IO, M-W, MT, NV, NE, NY, NW, U-I, WY).
Percentage contributions to the SBC portion of the Cooperative program are one important indicator of commitment to the SBC. This year one state, GA, reduced that percentage by 0.75% while seven states increased CP giving: three by 1% (AZ, DC, IO), two by 0.5% (K-N & WV), and two by 0.25% (NV & P-SJ). Last year eight increased the percentage, one decreased. The Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia remain the only state convention fulfilling the original vision of the CP when it was founded in 1925, that each state convention would retain 50% of its receipts and forward 50% to the SBC. Next behind the SBCV is Maryland-Delaware, sending about 48%, and Georgia which now gives 43.94%.
Turning to individual states, the biggest story was Texas where liberals crushed conservatives by passing the so-called Effectiveness and Efficiency Committee report and electing former Southwestern Seminary president Russell Dilday as BGCT president.
One provision of the E/E report copies action taken by the BGAV here in Virginia several years ago by basing messenger representation at the annual state meeting not upon total CP giving by the church, but only upon that portion given to the state — not considering the portion going to the SBC. Other parts of the report set the Baptist General Association of Texas on the road to becoming an independent denomination, by providing for their own theological schools, their own missionaries, publishing their own Sunday School literature, and raised the “Cooperative Baptist Fellowship” to a status equal to the SBC for Texas cooperation.
The conservative group in Texas is known as “Southern Baptists of Texas” (SBT). The SBT board of directors met in Dallas 20 November (ten days after the E/E report was passed) and voted unanimously to authorize their officers to begin the transition from a fellowship to a new state convention.
Of course, the differences between the BGCT and the SBT are not merely organizational; at heart they are theological. The outgoing BGCT president, Charles Wade, was quoted in an interview with the Austin American-Statesman as saying, “Texans will support Southern Baptist leaders if they focus on missions and evangelism instead of trying to force all Baptists to believe the Bible is factual and scientifically true.” [Question: When did anyone have to “force” Southern Baptists to elieve the Bible is factual and scientifically true?] Wade also told messengers at the BGCT convention that he supports ordaining women as senior pastors. Dee Slocum, pastor of Highland Baptist, Amarillo, and vice-president of the SBT, said, “That quote capsules why there is a beech of fellowship. The challenge [by the BGCT] is that, if we just back off and deny the accuracy of Scripture, we can all get along. That is not a concession we will back. The SBT will not make that concession.”
[Correction: The Banner ran the following correction in the April 1998 issue: "The January 1998 Banner's lead article, "The State of the States," contains an error on p. 22 in reporting events in Texas. The article correctly cited the Austin American-Statesman which quoted outgoing Baptist General Association of Texas president Charles Wade as saying, "Texans will support Southern Baptist leaders if they focus on missions and evangelism instead of trying to force all Baptists to believe the Bible is factually and scientifically true." (our italics). The Banner has just learned (from one of the staunchest conservatives I know, though not a nationally known name) that the Austin newspaper's article was in error. Charles Wade did not make the statement the Austin American-Statesman attributed to him! It turns out there has been considerable to-do in Texas about that article, and now the reporter has admitted inserting the words The Banner italicized into Wade's predistributed BGCT address text. Second, in his address Wade never said that he supports ordaining female pastors as printed by the Austin American-Statesman and picked up by The Banner. In summary, we quoted our source correctly, but our source was wrong. We regret printing the erroneous statements. TCP]
Slocum also noted that since the E/E report first became public, SBT has received a great deal of interest from Baptists across Texas. After its passage he said, “We have been bombarded with telephone calls and faxes from across the state; the callers desire a new convention. They desire a stronger relationship with the SBC, not a weaker one. They want to move closer, not distance ourselves. ... I don’t dispute that the BGCT has the latitude to set its own direction, but we have a choice too. The rest of us have to make a choice, to either be Texas Baptists or Southern Baptists.”
There are more than 5,500 Southern Baptist churches in Texas, about 14% of all SBC churches. Consequently, how Texas events play out is of great importance to the entire Convention.
In North Carolina conservative Mac Brunson, pastor of Green Street BC of High Point, was elected by a margin of 328 votes or 53.3%, over moderate Jack Causey. The vote was 2,624 to 2,296. 1997 marks the third year in a row that NC has elected a conservative state president. A conservative 1VP, Mike Cummings, a native American, was also elected ... by a 186 vote margin, an ominous trendline. Sure enough, for second vice president the conservative lost to a moderate by 33 votes. When will conservatives learn the importance of remaining faithful to the end? A moderate effort to amend the state constitution to require that churches send at least 1% of their undesignated receipts to the state convention budget failed, though it fell only 153 votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority. The amendment would have reduced the number of messengers from strong conservative churches.
South Carolina messengers elected a solid slate of conservatives and approved a recommendation from the executive committee NOT to pursue establishment of a seminary or divinity school in South Carolina.
Michigan messengers elected as president a strong conservative, pastor Ray Shelton, and as 1VP another conservative, pastor James Kennedy, an Afro-American, both by acclamation. All officers in Colorado are definite conservatives. The 2VP, an associate pastor, is Willard Johnson, an Afro-American.
In Georgia, all officers are strong conservatives. As a result of publication last year of Mercer University president Kirby Godsey’s heretical book, When We Talk about God ... Let’s Be Honest, messengers also approved a nine-point report calling for a greater convention role in choosing Mercer trustees and stipulating that the next Mercer president must be a Baptist who can affirm the theology of the Baptist Faith and Message statement. In addition, a resolution was adopted by the convention stating that if the full board of Mercer trustees fails to adopt the report, then the convention would begin the process of cutting funds to the university. (On the question of heresy, readers may want to review “What Is Heresy Anyway?” in the last [Nov/Dec 1997] Baptist Banner.)
Tennessee conservatives are not organized and consequently are ineffective. However, efforts are being made, and perhaps another year or two will bring about change for the better. Kentucky conservatives are somewhat better organized, but so far have failed to win elections at the state convention. For example, the moderate backed candidate won the state presidency with 58% of the vote. On the other hand, the good news from KY is that a liberal-proposed amendment to the state constitution failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority, falling far short in a vote of 298 in favor to 271 opposed. The amendment would have allowed liberals to give undesignated money to other than state and SBC causes and receive full credit toward messengers for the state convention.
In California the new president, Roger Spradlin, a strong conservative, was elected by acclamation. Perhaps an even stronger indicator of California’s move right is that the messengers from 19th Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco, which has a female senior pastor, were refused seating for that reason, thus reversing actions of the previous three years when the messengers were seated despite challenges. The vote was 329 to 227.
States dealt with resolutions in widely varying ways and results. Several states passed no resolutions. In the other states three subjects were addressed most frequently: twelve states opposed gambling in one form or another; ten state conventions expressed support for persecuted Christians around the world plus one state expressed support for religious freedom for Jews; and nine states opposed abortion, especially partial birth abortion. Three states endorsed the SBC boycott of Disney. No other subject was addressed by more than two state conventions.
Regarding Virginia, the SBCV convention was reported in the Oct/Nov 1997 Banner, and for information about the BGAV convention results see “BGAV Moves Away from SBC” and “BGAV Abortion Resolution” in this Banner.