BGCT leaders declare their sense of belonging in CBF              

by Russell D. Moore                                                                                   Vol. XIV, No. 7 August 2001

In the aftermath of the decision last year by the Baptist General Convention of Texas to defund the six seminaries and the ethics commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, BGCT leaders maintained that they should not be lumped together with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. But, key BGCT leaders were in Atlanta for the CBF General Assembly, and publicly stated their sense of belonging with the moderate Baptist splinter group.

Marv Knox, editor of the Texas Baptist Standard newspaper, served as master of ceremonies for the June 28 meeting on the future of the CBF for the CBF auxiliary group, the Whitsitt Historical Society. "I was at another meeting [the SBC annual meeting] in New Orleans a few weeks ago," Knox said. "I see fewer and fewer people at those meetings that I know, and even fewer that I like. I saw more before I got off the elevator here than I did the entire time in New Orleans."

Knox's panel on the history and future of the CBF included Charles Wade, executive director of the BGCT, whom Knox clarified is "not my boss." Wade served on the first CBF Coordinating Council and was co-chair of the CBF General Assembly Steering Committee in 1992.

Reflecting on the history of the CBF since its inception in 1991, Wade said, "I have found here a deep sense of belonging. I treasure the sense of belonging we experienced then and now." [BP]