One Man’s Journey                                                              

by George F. Mullinax,                                                                               Vol. IX, No. 7, August 1996

     pastor, Western Branch Baptist Church, Portsmouth

          As Reverend Doyle Chauncey was being confirmed in March as Executive Director of Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, my mind darted back across thirty years as a Virginia Baptist. What a journey it has been!

          I came to Virginia with spiritual roots in the fervent, evangelistic spirit of Texas. In addition I had served in the Chicago Baptist Association at a time when they were growing at the rate of one new church or one new mission per month.

          My first statewide meeting in Virginia was an Evangelism Conference which I approached with eager anticipation. Words cannot express my utter disappointment. I could have received more inspiration watching the grass grow. There have been great Evangelism Conferences in Virginia, but that was not one of them. I shook it off and determined that things would be different.

           I was wrong. Across the ensuing years I saw a Mormon elected as a trustee for one of our schools, movies which were too sexually explicit to be shown in the city being shown on the campus of what many considered a Virginia Baptist school, a public denial of the deity of Jesus by a University of Richmond professor, and much more.

          It soon became clear that to voice opposition on the floor of the General Association accomplished nothing. I found the Baptist General Association to be a very monolithic organization structured against substantive change. I withdrew to my local church and for years attended virtually nothing on a state level.

          Then the first Virginia Baptist Bible Conference was announced, I had mixed emotions. I was excited about its potential, but working outside the system was uncomfortable to me. Nevertheless, the program was of such a caliber that I decided to attend.

          Somewhat self-consciously I entered the meeting. There I found the men whose ministries and walk with the Lord I respected the most. These were my friends. The program and fellowship that night were thrilling and the realization of God's presence fell like rain on dry soil.

Despite the message which the large attendance at that meeting and subsequent meetings should have conveyed to people in places of influence and decision in the BGAV, the atrocities continued. Many were related to withdrawing funds from the Cooperative Program budget of the Southern Baptist Convention. In recent years it has also included a refusal to take a biblical stand against homosexuality and to voice opposition to partial-birth abortion.

          When the issue of forming a new state convention was voted on last November, I voted against it. While my rationale included timing and leadership, I suppose my stubborn desire for cooperation was also a factor. However, it takes two to have cooperation, and conservatives in Virginia are one short! Tokenism and courtesy are not cooperation.

          As I sat in that historic service in Richmond in March, I was deeply moved with a clear realization that the time has come for theological conservatives who are Southern Baptists to "come out from among them" and establish a new state convention. It is a matter of spiritual integrity. Organizational cooperation must never degenerate into spiritual compromise.

I do not know how the S.B.C. will relate to our new convention. That is their decision.

I do not know what actions, wise or unwise, we may precipitate elsewhere. That is the responsibility of the persons making those decisions.

I do not know how many churches will ultimately become a part of the S.B.C.V. That is up to the churches.

I do not know the ultimate destiny of our new convention. That is in the hands of our sovereign God.

I only know that we must obey the will of God as conveyed by His Holy Spirit. I am convinced that that means formal action to become a new and separate state convention. May God help us.