Jim Henry to Oppose Fred Wolfe

by Herb Hollinger                                                                                                Vol. VII, No. 4, May 1994

Pastor Jim Henry of First Baptist Church Orlando ended speculation with a 27 March announcement to his church that he will be nominated for SBC president but will "not have a structured campaign effort." The announcement assures messengers to the June 14-16 annual meeting of the SBC in Orlando that they will have at least a two-person ballot. Fred Wolfe, pastor of Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile is also an announced candidate.

Wolfe was publicly endorsed Feb. 8 by two former SBC presidents, Jerry Vines and Charles Stanley, at a ministers' Bible conference at First Baptist, Jacksonville.

After reading his statement to the church, Henry also said he did not equate God's leadership in his candidacy "necessarily with victory," nor did he want the congregation to pray for his victory. "I have complete peace that I will be in God's will, win or lose." he said. And, he added, he hopes following the election the SBC would become a unified people.

Both Henry and Wolfe are high-profile pastors who are friends – Wolfe once nominated Henry for president of the SBC Pastors" conference – and share some similarities. Both are considered conservatives among Southern Baptists. Both are 56 and have held their megachurch pastorates for a long time. Henry has been at Orlando 16 years, Wolfe at Mobile for 23 years.

There has been speculation Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist in Dallas, would nominate Henry. However, Graham told Bap tist Press March 28 that it was Henry's decision and it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the matter. He said he is praying about it, has spoken to Henry once recently, and suggested there were a number of people who would be willing to nominate the Florida pastor.

Apparently Wolfe will have the backing of many of the former SBC presidents among others. Henry told his congregation that he would like to focus on the future and "build community and fellowship and love in this body." Anyone who believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and sees evangelism as the "heartbeat" of the SBC should be welcomed, he said.

Wolfe said he has been aligned with the conservatives since they first won the SBC presidency in 1979. "We have reaffirmed that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and we've reaffirmed that we want our schools and institutions to be true to the Baptist Faith and Message, to hold the Scriptures in high regard and that we want our denomination ... to return to its conservative roots," Wolfe said.

[Editorial Comment: As it now stands, messengers to the SBC in Orlando will choose between Fred Wolfe and Jim Henry for SBC president. There seems to be no theological difference between these two fine pastors; both are inerrantists. Nor does there seem to be any administrative difference; both have built outstandingly successful ministries.

Personally, I am confident that Fred Wolfe will work consistently to continue the conservative resurgence which over the last fifteen years has gone so far toward turning our great denomination back toward the full authority of the Word of God. From the first Fred has participated in the system, understands it, and will continue to implement it. As fine a man Jim Henry is, I am not satisfied that he meets any of those three criteria. In fact, the respective remarks by Henry and Wolfe quoted in the last two paragraphs of the article printed above demonstrate the different focusses of the two men. It would be a shame to suffer a setback now just when the kingdom is beginning to reap the rewards of fifteen years of spiritual struggle.

My strong recommendation is that as many conservatives as possible go to Orlando vote for Fred Wolfe.]