SBC Greensboro: A Lot of Action

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                      Vol. XIX, No. 5, June/July 2006

Over 11,000 messengers from Southern Baptist churches met in Greensboro, NC, for the Pastors’ conference 11-12 June and the annual SBC business meeting 13-14 June. As usual, Pastors’ Conference attendees were treated to outstanding sermons and dynamic music Sunday evening and Monday evening. But this year there was something different: On Monday morning attendees could choose any of ten breakout sessions each of which lasted an hour, and each was given twice. The unifying theme was “Reaching the World through ...” Because of space considerations, only one of these sessions is reported in this Banner: See the separate article “Patterson, Mohler: Calvinism shouldn’t divide Southern Baptists”. Now we turn to the SBC meeting.

Elections

Each year since 1994 only one pastor has been nominated to be president, but this year there were three: Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, AR; Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, TN; and Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, SC. Page was elected on the first ballot with 4,546 or 50.48% of the 8,961 votes cast. (Over 11,000 messengers registered, but never are all present at any one time.) Floyd received 2,247 votes for 24.95%, and Sutton 2,168 for 24.08%.

Page, 53, has been pastor of First Baptist, Taylors, the past five and a half years. First Baptist gives 12.4% to the Cooperative Program. He previously served as pastor of Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA; Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX; and LaFayette Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC. He has served on the executive boards of the South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina state Baptist conventions. He is the author of the book, Trouble with the Tulip: A Closer Examination of the Five Points of Calvinism, released in 2000 by Riverstone Group Publishing.

In his first news conference Page declared a commitment to broadening the involvement of Southern Baptists in decision-making opportunities while clearly affirming the conservative resurgence that resulted in leadership changes throughout the SBC.

“I do not believe the convention elected me to somehow undo the conservative resurgence. That is not who I am, not what they’ve asked for, not what they want,” Page said. Instead, he said he believes the vote for him was a wake up call from grassroots Southern Baptists to focus on the Cooperative Program channel of missions support and to broaden the base of involvement in the convention.

One seldom if ever knows just why one candidate is elected over another, but this year there may have been several factors, each of unknown weight. For one thing, Page grew up in Greensboro and for the last five years has pastored in Taylors, SC, less than 200 miles away. Also and perhaps more significant, Page was seen as representing a break from the recent past during which senior leaders of the Conservative Resurgence were viewed as selecting each new presidential candidate.

Honest competition is healthy; iron sharpens iron. And sound Baptist polity relies on openness and meaningful choice. Hence, this year’s field of three nominees may well be a very strengthening development ... IF our new president carefully selects his appointees from among (1) deliberately inerrantist pastors and laymen who (2) understand the theological struggles we have gone through and who (3) will not allow the Convention to slide back into a big tent camaraderie where cooperation and compromise are valued above biblical fidelity.

No one should serve on SBC boards simply because he is a nice guy (nor because he isn’t a nice guy). Trustees should understand that their boss is the Convention, not the agency head, that faithfulness to God’s Word is essential, and that sometimes one must have a backbone of steel to pursue the godly course when everyone else wants to go with the flow.

For first vice president there were four nominations: Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC; Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL; Kelly J. Burris, senior pastor of Kempsville Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, VA; and Keith Fordham, an evangelist from Fayetteville, GA, and a member of Harp’s Crossing Baptist Church in Fayetteville, GA.

On the first ballot Dever received a plurality of the votes, with 29.72 percent (1,090 votes) to Jackson’s 27.48 percent (1,008 votes); Kelly J. Burris received 22.76 percent (835) while Keith Fordham received 19.79 percent (726 votes). Convention rules stipulate that, if no one wins a majority, the top two candidates meet in a runoff. On the second vote Jimmy Jackson won with 51.44% (1,107 votes) of the vote, edging Mark Dever (47.86%, 1,030 votes).

Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, CA, was elected second vice president. Drake received 50.37% (2,408 votes) on the first ballot over three other nominees – J.D. Greear (1,508 votes), pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, NC; Bob Bender (635 votes), pastor of First Baptist Church of Black Forest in Colorado Springs, CO; and Jay Adkins (207 votes), pastor of First Baptist Church in Westwego, LA.

By acclamation, messengers re-elected John Yeats, director of communications for the Louisiana Baptist Convention and a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria, LA, as recording secretary and Jim Wells, director of missions for Tri-County Baptist Association in Nixa, MO, as registration secretary.

Resolutions

Messengers overwhelmingly approved 15 resolutions including one that sought to balance faithful enforcement of the United States’ immigration laws with compassionate outreach to all immigrants. Unlike recent years, the convention required both the morning and evening sessions to act on all the recommendations of the Resolutions Committee.

The committee might have completed its work in the morning had it not been for a lengthy debate on a resolution regarding the use of alcoholic beverages. The messengers eventually passed a recommendation by about a four-fifths majority not only opposing the production and consumption of alcohol but urging the exclusion of Southern Baptists who drink from the convention’s boards, committees, and entities. This was the first alcohol-related resolution since 1991. The first SBC alcohol resolution was adopted in 1886. The SBC has approved 57 resolutions related to alcohol since then.

The resolution on the “crisis of illegal immigration” urged the federal government to secure the country’s borders and enforce its laws, including those that penalize employers who “knowingly hire” illegal immigrants or treat them unjustly. It is estimated about 12 million illegal immigrants are in the United States. The measure, which was adopted in a nearly unanimous vote, also encouraged Southern Baptists and other Christians and their churches to reach out to immigrants regardless of their race, ethnicity, nationality, or “legal status” through sharing the Gospel; implementing need-meeting ministries; starting English classes “on a massive scale”; and encouraging the achievement of citizenship or legal status.

In addition to the resolutions on immigration and alcohol use, the messengers approved in unanimous or nearly unanimous votes measures:

– expressing displeasure with U.S. senators who recently failed to support a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman and calling on the House to approve the proposal.

– affirming Christian teachers in the public schools and encouraging Southern Baptists to provide a godly influence on school systems through such means as election to school boards.

– renewing Southern Baptists’ commitment to stewardship of God’s creation while opposing solutions dependent on “questionable science.”

– condemning all human species-altering technologies, including the creation of human-animal hybrids.

– urging all school systems to accommodate off-campus Bible instruction during educational hours.

– voicing gratitude for the confirmation of federal judges and justices who respect the Constitution and encouraging the continued nomination and confirmation of such judges.

– calling on China to accord refugee status to North Koreans who have fled their country’s tyrannical regime and encouraging the United States and other countries to accept North Koreans as refugees.

– urging the disbanding of the government-supported militias in the Darfur region of Sudan, international trials for “perpetrators of the atrocities” in the area and multi-national aid to the area.

– affirming the service of bivocational, volunteer and part-time pastors and other Gospel ministers

– encouraging Southern Baptists to pray for the president and all members of the U.S. military.

– thanking Southern Baptists and other volunteers who served in disaster relief efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

– expressing gratitude for the ministry at Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center on its 100th anniversary.

– thanking Southern Baptists in the Greensboro region and others who helped make this year’s convention possible.

Resolutions express the views of the messengers meeting at a particular convention but are not binding on churches and the entities of the SBC.

IMB Motions

Messengers referred a motion to the International Mission Board raising concern over the appointment of trustees, alleged coercion of IMB staff, and the narrowing of doctrinal parameters for missionary appointees. The board is to issue a report at the SBC’s 2007 meeting in San Antonio. The call for an investigation of alleged impropriety among IMB trustees was made by Wade Burleson, an IMB trustee from Oklahoma and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, whose motion called for the SBC Executive Committee to handle the matter.

Burleson has been at the center of controversy with the board for several months, but controversy at the SBC was quickly diffused when both Burleson and convention President Bobby Welch said they saw wisdom in waiting a year for the findings of an internal IMB committee.

Welch said it is “overwhelmingly critical” that the matter be handled respectfully and that those who address the issue do so in a “kindhearted manner.” For that reason, he suggested that the matter not be taken up by the Executive Committee until after it had been addressed among the mission board’s trustees.

Other motions addressing the IMB included:

– a motion from a second Oklahoma pastor which, if passed, would have instructed the IMB to restore the duties previously restricted by the other IMB trustees. The motion was ruled out of order by the chair because it pertained to Burleson’s previous motion still under consideration by the convention at large.

– a motion requesting that the IMB conduct an external audit of all funds handled by the board’s Central Asia Region for the years 1999-2005 “because it has come to our attention that a 2002-2003 internal audit was done on the Central Asia region … in which ‘at best could only account for $372,831.62 of embezzled monies.’” The Committee on the Order of Business referred the motion to the IMB for consideration and report to the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention.

– a motion asking for appointment of a study committee to examine ways the IMB and the North American Mission Board “may work in greater partnership and harmony.” The Committee on Order of Business also referred that motion to the IMB and NAMB for consideration and report at next year’s convention.

Motions Regarding the Annual Meeting

Several motions proposed changes for the planning and conduct of future SBC annual meetings. A motion by Robert Kelley, pastor of Raleigh Road Baptist Church in Henderson, NC, proposed each annual meeting include 15 minutes for praise, confession and prayer by messengers. The committee will retain Kelley’s motion and take it into consideration when the agenda is planned for next year’s meeting.

Six other motions related to future meetings all were referred to the Executive Committee:

– that the 2008 annual meeting be held in New Orleans. (Note: While commendable in concern for New Orleans, arrangements and contracts for our annual meetings are concluded years in advance. It is almost certainly impractical to make this change on such short notice.)

– that the Executive Committee “formulate and publicize appropriate plans of action in the event that the SBC annual meeting cannot be held” because of a pandemic or some other disaster.

– that convention bylaws be amended to allow for the submission of resolutions by messengers on the first day of the annual meeting.

– that convention bylaws be amended to allow for a simple majority vote (instead of the current 2/3) to overrule the Committee on Order of Business or the Resolutions Committee.

– that the “Executive Committee work closely with each year’s Local Arrangements Committee to vastly improve accessibility accommodations at the Annual Convention,” submitted by Jerilyn Leverett of Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church, Macon, GA. Leverett also offered a motion to request the North American Mission Board to employ a “person with a disability to accelerate disability awareness, action, and accessibility and outreach” by Southern Baptist churches. That motion was referred to NAMB.

Other Motions Referred to the Executive Committee

– that the Executive Committee determine a “church’s total giving to Southern Baptist missions causes” by including gifts through the Cooperative Program as well as funds provided for mission trips, church planting, disaster relief and designated offerings for SBC entities and “any other legitimate Southern Baptist causes.”

– that bylaws be amended to require convention officers be chosen from churches that give 10 percent "through the Cooperative Program and the local Baptist association."

– that bylaws be amended to allow for trustees and directors of SBC entities to serve a single seven-year term.

– that the Executive Committee conduct an "administrative expense analysis" of all SBC entities receiving CP funds, "including but not limited to reimbursable expense accounts, travel expenses, housing and office expenses and … dollars spent … to maintain the private residences and staff of those entity executives."

– that the Executive Committee "complete a comprehensive study of the makeup and function" of all SBC entity boards.

– that bylaws be amended to require a vote at the next annual meeting on "any doctrinal position or practical policy" of an SBC entity that "goes beyond, or seeks to explain … the Baptist Faith and Message 2000," with revocation of the policy or position if not approved by messengers.

– that the Executive Committee establish a committee to study the impact of Calvinism on Southern Baptists and to recommend any necessary actions.

– that the Committee on Nominations appoint at least one pastor under age 40 “to each of our committees and boards, including the Executive Committee.”

– that a committee be established to examine the impact of the “emergent church movement” among Southern Baptists. Ryan Johnson, youth pastor of First Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, cautioned that the movement is “becoming more and more influential in our day and in the practices of certain denominational entities. … Some Southern Baptist leaders are drifting dangerously close to identifying the SBC with this movement.”

Other Motions

– One motion was referred both to NAMB and the IMB: that a study committee be appointed to consider ways that IMB and NAMB "may work in greater partnership and harmony" due to "the increasingly difficult discernment of the differences between domestic and 'foreign' mission fields.

Two motions were referred to LifeWay Christian Resources:

– that LifeWay “investigate and report” to the 2007 annual meeting on a “growing body of research” that indicates the majority of children from evangelicals do not stay in church as they enter adulthood, the majority of evangelical Christians do not have a “defined Biblical worldview”, and “a growing carnality within evangelical churches [and] … the percentage of unregenerate church members,” submitted by Roger Moran of First Baptist Church in Troy, MO.

– that a LifeWay Christian Store be placed in Phoenix since “the people of Arizona have been paying sales tax on all LifeWay orders since LifeWay has a license to sell in Arizona, but [does] not have a store.”

One motion was referred to GuideStone Financial Resources: that a study be made of "the feasibility of allowing members of Southern Baptist churches to participate in the financial and insurance products of GuideStone."  

Secretary of State Rice

Secretary Condoleezza Rice spoke to messengers Wednesday morning. She said, that without America’s moral leadership, the world could easily descend into chaos and despotism. “The weight of international leadership is not borne easily,” Rice said, “but we as Americans are more than equal to this challenge, and we must be, for if we imagine a world without American leadership we are led inescapably to this solemn conclusion: If America does not serve great purposes, if we do not rally other nations to fight intolerance and support peace and defend freedom, and to help give all hope who suffer oppression, then our world will drift toward tragedy.

The secretary’s 30-minute address followed videotaped comments from President Bush the previous day. Rice thanked Southern Baptists for their acts of compassion in southern Asia after the 2005 earthquake and tsunami; in Africa, where Southern Baptists are drilling wells and caring for AIDS patients; and in recent disaster relief efforts at home.

The daughter and granddaughter of Presbyterian ministers in Birmingham, AL, Rice said she appreciated Southern Baptists’ prayers for her and the President as they pursue peace in the world. She said she prays daily and personally has found solace and strength in prayer in times of tragedy and heartbreak, such as the death of her parents and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Rice said she shares the conviction of President Bush and Southern Baptists who believe the United States can and must be a force for good in the world.

Honoring to Adrian Rogers

The late Adrian Rogers, longtime pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church and three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention, was honored with separate personal and video tributes June 12 and 13 at the Greensboro Coliseum, during the SBC Pastors’ Conference and, then, the annual meeting. In the first video tribute, Rogers was shown in various stages of his 33-year pulpit ministry at the suburban Memphis church. The video ended with Rogers stating in his distinctively deep voice that “the burning ambition in my heart is to finish well.”

The second video tribute came from past SBC presidents, culminating with a prayer by Jimmy Draper as he stood alongside Rogers’ widow, Joyce, and current SBC President Bobby Welch. “He taught us how to be gracious, how to be convictional, how to be passionate yet kind,” Draper, retired president of LifeWay Christian Resources, prayed. “He taught us never to compromise, to stand up for what is right and to do it with courage.”

Rogers was president of the SBC in 1979, 1986 and 1987 and was a key leader in the conservative resurgence. He and Joyce were married 54 years. She told the Pastors’ Conference on June 12 that she has cried out to Jesus for help and hope since her husband’s death last November at age 74 following a battle with cancer and double pneumonia, and that Jesus has embraced her.

On June 13 at the SBC annual meeting, a dozen past convention presidents were shown to messengers on videotape as they gave “a heartfelt touch,” as Welch put it, concerning their friend. Clips of Rogers preaching at key moments in the conservative resurgence also were part of the six-minute presentation.

Honoring Billy Graham

Billy Graham’s impact on the Southern Baptist Convention will last for generations, and a bronze sculpture unveiled June 14 at the annual meeting will likewise cement forever the famous evangelist and his Gospel message for passersby in downtown Nashville, TN.

Representatives from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), sculptor Terrell O’Brien and financiers Chris Fryer and Matt Samuelson joined officials from LifeWay Christian Resources and SBC President Bobby Welch to dedicate a larger-than-life sculpture of Graham during a brief ceremony.

Graham’s grandson, William Franklin Graham IV, who pastors a small Southern Baptist church outside Winston Salem, NC, closed the ceremony in prayer.

The sculpture features a seven-foot-tall depiction of Graham standing beside a 17-foot cross. Graham’s arms are open wide, an open Bible rests in his left hand and, as Welch pointed out during the ceremony, the famous evangelist’s mouth is open in full Gospel proclamation. At the foot of the cross rest three nails and a stone inscribed with the words of John 3:16.

The sculpture will stand in a grassy area in front of the LifeWay Christian Resources complex and the SBC Building in Nashville.

New Trustees

New trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s entities are diverse, have an average age of 48, and are overwhelmingly first-time nominees. Of the 105 nominations made by the Committee on Nominations, only three have ever served on an SBC board.

The churches which nominees represent give an average of more than 9% of their budgets through the Cooperative Program and have an average of 48 baptisms per church. “If we all did that, we’d baptize 2 million a year,” committee chairman Guy Sanders noted.

Church attendance ranges from 43 in a newly planted church to congregations with thousands of members. The youngest nominees are two pastors, both 29, and the eldest is a 75-year-old female.

“Our committee has worked very diligently to present to this convention a slate of nominees full of diversity, free of personal agenda, and faithful to the Great Commission through Southern Baptist cooperation,” Sanders said.

Virginia members of the new Committee on Nominations are: Vander Warner Jr., Beaverdam Baptist, Beaverdam, and Curt Breland, First Baptist, Norfolk.