The Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, A Study in Contrast

by   T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                     Vol. X, No. 6, June/July 1997

Background 1985: This June the SBC met in Dallas for the first time since 1985. Those present in 1985 will remember that meeting as the most intense time of struggle for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention. Both liberals and conservatives were there in such numbers that an all-time attendance record was set, 45,519 messengers. The great hall of the Dallas Convention Center was packed, and the crowd filled three large overflow rooms where they watched live action proceedings on movie-theater type screens and participated in offering motions and other parliamentary matters via microphones.

In 1985 liberals sensed that, if they did not win that year, their vision for the SBC would be all but lost. Conservatives realized that if they could win in Dallas, the seventh year of the controversy, their victory was all but assured. This was the largest democratic meeting ever held anywhere in the world, tempers were short, emotions and concerns were intense, and with almost constant screams of “Point of Order!”, occasional parliamentary uncertainty is understandable now. But in the frustrations of the moment, especially to many of the losing liberals, such hesitation seemed (and probably still seems) intentional and nefarious. Charles Stanley chaired with commendable calm and determination in the face of proceedings which many times threatened to degenerate into chaos.

In the event, conservatives re-elected Stanley to the presidency and then confirmed their victory by electing Adrian Rogers in Atlanta in 1986 when slightly more than 40,000 messengers gathered. Skirmishes continued (and still continue) but the battle for the Bible in the SBC had been won in 1985 by those who believe in its full authority and inerrancy.

And that set the stage for the striking contrast messengers experienced in Dallas, 1997.

This Year 1997: What a change! Registered messengers numbered only a few more than 12,000 with all meeting in only a portion of the huge main hall. Replacing tension was celebration. In place of bitterness was calm. Tom Elliff was re-elected for a second term without opposition. There was no effort to replace trustee nominees recommended by the Committee on Nominations. Every speaker stood squarely upon biblical inerrancy. There was a sweet spirit and no calls for point of order (partially because Barry McCarty, a true expert, was once again chief parliamentarian).

As noted, Tom Elliff was re-elected president. Rev. Miles Seaborn, a leader among conservative Texas Baptists and pastor of Birchman BC, Ft. Worth, was elected 1VP with 57.45% of the vote. There were four nominees for 2VP, and the two first-ballot leaders met in a run-off. Rev. David Galvan of Primera Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida, Garland, TX, a conservative Hispanic-American pastor, was elected with 57.53%.

For several years Southern Baptists have gone early to the Convention to conduct annual “Crossover” projects in the host city. This year in Dallas featured block parties, street evangelism, and door-to-door witnessing. 3,275 professions of faith were recorded. (Plan to go early next year to Salt Lake City and be part of Crossover Salt Lake.)

One of the most significant matters brought to the Convention was the report of the Implementation Task Force which has been working since September 1995 to bring about the restructuring of SBC agencies voted by the Convention. In the process the Education Commission, Historical Commission, and Southern Baptist Foundation were disestablished as SBC entities. Functions of the Education Commission were transferred to an independent agency. The Southern Baptist Historical Library was placed under the purview of the Council of Seminary Presidents with no change of location or assets and essentially the same staff. The Foundation became a subsidiary of the Executive Commission.

In addition, the Radio & Television Commission, The Brotherhood Commission, and the Home Mission Board went out of existence and the new North American Mission Board was created with staffing of 514 slots previously authorized to the three agencies reduced to 365 for NAMB. The reorganization is projected to reduce overhead costs by $34 million over five years, $34 million which can be channelled to front line ministries. When the trustees of NAMB met the afternoon of 19 June, they elected as the new president of NAMB Dr. Bob Reccord, pastor of First Baptist Church, Norfolk.

Two agencies’ names were changed: The Foreign Mission Board changed to the International Mission Board; and the Christian Life Commission became the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

A number of excellent resolutions were reported out of committee and adopted by the messengers. One expressed “our opposition to religious persecution and encourage(d) our government officials to elevate religious liberty concerns to the highest priority in foreign policy...” and that “we respectfully encourage the media to bring these issues to the attention of the American public...”

The resolution which has gotten the most publicity has been that calling for a boycott of Disney and all its subsidiaries. Specific wording is that messengers “urge every Southern Baptist to take the stewardship of their time, money, and resources so seriously that they refrain from patronizing the Disney Company and any of its related entities...” The resolution also noted that many entertainment companies are “increasingly promoting immoral ideologies” and recommended not patronizing any such company.

A third resolution supported Judge Roy Moore in Alabama who has been under attack for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. Another high profile resolution addressed the issue raised when Zondervan and the International Bible Society announced they intended to publish a “gender neutral” version of the NIV. The SBC and other groups stood firmly against such politically correct tampering with the Word of God, and Zondervan and IBS announced shortly before the Dallas convention that they would not publish the new version. Our resolution urges “every Bible publisher and translation group to ... refrain from any deviation [in order] to seek to accommodate contemporary cultural pressures” and urges “Southern Baptists to be eternally vigilant regarding the matter...”

Other resolutions supported home schooling parents, opposed extending employee benefits to domestic partnerships (unmarried and homosexual couples), opposed drug abuse particularly by young people, called on political leaders to “enact laws restricting and eventually eliminating all forms of gambling and its advertisement”, and one opposing prenatal testing for the purposes of abortion and the use of embryos in experiments and cloning humans.

On Tuesday evening there was a moving and most significant ceremony when all six seminary presidents signed “A Covenant between Our Seminaries and Our Churches.” Its full text is reprinted elsewhere in this issue of The Banner. It is well worth your reading and reflection. Most of those who led our seminaries in 1985 would never have signed such a document. One of those presidents (and not the most liberal) had written concerning the Old Testament that “historical events were elaborated across successive generations until the narrative becomes a combination of saga and legend, inextricably interwoven.” [Bibliographic reference on request.]

Wednesday evening after the HMB and FMB reports there was a moving program of missions emphasis, “The Cross over the World.” It included wonderful music by combined choirs and testimonies by people from North America and around the world. And over 200 people came forward to commit to missions.

Every Southern Baptist should go to at least one Convention.