Texas convention must change to reverse decline, officers say

by   Marv Knox                                                                                                                                           Vol. XVII, No. 7, August 2004

The Baptist General Convention of Texas must change or continue to decline, the convention's three top officers predicted. President Ken Hall, first vice president Albert Reyes, and second vice president Dennis Young announced their support for BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade's intention to reorganize the convention this year.

"The evidence reveals the BGCT is a convention of malaise," Hall conceded. "We're in decline financially. Our people are divided in our churches. They express a lack of concern for the BGCT, which indicates the need for dramatic change."

The BGCT has lost churches since 1998, when a rival fundamentalist convention formed in the state. In addition, the recent economic recession has meant declining revenues for several years. [Note: As of 19 February there were 1,426 churches affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention: 1,144 uniquely, 357 dually. TCP]

In addition to confronting demographic and social change, the BGCT must respond to apathy toward the convention, particularly among laypeople and younger pastors, the officers agreed. "If the BGCT went through an organizational paradigm shift -- toward service, helping the churches be effective according to the missions they have set for themselves -- if we went to apathetic pastors with offers to help, that would turn the focus of the convention on the churches," Reyes predicted. ...

The officers affirmed their role in the midst of changing circumstances. "The people who asked us to run said, 'We need dramatic change,'" Hall said as the other two nodded in agreement. "We've been perceived as change agents." [ABP]