Month: June 2007

Pastors’ wives hear stories of strength

SAN ANTONIO?After Kathy Ferguson’s husband died four years ago in a car accident, her 26-year role as a pastor’s wife changed dramatically.

Struggling to overcome an empty nest as well as an empty home, Ferguson told the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Wives Conference June 11 that she had come to appreciate the Puritan proverb: “Life would be a little less sweet and death a little less bitter.”

Recalling the difficult time in her life, Ferguson shared the platform with other pastors’ wives to talk about “Strength for the Journey.”

“Psalm 84:5-7 became the single most resource passage of help for me in my life and journey as a widow,” said Ferguson, now women’s ministry leader at the Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Ark. She first noticed the Scripture reference in a book on loneliness by author Elisabeth Elliot whose missionary husband was martyred at the hands of Ecuadorian tribesmen in 1956.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs,” she read, explaining the reference to Baca as a place of tears.

Convinced God had told her the psalm would have great meaning for her life, Ferguson said she focused on the phrase “go from strength to strength,” assuming it was a message that would help her navigate the isolation that minister’s wives often experience in local church ministry.

“On that Saturday night … I was just four days away from the greatest place of tears I would ever know,” Ferguson said. “How does the death of the love of your life become a fertile place?

“If we studied life in tsunamis, hurricanes, car accidents or unexpected medical reports, we may not conclude that God is good,” she said. “The essence of our faith is to trust God and believe He can, even if He doesn’t.”

That attitude becomes more difficult in times of hardship, she acknowledged, reminding women of the motive behind ministry.

“I love people and have rich resources of godly friends, but no one has been my greatest companion and touched the deepest place in my heart like my heavenly Father,” Ferguson said. “While I miss my husband at some level nearly every day, I do not miss my old heart.”

Diane Nix of New Orleans told of God’s sufficiency after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina only days after moving to New Orleans where her husband was to begin serving as a preaching professor. Beginning with her testimony of bowing to God’s authority, Nix reminded the women to maintain a vital prayer life by staying connected to the vine and having courage during times of tribulation.

“I decided a long time ago, no matter what, I was going to serve Jesus,” Nix said.

Noticing how God transforms believers from the baggage of dysfunctional relationships, Nix praised God for teaching her to see “with spirit eyes” the woundedness of people, helping her to love even the unlovable.

“Without forgiveness and release, we stop the flow in our lives and stifle the Holy Spirit’s work in us and through us,” she said.

Nix also encouraged pastors’ wives to be who God created them to be, exercising their spiritual giftedness instead of trying to do everything. Then, she said, they will leave the spiritual legacy God intends, “called to life to share life and to be life.”

Susie Hawkins of Dallas led a panel of pastors’ wives on issues relating to personal friendships and how God can use them to provide strength in facing the unique challenges of a tough journey.

“My friends keep me grounded,” Angela Kilby of Ada, Okla., said. “There are many times when I need to just get away. I come back refreshed, ready to do that next task in our church.”

Becky Graves, who is in transition from recent church plants in New Hampshire and Ohio, said their next move is to San Diego. Referring to a close friend she’s known more than 25 years who also is in ministry, Graves said, “It’s nice to have someone who can relate to that type of atmosphere. My faith grows as I walk through trials and blessing with such friends.”

As the wife of a minister who has served churches for 36 years, Karolyn Chapman of Winston Salem, N.C., encouraged the women to follow the advice she received years ago from an 85-year-old woman.

“Remember always that you need older women as good friends in your life?not just what you consider mentors, but friends,” Chapman said. Developing friendships with those who are college-aged and younger is also important, she said, reminding women not to limit their friendships to their peers.

Wives were encouraged to creatively maintain and develop friendships in spite of distance, utilizing e-mail to keep in touch as well as accessing a newly launched website for Southern Baptist ministers’ wives at contagiousjoy4him.com.

Dale Page of Taylors, S.C., described the whirlwind life she and her husband Frank have experienced in the year following his election as SBC president. At the same time, they have experienced the birth of their first grandchild and learned their oldest daughter was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma.

“Our lives have been pulled in many different directions, but I can testify to the fact that God’s strength is real looking back and seeing the journey He has brought us on,” Page said.

Humorist Anita Renfroe of Ackworth, Ga., in her lively talk, described “life in the pastorium?the Latin word that means non-marketable real estate. When we were poor we were happy. I don’t know why those things go together, but some of you are just ecstatic,” she said.

The Great Divide

One snowy morning a few years ago while elk hunting, I walked over the Continental Divide in Colorado. Theoretically, the snow under my right boot would end up in the Atlantic Ocean and that under my left boot was headed toward the Pacific Ocean. It’s an awesome thought. At one point I could straddle the divide but the distance would become more significant as every drip and stream and river headed toward their respective coasts.

I was asked more than once by reporters at the SBC meeting in San Antonio if this meeting would be such a watershed for the convention. It struck me as a silly question, that the 4,000 (of 8,000) messengers who actually voted on an issue during our meeting were going to “change things forever.”

The longer answer is that we can’t know. The whole idea of a watershed is proved by the water’s ultimate destination. Standing on the divide, it’s hard to tell.

On one hand, the two sides are not that far apart. Those who feel passionately that the Resurgence has gone too far still affirm that receding historical movement. They are inerrantists and many have served (or still serve) our institutions in various capacities.

These “reformists” honor the Baptist Faith and Message and actually believe it to be more than the committee that crafted it would say that it is. Those who convinced the messengers to “affirm” the BF&M as a guide for our institutions apparently believe the confession enumerates exhaustively the doctrinal issues our agencies should be allowed to apply in the conduct of their very diverse ministries.

Those the press has unkindly dubbed the “status quo” also honor our confession of faith as a useful and sufficient, though not exhaustive guide. Further, most of them also think of themselves as reformers. They study the challenges faced by the denomination and seriously apply themselves to solutions. The vision of reform they embrace is admittedly not so broad or rapid as the non-status quo Baptists embrace, but it is not unrecognizable.

But, the two groups seem to be going in different directions. The 2006 debate over alcohol use was mostly between two sides who did not, themselves, use alcohol and who adamantly opposed drunkenness. Some were users, though. Others disagreed about whether we should preach abstinence as the best and biblical way, or embrace the freedom and sensual delight of a nice glass of wine with dinner. It was a difference in philosophy and thus direction.

The debate on tongues was similarly between those who overwhelmingly do not speak in tongues publicly or privately but who disagree regarding what teaching on this doctrine we should allow agency trustee boards to bless or ban among faculty members and missionaries. Again, not so far apart but facing different directions.

In fact, I think we’ve moved further apart during the past year. The Tuesday night discussion over the nature of the BF&M was more important than last year’s debate regarding alcohol use. The latter is one of practice that implies a view of our foundational principles. The former is all about those principles.

That said, the messengers did not imagine that they were changing the way the agencies would do business when they affirmed the BF&M as the guide they already believed it to be. And the messengers did not in effect change anything for our boards and agencies by that action.

In fact, not even the SBC Executive Committee (which wrote the “guideline” statement on the BF&M) intended to control the business of the agencies, according administrative subcommittee chairman C.J. Bordeaux. In the June 11 TEXAN he said, “We cannot tell the entities what they can do,” and later, “…When we came to this thing about the BF&M, there was the realization that we can’t make them do what we want them to do They’re their own private entity, and that has to be up to the individual entity to determine.”

Those who were arguing for the motion do have some drastic and unworkable changes in mind, though. For them, the motion will be an amplifier to raise the volume of their criticisms of trustee actions. The debate will go on, it will spread to other specifics, and it will be louder.

Maybe we’re back to conservatives and moderates. Conservatives, remember, have conservative convictions that compel them to conserve something. Some moderates also have conservative convictions but are less clear on what to do with them. A classic definition was from Cecil Sherman, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship coordinator in the early 1990s. In a note to Baptist Press regarding the doctrine of the Virgin Birth, he said that he believed that doctrine to be biblical and embraced it himself but, “A teacher who might also be led by the Scripture not to believe in the Virgin Birth should not be fired.” Sherman was the archetype for SBC moderates. He believed the Virgin Birth to be biblical but left room for an SBC employee to derive from these same Scriptures the teaching that Jesus was not born of a virgin. Sherman’s reasoning had to do with his belief that the Virgin Birth was not one of the “big doctrines” and that the discussion was a “diversion.”

In the context of our current discussion, we might say that the Virgin Birth was a secondary or tertiary doctrine and that the debate was pulling us away from missions and evangelism. No one who participated in the debate in San Antonio applied this reasoning to the Virgin Birth, but the reasoning itself sounds remarkably similar–“I do not drink because it is a biblical conviction of mine, but…,” or “I do not encourage speaking in tongues at my church but?” The very fact that we are discussing whether or not our seminary professors should advocate the practice of tongues has been characterized by some inerrantist, pro-Resurgence, loyal, CP-loving Baptists as a diversion from the main thing of missions and evangelism. Baptists will always have doctrinal debates (reform, remember), regardless of what others prefer. I’m always suspicious of those who only despise debates once they become doctrinal.

Our new-wave moderates also agree with old-line moderates in confusing kindness and fellowship with denominational partnership. The standards for denominational leaders should be much more focused than evangelicalism, a belief in scriptural authority, and monetary contributions through the SBC. Those who believe in these things but who will not expect it from those they appoint or supervise are inadequate representatives of our churches or our convention. They proved themselves inadequate in the 1980s and they’ve proved themselves to be that by forming a new denomination, the CBF, alongside the SBC since that time.

Relationships are not everything, at least in the choosing of leaders, committee members, board members, etc. Listen to his words; evaluate his actions, especially those in public forums. This is much more important than meeting him personally and gazing into his eyes. What a man does publicly says more about his leadership than what he says to you in private. It follows that whether you like him or not is quite irrelevant.

Remember this as the rhetoric heightens this year. The fact that you will hear from our current minority is proof that they have been neither disenfranchised nor muzzled. They have not been removed from fellowship and will not be unless they remove themselves. This discussion is doctrinal, political, and practical–three good words that enjoy warm fellowship in my dictionary. And one opinion will prevail when we convene for business or a board meeting. Like it or not, those are the rules and the proven road of SBC reform over the course of our long history.
A final word on boards: When we hear of a “runaway” board in Fort Worth or Nashville or wherever, we’re talking about Baptist pastors and laymen who were appointed by the only legitimate human authority the SBC recognizes, the messengers. They are from your churches and they are as fallible, well-meaning, and noble as the rest of us. They aren’t puppets of one or a few shady men in smoke-filled rooms. They’re yours and you’ve chosen them to be the policy makers for our institutions. Those who would change that process need a better reason than simply that they are tired of losing the debate.

SBC elects officers, approves 8 resolutions

SAN ANTONIO?Southern Baptists gathered in San Antonio June 12-13 and re-elected their president for a second term, elected Texan Jim Richards as first vice president, approved a definition of its Cooperative Program missions funding channel along with eight resolutions on spiritual and social topics, including global warming and protecting children from abuse.

More coverage from theTEXAN staff will be postedlater.

SBC president fields reporters questions

SAN ANTONIO ?”I’m trying hard to present the very wonderful message of our Lord Jesus Christ and his transforming power in church families and individual lives,” Frank Page declared after being re-elected by acclamation as Southern Baptist Convention president June 12 in San Antonio.

Fielding reporters’ questions after the election, Page described his first year in office by saying: “I desperately wanted to do a better job of communicating what Southern Baptists stood for, not just what we stood against.”

Commending the generous response of volunteers deployed to areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Page pointed out that Southern Baptists are responsible for the third-largest disaster relief operation in the United States.

“People must see that we care,” said Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C. “Just go to New Orleans now and talk to people of every religion and ask them who’s doing something there that makes a difference.”

Offering a long list of examples of ministry by local churches as well as efforts funded by the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ channel for funding missions, Page said the image people might have of Southern Baptists is off-target.

“I’m not trying to pat ourselves on the back, but I’m saying we have been characterized by a kind of persona by our world that is not accurate,” Page said. “The truth is millions of Southern Baptists will do anything in the world they can to help people.”

While Page fielded reporters’ questions for a half-hour and emphasized spiritual renewal, discipleship, evangelistic outreach and multi-generational ministry, various SBC issues nevertheless were raised.

On whether calls to confine policies to the parameters of the SBC’s doctrinal statement were distinct from the conservative-moderate debates of several decades earlier, Page told reporters many people are saying, “The pendulum has swung far enough.”

“At one time the Baptist Faith and Message was regarded as an extreme document by some,” Page said of the 2000 revision to the doctrinal statement. “Now it’s almost like it’s being seen as a more moderating influence and that many want to go beyond it.” He reiterated a conviction he shared after his election last year, stating, “I do believe we’ve gone far enough and that the Baptist Faith and Message is enough and I encourage entities not to go beyond that in their doctrinal parameters.”

Citing “various secondary and tertiary issues that are still within the framework of inerrantism or extreme conservative viewpoint,” Page characterized recent debate over the legitimacy of a private prayer language as another example of a distraction from an evangelistic focus.

“We can discuss things. We can have different opinions, but the issues we’ve discussed already are certainly not primary when compared to winning this world to Christ [and to] minister to men, women, boys and girls,” Page said. “Good dialogue and debate can come forward, but they pale in comparison to issues I’m trying to keep as the central focus.”

The South Carolina pastor said he was not surprised by a recent LifeWay Research study that revealed half of Southern Baptist pastors polled believe it is possible for God to give Christians a private prayer language.

“It shows there are various ways to interpret Scripture in regard to that issue. That’s why I think it’s important Baptists not take a stand that would alienate a large part — possibly half — of the people,” Page continued. “Whatever stand you take, you’ve alienated the other half of the people.”

If such discussion was over a primary issue, Page said, “We would do what’s right whether we alienate people or not.”

Asked if the BF&M should constrain trustee boards from making doctrinal policies that exceed the SBC statement of beliefs, Page insisted: “No, that’s not what I’m saying. I said in doctrinal parameters I think we should be careful in going past that. We do respect the trustee system. I simply said I urged them not to go beyond doctrinal parameters. There are multitudes of issues that trustees have to deal with regarding personnel, regarding issues of all kinds that may not be directly doctrinal.”

Stating his agreement with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson’s statement that one who claims a private prayer language should be satisfied to keep it private, Page said, however, he disagreed with the new policy adopted by seminary trustees last fall that disqualifies professors who advocate that and other charismatic practices.

“Again, I personally would rather they not have done that.” Adding that Southwestern’s trustees are aware of his opinion, Page said, “We just have to agree to disagree on that.”

Page said although we was surprised to be elected last year in Greensboro, N.C., he feels he has kept his pledge to involve a number of Southern Baptists on decision-making boards and committees who had not been previously been a part of the process.

Ninety-five percent of his appointments were individuals who had never been involved previously, Page said, a pattern he credited his predecessor, Bobby Welch of Florida, with establishing.

The ages of Page’s appointments ranged from 27 to 80, with members primarily coming from small- to medium-sized churches. He further stated that he had intentionally involved individuals representing both conventions in the states of Texas and Virginia where two state bodies are recognized by the SBC.

“I made it very clear from the beginning that if I could find persons meeting the criteria, I stated that I would not arbitrarily exclude any cooperating Baptist convention,” Page said.

Last year Page specified that his criteria for appointments would require “a sweet spirit, an evangelist’s heart,” and a commitment to biblical inerrancy. “I’ve kept my word and worked hard to try to help people feel included instead of excluding them.”

Page said he has tried to be “irenic” and “kind” and will continue to do so, but not at the expense of theological concerns.

“I am in no way trying to undo what some have called a Conservative Resurgence and others by other names,” Page said. “I have said many times I believe the Bible, I’m just not angry about it. I stand by that and have stayed with that, though some have not appreciated it.”

Asked if he felt the lack of a challenge to his candidacy indicates acceptance by those who opposed him last year, Page said he believes “there was probably a calculated analysis” as to whether to oppose an incumbent — an unusual practice — “and it was decided it was probably best not to do that.”

In describing his focus as president, Page said, “I am calling on people to beg God for spiritual renewal and revival.”

“We will not increase baptisms until we are right with the Lord,” Page said, citing Psalm 51:1-12.

Asked about the morality of the relatively new practice of blogging by various Southern Baptists, Page remained focused on righteous behavior. “I don’t care what arena you’re using or the communications mode you’re involved in, we must be careful to apply biblical standards to try to talk to each other.”

Page agreed with a call to show greater care in evangelizing with integrity. “By that I mean those we do win to Christ, seek to disciple them. Make sure their decisions were truly heartfelt and not simply transitory or shallow,” he said. “I do not think there is too much emphasis on numbers. We must couple it with a serious call to discipleship.”

Regarding one messenger’s appeal for a database to report sex offenders, Page said an SBC entity already is considering ways t

SBC messengers elect Texan first VP

SAN ANTONIO (BP)–Southern Baptists elected Jim Richards, founding director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, as first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention and Eric Redmond, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills, Md., as second vice president.

Gathered for their annual meeting in San Antonio, messengers from churches in the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination, with 16.3 million members, earlier elected by acclimation Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., for a second term as president. He was unopposed.

Richards prevailed over David Rogers, a missionary in Madrid, Spain, with a vote total of 2,177 (68.7 percent) to 966 (30.5 percent).

“Jim Richards, who is executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, is one of us,” said Donald M. (Mac) Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., in his nominating speech. “As leader of the SBTC, he has led that convention in eight years to grow from 120 churches to 1,895. He’s not a bureaucrat; he’s one of us.”

Richards is a member of First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. He also has served as chairman of the SBC Christian Life Commission (now the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission) and the SBC Committee on Order of Business in addition to other associational, state and national Southern Baptist organizations. He holds degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.

Redmond was elected with a vote of 1,765 (61.69 percent) to 1,077 (37.64 percent) over evangelist Bill Britt of Gallatin, Tenn.

“First of all, Eric Redmond is a family man,” said Doyle Chauncey, executive director of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia state convention, in his nomination speech. “Eric Redmond is a pastor and a scholar. Eric Redmond is an evangelistic pastor, attempting to reach the 20,000 people who live within a mile of his church. Eric Redmond is a church planting pastor. In 2006 Eric Redmond led his church in planting a new church in College Park, Md., in cooperation with the SBCV and the North American Mission Board — a church which continues to thrive.”

Redmond serves as a trustee for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an executive board member of the National African American Fellowship of the SBC. He is an adjunct professor of hermeneutics at Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, Md. He is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Messengers also re-elected John L. Yeats, interim pastor of Ridge Avenue Baptist Church in West Monroe, La., as recording secretary and Jim Wells, director of missions for the Tri-County Baptist Association in southwest Missouri, as registration secretary. Both men ran unopposed.

Yeats, who has served in ministry for 36 years, has been the SBC recording secretary since 1996 and is also the director of communications for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Wells, registration secretary for the SBC since 2002, is a member of Hopedale Baptist Church in Ozark, Mo.

Almost they persuadeth me

The annual resolution proposed by the Exodus Mandate folks will not see the light of day at the SBC this year. Their conviction that God has commanded all godly parents to remove their children from “officially atheist government schools” won’t and shouldn’t become the consensus of the Southern Baptist Convention any time soon.

Liberals, Baptist and not, flog us with this every year. If a resolution is submitted then the headlines say, “SBC leaders consider anti-public school action.” Not so. I could submit a resolution in favor of all messengers being required to wear lampshades on their heads if I like. No one would likely do so, the committee wouldn’t recommend the resolution, and in no way would my desire represent “SBC leaders.”

On education, though, if we vote on the resolution, we’re hateful, and if it never actually comes up, we’re hateful because a couple of us thought it should have. Our liberal critics, particularly at the Baptist Center for Ethics, lack a certain intellectual honesty in most debates.

Anyway, unthinking apologists for our public education bureaucracy should not take too much comfort from the fact that this motion will die in committee. Consensus or not, public schools lose a little ground with Christian parents every year. There is little sign of reform and less movement toward parental control of the institution. It deserves to lose ground with us.

Consider the recent convocation at Boulder High School in Boulder, Colo. While more than one version of the story is floating around, the defenders of the event cite the following quote from one of presenters at the convocation, a clinical psychologist: “?I’m going to encourage you to have sex, and I’m going to encourage you to use drugs appropriately. And why I’m going to take that position is because you’re going to do it anyway. So, my approach to this is to be realistic, and I think as a psychologist and a health educator, it’s more important to educate you in a direction that you might actually stick to.”

According to TV news coverage of the event, school administrators supported it, even after some parental and student criticism. They acknowledged that parts of the presentation were a little rough, though.

Everyone had good intentions I’d guess, but it’s not the approach I want taken with my kids and it’s not a subject I even want a stranger to address with my children without being asked by me to do so. You can safely assume that my opinion is a moderate one among many parents I know.

You can say, “But that’s Boulder and I don’t live in Boulder.” That’s true. Before that it was “I don’t live in Portland” or “I don’t live in San Francisco.” These convocations are not universal; neither are homosexual student clubs or social studies classes intent on teaching tolerance as an absolute, and neither are Darwinist biology teachers. Add them up and they start to look common enough, though.

Every year, my enthusiasm for government-supervised education is harder to maintain. I fully expect it will be worse next year than it is this year. I also expect whatever problems it takes to push your buttons will eventually do so?in your town or the town of your grandchildren.

Frankly, I think it will be increasingly difficult for parents to honestly say they are responsible for the education of their children if they use public schools. We’ll be Deuteronomy 6 parents on Sundays and at home, but not between 8 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. 5 days a week, 9 months a year, for 13 years of the first 18 years of our children’s lives. Is that good enough?

It will be less and less satisfactory for more and more of our parents as time passes. More of us will reach that point that becomes too much. That’s when churches have to be ready.

One part of the Exodus Mandate agenda I very much support?more Christian schools. Additionally, Christian schools need to be more Christian. That means they’ll need to be more than an expensive version of public schools, only with a chapel service added. It means that the “Lord of the Flies” culture our kids live in as they form values and learn profanity needs to be driven by and supervised by adults who are committed to helping parents raise godly children.

These schools need also to be accessible to poor and fractured families. That means money. One important question raised by the advocates of public education has to do with families who cannot afford private education and families with special needs children. School vouchers are an answer to this question but I just don’t think that’s going to happen. Realistically, we’ll be forced to pay increasing taxes for increasingly dysfunctional institutions, whether our kids attend or not, and we’ll need at the same time to support Christian schools whether we have kids attending or not. That’s truly a hard thing.

None of this suggests the Southern Baptist Convention should tell families what to do with their kids. We have no consensus about that and we won’t for a long time. In fact, a resolution on the subject may set back the rate of migration away from the schools. Parents hate to be told what to do with their kids, especially involved Christian parents.

It’s better for our agencies to continue to help Christian schools and homeschoolers with training and curricula. If it’s what our churches and people are doing, the denomination needs to provide ever-increasing resources for the work.

It is not the Exodus Mandate that sways me toward the belief that Christians are being driven out of the public education system. It’s events like the one in Boulder. It’s the quiet way that humanist teaching becomes mandatory, and thus gospel, in the hard and soft sciences. It’s the kids who think Abraham Lincoln was president during World War II, but know better the names of venereal diseases and illegal drugs.

When I think of the Exodus story I can’t help but see Charlton Heston leading a cast of thousands out of a movie-set Egypt. One day there are millions of the Hebrew children in Egypt and a few days later, not one. The removal of Christian families from public schools will not be that way.

Think instead of an oppressed minority leaving a repressive political regime. A few get out early, others need a more urgent threat, others escape through some kind of underground rescue movement, dogs baying in the background. Some will stay too long. I’m convinced that we’ll leave, not as a denomination or as churches or even as a faith, but as refugees whose alarms go off according to different sensitivities. Eventually we’ll all leave public education or wish we had.

TEXAN surveys candidates for Southern Baptist offices

The candidates for Southern Baptist Convention offices whose names were announced in Baptist Press by June 5 responded to questions for the June 12 special edition of the TEXAN. Two of the questions and answers given below could not be included in the print edition due to space limitations. The answers of current Registration Secretary Jim Wells will be added online as they become available.

TEXAN: What would you like to see God do with the Southern Baptist Convention over the next few years?

FRANK PAGE (SBC president, incumbent): I would love to see the Southern Baptist Convention become a passionate body of believers, proclaiming the precious message of Christ in loving, yet firm ways with our culture. I have often stated that I believe the Bible, but I am not mad about it! Simply put, I believe that our world is ready to hear the Good News. However, they will quickly turn off the vitriolic, angry message that some have portrayed. Let us live the life of Jesus, share the message of Jesus, and proclaim it in such a way that people will be drawn to his grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

DAVID ROGERS (first vice president candidate): I would love to see winds of revival sweep across the convention that lead us, as Baptists, to humble ourselves, get down on our knees in brokenness before the Lord, confess our pettiness and division over less important matters, and commit to being salt and light in an ever-increasingly dark world around us. It is also my hope that this revival will lead us all to be more responsible stewards of our gifts, talents, and resources, working together in a more effective and efficient way than ever before to minister the love of Christ, and the life-changing power of the gospel, in our personal “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth.”

JIM RICHARDS (first vice president candidate): If God would be pleased, my desire for the Southern Baptist Convention is that we become the witnesses Jesus has called us to be. This will start by having an old-fashioned, God-breathed revival. For this to happen, it will take convention leaders, churches, pastors and individual members confessing sin, pleading with God for his Spirit to purify us and make us what he wants us to be. Once we are prepared through a spiritual awakening, we must reclaim Matthew 28:19, 20 as our marching orders. Individual and congregational commitment to the Great Commission will cause us to impact our culture. The SBC exists to serve the churches by combining the efforts to carry out the Great Commission.

My desire is to see the Southern Baptist Convention be used of God to accomplish his purpose.”

BILL BRITT (second vice president candidate): I would like to see the Southern Baptist Convention have real revival. I would like to see each entity work in harmony to accomplish the task of reaching this world with the gospel. This will take all of us humbling ourselves and seeking the face of God and following him whatever the cost.

ERIC REDMOND (second vice president candidate): If the Lord would kindly strengthen the pulpits of our churches so that there is in every SBC pulpit an expository preacher who also watches his life and doctrine closely before God and man, and if God would use such pulpits to bring about regenerate church memberships all over the convention, and if God would then kindly use such churches to bring about a Spirit-wrought revival in our land that would yield in tripling our missionary force with 20- to 30-year-olds willing to go places where Christ’s name is not known, I think we all would be humbled, grateful and worshipful. To Christ be the glory alone!

JOHN YEATS (recording secretary, incumbent): My passion is to see a fresh movement of God’s Holy Spirit. Southern Baptists have great churches of every size. Southern Baptists are wonderful people from every generation. We have extraordinary missionaries scattered all over the world and North America. We have access to excellent materials and church resources. However, it is becoming increasingly clear we are losing ground against the tsunami of lostness.

The words of Jesus in John 15:5 are so apropos for our day, “apart from me, you can do nothing.” Unless we have a return to a single-hearted passion for the Lord, we are witnessing the twilight years of a former great movement. My prayer is that our gracious Lord would extend his hand of mercy for a season longer so that we could return to him.

TEXAN: What do you think God can do with you in the position for which you are being nominated?

PAGE: I pray that God would continue to use me to pull together various groups within our convention to see the Great Commission accomplished.

RICHARDS: I would seek to assist the president in whatever way he would choose to use me and seek to represent Southern Baptists for the cause of Christ.

ROGERS: I hope to be used as a tool in God’s hand to bring about greater unity and reconciliation among God’s people. I also hope to give a clear message that, as Baptists, we are a people who believe unswervingly, first of all, in the authority of the Word of God, and, next, as a result of this, in joining hands together as members of the body of Christ, to work toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission, both in our own country and around the world.

REDMOND: If the Lord is willing to place me in this position, I would be pleased if the position could be used to unite SBC conservatives across all ethnic lines for the good of the whole convention. If there is any way in which I could be used to encourage godly pastors to continue the fight of faith amid difficult circumstances, I would be filled with great joy in that work. If I could convince many pastors outside of the SBC who are looking for a convention to call home to consider the SBC, I would be very pleased.

BRITT: As a Southern Baptist evangelist with over 22 years of experience, I have been in over 800 revival meetings and have been in the trenches with the pastors. I have seen what God can do through the God-called evangelist. Revival is the only hope for this nation and for our churches. Hopefully, I can be a voice and a catalyst for this purpose.

YEATS: My hope is that he can use me to influence others to focus on his passion for reaching North America and the world with the gospel.

TEXAN: Are there any ways you hope to use your office that might be innovative as compared to previous office holders?

PAGE: God has gifted each of the former presidents in various ways. For example, Dr. Welch powerfully reminded each of us of the need to be stronger soul winners. I would hope that I would be able to work with our North American Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources to help show how we might encourage and inform and equip our churches to be better at soul winning.

ROGERS: As the first field missionary to hold an office in the SBC, I would hope to remind Southern Baptists, both symbolically, as well as in actual practice, of the importance of the missionary task in defining and expressing who we are. I would hope my unique perspective as a missionary would provide support for my missionary colleagues, as well as help all in Southern Baptist life, whether in the states, or around the world, to better understand and support each other.

RICHARDS: My experience in Texas has been one of innovation. Lovingly and positively, I would like to challenge entities of the SBC and state conventions to look at new approaches to accomplish our common goal of presenting Christ. Structurally, practically and financially are just a few of the areas where I think we can make a good effort better.

Working together in a confessional fellowship as Southern Baptists to promote our common giving channel will enable us to start more churches and reach more for Christ.

BRITT: I know that traditionally the office of second vice president has been viewed as an honorary position with little or no involvement with the Executive Committee. However, I have some ideas that I believe will assist our convention and our local churches in revival, soul-winning, and evangelism.

REDMOND: I would not be looking for innovation, but only the ability to support the president, first VP, and executive office and [Executive] Committee. Yet this is not a resignation to complacency. I simply want to be available to serve the churches of the convention faithfully, as they have need, if the Lord would be pleased to have me elected to serve. The opportunities for the gospel and needs of the churches will help determine my role.

YEATS: I recently wrote a brief history of the recording secretaries of the SBC. It is included in my dissertation. Each of the men who held this office made positive contributions to the life of the Southern Baptist Convention. They each accurately reported and edited the proceedings. They also served as leaders with what has become the SBC executive committee. I designed an information flow chart that demonstrates how a motion is made on the floor of the convention by a messenger, recorded, copied and distributed to the proper locations.

The SBC president, the volunteer pages, the order of business committee can look at the chart and know that the motion or amendment or other action from the floor of the Convention will follow this process. This has significantly enhanced the accuracy of the proceedings in the SBC Annual. Secondly, I discovered that not one of the SBC officers had a written list of responsibilities and duties required to fulfill their respective office. I used my study at Midwestern as an opportunity to record and place in the SBC Archives a written copy of the recording secretary’s role, responsibilities and deadlines.

TEXAN: Are Southern Baptists becoming too narrow doctrinally?

PAGE: This is one of those questions that one might call a “land mine.” Honestly, I do believe that there is that potential. I have encouraged our entities, churches, and people to rally behind the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. I believe that we should be very excited about this doctrinal document and not go beyond it in our policies and procedures.

RICHARDS: Southern Baptists have an ingenious system through messenger participation. Because of it we were able to make a course correction and avert liberalism. Messengers have the authority directly and indirectly to set the doctrinal positions through their votes. At one time Southern Baptists were monolithic in music style, preaching and most doctrinal positions. Southern Baptists are more diverse now. We will never become monolithic again, nor should we. However, there are positions that may have to be clarified as representative of Southern Baptists.

ROGERS: Southern Baptists represent a broad spectrum of opinions on issues of lesser importance. We are, to a large extent, already united on the essentials of the gospel and the authority of God’s Inerrant Word. Some within Southern Baptist life are advocating a narrower position on some issues than what I believe to be necessary. But I believe Southern Baptists as a whole maintain a healthy commitment to the centrality of the gospel and “majoring on the majors.”

REDMOND: I think Southern Baptist must have the courage to continue to hold to a standard of truth in a world in which both “standards” and “truth” seem like profanity to most people. The Resurgence was the work of many “narrow doctrinally” people, and the resulting increases in CP and Lottie Moon giving came by the work of a generation of “narrow doctrinally” people. Only “narrow doctrinally” people have a true reason for taking the gospel to people without Christ. Moreover, all people are “narrow doctrinally” whether the narrowness is not accepting those who are even more “narrow doctrinally,” or whether that is being a radical Islamic fundamentalist.

Everyone is intolerant of something. Everyone draws a line somewhere. Southern Baptists would do well to keep drawing the lines closely around the cross of Christ. Then, from the cross will flow the proper place to draw all other lines, such as a complementarian line reflective of Christ’s love for his bride (Ephesians 5:25-27), or an exhaustive-foreknowledge-of-God line reflective of God’s pre-creation plan for the cross and believers (1Peter 1:1,20).

BRITT: In my 30 years of preaching the gospel as a Southern Baptist preacher I have held to the same biblical truths. The same foundational truths that have been preached and our convention has held to for decades should be the same truths that continue to be preached and adhered to.

YEATS: It sounds to me like some of our brethren need to make a trip to Nashville and visit our SBC Archives. Our current trends and discussions relating to narrowing doctrinal parameters are nothing compared to the pre-Korean War voices from the ranks of Southern Baptists. When you read C.P. Stealey, one of my predecessors at the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, or B.H. Carroll or E.Y. Mullins or James P. Boyce, these guys did not surrender their biblical distinctives to placate a culture or to be seeker friendly.

They perpetually pointed people to the Scriptures as the foundation of our identity in Christ. They were crusaders for God’s righteousness in their generation. Probably if they were alive today someone would attempt to blog them into a corner and state that they were too narrow with their application of the Scripture. Can you even fathom the expression on their faces?
Baptists have always been “too narrow” for this world and “too broad” for the extremist. It appears to me, if we would invest more time on our knees talking with the Master and less time demonizing one another, we would be much more focused on our “narrow” mission of reaching this world with the gospel.

TEXAN: Comment on how Southern Baptist churches can better retain and engage young adults as members and participants.

PAGE: The issue of relevancy is paramount. Southern Baptist churches can better reach out to other generations through an understanding of those generations and a willingness to develop ministries and programming that relate to them. This also involves the willingness of our churches to reach out in innovative ways in worship styles. Again, our message and methodology must be biblically based and appropriate. However, many of our Southern Baptist churches have become small groups of older, white people. We have not only not reached out to other ethnic groups, but in many instances we have not reached out to other generations.

RICHARDS: Personal evangelism is the key to reaching young adults. There are many tools available but as suggested in the LifeWay survey, small group involvement seems to be one of the major approaches. Retaining young adults will require challenging them to go beyond “sitting and listening.” They must be encouraged to take on roles of responsibility and mission.

ROGERS: While respecting the prerogative of each local church to determine its own models and methods for ministry, I would love to see the convention as a whole do more and more to support the implementation of creative models and methods that connect with the culturally, economically, and ethnically diverse people who represent our most immediate harvest fields.

Personally, I am a big proponent of small-group ministry, and believe it is indeed an important key to not only effectively reach out to the unchurched, but also disciple and minister to the needs of our own members. As a whole, Southern Baptists are already doing wonderful things in regards to social action. Perhaps, though, we could do even more to help individuals in our churches become personally involved, and find new avenues of using their spiritual gifts in relation to these vital ministries.

REDMOND: Our biggest task in serving young adults might be to reach and equip parents to work daily to deepen their young children in the faith. The convention as a whole can provide resources.

Churches must provide the teaching, arguments, practical equipping, access to resources, accountability, and strong preaching that emphasizes grounding children in the truths of the faith, systematically teaching children the Bible, memorizing Scripture and doctrine, boldly sharing our faith with zeal, methodically praying the Scriptures (like Luther and Calvin), and cultivating private worship. We often start too late in the game to reach our young adults. But his grace is sufficient to draw young adults to the cross.

BRITT: The young adults that I have encountered are desiring to be taught doctrine. They want to deal with the hard questions. They need a church where real people are dealing with real issues that are not covered up. They need to be challenged and given opportunity to put these truths into practice.

YEATS: Today’s young adults are like the young adults of every generation. They must personalize for themselves the faith they have learned. There are multiple venues for personalization. Some may learn to walk with the Lord through some kind of cognitive experience where someone teaches and they get it. Others may need some kind of church-initiated mission experience where they learn that yielding personal rights and serving others is the way to grow in grace and maturity.

Others need an accountability partner, a mentor they respect. Still others may need to experience the collapse of their self-sufficiency and discover that the Lord alone is sufficient to meet the most significant needs of a person’s life. Today’s churches must be prepared to use multiple methods to reach and disciple people, all kinds of people.

TEXAN: Do you wish to comment on the influence of Calvinism or Reformed theology in light of the LifeWay survey that indicated 10 percent of Southern Baptist pastors are five-point Calvinists?

PAGE: The issue of Calvinism or Reformed theology is an issue that must be considered and discussed. I have often commented that we do not need to change the Baptist Faith and Message to exclude the Calvinists or non-Calvinists. It is a family argument and can be dialogued and debated about with great benefit. However, it can become extremely contentious if there is an attitude of superiority and/or antagonism.

I believe we need to follow the advice of Dr. Paige Patterson who has stated that we will be much better off if pastoral candidates are very honest with the churches with whom they deal as potential pastors. At the same time, churches need to be very clear in their understanding of this doctrine and need to be able to share with potential candidates their willingness to consider various aspects of soteriology.

ROGERS: Traditionally, Southern Baptists have chosen not to divide over the issue of “degrees of Calvinism.” While affirming the right of those on all sides of this issue to maintain their personal convictions, I am not in favor of those on any side imposing their particular point of view as a criterion for cooperation among us in missions and evangelism.

RICHARDS: It would be historical amnesia to deny the Calvinism of many of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention. Calvinism is not a threat to the SBC, ore the convention would have never been birthed. Some are concerned that an over-emphasis on Calvinism will deter evangelism and missions. An over-emphasis on anything can be detrimental. As long as there is an “S” (soul-winning) on TULIP there should be no problem with Calvinism.

BRITT: It is my conviction that every God-called preacher should preach the gospel desiring every man to be saved.

REDMOND: The issue is not Calvinism, per se. Nor is settling the issue as simple as considering the history of English Baptists or seeing the embracing of Calvinism as a reaction to open theism. At issue is how we speak of God and man: Is God absolutely sovereign in all things, all glorious, and absolutely holy, such the “he does whatever he pleases” (Psalm 115:3)? Is man, though constituted in the image of God, naturally soulishly wretched, blind, poor, naked, deceived, suppressing the obvious truth of the existence of God, under the just judgment of God, and completely unable to save himself (Titus 3:3-7)? When we speak rightly of God and man, the gospel of his grace is magnified.

What we need to do is speak about an awesome, magnificent, all-merciful, holy God who, in the most incredible love, gave his only Son to save people unable to save themselves—people who are ignorant of their need for salvation, and self-deceptive about his existence. If we preach of God and man in this way—as revealed in Scripture—God will be magnified by the preaching of the gospel—and that needs to happen in every sermon from every pulpit on every Sunday. Personally, I think the gravitation toward Calvinism is a gracious work of God in the hearts of many who desire to center their ministries around the gospel, and in some cases, it grew out of a reaction to becoming weary of seeing the results of people fed the pablum of self-help, self-centered, gospel-devoid sermons Sunday after Sunday.

On a popular level, many visible, non-Baptist Calvinists have been most vocal about calling pulpits back to the center of the gospel, such that many have answered the call, even within the SBC. But there are many, less-visible Southern Baptists working had to center their pulpits and ministries on the message of the gospel. I think our seminaries are working hard to prepare future leaders to do the same.

YEATS: Sadly, most of the people in our pews know more about Sponge-Bob Squarepants or “Veggie Tales” than they know about John Calvin and his “Institutes.” While pastors have the responsibility to teach the whole counsel of Scripture, they must discern the people who are present. Pastors should also be “up front” with pastor search committees about their personal views regarding predestination and election. It is dishonest to say you believe one thing and actually hold another perspective.

TEXAN: In light of LifeWay’s research reporting that half of Southern Baptist pastors believe the Holy Spirit gives some people the gift of a special language to pray to God privately, what concerns do you have about the advocacy or practice of a private prayer language among Southern Baptists?

PAGE: The issue of private prayer language is not an issue among the vast majority of Southern Baptists. Research does show that Southern Baptists do not practice the gift of tongues. However, there is great divergence as to how one interprets the Scriptures that deal with issue of tongues. Again, this can be an issue of valuable discussion and debate. I urge Southern Baptists to realize that this is not a doctrine that would cause us to exclude others from fellowship. The very fact that there are major differences in interpretation should prevent us from making this a test of fellowship and pull away from our central focus of missions and evangelism.

RICHARDS: Your question has two parts. There is a difference between practice and advocacy. What a person practices privately in devotion is between them and the Lord. Advocacy of a divisive issue can and probably will distract from the main task of reaching people for Christ.

ROGERS: As Southern Baptists, we have, for the most part, avoided traditional Pentecostal interpretation on the need ot seek after any particular spiritual gift or manifestation as a sign of greater spiritual commitment, blessing or maturity. I think we do well to maintain this position. However, I think we should, at the same time, be open to realizing that there are those among us, who, without seeking to impose their opinion or experience on others, believe in, and some who practice, what has been called a “private prayer language.” I believe this is a matter of less important concern, which we should not allow to compromise our fellowship and cooperation with each other in the furtherance of the gospel.

REDMOND: Did not respond.

BRITT: While this is a serious issue, it is a peripheral issue that has sidetracked our convention from the main task before us. While there is obviously differing opinions on this subject there is no debate on what the main task is to be.

YEATS: My greatest concern is that we are talking apples and oranges. Are we talking about spiritual gifts or are we talking about intimacy in prayer? If we are talking intimacy in prayer, then it is rather crass for us to be even speaking in public about what goes on in our personal prayer closet. However, the fruit of having been in the closet is evidenced by the spiritual power in our lives to fulfill the Master’s commands.

Biblically, spiritual gifts were never for our personal edification and it is error for a believer to advocate what some called a “gift” as if it were a commodity to be marketed. My second greatest concern is the iniquitous nature of glossolalia. I fear we spend so much time and energy talking about it and blogging about it that we desecrate personal intimacy with the Lord, we make spiritual gifts something after the likeness of man and we fail to engage our world with the gospel.