LOUISVILLE, Ky.?Encouraged by attendance exceeding 8,600 registered messengers on the first day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 23?twice as many as he expected?SBC President Johnny Hunt said there is a “sense of urgency” among the brethren.

Hunt attributed much of the interest at this year’s meeting to his Great Commission Resurgence initiative. In a news conference following his re-election to a second term, he also addressed questions ranging from his opinion of controversial Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll to his view of Calvinism among Southern Baptists.

“I feel there’s a lot of energy in the halls,” said Hunt, pastor of Atlanta-area First Baptist Church in Woodstock. “Everybody’s talking the same talk: ‘We need this Great Commission Resurgence.’

“We are saying times have been desperate,” Hunt added. “Now I really do sense fellow Southern Baptists are saying we need to get serious.”

Asked about Driscoll, Hunt responded: “I don’t know him, never met him. A lot of young men like to follow his blogs and podcasts. It’s just been interesting.”

Referring to motions from the floor placing Driscoll and the network he founded, Acts 29, in a bad light, Hunt said, “[T]he entire premise of being a Baptist is sort of thrown under the bus when you start telling someone who they can or cannot fellowship with.” He said it is a matter that it should be left to the conscience and the priesthood of the believer.

About church methodology, Hunt said the SBC is a “great family fellowship” using varied methodologies which provide a healthy balance.

Hunt said it might be that some of the perceived tension across generations of Southern Baptists is rooted in several things, including methodology, dress and music.

Encouraged by what he said was the turnout of younger Southern Baptists, Hunt said, “[I]f we can move beyond our perceptions” and begin to “listen to heart of some of these young leaders,” Southern Baptists might be encouraged “to catch their passion.”

Hunt relayed his experience at a recent International Mission Board appointment service in Denver where 101 mostly young missionaries were sent out, with the “majority going to extremely hard and dangerous places.”

“With that type of commitment to Jesus Christ that they’re willing, many of them, to write their will before they leave with the understanding some of them will probably never return, I have a very difficult time spending my time talking about their jeans, whether hair is spiked or colored” or their musical tastes, Hunt said.

By building relationships with younger leaders, “if we see some areas of concern, at least we have earned the right to speak into them.”

On the continuing banter between Calvinists and those critical of the doctrine that attempts to describe God’s work in salvation, Hunt said the debate has raged for more than 400 years and is part of Baptist history.

“We have wonderful men and women on both sides. I think the Baptist tent is large enough for both,” he said.

Asked by a reporter if an invitation was made for President Barack Obama to address the SBC, Hunt said he knew of no such invitation.

But Hunt, the first known Native American SBC president, said, “I feel like we will have a resolution to really honor our president, especially in the context of being the first African American to be elected. We have much to celebrate in that.”

Hunt said he had ample opportunity to invite Republicans to speak, “but we felt that would send a wrong signal because we wanted to send prayer support to the new president and we are mandated to pray for our president.”

Speaking to proposed federal hate crimes legislation that some say could infringe on biblical preaching, Hunt said he was not overly worried as long as pastors “stay in the context of preaching biblical truth. And if the day comes that we would be imprisoned for the proclamation of the gospel becoming that much of an offense, we would join about two-thirds of the rest of the planet.

“God forbid that I would travel to the Middle East to encourage those already in hostile settings while at same time being afraid to proclaim the message that I encourage,” Hunt said.

Returning to the Great Commission Resurgence, Hunt answered a question regarding media access to the meetings of the proposed GCR task force. He said media presence would be “counterproductive because we want people to be at liberty to share their heart.”

It could be “embarrassing where we’re just seeking wisdom,” Hunt added, “but we would love to have any and all of you

LOUISVILLE–Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention approved a task force aimed at spurring on a resurgence of Great Commission work, severed a relationship with Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth over the church’s affirmation of homosexual members, and passed a resolution citing the historic nature of the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first African American president while decrying some of his social policies and committing to “earnestly pray” for him.

Meeting in Louisville on the 150th anniversary of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s founding, they also re-elected Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., for a customary second term as SBC president.

Messengers overwhelmingly approved a motion on June 23 by Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. allowing Hunt to name a task force to study “how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together.”

The naming of the 19-member “Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force” on June 24 followed several months of debate in newspaper articles and on web postings about the 10-point “Toward a Great Commission Resurgence” document drafted by Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, at Hunt’s encouragement.

The GCR document itself was never acted upon, but the task force was seen by many as related to the document’s Axiom IX, which called for a more efficient and effective convention structure.

The 8,700-plus messengers–represented by a larger group of younger faces than in recent years–were reminded of Hunt’s emphasis on a Great Commission Resurgence by its reference in sermons throughout the week beginning in the pre-meeting SBC Pastors’ Conference, June 21-22.

Speaking to GCR detractors, Hunt repeated more than once during the annual meeting that he had “no desire whatsoever to touch the structure” of the convention. Instead, he cited his hope that giving through the Cooperative Program–the SBC’s shared budgetary mechanism–would increase while overlap in convention services would be addressed.

The task force–which includes two state executive directors including Jim Richards of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, an assortment of pastors, two seminary presidents, a director of missions and several laymen, with heavy representation from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina–is charged with reporting back to convention messengers at the next annual meeting, scheduled June 15-16, 2010 in Orlando, Fla.

At his re-election news conference prior to messengers voting on the task force, Hunt said he observed a “sense of urgency” at the meeting and that Southern Baptists “are saying we need to get serious.”

CHURCH DISFELLOWSHIPED
Following the recommendation of the SBC Executive Committee, messengers voted without discussion to declare Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth “not in friendly cooperation” over the church’s inaction concerning openly homosexual members, some of whom have served on church committees (see related story on page 1).

Beginning in November 2007, a controversy in the church over how homosexual couples would be pictured in a church directory became public. At the 2008 SBC annual meeting, William Sanderson of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, N.C., made a motion that was referred to the SBC Executive Committee seeking clarification on whether Broadway had violated Article III of the SBC constitution, which declares churches “which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior” not in cooperation with the SBC.

The church denied it has affirmed homosexual behavior, but Roger “Sing” Oldham, Executive Committee vice president for convention relations, told the TEXAN after the EC’s meeting that the committee saw “an ambiguity between their written comments and the actual practices of the church” that was never resolved.

One of the early pastors of the church, founded in 1883, played a role in moving Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to Fort Worth. The church has had many Southwestern professors as members through the years, though it has maintained a level of disagreement over the conservative direction of the SBC in the last three decades.

RESOLUTIONS
The Obama resolution cited “racial progress signaled by the election of Barack Hussein Obama” that also exhorted the president to defend biblical views of marriage and human life, and to appoint “strict constructionist,” “original intent” judges.

The Resolutions Committee, at the last hour, added a statement that “we express our strong opposition” to the president declaring June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.”

Of five resolutions, it was the only one debated, with messengers following the advice of the Resolutions Committee by voting down an amendment to include language critical of the president’s advancement of homosexual activism in public schools as friendly but not germane to the resolution.

Other resolutions covered adoption and orphan care, biblical sexuality and public policy, the 150th anniversary of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and appreciation to Louisville-area Baptists and the seminary for their hosting the SBC annual meeting.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS
In addition to Hunt, messengers elected John Mark Toby, pastor of Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Somerset, Ky., as first vice president, and Stephen Rummage, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., as second vice president.

John Yeats, communications director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, was re-elected as recording secretary, as was Jim Wells, director of missions for the Tri County Baptist Association in Nixa, Mo., as registration secretary.

CP BUDGET
Messengers approved a $204.3 million CP Allocation Budget, down more than $1.3 million from last year’s budget. CP receipts for 2007-08 (down 0.65 percent from the prior year) set the maximum amount allowed for the 2009-2010 CP Allocation Budget.

The budget maintains current allocations to the convention’s ministries, including 50 percent of receipts to the International Mission Board and 22.79 percent to the North American Mission Board. The convention’s six seminaries will receive a combined 21.92 percent. By the seminary enrollment formula, Southern will receive 4.96 percent (down for 7.98 percent); Southwester, 4.84 percent (up from 4.81 percent); New Orleans, 4.39 percent (down from 4.41 percent); Southeastern, 4.04 percent (down from 4.15 percent); Midwestern, 1.90 percent (up from 1.77 percent); and Golden Gate, 1.80 percent (down from 1.81 percent).

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission will continue to receive 1.65 percent of the budget, while the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives will receive .24 percent. The SBC Operating Budget, encompassing the SBC annual meeting costs, the work of the convention between annual meetings and the Executive Committee, will receive 3.4 percent of the CP budget.

Former Texas pastor Mac Brunson, now pastor at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., was elected to preach the 2010 convention sermon at the annual meeting in Orlando, with pastor Michael Catt of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., as the alternate.

Convention music director will be Scott White of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga.

RALLYING SUPPORT FOR MISSIONS
Mission board reports served to rally Southern Baptists to reach the world with the gospel with leaders of the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board expressing pleasure at the call for a Great Commission Resurgence.

Texas pastor Byron McWilliams of First Baptist, Odessa, remarked on his June 29 blog post that GCR “passed overwhelmingly as most realize a need for getting back to the basics. We, the Christ followers who comprise the Southern Baptist Convention, have been appointed by God for such a time as this and we must not fail to be used by him to effect quantum change around the world exclusively for his glory. What an honor it is to be part of a convention that has this as its goal,” he said.

“If any person wants a clear example why I am proud to be affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, they need look no further than Louisville. During the International Mission Board report, Dr. Jim Richards provided IMB President Jerry Rankin a check for $100,000 to be applied toward the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering shortfall,” McWilliams noted.

Citing SBTC’s forwarding to SBC causes 55 percent of CP monies received from churches, a conviction that the Bible is “the totally true and inspired, inerrant Word of God,” and keeping “world missions” as “the heartbeat of SBTC,” he concluded, “I am so pleased to be part of a state convention that is strongly in support of the Southern Baptist Convention, stands on Scripture as the final authority, and is doing everything it can to fulfill the Great Commission.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–Southern Baptist Convention messengers on June 23 voted to cease the denomination’s relationship with Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth “until such time as the church unambiguously demonstrates” its compliance with the SBC constitution regarding homosexual behavior.

The recommendation from the Executive Committee passed on the floor nearly unanimously with no discussion, capping an almost year-long study of the church’s stance that began last year when a messenger made a motion asking that the convention declare Broadway Baptist as “not in friendly cooperation” with the denomination.

At issue was whether the church was in violation of Article III of the SBC constitution, which states that churches “which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior” are not in friendly cooperation.

Broadway Baptist has approximately five openly homosexual members, including two male couples, according to church members, with several serving on church committees. News of the homosexual members became public in late 2007 when the church was deciding whether or not to include the same-sex couples in a church directory.

In the end, the church voted 294-182 to publish a directory without family portraits but with candid shots of members involved in various ministries and activities.

AMBIGUITY
Following a series of letters between the Executive Committee and the church, the matter appeared to reach a dead end in a May 21 letter from the church deacons to Executive Committee staff counsel D. August (Augie) Boto that referred to “innuendo and gossip” and then acknowledged, “that we, like most other churches, have a few gay members.”

“We do not inquire about sexual orientation when people present themselves for membership,” but the church does require a profession of faith followed by believer’s baptism, the letter stated, adding that the church has not acted to “affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior” nor does it “intend to do so.”

“Broadway Baptist Church desires to maintain its longstanding and historic affiliation with the SBC,” the letter stated.

Roger “Sing” Oldham, Executive Committee vice president for convention relations, told the TEXAN the committee saw “an ambiguity between [Broadway’s] written comments and the actual practices of the church” that was never resolved.

Stephen Wilson, a member of the Executive Committee and vice president for academic affairs at Mid-Continent University, emphasized to Baptist Press that the denomination encourages churches to reach out to people struggling with homosexuality. The issue with Broadway Baptist, though, is over a church allowing members who are homosexual and unrepentant, he said.

“If churches are ministering to homosexuals, they are doing nothing more than what our own convention’s task force has asked us to do,” Wilson told Baptist Press. “But in Broadway’s case … the church was in effect saying that it was OK to have members who are open homosexuals.”

Various Executive Committee workgroups and subcommittees studied the issue during their September and February meetings but delayed action to further study the issue.

Although members of Broadway Baptist appeared at the February meeting, none appeared at an Executive Committee meeting on June 22 in Louisville. Some members of the workgroup and subcommittee said in February that they would welcome a statement from the church on homosexuality to clarify its position on the issue. The church chose not to make any such statement.

The recommendation approved by messengers says that the “cooperative relationship between the Convention and the church” is ceasing “and that the church’s messengers not be seated, until such time as the church unambiguously demonstrates its friendly cooperation with the Convention under Article III.”

Wilson noted that some outside observers criticized the Executive Committee for delaying action at two previous meetings. He, though, said he had no regrets and that “it has always been our hope there could be reconciliation.”

“This was not a rush to judgment. We actually wanted?from the bottom of my heart?for this to be resolved by the local church where the convention wouldn’t have to be involved in any way,” said Wilson, who serves as chairman of a workgroup that studied the issue. “… I think [in February] there was a feeling that maybe this could be solved without having to go through the step that we had to do today.”

Wilson said the church’s actions ran counter to what it claimed in its correspondence.

“[I[t was more from what they were actually doing in practice where the conflict was,” Wilson said. “While they didn’t officially endorse it, they were allowing members and also people in leadership that were homosexual.”

The church’s interim pastor, Charles Johnson, appeared before an Executive Committee workgroup at February’s meeting. Since then, the church has called a new pastor, Brent Beasley.

After the convention vote, Johnson criticized the convention’s decision on his Internet blog, stating that the “SBC remains Baptist in name only.”

“It became clear several weeks ago from the Executive Committee that Broadway would have to implement measures to identify, isolate, and distinguish our gay and lesbian members from the rest of the congregation in order to be found in friendly cooperation. Of course, conscience, congregational autonomy, and common decency prohibit us from doing so.”

He added: “Every Southern Baptist church of any size has homosexual members. These friends pray with us, sing with us, give with us, serve with us, and take the Body and Blood of Christ at the table of the Lord with us. Will the test imposed upon Broadway by the denomination now be required of all the churches?”

David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon and president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, told BP he had hoped Broadway Baptist would do more to make clear it opposed homosexuality. He said he had discussions with church leaders and that his involvement was “more as a pastor than as the president” of the BGCT. Lowrie said he told church leadership “that they needed to take a step beyond just making a public declaration” in a letter.

“They needed to actually express those convictions in some practical way,” he said. “They, for whatever reason, weren’t able to do that…. I felt that here were things that they could have done to minister to those within their church fellowship that struggled with those issues and other issues.”

He said he thought a ministry within the church to help people with “unhealthy lifestyles” would have helped clarify the matter.

The pastor who led the church during the church directory controversy—Brett Younger—resigned in June 2008 to take a position at McAfee School of Theology in Georgia. He left the church after a vote to oust him failed, 68-32 percent. But the desire by some to remove Younger had less to do with the issue of homosexuality and more to do with a host of other issues, church members said.

Younger seemingly approved of the acceptance of homosexuality in church life. He delivered a sermon Dec. 2, 2007, explaining both sides of the debate over whether homosexuality is a sin. In the end, he said, God’s people will “serve together in the unity of God’s diversity.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–Messengers to the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention enthusiastically embraced SBC President Johnny Hunt’s plan to appoint a task force to study how Southern Baptists can work “more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd of First Baptist Church of Springdale will chair the 19-member committee that includes Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Jim Richards.

Richards told the TEXAN he finds it humbling to be named to the task force, joining Floyd in asking for prayer that the group will find God’s will. “My hope is that the Southern Baptist Convention will produce spiritual fruit with excellence.”

Floyd appealed for 5,000 volunteers to pray regularly on behalf of the newly named committee.

“Without any doubt at all, with an overwhelming heart of support, there is a rising of the Great Commission in Southern Baptist life. There is a resurgence that is happening already,” Floyd wrote on his blog June 24. “This is a God moment for all of our churches to rally together to pray for this divine assignment that all of our convention of churches share–taking the gospel to the world.”

Months before the June 23-24 annual meeting, Hunt expressed concern that annual reports of membership and baptisms forecast a declining trend line for the denomination. He envisioned Southern Baptists moving forward from the battleground of the 1970s and 1980s that secured the SBC’s position on the inerrancy of Scripture to take the next hill to “become a real delight to the Lord we serve.”

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin served as the architect of Hunt’s call for a Great Commission Resurgence, offering a sermon that outlined axioms of accomplishing such a movement that Hunt predicted would lead to revival. LifeWay Christian Resources President Thom Rainer and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler reviewed Akin’s manuscript before he delivered it to a chapel audience April 16. Then Hunt released the GCR document April 27 via the website GreatCommissionResurgence.com, eventually garnering support from 4,222 who declared their endorsement online.

Some critics, chief among them Executive Committee President Morris Chapman, accused Hunt of usurping the role of trustees and negating the need for another study, 12 years after the convention’s reorganization. Chapman used his convention report as an occasion to further challenge the SBC president’s proposal.

Ultimately, the motion to appoint a task force was introduced by Mohler and affirmed by an estimated 90-plus percent of the messengers casting ballots. While it only addressed Article IX of the GCR document penned by Akin, Hunt is hopeful individuals and local churches will embrace the entire vision.

“It’s about all of us starting with the local church, taking a look to see if we’re doing the best we’ve ever done in our lifetime to fulfill the Great Commission,” he stated in his president’s address.

In making the motion, Mohler said: “We are looking at an unprecedented set of opportunities before us, especially when it comes to reaching the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. We sense from our churches an incredible desire to be even more active in the task of getting the gospel to the ends of the earth.”

“It’s the task of this generation to be responsive both to the opportunities that are before us and to the conviction and commitment of our churches. We need to set that passion loose and in this generation Southern Baptists will either move greatly ahead or we will fall more tragically behind.”

Rebuffing those who feared the proposal sought to reorganize convention structures, Mohler asserted, “This is not an effort to reinvent the Southern Baptist Convention.”

There is “absolutely no reason to fear asking that question [about how to be more effective in obeying the Great Commission], Mohler said.

“We have every reason to feel an excitement and an enthusiasm about asking in every single generation, indeed in every season, is there more we can do and can we do even more if we are more faithful in the task of deploying the conviction and the passion of Southern Baptists in service to the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

Noting that the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845 “for the solitary purpose of getting the gospel to ends of the earth,” Mohler declared: “There is a generation ready and waiting to be challenged to do something great for the cause of Christ. I say we take this opportunity.”

One messenger who spoke against the motion asserted that the decline in baptisms reported by Southern Baptist churches could be attributed to a rise in Calvinist convictions. Another messenger argued that it didn’t require a task force to discover the Bible’s call to witness and minister to the lost. A third messenger offered a substitute motion to have the SBC’s North American and International Mission boards conduct the study themselves, rather than incurring the expense of creating a task force.

The effort to redirect the proposal failed, however, and a final messenger, who identified himself as “a young Southern Baptist,” called on messengers to vote for the proposal “for the sake of the younger generation and the future of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Great Commission resurgence.”

Midlothian pastor Blain R. Craig of Oak Crest Baptist said he was encouraged by the presence of younger messengers. “For some time, there has been a lot of talk about needing younger leaders in the SBC. This year there seemed to be tangible evidence of that becoming a reality.”

Craig said their “young, enthusiastic faces” demonstrated that they were energized about the GCR, adding that Alabama pastor David Platt’s “gospel-centered sermon enhanced the focus on the Great Commission,” along with the challenges offered at the “9 Marks at 9” panel discussions hosted by Washington, D.C. pastor Mark Dever both nights following the meeting.

Springtown pastor John Mann of La Junta Baptist also picked up on an energized annual meeting, but questioned whether it was prompted by the excitement of newly involved, young messengers or concern regarding the SBC’s future growth.

“My primary hope is that by focusing on the Great Commission it will remind us that the message the Lord has given us is an intentionally distinctive one as compared to what the culture would want us to have.” Mann preferred the GCR focus on biblical faithfulness rather than pragmatic solutions to stagnation. “Simply reorganizing is not going to solve the issues.”

Lee Welch, pastor of First Baptist of Rusk, said he longed for a more positive and challenging focus from more of the pre-convention and annual meeting speakers, noting that some emphasized statistical trends in order to rally attention to the GCR document.

“I’m interested in what that’s going to be when it’s fleshed out. I don’t know anyone who’s against the Great Commission,” he said, explaining why the motion drew such strong support.

“I can appreciate the intent of helping us refocus on evangelism, but we’ve also got to be involved in discipleship. We may have created our won monster in that way by going after numbers without the follow-up that’s necessary to really get those people rooted in their faith.”

Texas pastor Gary May of First Baptist of Diana said he hopes Southern Baptists will unite around the purpose of the gospel as a result of Hunt’s leadership.

“I believe he is demonstrating visionary leadership and is seeking dialogue among many corners of Southern Baptist life,” May said, noting that most SBC presidents tend to grow in their affection for Southern Baptist churches and cooperative denominational efforts after the first term of office.

“He is stronger supporter of the Cooperative Program today than he ever has been and will continue to lead us to greater unity toward reaching the world with the gospel. When a sitting SBC president leads his church to increase its CP and commits to continuing that trend into the future, it is a positive sign.”

The newly formed task force will study the issues and bring their report, along with any recommendations, to the 2010 SBC annual meeting, June 15-16 in Orlando, Fla.

In a June 3 teleconference interview, Hunt endorsed an appeal from four state Baptist paper editors that the task force would be as open and transparent as possible, but he backed off of that statement in his presidential news conference three weeks later.

Hunt said on June 3: “I would be real open to say that we look forward to every meeting that there will be a state editor there to be able to document the meeting. We have nothing to hide,” Hunt told the editors from the Florida Baptist Witness, Georgia Christian Index, Illinois Baptist and Southern Baptist TEXAN.

But when asked about press access during his SBC news conference, Hunt said media presence would be “counterproductive because we want people to be at liberty to share their heart.”

It could be “embarrassing where we’re just seeking wisdom,” Hunt added, “but we would love to have any and all of you at the meetings and as soon as it is over we’d be delighted to share what we came to by the way of context.”

Floyd told Baptist Press, “The task before us is huge and without the Lord’s leadership and power will be impossible. Through prayer and due diligence, God wil direct our path toward the future.”

Besides Floyd, Hunt, Akin, Mohler and Richards, other committee members are: Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C.; David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.; Simon Tsoi, trustee of the International Mission Board and retired pastor; Donna Gaines, pastor’s wife at Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis, Tenn.; Al Gilbert, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C>; J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Tom Biles, executive director of the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Baptist Association; John Drummond, a layman at St. Andrew Baptist Church in Panama City, Fla.; Harry Lewis, senior strategist for partnership missions and mobilization at the North American Mission Board; Michael Orr, pastor of First Baptist Church in Chipley, Fla.; Roger Spradlin, pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, Calif.; J. Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention; Ken Whitten, pastor of the Tampa-area Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla.; and Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.