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.