c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Five months after the resignation and imprisonment of the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, a slew of candidates are in the running to succeed him as president of the National Baptist Convention, USA.

Eleven candidates remained in the running as of Wednesday (Aug. 25), ranging from well-known pastors and former and present convention officers, to a layman in the otherwise clergy-filled contest.

More than 60,000 delegates and visitors are expected to attend the annual session of the prominent black denomination when it meets Sept. 6-10 in Tampa, Fla. The presidential election, scheduled for Sept. 9, will be the highlight.”The focus is going to be on the election of the new president and that is very critical to how National Baptists can regain our credibility,”said Warren H. Stewart Sr., executive secretary of the NBCUSA’s Home Mission Board.”All of our focus will be on that.” Though many candidates claim to be the front-runner, with so many in the race _ more than double the 1994 number _ it’s hard to determine who is the real favorite, said the Rev. John Chaplin of Washington, NBCUSA vice president at large and chairman of its electoral commission.”At this point, it’s really hard to predict,”he said.

However, three candidates whose names are often cited as front-runners for the five-year post are the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson of Mount Vernon, N.Y., a former NBCUSA general secretary; the Rev. William J. Shaw of Philadelphia, former president of the Pennsylvania Baptist State Convention; and the Rev. E.V. Hill of Los Angeles, a former NBCUSA vice president, vocal supporter of Lyons, and prominent African-American in predominantly white evangelical circles.

Lyons resigned in March and went to prison on state and federal charges that included grand theft, racketeering, tax evasion and bank fraud. He was convicted of swindling millions from corporations wanting to market products to members of his denomination, one of the nation’s largest black churches. He also was found guilty of stealing more than $200,000 donated from the Anti-Defamation League to help rebuild burned black churches.

Despite pleas of mercy from some NBCUSA members, a Florida judge recently declined to reduce Lyons’ 5 1/2-year state sentence, which he is serving concurrently with a federal sentence of four years and three months.

The Rev. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, a professor who moderated a candidates’ forum in July at an NBCUSA-affiliated regional meeting in New England, said those who supported Lyons have not moved to a sole candidate.”I don’t think that former Lyons supporters are going to be a hurt or a help to any particular candidate, because those former Lyons’ supporters have since lined up with other people and they’re in a variety of places,”said Gilkes, a Colby College sociologist and fellow at Yale University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion.

Many of the candidates have campaigned across the country for months, using buzzwords like”accountability”and”integrity”to entice Baptists into picking their name on an electronic ballot.”We think that the problems that have occurred in the convention were possible because (of a) lack of accountability structures in place,”said Richardson.”Too much power was concentrated in the office of the presidency.” Shaw’s campaign slogan is VISA, an acronym standing for vision, integrity, structure and accountability.”The integrity has to do with becoming a believable body,”he said.

Both Richardson and Shaw ran against Lyons in the hotly contested 1994 race, when Lyons gained the presidency.

Other candidates include the Rev. Roscoe Cooper of Richmond, Va.; the Rev. A. Russell Awkard of Louisville, Ky.; the Rev. Jasper Williams of Atlanta; the Rev. Acen Phillips of Denver; the Rev. Matthew Johnson of Greensboro, N.C.; Cleo McConnell, a deacon from Homer, La.; the Rev. Earl Jackson of Gary, Ind.; and the Rev. John Kelly of Detroit, Mich.

Cooper, who says”the conventional wisdom is that I don’t have a ghost of a chance,”said he has more faith in the current state of the denomination than many of his opponents.”The convention is not in bad shape,”said Cooper, the NBCUSA’s general secretary.”That’s a big lie that many candidates have put forward. Our bills are paid.” He said the convention president no longer has control of the finances. They are now managed by a financial committee and bills are paid by a treasurer.

Although the convention continues to pay off the debt on its Nashville, Tenn., headquarters, Cooper said progress has been made since 1994.”When you talk about $6 million back there to $2.8 (million), that means we’re in better shape,”said Cooper, former president of the Baptist General Convention of Virginia.

Awkard, president of the Bluegrass State Baptist Convention, said the NBCUSA is facing”lean times”but he also voiced confidence in the denomination’s current state.”I think we have an amazing resilience,”he said.

Although the election is the meeting’s key focus, other issues are expected to be addressed by the denomination’s board and delegates.

The Rev. Stewart C. Cureton, who took over the presidency temporarily when Lyons resigned, expects consideration of a resolution calling for a boycott of his home state of South Carolina because of its practice of flying the Confederate flag over the state capitol.”We’re concerned,”said Cureton, pastor of Reedy River Missionary Baptist Church in Mauldin, a suburb of Greenville.”Every time we see the flag we think of slavery, bad treatment.” Fund raising will be another issue, said Cureton, who chose not to run for president.”We could use millions … and millions of dollars to be back on the right level,”he said.

He hopes to raise $4 million during the meeting to pay off denominational debts, including the $2.8 million owed on the Baptist World Center in Nashville. Fund-raising efforts also will be undertaken to support colleges affiliated with the denomination.

No matter who wins the presidency, Cureton said he hopes more Baptists will renew their convention support, which waned in the months leading up to Lyons’ resignation and imprisonment.

The Rev. Riggins Earl, an Atlanta professor and longtime NBCUSA member, predicted some who have withdrawn their money will return. But others will not, he said.”A lot of these churches will come back,”said Earl, professor of ethics and theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center.”They’re just waiting for them to clean up their act. Some just left for good.” Executives of the convention say the Lyons scandal harmed operations of their divisions.

The Rev. William J. Harvey, executive secretary of the NBCUSA’s Foreign Mission Board, said his division had to seek a line of credit for the first time in his 38 years in office.”Because of the difficulties of our president, why there were some people who stopped their contributions,”he said.”Since the man was incarcerated, we have noticed that there are many churches beginning to respond again.” Stewart, of the Home Mission Board, said his division had to reduce some of its giving to particular Baptist causes, including new churches.

Despite the Lyons scandal and the unpredictability of the coming election, Cureton is hopeful about the denomination’s future. He noted that the convention has dealt with splits and crises in the past and grown from the experiences. “This convention will survive,”he said.

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