c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) When Southern Baptists meet in mid-June in Indianapolis, they expect to break already loosening ties with the Baptist World Alliance and continue their efforts to foster evangelism in this country and beyond.

The annual meeting from June 15-16 falls on the 25th anniversary of the beginning of conservative control of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

“I’m certain that had we not made a course correction, … the influence of Southern Baptists would have been drastically weakened in this country and around the world,” outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Jack Graham said in an interview.

He said Southern Baptists’ conservative direction _ called a “resurgence” by supporters and a “takeover” by opponents _ means they are not embroiled over issues such as gays in the ministry that grip some of the nation’s mainline denominations.

“We would find ourselves in huge debates over issues that I’m glad we settled long ago,” said Graham, pastor of a Dallas-area megachurch.

Critical observers say the latest evidence of the extent of conservative control of the 16-million-member denomination is the upcoming vote on the Baptist World Alliance. The Southern Baptist Executive Committee has recommended that messengers, or delegates, vote to remove $300,000 in funding from the global group and drop the denomination’s membership.

The committee said the alliance “no longer efficiently communicates to the unsaved a crystal clear gospel message that our Lord Jesus Christ is solely sufficient for salvation,” a claim that Denton Lotz, the alliance’s general secretary, called “a misrepresentation of the truth.”

At last year’s meeting, Southern Baptists reduced their financial support of the alliance from $425,000 to $300,000.

“Whatever else you say about the conservatives in the SBC, they have been fairly consistent in the last 25 years in terms of an ideological agenda,” said Wake Forest University Divinity School Dean Bill Leonard.

“There’s some sort of … issue that they raise or group they take issue with and this year’s no exception.”

Southern Baptist leaders literally consider the matter to be a done deal.

“The Baptist World Alliance (vote) is a formality,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “You can stick a fork in it.”

Beyond the alliance vote, Southern Baptists will choose a new president. The sole pre-convention nominee is the Rev. Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla., a 4,000-member congregation where he helped establish the FAITH Sunday school evangelism strategy.

There has been much discussion of a proposed resolution urging Southern Baptists to pull their children out of public schools and instead support “thoroughly Christian education.” An alternative proposal recommends affirming the public schools.

The convention will feature numerous speakers who will address issues related to the denomination’s “Empowering Kingdom Growth” initiative that emphasizes spiritual renewal. Evangelist Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is scheduled to preach the final sermon.

The convention will be immediately preceded by a “Conservative Resurgence Reunion.” The June 14 event, sponsored by The Criswell College in Dallas, will feature the well-known leaders of the movement but also recognize its grass-roots supporters who successfully voted for Adrian Rogers as president in 1979 to start a chain of events that led to conservative control of trustee boards within the denomination.

“These were the people who came from small congregations, rural settings, drove long distances at great sacrifice and committed themselves to vote for men who would lead the Southern Baptist Convention to a reformation and renaissance,” said Jim Richards, an organizer of the celebration and the executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics in Nashville, Tenn., questioned the celebration at a time when Southern Baptists have seen a drop in baptisms and some state colleges and universities have distanced themselves from the denomination.

“Fundamentalists promised the renewal and resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention when they took over the denomination,” he said. “Twenty-five years later, where’s the golden age? …. These are not signs of a golden age. These are signs of a denomination at risk.”

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