Area church leaders decry Baptist divide

Pastors say Texas convention hurts only itself through decision to cut funding to regional group
Web posted Wednesday, November 1, 2000

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By Virginia Norton
Staff Writer

The Baptist General Convention of Texas took aim at the Southern Baptist Convention's leadership and its six seminaries when it cut $5 million in funding Monday; instead, it likely shot itself in the foot, Augusta-area pastors said.

The decision will force the average Texas church to choose between the state convention and the new conservative association, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, at a time when the denominational giving and the six Southern Baptist seminaries have never been stronger, said Dr. Mark Harris, pastor of Curtis Baptist Church of Augusta.

Texas Baptists made ``one of the most detrimental decisions to their own future that they could possibly have made,'' he said.

On the net: Southern Baptist Convention: www.sbc.net www.baptist2baptist.net Baptist General Convention of Texas: www.bgct.org

The funding cut was an effort on the part of a few very liberal-moderate Texans to get financial support for the Truett Seminary at Baylor Baptist University in Waco, said Frank Page, pastor of Warren Baptist Church.

Truett seminary opened in 1994 and has an enrollment of about 250 students. It is not one of the denomination's six seminaries.

``Texans are a conservative, Bible-believing people, but they have become disinterested in the politics and have allowed a small group of people to take over'' the state convention, Dr. Page said.

Despite Monday's cuts, the Texas state convention remains aligned with the denomination. The vote, however, signaled a rejection of a top-down management style and a ``too narrow'' theology, critics say.

There was not one issue but a series of issues during the past 20 years that swayed First Baptist Church of Savannah to dissociate from the Southern Baptist Convention in October, said John Finley, pastor of the 600-member congregation.

Besides Dr. Finley's church, Memorial Baptist Church in Savannah and First Baptist Church of Athens also voted to pull out of the SBC during the past year or so.

The three are still affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, said the Rev. Bill Ricketts, president of the group.

The state organization has about 3,400 congregations that represent more than 1.35 million people, including the churches from Athens and Savannah that left the SBC. Those three represent about 1,600 people.

Monday's vote will hurt the denomination's mission but will not alter Southern Baptists' conservative course, said Tommy Meador, minister of youth and education at Southside Baptist Church.

The struggle between conservatives and liberals has been going on for some time, he said.

``We conservatives are trying to follow what the word says and trying to take a firm stance. We are going to face persecution. If Texas wants to pull out, and if it is a financial blow, so be it. We don't have much control over that.''

Reach Virginia Norton at (706) 823-3336.

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