SBC president Page speaks in Alabama

The future of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and its entities depends on unity within the convention and building a broader base of support for the Cooperative Program (CP), said Frank Page, current SBC president and pastor of First Baptist Church, Taylors, S.C.
   
He shared his hopes for the future of the SBC and his plans for bringing that to a reality with more than 100 people who gathered Nov. 30 to hear him speak at the Birmingham headquarters of national Woman’s Missionary Union.
   
“God has called Baptists to a new unity,” Page said, noting it is a unity born not by ignoring differences but by uniting behind missions and evangelism.
   
He quoted from Ezekiel 37 in which God shows Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones that represent the people of Israel and asks, “Can these bones live again?” The same question can be applied to Baptists today, Page noted.
   
It’s been said the early church had spiritual power but little worldly influence, he said. “Today’s church has influence but little power. I’m calling on Southern Baptists to be a people who believe in the power of the name of the Lord God once more.”
   
To do so, Page is encouraging Southern Baptists to follow after the three R’s — rightness of doctrine and the inerrancy of the Bible, relevancy to today’s culture and the need for revival, born of the Holy Spirit.
   
“If we truly exalt Jesus in what we say, what we think and how we act, these bones can live again,” he said. 
   
The convention already is showing some signs of being willing to change, as signified by his election to the presidency this summer during the annual meeting of the SBC in Greensboro, N.C. “Greensboro happened because God’s people said missions matters and the Cooperative Program matters,” Page said. “God’s people said it’s healthy to have a choice.” If that new wind that began in Greensboro continues to blow, then Page said he expects to see a higher level of support for the CP than ever before.
   
At the same time, the convention and its entities will still have to make changes to cope with leaner support as the builder generation exits and the boomer generation begins to rise. “The boomer generation is not going to support things like the builder generation did unless we see changes,” Page said.
   
To effect the needed change and grow the support base for the CP, he is trying to involve more people in SBC life, appointing older and younger pastors to posts who have never served before. 
   
Page is seeking leaders who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, display servant leadership, believe in the CP and will seek to involve many, many others in SBC work. “If we can do this, I think our future is bright,” he said. 
   
Page also faced questions from the audience about the effect of Calvinism within the SBC and the SBC’s relationship with the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) and other Baptist groups.
   
The influence of Calvinism is growing as Baptist colleges and seminaries have more professors teaching the five-point Calvinist doctrine, he said. 
   
Currently about 10 percent of Southern Baptist pastors classify themselves as five-point Calvinists, according to a July/August survey by LifeWay Christian Resources of the SBC. Page noted that percentage will only increase within five to 10 years as “hundreds, if not thousands,” of seminary graduates who are “extreme Calvinists” graduate and enter pastorates.
   
While it is up to pastors individually to choose to subscribe to that doctrine, Page urged that they follow the advice Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, gave when he debated that topic with Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., during a breakout session of the SBC Pastors Conference in June.
   
Patterson urged pastors to be honest with pastor search committees and churches about their doctrine and churches to be honest about their expectations.
   
“There will be problems unless there is total honesty about it,” Page warned.
   
He also noted that he would like to work to build relationships with others through a common missional emphasis. Page said he has agreed to conversations with BWA leaders. “I’m still learning about that,” he said. “I will open that dialogue back up again and we’ll see what happens.”