At the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting — a gathering notorious for attracting homosexual activist protestors — Bob Stith stood inside the convention center next to a banner emblazoned with "Homosexuality … Southern Baptists CARE!"
His purpose in being there — in resigning from his church to be there — was not so much to reach out to homosexuals as to enlist each Southern Baptist church to do that back in its own hometown.
"A lot of what we’re facing from activists is our own fault," he said. "Many of them go to an activist group for help because they have nowhere else to go. They aren’t finding help in our churches."
His conviction came because his church was one of those churches, he said, at the hand of his leadership.
Stith, former pastor of Carroll Baptist Church, Southlake, Texas, recently accepted the newly created position of national strategist for gender issues for the SBC. The move came more than a decade after he first felt strong conviction about his own attitude toward homosexuals.
"God really convicted me in 1994. I realized one Sunday while I was preaching on the issue — it was like God said, ‘Bob, if they heard this sermon, would they come to you for help?’ Not if they were in their right mind," he said.
Stith, a Selma native and graduate of Howard College (now Samford University), set out then to find out all he could about reaching out to homosexuals in a loving way. "I knew that Christ would set them free, but I didn’t know specifics of how to help."
When he learned those specifics at a one-day conference in Florida, he came back energized, thinking other churches would get on board with his excitement.
He was surprised when they didn’t.
"Most of the reason they don’t is unfamiliarity, or they don’t want to touch it. Some of that is because of the ‘ick’ factor. I was that way — I understand," Stith said.
It’s just been in recent years that the climate of the SBC — like Stith’s heart — has begun to change on the topic, according to Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).
Duke serves on the SBC’s task force on ministry to homosexuals, a group started the year after Stith introduced a motion at the 2001 SBC annual meeting calling for the convention to "establish a task force to inform, educate, and encourage our people to be proactive and redemptive in reaching out to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions."
Out of the task force came six years of research on ministry to homosexuals and finally Stith’s appointment in June.
In years prior, the biggest news item for the SBC on the topic was in 1993 when messengers enacted an SBC constitutional amendment targeting churches that affirm homosexual behavior. This amendment was used that same year in an attempt to unseat messengers from President Bill Clinton’s church, Immanuel Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark. The attempt failed.
Now the SBC’s focus on the topic is different — still not affirming, but different.
"In the last decade or so, Southern Baptists have become more aggressive in their ministry to homosexuals," he said. "They have become aware of the need and have become more familiar with the factors that contribute to same-sex attractions. This increased awareness and understanding has helped to put a human face on homosexuality and produced a great outpouring of compassion among many Southern Baptists."
As a result, a number of SBC churches have started effective ministries to those struggling with homosexuality that helps them "find God’s grace to change," Duke said.
But many other churches have not — that’s where Stith comes in.
Stith’s Texas-based office, funded by LifeWay Christian Resources, will be guided by ERLC and available for resourcing to all Southern Baptist churches.
"We want to get into state conventions, churches, seminaries — anyone who will hear our message," Stith said. As far as he knows, he said, no Alabama Baptist churches have a ministry to people struggling with homosexuality.
LifeWay’s Web site — www.lifeway.com/thewayout — offers materials and resources as well as potential speakers to help churches mobilize to bring people out of homosexuality and into grace, Stith said.
A one-day seminar with information to jumpstart a ministry is also available through Stith’s office.
"It’s not acceptable for those of us who have tender hearts and compassion toward people to be accused of hate and anger," said James T. Draper Jr., immediate past president of LifeWay and co-chair of the task force along with ERLC’s Richard Land. "When we tell them what the Scriptures say, all we’re doing is really debating with them. They have no point of reference except their own experience."
Many times we as Christians don’t realize how we may sound to someone who is already wounded, Stith explained.
"We need to grow awareness — a need to be redemptive. Many parents suffer in silence with heavy hearts because they’ve heard comments from the pulpit and in their Sunday School class that make them uncomfortable," Stith said. "Let’s get back to doing what we do best — bring souls to wholeness in Christ."
For more information, e-mail bstith777@juno.com. (BP contributed)
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