The 2002 edition of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in St. Louis, Mo., was filled with all the things one expects at an annual meeting. There were moments of high inspiration. There was drama, surprise and conflict. Amid it all, the 9,609 messengers who registered for the event handled the business items in almost routine fashion.
Rousing preaching peppered the two-day meeting. But no line evoked more response from the messengers than SBC President James Merritt’s declaration to “the pornographer, the adulterer, the homosexual, the pedophile and the abortionist” that “Southern Baptists are not going away.”
Messengers all across the hall stood and cheered. Again and again, speakers returned to the theme of confronting the moral problems of society. One speaker declared that Southern Baptists are “God’s last line of defense” against moral evil in the nation. Each reference brought roars of approval from the messengers.
For pure inspiration, little rivaled the presentation by Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, the two women held captive in Afghanistan for 105 days. Each told of becoming willing to lay down her life so the people of that far-off country could hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the most dramatic moment of the convention occurred during the report of the International Mission Board (IMB). A video dramatized the suffering of Chinese pastor Yun who leads a network of house churches with a membership greater than the SBC. The video showed the arrest and the beatings Pastor Yun endured as pastor of a house church.
Then IMB president Jerry Rankin presented Pastor Yun to a startled audience. After prolonged applause, Yun, who does not speak English, led the convention in prayer for the people of China. Few understood his words, but all understood his longings.
There were other dramatic moments, such as North American Mission Board missionaries standing along the front of the assembly hall with batons to pass to any messenger who would commit to participating in home missions during the coming year. Such moments were moving for all.
Surprises were few. Most of the meeting flowed just as planners hoped and observers predicted. But there were surprises. Messengers overruled the reccommendation of their resolutions committee and adopted a resolution against partial-birth abortions. The committee counseled not taking action on the resolution since the convention was already on record as opposing the practice through a resolution from an earlier convention.
Preconvention announcements indicated only one candidate for second vice president. Instead, there were three and the preannounced candidate lost. Both were surprises.
Lee Porter, SBC registration secretary for 25 years, lost his bid for re-election. That was a surprise for most.
A prediction circulating around the convention indicated another surprise may be in the wind. The story making the rounds was about some unhappiness by a few influential individuals who did not get to OK all the candidates before public announcements of their nominations were made.
In the course of numerous telephone calls, the story contends that it was agreed that the conservative resurgence has matured to the point that SBC officer nominations do not have to be “safeguarded” as in days past. In fact, the story circulating said that this might be the last year for advance agreement by certain influential Southern Baptists before nominations are announced.
Attempts to confirm the story only generated the reply that future elections might see more participation than in the past. It will be interesting to see how open the elections become. It would be healthy for Southern Baptists if three or four or five candidates were nominated for convention president.
Conflict also surfaced during the annual meeting; not conflict between messengers but conflict with some who differ with the convention position opposing homosexuality. About 200 members of SoulForce, a pro-homosexual group, picketed the convention. The same group picketed the SBC each of the last two years. This year they promised to disrupt proceedings.
Some SoulForce demonstrators were arrested as they tried to enter the building Tuesday morning as President Merritt stood to speak. Others already in the audience were arrested when they stood and marched toward the platform shouting and waving their literature above their heads. In all, 50 individuals were arrested, but they failed to disrupt the convention.
The controversy making the most news did not come from the annual meeting but from the Pastors Conference. During a sermon Monday evening, former SBC president Jerry Vines called the founder of Islam “a demon-possessed pedophile” and charged that Islam turns people into terrorists.
By Wednesday the story was being carried worldwide. Vines’ defenders pointed to Muslim writings indicating Mohammed had 12 wives including a 6-year-old girl with whom he had sex when she was 9. Attackers called Vines’ words a vile attack on another major religion.
Some SBC leaders tried to distance themselves from the comments by saying they were the words of one man and not the position of the convention. Others, such as Merritt and newly elected SBC president Jack Graham, endorsed Vines’ comments.
IMB officials said nothing, choosing to stay out of the line of fire. Evidently, the IMB hopes the brouhaha will be directed toward Vines and not toward SBC missionaries working with Muslims in many parts of the world. The IMB is careful about its public messages. It is careful not to allow information in print that might jeopardize the ability of its missionaries to gain a hearing for the gospel, even if the information is true.
Whether Vines’ comments are a one-day story or a long-term issue remains to be seen. However, the reaction to Vines’ charges demonstrates again that what is said in one place, even in an SBC Pastors Conference, can have worldwide consequences.
The recent SBC annual meeting also evidenced vision — vision for the family and vision for Southern Baptists working together through Empowering Kingdom Growth. Both efforts are worthy of support. Both have the potential of uniting Baptists the way Bold Mission Thrust tried to do a quarter of a century ago.
How history will evaluate this year’s annual meeting, no one knows. Those present seemed to enjoy and appreciate every facet of the event. This issue of the state Baptist paper provides an overview of the annual meeting so readers can know what transpired when 540 messengers from Alabama joined others from across the nation to conduct the business of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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