Members of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Alabama (SBCOA) group voted to change the organization’s name and heard from longtime conservative strategist Paul Pressler at their annual spring meeting.
An estimated 110 people attended the April 11 meeting at Taylor Road Baptist Church in Montgomery. They heard messages by host pastor Joe Godfrey and Pressler, a retired Texas judge, during the combination rally/worship service and enjoyed music provided by the church’s choir.
A press release said the members are “dedicated, cooperative Alabama Baptists” who “enthusiastically support” the Alabama Baptist State Convention and its executive director/treasurer, Rick Lance.
SBCOA members voted to shorten the group’s name and to change from an incorporated entity to an unincorporated network without membership dues. A commitment among state Baptist leaders to conservative theology, direct evangelism, global missions and the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was cited as inspiring the changes.
Under its new name, Alabama Baptist Conservatives, the network will continue efforts to promote conservative values at the annual meeting of the state convention.
Moderator Tommy Fountain, pastor of Golden Acres Baptist Church in Phenix City, will continue to lead with the new title of chairman.
“We have a great task,” Fountain said. He asked members to be sure all e-mail addresses were up to date.
Both Pressler and Godfrey brought inspirational messages based upon the New Testament, and both men were presented plaques of appreciation on behalf of the group by Roger Willmore, pastor of First Baptist Church, Weaver.
Godfrey was introduced as current first vice president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention “and we hope soon to be president.”
As Pressler accepted his plaque, he noted that “no one person” was responsible for the successful effort to gain control of the SBC. “It took thousands of people,” he said, “but basically it was the Holy Spirit.”
Tumultuous years
“We have had a tumultuous 24 years in the SBC,” Pressler said. He described the lengthy effort as one to return SBC agencies “to where they should be.”
He noted students have pushed enrollment in the six SBC seminaries to the highest number ever —14,150. “They are being taught how to feed the sheep of God,” he said.
Pressler said efforts are going well to organize conservatives on the national level, the state level and the associational level.
After his assessment of the national effort, Pressler elaborated on passages in 2 Timothy. He urged group members to pass along their values to younger ministers.
“If we will follow the injunctions Paul gave to Timothy, we will be successful,” he said.
Following the meeting, Pressler signed copies of his 1999 book, “A Hill on Which to Die.”
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