So Much to Be Grateful For

The Alabama Baptist State Convention lived up to its advance billing. It was long on unity and short on controversy. In fact, one would have to search with a magnifying glass to find a quarrel at this annual meeting.

The messengers may have set a record for agreeableness. No miscellaneous business was introduced. None of the nine resolutions presented by the Resolutions Committee generated debate. All of the recommendations of the State Board of Missions passed without challenge. No questions were raised to any of the reports from convention-related entities, commissions and committees.

The convention Audit Committee reported that the audits of the various entities indicate the financial conditions of all are in order. Each entity report highlighted successes and advancements in its ministry.

All convention officers were re-elected, five unanimously. Only the first vice president position garnered two candidates.

Alabama Baptists really do have “so much to be grateful for.” The accounts of our annual meeting are far different from those of some other state conventions. In some places, the convention is suing most of its entities. In other states, churches are being refused participation. In other conventions tensions are so great that executive directors resigned.

Some state conventions have divided into separate conventions, and other states appear on the verge of such action.

Not Alabama. Messengers in Alabama the Beautiful seemed to have taken to heart the pleading of state convention president Mike McLemore to maintain one convention.

This 179th annual session of the Alabama Baptist State Convention highlighted Baptist oneness. In addition to unity in the business sessions, there was unity of purpose throughout the meeting. Messengers celebrated the more than 600 decisions for Christ during the month-long Crossover Huntsville efforts that preceded the annual meeting.

Messengers enthusiastically welcomed missions partnership representatives from Venezuela and Impact Northeast. Then messengers voted to extend the partnership with each group. Presentation of the Volunteer of the Year award produced a heart-searching moment when recipient Bob Stevenson of First Baptist Church, Auburn, said he and his wife lived modestly so they would have resources to participate in missions activities.

Christian discipleship was the overriding emphasis of the meeting. It was portrayed in Scripture, sermon, testimony, drama and music. Perhaps the most inspirational moment of the convention was the concert by vocalist Steve Amerson. It certainly was for this writer.

Amerson performed a number of songs with pointed and penetrating messages around the theme of a Christian lifestyle. It was one of the most unusual and unusually effective concerts we have ever heard.

The only confusion of the convention developed around a resolution about display of the Ten Commandments. Convention officials learned of the resolution when a reporter from the New York Times called asking about the resolution. The reporter said the paper had been called about the resolution, which was submitted for committee consideration after the reporter’s call.

Representatives from local news outlets showed up at the convention site saying they had been told of a 3 p.m. press conference. Convention officials knew nothing of the event. The messenger submitting the resolution held a press conference on the sidewalk outside the Whitesburg church announcing his resolution would be voted on at 11 the next morning. News from the press conference was carried by several media outlets across the state that evening.

However, the Resolutions Committee unanimously chose not to report on the Ten Commandments resolution since the convention had acted on that topic in 1997. The only debate at the annual meeting was whether to suspend convention rules and bring the proposed resolution to the floor for messenger consideration or to uphold the Resolutions Committee’s decision. The messengers chose to uphold the committee.

Any report saying messengers voted on the Ten Commandments is in error. In fact, the sponsor of the resolution expressed concern about how news media might “spin” the story if messengers did not vote to endorse display of the Ten Commandments. In this writer’s judgment, it is unfortunate that media pressure even became an issue.

That 10 minutes of confusion could not detract from one of the most poignant moments of the convention. Illness prevented John Porter, retired pastor of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, Birmingham, from preaching the annual sermon. The task fell to Samford religion professor Sigurd Bryan who was the alternate.

Bryan is practically an icon among Alabama Baptists. He has taught generations of ministerial students during his long and illustrious career as a Bible professor at Samford. He is loved and revered throughout the state. For Bryan to stand before the Alabama Baptist State Convention and preach the annual sermon during his final year of full-time service on the religion faculty seemed especially appropriate. His words about “Why I Am a Missionary Baptist” were eloquent.

The 1,490 registered messengers were down 15 percent from last year. Still, messengers came from 72 of the 75 state cooperating associations giving statewide participation.

The 2001 annual meeting was a quiet session and a good session. It provided clear evidence to all that Alabama Baptists have “so much to be thankful for.”