CO-CHAIR THOUGHTS FROM JEROLD McBRIDE
Pastor, First Baptist Church, San Angelo
Look Closely Before You Give!

At Southwestern Seminary I earned Master of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees. As a graduate student I taught evangelism under C. E. Autrey.

Recently a $100 million fund-raising campaign has been announced by the seminary. It is the largest ever. Southwestern already has millions of dollars given by many who would have never contributed if they had known the school would fall into fundamentalist hands. And now the trustees want even more!

Even though the seminary has some excellent faculty members who are truly Baptist in theology and principle, the matters you must consider before parting with any of your money include: (1) the fundamentalist board of trustees which control it; (2) the direction they are taking the school and (3) whether you believe in their agenda.

If you approve the fundamentalist’s takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, if you believe that “might makes right,” if you believe that we should treat fellow Christians as they treated Russell Dilday, then you should bankroll their institution. But you need to know in advance that every dollar you give these people will be interpreted and touted as a vote of confidence in them and their agenda. Their continued success depends on your contributions!

There is no way the fundamentalist machinery can keep on operating without the financial support of well-meaning traditional Baptists such as you and I. This is because many of their own do not support them. A case in point is the giving pattern of a former SBC president’s church. The 1996 Cooperative giving report summary published in The Baptist Standard, February 19, 1997, indicates that the Second Baptist Church of Houston’s total missions giving for the year was $12,005. In contrast $525,651 was given by the church I serve, the First Baptist Church of San Angelo, with a much smaller congregation and income.

On the other hand, if you believe in the autonomy of the local church, the priesthood of the believer, the servant role of the ministry and “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you,” you should not fund their campaign. There are plenty of worthy institutions and real needs involving old-time, traditional, honest-to-goodness Baptists. The institutions and programs are under the control of fellow Texas Baptists and not people who have been hand picked by the current leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Where could your money be better spent? Here are a few suggestions: Truett Theological Seminary (the First Baptist Church of San Angelo is endowing the M.C. Shook Chair of Missions at Truett for $750,000 at $75,000 a year for ten years); the Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University; our excellent Texas Baptist universities providing degrees in theology and bi-vocational ministry; starting a Texas Baptist Bible College to train non-college educated ministers and supporting a program of theological education for lay persons.

As a traditional Baptist your money could be better invested in our Baptist General Convention of Texas partnership missions, increasing our ministries to families, supporting TEXAS 2000, Global Missions of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship under the excellent leadership of Keith Parks and Daniel Vestal and Texas Baptist efforts to start new churches and to reach our growing Hispanic population with the Gospel.

Because Texas Baptists are knowledgeable and perceptive, surely they will give to these more pressing and deserving needs.

In this issue is an article on how Southwestern is losing its traditional Baptist identity. Chapel speakers nearly unanimously reflect the fundamentalists’ perspective.

Recently Steve Harmon was denied election to the faculty despite the unanimous recommendation of the Theology Department. Reportedly, the seminary’s trustees did not like Harmon’s position on the local church’s exercising its autonomy in determining whom it might call or ordain.

The best I can tell, this young man was denied a faculty position because he was adamant about being a Baptist. This says a lot about the future direction of the seminary and should give you cause to look closely before you give.

The fact is clear. The president and faculty of an institution do not control that institution— trustees do! If they did, Russell Dilday would still be president of Southwestern. You need to look closely at the theology and perspectives of the trustees of any institution before you give to perpetuate their ideology.

With limited resources and tremendous needs it seems that when someone is asking for 100 million dollars it is appropriate and wise to take a close look and ask yourself if your money could be better spent in other ways. Look closely before you give!

April 1997