THERE THEY GO AGAIN!
By David R. Currie,
Coordinator

Ronald Reagan made the phrase famous, “There you go again” in a presidential candidates debate. He used the phrase in response to times when he thought the facts being shared or charges leveled against him were not accurate.

Well, when it comes to fundamentalists in Texas, “There they go again.”

The group “Southern Baptists of Texas” has announced their slate of candidates for officers of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. They certainly have a right to support candidates who agree with their position. They openly urge Texas Baptists to approve of and cooperate with the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention. That is their right.

But, they need to have their facts straight.

With their announcement of a slate of candidates, they also released a resolution charging that BGCT leadership has”drifted away from its historical Southern Baptist roots.”

They also charged that the BGCT is dually aligned with CBF and that many Texas Baptists “have been misguided in their understanding of Southern Baptist missions and theological education. I think there’s been a lot of misinformation about our Southern Baptist entities. The SBC is true to the course and we are doing a great work.”

Let’s look at the facts.

The fact is SBC leadership has been true to the course they started in 1979. They have elected fundamentalist officers, who have appointed fundamentalist boards, and hired fundamentalist agency and seminary presidents. That is all true.

But another fact is, in doing so, they themselves have led the Southern Baptist Convention away from its historical course into radical fundamentalism, where Southern Baptists had never been before. They are on a totally new course never traveled by Southern Baptist in the past.

Here are some facts. I realize you have heard all this before, but its like the pictures I took of my pickup after my 16 year-old flipped it through a telephone pole and rolled it in a cotton patch—every so often he needs to see those pictures and remember the importance of paying attention!

The fact is that in following this new course, they have slandered the character and reputations of hundreds of honorable men and women (have you not heard the word “liberal” a few thousand times in reference to past respected SBC leaders and seminary professors); defunded historic agencies like the Baptist Joint Committee and the International Baptist Seminary in Europe; fired honorable men and women like Russell Dilday, Dan Martin, Al Shackleford, and Molly Marshall; connived in every conceivable fashion to control the Woman’s Missionary Union and degrade the WMU for responding to the wishes of local churches; told local churches they would accept money given only through certain channels; and, in the case of Southern Seminary this very year, announced that the qualifications to teach include interpreting the scriptures in accordance with the president’s personal interpretations on social and political issues.

My mamma raised me a Southern Baptist and she did not teach me any of the above!

The groups presidential nominee, Gary Miller, said that prayer is the central issue and urged Texas Southern Baptist to join in prayer to ask the Lord to help the state convention get back to “its historical mission” of joining with others to fulfill the Great Commission. That is well said except for the fact that the Baptist General Convention of Texas remains focused on the Great Commission rather than “denomination cleansing” and we are trying hard to respect all local churches, including the one Miller is pastor of, and the decisions those local churches make in carrying out the Great Commission.

One of the many wonderful things my mamma did teach me is that a local Baptist church is Baptist headquarters and it decides who to align with and who to cooperate with. Therefore the state convention is not dually aligned with anyone. It is independent and autonomous just like the local church. I wish my 78 year-old mamma could address the Southern Baptists of Texas or the Executive Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think she needs to explain Baptist polity and the historical roots of Southern Baptists to them like she taught me. At least they would hear the facts!

August/September 1995