If BGCT is so anti- SBC, then why…?
By Charles C. McLaughlin,
Associate Coordinator

According to some, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is moving away from the Southern Baptist Convention with such speed that they are forming a new state convention called Southern Baptists of Texas. According to Dee Slocum, as quoted in the SBT publication Plumbline, “The BGCT has left us as Southern Baptists… The rest of us have to make a choice, to either be Texas Baptists or Southern Baptists.” This is just an example of the many implications that the BGCT is anti-SBC.

When the BGCT recognized the diversity of convictions of churches and individual Texas Baptists to the takeover of the SBC, it has continually sought to maintain fairness. Fairness to those who applaud the directional change of the SBC since 1979 and fairness to those of us who disagree with the present direction of the SBC. However, the truth of the matter is that the BGCT continues to lean heavily in the direction of the SBC and this is still not enough for the fundamentalists in our state. If a state convention acts autonomously instead of practicing a direct form of connectionalism, then it is labeled anti-SBC.

If the BGCT is so anti-SBC, then why are Texas Baptists increasing their financial support of the SBC? According to The Baptist Standard, in 1997 Texas Baptists exceeded their support of missions by more than $3.5 million over the 1996 figures. The increase includes almost $1.5 million to the SBC through the Texas Cooperative Program. The special offerings for the formerly home and foreign missions board of the SBC were up 6.5 percent and 1.3 percent respectively. The percentage distribution changes of Cooperative Program receipts made two years ago resulted in increased giving to SBC; the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which has led the way in forming a strategy to reach “World A;” and the BGCT with its continuing emphasis on starting new churches. Everyone gains, but for some it is a reason to complain or even pull out.

If the BGCT is so anti-SBC, then why did The Baptist Standard give 1400% more coverage to SBC then it does CBF? According to 1997 tabulated results by Toby Druin, The Standard carried 308 stories about the SBC, 281 about the BGCT, while the CBF only had twenty-two stories. Who should be complaining here? For further contrast, the Southern Baptists of Texas received six stories while Texas Baptists Committed had one story. Those so-called moderates are so controlling, yeah… right! Perhaps the problem is that CBF is allowed any coverage at all.

If the BGCT is so anti-SBC, then why doesn’t it practice exclusion, which is the example set by the SBC? The 1997 SBC’s committee on nominations set up a guideline which states, “A nominee should neither personally support financially nor belong to a church which supports the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship through its budget.” The nomination of a Kentucky layman was challenged for this reason even though his church gave $151,000 to SBC causes last year. If a state convention chooses not to join the SBC in this practice of excluding supporters of CBF mission endeavors then the state convention is labeled “weak,” according to Paige Patterson, who has been selected president-elect of the SBC. Instead the BGCT has acted in a fair manner by allowing deletions and additions for churches to send money according to their own convictions. This resulted in freedom for more select contributions by churches. For some churches this meant the exclusion of Baylor and the inclusion of Criswell College without a penalty from the BGCT. Who supported this type of change? Texas Baptists Committed and the so-called moderates, that’s who! Yes, it allowed churches to also add CBF, but most of all it was fair to all Texas churches which practice a diversity of convictions.

For a state convention to be autonomous and fair does not mean it is anti-SBC unless you believe in a top-down, papal styled, authoritarian polity.

To those who believe the BGCT is anti- SBC enough to walk away from the vital ministry of the BGCT to reach Texas for Christ, I encourage you to think again.

My Dad, retired director of the State Missions Commission, is a member of FBC Dallas, and they have been very good to him. And I believe he has been good for them. He believes in his church and he also believes in the ministry of the BGCT. When he received the Pioneer Award for service in missions, he made a recorded statement to the convention. He could not attend as his body slowly gives in to the growing cancer. To the churches who consider leaving the BGCT, I ask them to remember his words:

“Reflecting over the years of my ministry with Texas Baptists, I’m impressed about the harmony, the unity, the great love and the commitment to missions on the part of so many hundreds of Baptists all across this state, literally thousands upon thousands.

“I think about them going to Minnesota-Wisconsin and to the River Ministry. I think about them establishing new churches and missions, working in city missions and in rural missions. And in all of the things that have made Texas Baptists what we are.

“I don’t have much longer to be here and I would like for whatever I would charge Texas Baptists to do and to be, I would pray that, number one, you would be strong in your support of Texas Baptists, that you would be committed Texas Baptists indeed and that our Baptist work in Texas would grow stronger and stronger. It has been my joy to be a part of it and I thank God for the privilege. Good bye and God bless you.”

The choice is not either/or.

The Baptist choice is cooperation in the midst of diversity.

March 1998