April 21, 1999
Falwell has place on SBC program
___ATLANTA--Jerry Falwell, the nationally known televangelist and recent convert to Southern Baptist life, will appear on the program of this year's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Atlanta.
___Falwell, who for most of his ministry was a staunch independent Baptist but last year attended his first SBC as a messenger, won't preach or preside at this year's sessions. However, he will give the benedictory prayer after the convention sermon by retired Texas pastor Ralph Smith of Austin.
___Although this will mark the first time Falwell has appeared on the SBC annual meeting program, he has addressed the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference in the past.
___While Falwell's appearance may draw media attention, the most notable change for messengers this year will be the roll-out of an abbreviated convention schedule. The meeting will begin Tuesday morning, June 15 and conclude after the evening session June 16.
___For about the last 20 years, the meeting has lasted through noon Thursday. In the more distant past, the meeting lasted from three to five days.
___The new schedule still keeps Wednesday afternoon free for messengers.
___Convention planners predict registration of 14,000 messengers for this year's convention in the South, up from the near-record low attendance of 8,586 last year in Salt Lake City.
___No highly contentious issues are scheduled for debate this year, although the convention's Executive Committee will recommend that the SBC not change its name as two messengers proposed last year.
___The Executive Committee also will recommend to messengers that the 2000 convention site not be moved from Orlando, Fla., despite concerns about a perceived endorsement of the Disney empire built there. Two years ago, the SBC called for a boycott of the Walt Disney Co.
___SBC President Paige Patterson is expected to be re-elected to a second term.
___Texans on the program include Jerry Fortune, pastor of Mother Holmes Baptist Church in Sheffield, and Charles Kelley Sr. of Beaumont, who will lead in prayer Tuesday morning; Chris Machen, a concert artist from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, who will sing Tuesday afternoon; Ken Hemphill, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; O.S. Hawkins, president of the Annuity Board; and Smith, pastor emeritus at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin.
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