1995 memo notes concern about Texas
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Southern Baptist Convention leaders have been concerned about the "situation in Texas" for at least five years, according to minutes of a 1995 meeting obtained by the Baptist Standard.
___The four-paragraph document, titled "Atlanta Minutes, May 26, 1995, 12:00 Noon," is signed by Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.
___Patterson identifies himself below his signature as "unofficial secretary for an unofficial, uncalled meeting in a historically significant room in the Marriott Hotel Airport, Atlanta."
___An ad hoc group of conservatives has been meeting privately for the last two decades to orchestrate the direction of the SBC. Out of this group, the so-called "conservative resurgence" gained control of the denominational structure and brought sweeping changes.
___Whether the Atlanta meeting was such a meeting is not clear by the minutes, and a number of participants contacted by the Standard for comment would not elaborate. The meeting was held less than one month prior to the SBC annual meeting, also held that year in Atlanta.
___That year's annual meeting was the first one in 15 years the inner circle of conservative leadership did not control from the platform, because their presidential candidate, Fred Wolfe, had been defeated by another conservative, Jim Henry, in 1994.
___Henry was neither present nor invited to the meeting, according to the minutes. Wolfe was among the 16 men present.
___Those attending the Atlanta meeting, according to the minutes, were James Merritt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Snellville, Ga., and this year's SBC president; Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga.; Paul Pressler, the Houston appeals court judge who devised the strategy for gaining control of the denomination; Adrian Rogers, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn., and three-time SBC president; Bailey Smith, an evangelist and former SBC president; Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee; Jerry Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., and a former SBC president; O.S. Hawkins, then pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas and now president of the SBC Annuity Board; Jimmy Draper, president of LifeWay Christian Resources; Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark.; Jim Richards, then a director of associational missions in Arkansas and now executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; Bob Sorrell, a staff member at Rogers' church; Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Wolfe, pastor of Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala.; Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano; and Patterson.
___Two men were "invited but unable to attend," the minutes record--former SBC presidents Ed Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Houston, and Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta.
___Among the "concerns" discussed at the meeting, the minutes state that Graham and Hawkins led a discussion "about the situation in Texas." Exactly what that situation was and what was said about it are not reported.
___Hawkins, when contacted by the Standard Oct. 25, said he did not recall the meeting. Graham was unavailable for comment, his secretary said.
___Likewise, Chapman said he could not recall any details of the meeting, although he did confirm that it occurred and that he was present. Richards also confirmed his attendance at the meeting but said he, too, couldn't recall what transpired.
___Draper also confirmed attending this meeting and others like it through the years.
___In 1995, Texas and other state conventions were discussed only generally, Draper said. "In those meetings, I don't remember the BGCT being the object of concern. It has come to focus only recently."
___The minutes say Rogers presided and began the meeting by asking Patterson to give "a brief update of the general situation of the convention."
___Mohler was asked to give a "brief update on the situation at Southern Seminary," an apparent reference to the crisis over the Carver School of Church Social Work at Southern. Two months earlier, Mohler had fired Diana Garland as dean of the Carver School after she told students the school was likely to lose its accreditation due to Mohler placing new restrictions on the faculty hiring process.
___Pressler was asked to give his assessment of the appointments made by Henry to SBC committees. Those appointments, the mechanism by which the conservative group gained control of SBC agencies and institutions, had been made by Henry just days before.
___Pressler's report "was partially positive," the minutes state. "He indicated that 27 of the 70 seemed to be strong conservatives and there seemed to be 16 that were unfortunate appointments. Particularly problematic states were California, Mississippi, New York, Georgia and Virginia."
___The group also discussed SBC presidential candidates for 1995 and 1996.
___"Assignments were also made regarding contacts about possible first and second vice presidential candidates for this coming year," the minutes add.
___With reporting by Editor Emeritus Toby Druin

The Baptist Standard