Moderates gain ground in North Carolina
___WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.--For the first time in six years, moderates won two of the top three elected leadership posts in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
___North Carolina Baptists also amended a proposed resolution on affirming ties to the Southern Baptist Convention to instead state the convention's autonomy from the SBC.
___Moderates Buddy Corbin and Larry Harper were elected to the convention's vice presidential posts at the annual meeting Nov. 14. Corbin is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Asheville; Harper is pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh. Both won contested races.
___The convention's new president, Mike Cummings, was elected without opposition. He is described as a conservative who is well-liked by conservatives and moderates alike.
___Conservatives and moderates have split control of the state convention in recent years. Conservatives have controlled the convention's top offices, but moderates have held more influence on the convention's General Board.
___Moderates also gained ground in amending a resolution originally intended to affirm support for the SBC.
___The resolutions committee had brought to the floor a toned-down version of a resolution proposed by Bob Garbett, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Richlands. The resolution noted that Article II of the state convention's constitution includes cooperation with the SBC as one of its several purposes. His resolution called for the convention to "reaffirm our commitment to the Southern Baptist Convention through Cooperative Program giving and on-mission efforts and partnerships."
___Paul Pridgen, pastor of Edenton Baptist Church in Edenton, offered two amendments to the resolution.
___First, Pridgen proposed the insertion of another "whereas" that notes Article III of the constitution "establishes the autonomy of the Baptist State Convention."
___Second, Pridgen moved the addition of a final clause at the end of the resolution: "That the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina does hereby reaffirm our autonomy as a Baptist body and giving plans for missions."
___Pridgen said the state convention is not a franchise or subsidiary of the SBC, but voluntarily chooses to cooperate with it and other Baptist bodies for the promotion of missions. That autonomy must be preserved, he said.
___Both amendments passed with an estimated 60 percent majority favoring them.
___In other convention action, North Carolina Baptists voted to retain fraternal ties with Wake Forest University after an amended motion to end the 166-year relationship narrowly failed.
___Although 60.45 percent of messengers favored severing ties with the university, the recommendation failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution.
___The convention's General Board had proposed changing the fraternal relationship to a "historical" relationship. The board's proposal would have removed Wake Forest from the convention's Council on Christian Higher Education but kept funding for scholarships.
___The university has been criticized for having an open admissions policy that allows homosexuals to enroll even in the university's divinity school and for allowing a local church to conduct a civil union ceremony for a lesbian couple in a university chapel.
___Reported by Tony Cartledge and Steve Devane of the North Carolina Biblical Recorder
The Baptist Standard
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