Sagemont votes to cut ties to BGCT
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___HOUSTON--One the largest Baptist churches in Houston has voted to sever its ties with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and align exclusively with the new Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
___Members of Sagemont Baptist Church voted by secret ballot Dec. 3, with 2,243 votes in favor of the change and 20 opposed, according to Pastor John Morgan.
___Morgan said he believes Sagemont is the first large church in Texas to put such a vote before the entire congregation.
___The recommendation to leave the BGCT was put forward by a deacon study committee that had been working for nine months, the pastor said. Before presentation to the full church, the recommendation was considered by both the deacons and the missions leadership.
___The recommendation adopted by Sagemont says the church will "reaffirm our commitment to the Bible as the inspired, infallible and inerrant word of God" by declaring its support of the Southern Baptist Convention, terminating its relationship with the BGCT and joining SBTC.
___Though leaving the BGCT, the church's missions team will "stay sensitive to BGCT mission causes," Morgan said. "Our mission team is given the responsibility to stay in tune with mission needs both in Texas and around the world. They would continue to look at the missions programs of the BGCT and would feel free to financially support anything they wanted to do."
___However, the congregation has acknowledged by its vote that it and the BGCT are moving on different paths, Morgan said.
___"It is very clear now where leadership is going in the various denominational organizations," he said. "We cannot always pick who follows us, but we can pick who we follow. We have no doubt that Dr. (Charles) Wade and the leadership of the BGCT have a genuine conviction about what they're doing, but we simply cannot follow it."
___Making a break with the BGCT will prove to be healthy for the church and for the BGCT, Morgan predicted. "By our remaining, we're just a weight around their neck."
___And the termination has occurred with no hard feelings, he said. "One of the things we made real clear in our report was that we don't feel like we're better or more spiritual or anything else. The convictions we have at our church and the convictions they have at the BGCT are simply not the same. Our priorities are not the same. Our methodology is not the same. In Christian life, there comes a time to be grateful for the past and move ahead to the future."
___The primary issue of division between Sagemont and the BGCT is the inerrancy of Scripture, Morgan said. The SBC has strengthened its commitment to upholding the Bible, while the BGCT has distanced itself from the SBC, he noted.
___Morgan said he and other church leaders traveled to Dallas recently to explain their position to Wade, BGCT executive director. "I told Dr. Wade I think he believes the Bible as I do. However, there are many others involved who do not believe it as I do or as he does."
___Another purpose of the meeting with Wade was to express appreciation for all the BGCT has contributed to Sagemont in the past, including financial support to help start the church, build buildings and start mission work.
___Sagemont will continue its affiliation with Union Baptist Association, Morgan said.
___The church, with nearly 12,000 resident members and an average Sunday School attendance of about 3,500, is the largest congregation to date to break completely with the BGCT. Out of total receipts of $9.28 million in 1999, Sagemont gave $85,500 to the Texas Cooperative Program, according to the BGCT Annual.
___Morgan also serves as a trustee of Houston Baptist University. Trustees of that BGCT-affiliated school last year voted to declare themselves a self-perpetuating board, removing the BGCT's authority to name the entire slate of trustees. That action was taken, university officials said, to prevent the exclusion of trustees who are members of churches that do not financially support the BGCT. The BGCT requires individuals elected to oversee its agencies and institutions to be members of churches that support the BGCT.
The Baptist Standard
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