May 8, 2000

'Mainstream' Baptists agree to form national network
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___ATLANTA--Southern Baptists opposed to the potential "fundamentalist domination" of churches and state Baptist conventions have formed the Network of Mainstream Baptists to strengthen their cause.
___Slightly more than 100 representatives from 15 states participated in a "mainstream Baptist consultation" in Atlanta April 25-26.
___They adopted the label "mainstream" to signal their affinity for what they call historical/traditional Baptist beliefs. The label also sets them apart from their adversaries, whom they call "fundamentalists," who gained control of the Southern Baptist Convention during the 1980s and consolidated national power during the '90s.
___The mainstream Baptists disavowed any interest in forming either an alternative national convention to oppose the SBC, or a political apparatus to recapture control of the SBC.
___"We have no desire to create a massive organization," stressed John Baugh, a Houston layman and leader of the mainstream movement. "We could never clean up the SBC, so why waste our time and effort?"
___Instead, consultation participants expressed a desire to prevent their churches and state conventions from following the rightward political/theological path taken by the SBC during the past two decades.
___"Mainstream Baptists' central objective is to respond to the need of more than 10 million highly vulnerable fellow mainstream Baptists who are subject to being drawn into the juggernaut of fundamentalism," said Baugh, a member of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston. "Can their churches be seized in this month or in this year? Their churches are vulnerable on every occasion to elect pastor-search committees--and at all other times that fundamentalists are enabled to exploit the Baptist people."
___The mainstream movement exists to help like-minded Baptists "achieve certain purposes," he said. These include plans to:
___ "Educate others regarding Baptist issues" currently confronting churches and state conventions.
___ "Get votes at state conventions" to prevent "fundamentalists" from gaining control.
___ "Preserve Baptist principles," such as the priesthood of all believers, the autonomy of the local church, ethical decision-making and separation of church and state.
___ "Provide leadership" to churches and state conventions to help direct the causes and objectives of mainstream Baptists.
___ "Sidestep the aims and purposes of others," such as the "political machinations" of those who now control the SBC.
___Leaders of state mainstream organizations echoed his theme.
___"We must work on establishing a link between those who have the Baptist heritage and those who need the Baptist heritage," said Tony Woodell, executive director of Arkansas Baptists Committed. "I try to tell the story of what it means to be a Baptist."
___Similarly, like-minded Oklahomans seek to speak for traditional Baptist principles, even against long political odds, reported Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists. He noted he can only count on about 15 pastors in the state who will stand with the organization.
___"We're not here to fight fundamentalism or get in their face, but to face them" with traditional Baptist perspectives, Prescott said.
___Still, political perseverance in state conventions is a vital part of the mainstream movement, leaders said.
___The key is focus, insisted David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, the oldest, largest and most successful of the state mainstream organizations.
___"Stay focused on the big picture: This is about the kingdom of God," Currie said. "Fundamentalism is a perversion of the gospel. It's not about the kingdom of God--about grace and freedom.
___"We're not doing this out of anger. We're doing this for the future of the Baptist movement in America. ... Somebody is going to lead Baptists. The question is this: Do you want fundamentalists to lead or traditional Baptists to lead?"
___Mainstream Baptists should ignore people who say politics is bad, Currie added. "They're either ignorant or not telling the truth. ... All church work is political. It's about connections and networks. Show me a pastor who's not political, and I'll show you a pastor who got fired."
___The new network is not the seed of the Baptist Convention of the Americas, said Herbert Reynolds, chancellor of Baylor University in Waco, who proposed the hemispheric convention in 1998.
___"I may never live to see the formation of the Baptist Convention of the Americas," Reynolds said. "We need to leave here today having created something that will leave a legacy, not a convention."
___The network is needed "in order to coordinate and collaborate our efforts to a greater degree," he explained.
___The network also is not a competitor to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, an organization of so-called moderate Baptists that began providing church resources and sponsoring missionaries apart from the SBC in 1991, Reynolds added.
___"They're not competitive at all," he said. "The CBF has not attempted to go into the states to help them extricate themselves from fundamentalist control or prevent fundamentalist control," tasks taken on by mainstream organizations.
___CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal, who attended several sessions of the consultation, offered "a positive word about the formation of mainstream organizations" in the states. "CBF has thrived in states where there has been a presence speaking to freedom and Baptist principles," he asserted.
___Mainstream causes have an opportunity to impact the future by reaching students today, said Keith Bruce, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Education Coordinating Board, who led a panel discussion on education.
___"There is still an opportunity through educational ministry to impact the future generation, most importantly the lay leaders of tomorrow," Bruce said. "We must boldly and unapologetically enlist our universities to partner with us to expose students to Baptist principles and vision" and to promote "not our Baptist system, but our Baptist way."
___The proposal to create the mainstream network was presented by Bob Stephenson, a layman from First Baptist Church in Norman, Okla.
___Stephenson's original recommendation called for creation of the "Council of Mainstream Baptists," but participants expressed concern that the notion of a council might lead to more of a convention-like organization than they desired. So, they settled on "Network of Mainstream Baptists" to indicate the loose, voluntary nature of the organization.
___All participating state mainstream organizations will have two representatives on the national network.
___States with mainstream representation at the consultation were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

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