June 12, 2000
James Merritt elected SBC president
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___ ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP)--Southern Baptists elected their first baby boomer president and their first leader in the 21st century June 13 in Orlando, Fla.
___ James Merritt, pastor of the 12,000-member First Baptist Church of Snellville, Ga., ran unopposed as president of the 15.8-million-member Southern Baptist Convention.
___ Merritt told reporters his top priorities would be to involve younger pastors in convention leadership and to encourage every Southern Baptist to be involved personally in an overseas mission project.
___ Merritt also pledged loyalty to the belief that the Bible is "inerrant," or true in every detail. He praised his predecessor, Paige Patterson, who engineered a movement to return the denomination to its conservative "roots."
___ "I probably would not be sitting up here if it were not for Dr. Paige Patterson and the effort he started 20 years ago," Merritt said in a post-election news conference. "Only history will reveal" Patterson's impact on the nation's largest Protestant denomination, he said.
___ In response to a reporter's question about perceptions that Southern Baptists are narrow-minded in their views toward homosexuals and women, Merritt said he wouldn't think his doctor was narrow-minded if he told him he needed to be treated for cancer.
___ "I am as broad-minded as the Bible," Merritt said.
___ Southern Baptists are being criticized for standing on truths revealed in Scripture, even when they are unpopular or politically incorrect, he charged. "The most perfect person who ever lived was crucified for telling the truth."
___ "When you take a stand for truth, you automatically take a stand against error," he observed, noting that fact fuels negative perceptions about Southern Baptists in society.
___ For example, he said: "We do stand against homosexuality. At the same time, what we're really for is the family."
___ The media often portray the denomination's stands in a negative light, he claime.
___ On another topic, Merritt said the Bible is clear in its teaching that the role of pastor is reserved for men. "The issue is not competency," he said. "The issue is the truth of the word of God and the issue is calling."
___ Merritt, who earned both master's and doctor's degrees at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said during seven years of study there he knew women who believed they were called to preach. "As I understand the Bible, God is bound by his own word," however, and therefore would not call a woman to be a pastor, he said.
___ Merritt affirmed Baptist notions of soul competency, which he said means that every Christian has direct access to God, and priesthood of the believer, which he said means "we can all enter the Holy of Holies and have fellowship with God."
___ Despite that equality, Merritt said the Bible also affirms a hierarchy in worship and in the home. God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and "man is the head of woman," Merritt said. "I didn't make that up. That's what God said."
___ Merritt does not fear a split in the denomination. "I think the overwhelming majority of Baptists are extremely happy" with the convention's leadership, he said, evidenced by record giving to the SBC's unified budget, the Cooperative Program.
___ While he doesn't keep up with activities of the moderate splinter group Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, he doesn't have a problem with any group that believes the Bible and preaches the gospel, he said.
___ Asked how the SBC should relate to state conventions that allow moderate churches options to support the CBF or other non-SBC causes, Merritt said he recognized the autonomy of churches and state conventions, but he is "a champion of the Cooperative Program."
___ "It grieves my heart to see any state convention take any action that could hurt the Cooperative Program," Merritt said.
___ The denomination faces challenges such as improving evangelistic efforts among youth, he said. But he also noted, "Never has there been a better time or greater time to be a Southern Baptist than today."
___ Other elections, SBC messengers elected Florida pastor Ted Traylor as first vice president and Louisiana pastor Tommy French as second vice president.
___ Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, defeated fellow Floridian Brad Hoffman, pastor of First Baptist Church of Tuscawilla, Fla., by a margin of 3,054-892.
___ Florida Baptist Convention Executive Director John Sullivan nominated Traylor, noting the church's commitment to missions and evangelism. The church baptized 309 people in 1999 and gave $600,000 to the Cooperative Program, he said.
___ Hoffman was nominated by Richard Beers, pastor of First Baptist Church in Largo, Fla., who described a ministry sponsored by Hoffman's church called Antioch Affection, which offers support and restoration for fired ministers.
___ French, pastor of Jefferson Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, defeated Paul Russell, pstor of Sundridge Baptist Church in Sebring, Fla., 1,349 to 1,102.
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