October 15, 2001

Missourian's influence reaches N.C.
___FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.--Inspired by the success of fundamentalists in Missouri, a group of North Carolinians is working for a "takeover" of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
___The group, called Conservative Carolina Baptists, held 10 meetings across the state this fall. One of those was at Arran Lake Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., where about 40 people gathered Sept. 20 to hear keynote speaker Clarence Johnson.
___Johnson said he spent two days with Roger Moran and brought back 40 pounds of material from Moran's files.
___Moran is a Missouri layman, now serving on the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, who has written numerous articles claiming to link Cooperative Baptist Fellowship officials and other moderate Baptists to pro-abortion and pro-homosexual groups. Critics say Moran twists the truth and relies on guilt by association. Supporters say he is just stating the facts.
___Although Moran's tactics have been denounced in Texas--his literature has been used in a campaign to discredit leadership of the Baptist General Convention of Texas--he has been highly successful in Missouri. A political campaign he leads there, called Project 1000, stands on the brink of gaining complete control of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
___Johnson called the controversy between conservatives and moderates that began in the SBC in 1979 and now has spread to state conventions "a battle for the theological stance of the pulpits of this state--not for today, but for tomorrow."
___"Do I want a takeover? Absolutely," he said.
___At the Fayetteville rally, he spoke against a few North Carolina Baptist organizations, including the Biblical Recorder newspaper and Gardner-Webb University's divinity school, but he spent most of his time talking about former professors at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Baptists from other states.
___Johnson urged conservative pastors to get their full slate of messengers to the state convention's annual meeting in Winston-Salem. "We've got to show up in force," he said. "We've got to quit whining and vote."
___"It's time to lift our swords and fight," he added.
___Jeff Isenhour, pastor of the rally's host church, said conservatives will not link hands with moderates. Conservatives are drawing a line in the sand, he said.
___"You can't make happen in North Carolina what happened on the national level unless you make some 'jugular' statements," he said. "I'm not saying we're going for the 'jugular,' but we're drawing a line."
___His reference was to a 1980 statement by Paul Pressler, one of the architects of the conservative takeover of the SBC. Pressler told a group of SBC conservatives at a meeting similar to the one where Johnson was speaking that they needed to "go for the jugular" in gaining control of SBC trustee boards.
___Reported by By Steve DeVane, managing editor of the North Carolina Biblical Recorder

The Baptist Standard



News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook