Maston Foundation fetes pastor who restored National Baptist Convention
___By Susan Hogan/Albach
___The Dallas Morning News
___DALLAS--Two years ago, the nation's largest black denomination was mired in scandal and debt. Its president, Henry Lyons, was sent to prison for swindling millions to finance a lavish lifestyle that included Florida waterfront property and a mistress.
___It was a terrible blow for the National Baptist Convention USA. In the midst of trouble, it turned to a native Texan to help find the road to redemption.
___William Shaw's work to restore the convention's integrity hasn't gone unnoticed. Nov. 9 in Dallas, a largely Southern Baptist organizatio
n honored him with the T.B. Maston Foundation Christian ethics award.
___"Dr. Shaw is a man of great integrity and a record of responsibility," said Jimmy Allen, chairman of the foundation, named in honor of the late professor of Christian ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
___He cited Shaw's efforts to reorganize his denomination, his call for financial audits and his pastoral plan for helping members cope with the fallout from the scandal. Shaw said much work remains to be done.
___"I've tried to keep the focus positive, on really looking at what we're supposed to be about in light of our relationship to Jesus Christ," said the 67-year-old pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
___Shaw, a native of Marshall, preached his first sermon to a small group at age 11. Today, he's a national figure whose opinion is widely sought.
___He publicly opposed the nomination of John Ashcroft for U.S. attorney general. And when President Bush launched his faith-based initiative, he courted Shaw's support.
___But the soft-spoken pastor has garnered the biggest spotlight for his attempt to turn around a convention rocked by Lyon's crimes, which included stealing $4 million that should have gone to the denomination and misappropriating more than $200,000 donated to rebuild black churches destroyed by arson.
___Shaw won the presidency over 10 other candidates by lobbying for reform. His motto was "VISA"--vision, integrity, structure and accountability. He also refused the $100,000 president's salary and instead put it in a scholarship fund.
___"He's in the process of doing the ethical thing and straightening out the convention's practices," said Allen, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
___After his election, Shaw called for a 40-day period of fasting and prayer. He then hired an auditing firm to examine the denomination's finances and reorganized its financial structure to provide greater accountability.
___In the last two years, the denomination has cut its debt from $2.8 million to about $900,000, church officials said.
___"He's gotten us back on course," said Caesar A.W. Clark, pastor of Good Street Baptist Church in South Dallas. For the last 27 years, he has been president of the 250,000 Baptists who make up the National Baptist Convention's Texas branch.
___"What he has done has challenged us and inspired us," Clark said. "He's been very sensitive to the hurt, but very productive in getting us where we need to be."
___Shaw also has hired experts to help the convention determine the size of its membership. Lyons said the group had 8.5 million members, but Shaw said there was no evidence to support that claim and that the numbers are probably much lower, perhaps 5 million.
___The convention estimates 33,000 churches are affiliates. The convention organized in 1880, and its headquarters are in Nashville, Tenn.
___Shaw was the youngest of six children. His grandparents were slaves. His father was a janitor and his mother a homemaker.
___Church historians said Shaw excelled in school and in preaching at a young age. He graduated at the top of his high school class at age 16. The following year, he was ordained a minister.
___He then attended Bishop College in Marshall, graduating summa cum laude at age 19 with a major in philosophy and religion. He studied theology at Union Theological Seminary and Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. He has been pastor of his Philadelphia church since 1956.
___Story Copyright 2001 by The Dallas Morning News. Reprinted by permission.
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