Kentucky bypasses BF&M controversy
___MURRAY, Ky. (ABP)--Avoiding an up-or-down vote on controversial doctrines in the most recent edition of the Baptist Faith & Message, Kentucky Baptists adopted a report acknowledging the "value" of faith statements while terming the Bible "the basis for all our faith and practice."
___The report followed a yearlong study by a committee charged with recommending how the Kentucky Baptist Convention "can best relate" to the Baptist Faith & Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000.
___The SBC document, which contains several revisions from an earlier edition in 1963, has divided some state conventions between conservatives, who believe tightened doctrinal parameters are needed, and moderates, who prefer the old version because it gives more latitude in how to read and interpret Scripture.
___The nine-member Baptist Faith & Message study committee came up with a compromise recommendation to "acknowledge the value" of a series of historic Baptist confessions of faith, including both the 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Messengers at the state convention's annual meeting Nov. 13-14 in Murray overwhelmingly approved the committee's report.
___Some messengers, however, feared the action would be interpreted as an endorsement of the 2000 statement.
___"We're endorsing something we shouldn't endorse," said Regina Morgan of Zions Cause Baptist Church in Paducah.
___She noted that Southern Baptist entities and some state Baptist groups have based hiring and firing decisions on the narrower theology in the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___"I don't know how to clear up this dilemma that if some people don't support every line of the revision, they lose their positions," Morgan said.
___But Charles Barnes, the former convention president who appointed the study committee, disagreed with Morgan's interpretation.
___"There is nothing in this report that would cause anyone to lose their position, so that is not a proper interpretation," Barnes responded. "Many conventions have acted in somewhat different manners. We feel this is best for Kentucky Baptists."
___In other action, messengers elected retired director of missions Harold Greenfield as state convention president. Greenfield was elected by a vote of 909 to 651 over Tom Butler, a longtime news anchor and vice president of WPSD-TV in Paducah.
___While both men are theologically conservative, Greenfield received an unsolicited endorsement from the moderate Mainstream Baptists of Kentucky group. Butler was endorsed by the conservative Kentucky Baptist Laymen's Network, an organization in which he has been involved. Every candidate endorsed by the laymen's network was defeated for the second straight year.
___A motion to deny state convention membership to churches that cut ties to the SBC was forwarded to the KBC constitution and bylaws committee for study.
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