November 11, 2002

Arkansas convention OKs BF&M 2000 as its own
___CABOT, Ark. (ABP)--Arkansas Baptists voted for a second straight year to adopt the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as their state convention's doctrinal guide.
___By a 75 percent vote, messengers to this year's Arkansas Baptist State Convention chose to add the faith statement to their articles of incorporation. That is a higher percentage than the 70 percent supporting the change in a first reading last year. Constitutional amendments must pass by at least a two-thirds majority at consecutive annual meetings.
___No one responded when convention President Jim Lagrone called for debate on the amendment. After the vote, Lagrone, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Bryant, called the 283 messengers who voted in opposition his friends.
___"You were my friends before you voted, and you are still my friends after you voted," said Lagrone, a conservative who when elected last year pledged to work to unify the state's Baptists.
___Some have criticized changes to the Baptist Faith & Message adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000 as politically motivated and too theologically narrow. Defenders say the current version more clearly states bedrock convictions by removing more inclusive language inserted into the 1963 document.
___Lagrone was unopposed for re-election as president at the Oct. 29-30 convention at First Baptist Church in Cabot. Retired convention employee Clarence Shell nominated Lagrone, saying he "stands for his convictions but has compassion for those who don't always agree with him." The convention's first and second vice presidents also won second terms unopposed.

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