CBF leader downplays role of Mainstream Baptists network

March 31, 2003

CBF leader downplays role of Mainstream Baptists network
___By Tony Cartledge & Greg Warner
___Associated Baptist Press
___GASTONIA, N.C. (ABP)--The head of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship doesn't see much future for Baptist political organizations.
___Asked about CBF's relationship with Texas Baptists Committed and the Mainstream Baptist Network, Daniel Vestal said CBF has no formal relationship with the two moderate Baptist groups, although many of the people in those organizations also are CBF supporters.
___"I don't see a future for the Mainstream organization," Vestal said in a breakout session during the general assembly of North Carolina CBF. "Its primary purpose has been political. They have helped Baptists. But people are tired of fighting fundamentalists, and I don't see a future" in it.
___CBF formed in 1991 as a missions and ministry alternative to the Southern Baptist Convention, which has taken a dramatic conservative shift since the late 1970s.
___Texas Baptists Committed is largely credited with keeping hard-line conservatives from gaining control of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Similar groups, usually carrying the Mainstream Baptist name, have formed in other states but with less success.
___Bob Stephenson, national co-chair of the Mainstream Baptist Network, disagreed with Vestal's assessment of the group's purpose and future. The Mainstream movement is more about informing laypeople about the principles at stake in Baptist life than winning denominational elections, Stephenson said in an interview.
___"As long as there is one uninformed Baptist, there will be a need for Mainstream," said Stephenson, a layman from Norman, Okla. "And there still are millions of uninformed Baptists."
___Mainstream, he suggested, can be a transitional stop for Baptists dissatisfied with the SBC but not ready to join the CBF. In places like Oklahoma and Texas, Stephenson said, many moderate Baptists don't yet trust CBF because of what he called "fundamentalist propaganda" about the group.
___Vestal said CBF's future will depend on how faithful it is in fulfilling its mission.
___"The more people see who we are, the more they will be attracted to us," he told the North Carolina audience. "The more we are committed to that vision, the more we can say, 'Come and join us.'"
___Vestal said it is time for pastors and laity to "step up to the plate" and offer CBF financial support and personal involvement.
___"Let's hold our heads up and be part of a movement, a righteous movement," Vestal said. "Let's say, 'I want to give to it and sacrifice for it.' We are surrounded by a powerful juggernaut of fundamentalism. But it's our time."
___Asked about the status of CBF's application for membership in the Baptist World Alliance, Vestal said, "I will be surprised and disappointed if we don't get in." The BWA membership committee probably will not make an announcement prior to the July meeting in Seoul, Korea, he said, but the SBC's planned reduction in giving to BWA "is a sign that they think we will get in."
___Vestal expressed concern about the actions of SBC representatives during the 2002 meeting of the BWA General Council in Seville, Spain. The membership committee brought a favorable report about CBF's progress toward meeting membership requirements, Vestal said, and asked the council to accept the report as a matter of information, not as final acceptance.
___When BWA President Billy Kim called for a voice vote, the response was almost wholly positive, Vestal said, except for a small group of SBC leaders who shouted "No!" Kim seemed taken aback, Vestal said, and asked for a show of hands. Again, most representatives lifted their hands in affirmation, while the SBC representatives raised their hands in opposition.
___The vote was an emotional, tense moment, Vestal said. Afterward, many leaders from other countries sought out CBF representatives and offered affirmation, he said. "There is great love for CBF in many parts of the world by Baptist leaders."
___Later, SBC leaders said the BWA action violated the organization's protocol. Leaders of BWA apologized to the SBC for any misunderstanding.
___"If we are admitted, we want to be a good member, and we don't want the SBC to leave," Vestal said. "I hope we can work together in BWA as fellow Baptists and fellow Christians."
___But Vestal did not seem confident about a positive movement in the relationship. "A lot of money and time has been spent by SBC leaders to make us look bad," he said, "a lot of effort to malign us, belittle us, criticize us, saying we are liberal and that we don't believe the Bible."
___"If you say something often enough, many people will believe it, whether it is true or not," Vestal said. "Those constant accusations have hurt us."

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