Southern Baptist Convention rejects name change proposal_62804

Posted: 6/25/04

Southern Baptist Convention rejects name change proposal

By Jennifer Davis Rash

The Alabama Baptist

INDIANAPOLIS–Southern Baptists will remain Southern Baptists.

After a lively debate during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, messengers voted 1,731 (55.4 percent) to 1,391 (44.6 percent) against forming a study committee to consider changing the convention's name. The motion to create a study committee was the only motion to make it to the floor for debate out of a record 29 motions.

Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said: “Southern Baptists are ambivalent about their name. They love being Southern Baptists and all that it means.”

There is a strong loyalty to the name, even though many know the name is a hindrance in some areas of the country, he explained.

Claude Thomas of First Baptist Church in Euless introduces a motion asking the Southern Baptist Convention to study changing its name. The motion failed.

Claude Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless, submitted the motion, saying: “I brought the motion to this body … because we have gone beyond our southern regional characteristics. We are committed to reach people around the world for Jesus Christ. We are committed to evangelism.

“It is wise to appoint a committee to study our present name. Does it communicate who we are and serve us well, or would there be a better alternative?” he asked.

Southern Baptist messengers lined up on both sides of the issue and were still lined up at the convention hall microphones to debate the issue when the time for debate expired.

Messengers opposing forming a study committee questioned the cost, both to study the name change and to implement it.

SBC President Jack Graham said: “We don't know the cost of (the study). It will require an investment to do the right kind of research. It will require a budget.”

Byron Ingles of Georgia said the money would be better spent on seminaries and missionaries.

Dottie Selman of Dayton, Ohio, said: “You've come to us asking for a study committee but have no idea what it will cost. That is not good business.”

Others disagreed, however. The pastor of a New York church plant said, “I would rather spend the money than have a name that … has become an impediment to sharing the gospel.”

Herb Stoneman of Salt Lake City noted the SBC now exists in two nations–Canada and the United States–so it needs a name “that would better reflect who we are.”

Ed Taylor of Virginia said, “It is a waste of time to study because no matter what we change our name to, the media will let the secret out that we really are Southern Baptists.”

Doug Austin of Lynnwood Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Mo., said: “It is who we are, not where we are. We need to be explaining Jesus and his saving grace. We don't need to spend the money.”

George Pettington of Ohio said he spoke against the name change before and would say the same thing again: “There is no need to change the name, so there is no need to study it. It means we are Bible-believing and Bible-teaching churches.”

Glen Peck of St. Louis, Okla., added: “We are proud of our hard-won heritage. We know and project our doctrine by our name.

“We have media, for or against, immediately identifying who we are and what we stand for. There is no good time for a bad idea. This is a bad idea.”

But Lane Yarborough of Michigan said he served on the committee that studied a name change in the 1980s. “This has not been studied in quite some time. If the name is a hindrance, we should consider changing it.”

Rob Zinn of California said: “I am appealing to you to see if God would raise up a better name for all Southern Baptists. … It is just possible there is something better to reach people for Christ. … If we can't find anything better, then we will stay what we are.”

Another motion that garnered debate from the floor dealt with the Executive Committee naming the SBC as its sole member. The motion was referred to the Executive Committee because it has to be the final entity to come under sole membership, said Morris Chapman, president of the Executive Committee. “It is necessary for the Executive Committee to be done last.

“Next June when we meet, assuming New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary complies with your requests, we will be able to bring you the New Orleans charter amendments and the SBC charter amendments,” he said.

“The Executive Committee of the SBC will be delighted to make the Executive Committee a sole member of the SBC. … We would be glad to do it in due haste,” Chapman said. “I have a charter naming the Executive Committee a sole member of the SBC, dated 1997. We've had it in hand in order for us to implement it once all other entities had implemented it.”

Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif., appealed to the convention to overrule the chair when two of his motions were ruled out of order.

He asked that newly elected SBC President Bobby Welch write letters of commendation. One would go to Walt Disney Pictures for producing the movie “America's Heart and Soul” and accompanying Bible study material. The second would go to Rick Scarbourgh and Vision America for calling American Christians to prayer and fasting.

Graham said: “A clear distinction is made between a resolution, which is a concern, and a motion, which calls for an action. … We felt your motion fell more in the category of resolutions.”

Drake said: “I want a specific action commending them for what they are doing. If (the committee is) going to rule things out of order because they don't want to do anything, then we are getting back to the way we were years ago when us conservatives were having our mics turned off on us. I will appeal to the body to overrule the chair. Let the messengers vote.”

The messenger voted to support the committee's decision to rule them out of order.

Other submitted motions either were referred to an SBC agency or ruled out of order.

One motion referred to the North American Mission Board asks for a reconsideration of the requirement that Southern Baptist chaplains be ordained by a local church.

A motion to consider a boycott of Carnival Cruise Lines and require the SBC Annuity Board to sell its Carnival stock as soon as possible was referred to the Annuity Board and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

The Annuity Board had been under fire from some critics in the SBC for holding stock in Carnival because gay groups promote “gay-friendly” cruises on its ships.