Activists urged to focus on future, not fundamentalism

Posted: 8/27/07

Activists urged to focus on
future, not fundamentalism

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—God has blessed Texas and kept its Baptist state convention free from fundamentalist control largely through the efforts of Texas Baptists Committed, but conditions have changed, Baptist Standard Editor Marv Knox told an assembly of the moderate Baptist group in Dallas.

While fundamentalism could rise again, it no longer presents “the preeminent threat” to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, he stressed.

“Warning against the fundamentalist bogeyman sounds disingenuous,” he said. “Unlike past situations, the BGCT is not well served by defining itself by what it is against. Our future must be defined by what we are for.”

As advocates of freedom, Texas Baptists Committed should “not only allow but also affirm the right of all Texas Baptists to exercise their freedom of relationship,” whether relating to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship or the Southern Baptist Convention, Knox said.

“The only line we must draw excludes coercion, intimidation and forced participation with any national organization that an individual, church, convention or other group cannot, in conscience, support,” he said.

“If we do cannot learn to forgive, if we cannot bless sisters and brothers who want to work with us while they also work with people with whom we disagree, if we cannot fix our focus on the future, then let’s write our epitaph: ‘Frozen by fundamentalism.’ And close our chapter.”

Knox urged the group to adopt a new role.

“More than any other group, Texas Baptists Committed can help our convention overcome apathy, renew relevancy and restore trust,” Knox said. “Fundamentalism no longer is our greatest threat. Apathy is, and it is choking us.”

Earlier in the day, Dallas Baptist University President Gary Cook offered another recommendation for Texas Baptists Committed—Stop endorsing candidates for BGCT offices.

Cook, who cited his longstanding involvement with Texas Baptists Committed and appreciation for the organization’s role in “protecting” the BGCT from takeover, participated in a panel discussion of presidents from BGCT-affiliated universities. He expressed his intent to vote for Joy Fenner in the state convention president’s race at the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo.

Texas Baptists Committed has endorsed Fenner, a former missionary and retired executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, for BGCT president. David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, also has been announced as a nominee for the president’s post, citing his desire to see an “open” election.

But Cook encouraged Texas Baptists Committed to “not continue to endorse candidates in the years ahead” and to not nominate a first vice president with the understanding that person will be president the next year.

“Let’s trust Texas Baptists again,” Cook urged.

Turning from Texas Baptists Committed to the BGCT, Knox suggested a series of steps to take:

• Clarify identity. “The BGCT is much larger than the Baptist Building,” he said, acknowledging that many Texas Baptists—and often the Baptist Standard—have used the terms interchangeably. “So, if people don’t like something the executive director does, something the Executive Board proposes or a program the Baptist Building puts on, people who are bothered by it think they are angry and/or annoyed with the BGCT. And that’s just not right.”

• Feed strengths. “If you cited one factor that distinguishes the BGCT from every other convention—period—you would name our institutions,” he said. Knox proposed exploring ways to accomplish some Baptist Building-based ministries through institutions and to “figure out how to channel funds to those ministries.”

• De-balkanize missions. “Once upon a time, many Texas Baptists anticipated a synergistic organization that merged the strengths of Texas Partnerships and River Ministry and provided time-, cost- and energy-saving infrastructure for churches and institutions. And that never really happened,” he said.

Knox recommended consolidating missions efforts currently scattered across at least a half-dozen groups or organizations, and the suggested closer collaboration with institutions.

• Tell the story to everyone. “We must get the Standard in the hands of more Texas Baptists, and we must work closely to help them understand more fully how the BGCT at large is expanding the kingdom of God,” he said. “This would be in the best interest of everyone.”

• Rethink resourcing. The BGCT Executive Board staff probably should deploy more congregational strategists across the state “so their caseloads are more manageable,” he said. But the Baptist Building should move beyond the idea that it must produce all the resources churches need.

“Provide incentives for our institutions to equip churches,” Knox said. “Programming and training are their forte. Give them incentives to equip churches as well as they equip their own staffs or students,” he said.

The BGCT also should encourage peer-to-peer training and generate bulk purchasing power to lower the cost of resources produced by other groups so small Texas Baptist churches can afford them, he said.

“Fill niches, but stay out of ditches,” Knox added, building on that theme. “We should give up trying to provide resources just so we can say we provided them,” he said.

• Fund priorities. “We must adequately fund our priority endeavors, and we must cut the rest,” he said.

• Finish the Executive Board reorganization. “How are Texas Baptists supposed to take reorganization seriously when a ‘streamlining’ results in a larger bureaucracy and more employees?” he asked.

• Be the Texas of tomorrow—today. Respond to the demographics of the state, Knox urged, by starting more churches to reach ethnic and racial minorities, providing educational opportunities for racial and ethnic church leaders and modeling multi-racial, multi-ethnic cooperation in all areas of BGCT life.

“What a legacy, if we were known as the people who refused to let Hispanic and African-American children fall through the cracks of our educational system and drop out of school,” he said, citing one example.