Friday, Sept. 20, 2002

Mainstream leader fears attack on giving plans

By Jimmy Allen
BR Assistant Editor

BUIES CREEK - The election of officers at this year's Baptist State Convention (BSC) annual meeting on Nov. 12-13 in Winston-Salem looks like it may be simple - three positions, three candidates. But that doesn't mean the convention will necessarily be free of controversial votes.

Colon Jackson, the executive director of Mainstream Baptists of North Carolina (MBNC), told about 150 people on Sept. 17 at Campbell University that he fears attempts will be made to "sabotage" the BSC's four giving plans as well as to cut funding to N.C. Baptist colleges and universities.

The BSC's giving plans allow churches the option of deciding how their money is spent. Conservative churches generally tend to prefer plans A and D, while more moderate churches usually give through plans B and C.

Two of the giving plans - B and C - include divinity school scholarships for N.C. Baptist students. Irma Duke, director of church relations for Campbell University Divinity School, said students would be "hard pressed to attend" without that financial help.

Campbell's divinity school, like the one at Gardner-Webb University, receives no national cooperative program funding. "There is no way Campbell University Divinity School can compete with the millions given to the six (Southern Baptist Convention) seminaries," she said.

Roy Smith, retired executive director of the BSC, also spoke at the meeting and noted he has gotten complaints about his involvement in MBNC. Some of those complaining want to make the state convention a vessel of the SBC instead of an autonomous institution, he said.

Those people want to see the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message (BF&M) used as a wedge among N.C. Baptists, Smith said. He cited the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association in Sylva as an example. The association's credentials committee voted to not seat messengers from a church that had called a woman as co-pastor. The 2000 BF&M adopted by the SBC states that only men should be pastors. Several churches have since left the association.

As for the colleges and universities, Jackson said he is afraid the budget troubles at Chowan and Mars Hill colleges this summer and the division among faculty over an NCAA investigation at Gardner-Webb University have made the schools vulnerable to those who want to cease funding to the schools.

"The convention is right around the corner," Jackson said. "We need to be there. We need to be there in great numbers."

The meeting was the third in a series of informational gatherings sponsored by Mainstream. The other two meetings were held at Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs and Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. About 20 people attended the GWU gathering and about 40 attended the session at Knollwood, Jackson said.

David Currie, coordinator for the Mainstream National Network, spoke at each of the gatherings. He was introduced as a "truth teller" by Don Gordon, past chair of MBNC and pastor of Yates Baptist Church in Durham. Truth tellers aren't always liked, but that's been true throughout history, Gordon said.

The biggest threats to Baptists today are ignorance and apathy, Currie said.

"After 23 years, most people don't know the Southern Baptist Convention is a non-Baptist institution," Currie said. "You may say, 'David, be nice.' You show me one story, one phrase, verse or book (in the Bible) that has one positive thing to say about fundamentalism and legalism. Every time Jesus encountered it, he stood up to it. ... Folks we have a perversion of the Bible."

SBC officials have said that the conservative movement in the last 23 years has moved the SBC closer to biblical values.

Currie said he is in full support of cooperation. But the issue is not about cooperation, he said.

"When you read the book (the Bible) they're so determined to protect, you read that kind of movement is evil."

Christians who believe in traditional Baptist principles have an adversary, he said. The nature of an adversary is described in Numbers 14 in which the Israelites cried out against Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt into the wilderness. They sought a return to Egypt. But Joshua and Caleb said they should keep following the Lord. The congregation's response was a threat to stone them.

"Someone has got to stand and say, 'no,'" Currie said. "Folks, we are up against a strong adversary."

When Texas Baptists set up a new mission plan that he said wouldn't restrict anyone's money, Baptist Press wrote five articles criticizing it. "You would've thought we had done something evil," he said. "Folks, that's a powerful force."

Baptists in several states would have learned about the Texas mission plan only from Baptist Press because those state papers would have only published what BP sends them, Currie said.

"I am utterly convinced unanswered lies get believed," he said.

Currie stated that if every SBC missionary were visited and given the option to continue serving as a missionary but with the financial support of another agency, 1,000 of them would choose to do so. "They would love to be out from under that kind of power and coercion."

IMB officials have said that the response to a request to sign an affirmation of the 2000 BF&M has been overwhelmingly positive. Only a few dozen missionaries have publicly left the board rather than sign the affirmation.

The majority of people in churches will never care about preserving Baptist principles, Currie said. Most people don't join a church because of theology, he said. But some do. Mainstream needs the 20 percent in churches who are leaders to step forward.

He said he realizes that some Mainstream Baptists are tired. Some say fundamentalism is too big. Others say the fundamentalism in North Carolina is a "kinder, gentler" type so all can work together. If the latter is the case, "I say, 'Go for it, but be wise.' As soon as they know they have the advantage, they will take it."

In an interview before the meeting, Currie said the national example of fundamentalists doesn't show a group willing to work with others. He said he hopes that spirit doesn't impact North Carolina.

He also said he is encouraged by the Mainstream movement in North Carolina. "I continue to believe North Carolina is the sleeping giant," he said, because people understand Baptist principles.

"To the kingdom of God, I think it's important North Carolina reject fundamentalism. We need this state convention to be preserved."

Gordon, the past chair of MBNC, said he fears creeds and manmade doctrines are seeping into the state convention. In 172 years of existence, the BSC has never required a state convention employee to sign a creed.

"A lot of people can't believe that," Gordon said. An employee is called after BSC officials hear the prospect's testimony in Jesus Christ and then seek God's discernment, he said.

Duke, who is the former executive director of the N.C. Woman's Missionary Union, said she never had anyone outside the N.C. WMU telling her how to spend money. She knew she was to exalt Christ and promote Baptist principles, she said.

"I believe Mainstream Baptists want N.C. Baptists to be accountable to God and God alone," Duke said.

Smith said he has been described as a "turncoat" showing his true colors now that N.C. Baptist churches no longer pay him.

"I don't think I have moved one peg since I worked 35 years with the Baptist State Convention," Smith said. Conversely, the SBC has moved a lot, he said.

Mainstream will sponsor its annual N.C. Laity Conference on Monday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. The conference will be at Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

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