Proposed identity study fails

By Tony W. Cartledge

BR Editor

WINSTON-SALEM - A motion instructing the Baptist State Convention's (BSC) Board of Directors to study the Convention's Baptist identity failed by a large margin during the closing miscellaneous business session at the BSC annual meeting Nov. 17.

James McLean, pastor of Darlington Baptist Church in Littleton, said there seemed to be some question about whether N.C. Baptists are Southern Baptists. His motion would have directed the Board of Directors (formerly the General Board) to study the matter and determine if the BSC is Southern Baptist. If not, he said, the Board should "decide what we are and what our core values are and report back at next year's convention."

McLean said the BSC's membership includes two basic viewpoints, "and we have tiptoed around it for a long time."

"If we are Southern Baptists, we need to believe as Southern Baptists. If our schools want money from Southern Baptists, they need to believe what Southern Baptists do," he said.

Rick Matthews, a layman from College Park Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, spoke against the motion. "If Plan B and C churches really had the beliefs we've been accused of, I don't know why we would go to them," he said.

Matthews said laymen are not divided as pastors are, but are instead more interested in missions than politics. "The Baptists outside of this room are not divided," he said: "They want to win souls, not votes."

The motion failed by at least a two-to-one margin, according to convention officials.

A string of other speakers raised points of personal privilege, though there was some discussion as to whether they all met the parliamentary criteria.

Mike Cogdill, dean of the Campbell University Divinity School, and Jerry Wallace, president of Campbell University, both affirmed the value and Christian commitment of the N.C. Baptist colleges and divinity schools. Cogdill said a speaker on the previous day had made misleading statements about the divinity schools.

Phil Addison, from Stony Point Baptist Church in Taylorsville, said he came from a Pentecostal background and was disappointed when he attended his first BSC meeting nine years ago because it was not like "camp meeting." Addison said he was still disappointed. "Many of us do believe in inerrancy and what the pastoral office is meant to be," he said.

The BSC has become too "ecumenical," Addison said, criticizing the Convention for "having a woman pastor say the benediction and act like it's okay."

Barbara Bell, pastor of Goshen Baptist Church in Leland, offered the benediction after Anne Graham Lotz preached the annual convention sermon on Tuesday evening, Nov. 16.

Joe Babb, from First Baptist Church of Arden, said he was privileged to have worked in partnership with the BSC for 40 years. Babb said he was grieved by those who sought to bring division, and called for reconciliation "to encourage our ministry rather than weaken it."