Baptists Celebrate Conservative Heritage, Blast 'Hostile' Media Treatment
by Allie Martin and Rusty Pugh
June 18, 2004
(AgapePress) - Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) took time at their annual conference this week to honor those who rescued the denomination from liberal leanings more than two decades ago.
Hundreds of messengers, pastors, lay people, and denominational leaders attended the "Conservative Resurgence Reunion" sponsored by Criswell College and the W.A. Criswell Legacy Project. Dr. Richard Land, president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, delivered a historical overview of the conservative resurgence. The event marked the 25th anniversary of the election of conservatives to leadership posts in the SBC.
Judge Paul Pressler of Houston, Texas, was instrumental in returning the denomination to its historic roots. He says it was vital for conservatives to reclaim the SBC.
"You see other denominations fighting over social issues such as homosexuality. We have decided that as Southern Baptists ... not [to] deal with that issue specifically, but we dealt with the issue of authority," he says, "and we have established the fact that the Bible is God's Word [and] that we go by what it says, not by sociological opinions."
According to Pressler, that decision to honor God's authority and His Word has been a true blessing to the denomination. He says most of the other mainline denominations that fight over social issues suffer difficulties and divisiveness as a result. "We have dealt with these issues," he explains. "We are solidly on the solid rock of scripture and presenting the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation to a lost humanity."
Many of the speakers during the week vowed to carry on the tradition of ensuring the SBC continues to stand by God's Word. One of those who spoke was evangelist and Bible teacher Jay Strack, who said believers should be preparing the next generation for ministry.
Strack taught from the first chapter of Joshua, which describes the period when God commissioned God for ministry. Strack noted that Joshua was not only commissioned by God, but he also had the courage for the task at hand.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a vision from the King -- and it's going to take Kingdom valor to fulfill the Kingdom vision," he said. "And not only will it take Kingdom valor, but if you'll look over in Chapter four [you will find] it requires Kingdom virtue." The word "virtue," he explained, means "moral excellence."
Strack says believers and churches that do not catch God's vision for outreach and ministry will become irrelevant.
'Hostile, Unfair' Media
Meanwhile, some members of the media who covered the SBC's annual meeting in the Indiana capital have been accused of bias and hostility toward Baptists. Liberty University professor Ergun Caner, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity as an adult, told Baptist pastors that the media look for what they perceive as ignorant or hateful people to represent Baptists -- and that they also watch closely for controversies that might make Baptists look foolish.
Most mainstream reporters, he said, are hostile and unfair to Baptists. "Some of them [are] just waiting for you and me to mess up. They're waiting for [us] to slip up, to stumble so that they can grab something and make it their lead story," Caner said, offering as a possible tone for such a story: "Those narrow-minded, bigoted, white-sock-wearing, clip-on-tie-wearing fundamentalists have messed up again."
Caner contends that most reporters from the mainstream media actually go out of their way to avoid interviewing anyone who would represent Baptists in a positive light. "Why is that you can never find an intelligent, well-spoken, well-thought-of person to represent Southern Baptists or Christianity on television?" he asked the media rhetorically. Instead, he said, they feel like they have to find "some knuckle-dragging, three-toed troglodyte who's chugging Woolite."
