So. Baptists Adjourn from Nashville After Annual Business Meeting
by Allie Martin
June 23, 2005
(AgapePress) - The 148th annual business meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has wrapped up with a host of resolutions approved, a challenge for evangelism, and a special tribute to the best-known preacher of modern times.
"Messengers" to the SBC's Annual Meeting in Nashville approved resolutions ending the denomination's eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Company, encouraging churches to examine local public schools for any evidence of homosexual influence, and calling for the U.S. Senate to confirm judicial nominees by traditional majority vote.
SBC's Disney boycott was launched after that company began providing benefits to companions of its homosexual employees. The resolution ending the boycott urges Southern Baptists to continue to monitor Disney products and policies, and to use "discernment regarding all entertainment products from all sources." It also urges Disney to provide "only those products that affirm traditional family values." Baptist delegates also approved a resolution encouraging parents to investigate whether their children's public schools promote acceptance of "homosexuality as a morally legitimate lifestyle."
Ken Whitten, senior pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa delivered the convention message, titled "Preservation of a Denomination." He said Southern Baptists must never compromise when it comes to God's Word; and that despite differences in practice, they must be anchored in God's truth.
"We'll not all agree on literature. We may differ when it comes to styles of worship. You may not have Sunday night church and the other person down the street does," Whitten said. "You may not even call your Sunday school 'Sunday school' -- you may call it 'Live Group.' You may have a pastor who wears a tie, or you may have a pastor who wears a Tommy Bahama shirt.
"But bless God," he continued, "can't we all agree that God has taken a denomination and turned it around to be the salt and light, and to rescue the perishing and to care for the dying? Can't we at least agree with that?"
Messengers also paid tribute to the life and ministry of fellow Southern Baptist, Dr. Billy Graham. Rev. Bobby Welch, who has been elected to serve another year as president of the 16-million-member denomination, said no one in history has preached the gospel to as many people as Billy Graham.
The legendary evangelist and his son, Rev. Franklin Graham, are in New York preparing for a crusade that starts on Friday, so they sent Franklin's son -- Rev. Will Graham -- to Nashville to represent the family. Will Graham joked that when people ask him if they can meet Billy Graham, he responds that "the only way to the father is through the son, not the grandson."
Land's Clarification
Meanwhile, the president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is clarifying his statements on homosexuality. During the annual business meeting of the denomination, Dr. Richard Land spoke on the need to reach out in love to those struggling with homosexuality. In his speech, Land said homosexuality is a "symptom of deeper influences."
Land said it is clear homosexuality is a choice -- but that there are other factors involved. "Like any sin, we have choices to make. But those choices are influenced. We know rape is a crime of violence. Many, many men [commit] rape because they have hatred of women -- and they have hatred of women because of things that were done to them in their past."
That past treatment does not relieve those men of their responsibility for their acts, Land said, but does it help others to understand why they "express their sin in that particular way."
SBC messengers approved the position of a liaison within the denomination to facilitate ministry to homosexuals.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.Associated Press contributed to this story.
