Page to Carter: Less 'mic' more Bible

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page has called on organizers of a planned January 2008 gathering of moderates and liberals to focus less on their plan to "take the microphone away" from conservatives and attend more to spreading the message of the Gospel.

Page's response May 25 comes about a week after former U.S. president and former Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter made a pitch to Southern Baptists to attend the New Baptist Covenant he is organizing with Bill Underwood, president of Mercer University.

Bill Clinton, also a former U.S. president with Southern Baptist ties, has described himself as a "cheerleader" for the event. Clinton's wife, Hillary, a U.S. senator from New York, is a leading contender for the Democrats' 2008 presidential nomination.

Carter invoked Page's name May 17, saying the SBC leader "has not been negative" in discussions about the gathering. According to one media report, Carter claimed to have spoken twice to Page about the planned conference and that Page did not express any reservations about it.

Page said Southern Baptists "were not invited to be a part of the initial meetings of this group." He also responded strongly to the political overtones surrounding the meeting.

"I will not be a part of any smokescreen leftwing liberal agenda that seeks to deny the greatest need in our world, that being that the lost be shown the way to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord," Page said in a statement.

Page's public denouncement of what has been dubbed the "Clinton-Carter confab" was preceded by several days by the sudden withdrawal of former Arkansas governor and current Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist and former pastor. Carter had touted Huckabee's participation as lending credibility to the meeting.

Huckabee indicated he had given tentative agreement to attend as long as the program was a celebration of faith and not a political convocation.

Speaking to Florida Baptist Witness May 21, Huckabee cited the involvement of the "very, very liberal" Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, as evidence of the political leanings of the gathering.

Huckabee pointed to harsh comments Carter made May 19 against President Bush as adding to his concern that his appearance would be "giving approval to what could be a political, rather than spiritual agenda." During a promotional event for his new audiobook series, "Sunday Mornings in Plains," a collection of Bible lessons from Plains, Ga., his hometown, Carter blasted Bush's foreign policy, his "pre-emptive war," the administration's efforts on peace in the Middle East and nuclear arms, and the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The Associated Press reported Carter as saying "this administration has been the worst in history" in its impact on the nation's standing with other countries.

Page rebuked criticisms by New Baptist Covenant organizers aimed at the Southern Baptist Convention. Carter and Clinton have used terms like "negative" and "exclusionary," and Underwood has said there is a need for "a true Baptist witness." Defending the SBC, Page pointed to Southern Baptists' national ministry efforts aimed at meeting social needs but not to the exclusion of evangelism.

"Since 1974, Southern Baptists have given over $220 million—almost one quarter of one billion dollars—to domestic and overseas hunger relief," Page said. "Last year in the U.S. alone, the Gospel was shared with 650,000 people and 30,000 made professions of faith because of hunger ministries.

"The Christian Women's Job Corps program combines job training to meet practical needs with spiritual training to meet eternal needs," he said, adding that both President Bush and former Vice President Al Gore have described the CWJC program as the best "at lifting women out of government dependency and helping them to become self-supporting, wage earners.

"During the past 15 years, [Southern Baptists] have rehabilitated over 11,000 homes, mostly in inner-city areas," Page said.

Page also pointed to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief organization, which is the third-largest in the United States. "The SBC has 74,000 trained volunteers and more than 900 mobile units ... [and] the Red Cross stated Southern Baptist volunteers served 90 percent of the meals at Red Cross disaster relief sites during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts," he noted.

For Southern Baptists, the mark of their ministries is spiritual, Page said.

"Unlike those who focus only on the social good of ministry, we give a man a loaf of bread and also introduce Christ as the Bread of Life," he said, emphasizing that statistics alone do not show the extent of ministry by local churches "across racial, denominational and cultural barriers" to share the Gospel and minister to those in need "with no strings attached."

The list of New Baptist Covenant participants includes a number who have been the harshest critics of the conservative movement in the SBC that has seen Southern Baptists elect conservative leaders consecutively since 1979.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, whose moderate and liberal constituency fled the SBC to form an alternative fellowship in 1990, is listed as an organizer. The event is being formed under the umbrella of the North American Baptist Fellowship, a division of the Baptist World Alliance, an organization the SBC left over concerns about its liberal leanings and antagonism toward Southern Baptist missions and ministries.

Also included among the notables attending is Tony Campolo, a pastor, writer and professor popular among the left, who has described Southern Baptists' belief that Scripture limits the role of pastor to men as "evidence of demonic influence."

Other participants with not-so-friendly SBC ties include Al Gore, Democrat insider-turned-journalist Bill Moyers, and Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.

Although Carter, Clinton and Underwood do not appear to have convinced SBC entity leaders to participate, they also have made overtures to four SBC pastors identified with blogging. Underwood and Carter met May 17 with Marty Duren, pastor of New Bethany Baptist Church in Buford, Ga.; Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla.; Ben Cole, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas; and C.B. Scott, pastor of Westmont Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

Duren is essentially the founder of a close-knit network of bloggers who maintain an ongoing exchange about issues relating to the SBC. Burleson was drawn into national controversy after blogging his dissent as a trustee about policies adopted by the SBC's International Mission Board that disqualify missionary candidates based on baptism experiences and speaking in tongues practices described as not consistent with the Baptist identity.

Cole has been a vocal critic of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson, most recently over his firing of a female professor because she was teaching men preparing to be pastors. Scott began his blog in May 2006.

The outcome of the May 17 meeting is not clear. Participation by the four likely will not increase participation by Southern Baptist laity or pastors, but it indicates Carter and Underwood are targeting at least a segment of Southern Baptists.

Page, in an apparent reference to the New Baptist Covenant themes of "Justice," the "Poor," "Diversity," the "Stranger," the "Captive" and the "Broken Hearted," took issue with the groups' focus on social ministry and lack of evangelical emphasis.

"To be 'a true Baptist witness,' any group must see the winning of souls to Christ as the cohesive factor in our fellowship," Page said. "I pray that the Covenant Partners will truly seek to promote a biblical mandate. I hope that they will encourage all those who are not at the meeting to do the same."