Florida Baptist Witness Questionnaire for Southern Baptist Convention Officer Candidates

Editor’s note: Florida Baptist Witness sent questionnaires to all of the candidates for Southern Baptist Convention offices that are being contested at the annual meeting in San Antonio, June 12-13. Bill Britt of Gallatin, Tenn., is president of Compel Outreach International and immediate past president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. For more information about him, please click here.

1.  Why did you agree to allow yourself to be nominated?

I allowed myself to be nominated to help keep the focus on evangelism. I have been a Southern Baptist evangelist for nearly twenty-three years. I do not know of any group of people that are on the front lines any more than the evangelist. Evangelists are in the local churches serving with pastors every week. It is my conviction that the evangelists can be of great assistance to our convention when each year statistics reveal that baptisms are at an all time low.

2.  What’s right with the Southern Baptist Convention and how will your election contribute to what’s right?

The Southern Baptist Convention has been used of the Lord to reach millions with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been known as people of the book, evangelism, and missions. There is a cooperative effort among our churches to carry out the Great Commission that is unsurpassed. I would like to simply be a voice and a catalyst to help continue this effort and to help intensify the effort.

3.  What’s wrong with the Southern Baptist Convention and how will your election contribute to correcting what’s wrong?

We have become distracted from our main task and it is my desire to help refocus our attention to evangelism through the local churches. Even though we have various agencies we are a convention of local New Testament churches. The heart cry is the need for a spiritual awakening that will result in hot hearted evangelism, old fashioned prayer meetings, bold biblical preaching, repentance, and personal holiness.

4.  Do you support or disagree with the recently revised doctrinal guidelines for prospective missionaries of the International Mission Board regarding baptism and tongues and private prayer language?

Not to avoid the question, but each year the SBC elects trustees that are personally involved in the particular issues of that agency. I trust that through prayer and biblical conviction that the trustees of the IMB have made the correct decisions at this time.

5.  Some have argued in the last year that the IMB doctrinal guidelines, among other things, are examples of narrowing the parameters of doctrinal cooperation and that such narrowing should stop in Southern Baptist life. What is your view of that claim?

It is my conviction that we should continue to adhere to and stand upon the convictions that have seen this convention be used to reach the world with the Gospel.

6.  Do you believe that prayer tongues is a spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit to Christians? If you believe it is a spiritual gift, do you practice that gift? What are your views about other doctrinal positions commonly associated with charismatic theology?

I do not have a prayer language. If it is a private issue then my question is why is it getting so much public attention? 

7.  Should the Baptist Faith and Message be amended to address charismatic theological issues and, if so, in what way should it be amended?

No, it should not be amended.

8.  When considering SBC officer candidates, how should Southern Baptists consider the Cooperative Program giving of the candidate’s home church?

While I am in support of the Cooperative Program it should never be the litmus test for those nominated to serve in our convention. This was stated when the CP was introduced into SBC life.

9.  What is your view of the Conservative Resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention? Do you see your election as an extension of the Conservative Resurgence?

I am in full support and very thankful for the conservative resurgence of our convention. I have been preaching the Word of God for thirty years and have always believed in the inerrancy of Scripture. I would consider it an honor being identified with those who have fought for the faith.

 10. How should Southern Baptists relate to the culture with regard to matters of biblical morality?

We are to be light and salt. That means we must be like Jesus. He was a friend to sinners. To be salt and light includes being separate and living a holy life but also that we go to where sinners are without compromising our testimony. The commission of the Lord is to share the Gospel as we go where ever that may be.

11. What is your view of the resolution on alcohol adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention last year in Greensboro?

I am in absolute agreement with the alcohol resolution.

12. Should Southern Baptists participate in the “New Baptist Covenant Celebration” led by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and sponsored by the North American Baptist Fellowship, an entity of the Baptist World Alliance?

No, we should not.

13. What else would you like to say to Southern Baptists?

The only hope for this nation and our convention is revival. This will take all of us humbling ourselves, putting our agendas aside, and seeking the face of a holy God! It is my desire to serve our convention president, officers, and the convention as a whole to do whatever it takes to reach a lost and dying world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!