12 Witnesses

Dr. Ronnie Floyd has reversed course in the issue of a minor league baseball stadium. Cox Cable network has been running spots of Dr. Floyd endorsing the stadium twice a day for a couple of weeks. Floyd has now pulled his support of the stadium, citing the stadium plans to sell beer during games.

Now, I don’t want to ascribe any motives, so let me here and now disclaim any knowledge of Dr. Floyd’s thoughts on the subject. It does, however, strike me as odd that anyone anywhere would assume that beer would not be sold at a ballpark. Once again, I state plainly that I don’t drink and do not enjoy being around those who drink too much - people often found at a ballpark.

My curiosity is further peaked by the recent resolution on Alcohol where Southern Baptists “resolved” the following:

Resolved, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, June 13-24, 2006, express our total opposition to the manufacturing, advertising, distributing, and consuming of alcoholic beverages;

With the amendment to this resolution concerning leadership within the convention that also passing, it would seem Ronnie had no choice if he were desirous of representing Southern Baptists in accordance with our recent resolution on alcohol.

He certainly had no choice but to pull his endorsement if he ever hoped to serve in elected office seeing as how his CP giving record hurt him so badly last time. Directly disobeying an overwhelming resolution would certainly disqualify him.

You can read the Democrat Gazette news story:

Springdale : Pastor retracts stadium OK over beer sales

[HT: ARB]

[update]

Dr. Floyd clarifies his position concerning the ballpark and alcohol

[/update]

The ABP has an article about Bill Sanderson’s amendment to the Executive Committee’s motion to rephrase by-law 15 (f) concerning Trustee Qualifications.

The article is right about most things, but wrong in its title and in the declaration that the heart of the Executive Committee recommendation had been stripped from the proposal. In fact, only one item was lost - that affecting IMB BOT Chairman John Floyd. The nepotism clause remained intact and in force for all new nominations.

You can read the full story here:

SBC messengers strip much of anti-nepotism motion

So you think I am the only one who thinks Texas will matter next year?

Here’s what Phillips Lynn says:

Greensboro is Behind Us, Now What?

OK. Everybody now. Tell us what you think about Texas.

(As always, mind your manners.)

The Inner Circle has never lost in Texas. It is their strong tower, so to speak. However, I know a couple of SBT pastors who’s sympathies do not run to the Inner Circle. These are not bloggers, either. I wonder how many others like them are there? I am led to believe that many in the BGCT, though able, are not willing to send messengers, having had enough fighting for the SBC, so the question will be, “Where will the SBT sympathies lie?”

Ronnie Floyd’s statement about Sutton splitting the “strong, conservative vote” is telling. What he really means - AND I AGREE WITH HIM - is that the vote of those who follow the Inner Circle (knowingly or unwittingly) was split. That is true.

Again, he is wrong to assume that all Sutton votes would have gone to him had Sutton not been in the race. That still doesn’t matter, though, because Page beat them both combined.

The question now is, “What will be the make up of the convention in San Antonio?”

Before I left, Marty, his lovely wife, Sonya and I ate at the Lone Star Steakhouse. As we were waiting, I took a picture of this:

Somehow, I thought it significant.

By the way, this is an anti-littering campaign slogan that the state of Texas came up with when I was a child. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.

Right before folks were nominated and then received votes for President, Marty Duren and I were looking for a seat in the convention center. Of course, this is the premier moment and everyone was there for the vote.

We ended up going to the second level, which was also quite full. As we made our way down the side we saw some empty chairs at the top of what turned out to be some pretty steep stairs. Since no one submitted a picture of me, and you didn’t meet me at the convention, you might not know that I am no longer the slim young man I once was.

That is to say, I suffer from “Dunlapped Disease.” In the words of Jeff Foxworthy, my belly Dunlapped over my belt.

Anyway, on the way up, I saw Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn about halfway to my destination. Finding them to be quite fun and funny upon meeting them face to face, and needing desperately to stop and suck in much needed oxygen, I paused for a quick word of greeting.

A few minutes later I was at the top, directly behind the “Missional” men, removed by about 10 rows. I kept thinking that if I had anything to throw, that I could easily have hit Joe’s head as it presented itself as an inviting target. Alas, I had no ammunition.

The first two presidential nomination speeches were full of cliches, dropped names and winking nods that their man was inner circle connected. I found the whole thing humorous.

I particularly found it funny when Johnny Hunt declared his nominee to be “Missional.” Apparently, so did Steve and Joe, because I thought they were going to literally fall out of their seats. They were laughing so hard, I thought they might hurt themselves.

I knew this would be true, because Steve suggested a couple of weeks ago, at my expense, that one must read something akin to a doctral dissertation before being allowed to use the word.

Marty took off down the steps to say something to them about it, but I was laughing pretty hard myself and couldn’t move.

Amazingly, this was the last I saw of those two. I wonder where they went.

I am glad to hear that Ronnie Floyd is ready to move on now the SBC is over. I have said a few good things about him, but raised more questions concerning his CP giving. I had thought that he was handling himself fairly well in defeat, being that I perceived him to want the position very badly.

Then I read his conciliation blog. You can read it at:

SBC Is Over, Let’s Move Forward

In this post, Ronnie claims that when Jerry Sutton entered the race, eight days before the convention, he split the “strong conservative vote.”

I’m sorry, but this is myopic.

To claim that Jerry Sutton split the conservative vote, implies that everyone else is a moderate or worse - a liberal. In fact, it ties Ronnie now to the insinuation that Frank Page is less than a strong conservative.

It is a slap in the face of the entire Southern Baptist Convention, who voted more for Frank Page than for Floyd or Sutton COMBINED. Ronnie just implied that not only is Frank less than conservative, that we are as well.

Here’s how you know he’s wrong.

1. 30+% voted for a floor nominee two years ago, showing strong dissatisfaction with the “Kingmaker Appointment” process. This problem has been there for years. It is not new.

2. Ronnie is assuming that Jerry Sutton took all of his votes. He is not factoring in whether or not he took any of Frank Page’s votes. I know for a fact that he did. Ronnie would not have inherited 100% of Jerry’s votes had Jerry not been in the race.

3. The attendance, while up slightly, was not the 18,000 to 20,000 that some were predicting. 11,500 messengers was the highest total I heard. With just the slightest augmentation, the people who always show up were there this year.

These guys just don’t understand how out of touch with the Southern Baptist Convention they are. We are conservative, innerrantist men and women of God who are tired of our Cooperation together being used as a political tool to stroke the need of some to gratify their ego or satisfy their need for control.

And for Ronnie to say that he took the high road after saying that Sutton split his vote, implying that the rest of us (the majority of us) were less than conservative, and that he would never understand the logic in such a move, simply boggles the mind.

Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn always post great pics on Friday. Mine is not great, but…

Since no one sent me a picture of myself for my photo contest, here is a phone pic I took. Look for a few more, later.

The Southern Baptist Convention and I made some Kentucky publications this week.

Our state Baptist paper is the Western Recorder. David Winfrey is a good reporter and a good guy. He published some of my comments and quoted some things off of my blog - from the “A Clumsy Retreat” article - in his article “Russellville youth minister making name for himself among bloggers.”

At the end he quotes the end of my article where I quote the words, “Mene Mene Tekel Parsin,” and then applied them.

David did a good job and I am not disputing what he wrote. I would like to clarify that those words are not for all of the Trustees at the IMB.

Specifically, I was talking about the caucus group that I perceive to be leading the BOT astray in certain areas. I have had the good fortune to meet with a few Trustees who voted to expel Wade. I found them to be kind and sincere. Though I wouldn’t say we were on the same page when all was done, I feel that we at least had a valid conversation and we were both heard.

Also, Peter Smith quoted in me in two articles. Peter writes for Louisville’s Courier Journal. He does a great job in being fair and balanced, I think. If you are not Southern Baptist, or don’t have SBC history in your own life, it is often hard to understand the subtle nuances of our interactions. Peter does well, first in the article, “Disputes likely at Baptist meeting,” and again in the article, “Southern Baptists in Kentucky see shift toward a more open annual convention,” in which he quotes fellow blogger Tim Sweatman.

Feel free to give ‘em a read.

I know some folks who will kill me for this, but I slept in. I had about 8 hours of sleep over three and a half days and just couldn’t get up. Frankly, I am still a little groggy. To top it off, the maids changed out my wife’s high thread count pillowcase that matches our sheets at home. It was an accident and they had set it aside - I got it back, honey - but I went looking for it last night.

Some people have said that what happened yesterday was a result of bloggers and we had turned the corner. This is giddy excitement, but I would add some perspective.

Bloggers have played an important role, no question, but the Convention leaders are the ones who have led the way behind the scenes, and they are the ones making the real strides.

The election of Frank Page was a sentiment that had been brewing in the SBC for years. Remember that a floor nomination to the office of President two years ago, fielded 30+% of the vote. We aligned with the convention, not the convention with us.

The election of Wiley Drake is in the same category.

The By-Laws changes were, perhaps, one area where our voices yielded some fruit. However, we must all understand that we did not accomplish the by-law changes. The Executive Committee bore the weight of leadership and did the work. These are our leaders and they deserve the credit. We could never have gotten this done from the floor. They did it for the sake of the SBC. We came alongside them.

Bobby Welch instructed the Committees on Committees and Nominations to bring back reports that were free from the charges of nepotism, cronyism and connectionalism. With only three names from all of those reports having served prior, they did a great work. We have come alongside those leaders, not them to us.

Anyone who thinks that it is all over, should now take note of this.

Ben Cole was told that he and Tom Ascol, both having submitted resolutions, would be happy with the report brought by the Committee on Resolutions. This morning, both of their resolutions were absent from the report. Dr. Ascol desired to ask the resolution be brought to the floor with a 2/3 vote. He was told he had to wait.

In the meantime, a resolution on consumption of alcohol, advocating abstinence, was brought to the floor. It was debated, with several speaking for and against. That would never have happened 10 years ago - no one would have spoken against this resolution. It was also amended to ban any Trustee of any institution from consuming alcohol. It was a resolution so it is not binding, but any observer with the smallest amount of sense would realize it was pointed directly at Wade Burleson. Burleson has said that the Bible does not forbid the consumption of alcohol. Rather, the Bible forbids drunkenness.

I want to clarify my personal position, here. I agree with Wade. I myself have a personal conviction that I do not drink, and I believe that is a Holy Spirit led conviction. However, you will not find a prohibition on alcohol in Scripture. Moving on…

After debate and amendment, the resolution passes and it comes back to Dr. Ascol, who is waiting at the mic.

Dr. Ascol gets to read his entire resolution to the convention - which is a good thing - and a member from the committee speaks to it. Although there were people at the mics, they took the vote on Tom’s motion without discussion.

I wise SBC leader said yesterday that change is incremental. He also said that when there is a push, there is a push back. Some within the convention were pushed hard yesterday, and today they pushed back.

What happens over the next ten years will determine whether or not we are the beginning of a movement for cooperation and “missional” thinking or we are a footnote in Southern Baptist History.

Here are some predictions:

The Inner Circle now has a much clearer view of its influence, or lack thereof. They really believed that they had much more sway than they did, and they were shocked.

As a result, the splits and fractures will be quickly mended and old partnerships will resume in order to push back into the positions of influence they once held.

The next year will be one of positioning, although, the positions of nepotism, cronyism and connectionalism have been hindered considerably. The IMB will have a year of scrutiny and the future there is up in the air.

Frank Page will appoint conservatives with similar instructions as Bobby Welch and this will further weaken those positions.

Next year’s convention is in San Antonio. The BGCT, although they are able to send messengers will not likely do so. They have been ignored and closed out for years and, frankly, they have given up on us. The SBT, however, will come in droves and it will be a bigger convention than this by far. We can expect a large “push back” then.

I would go so far as to say that Dr. Page might even receive a challenge to his second term as President, which has become traditionally accepted as a given. Even the challenge will hurt those who promote it, but if they win, it will be the same situation, escalated further, in Louisville the next year.

There is great joy and hope here today. However, there is much work to be done and we must pray diligently. We should not pray that we will “win,” but that God’s will is paramount to all of us and that it will be done in the SBC.

Bobby Welch led us again today. During a time when they were trying to work something out, Dr Welch began to speak to the convention. He said that we are not each other’s enemies, but that Satan is our enemy. We need to act accordingly. I come alongside him here.

In my last post concerning the amendment of SBC by-law 15, I said the SBC was “hoodwinked.” In my immediate absence (I went to visit with some of the folks from today and just finished at just after 1:00 am Eastern) several good questions were raised about this.

The Executive Committee showed fortitude in dealing with a difficult situation about which I have often written. In section F, the committee was asking the SBC to amend the by law to exclude from service to boards people who were formerly employed by the entity on whose board they might otherwise serve.

The specific instance at hand is the new chairman of the Board of Trustees of the IMB. Dr. John Floyd is a former missionary and it is widely reported that he has issues with certain staff at the IMB. He now serves as their supervisor, in a sense.

As a missionary, I readily concede that his insight would be valuable to us, but to have him serve at an agency where the friction of daily stressful work with personalities creates problems, such a role reversal is a huge conflict of interest.

If he were to be nominated to serve on the North American Mission Board, no such conflict would exist.

The Executive Committee exercised the responsibility of leadership and dealt with a very touchy situation that would have removed Floyd next year after his term ran out because he would have been ineligible for appointment to yet another term (this is his umpteenth).

The implication that this by law amendment’s primary effect would be to limit seminary students is misdirection of its real intent.

Unfortunately, the Ex. Com. was not ready for the argument and did not defend it well. It would have required carefully chosen words to relate the substance of the article without calling Dr. Floyd into question. I would have done it, to the best of my ability (having advocated this exact policy numerous times) but I was sandwiched in a crowd between mics and unable to get near one within at least 90 seconds. That is an eternity in this situation. Secondly, the chair called the question on the Sanderson amendment without it being asked for and without discussion - which are both out of order. I earnestly believe that this - taking the vote with no “call” and no discussion - was not deliberate. The leaders of the Convention believed in this ammendment and wanted it to pass as originally presented.

The SBC was “hoodwinked” because it was made to believe that the amendment was a poorly thought out article that hurt Seminary students.

If all things were able to be replayed, I would move to table the Exec. Comm. amendment until such time as the Committee on Order of Business could reschedule it during this convention. This would give the EC time enough to reword the amendment and report it in a new way. The EC could have withdrawn its original motion, making the Sanderson motion moot. It could then have submitted a new motion to amend and published the new, more precise, wording.

It is now a done deal and will not be revisited this year.