Nashville, Tenn. | “Our needs at this moment are many, and they are profound,” SBC President Bart Barber told the Convention’s Executive Committee at their Trustees meeting Sept. 18-19. “We need God to raise up a prophet among us.”
If they were hoping the prophet would emerge at that meeting, he didn’t—unless it was Barber himself as he looked back a hundred years in SBC history to another period of trouble, moral failure, and near financial ruin to find inspiration for the denomination’s future.
The list of things that happened—and didn’t happen—in the EC meeting is long.
› The recently retired pastor from Paducah, Kentucky who was expected to replace the recently resigned Willie McLaurin as Interim President and CEO of the EC withdrew his name at the last minute. Dan Summerlin cited his wife’s health as a reason. She has battled cancer. Asked if Summerlin knew the depth of the EC’s troubles during the interview process, EC Chair Philip Robertson said the candidate was made aware.
› Jonathan Howe, the remaining EC Vice President who filled McLaurin’s post for a month will remain in the position for now, as required by SBC regulations, although the officers had wanted him to return to leadership of SBC Communications.
› The EC will not sue McLaurin for lying on his resume which resulted in his dismissal, and reported there was no financial mishandling during his 18-month tenure.
› The EC’s financial situation is worse, now at $4 million in reserves with $10 million in losses over two years. Publication of the audit has been delayed by the fact that the SBC Annual hasn’t been finished or posted yet. The EC is talking about selling their portion of the building the entity owns in Nashville.
“We are facing significant challenges,” Howe said in his report to the board. “Over the past few years, we have repeatedly heard of distressing actions that could not be ignored and the cost of addressing them has been very high.”
› Five EC staff members were terminated and two contract positions eliminated in September to save money. The staff now numbers 21 full-timers. Among those dismissed were two Associate Vice Presidents for Asian Relations and Hispanic Relations respectively. Howe called the week he had to dismiss these colleagues the worst in his career. The readjusted EC and SBC operating budget is $8,305,500.
› The search for an interim CEO will resume. At the same time, the committee responsible for finding a permanent EC President and CEO says they expect to have a candidate by the next Trustees meeting in February. The portal for submitting resumes closed Sept. 30.
› Trustees affirmed the recommendation of the SBC Credentials Committee to disfellowship another church for lack of “friendly cooperation.” This time the charge was racism, including the pastor’s portrayal of Ray Charles at a church banquet in 2017.
› Trustees approved a code of ethics for EC members, in part to quell bad behavior online and stop leaks about secret business.
History’s call to courage
During his message on the first day of the two-day meeting, Barber turned to news headlines from the 1920s to demonstrate how Southern Baptists have emerged time after time in cooperation after being rocked by economic disaster, doctrinal conflict, and leadership scandals. He specifically recalled when both the Foreign and Home Mission Boards (now the International and North American Mission Boards) were leveled with financial scandal after corrupt leaders not only stole money but also the trust of many Southern Baptists.
Both scandals caused “terrible damage to Convention finances and Convention confidence in the institutions that were leading us,” Barber said. “During this same period of time, Southern Baptists faced substantial internal conflict over doctrine.”
And more troubles would follow, he noted. “What I’m describing to you is what the Southern Baptist Convention faced in the earliest days of its existence. This is where we started,” Barber said. “All across the Southern Baptist Convention, we rightfully wondered if our institutions, our people and our mission would survive.”
Barber also recalled how during those years, Southern Baptist churches sacrificed and responded in troubled times by creating the Cooperative Program, the SBC’s unified plan for supporting missions and ministry, and adopting the Baptist Faith and Message, the Convention’s statement of faith.
“Amidst all of these controversies, instead of allowing themselves to become embattled and distracted, Southern Baptists chose to be bold and courageous at the very moment when people would be tempted to hunker down and ride out the storms,” he said.
“Those are the things that have endured down through the years,” he added. “These two things represent more than a motion on the floor or bureaucratic program, and they represent a clear and compelling statement of a dream for cooperation among Southern Baptist churches.”
The question now, Barber noted, is how will Southern Baptists today be remembered decades from now for how they responded during times of trouble.
“Those who follow us a century from now will probably be disinterested in our debates, important as they are, just as you are probably disinterested about some of the things people fought about in the 1920s and 1930s,” he said.
“But I believe if we’re able to bring our churches back to the table and find a working agreement to cooperate—one that reassures our fears and concerns and prioritizes the beliefs and mission that unite us—that is something that will still be touching people a century from now. It will outlive us all. It will outshine us all.”
While Southern Baptists today have their challenges, many of those struggles pale in comparison to those Southern Baptists faced in the 1920s and 1930s, Barber said.
“We do not lack money,” he noted.” Look at the houses our church members live in, the cars we drive…. Compare that to what Southern Baptists owned in the 1920s and 30s when they stepped up and led us out of trouble.
“What we lack, God help us, is inspiration.”
—Events summary by IB staff, Barber speech reported by The Baptist Paper