Nope.
What happened was that several upper echelon SBC leaders met with several Baptist World Alliance reps.
You'll find this news, not at Baptist Press, but at Associated Baptist Press:
BWA, SBC leaders meet for first time since 2004.
From ABP:
Initiated by BWA General Secretary Neville Callam, the joint meeting was part of a commitment made in 2004 for continued dialogue between the two groups.
Joining Callam in the BWA delegation were John Upton, current BWA president and executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia; George Bullard, general secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship; and Sam Chaise, general secretary of Canadian Baptist Ministries.
Representing Southern Baptists were SBC President Bryant Wright; Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee; Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Page, Patterson, Wright & Mohler in the same room with BWA president et al? Sounds like a newsworthy item to me.
One might have figured that the SBC, after spending several hundred thousand on Bobby Welch's Global Ambassador position for a few years, might reassess how we relate to the world's major Baptist body. I've been one who thinks that the SBC ought to have some relationship with them. This Global Ambassador stuff through the peripatetic Welch wasn't much of a substitute, though no fault of Welch's.
They met. They had a conversation. Good.
Maybe BP will stir themselves up enough to do a piece on it...tomorrow...maybe this week...maybe this year...maybe next year?
6 comments:
Hold your breath on that BP piece, William. When you turn blue, give up. I've given up complaining about BP and accepted it for what it is - a public relations arm, not a press service. Oh well.
Bobby Welch never should have retired from First Baptist Daytona. The church now is half the size it was under his leadership. This Global Ambassador stuff was a waste of money. At 68, he is still very energetic and popular with the congregation.
This news isn't negative. It doesn't cast any SBC leader or church in an unfavorable light. I see no reason for Frank Page not to put out a press release on this meeting if nothing else.
Bobby Welch shoulda never left Ft. Payne Alabama where he was baptized. Coulda run parks and recreation with all his enthusiasm and done a fine job with his charisma as High School athlete.
Daniel Carro of the Leland inst recently held office with the BWA.
BWA Church State views don't mesh well with Charles Pickering's Allied Defense Fund, and when push comes to shove Karl Rove will noodle Richard Land and Patterson away from the playground the leftovers of the Birch Society, Fox News and now Art Pope of NC have in mind for the SBC.
Harold Bloom said the SBC tragedy was result on political strategy masquerading as religious movement and Bloom nailed it.
OTOH see John Pierce Baptists Today blog of Dec 12 on Wright and Frank Page.
With the exception of the man my Friend William Thornton has asked me not to name at bl.com, yall have a Merry Christmas
See also John Pierce Dec 12 blog at baptiststoday.org on Frank Page and Bryant Wright and what their leadership in the SBC may mean for the BWA conversation, even Shorter College fiasco going forward
Randall Balmer in the Anointed Blurbs describing Nelson Price to a Tee.
The well intended conversation of BWA and SBC has a brick wall in Shorter College disaster.
Consider these blurbs and see if the likeness of Nelson Price doesn't emanate from the Page:
Cover blurbs:
“Stephens and Giberson have produced a stunning and well-documented indictment of the Evangelical right wing. Here is a ‘must read’ for anyone wanting an insight into one of the most powerful religious-political movements in modern American culture.”
—Owen Gingerich, author of God’s Universe
“Two talented writers join forces to introduce us to some of the most influential religious and cultural leaders in contemporary America—such ‘experts’ as Ken Ham, David Barton, Jim Dobson, and Hal Lindsey. I know of no better place to discover how the conservative half of America lives and thinks.”
—Ronald L. Numbers, author of The Creationists: From Creation Science to Intelligent Design
“This is an important book on a pressing topic that should be read by everyone concerned with the place of religion in American life today.”
—Michael Ruse, author of Charles Darwin
“The Anointed demonstrates how questionable ‘experts’ emerge and flourish within American evangelicalism. Stephens and Giberson function as knowledgeable guides into this intriguing—and troubling—‘parallel universe.’”
—Randall Balmer, author of The Making of Evangelicalism
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