Florida Baptists lead, impact SBC resolutions

Florida Baptists lead, impact SBC resolutions

Jun 22, 2012
By JAMES A. SMITH SR.

NEW ORLEANS (FBW) ? From chairing the committee to submitting and attempting to amend resolutions, to being the subject of a resolution, Florida Baptists played leading roles in New Orleans as the Southern Baptist Convention spoke to significant issues.

Three Florida Baptists submitted resolutions for consideration at the June 19-20 SBC annual meeting, with two statements used as the basis for resolutions recommended by the committee, while the committee declined to act on the other because the concerns it expressed had largely already been addressed.

Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, was chairman of the 10-member Resolutions Committee after serving as a member of the body last year.

In an interview with Florida Baptist Witness after the committee concluded its work during the June 19-20 SBC annual meeting, Scroggins said serving as chairman was a ?great honor and a great privilege.?

While other messengers are able to enjoy the SBC annual meeting, Scroggins noted members of the Resolutions Committee commit many hours of ?hard labor? to produce the statements messengers act upon.

?It?s interesting because until you?re on the Resolutions Committee you have no idea what they do,? he said.

Members of the body arrived in New Orleans Wednesday evening and worked virtually all day the following three days, resulting in the nine resolutions it proposed, he said. The committee also considers resolutions proposed by Southern Baptists before the annual meeting ? 17 this year.

?I will say that serving on the Resolutions Committee also gives me a greater empathy for those that serve on all of these committees,? Scroggins said. ?Sometimes, from the floor, people are using words like, ?they do this? and ?you guys up on the platform do that.? There?s not a group of us on the platform. I?m just a pastor. I serve on the Resolutions Committee and then I?m off the platform.?

Scroggins noted his committee was comprised of pastors of diverse churches, directors of missions, a seminary professor, and the wife of a pastor.

The goal of the committee, he said, was to ?say some strong things that have meaning? while doing it ?in a way that is irenic, that is conciliatory, that is unity-building.?

Although there was some pre-convention attention to proposed resolutions and he heard from various advocates attempting to gain ?insight? into his views, Scroggins said he didn?t feel any pressure to approve or oppose resolutions.

Scroggins praised Southern Baptists? democratic process, even though ?sometimes people say things that receive ridicule because maybe they?re frivolous or maybe they?re nitpicky.?

Calling it ?great? and ?healthy,? he said, ?I?m grateful for the Baptist principle of democratic rule. ? It may be a little frustrating at times, but I think this is the greatest denomination on the face of the earth and I?m proud to be a part of it.?

Saying the ?conversation? created by the resolutions process is ?good for us,? Scroggins said the statements give Southern Baptists ? both pastors and denominational entities ? ?some ground to stand on when they speak as Southern Baptists,? while noting the resolutions are not binding.

Scroggins? leadership of the committee was widely hailed by Southern Baptists for his ?statesmanship? and graciousness in many tweets following the conclusion of the committee?s work.

LifeWay Christian Resources president Thom Rainer (@ThomRainer) tweeted, ?I nominate @JimmyScroggins as resolutions committee chairman for life,? with Ted Traylor (@tedtraylor), pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, tweeting in response, ?SECOND!?

Not everyone, however, was pleased with the Resolutions Committee?s work.

While the committee reported a resolution addressing his resolution in some respects, Ted Wolfe, a lay leader at Central Baptist Church in Melbourne, told the Witness he was ?disappointed by [the committee?s] response, but not surprised.?

Wolfe submitted a lengthy resolution, ?On the Authority of Scripture, God?s Word versus Man?s Word.? The committee reported a considerably shorter resolution, ?On Biblical Scholarship and the Doctrine of Inerrancy,? and noted in its report the statement was related to Wolfe?s resolution.

Although ?very related? to inerrancy, Wolfe said his resolution was really about the authority of the Bible.

?The salient points and arguments were watered down significantly and the emphasis I tried to make was lost, even though there were a few elements preserved just in a different form,? he said.

Wolfe said he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to submit the resolution, concerned by ?more and more evidence of man?s word trumping Scripture,? especially among some evangelical seminary professors.

He cited as an example the book, The End of Christianity, by William Dembski, a philosophy professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Published in 2009 by B&H Academic, the book sparked a debate among scholars at Southwestern and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, among others. (For more about the debate, see, ?HOW OLD? Age of earth debated among SBC scholars,? Oct. 21, 2010, print edition of Florida Baptist Witness.)

Wolfe said his resolution was ?peer reviewed? by others, including his pastor, ?so I don?t think I stand alone with this concern.?

An attempt from the floor of the convention to amend the committee?s resolution with language to clarify that creation was ?of all matter in six, 24-hour days? was defeated. The committee argued against the change, noting there are Bible-believing scholars who hold to differing views on this matter.

Meanwhile, another resolution offered by a Florida Baptist was, in part, the basis for the committee?s statement addressing the growing debate about Calvinism in SBC life.

Chris Roberts, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Panama City, submitted a resolution, ?On a Spirit of Cooperation in Missions and Evangelism Despite Theological Differences.? The committee?s resolution, ?On Cooperation and the Doctrine of Salvation,? passed overwhelmingly. Roberts spoke in favor of the statement, while no messenger spoke against it.

For more on Roberts? proposed resolution, see, ?Panama City pastor submits SBC resolution seeking ?unity? in midst of Calvinism debates,? in the May 10, 2012, print edition of the Witness.

The Resolutions Committee declined to act on a resolution urging LifeWay Christian Resources to stop selling the movie, ?The Blind Side? because the matter was ?moot,? Scroggins told the Witness.

Rodney Baker, pastor of Hopeful Baptist Church in Lake City, offered a resolution, ?Maintaining Appropriate Content in Products Distributed by LifeWay Christian Bookstores.?

Contacted in early June by the Witness to respond to the proposed resolution, LifeWay initially stood by its 2010 statement defending the movie?s sale. Four days later, however, LifeWay informed the Witness it was pulling the movie. (For more, see, ?LifeWay pulls ?The Blind Side? after pastor submits SBC resolution? in the June 14, 2012, print edition.)

Believing the goal of Baker?s resolution was to ?create conversation? and to get LifeWay to stop selling the movie, Scroggins said the committee ?felt like the purposes of his resolution were already accomplished and that?s why we declined it.?

Florida Baptists also played roles in two other SBC resolutions.

In the resolution, ?On African American Contributions to American Baptist History,? Sid Smith was recognized as ?one of the first African American Southern Baptist denominational leaders in the modern era.? Smith, who died in 2009, was the director of the African American Ministries Division of the Florida Baptist Convention, 1994-2005, when he retired.

Bob Hadley, pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, sought to amend from the floor the Resolutions Committee?s statement on the sinner?s prayer by adding that salvation is ?available to all who hear the Gospel. All may respond in repentance and faith and be saved.? The amendment was defeated by a show of ballots. (For more about the resolution, see related story.)

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