Very light reading on CBF, not much from ABP

[Sandy]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Sandy]

Stephen sees FBC Spartanburg as the typical SBC church of the day, a large First Baptist that draws membership from a wide geographic area around a large, county seat town in the Deep South. The big attraction for him there is that Billy Graham is a member there. It is a conservative church, not fundamentalist, has a large youth and college ministry, and a large young adult ministry, is growing, and probably is typical of the SBC in South Carolina. But he's just guessing about where the kids of church members are going, and whatever factors are involved, it doesn't make a statement about denominational hypocrisy. I happen to know one of the staff members there, which is why he probably mentioned it again.

No doubt there are anecdotal examples where the children of prominent Baptist conservatives bypassed the college that their Dad was involved in attempting to bring back to the conservative fold. But by and large, that's not been the case. There is a long list of state convention related Baptist colleges and universities that are seeing the benefits of the conservative resurgence in the SBC in terms of both contributions and increased enrollment of Baptist students. You just left Texas, where HBU has been courting the SBTC for quite some time, resulting in increased enrollment and funding for some nice facilities. And a lot of the prominent Baptist conservatives in the Houston area in particular have kids who chose HBU rather than Liberty, or Aggielandia. There are several other Texas Baptist institutions following HBU's example, and I don't think it will be too long before we see dually affiliated colleges and universities, something that was unthinkable a decade ago. There's a long list of other Baptist colleges that are doing just fine as they have courted the conservatives in the denomination, and it has paid off in terms of enrollment and money. We've had that discussion here about dear Shorter University, which is now the darling of the Georgia Baptist Convention, and the beneficiary of increased enrollment and money for nice buildings.

[William Thornton]

SBC state colleges need their own topic here but Sandy's optimism would be a bit strained here in GA where there are three state colleges, not counting the top tier Mercer University which is independent of the state convention these days. We have one college that was recently on life support and is still struggling, a second (Shorter) where turmoil drove away faculty, administrators, students and with them considerable alumni support, and a third that has a strong SBC conservative, non-Calvinist orientation. I'm not sure the market here is such that three similar Baptist colleges. all within about a 100mi radius of Atlanta, can do well. Good students in GA can get a free tuition ride at state schools through lottery revenues, making a private school less attractive.

[Sandy]

Education on the college level has changed to the point where having a bunch of small, scattered, denominational-related colleges may not be as practical as it once was. It appears, though, that schools which were traditionally known as conservative in their state prior to the resurgence are those who fare the best when it comes to the way things are now. You have schools like Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, which was one of four small Baptist related schools in the state until the resurgence reached the Missouri Baptist Convention. William Jewel, which had ties to ABC USA as well, decided to take that path, and Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis decided to go independent and appeal to the broader evangelical community. SBU has since doubled in size, and captured about as much in donor money as all four schools once did. So the convention now has two schools instead of four, separated geographically by most of the state, together enrolling more than the four once did, and in addition to SBU, they have a nice Bible college at Hannibal.

State convention related schools are not the only small, Christian colleges having financial issues, though. Location, size and course offerings do make a difference. Those colleges tied to Baptist state conventions that seem to be doing well are schools that were known to be conservative before the resurgence, are the only school, or largest school, in their state convention, and serve metropolitan areas or have branch campuses. Several of the Texas schools are moving rapidly toward dual affiliation with the conservative state convention. Houston Baptist University has seen a lot of contributions and students come through the door as a result of its close association with some of the local resurgence supporting pastors, like John Bisagno, Ed Young (whose kids went there), Kerry Shook (whose kids go there now) and Greg Matte.

Perhaps the school that has seen the most benefit from the conservative resurgence is Liberty University. That's where most of the national conservative leaders kids go, and a lot of state convention leaders do too. They're affiliated with the SBCV, and the largest denominational constituency on their campus are students from Southern Baptist affiliated churches. They draw from an area where the state conventions have stubbornly worked to prevent their colleges and universities from pursuing a more conservative direction which has been like a recruiting campaign for Liberty. To a lesser degree, Cedarville University in Ohio has also seen its enrollment and financial situation improve as a result of ties to the conservative State Convention of Baptists in Ohio.

[Stephen Fox]

Sandy: Have your friend come to this board, or have him email you and you can post a semi anonymous response in his words here as to how FBC Spartanburg with integrity navigates Giberson and Stephens The Anointed. Have them read, and then survey parents in their congregation.

In no good conscience can you embrace the inerrancy wedge issue that delivered the SBC to the Birch Society and send your child to Furman Wofford, USC, Clemson College of Charleston and those are just S.C. schools as an example.

Inerrancy is laughable there in the sciences and humanities.

So the Pastoral staff is left with all that conviction that doesn't go past the vestibule.

Rachel Held Evans is addressing the CBF of SC this fall. Ginny Brant of www.ginnybrant.com, FBC Sburg long term SBC denominational gal with her 8 year term post takeover with the SBC IMB; her husband teaches at Clemson.

I like Ginny, but the hypocrisy abounds, it reeks!

[Stephen Fox]

Her Dad is Furman grad 78, Mom Cyndi Campsen Mosteller. Brook Mosteller is a beautiful, delightful young woman. I talked to her on campus summer of 2010. Plays tennis and runs track, and oodles of personality.

But her Uncle Chip was leading fundy to try to keep Furman in the state convention fold. Worked closely with Don Purvis, and Don's son was FU SGA prez in the 90s.

Cyndi is leader of the low country tea party and before the Appy Trail tight with Gov Sanford and Betsy.

They keep sending their beautiful children to Furman pledging allegiance to Inerrancy and Rick Santorum. It don't scour.

[Sandy]