by Tim Bonney » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:59 am
Well Gene, there isn't much of being a "prince" to being a moderate Baptist pastor in a moderate church. I've been there, and I can tell you that pastors are often "timid" because of the way the local church is set up. Basically many Baptist churches only want to hear what they already believe. They don't want prophetic preaching, they don't want to be theologically challenged, and they don't want to be told their are wrong even when they are.
And, since the pastor is basically viewed by many Baptist churches as a hired gun, they expect the pastor to tow their line and basically lead by following.
The pastor who sticks his kneck out in these churches finds that he is soon treated like a hireling employee rather than a pastor and is either made miserable or shown the door. So what is the benefit to the pastor in trying to straighten out the local church on their views of the CBF when what the CBF does has little impact on the local ministry of the local church? If things are going well in your congregation there isn't going to be a lot of incentive to stir the pot just to help out the CBF. Sorry but, that is the truth.
Yes, there are autocratic Baptist pastors out there (the Princes you are talking about). But they only survive in churches in which they can get an autocratic governance structure set up. Those pastors (unfortunately sometimes) are never afraid to say what they want to say. But you don't find those kind of pastors in moderate churches It is usually conservative churches only that give their pastors that kind of power.
Unfortunately I've not seen much balance between the two models in Baptist life.