I'll not die a Southern Baptist...

[David Flick]

As I prepare to attend the ABC Biennial in Denver, I realized the significant change that has occurred in my family. I was saved and baptized in a Southern Baptist church in 1950. I grew up a Southern Baptist from day one. I surrendered to preach in a Southern Baptist church. I was trained at four different Southern Baptist institutions. I was commissioned by SB's and served as a Southern Baptist home missionary (with the old HMB). I pastored five Southern Baptist churches over a period of 35 years. I served as a Southern Baptist DOM for 20 months. I served two terms on the board of directors of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. I was a member of the first board of trustees for the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children.

My wife, Effie Mae, was saved and baptized in a Southern Baptist church in 1955. She also was a Southern Baptist from day one. She was the wife of a Southern Baptist pastor for 35 Years. Our three children were all saved and baptized in Southern Baptist churches. They, likewise, were Southern Baptists from day one. Both of our daughters graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University. One daughter was a charter member of the Oklahoma Acteens Advisory Board. She represented Oklahoma Baptist Acteens at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans (I believe it was 1995). As part of that experience, she spoke to the convention for three minutes. (I've never led the SBC in silent prayer, much less spoke to the convention... :lol:) Our son surrendered to preach in a Southern Baptist church. He was licensed to preach by a Southern Baptist church and preached his first sermons in a Southern Baptist church. There were few families that were more thoroughly Southern Baptist than our family.

Which brings me to this testimony. Today, not one member of our family is Southern Baptist. Effie and I are American Baptists (ABC-USA). I am an active Cooperative Baptist, having served a term on the Coordinating Council of the CBFO. Our oldest daughter is a moderate Texas Baptist and disavows anything to do with the SBC fundamentalists. As a Texas Baptist, she is probably closer to Southern Baptists than any of the family. (Texas Baptists [BGCT] are a breed of their own and take no guff off the SBC.) The daughter who spoke to the SBC as an Acteen in New Orleans now belongs to no church. She is church shopping (and has been for the past three years, much to my everlasting chagrin) but is not shopping with Southern Baptists. Our son is now an Anglican and attends an Episcopal church in Oklahoma City.

The Southern Baptist Convention that I grew up in and the SBC that that I raised my children in is no longer the denomination we knew and loved. It has drifted into radical fundamentalism. There is a side of me that is very sad about no longer being a Southern Baptist. But the other side of me is glad to be free of Southern Baptists. The joy of serving the Lord and serving people through American Baptists exceeds the pain of being rejected by the denomination of my birth and original choice.

I never dreamed that I would be something other than a Southern Baptist. But it's reality. I don't regret leaving a denomination that is controlled by judgmental legalists. I don't regret leaving a denomination that is unkind to those who don't agree with everything that comes down the fundamentalist pike. I don't regret leaving a denomination that excludes good and godly people who refuse to sign a man-made creed. I don't regret leaving a denomination that insists on making inerrancy of the Bible a test of fellowship. I was born a Southern Baptist. But I will not die a Southern Baptist...

[KeithE]

[Hal Eaton]

David -- Let me repeat one of my favorite Oldadisms:

There is no such thing as an old fundamentalist, except for W. A. Criswell.

By the grace of God, we outgrow the simplistic measures of faith thrust upon us in our early years. The "new" SBC cannot rid itself of the nostalgia bred into most of us by our earliest Sunday School experiences. Naivete, ignorance posing as innocence, trust in our first mentors, all contribute to the current jumble of "authentic" doctrines taught by the monolithic, uniform, intractable church of our fathers.

Said church is not the first, or only, commitment we have left--or which has left us--as we have grown, improved, matured, ripened, aged, mellowed, developed, whatever. Thomas Wolfe's "You can't go back" applies. It's a little akin to realizing the inadequacies of your first elementary school "crush," which contained lots of feelings, but very little reason or experience to ameliorate and alleviate the pressure to conform.

[David Flick]

[fox]

[fox]

[DJBrown]

[David Flick]

[William Thornton]

[mlovell]

Apparently lots of people share that "I won't die a Southern Baptist" conviction. From today's .

[William Thornton]

[mlovell]

[Ed Pettibone]

[DJBrown]

[William Thornton]

[Ed Pettibone]

[deb]

[David Flick]

[mlovell]

[Ed Pettibone]

[David Flick]

[mlovell]

True -- I "handed" the stats to Wm by linking an article in a Texas newspaper which (naturally) used a local angle in the article's larger context -- an article which had plenty to say about why one-time Southern Baptists are leaving that denomination.

Equally true -- In spite of previously alleging that I was uninterested in discussing the "main subject" of a thread (though my post related specifically to part of Wm's initial post), Wm is trying mightily to divert this thread from its "main subject" (people who used to be Southern Baptists, no longer are, and possible reasons for that) to Texas baptism rates. For some reason, he doesn't seem interested in discussing dwindling SBC population percentages in the country as a whole, or baptism rates in Georgia, where he lives.

Go figure.

[DJBrown]

[William Thornton]

[mlovell]

Though your diversion attempts have reached pretty high on the "ludicrous" scale even as your credibility quotient sinks, William, there's zero basis for accusing me of mind reading -- even supposing there were a mind available to be read.

Verifiable facts which require no mind reading:
(1) You've previously labeled my question about as lack of interest in the "main subject" of the thread.
(2) The "main subject" of has been [u]SBC church members leaving the denomination[/url]. (See David's initial post, plus those from DJ and Tim Bonney which follow.)
(3) I posted a link to an article with information directly relating to the "main subject." (Fewer Americans than ever now claim to be Southern Baptist, in spite of the fact that they're "familiar with the product." "The conservative resurgence may have had a cost." Southern Baptists have built political power which apparently is not translating into into "the market for souls.") You were, evidently, uninterested in these facts, and instead of commenting on them,
(4) You chose to comment on just one line in the 34th or 35th paragraph of the story -- a line which had nothing to do with the "main subject" of the thread.

With no mind reading at all, anyone can see your attempt to divert this thread from its "main subject" -- and most people will come to their own conclusions as to why you chose that route.

I anticipate recalling your attempt to "referee" alleged interest (or lack thereof) in "the main subject" next time you charge that the moderators on BL.com are biased. Your own lifelike impression of that famous tower in Pisa is apt to be as unforgettable as your grip on objectivity is tenuous.