Haruo wrote:I would be interested in seeing what sort of keynote sermon Patterson would give under such a cloud of hostile witnesses.
At the 2007 convention in San Antonio, during the time that was allocated for him to give the report on Southwestern Seminary, he launched into a tirade against conservatives who weren't loyal to him, including taking several swipes at David Rogers, who was nominated for FVP that year, and indirectly at Adrian, at Dwight McKissic, who had stepped off the Southwestern trustee board after a controversial sermon he delivered in chapel, and after taking a doctrinal view that Patterson didn't agree with. He did a backhanded swipe at Al Mohler stopping just short of mentioning him by name (he was next on the podium, I think).
It could be that this would be the gracious bowing out of an old warrior, a time to celebrate what was really a lifetime's work, establishing the necessity for the conservative resurgence, and acknowledgement of accomplishments along with a gracious expression of gratitude to those who helped support and sustain the movement, and an opportunity for Southern Baptists at the convention, in his hometown and home state, to show their appreciation, perhaps one last time. That might be what the committee had in mind when they offered the annual sermon to him.
Since the Conservative Resurgence, and in particular Patterson, have no particular record of this kind of graciousness, I wouldn't expect that.