(Photo: Baptist Press/ Adam Covington) Ronnie Floyd, outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention, gives his final presidential address during the opening session of the SBC annual meeting Tuesday, June 14 in St. Louis.
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The “messenger” delegates here emphasized that their vote took place some 10 miles from Ferguson, Mo., a city riven by racial violence two years ago, and almost a year to the day that a white man gunned down nine black church members in SC.
And while membership at white churches is decreasing, membership at churches that Southern Baptists identify as predominantly “non-Anglo” is on the rise.
The constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention explicitly states that churches that “affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior” are not “in cooperation” with the organization as a whole, and the organization has repeatedly passed resolutions condemning homosexuality.
Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.
Echoing a comment made in support of the measure on the Confederate flag, Rummage said resolutions “build bridges and they tear down walls, but we’ve got to cross those bridges with the Gospel and take Jesus to people because that’s what it’s all about and that’s the only hope for our world, for our nation and indeed for Southern Baptists”.
Russell Moore, president of the convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and a native Mississippian, has spoken out against Mississippi’s state flag previously and reiterated his stance in a blog post this week.
The Baptists considered the resolution nearly a year after nine people were murdered at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., by an alleged killer who posed for photos with the rebel flag.
“What it means to be a Baptist is to support soul freedom for everybody”, Moore said during a report to Southern Baptists at the St. Louis gathering.
The Rev. John Wofford had called Muslims a threat to Christians and asked if Moore believed that Jesus Christ would defend the rights of “Baal (BAYL) worshippers to erect temples to Baal?” “I don’t think that is what the good book says”, Carlyle said.
In 1995, a Southern Baptist committee issued a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for condoning slavery and racism during the early years of the denomination’s 171-year history. “During the past 11 years, Gaines has led Bellevue Church to baptize thousands of new converts, Hunt emphasized”. “While women have served faithfully and effectively in combat settings as volunteers, the dominant pattern, both historically and biblically, is that men bear responsibility to serve when war is necessary”, the resolution reads. In his argument for the stronger resolution, Mr. Merritt denied the move was too political and said using the flag hurts evangelism among American black communities.
This resolution encourages Southern Baptists to minister to and support refugees while encouraging the government to screen all refugees for security reasons. “I guess that’s a major change for the Southern Baptist identity”.
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ST. LOUIS (BP) – Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines was elected by acclamation as Southern Baptist Convention president after fellow candidate J.D. Greear withdrew his candidacy June 15 in a display of unity.
