They're Booing Herschel Hobbs!!!
Yes. It's that time of year. Time for the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
This time it's in San Antonio - not too far away from the "hotbed of Baptist liberalism" where I reside.
Ben Cole has summed up SBC Life over the past 12 months with a concise 47-point timeline.
And here's his #45:
Julie-Pennington Russell becomes the first woman to pastor the First Baptist Church of Decatur, GA, further evidencing the “vast feminist conspiracy” of the Baptist left.In more news, the SBC recently announced the creation of the Ministry to Homosexuals Task Force. The director of this Task Force, Rev. Bob Stith of Carroll Baptist Church in Southlake, Texas, will "speak the truth about homosexuality being a sin, while reaching out in redemptive ways to those who struggle with same-sex temptation."
Why Stith?
According to, James T. Draper Jr., immediate past president of LifeWay, said it was extremely important for the person selected to direct the ministry to have a pastoral background.However, in an interview with the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, Stith admitted that no one in his church or family had "struggled with homosexuality."
"As a pastor he dealt with this issue, ministered effectively in this area, and confronted critics," Draper said of Stith.
Stith is indeed the man for the job. Ah, I digress.
Back to the Annual Meeting.
The days of messengers booing elder statesmen like Hobbs are long gone. Just last year, messengers cheered and celebrated the death of one of God's Creations.
So here's to tacky!
Perhaps even William I. Gay Jr. (NC) will reintroduce last year's motion to "refrain from using the word 'gay' when referring to homosexuals in sermons, publications and in the media."
One can't make this stuff up...
-"They're booing Herschel Hobbs. Am I at the Southern Baptist Convention?...They're booing Herschel Hobbs. What is happening to us??" - Marse Granted, editor Biblical Recorder, 1980.
The patriarch of the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message was booed at the 1980 Annual Meeting held in St. Louis after warning the crowd to "beware the lures of creeping creedalism."
Labels: homosexuality, Southern Baptist Covention
posted by Big Daddy Weave at 9:10 PM
5 Comments:
Aaron:
I think some of the booers might become the booees in the next convention.
You liked my little link to Mary Poppins? I thought the fundies would get all excited that I had a chart or a document exposing some nefarious scheme to inject pant-wearing Pennington-Russells all over the SBC.
These are odd times.
Oh, you forgot last years messenger who shouted at Jerry Vines from the balcony. I think he said:
"Just because you're Jerry Vines doesn't mean you get special privileges."
Bobby Welch reproved him, and tempers subsided.
BSC
1:19 AM
Aaron,
Marse Grant's comments notwithstanding, 1980 was not the first time Hobbs was ridiculed on the platform. In 1962, when Hobbs was SBC president, the SBC was going through the Elliott Controversy. Hobbs was trying to mediate between pro and anti-Elliott factions, and messengers began shouting him down during his comments. Not exactly "boos," if you will, but still pretty raucus.
Personally, I hope that nobody, whether the "booers" of days gone by or the ones Ben thinks will be doing the booing next year ever become the booees. We don't need any of that in the SBC. These are off times indeed.
NAF
7:20 AM
Our daughters' daughters will adore us. And they'll sign in grateful chorus. Well done. Well done! Well done Sister Suffragette!
Classic!
Finn,
I was reminded of the Hobbs-booing incident after reading a piece in the Southwestern Journal of Theology written by Terry Mattingly. In the article, Hobbs tells Terry that the difference between the "fussing and feuding of the 60s" and the 1980 booing was that there was never a reconciliation in St. Louis.
"I had never, ever, seen us leave a convention, no matter how bitter the fighting had been, without having some kind of reconciliation at the end, some kind of love feast. Now it seems like I can't even remember what the old days were like. What is haappening?"
I just have a hard time believing everyone kissed and made up during the Elliot years.
9:30 AM
Let's see: We are in year 5 of an illegal, immoral, and disastrous war; poverty abounds throughout Africa; Genocide continues in Darfur (and even were we willing to stop it with unilateral military action, all our troops are stuck in Iraq and, more justifiably, Afghanistan!) and is returning to Rwanda; the AIDS pandemic continues; new forms of slavery and the expansion of old forms like sex slavery are spreading; our total lack of good stewardship of the earth has led to a major threat to God's Creation; Lifeway is marketing pro-war/pro-nationalist Bibles; sexual exploitation of children by pastors continues apace; etc., etc.
But this year's Southern Baptist Convention, while maybe avoiding the "hotbed issue" of whether a Christian may drink a beer (!), will focus on tongues, whether anything involving Jimmy Carter is anti-Christ, and, perhaps, the evil of evangelicals becoming Catholic.
And they wonder why baptisms are down.
Oh, and Frank Page should get a clue--the SBC had a terrible reputation long before Jimmy Carter said anything about it. In fact, Carter's presence as an SBC layperson caused many to give the SBC a second look until he left for CBF circles.
1:08 PM
Oh, back to San Antonio. Daddy and his pastor friend went the last time, but they had the good sense to leave us and our mamas to play for the week in Austin. We missed Gregory's sermon, but I was introduced to Barton Springs, and my life has only been better for it.
Ben, the Mary Poppins link was pure genius. I'm going to refrain from quoting my favorite line, which ends with "but as a group they're rather stupid." Oops. :)
2:42 PM
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