Why Care About David Roach?

OK, so I stole the title from Baptist Like Me - a Yale Divinity grad and licensed ABC-USA preacher with an exceptional blog that more Baptists need to discover.....

And David Roach is the guy to the right. A Baptist Press reporter who recently spent three days in D.C. attending both the CBF and ABC-USA meetings.

From that experience, he wrote this drivel....

Why care about the CBF?

WASHINGTON (BP)--Why should Southern Baptists care about the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship?

That was the question bouncing around my mind after spending three days in Washington, D.C., attending the CBF's General Assembly as a correspondent for Baptist Press.

With all of the responsibilities I have in life as a husband, pastor, student and employee, it seems like I have enough to occupy my time without worrying about a group of moderate Baptists with which I am not even affiliated. And with all of your responsibilities in life, it may seem at first glance like reading about such a group of moderate Baptists is not the best use of your time.

Ouch. But Roach continues by listing several reasons why Southern Baptists should take note of moderates and give thanks for the Takeover....

The list of speakers at the General Assembly reads like a who's who of what might have been in the SBC if not for the conservative resurgence. CBF executive coordinator Daniel Vestal would have been elected SBC president in 1990 had conservatives not voted for Morris H. Chapman. CBF speakers Bill Leonard, Frank Tupper and Glenn Hinson all could have been my professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had not conservatives turned the school around.

Baptist History with Bill Leonard would undoubtedly cause one to lose their salvation...

And the Roach continues with more drivel...

One of the saddest moments during the entire General Assembly was when the Lord's Supper was served at a joint worship service involving the CBF and the American Baptist Churches USA. No one at the service ever explained the meaning of the Supper or who should take it.

Why would a group of VERY ACTIVE Christians need reminding about the meaning of the Lord's Supper? Given the breach between the North and South over slavery, the taking of the Lord's Supper was seen to many as chock full of biblical reconciliation, something Mr. Roach apparently has no clue about.

In fact, during the entire General Assembly I never heard anyone celebrate the Gospel or express passion about the glory of God displayed in Christ. The Lord's Supper seemed only to be a generic symbol of Christian unity rather than a remembrance of the glorious salvation we have in Jesus.

Revelation, Revelation 21:8! Liars go to where? As the church camp song goes...

Even with all our disagreements, Southern Baptists have substantive convictions worth unifying around. Seeing unity without substance should be a vivid reminder that we must take full advantage of the opportunity to unify with those who share our most valued convictions.

Yep - lots and lots of unity in the Southern Baptist Convention these days....

And instead of sending Detective Roach to the gatherings of American Baptists and Fellowship Baptists - perhaps Baptist Press would be better served if they covered actual news of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pray-tell, when is the last time that Baptist Press actually broke a story? And why is the general consensus that the Associated Baptist Press provides the best coverage of Baptist news - both Southern Baptist and Fellowship Baptist? Shouldn't the news agency of the nation's largest Protestant denomination be leading the way?

When it comes to quality-coverage, Baptist Press is rather low on the totem poll, don't you agree? Of course you do.

UPDATE: Since I had to leave 10 minutes or so before the Lord's Supper - I did not notice this. However, thanks to American Baptist Ed Pettibone for pointing this out:

Instead of taking the elements, Roach writes:

So I let the elements pass by, discouraged that Fellowship Baptists only celebrated unity abstractly without articulating a solid doctrinal foundation for that unity.

Pettibone observes...

Major flaw here for an astute observer, the elements did not pass by, each person who participated went to where the elements were being served and then back to his or her seat after partaking.

So, if the elements did not pass by but Roach says they did - the question begs: was David Roach even present during the Lord's Supper??? Honest and accurate reporting there....