Ever pick up a book that you just couldn’t put down until you read to the last page?
Witness to the Truth by Louis Moore is just such a book — and the “plot” is the Southern Baptist Convention as observed by one who worked in the denominational structure.
Moore subtitles it “lessons learned by a veteran journalist through four decades of watching the church.” He wrote the religion news in the Houston Chronicle for years, then went on to Nashville to work in units of the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest — if declining — Protestant denomination.
Moore is disarmingly frank and pulls few punches. He names names and cites specifics. There’s a Watergate-esque meeting in a darkened room because of the level of fear in the church’s offices. By the end, he says, “I could trust absolutely no one.”
Today he is president of Hannibal Books, a small publisher in Garland, TX, and enjoying life more than ever.
Church Executive posed some questions with him:
For non-Baptists, Baptist politics and theology are probably a mystery. What is the short version about the liberals, moderates and conservatives?Like all denominations, Southern Baptists have never been lock-step and uniform in all things. Their differences reflect the varying geographic, economic, social and political perspectives of the people among them.
While SBC churches often try to reject the notion, their theology is influenced by these other factors. Moderates were in many ways the heirs of the rising affluence and higher education levels among Southern Baptists. Their rise to power was consummated by the early 1960s. These leaders and the churches from which they arose wanted so much to shake off the American stereotype of Southern Baptists as poor, ignorant, lower-class, uneducated though well-meaning church folks.
With their new social status as middle-class and affluent, Moderate leaders sometimes tried to discard some of the theological positions and peculiarities that made their denomination what it had been — rock-bottom conservative and biblically fixated. The Conservatives (a.k.a., the fundamentalists) rose up in rebellion against the dominant Moderate leadership in 1979. The seeds for the rebellion date back almost a decade, but 1979 is often cited as the beginning of the movement.
The Conservatives rallied around the battle cry of inerrancy, or restoration of a belief in an “inerrant” Bible that is the sole authority for faith and life. They built a coalition that gathered in others not so passionate about theology but who had been alienated by the Moderate establishment, which had taken on an almost elitist tone. At first the two groups battled at what appeared to be a 52-48 percent ratio, with the Conservatives eking out slim majorities. With persistence personified, the Conservatives eventually triumphed and within a decade began taking charge of the SBC’s massive bureaucracy.
What is the current regime and direction of the church? Is the Conservative Resurgence in charge today? Today, the Moderates are all but vanquished to the sidelines, where they gather annually to remember the “good ole days” of their reign. The Conservatives today
remain in control of the denomination’s vast bureaucracy and apparatus but are themselves fissured into a variety of oft-competing camps based on personalities and technical theological points. Over time they have narrowed their base but have
failed to mentor a substantial number of young leaders for the future.
There have been recent data about the declining membership of the SBC. Is it likely that Baptist politics have played a part in that decline? After railing against the Moderates for years, the Conservatives now find themselves in the unflattering and unenviable position of presiding over denomination-wide baptism and membership declines occurring long enough into their watch that they can’t blame these on Moderates or on others.
Some of the reasons for the declines — slowing birth rates, for instance — dogged the Moderates too. The denominational bickering has turned off many young people and young couples who find Bible and independent churches more appealing. How the SB’s rulers deal with these numerical declines will be a bellwether determining whether the Conservative Resurgence will survive into future generations.
You were a Baptist, graduated from Baylor University, wrote about Baptists for the Houston Chronicle — but when you got to Nashville to work for the SBC, it was an eye opener? In what ways were you unprepared for what you encountered there?
I went to work in Nashville’s Baptistdom just as the Conservative Resurgence began to make significant inroads into controlling the Southern Baptist bureaucracy there (roughly 3,000 employees). I was stunned by the personal hatred the Moderate bureaucracy held toward the triumphant Conservatives. Beyond that I was extremely puzzled by the bureaucracy’s “world-apart” mentality.
The bureaucracy people seemed to have very little — actually only token — interaction with the world around them. I was accustomed to a more urbane, cosmopolitan and ecumenical lifestyle. I quickly discovered that Baptistdom’s people gossiped more, back-bite each other more often, and in general were more cruel to each other than I had experienced in the secular newspaper world, which had more than its fair share of alcoholics, homosexuals and drug abusers.
You wrote, “Over the years I realized how much Baptistdom was like the notorious Roman Catholic ‘Curia.’ Both are bureaucracies with their own social codes, political agendas, and unusual way of conducting business.” Is that an impression that remains today with you?I grew up in an era of Southern Baptist life when Southern Baptist pastors and leaders tried in every way they could to distinguish themselves from Roman Catholics. Many often painted Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists as the ying and the yang of religious life. Yet as an adult exposed to both groups, I was amazed how similar they are; maybe not in certain points of theology but in practice and behavior.
I wonder whether the average Southern Baptist truly understands what a huge bureaucracy the SBC has developed. If the two bureaucracies could be stacked side by side, I feel quite certain the Southern Baptists would win in terms of size and strength of organization — an absolute reversal of the generally perceived stereotype of both denominations.
You relate an instance of a meeting in a darkened room because the other person was afraid of being seen talking with you. That is reminiscent of Watergate stories. How strong was the fear and intrigue in Baptist offices in those days?That story is in the chapter titled “Leaving the Lights Off.” The illustration certainly has drawn a lot of attention because it describes my experiences in Baptistdom so clearly. I invited the individual to lunch, but he instead wanted to meet me in a darkened room on the third floor of the SBC’s headquarters building to talk. The setting was eerie. The conversation was strange. But it beautifully illustrated Baptistdom’s hiding-in-the-darkness culture.
What was the Baptist “union card”? How did it play out in working at the SBC?The Southern Baptist union card under the Moderates was a degree from one of the six Southern Baptist seminaries. I relate in the book how early on I dreamed of attending an Ivy League divinity school or maybe a seminary overseas. One of my SBC mentors chastised me for thinking such thoughts, noting that the only way to succeed in the SBC was to get a union card from one of the six SBC seminaries.
That same system endures today under the Conservatives, except that they’ve expanded it somewhat to include a seventh seminary, Mid-America in Memphis. Today, of course, the Conservative union card needs to be received after the Conservative leadership was in place in the seminaries. Also, the penultimate union card is a degree from the W.A. Criswell College in Dallas, which served as the training ground and launching pad for many of those who control the SBC today. Being a Criswell College alum and having a (post-Resurgence) degree from one of the several union card seminaries is like having one’s union card dipped in pure gold.
Did you draw a line between the organized church as expressed in the SBC and your own personal faith and discipleship?
Let me be very clear that I remain an active member in good standing of a local Southern Baptist church. I enjoy my church and my many friends among that body of believers. The doctrines of the Southern Baptist denomination are closest to what I believe the Bible teaches, so that’s why I remain in the denomination.
However, Kay and I consider ourselves to be “multi-churchal” in terms of having convivial relations with several church bodies. We visit a number of other churches on a regular basis. I am personally comfortable in a wide variety of church settings. I enjoy the old hymns as well as the new choruses. I can worship with or without ritual.
It makes no difference to me whatsoever whether the pastor or choir wear robes or casual clothes. What I am looking for is authentic, honest expressions of reliance on God and faith in Jesus Christ and awareness of the needs of people in the church's community and the rest of the world. My faith is neither in structures nor in individuals. My faith remains solely and completely in God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Church leaders and church structures are mere attempts to point to Him.
