Conservative churches pick reformist president

An online campaign helped the South Carolina man win the close election.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The conservative Southern Baptist Convention took a populist turn earlier this week, electing as its president a small-town, reform-minded pastor over candidates endorsed by the denomination's establishment.
Delegates to the SBC's annual meeting Tuesday chose Frank Page of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., on the first ballot, with just over 50 percent of the votes.
Page, 53, immediately promised to open up the appointments process for key boards and encourage Southern Baptists toward greater cooperation with other Christians in spreading the Gospel.
"For too long Baptists have been known for what we're against," he said. "It's time to say, 'Please let us tell you what we're for.'"
Theological conservatives began in 1979 to assert tight control over the SBC which, with 16.3 million members, is the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
Page declared himself fully a part of the conservative movement, but said he would work to change the Baptists' tone.
This was the first seriously contested SBC presidential race in more than a decade. Typically, key leaders put forward a favored candidate who is elected with little if any opposition.
Controversy
But the SBC has lately seen controversy in its international and North American mission boards. Baptisms have been down in five of the last six years, and Sunday school attendance has declined as well.
Against this grim background, Ronnie Floyd, an Arkansas megachurch pastor, announced his run for president first and quickly drew the endorsement of such key figures as Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
But a handful of reform-minded pastors used Internet blogs to call for new SBC leadership and to underscore that Dr. Floyd's 16,000-member church had been a paltry contributor to the SBC's Cooperative Program, its key means of pooling funds for missions, seminaries and other work.
Many of them favored Page. Among other things, they trumpeted his church's strong record of donations to the Cooperative Program.
The third candidate was Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., the current SBC first vice president.
One of Page's strong supporters was Wade Burleson, a blogging pastor from Oklahoma who has been a dissident member of the International Mission Board.
"It's a new day," Burleson said. "I think this election was about grassroots people having their voice heard."