ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 TAG: 9702250105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
THE NEW ASSOCIATION of conservative Baptists may still be small in numbers, but it's large in reputation.
Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia is a relatively new organization and a small one compared to the other association of Southern Baptists in the state.
But those factors were no obstacles to drawing some of the biggest names in the denomination to its evangelism conference in Roanoke this week.
The two-day event got under way Monday with an address by Morris Chapman, president and CEO of the convention's Executive Committee.
Speakers lined up for the conference - which is focusing on churches' mission to reach nonbelievers with the Christian message - also include Tom Elliff, the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention; Kenneth Hemphill, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas; and Jack Smith, associate director of the personal evangelism department of the denomination's Home Mission Board.
Giving the final address of the conference this afternoon will be Jerry Falwell, whose Thomas Road Baptist Church has contributed money to the Virginia conservatives group but has not initiated any effort to become officially aligned with it or the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia constituted itself a state convention of the national denomination last year. Pastors and lay people unhappy with what they considered the liberal policies and directions of the 150-year-old Baptist General Association of Virginia, and its increasing distance from the national denomination, initiated the creation of the new group.
Though the conservatives' organization so far only lists about 100 affiliated congregations and another 30 contributing churches - compared with the General Association's 1,500 member congregations - it nonetheless has attracted national attention in the denomination.
This year's annual meeting in Dallas will be the first in which two coexisting state conventions have vied for coveted committee appointments and trustee positions, many of which are allotted by state.
In an interview after his address, Chapman pointed out that the national denomination technically is associated with member congregations, not state associations. And its Committee on Nominations and Committee on Committees - elected by the convention - make nominations from member churches.
So, while those committees will "make recommendations based on the leading of the Lord as they see it," Chapman said, he also believes "it would be illogical for them to ignore the reality of two state conventions" in Virginia.
In any case, Chapman said, "The SBC will continue to strive to work cooperatively with both" state groups.
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