Saturday, February 21, 1998

Baptist 'cardinals' tap hard-line Texas conservative for post

By Jim Jones / Knight Ridder Newspapers

When a pope is elected, white smoke rises above St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Southern Baptists don't have that system in electing new leaders. But they come close.

What critics of Baptist conservatives call "a little college of cardinals" recently tapped the Rev. Paige Patterson as their choice to be the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

No white smoke emerged after the inner circle of past Baptist presidents and others made their choice. But Patterson's selection was made public last month at a pastors' conference in Florida. Texas native Patterson, 55, is president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. He likely will succeed the Rev. Tom Elliff of Del City, Okla., as the new president. Elliff was tapped as president two years ago by the same inner circle. He's finishing a two-year term and is not eligible for re-election this year.

Patterson still has to be elected, of course. He will be nominated when the Southern Baptist Convention is held in June in Salt Lake City. It's possible, but not likely, that someone else could be elected.

For several years, powerful Baptist conservatives have virtually decided who would be the next president of the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination.

But the system hasn't worked every time.

It short-circuited in 1994. Some younger, influential conservatives rebelled against the choice of an Alabama pastor, the Rev. Fred Wolfe, as the next president.

Instead, they backed the election of the Rev. Jim Henry of Orlando, Fla., a staunch conservative but more conciliatory than some.

Although Henry was, in my view, an exceptionally good representative for Baptists, he no longer is included in the inner circle. Many didn't like his running against the choice of the insiders. Also, they were perturbed by his peace overtures to moderates.

Patterson, although personally very amiable, is among the most unbendable of the Baptist conservatives.

I first got to know him well when he and Paul Pressler, a layman and retired Houston state court appeals judge, were mounting their 1979 campaign, which was the beginning of the conservative rise to absolute power in the 15.5-million member denomination.

At that time, Patterson was president of Criswell College in Dallas and was often labeled by his enemies as arrogant and too political because of his unrelenting conservative stands.

Patterson and Pressler traveled far and wide, usually at their own expense, to state their view that moderates then in control of the Southern Baptist Convention were leading the giant denomination into liberal ruin.

I visited Patterson at his Dallas office during one of the early campaigns, and there were pins on a large map of the southern United States showing the places he and Pressler were visiting.

The conservatives had won the battle by 1990. Many moderates pulled out of active participation in the national convention. Instead, they formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which still is Southern Baptist but has its own annual meetings and sends out its own missionaries.

Shortly after conservatives had won the battle, Patterson came under fire as president of Criswell College because of conflicts over money-raising and other issues. But he landed on his feet, getting an even better position at Southeastern.

Critics said he got the president's job at Southeastern as a reward for past work in mobilizing conservatives. Now they say he is being pushed for Baptist president for the same reason.

His backers say Patterson is a vibrant leader who can lead Southern Baptists toward their goal of renewed evangelism. He would not be the first Baptist seminary head to serve as president of the denomination. Six others have held the position.

Whatever the reason he got the job at Southeastern, conservatives say Patterson has excelled at it. He took over in 1992 during a traumatic time when the seminary -- once among the most liberal of the six Baptist seminaries -- had taken a hard right turn.

Enrollment had plummeted. Many professors either had been forced out or had resigned. Now the seminary is what you might expect -- very conservative. Since Patterson arrived, enrollment has climbed from 748 to 1,629.

People who run the denomination -- the Baptist college of cardinals if you like -- are very well-pleased.

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(Jim Jones is religion editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Write to him at: the Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, TX 76101.)

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(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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