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Technorati4. Our concern is the vitality of Baptist witness under the Great Commission of our Lord. We believe that this is in keeping with Jesus prayer for the unity of believers, John 17:21. May the witness of the BWA to the glory of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be such that the world will say again, "Behold how they love one another!" We have sometimes striven for a reputation for orthodoxy, a worthy goal, but love for our neighbor (the second greatest commandment) is an even more effective witness.
5. We serve the Baptist World Alliance, not because its membership includes no sinners, but because it has inspired and instructed world Baptists in their intention to be Biblical Christian witnesses to our Savior Jesus Christ.
6. As Southern Baptists ourselves, we have been inspired and instructed in the past by our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have worked in the BWA. We have not always agreed, but we have tried to speak "the truth in love."
7. The SBC withdrawal from BWA membership does not require any individual or church, or Baptist association to sever that Christian relation to the BWA. We do not counsel any individual or church to withdraw from the SBC.”
McCall served as president of the BWA from 1980 to 1985. During his tenure, he retired from Southern Seminary, which soon found much more conservative leadership. In 1990, McCall joined several other SBC notables to form the Baptist Cooperative Missions Program (BPMP), an alternative channel of fundings for the Southern Baptist ministries. According to the Baptist Press, the BCMP “transferred its resources to the CBF…soon after its formation.”
Grady Cothen, one of the co-founders of the BCMP and former president of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now called Lifeway), was among those present at the Atlanta meeting.
Others in attendance included: Lloyd Elder, former President of the Sunday School Board; SBC state executive Jere Allen (Washington, DC), Charles Barnes (Maryland), Bill Causey (Mississippi), James Griffith (Georgia), Jack Lowndes (New York), Don Widemon (Missouri); former Women’s Missionary Union Executives Alma Hunt, Carolyn Crumpler, Dellanna O'Brien, Catherine Allen and Lee Allen; former leader of SBC Relations to Black Churches Emmanuel McCall; former vice president of the International Mission Board Bill O' Brien; Atlanta area pastors Truett Gannon, David Sapp, Bill Self and Craig Sherouse; and BWA staffer Denton Lotz and Ian Chapman.
According to the BWA, “Former SBC seminary presidents and executives of various organizations also expressed a desire to come but the change in date prevented their coming. The participants agreed to endorse a written statement in support of the BWA. Former leaders will be invited to sign the document to indicate their support and affirmation of the BWA.”
