I was saddened and wounded to read the letter from seven years ago from our Brother Paige Patterson to Jimmy Draper. I was asked by a couple of news agencies to give comment. But as I prayed about it, I felt led to share first with my SBC family through the Baptist Press.
I agree that anyone holding the office of President of the Southern Baptist Convention must have sound biblical doctrine, to include inerrancy of Scripture. That is one distinctive of Southern Baptists; we have a high view of Scripture. Southern Baptists hold that “…all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.” (BFM 2000)
It is unfortunate that this private letter from seven years ago has been shared on social media without comment from the author. I know that Paige Patterson has assisted many African Americans in obtaining theological training and seminary degrees.
I’m sure that if he had a second chance there are a lot of things he would do differently, including writing this letter. But it does show how historic and significant the election of Fred Luter really was, as the first African American to serve as President of the Southern Baptist Convention. It also indicates that Fred Luter is the Jackie Robinson of Southern Baptists in the untold and unfounded assumptions he encountered during his term. Through it all, Fred Luter served the Convention honorably and with integrity.
I wish the letter had not been written and it is hurtful and stings to think of the theological doubt held by some against Black Southern Baptists. However still, we have to be careful not to allow the past to divide us, but to continue to work together as Southern Baptists for a better Convention that fully honors Jesus Christ.
As we look forward to celebrating 175 years as a Convention in Orlando in 2020, it is imperative that our executive leadership reflects the diversity that is within the Southern Baptist Convention. I urge all of our entities to make a concerted effort to hire ethnically diverse staffs in senior leadership positions. Blacks, Asians, and Latinos must be included in executive leadership in every aspect of SBC life before we can truly believe that we have overcome the sins of our past.
We still have work to do in our Convention. We have come a long way and we have a ways to go to be all that God would have us to be. It’s not the time to quit, but to press forward. I believe that God has greater work for all Southern Baptists.
Dr. Marshal L. Ausberry, Sr.
President, National African American Fellowship of the SBC
1st Vice President of the SBC
Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Fairfax Station, VA
Great response, thank you. We must have diversity in our leadership. I do believe it is time for us to look ahead rather than dwell on the past. I’ve never been PP fan. The fact is he is now a figure that is not in power. Let’s keep our sights on the future.
Thank you Dr. Ausberry for offering your honorable and thoughtful perspective.
When I read about this letter by PP, I was really surprised. I have never heard or read a negative comment about Fred Luter. He did a great job as president of the SBC. I affirm your call for minority folks to be appointed or elected to leadership positions in our SBC entities.
My opinion reading the letter is “inerrancy issues” is code word for speaking in tongues. Patterson was concerned that some of the appointees were too charismatic for leadership positions.
When I read this, that was exactly what I thought. “Inerrancy issues” usually came up when there was anyone recommended for appointment that held an interpretation of scripture different from a few SBC de-facto leaders. I never really heard anyone openly say anything about tongues when Luter was elected or during his term, but I know that it has sometimes surfaced as an issue. I think Dr. McKissic dealt with some criticism during his tenure on the trustee board at Southwestern. Patterson was, at the time he wrote the letter, President of Southwestern seminary. Where did he get the authority to write such a letter?
I would say that the authors of the BFM 2000 apparently decided to leave the interpretation up to individuals rather than make a definitive statement on it.
When Patterson and Draper discuss “inerrancy issues” in regard to Fred Luter’s appointment, it has nothing to do with inerrancy of scripture. When he says among the ethnic groups there are not so many that “understand the issues involved” he is referring to the importance of appointing people who will make sure there will be a continuation of trustee appointments to SWBTS and other institutions who will not question his leadership. That is how SWBTS has been driven to the verge of bankruptcy while financing his retirement.
When God becomes is reduced to a theological construct, it divides true believers along artificial lines. We relate or don’t relate to each other artificially. We relate or don’t relate to God artificially. We have returned to the spiritual condition of organized and visible Judaism in year 0.
We have all been tainted by worship of a God deconstructed for observation and reconstructed for systematic consistency. Well articulated and/or persistent communication of both major and minor “truths” is the primary virtue upon which we judge each other and those who would lead us. Paige Patterson is both a product of and perpetuater of this environment.
It seems that everything Paige Patterson does, both fair and foul, can be explained from this perspective. This perspective gives Paige articulated and defensible versions of the “truth”, but sometimes makes him blind to the Truth in application. A correct understanding of Truth and Love would have led Patterson to pick up the phone and call Dr.Luter directly to share his concerns.
I’m not sure how this letter became public and why it became the focus of scrutiny at this time, but I suspect it will be used as a platform for those who aspire to further purify our understanding of God. We should always be suspicious of those who share potentially damaging information that seems noteworthy in contemporary contexts without understanding and sharing the contexts of origin. Some will honestly assume that there is a primary racial element to this letter, while other will know better but respond in a a manner that establishes their own virtue. It’s easy to establish you cyber virtue in the pervasive cyber world against someone who has little presence there.
Paige Patterson isn’t the guy who should have the microphone. In silence, he might gain a better understanding of our God. He might start to see how Bonhoeffer came to truly know God in a church that might offend some of our theological constructs. He would have to struggle with the fact that Bonhoeffer seemed to make me some heretical statements in his faithfulness, while those who seemed strong on the integrity of doctrine and the church seemed to be weak in faithfulness.
Why not pray and let God provide not based on race nor culture but on God’s man and I bet just by doing that you will become diverse,guess what in the Freewill Baptist Church we have Latino,and Blacks and even have some culturally mixed marriages but God’s men all and guess what we don’t concern ourselves with the past we just all serve God and one family one body.