Top Ten Stories of 2006

Baptist battles dominated news in 2006, editors say
By ABP Staff
Published: December 21, 2006
DALLAS (ABP) -- The election of an outsider as president of the Southern Baptist Convention was chosen by Baptist journalists as the most important story in Baptist life in 2006 -- a year when denominational affairs outweighed world news in the minds of Baptists of the South.
The election of SBC president Frank Page by discontented conservatives and the resignation of Bob Reccord as head of the North American Mission Board, after a probe found ineffectiveness and extravagant spending, were the most important Baptist news stories of the past year, according to an annual survey of journalists conducted by Associated Baptist Press.
Meanwhile, the controversy between "the blogging trustee" Wade Burleson and the SBC International Mission Board and a scandal in the Rio Grande Valley over funding for phony church-starts also commanded the attention of Baptists. The shift in power to a Democratic-controlled Congress was the only non-Baptist story to crack the top five.
Here’s the complete list:
1. An outsider president. In a major upset, Frank Page of South Carolina was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention over two candidates closely tied to the SBC's conservative power structure. Page, who described his election as a victory for grassroots Baptists, won slightly more than 50 percent of the June vote by pledging more openness and power-sharing among SBC conservatives.
2. Reccord resigns. After a trustee investigation produced a scathing report of poor management, Bob Reccord resigned April 17 as president of the North American Mission Board, Southern Baptists' second largest mission agency. Allegations first surfaced in a February expose by the Christian Index newspaper. NAMB's trustees, after their own investigation, put Reccord under strict "executive-level controls" March 23, which many observers thought would prompt his resignation. With his possible ouster looming at the May 2 trustees meeting, Reccord met April 13 with several prominent Southern Baptist pastors seeking advice. Four days later, he resigned.
3. Wade Burleson. The Oklahoma pastor and rookie trustee used his weblog to speak against the decision by his fellow International Mission Board trustees not to appoint missionaries who use a "private prayer language" -- a variation of tongues-speaking -- in their personal devotions. Trustees threatened to dismiss Burleson for posting information about the board's deliberations. After a closed-door session March 22, however, trustees decided not to seek Burleson's removal, which would have required approval by the SBC. Instead the board censured him and adopted new guidelines to prohibit and punish future criticism of IMB actions by trustees. Burleson used his experience to warn of "narrowing" within the SBC and bolster Page's nomination for president.
4. Valleygate. A five-month investigation uncovered evidence that church-starting funds from the Baptist General Convention of Texas were misused between 1999 and 2005 in the Rio Grande Valley. Independent investigators discovered that 98 percent of the 258 new churches reported by three church-planters in the Valley no longer exist or never existed. The BGCT gave more than $1.3 million to those 258 churches. Pastors Otto Arrango, Aaron De La Torre and Armando Vera were accused and face possible legal action. The BGCT was faulted for poor oversight, uneven management, failure to abide by internal guidelines and misplaced trust.
5. A Democratic Congress. In the Nov. 4 midterm elections, Democrats gained more than a 30-seat majority over Republicans in the House and a one-seat majority in the Senate, as voters objected to the Iraq war and congressional scandals. The power shift could refocus Congress' culture wars from arguments over church-state issues and abortion rights to battles over gay rights, embryonic stem-cell research and federal judges. The new Congress includes 68 Baptists -- 61 in the House and 7 in the Senate.
6. Tongues revisited. Dwight McKissic, a pastor in Arlington, Texas, endorsed the practice of a "private prayer language" in an Aug. 29 chapel sermon at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he serves as a trustee of the institution. The seminary banned free distribution of the sermon through its website and announced its opposition to the practice. McKissic also criticized a policy of the International Mission Board that bans the appointment of missionaries who speak in tongues or practice a private prayer language. A wave of discussion ensued in the Baptist blogosphere. McKissic and supporters hosted a conference and plan another on diversity and freedom in devotion and worship.
7. A new Supreme Court. On Jan. 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 to recommend Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Congress concurred. Alito, a conservative, was tapped by President Bush to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate. With the earlier confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts, who replaced the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Republicans expect a solid conservative direction from the high court.
8. Katrina recovery. Churches were the “true first responders” to Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005, a new survey found. More than 86 percent of Louisiana churches gave services of some kind to Katrina evacuees, the study found. Nearly three-fourths offered food, more than half gave away clothing, and about 70 percent provided financial aid. The congregations also provided spiritual aid and comfort, researchers noted. Churches nationwide, led by Baptists, gave counseling, transportation, child care, shelter, meals, showers and housing.
9. Warren and Obama on AIDS. The second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, held at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., was the loudest voice yet rallying evangelicals to fight AIDS. Some conservatives objected to the open attitude Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist, demonstrated in selecting speakers, especially his choice to invite pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). But more than 2,000 people from 39 states and 18 countries attended the training event. Warren wants Christians to mount a global effort to prevent and treat AIDS. He said nothing comes close to the resources, history, tradition or scope of the church.
10. Alabama church arsons. Law enforcement officials arrested three men March 8 in connection with a string of nine fires at Baptist churches in rural Alabama. More than 100 ATF personnel sorting through more than 800 leads worked on the case in the days following the initial fires in early February. A tenth fire, although ruled arson, has yet to be connected to the initial nine. Most of the churches belonged to the Southern Baptist Convention, the statewide Alabama Baptist Convention and the local Bibb County Baptist Association.
Other stories that caught the attention of Baptists included:
11. North Carolina shift. The recent conservative shift in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina prompted an Executive Board member to resign and several more churches to leave the convention. Tension continues to mount over control of the convention's institutions.
12. Evangelical shame. Ted Haggard, head of the National Association of Evangelicals and a prominent opponent of gay rights, resigned after a Colorado man came forward with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and drugs. He was also fired as pastor of a prominent Colorado megachurch. After initial denials and changing stories, Ted Haggard admitted to unspecified acts of "sexual immorality." A Denver man, Mike Jones, said Haggard bought sex and methamphetamine for three years until their last encounter in August.
13. Muslim cartoons. Incensed Muslims sacked Christian neighborhoods and burned the Danish Embassy in Lebanon Feb. 5, angered by the publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. More than 20,000 protesters threw rocks, burned buildings and sacked cars in an outpouring that left at least one person dead and 30 wounded. The 12 editorial cartoons, originally published in Denmark newspapers in September 2005, sparked demonstrations in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Palestinian West Bank, India and New Zealand.
14. Peace activist killed. Tom Fox, 54, a Baptist peace activist, was found dead in Baghdad March 9. The lone American among four Christian peace activists who were held captive for months in Iraq, Fox was presumably executed by his abductors. His body was found in a garbage dump in the western part of the city. Fox's kidnappers had demanded the release of all Iraqis detained by U.S. and British forces and Iraqi police in exchange for the four hostages' lives.
15. Belmont tug-of-war. Tennessee Baptists voted May 9 to reject an offer of $5 million from Belmont University that would have given the school power to elect its own trustees. The Tennessee Baptist Convention leaders then filed a lawsuit against Belmont Sept. 29 to regain the approximately $58 million in funds it has donated to the school over the years. The suit is pending.
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