“When it appeared that we were going to have to make layoffs among the faculty, I began the process of doing something very quietly that I did when I first went to Southwestern. I had a one-hour interview with every faculty member,” he said. “I felt like they needed and deserved an opportunity to tell me what they thought I needed to do.”

Patterson, who said he has not finished meeting with all professors, said the interviews also served as time to understand the overall tenor of the faculty.

“If I’m going to have to let people go, I want to know where everyone is and what their attitudes are. I want to know whether they feel fulfilled in what they are doing, whether or not they have the vision of the institution,” he said, noting that all faculty members will be interviewed regardless of their theological positions.

“I discussed all those things because I want to know where everybody is. After all I’m the president of the school, and [I’m] responsible for my faculty,” he said, adding that pay grades were also discussed.

Patterson referred to the job cuts made among the staff and students as “very painful.”

“It is not an easy time,” he said. “And while it is painful, I want you to know that it is the greatest time ever to be alive, because I believe that all the hardship and trouble will open the way for people to hear the gospel as never before.”

Despite the recent cutbacks, Patterson reported the College at Southwestern has seen rapid growth for the last six semesters, noting a lower attrition rate than any other Texas university. Patterson also reported that Southwestern had reclaimed its position among the six Southern Baptist schools as generating the most students bound for the international mission field, a distinction the school had held for a number of years until being recently displaced by Southeastern Seminary.

Other new developments at Southwestern include a jazz studies concentration in the master of music in church music—just one aspect of what Patterson described as his attempt to “move them out of the 50’s but not to silliness,” as well as the expansion of the biblical archaeology program and the upcoming completion of a building dedicated solely to the school’s homemaking degree. 

Set to be dedicated later this spring, the homemaking building features a culinary teaching kitchen, textile room, formal dining room for teaching hospitality and a library with technical resources as well as published works addressing the family from a biblical perspective.

Fielding questions from the editors, Patterson made a plea for local churches to recover their Baptist identity, believing it to be an impending crisis facing the Southern Baptist Convention. This crisis of identity can already be seen in churches dropping “Baptist” from their names, he said.

“With the postmodern ethos in the country, it is no longer good to be anything,” Patterson mused, “it is better to be sort of nondescript,” Patterson mused. “And more and more churches are dropping the Baptist name saying, ‘If we call ourselves Baptist they won’t like us now,’” he added. “It is manifestly a mistake to me because I happen to believe if you can find four Baptist churches on four corners of the same two cross streets and if you pray like you ought to pray, witness like you ought to witness, and faithfully proclaim the Word of God, all four churches will grow.”

While dropping the Baptist name might not impact churches today, Patterson worries about Baptist churches of tomorrow.

“This generation changed the name and they are still a Southern Baptist church. What about one generation later? What about two generations later?” he asked, adding that churches are already becoming less interested in denominational life.

“Sure the convention is not what it ought to be. But I think we have something to give to the world that is too precious to be bargained away at too cheap a price,” Patterson said.

As with other mainstream denominations, the Baptist identity crisis will also manifest itself in the decreasing number of pastors produced by the six Southern Baptist seminaries, he said.

“As pastors begin to retire and all us old cats die off, beware of what is happening,” Patterson said. “We have so emphasized church planting — and we’ve been pretty successful with that — that what we don’t have in our seminaries are people who are interested in going into FBC Navasota, Texas, or wherever it may be, and see that those too are God’s sheep, and that they need a pastor also.” The convention needs pastors for smaller, existing churches, he said.

Church planting is an additional area that would benefit from a return to Baptist roots, Patterson added, indicating his concern that partnerships be clearly defined with other Great Commission Christians who are not Southern Baptists.

“There a lot of things that we can do, even with others who aren’t Great Commission Christians,” he said, referring to standing against abortion or for family values with Roman Catholics. “[However], I am constitutionally opposed to doing church planting with anybody other than Baptists. Baptists are paying for it so it ought to be a Baptist church that is planted. That ought to be true in Kenya, and it ought to be true here; it ought to be true everywhere. If we’re going to pay for it, and we’re going to put the people out there to do it, we ought to plant Baptist churches.”

Anticipating this his view might be mischaracterized by some as that of a Landmarker, he refused the title.

“Landmarker: no — convinced Baptist: yes,” he said. “I’m not Baptist because I grew up in that. I’m Baptist because that’s what I believe — what Baptists believe. And I think we are in very grave danger of squandering that which our Anabaptist forefathers and what our English Baptist forefathers and what our forefathers in this country bled for and often died for — and that is absolute religious liberty, absolute separation of church and state, and most important of all — the concept of the believer’s church.

In looking to Baptist forefathers as a model to which modern Baptists might return, Patterson expressed concern over the baptism of young children.

“It’s not that I don’t believe children can be saved,” he said, noting that at the age of six he understood the gospel message even if he wasn’t able to fully articulate soteriology. “But the more I studied about our early English Baptist forefathers and our Anabaptist forefathers in Switzerland and South Germany, particularly, and the Czech Republic, the more I am convinced they had thought this thing through more than we do. They did not baptize young children.

“They knew that a young child could receive Christ, but the problem was the level of communication — how do you know?” Patterson said, adding that early Baptists did not want to contribute to a child’s “undoing” if baptized before he was truly regenerate. “Because then it will be just like it is in the state church — he will grow up thinking he is okay and the very best you can have happen is a period of convincing that he is really lost. And so why not be more careful with the age of baptism?”

Patterson also noted that there is very little evidence in the New Testament of the baptism of young children. “I think part of it is we are legitimately motivated to see our children come to Christ, and that is totally noble,” he said. “But there is another part I fear is a numbers game. We’ve got to stop doing that and start building a believer’s church.”

BE STEADFAST IN CALLING

Ledbetter, editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN, urged editors to remain steadfast to their calling of “proclamation ministry” in the face of rising postage, decreased advertising and the assertion that print is a dead medium.

“We have a lot to distract us. That work must not get lost in the clutter.” Ledbetter said, encouraging editors to return to their primary task of building up the body of Christ and supporting the gospel work of the churches. “The content of our paper is of primary importance. It is our ministry message — our prioritizing of news and opinion according to God’s leadership.”

Ledbetter, who also served as editor of the Indiana Baptist newspaper from 1989-1995, urged editors to act as “informed observers” giving context and perspective to denominational action.

“I’m also convinced our convention and our various conventions need us,” he said. “The tendency of bureaucracies to lose their edge and devalue accountability is quite apart from their theology and regardless of their motives. If we are vigorous in our work and genuinely curious about the people who lead and serve us, we can be a benefit to the cooperative work of Southern Baptists.”

Both in reporting good news and holding SBC agencies accountable, Ledbetter said state Baptist papers should be a positive service to the local church.

“Our work of encouragement is much larger than just looking for good news, although that’s a vital part of it. We can’t do that vital ministry if we are merely dissident. The work of our papers, newsletters, and magazines will be of no use if we treat our leaders and institutions as prejudged adversaries. We’ve gone through that phase and it harmed our ministries and that of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

“Neither are we of positive service if we treat our leaders and institutions as if they are there to exalt us or even hire us. That careerist track presupposes that men place us in our roles rather than God,” Ledbetter added. “Our first commitment is not to our rabbis, and we all have them, nor to the First Amendment. Our first commitment is to God’s kingdom and righteousness.”

Although disagreement with institutional leaders is inevitable, Ledbetter made a plea for unity in the fellowship. “I’m convinced, though, that we should be, and mostly are, on the same side—even with our distinctive viewpoints.”

In addition to guest speakers, the Thursday night joint session of executive directors and editors provided an overview of SBTC ministry, particularly in the areas of missions and church planting. Michael Lewis, pastor of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, explaining the newest convention's core values.

“SBTC founders determined that the convention would be biblically based,” Lewis said, noting that affiliated churches express agreement with the SBTC’s statement of faith and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 but are not required to sign either document.

Lewis also explained that the SBTC is kingdom-focused.

“Missions and evangelism were prioritized in budgeting and staffing priorities,” he said, adding that the convention uses volunteers, paid consultants, and a network of skilled specialists to keep the convention staff small in number.

Third, Lewis said the SBTC is missionally funded. “Through a vital partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention, the state convention maximizes its own ministry effectiveness. Through the traditional Cooperative Program, the SBTC truly touches the entire world from Texas. Currently, the SBTC gives 55 percent of undesignated receipts to the SBC allocation budget.”

Lewis also presented several new SBTC missions efforts including a missionary/planter program, which recruits and trains missionaries to ethnolinguistic people groups in Texas, and The Ezekiel Project, a ministry that assists pastors of declining churches in implementing a strategy for spiritual renewal and revitalization. Due to the increase in Hispanic population in Texas, Lewis also noted the SBTC has begun to launch parallel tracks to major events in Spanish, including retreats and conferences. 

In other business, outgoing ASBP President Gary Ledbetter passed the gavel to Bob Simpson, editor of the Maryland-Delaware Baptist Life.  Illinois Baptist Editor Marty King was named president-elect.