Page candidacy ‘defining moment’ for Southern Baptists

Don Kirkland

Published on May 23, 2006

Frank Page

The pastor of a South Carolina Baptist church with a proven track record of solid support for the Cooperative Program has declared his candidacy for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at what the top official in the state convention says is a “defining moment” for Southern Baptists regarding the future of the CP.

Frank Page, pastor for the past five years at First Baptist Church in Taylors, the first South Carolina Baptist congregation to contribute more than $500,000 to the Cooperative Program in a single year, will be nominated for the presidency at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting June 13-14 in Greensboro, N.C.

Taylors First Baptist, with more than 4,300 members, topped the half-million mark in 2002 with contributions of nearly $534,000. Last year, First Baptist led the state in total dollars to the CP with gifts of $535,000, representing 12 percent of its $4.4 million in undesignated offerings.

The other announced candidate is Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., which in 2005 contributed $32,000, which represented 0.27 percent of its $12 million budget in undesignated receipts.

In an interview with The Baptist Courier, Page said the June 13 election is not about personalities or theology. “It’s primarily about methodology – how we do missions and how we do convention work,” he said.

The Taylors pastor said that Southern Baptists have a “moral obligation to support what we have voted to do,” adding, “For example, there are thousands of missionaries who depend upon the cooperative support we give through the Cooperative Program.”

He continued, “I believe it sends a powerful message to our people when a church gives a solid amount of money beyond itself to state, national and international work.”

Messengers at the Greensboro meeting, along with selecting a president, will consider the report of a special panel that includes the recommendation that Southern Baptists elect officers from churches which contribute at least 10 percent of undesignated offerings to the Cooperative Program.

Carlisle Driggers, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and a member of that committee, said in a statement to the Courier that Southern Baptists have arrived at a “defining moment” in the election of a president.

The choice of president this year, Driggers said, “will help determine how serious we are about our commitment to cooperative missions and evangelism ministries. We must elect a president who is a proven champion of the Cooperative Program.”

Declaring that “Dr. Page will have my vote,” Driggers said that the Taylors pastor, if elected, would “lead us effectively as a great Cooperative Program model and advocate for all Southern Baptists.”

He continued, “We do not need an independent-minded president. Instead, we need a cooperating president. Supporting the Cooperative Program reveals whether the president is a cooperative Southern Baptist or not.”

To any who argue that the focus ought to be on “dollars rather than percentages,” Page said the question is, “Are the dollars that a church is giving indicative of a missional mindset? What are we saying to our people and to this world when we give a mere pittance to support that which we have voted to do?”

In the Courier interview, the Taylors pastor said that contributions by churches to the Cooperative Program should be “substantial enough to show selflessness.”

Page said the 2006 election also is about “working together to do the work of God, even sometimes with persons we may not agree with about certain issues.” He added, “While I believe that it is imperative that we agree on certain bedrock principles, there are many areas in which we can legitimately disagree and still work together.”

“If another Southern Baptist has a sweet spirit, an evangelistic heart and holds to the integrity of the Bible,” Page told the Courier, “then I would say to that person, ‘There’s room at the table for you.'”

While maintaining “theological integrity” still is important, Page said it also is necessary to recognize that “the convention is different than it once was,” adding, “There must be a concerted effort to reach out to a much broader constituency so that the future of our convention will be bright.”

He urged Southern Baptists not satisfied with their denomination to “become actively involved in changing what you do not like.”

“Sit back no more,” he said. “Let your voice be heard. Get involved as an insider who cares. Approach the issues with humility and compassion. We’re not here to rearrange deck chairs on a sinking ship. We’re here to promote and to advance the kingdom of God as he allows and enables.”

Page grew up in Greensboro, N.C., and graduated from Gardner-Webb University and Southwestern Baptist Seminary, where he earned master of divinity and Ph.D. degrees. He held previous pastorates in Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. His books include “Trouble with the Tulip,” an examination of the five points of Calvinism.

Page served twice on the resolutions committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and is a member of the Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

Page, who earned his doctorate at the age of 28, has been an adjunct faculty member at Southwestern, teaching Christian ethics from 1976-80 and personal evangelism from 1987-91. He also was an adjunct faculty member in pastoral ministry at Southeastern Baptist Seminary’s extension center in Augusta, Ga.

He and his wife Dayle have three grown daughters.

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