Ken Camp offers a detailed look in the Baptist Standard at the influential and controversial fundamentalist watchdog Texas Baptists Committed. Camp quotes Michael Bell, chairman of Texas Baptists Committed. Bell explains that his organization has a role to play in the Baptist General Convention of Texas as long as there exists a second state convention competing for the loyalties of Baptists in Texas.
Camp also quotes Ken Coffee, a retired denominational employee and TBC detractor. Coffee explains that the BGCT never really needed TBC to save the state convention from a fundamentalist takeover. Talk about having one’s head-in-the-sand. Coffee tells Camp, “As long as Texas Baptists Committed exists, there also exists enmity between brothers.”
What about sisters? If TBC wants to help the BGCT, the organization must work to become more inclusive of women and abandon the boys-only mentality that pervades a good bit of the Texas Baptist landscape. Additionally, any Baptist group looking to experience growth rather than decline will reach out to young professionals, young laity (not simply an emphasis on recruiting young seminarians who come and go)!
It is my understanding that TBC backed the election of the first female president of the BGCT, the first black president of the BGCT, and the first Hispanic president of the BGCT. I think that speaks to the inclusiveness of TBC.
I know that it is true that the TBC backed those candidates. However, when I worked in those circles it was clear that the predominant focus on young leaders was on male pastors. Female pastors came in a far second, and young laity was not a consideration. Just my experience with TBC though.
Maybe that is because it is the pastors that go to the conventions and vote while, for the most part, the laity stay home.