Contested SBC Presidential Election in Greensboro

Last Friday the news broke that Dr. Frank S. Page of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina will apparently be presented as a candidate for President of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro June 12-13. This will be the first contested SBC presidential election since 1994 and is an indicator of healthy discontent in the convention.

Page will be the alternative to the conservative-resurgence anointed candidate Ronny Floyd of Springdale, Arkansas who will be nominated by Johnny Hunt, the man originally tapped to carry the banner. Floyd has come under criticism for at least two things: (1) his church’s children’s ministry apparently has a Disney-designed baptistery that looks like a fire truck (I kid you not! See Tom Ascol’s May 7, 2006 blog entry "Of Fire Engine Baptistries (sic) and Blasphemy"); and (2) his church’s anemic giving to the SBC cooperative program (reportedly a mere 0.27% of the church’s total budget, though some SBC causes are supported directly).

Dr. Page also has the endorsement of IMB outcast trustee Wade Burleson (see ABP article), who was also touted as a presidential candidate before Page’s announcement. Page is the author of "The Trouble With Tulip" in which he apparently outlines problems with doctrinaire Calvinism. The book was not available at Amazon.com, so I emailed his administrative assistant to see how I could get a copy. She told me it is out of print but you can get a copy by sending a check for $11.25 made out to "Dr. Frank S. Page" to:

Renee Morton, Administrative Assistant
Taylors First Baptist Church
200 West Main Street
Taylors, SC 29687

My check is in the mail, and I look forward to reading the book and posting a review, hopefully before the SBC meets.

Oddly enough Al Mohler has apparently joined Paige Patterson (SWBTS’s President) and Danny Akin (SEBTS’s President) in endorsing Floyd (see the Mohler endorsement letter posted at Floyd’s blog). Can Al Mohler really be supportive of fire engine evangelism? Was this one of the techniques promoted at T4G?

Though I likely do not agree with Page’s views on Calvinism, he is likely to get my vote for president if he and Floyd are my only two options. We’ll see.

JTR