Local leaders endorse Southern Baptist platform

By Lynn Hotaling and Rose Hooper

The Tuckaseigee Baptist Association's Executive Committee voted 40-15 to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, according to several pastors who attended the closed meeting.

A platform adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message says among other things that women cannot be pastors.

"While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men by scripture," states Article VI of the document.

Once those in favor of affirming the Baptist Faith and Message secured the favorable vote, a motion was made to "break fellowship with" both Cullowhee Baptist and Sylva First Baptist, the pastors said.

Action was recommended against Cullowhee because a husband-and-wife team serves as co-pastors and against Sylva First because of a resolution that the church passed endorsing Cullowhee's right to call a woman pastor, said several pastors who were present.

That motion was ruled out of order because the association's bylaws require a two-thirds majority at an annual meeting for such actions. The association's 2002 annual meeting is set for October.

Pastors of both Cullowhee and Sylva First were present during Monday's session.

"Cullowhee Baptist does not affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message," said Cullowhee co-pastor Tonya Vickery. "But if the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association decides it does, that's OK. It's not binding on our church."

"I don't think (Monday night's actions) had a whole lot of teeth and are not representative of the entire Tuckaseigee Association," said the Rev. Wayne Hill, pastor of Sylva First Baptist since May who emphasized his church would continue to support Cullowhee Baptist.

"It certainly set a tone for somebody going to his first meeting," Hill said. "I did not feel very welcome in the process."

The Executive Committee's decision to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message is "in no way a decision for the association," said the Rev. Mike Dellinger, pastor of Webster Baptist Church, and the association's moderator.

Before the document could become part of the association's constitution and bylaws it would have to be approved at an annual meeting, Dellinger said. Monday night's meeting ended with action to refer both Cullowhee and Sylva to the Credentials Committee for counseling. Action to remove Cullowhee at the association's October annual meeting has already been recommended by that committee.

The decision to affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 came during a closed meeting that the Rev. Charles Dean, pastor of East Sylva Baptist, said was the first non-open session in the 36 years he has been a member of the association's Executive Committee.

Following a motion by the Rev. Steve Bialy, pastor of Greens Creek Baptist, the membership, which consists of a pastor and lay person from each member church as well as certain association officers, voted 38-17 to hold the entire meeting in executive session.

"I felt (the meeting needed to be closed," Bialy said Tuesday. "(The Tuckaseigee Baptist Association) is a private organization, and I wanted its business handled in a private manner."

Bialy went on to say that any information shared with The Sylva Herald by Executive Committee members would be a violation of the association's rules of order. He also expressed his opinion that the Executive Committee's business should not be the topic of a news story.

"My feeling is that to write an article about a closed meeting of a private organization would be highly unethical," Bialy said. Bialy declined to answer other questions about Monday's session.

Dellinger offered a different view.

"In my opinion nothing was secret," he said. Everything discussed July 8 would be public record once minutes were written, Dellinger said.

The moderator had only praise for the way committee members conducted themselves despite the controversial nature of the night's business.

"We disagreed in a real agreeable-type way," Dellinger said. "The people were real congenial - one of the strengths through the years has been that the association will disagree but in the end they'll pull together."

About 10 visitors - two from this newspaper and seven or eight Baptists - were asked to leave the session following the vote that closed the meeting.

One who departed was the Rev. John Reid, a former association director.

"I heard there was some controversy, and I went to the meeting to find out for myself," Reid said.

Reverend Dean, a member of the Executive Committee, left the meeting in protest when members voted it closed.

"It goes against my grain," Dean said of the closed meeting. "I'm not that kind of Baptist - I like to let my light shine."

Assistant Editor Carey Phillips contributed to this report.

Back to Archive: 07/11/02.