As I continue to expand on my ten point contract with Southern Baptists I come to the forth point which states:

“I will seek to work more closely with the minority churches in the S.B.C. These churches represent the growing edge of the convention and should be challenged to become more deeply involved in Southern Baptist life including the appointment of more minorities to the various S.B.C. Boards.”

The traditional growth of the SBC has been with the Anglo churches. As America becomes more multicultural, so is the Convention becoming more multicultural. According to my studies, I see that the SBC is still growing in membership and baptism, but most of this growth is with the minority churches such the Hispanic, Korean, Chinese, African-American, etc. There seems to be a real sense of revival among these groups. I feel that I am an expert in this area having served in many different cultures in the world. One of the courses I teach at the seminary is “Cross Cultural Communications”.

True, we have minority representatives working in various agencies and on most Boards. Many of the leaders of these minority conventions are friends of mine and they tell me that they still feel somewhat outside of the convention. This should not be. If elected, there are three actions that I will undertake to improve this situation. They are:

1. To seek to appoint more minorities to the various Boards of the SBC.

2. To seek in the first year to visit the convention meetings of each of the minority groups.

3. To continually remind Southern Baptists that we need closer fellowship with our brothers and sisters from these churches.

I am not saying that this has not been done before. I have not seen Frank Page’s schedule but I feel that he has done an excellent job in doing what I have described. I would vow to continue working actively in this area.

Many of my students are saying that the future of the church is a multicultural approach. I am not completely sure that this is the future of the church. If multicultural churches are the ones that grow, then we must be ready. The best solution is to follow is a two pronged path. First is to open our doors to all comers no matter what their cultural or ethnic backgrounds. This means the creation of multicultural churches. The second is to encourage and support those who desire to create their own indigenous church with their own language and culture.

We as Southern Baptists should never again be called cultural elitists or racists. That is a thing of the past, and we should let the secular press know that when they accuse us of this, that we will stand firm and show them that we feel that the church and the Gospel is for all men and women.

Let me add that my first church in Albuquerque, Hermosa Drive Baptist Church, started with only ten in attendance and had a membership of over 425 at the end of four years. Our church had Anglos, African Americans, Koreans, American Indians, rich, poor, university professors, people on welfare, students, and those with a rich variety of other traits. This is a good picture of the Southern Baptist Convention.