I know there is concern about the rise of Alt-Right Fundamentalism in the SBC and the push of a certain group to gain power. While this isn't going to be an exhaustive list, and I could be wrong in my optimism, I believe the tide is pretty obviously away from that group.
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First, their push for their presidential candidate failed. It was a close vote, but I don't think that is as concerning as it may seem.
1a. When it came to the runoff, @EdLitton gained over 2000 more votes. The Alt-right gained only 1000 more.
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1a. When it came to the runoff, @EdLitton gained over 2000 more votes. The Alt-right gained only 1000 more.
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Nearly everyone who was going to vote for the Alt-right candidate did the first time. Before the runoff there was a real choice in who wasn't Alt-right. In the run-off, there was an even clearer choice.
1b. This was after a massive campaign to elect the Alt-right candidate:
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1b. This was after a massive campaign to elect the Alt-right candidate:
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Tens of thousands of dollars to start and digitize a new network; slander, lies, and half-truths against all other candidates; paid ads on Twitter to garner votes for their candidate; a spot on Fox News the morning of the vote;
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Endorsement by a former Republican US presidential candidate; endorsement by a fired Fox News and Baptist Press reporter; a former SBC entity head behind the scenes working the political intrigue. All of this they claimed to be grassroots.
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1c. Ed had local pastors invite him to small events. He made two videos (that I'm a ware of): one to announce and one at the very end. I never heard him attack his opponents or call them names.
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Having never been an entity head nor having served in the immediate past on a troubled national committee, he was truly the dark horse, unknown candidate. And, yet, he won against those odds. That says a lot about the rejection of the Alt-right machine.
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2. Other Alt-right fundamentalist members were removed from positions of influence. When those removals, being both proper and defensible, were contested, they lost the contest.
2a. Committee chairs were changed.
2b. Committee members were removed.
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2a. Committee chairs were changed.
2b. Committee members were removed.
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3. Those same Alt-right members attempted to make changes to our polity that would have centralized power in the group they thought they had a majority on, the Executive Committee. They both lost influence on the group, they also lost their attempt to centralize the power.
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3a. The change of wording to "empower" churches was changed to "serve" churches. we are bottom-up, not top-down.
3b. The attempt to alter the allocation budget to give the EC more power, it failed.
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3b. The attempt to alter the allocation budget to give the EC more power, it failed.
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3c. The Business and Financial Plan that would have given the EC the power to determine if other entities were doing what they were told, and then escrow funds if they deemed they weren't, failed. The EC does not oversee other entities, and the messengers spoke clearly.
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4. Finally, all this failed after the leadership group of the Alt-right faction paid the way for people to attend the AM, but only if they voted in a prescribed way. All this failed in Nashville, a hub of the very demographic this group seeks to sway.
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I don't see Anaheim goin any differently, since Nashville went the way it did. With such a concerted effort and an organized disinformation campaign, the splinter group still lost on nearly every side.
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5. Finally, I do not believe that every person that supported the splinter candidate is part of any concerted Alt-right movement. The leadership of the splinter group has used the perfect scare-words and Fox News tactics.
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These, in turn, have convinced those rightfully concerned about our culture to support a group and candidate that they normally wouldn't have if they could have seen the inner workings. I'm hearing there is a bit of a falling away from the group as people see inside it.
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All of this shows that our convention is neither liberal nor alt-right. We are Great Commandment and Great Commission Baptists, right where we should be. I pray we stay there and that no group will sway us.
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@rhyneputman reminded me that I intended to say this: I am a fundamentalist in the classic sense. I subscribe to the 5 fundamentals:
1. the deity of Jesus
2. the Virgin Birth
3. penal-sub atonement
4. the bodily resurrection
5. biblical inerrancy
1. the deity of Jesus
2. the Virgin Birth
3. penal-sub atonement
4. the bodily resurrection
5. biblical inerrancy
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