As NAMB Goes

As NAMB Goes

Chapel Address
North American Mission Board
May 6, 2010

B. Carlisle Driggers
Executive Director-Treasurer Emeritus
South Carolina Baptist Convention
Thank you, Dr. Harris, for that introduction. As you were speaking, I was sitting there
thinking about the time you came on the staff of the Home Mission Board some 30 years
ago. I remember quite a few of us asked the question, “Who’s that boy coming to work in
the Evangelism Section?” May I say to all of you that in my judgment one of the best
decisions in recent years that the NAMB Board of Trustees has made was in asking
Richard Harris to be your interim president. I am glad you are here, Richard, and I thank
you for inviting me to speak in this chapel service.

Would you listen to one verse of Scripture which you know well—2 Chronicles 7:14.
You might even want to quote it with me from memory. “If my people, who are called by
my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked
ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”

A name known to some persons in this room but perhaps not known to most is James P.
Guenther. Mr. Guenther is the attorney for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive
Committee and has been for years. He started out being the attorney for the Sunday
School Board in Nashville and then in more recent decades serving as the attorney for the
Executive Committee of the SBC. I have been with him many, many times in all kinds of
meetings and gatherings. When you go to the Executive Committee meetings in
Nashville, he is always sitting there right on the front row, taking in every word that is
being said. He is one of the most astute observers I have ever been around concerning
Southern Baptist life. He knows our history, he knows the way we make decisions, he
knows what our pitfalls are and what our mountaintop experiences have been. I have
come to trust James Guenther and his knowledge about Southern Baptist actions and
decisions. I listen to him and learn from him.

 Sometime back, perhaps a dozen or so years ago, I was speaking with him and we were
talking about the transition taking place at that time between the Home Mission Board
and the North American Mission Board. Jim made a statement that I quickly wrote down
and have remembered through the years. He said, “As the North American Mission
Board goes, so goes the Southern Baptist Convention.” I have watched his observation
play out in recent years, and I have come to believe that he is absolutely correct.

The Southern Baptist Convention has become a nationwide convention. We have a
presence today in every state in the country with somewhere around 44,000 churches. It
has not always been like that. Prior to WWII we had about 100 churches north of the

Mason-Dixon line. For a fact, Southern Baptists were not a nationally recognized
convention of churches. We were primarily in the South, Southeast, and Southwest. We
were, for sure, quite numerous in those sections of the country. We got that way
beginning in May of 1845 at a meeting in Augusta, GA when the SBC was formed. When
that meeting took place, there were 327 representatives from some nine states who came
together to discuss the creation of a Baptist convention in the South. Those persons came
from Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

They met to separate from northern Baptists mainly over two issues. There were a few
side issues being discussed, but primarily the issues were slavery and the control of the
mission dollar that prompted Baptists in the South to pull away from Baptists in the
North. Those two issues were very, very real in those years and were so divisive that a
separation became a reality. When Baptists leaders in the southland met at Augusta, the
Southern Baptist Convention was born with 4,126 churches with 351,951 members. The
geographical focus, of course, of the new convention was on the South but also a strong
desire to do missionary work overseas. When the SBC was launched, two mission boards
were created. They were the Board of Domestic Missions in Marion, AL, and the Foreign
Mission Board in Richmond, VA.

If the Southern Baptist Convention is now nationwide as indeed it is, how did that come
about? How did we get from the size we were in 1845 to the size we now are in 2010? I
have thought about that a lot through the years. What decisions were made that prompted
us to begin to think nationwide and then become nationwide? For a fact, there were three
developments that took place during the 20th century which prompted us as Southern
Baptists to think and act nationally. Interestingly enough, those three developments all
began with the letter C.

The first came in 1925. Prior to that year, there were a good many decades when
Southern Baptist agencies and institutions raised monies by having societies. For
instance, a seminary might have a society composed of alumni, donors, and supporters
who would go out and speak in churches on behalf of the institution. A society of donors
and speakers might represent a Baptist children’s home or a Baptist college. They would
go to speak in churches on Sundays in order to promote their institution or their agency.
The basic reason they would do so would be to raise money, and they did it week after
week. A local pastor might get a request by mail or personal visit. He would be asked to
allow a speaker to come to his church on a given Sunday and promote the institution or
entity with the specific intent to generate funding. That practice went on for years and
became known as the societal method for supporting state convention causes and SBC
agencies and institutions.

As time went by, many of the churches began to ask, “Can’t we do this better? Every
Sunday it seems that we are having someone show up wanting to speak to us about
money. We don’t have time to worship as we need to and sing and preach the Gospel. Is
there not some other way that we can learn about our institutions and agencies and the
work of the state convention and the SBC ? The societal representatives are becoming

overwhelming. We want to hear about our work as Southern Baptists and support our
various causes, but the societal practice is just too much.”

Near the end of WWI, Baptists leaders at that time began to develop an idea which was
brand new. They asked, “Why don’t we see if we can find a way to cooperate among our
churches in giving our monies so that we can find ways to share those monies among the
various institutions and agencies that are sponsored by the state conventions and the
Southern Baptist Convention, including the two mission boards?” Out of those
discussions, the idea was proposed and adopted pertaining to a 75 million dollar
campaign for the years 1919-1924. Those leaders proposed, and it was adopted by the
SBC, to make an appeal to the churches to raise 75 million dollars over the five years and
distribute the proceeds to the various needs that existed at that time. The leaders did not
know whether or not Southern Baptists would respond affirmatively, but they knew that
something needed to be done which would be an improvement over the societal method.
Their recommendation was for mutual cooperation to emerge if possible. It was a bold
step and an uncertain one, but it was tried.

The result was that at the end of the five years, 75 million dollars were not raised, but 58
million were. To their credit many SBC and state convention leaders had the good sense
to conclude that while the total goal was not met, 58 million dollars were raised and were
used cooperatively to support all of the work being done at that time. Before the five year
campaign was completed and cooperation was in evidence, the leaders began to meet and
project ways to continue the concept of cooperation among the churches in funding the
various needs of states and the SBC.

When 1925 arrived and the annual meeting of the SBC met in Memphis, the proposal was
made and adopted to create the Cooperative Program. No one knew at that time if the
Cooperative Program proposal would last for a few years or would continue for a long
time. They obviously said, “We raised 58 million, we have moved away from having all
those societal speakers come to our churches seeking money, and we have proved that
cooperation works. Let’s keep it going and see what will happen as we ask God to bless
our efforts.”

Well, here we are today in 2010. The Cooperative Program has generated millions and
billions of dollars in support of mission causes all over the country and the world. Back
in 1882 the Board of Domestic Missions moved to Atlanta, GA and was renamed the
Home Mission Board. It is noteworthy that when the Cooperative Program began to
develop, no group worked harder to help teach and train the churches about the potential
impact of the CP than did Baptist student groups! Also, Home Mission Board leaders
grasped the idea and began to work hard at teaching and training missionaries and church
members about the potential impact of the Cooperative Program. Some of the leaders
began to wonder about the Southern Baptist Convention expanding in locations other
than just the southland. The Cooperative Program made it possible for Southern Baptists
to gain a larger vision for the nation and the world, and the roots of that vision began to
be pondered following 1925.

The first C of the three which enabled the SBC to become national was the Cooperative
Program. It gave the financial means for Southern Baptists and the HMB to begin to think
about spreading the Gospel beyond deep South states.

The second development that helped Southern Baptists to think nationally was Comity
Agreements which have to do with territorial respect. Those discussions first began back
in 1845 when Northern and Southern Baptists divided. At that time there were those
Baptists who concluded that expansion of the Gospel and the starting and developing of
churches in the North would be done by Northern Baptists. At the same time the
conclusion was reached that the southland would be the territory of Southern Baptists.
Comity Agreements were worked out to that end. It became known that Northern Baptists
would stay within their territorial rights and Southern Baptists would stay within theirs.
Sometimes the discussions would become heated, mainly because Northern Baptists
wanted to come into the South with their work and Southerners resented it. As the years
went by, Southern Baptists began to expand a little into the North and the Northwest, and
the Northerners resented it. When it got down to Comity Agreements being arranged for
states like New Mexico, Arizona, and California, the discussions became even more
heated when Northern and Southern leaders met to talk about Comity arrangements for
those states. Decisions over Comity Agreements became harder and harder to determine.

A huge turning point came during and after WWII. At that time a great number of
soldiers were returning home after being overseas. Many of them had lived in
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and other areas of the southland. A
number of them had grown up in Southern Baptist churches in their home states. They
went to northern and western cities looking for work. They went to Pittsburgh, Cleveland,
Detroit, and on out to California seeking good paying jobs. Many of those southern boys
and girls began to say, “We want a church like we had back in Vicksburg, MS or Atlanta,
GA, and we cannot find Southern Baptist churches anywhere near us in our new
locations. We are going to begin a church like we had back home.” They did so but did
not ask permission from anybody. In reality, they had never heard of Comity
Agreements. They only wanted a church where the worship style and Sunday School
classes were familiar to them. Soon they asked the HMB for help in starting and growing
their churches. It is rather easy to see God at work in the lives of those young adults. In a
short span of time, Southern Baptists were moving into the North, West, and Northwest.
The HMB began to respond by sending workers and missionaries to help in church
planting in those regions of the nation.

Northern Baptists began to push back rather hard at Southern Baptist advancement and
wanted Comity Agreements to be written in stone. At annual meetings in 1944 and 1949,
Southern Baptists made decisions to put Comity Agreements aside and follow our people
who were moving into new parts of the country and were starting Southern Baptist
churches. SBC leaders, especially HMB directors and staff, said, “We’re going to go
where our people are going and we have the funds through the Cooperative Program to
help start and develop the churches. No longer will we have anything to do with Comity
Agreements. We are going to preach the Gospel and win people to Christ wherever we
have an opportunity to do so in the United States.”

The HMB was given the assignment by the SBC to lead in the effort of going north of the
Mason-Dixon line and out West. In particular, the SBC directed the HMB to provide
leadership in the starting and development of state conventions in the new territories of
the country. The HMB responded and in succeeding years state conventions began to
emerge rather rapidly. As a result the SBC became national and the expansion continues.
The following state conventions were organized as the Comity Agreements were being
reviewed and finally set aside:

1940 – California

1943 – Hawaii

1945 – Kansas-Nebraska

1946 – Alaska

1948 – Northwest

1954 – Ohio

1956 – Colorado

1957 – Michigan

1964 – Indiana

1964 – Utah-Idaho

1969 – New York

1970 – West Virginia

1971 – Pennsylvania-South Jersey

1972 – Iowa

1978 – Nevada

1983 – Minnesota-Wisconsin

1983 – the Dakotas

1983 – New England

1984 – Wyoming

2002 – Montana

This is rather personal for me because of the Baptist Convention of New England. At that
time I was regional coordinator for the HMB, and one of my first assignments was to
help the churches of the six New England states form a state convention. I do not know
how many trips I made to that area to meet with the leaders and missionaries. In 1983 I
was sitting in the audience at a church not far from Boston when the convention was
organized through a tremendous display of cooperation and commitment. I shall never
forget that moment of joy and victory.

As much as any entity in Southern Baptist life, the HMB helped to move Southern
Baptists to think and act nationally. When the decision to move beyond Comity
Agreements was reached, Southern Baptists took off in expansion and development all
over this land. The name of the HMB was changed to NAMB in 1997, and the
assignment remains to lead Southern Baptists to have a national presence and to enhance
even more our progress which dates back to 1845.

The third C that enabled the SBC to expand across the nation was the enactment of
Cooperative Agreements between the HMB, now NAMB, and state conventions. Those

Cooperative Agreements were and are voted on by the Board of Directors of the state
conventions and the Board of Trustees for HMB/NAMB. Where did those Cooperative
Agreements come from?

In the late 1950s, a man by the name of Arthur Rutledge was the Director of Missions for
the Texas Convention. Dr. Rutledge realized one day that he and his staff had appointed a
missionary to do work on the border of Texas. The Texas Convention had put money into
the project which was to reach people and to start some churches in that area of the state.
At the same time the HMB out of Atlanta had appointed a missionary couple to go to that
identical location for the same kind of missionary endeavor. He concluded that what was
happening was an unnecessary duplication of time, money, and personnel. He wondered
why the HMB and the Texas Convention could not agree to avoid the duplication from
then on in order to spread missionaries and monies in a more effective manner. Rutledge
called for and helped to write a Cooperative Agreement between Texas Baptists and the
HBM for all mission advancement that would take place in the future. The time that
occurred was 1958-59.

In 1960, guess what happened? Dr. Rutledge was asked by the leaders of the HMB to join
their staff as Director of Missions with the specific assignment of arranging Cooperative
Agreements with state conventions. He did so and looked at it as a national strategy for
the advancement of missions, ministry, and evangelism all over the United States. In
1965 he became the president of the HMB, and in his own quiet but dynamic way, led
Southern Baptists as much as any leader in our history to become national. The
Cooperative Agreements he helped to develop led to solidifying and directing Southern
Baptist progress across the land. We would not be as numerous as we are in this country
today were it not for the Cooperative Agreements between state conventions and the
North American Mission Board.

It has been said and we know it well that the light that shines the farthest shines the
brightest at home. Mr. Guenther, speaking to me about a dozen or so years ago, got it
right. As NAMB goes, so goes the SBC. That has been our history and it is still true to
this day. Without the strong, determined, competent, dedicated leadership resources and
the strategizing of NAMB in place, our beloved Southern Baptist Convention, I dare say,
will limp weakly into the future and may well fade into the sunset. I pray for you as the
staff of NAMB. I believe in you. I champion you. I so hope and pray that our best days
are not behind us but are before us.

The word of God speaks so clearly and directly so often and not anymore than in 2
Chron. 7:14. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” How this applies especially to Southern
Baptists these days—arguing, pulling, pushing, and groups trying to outdo other groups.
Oh God, forgive us and heal our land called America through a people known as
Southern Baptists. Amen? Amen!