Blogging boosts dialogue
Southern Baptists' access to information a click away
Southern Baptists' access to information a click away

By Carla Hinton

Published: May 24, 2008

The Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting is less than a month away, and several men who wish to become the denomination's next president have aired their views — not in Baptist press reports but on blog postings.

Much has changed since the days when some messengers arrived at the annual gathering with no idea who might be looking to lead the nation's largest Protestant group. Today, such information is but a few mouse clicks away as Southern Baptists continue to use blogs as a way to communicate with their fellow Baptists across the globe.

"The good of it is obvious. It has expedited communication,” the Rev. Ronnie Rogers, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Norman, said this week.

The Rev. Wes Kenney, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Valliant, said he has developed many new friendships since starting his personal blog almost three years ago, and a blog devoted to convention issues, SBCToday.com, in September.

"One of the main rewards is the relationships I've been able to build,” Kenney said.

The Rev. Wade Burleson, perhaps one of the more well-known Southern Baptist bloggers, said the proliferation of Web logs has done exactly what he hoped: promote greater cooperation and communication among Southern Baptists.

"I think the blogs have helped remind people that the Southern Baptist Convention is not a top-down organization — it's a grass-roots movement,” said Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid.

Burleson said there are at least six people planning to run for president of the convention, and the growing number of Southern Baptist blogs is directly responsible for that because "you have a lot more Southern Baptists involved in Southern Baptist politics.”

"It's been decades since that many people have run,” he said.

Burleson said issues now are being discussed from a variety of viewpoints, and people are no longer afraid to share their thoughts.

So, just weeks away from the annual convention June 10-11 in Indianapolis, Kenney said SBCToday.com has been devoting much of its postings to convention-related issues.

However, in a move that might surprise some, Burleson suspended his blogging efforts May 14.

Bloggers will certainly be busy during the annual Southern Baptist gathering, but the Enid pastor said he won't be one of them.

Burleson said he is taking a six-month sabbatical from blogging.

He said he lacks time to devote to his blog at wadeburle son.com, and he is in the middle of writing several books. Also, Burleson said his blog postings focus on issues and not personal attacks, but other bloggers have not done the same.

"I tried to focus on issues, and I think a lot of good was accomplished, but I do not desire to be part of any personal attacks,” Burleson said.

"After six months, I'll evaluate if I'll ever do it again. As it stands now, I don't think I'll pick it up again.”

Burleson's blog, which he started in December 2005, became the center of attention when he posted his disagreement with several policies created by the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board. Burleson was a member of the board and found himself at odds with some other members who did not like Burleson airing his grievances via his blog. Burleson resigned from the board earlier this year, saying he and the board could not come to terms.

Rogers, whose blog is at ronniewrogers.com, said it is discouraging when bloggers post "vitriolic” attacks on other people.

"I relate it to you and your family having an argument at home and one of you getting on the Internet and telling people about it. It can be spiritually harmful,” he said.

Also, he said some blog postings lack context or seem to deliberately misrepresent situations.

Rogers, 55, said he has vowed not to make such posts and he likes to use the blog as a teaching and communication tool.

Kenney, 36, said the SBCToday.com blog was started to convey what it means to ascribe to the Baptist identity, i.e. autonomous churches and believers' baptism, among other core doctrine.

He said the sometimes negative postings of people with opposing viewpoints can be challenging for the blog, but he deletes postings that contain personal attacks and lets the writer know about it.

"There's a lot of things that get written on blogs that really shouldn't be said, but we really want to try to deal with the issues and not personalities,” Kenney said.

He said an anonymous person apparently is doing just the opposite by starting a blog, SBCToodazed.wordpress.com, which appears to be designed to mock SBCToday.com's founders. Kenney said the blog's creator has given each SBCToday.com founder, including Kenney, the Rev. Robin Foster of Perkins, the Rev. Joe Stewart of Littlefield, Texas, and Tim Rogers of Statesville, N.C., a nickname based on TV personalities on ABC's "The View” talk show.

Debbie Kaufman said she began blogging about convention issues in 2006 after seeing some of the personal attacks against Burleson, who is her pastor at Enid's Emmanuel Baptist. Kaufman said she also became very interested in the missionary issues governed by the International Mission Board.

"I didn't really know a lot about convention issues until I started reading different blogs,” Kaufman, 52, said.

She said she is a college-educated, stay-at-home mom who extensively researches the issues she blogs about at Debbie thoughtsof.blogspot.com and does not post anything about the convention vicariously.

"I pray about everything I blog because I don't want it to be about people, I want it to be about issues. I kind of go with my heart,” Kaufman said.

She said blogs have helped her become better informed, which should bode well come June 10-11.

"I am a better Christian woman because of blogging. I think I'm going to go to the convention next month and be a better informed voter.”

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