Paige Patterson

Hey, UnashamedYouth,

Cool! I met Dr. Patterson too! He was preaching at the Mississippi Baptist Convention one year--after his sermon--there was a break and I met him(believe it or not) in the Men's Bathroom. He was washing his hands and I was thinking, "I'm gonna introduce myself to Dr. Patterson! This is neat! I'm gonna meet Dr. Patterson! Don't say anything stupid or dumb!" And then I introduced myself and we spoke and as he was leaving I commented, "Dr. Patterson! I sure did enjoy that fine message!! Just wanted you to know!" And with that cool--deeeeeppppp Sothern drawl he looks at me and says, "Why, thank you my son!!" No lie!! I went home and told my wife who I met and she said, "You didn't say anything stupid or dumb, did you!!??"

 

Unashamed youth,

I am glad you got to meet Dr. Patterson. I attend Southeastern now. One thing I urge you to do when you start attending here is going to chapel. It is voluntary yet the place just about packs out. We get some of the most amazing preachers here. I am aggrivated when I don't get to attend. Chapel is held 3 days a week. The teachers here are also a blessing. I am shocked how they can know so much. This year we have more sudents attending than ever before I believe. They are about to build a new student center too. Well, God bless you and your future in the ministry.

 

Yes, I actually, I know one Britney, and I know who Casey is. They are both nice friendly people.

 

(snicker)

Has Paige learned what it means to be a Baptist yet? It's amazing that that wasn't a prerequisite for becoming SBC President.

He would look much better in one of those red Cardinal uniforms like they wear in Spain...

 

BWSmith, quite frankly you don't kow what or who you are talking about. If you know Dr. Patterson you would never have said that. Maybe you have spent too much time reading oppinionated news articles and too little time discovering the man or actually listening to or hearing what he himself has said. I hope you will do so and will be praying that you will read up on the history of the Baptist. You might find out that he is right on the mark.

God bless

 

When I visited Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City earlier this year, one of their professors told me about a prospective student who visited Southeastern Seminary. Dr Patterson asked this student where he was going to college. The young man said "Furman". Patterson then asked the young man if he had trusted Christ for his salvation. IMHO, this story portrays Patterson as being harsh and biased.

 

Brother Edwards,

Brother Patterson asking someone about his/her salvation should not come as a shock. I asked just about every deacon I have here at church--when I first arrived--and had an opportunity to visit each one personally--"Have you been saved?!!"

Brother Patterson probably just wanted to know about this student's salvation--but the cotton-pickin' liberal press made something out of it to make it look like the good Doctor was long--nosed and had that nose up in the spiritual Stratisphere!

Your friend,

Blackbird

 

We are talking about the same Paige Patterson whose life is dedicated to framing his own strict doctrinal views as the standard for Southern Baptists, correct?

And Baptists do still cherish soul competency and the priesthood of the believer in spite of his efforts, correct?

 

Dr. Patterson is definitely one of the finest preachers that I have ever heard speak and I have definitely heard many during my Christian college days.

 

Hey, Yankeefan!

The cotton-pickin' Liberals on this board let what you wrote "go in one ear and out the other!"

Your friend on the Conservative Perch!

Blackbird

PS--They've tried to clip my wings a time or two!

 

UnashamedYouth - you can still be baptist and not be Southern Baptist. There are many of us who are refugees from what Dr. Patterson and his crew did to our seminaries and our Convention (boy that sounds weird to say - I haven't thought of it as my convention in almost 20 years).

Joshua

 

I won't hold that against you!

A former pastor of mine was the head of the Executive Committee for a couple of years during the reorganization. I'm not guilty of that just because I know him.

No, that's too simplistic. A better way to put it is if you're not for Paige Patterson, then you're not for the so-called "conservative resurgence" and all the lies, meanness and ungodliness associated with that political takeover.

Not that I have an opinion or anything...

He got the SBC headed toward an IBF-style position -- except with a much stronger central control structure and only one quarter of the civility in disputes. That's not really the way the SBC used to be so it is not really very "conservative" historically and it certainly isn't a "resurgence".

When Christ returns, He will straighten all of us out.

For the record, I'm not saying that Paige Patterson is not personable when you are perceived as a friend. I'm not saying he's a bad preacher either. I've heard him preach in person on several occasions, and he can get people worked up. He tells more truth than anything else from the pulpit, but he has had a history of slandering people and using guilt by association tactics to get his way. He started a movement with Judge Pressler of Houston to take over the SBC, and he has been extremely successful (in human terms) in his efforts. He has led and bred a generation of fighting Baptists who cry "liberal" at anyone who does not go along with the political agenda. I have seen the fruits of this revolution in SBC life firsthand. I have seen people's lives damaged by unwarranted slander and half-truths spoken in the name of God. It's ungodly. It is wrong. Paige Patterson was one of the instigators and he must share a large portion of the blame.

[/off the soapbox]

 

My family has been a part of SBC life since its formation in the 1800's. Very few of us feel welcome now. None of us will ever (again) make it to a single board of trustees. I do not recommend getting on Dr. Patterson's bad side if you want a future in the denomination. The SBC will never again be my denominational home, despite all my ancestors did for it, despite being raised in it, and baptised in one of its churches. I'm not "fit" to serve, and neither are any of my friends and relatives who were educated in the SBC seminaries, and pastored SBC churches. Sure, if Dr. Patterson likes you and agrees with you he's a great guy. Just don't disagree with him on any issue he deems important if you want any voice with the SBC.

 

I think it is so funny some of y'all paint Dr. Patterson to be mean to anyone that he doesn't agree with. We hosted a debate between him and another schools theologian. This other man had a very stroong reputation. Dr. Patterson not only was very respectful of the man, but earlier in the day he instructed the entire school to be respectful and curtious. In other words, y'all don't know what you are talking about.

When people say that the seminaries are so bad off and don't represent the majority of SBC believers now. Well if that were true, we would not have more students here than were ever enrolled before. We have more women enrolled here than ever before. The school is growing. The SBC and the seminaries are going the way they were before the past regime was trying to lead everyone away from Scripture.

It is obvious that the liberals no longer have control of the SBC because THEY WERE VOTED OUT BY THE MAJORITY. The majority of the SBC was conservative and when they were informed of the goings on at the seminaries and SBC offices, they were outraged enough to vote them out. That my fellow believers is the facts, like it or not.

Remember, if you don't know the man, personally witnessed these things you are accuseing him of, then you are just gossiping.

 

That may well be true. But he has a long history of crossing the country during the 1970s and 1980s. meeting/campaigning with small groups and churches, spreading lies and half-truths about alleged "liberals" in the seminaries.

Don't be so quick to dismiss us. Check it out for yourself.

Is that true? Southwestern Seminary's enrollment declined after Russell Dilday was fired and while it has grown back toward the former levels, I don't think it has grown. Also it is my understanding that the method of counting students changed in the early 1990s to included many more students than previously counted.

That may well be true for Southeastern. But what about Southwestern and the troubles of Midwestern? (If you didn't know, Midwestern Seminary has been fairly unstable for the past few years.)

1.) "Liberals" did not have control of the seminaries. There were moderates and conservatives in control of the seminaries, with a broad spectrum of Baptist viewpoints working together.

2.) The majority you speak of is the majority of messengers who voted at the convention each year -- a group that was heavily lobbied and supplied with bad information. For instance, in 1988 -- the year Richard Jackson ran against Jerry Vines -- all messengers received very negative information at the doors about the so-called "liberal" frontman "Richard Jackson". The flyers tried to distort the truth about him and the moderate side as much as possible. It still continues against Texas Baptists in Baptist Press.

When they were told truth out-of-context and outright lies about things "liberals" were allegedly doing, yes they voted them out.

It is certainly one way to look at things. For the record, I used to be one your side. I was a fundamentalist and fully supported people like Paige Patterson, Jerry Vines, Ronnie Floyd (a former pastor), Adrian Rogers, etc. But after seeing things from the inside, being inadvertantly involved in a closed-door meeting to get rid of a college professor I knew (for trumped up reasons) and seeing people I knew slandered and falsely accused, I changed. Those are the facts.

I don't know the man but he has not denied being the leader of the takeover movement. He has been fairly public about his campaign and there are probably numerous examples of his campaign for the so-called "conservative resurgence" in book form and on the internet.

It's not gossip.