I've enjoyed reading all these posts as I'm wanting to learn more about the SBC.... I am in a Baptist denomination [General] which is floundering towards the Purpose Driven Church, build multi purpose buildings, have a rock band movement [not to mention they don't believe in eternal security....I know the Lord is leading me into a different direction, I just don't know which yet.
I think you are going to end up having to choose a church, rather than a denomination. If you find a solid church that preaches the Gospel and seeks to follow God faithfully, you should probably not be too concerned with their affiliation, though you may want to ask them why they are affiliated with a "questionable" group. Some churches are seeking to be a light by remaining in groups that are headed in a bad direction, you just need to know where they stand. But just picking SBC and joining the first SBC church you find could either be great, or be a disaster, because each church is only as good as the pastors and members it consists of. (bad grammar, I know).
As a current member of an SBC church, who grew up in the GARBC, I have found nothing negative in SBC that could not also be found in GARBC. The primary structual difference is that most SBC churches participate in the cooperative program, which among other things means your church does not simply support missionaries directly, but through the IMB, which pools SBC church gifts and sends its missionaries that way. Often this ends up meaning that missionaries are not at your church as often, since they do not need to go around and raise support. So, less support-raising is good, but you may feel that less missionary reporting to your church is not so good. (now, many churches may ALSO support individual missionaries they know...our church supports IMB missions, but also a Campus crusade missionary in the Mid-east, and a few others.)
