By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service
Saturday, June 17, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- On the eve of this year's annual meeting of Southern Baptists, Micah Fries spoke of how he, as a 27-year-old pastor, often feels left out of the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

But with the presidential election of Frank Page, a self-described "normal" pastor, Fries and other young pastors and bloggers say they have greater hopes for inclusion.

"It's a whole new world," Fries, pastor of a St. Joseph, Mo., church, said Wednesday, the day after Page's election by a slim majority. "His arms are open. There's no small circle of leadership. There's no attempt to divide and conquer. He wants others to get involved."

The election of Page, 53, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., is giving young leaders hope about their recent influence and their future involvement in the 16.2-million-member denomination. Some in the fledgling Baptist blogging community -- which gained prominence in the past year -- felt there was a narrowing focus on nonessential aspects of doctrine within Baptist ranks.

Page, at a news conference shortly after his election Tuesday, said: "I truly believe it is God's people who are saying we want to see a broadened involvement."

He won an unusual three-way race, getting a slim majority -- 50.48 percent -- of the vote; his opponents received about 24 percent each. About 11,000 delegates attended the two-day meeting.

International Mission Board trustee Wade Burleson -- like, Page, a relative unknown in the Southern Baptist Convention before this year -- and other bloggers attribute the election results to the ramped-up computer conversations. "These young men and women . . . got the word out," Burleson, 44, said of bloggers. "It's a new day."

They are pastors such as Benjamin S. Cole, 30, from Arlington, Tex., who helped draft the "Memphis Declaration," a document released last month that repented of "triumphalism" within Southern Baptist ranks.

"I think that younger conservatives walk away from Greensboro invigorated and enthusiastic about supporting the convention they love and preaching the Bible they believe and leading the world to Christ," he said.

Relatively young leaders -- often in their twenties and thirties but sometimes older -- are becoming a more forceful presence within the Southern Baptist Convention, differentiating themselves from the old guard that has long held the leadership posts within the denomination.

Although blogs are one key demonstration of their influence, there were signs in this year's annual meeting and preceding meetings that younger voices are being heard and changes are being made to accommodate them.

Burleson is one of the most prominent examples. The International Mission Board dropped its plans to remove him as a trustee for using his blog to criticize policies he felt focused on "nonessential doctrines." His phrase about "narrowing the parameters of cooperation" was almost a mantra for some of those who attended a Younger Leaders Summit in Greensboro on Monday.

Fries, the Missouri pastor, said he saw signs of youthful influence on the denomination's activities. He had "observer" status in the convention's newsroom, enabling him to sit in on Page's presidential news conference so he could blog about it later.

"I think that the effort to reach not just younger leaders but a diversity across our denomination was evident even before this election," said Thom S. Rainer, president of the denomination's LifeWay Christian Resources, which provides Christian products such as church literature and other supplies.

Rainer cited a report by a church nominating committee that allotted 102 of 105 vacancies on various committees and boards to people who had not previously served on SBC boards, with an average age of 48 for the new members.

"There was a very intentional effort to make sure that there was a broad-brush representation," he said.

Tad Thompson, 31, a pastor from Siloam Springs, Ark., said he thinks young ministers like himself agree with older leaders on inerrancy -- the belief that the Bible is without error -- but are interested in newer ways of worship, such as his church services that "lean" toward contemporary music.

"I think younger leaders are taking an active role and trying to be heard and trying to shape the issues rather than just ignore them," said Thompson, who attended the young clergy summit.

Several prominent -- and at least slightly older -- leaders of the denomination stopped by the summit to let the younger pastors know that they've been heard. They also visited bloggers at a reception in a hotel suite Tuesday night.

"Stay plugged in," advised Jimmy Draper, the former president of LifeWay, speaking at the summit. "Keep blogging. Be nice. Don't judge motives, and celebrate the diversity that we have."

That diversity, including young leaders, is something Page promised to embrace as the denomination's next president.

"People, I think, have spoken a powerful message," he said. "We can do a lot together, a lot more and a lot better than we can do separately. I think there is a clear call from the Southern Baptists that we want to strengthen our work together."