Southern Baptists Diversifying to Survive

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Leading Hillcrest Baptist Church

Rev. Eric Redmond is the first African-American pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church, which is part of the predominantly white Southern Baptist Convention.

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The Southern Baptist Convention needs more people like Nicole Lawrence. Its membership, which grew at a torrid pace from the 1970s through the 1990s, has stalled, and the annual number of baptisms -- a key growth figure -- has dropped in recent years.

Redmond and other black Southern Baptists say they are pushing the denomination to address issues of concern to African Americans, such as the plight of poor, urban Americans, out-of-wedlock births, civil rights and racial injustice.

"The most important thing for the Southern Baptist Convention to do socially is to attempt to move away from addressing only upper-middle-class, conservative issues," said Redmond. "We have to stop thinking of ourselves as trying to hedge a June Cleaverish class of Christianity."

Since coming to Hillcrest, Redmond has revamped the worship style to add African American church traditions. Redmond said there was "dead silence" when he preached, and hymns were sung only to piano or organ.

But now services at Hillcrest, a tall, steepled church surrounded by modest brick ranch homes, are a mix of worship traditions. They include such staid Baptist hymns as "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" as well as a swaying, clapping choir, accompanied by drums and electric keyboards, and worshipers who call out "amen," "mmm-hmm" and "preach, pastor" to his sermons.

"We had to make changes that were appropriate for reaching a contemporary African American culture," he said. "People are free to express themselves -- to cry aloud, to clap and to have other emotions displayed in the service."

Bow-tied and goateed, the slightly built Redmond is an energetic preacher. His voice frequently rises to a shout and he throws his arms wide from the pulpit as he makes his points.

But despite Redmond's enthusiasm, skeptics say it will take more than gospel singing and dynamic young preachers to make Southern Baptists more diverse.

Forrest Harris, president of the American Baptist College and professor of practical theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, said that Southern Baptists have shown no interest in taking on issues that have long been the focus of African American Baptist denominations, such as social justice and improving African American communities.

The diversity effort, said Harris, "doesn't seek to change or transform the way in which injustice and the problems of [black] communities need to be addressed."

Staff writer Hamil H. Harris contributed to this report.