Moran: To Missouri Baptists, Biblical truth is supreme
By Bob Baysinger
Managing Editor
August 17, 2004
JEFFERSON CITY – Roger Moran, the brainchild behind the Project 1000 conservative resurgence in the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), says the resurgence was necessary because “Biblical truth matters supremely.”
“The adherence to Biblical truth makes possible the passionate pursuit of holiness,” Moran said. “And from that point it is possible for us as people of God to be pleasing to God.”
Moran orchestrated the plan that resulted in the election of Gary Taylor, pastor, First Baptist Church, O’Fallon, as the first in a string of conservative MBC presidents. The presidential victories led to the appointment of conservatives to the MBC Executive Board and ultimately to the MBC agency boards that virtually wiped out the liberal/moderate makeup of the MBC.
Moran said he was inspired to lead the conservative surge because of the moderate Baptists’ “willingness to sacrifice and to compromise truth in order to have peace and unity.”
“That was seen most clearly in the willingness to embrace the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF),” Moran said. “Their idea was and is for us to all work together to advance the Kingdom of God.
“When our commitment to truth begins to waver and compromise begins to set in, the first casualty will be our understanding of the seriousness of sin. And this is at the heart of understanding the essence of salvation.”
Moran said the heart of what Christ did for us was to deal with the universal problem called sin, adding that there would have been no need for Christ to come or to die if there had not been any sin.
“And what we see today in the moderate and liberal wing of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Missouri Baptist Convention is a diluted view of the seriousness of sin,” Moran said.
According to Moran, the CBF has recreated the image of Christ.
“These people are more comfortable with the feminist faction that has the mother god or the pro-gay faction that has the homosexual Jesus or the pro-abortion crowd that wants a pro-choice Jesus,” Moran said. “This is the ultimate manifestation that this is all about. The issue is not that all CBF moderates believe that but that they are willing to embrace each other for the sake of the Kingdom.”
Baptists talk about why people leave the churches almost before the baptismal water dries, and the answer is because the people are not genuine converts, Moran said.
“If sin is defined out of existence, how is it possible to repent of sin?” Moran asked. “That was the path Missouri Baptists were pursuing. Just like the Episcopalians and the United Methodists. That’s why the resurgence was necessary. I think we articulated that very well.”
Moran said the main issue for Baptist moderates is “power and politics.”
“They were losing their power through politics. They will stop at nothing to keep their power, including stealing agencies to keep as much power as possible,” he said, referring to trustees at five MBC agencies who voted to make their boards self-perpetuating rather than remain accountable to MBC churches.
“They wanted the power and influence of the world,” Moran said. “They were willing to compromise what matters most. And what matters most is whether or not we are pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“As coordinator of Project 1000, this is my view of what the resurgence was all about. It doesn’t matter what they say or have said. We have stayed the course, and we are right,” Moran said.