An analysis by Eastern Illinois University professor Ryan Burge pointed out that the SBC meetings in the Bible Belt tend to outdraw those in other places. The CBN also has a state chapter in Louisiana, which will likely aid with turnout. And Southern Baptists in the Bible Belt are more likely to identify as politically conservative than those in California — which would likely bolster the CBN cause, which is both religious and political.
During his remarks at the CBN breakfast, Kirk labeled the group’s supporters as courageous pastors resisting the influence of liberalism in the evangelical church. He contrasted them with “cowardly pastors” who care only “about budgets and buildings and baptisms” and “complicit pastors” who march with Black Lives Matters and “hang pride flags.”
“Our beautiful faith is under attack from within,” he said.
Kirk urged pastors to stand for liberty — seeing mask mandates and COVID-related shutdowns during the pandemic as signs of government tyranny. He also told them that if “America falls” then it will be harder for Baptists to spread the gospel.
“If we don’t recognize that we all have to agree on liberty and the gospel, we’re all going to be sharing our theological disputes in prison,” he said.
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Former SBC First Vice President Lee Brand, whose term expired after the SBC meeting, told CBN supporters to continue standing against worldly influences invading the denomination.
“We’re not ever going to do enough for the world to like what we have to say,” he said.
Despite their election losses, CBN and its allies have had some success. Their activism helped drive up attendance for the 2021 meeting in Nashville, the largest since the mid-1990s. And that increased attendance led SBC to move the 2023 meeting from Charlotte, North Carolina, to New Orleans, as the Charlotte space was too small.
Anti-CRT activism by Ascol and Michael O’Fallon of Sovereign Nations has also helped drive the national “woke war.” The CBN and its allies played a role in a 2021 SBC resolution calling for the abolition of abortion, which would support legislation to outlaw abortion with no exceptions. A 2022 abortion resolution, also backed by the CBN and its allies, which called for criminal penalties for women who have abortions, was rejected by messengers.
The CBN’s supporters also contributed to controversy over the future of Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in the SBC. That church, led by bestselling author Rick Warren, ordained three women as staff pastors last year, leading to calls for Saddleback to be expelled from the SBC. The SBC’s statement of faith limits the office of pastor to men.
The SBC’s credentials committee, charged with reviewing Saddleback’s status, proposed creating a task force to study the meaning of the word “pastor” — given that many SBC churches refer to staff members as “pastor” even though they don’t preach. The idea of a study committee was met with an angry response and was withdrawn.
Martin pointed to the credentials committee as a sign that the SBC’s leadership has lost its way. Most Southern Baptists know what a pastor is, he said. While a woman can have a leadership role at a church, she can’t have the title of pastor.
“I don’t care if she’s the women’s Grand Poobah,” he said. “She can’t be a pastor.”
While the CBN and its allies have found support for their opposition to CRT, women pastors and abortion, some of their views on the issue of sexual abuse have been controversial.
Ascol, for example, was critical of the recent Guidepost Solutions report on abuse and has been skeptical of a series of reforms approved by SBC messengers to address abuse. Mark Coppenger, a former SBC seminary president and CBN steering committee member, has said the issue of sex abuse in the denomination has been overblown. Coppenger opposed the recently passed reforms to address abuse during the annual meeting.
