Scribbles and Bits

I attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary between 1988 and 1990. Adrian Rogers spoke at our school. I admired the man then and have appreciated his ministry over the years. News of his passing was widely carried by both church and secular presses alike today. The Wall Street Journal carried the AP article:

“MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Rev. Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the faith, died early Tuesday in Memphis. He was 74 years of age.

His death was announced by Baptist Press News and by Rev. Rogers’s Love Worth Finding ministry. Officials of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.

Rev. Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his ministry’s Web site said.

Rev. Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the convention, the nation’s largest Protestant church. His election turned out to a be a watershed moment for the denomination, and the 16-million-member group shifted dramatically to the right politically and theologically. In the years that followed, conservative leaders pushed hard against abortion rights, homosexuality and women pastors.

Rev. Rogers also was elected president of the SBC in 1986 and 1987. He was pastor of the 28,000-member Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis for 32 years, retiring this past March.

“There’s no one in this country I respect more than Adrian Rogers,” Focus on the Family’s James Dobson said on Rogers’s last day as pastor. “You draw me to Christ. When I’m with you, I feel closer to the Lord.”

Among those who attended Rev. Rogers’s final sermon were Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D., Tenn.).

During his career, Rev. Rogers conducted religious crusades in Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Russia, Romania, and in Central and South America.

In 2003 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the National Religious Broadcasters.”

Copyright © 2005 Associated Press

Christianity Today offers a more comprehenesive article. You can access it here…

The Baptist Press features an article entitled “In his final days, Adrian Rogers told those gathered around him, ‘I am at perfect peace’ “ Click Here for access

James Draper offers a moving eulogy, also at Baptist Press — Click Here