Adrian Rogers

Adrian Rogers (Th.D), who has been described as the apostle Paul of Southern Baptists, was the senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN from 1972 until March, 2005. During this period, the church's membership grew from 9,000 to 27,000, and the church moved into a new, megachurch facility. Before his tenure at Bellevue, Dr. Rogers was ordained by Northwood Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dr. Rogers has also published a number of books and is featured on the internationally-available Love Worth Finding, which is broadcast in English and Spanish.

Southern Baptist Convention Presidency

Dr. Rogers served three times as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest American Protestant denomination with 14 million members. He was first elected to this post on a platform of biblical inerrancy, and under his leadership, the denomination shifted sharply rightward, firing moderate seminary professors, as well as requiring all employees of the denomination's seminaries and the national office to swear loyalty to a the creedal Baptist Faith and Message, a document which Rogers later (when he was no longer president) succeeded in significantly modifying. (Historically, the denomination had been hostile to creeds).

Theology

Dr. Rogers' theology is best characterized as conservative and evangelical.

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On Politics and Social Issues

Like many influential conservative pastors (for example, Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham), Dr. Rogers has been somewhat active in advancing a conservative political agenda in the United States. Dr. Rogers has stated that Christians have a duty to be involved in government, stating that it is a sin for a Christian to abstain from voting in an election.

Familial dynamics has been a recurrent issue for Dr. Rogers. He leaves the greatest culpability on fathers that he considers "drop-out dads." According to Dr. Rogers, since God emphasizes the paternal role in a family, the primary source of teaching in the home should be from the father. For fathers who do not do this, he said in a message broadcasted on the Love Worth Finding radio program, “We have dads today that are interested in sports, business, and sex. They’ve forgotten their Godgiven assignments to teach the Ten Commandments[1].” He goes on further to say social problems, such as gun violence, are the consequences of fathers avoiding this responsibility.

On the topic of pastoral endorsement of political candidates, Dr. Rogers has written that it is a pastor's duty to influence the political decisions of the members of the pastor's congregation. A pastor need not, however, endorse a specific candidate. He writes that "[i]f [a pastor] has done his job his members will prayerfully and correctly use the standard of God's Word to select the right candidate."[2]

In May of 2003, Dr. Rogers, along with twenty-four other religious leaders and persons of influence, signed a letter sent from Gary Bauer's conservative organization American Values to President George W. Bush. The letter commends President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq as courageous, but goes on to criticize the President's proposed Road Map for Peace initiative as being too lax towards the Palestinians. The letter states in part, "Mr. President, it would be morally reprehensible for the United States to be 'evenhanded' between democratic Israel . . . and the terrorist infested Palestinian infrastructure." [3]

Dr. Rogers’ response to a question about biblical references seemingly in support of slavery was recorded as, “I feel slavery is a much maligned institution. If we had slavery today we would not have such a welfare problem.” [4] Nonetheless, Rogers recently spoke about, "the blessing of racial and ethnic diversity and acknowledged that all races possess full dignity by the creative intention of God.” [5]

Dr. Rogers is an adamant supporter of the pro-life movement, has stated that the institution of capital punishment is spiritually ordained, and supported a boycott of Disney because of the company's supposed promotion of homosexuality.

Selected works

• Believe in Miracles but Trust in Jesus
• Mastering Your Emotions
• God's Way to Health, Wealth and Wisdom
• The Power of His Presence
• Ten Secrets for a Successful Family
• Unveiling the End Times in Our Time

Sources

1. Bellevue Baptist Church's short web biography
2. Commercial Appeal article
3. Ouramericanvalues.org
4. It Takes God to Make a Home
5. The Uniqueness of Christian Experience
6. Baptist Faith and Message 2000