Second Vice President of the SBC Executive Committee and other Leaders are Resolution Sponsors; Resolution Asks That Particular Attention be Given to Needs of Orphans, Single Parents, and the Disadvantaged

Contacts: Roger Moran, 636-668-8055, 636-262-2066; Pastor Wiley Drake, 714-865-8132; Dr. Bruce Shortt, 832-483-8882; Pastor Larry Reagan, 731-225-2628, 731-364-6724; E. Ray Moore Jr., 803-714-1744

For state and regional sponsor contacts, or for sponsors in particular conventions, call Dr. Robert Dreyfus, 352-216-1703, or Dr. Richard Jones, 313-929-3137, 734-427-3302

COLUMBIA, South Carolina, Oct. 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- The call for an “exodus” from the public schools continues to build momentum within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).  Although elements of the SBC leadership prevented the messengers at this year’s SBC Annual Meeting from having the opportunity to vote on the Moran/Shortt “Exit Strategy” resolution, the same resolution has been submitted in every SBC state and regional convention in the continental United States.  This represents a significant increase over the number of states in which education resolutions were introduced in 2004 (conventions covering 15 states) and 2005 (conventions covering approximately 25 states).

The Exit Strategy Resolution is based on Dr. Albert Mohler’s recommendation in a 2005 op-ed article that, in light of the spiritual, moral, and academic decay in the government schools, Southern Baptists develop an exit strategy from the public schools. Dr. Mohler is President of the SBC’s flagship seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, and is also one of the SBC’s leading theologians.

Pastor Wiley Drake, sponsor of the “Exit Strategy” resolution in California and Second Vice President of the SBC's Executive Committee, endorses Dr. Albert Mohler's recommendation saying, “Dr. Mohler is right, Southern Baptists, and Christians generally, need to plan a Christian educational future for our children. First, Christian parents are obligated to provide their children with a Christ-centered education. Anyone who thinks that a few hours of youth group and church will have more influence on a child's faith and worldview than 40 to 50 hours a week of public school classes, activities, and homework is simply not being honest with himself. Second, the open collaboration between homosexual activists and many school districts, together with the overall level of crime and violence in the public schools, make the public schools an unsafe place for our children.”

Roger Moran, Missouri Baptist leader and member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, notes that the moral, social and intellectual dangers lurking within public education are increasingly evident to Southern Baptists.  Roger Moran states, “Although changing the hearts and minds of people is often a slow process, attitudes about how we educate our children are changing within Southern Baptist life. Increasingly we are recognizing that if we are going to profess the name of Christ, then our lives should be a testimony to authentic Biblical Christianity.  Yet, how can we expect our children to have that testimony when they are “trained up” in secular public schools to have a secular mindset that excludes the acknowledgement of God and the Word of God at every point? The day is coming when Southern Baptists will see with absolute clarity that the making of disciples must include the systematic training of our children into a Biblical worldview through the education process that we now call K through 12.”    

Bruce Shortt, co-sponsor of the “Exit Strategy” resolution at the 2006 SBC Annual Meeting, sees a transformation coming, “The experiment with government schooling has failed. What Baptists need to do now is create a new public education system, a system that is public in the sense that it is open to everyone and that takes into account the needs of orphans, single parents, and the disadvantaged. With our existing buildings, our talented people, and the educational technology available today, it is now possible to create rapidly an affordable, effective Christian education alternative to the government schools. This would truly be the most important and effective domestic evangelistic initiative in the history of the SBC.”

Almost all SBC state and regional conventions have their meetings in late October through late November. The sponsors of the state Christian education resolutions plan to have their resolutions debated within their state conventions.

Additional information, including the text of a typical state resolution, can be found at www.exodusmandate.org.