'A glimmer of hope': New leadership for Southern Baptists offers an opportunity for racial reconciliation
MOBILE, Ala. – In the heart of some of the country's most horrific racial milestones stands the church of newly elected Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton.
Litton has presided over his congregation of about 1,000 worshippers since the mid-1990s. Until 2014, the church was known as First Baptist North Mobile. To some, its name change, to Redemption, is symbolic of the bridges Litton hopes to build within the country's largest Protestant denomination.
Known for his racial reconciliation efforts, Litton's election comes as political and educational leaders grapple over how the country's historical acts of racism relate to today's America and whether young children should explore that connection in school.
His willingness to confront this difficult and painful conversation as a white pastor offers hope to his supporters and those who fear issues of race will drive out Black pastors and other Southern Baptists of color questioning their connection to the convention.
Who is Ed Litton? Meet the Alabama pastor elected president of Southern Baptist Convention
Litton's involvement with Mobile's Pledge Group cited
In supporting Litton for president, his supporters often cited his work with the Pledge Group, an organization that aims to reduce the racial divide in Mobile.
When Roy Hill started attending its small group meetings in 2014, he thought he was ready and willing to hear about the experiences of the group's African American members.
Raised in rural southwest Alabama when members of his community protested the integration of public schools, Hill's childhood was molded by moments of "racism raising its ugly head."
"I wasn’t ready for some of the conversations we had" in the Pledge Group, recalled Hill, a lifelong Southern Baptist and pastor of discipleship at Dayspring Baptist Church in Mobile.
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"I wasn’t ready to hear an African American tell me some of the things they went through as a child. I wanted to say, 'No, that didn’t really happen,' but you can tell it was so real that that is exactly what happened to them," Hill said.
Now president of the Pledge Group, made up of about 30 religious and civic leaders, Hill said those difficult and painful conversations changed him.
"There were a lot of things said that I didn’t want to hear because it made me realize how wrong some of us (white people) have been in the past," he said. "No one enjoys being told they were wrong and to be told, 'Hey, you’ve been getting it wrong for years,' – those are hard things to hear.
“But thank God that he gives us the opportunity to hear those things and gives us a heart's desire to be better men and women and to go, ‘I want to make sure that that never happens to my brother or sister again.’”
Litton has been a part of those conversations since the Pledge Group formed, though Hill said Litton's drive to mend relationships and pursue racial unity came long before the group and the racial reckoning Americans are undergoing.
"Ed is a bridge builder, and I say that based on the personal relationship I've had with him for the past couple decades," Hill said. "His desire is to unite Southern Baptists around a gospel issue, and we do believe racism is a sin. So if we cannot unite around something the gospel calls us to do, then we have a serious problem anyways."
Southern Baptists and their long struggle over race
The Southern Baptist Convention, founded in 1845 in support of slaveholding missionaries, has long struggled with issues of race and its past.
A resolution on racial reconciliation passed by the convention in 1995 drew a clear line between modern-day racial injustices and the convention's former support of the Confederacy. It was a stark contrast to the 1861 resolution that characterized the Union as "an invasion designed to destroy whatever is dear in our heroic traditions."
Before critical race theory became a buzz term, Southern Baptists categorized slavery as "historic acts of evil ... from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest," the resolution said.
"We recognize that the racism which yet plagues our culture today is inextricably tied to the past," the resolution said. "We apologize to all African Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously or unconsciously."
Despite this acknowledgment, racism continued to be a dividing force among the denomination's members.
At its annual meeting in 2019 in Birmingham, the Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution that said critical race theory and intersectionality could be used as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture.
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Last year, the issue came roaring back into the spotlight, threatening to drive more Black pastors out of the convention. The white presidents of the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries released a statement condemning all forms of racism but declaring critical race theory incompatible with Baptist beliefs.
It was among the top issues Southern Baptists debated at this year's annual meeting in Nashville. It was a factor in the convention's presidential election. More conservative members backed a candidate critical of the theory.
"We are praying for what I call a trickle-down effect from Ed Litton and others in leadership positions that are encouraging these other churches to take a strong stand for the fact that the Bible says we are all made in the image of God and we need to begin to see each other through that lens," Hill said.
The issue of critical race theory and a push by those who are more theologically conservative than Litton to pull the denomination further to the right is probably not over. Litton's narrow win shows rifts remain.
Litton brings hope that 'best is yet to come'
"I am so hopeful that the best is yet to come," said Charlie York, pastor of Highpoint Baptist Church.
The leader of one of Mobile's very few Black Southern Baptist churches, York highlighted the renaming of Litton's church as an example of the metamorphosis the convention could face.
"Redemption is what we all need," York said. "Even in racial reckoning, we seek reconciliation. We want to heal and move on going forward but there can be no healing until you have repentance."
A native of Mobile who became a Southern Baptist pastor after two decades in the U.S. Air Force, York said Litton was among the first pastors to reach out to him when he returned to the city to lead Highpoint 14 years ago.
"He is someone who has certainly extended his hand, not just to me but to other (Black) pastors who are not even in the association," York said. "He’s compassionate, and compassion to me is love in action."
Litton's "proven record," offers a glimmer of hope that the convention can move toward unity, York said.
"He is someone who is real – someone who really says what he means and means what he says, and what that translates to is trust," York said. "And that’s what we need in these critical times is that trust."
Leon Bell, a National Baptist who leads St. Joseph's in Mobile, said Litton's election represents the potential for a change of heart among Southern Baptists.
A member of the Pledge Group, Bell met Litton a few years back. He prayed for Litton to become the convention's leader, he said.
“He’s always been the one who brings us back to the gospel with that big question, ‘What would Jesus do?’” Bell said.
"I know this is a big milestone for the Southern Baptist Convention," Bell said.
Like Hill, Bell said the conversations he's had among Pledge Group members changed his perspective. He spoke with Litton about race and the challenges of being a Black man in what often feels like a white man's world.
Bell said he believes Litton has the opportunity to help other Southern Baptists gain a better understanding of those challenges.
"Having these conversations and being able to express ourselves openly and honestly – I think that's where it really begins," Bell said.
People would expect a Black man to focus on this work, but Litton's willingness to confront this painful topic changes the narrative. He has the opportunity to reach more people, Bell said.
"It's coming from a white man who has lived a white man's life," he said, "but he's also been in the trenches, having these conversations with people who did not grow up like him.
"To me, personally, it's really a sign that the times are slowly changing," he said of Litton's election.
He expects Litton will be successful in creating a more unified convention.
The work is an uphill battle.
"It's one thing to pitch us a speech about what you're gonna do, but it is a whole different ball game to take action," Bell said. "We have to continue to pray for Pastor Ed. Now that he is there, he has a great task to do what he has been called to do."
Keelan Adams prays that Southern Baptist missions can repair the lasting impacts of racism that have prevented many from prospering.
An associate pastor at Montgomery's Flatline Baptist Church, Adams attended the convention's annual meeting this month, representing the few African Americans who are Southern Baptists.
If Litton hadn't been elected, Adams said, conversations on racial reconciliation within the 47,000 Southern Baptist congregations probably wouldn't be a priority – or even welcomed.
"For me to be able to point out, 'This is what is happening – this type of disenfranchisement has been happening due to this type of oppression or that form of racism that is deeply embedded in the fabric of the denomination,' and for someone to allow that conversation to be brought up, that means a lot to me," Adams said.
"A lot of these guys have been so uninvolved in our lives as African Americans, you can tell them basic stuff, and it’s an absolute surprise to them," Adams said.
The conversation is good, Adams said, but action is needed.
"If you say you're about this, then I'm expecting something to happen. That would mean a lot to me," Adams said. "I'm for Litton to put his money where his mouth is – don't just sit up there and talk."
Follow Krista Johnson on Twitter: @KristaJ1993.