Southern Baptists' diversity doesn't reach the top

[Ed Barrow]

The Rev. Robert Anderson is proud to be a Southern Baptist, but he would like to see more minorities in leadership positions. Anderson joined the denomination in the late 1990s after being part of another Baptist group, which sent out few missionaries and started few new churches. He wanted to be part of a denomination that stressed evangelism. That turned out to be the Southern Baptist Convention.

"I may be the only black pastor who ever asked God to make him a Southern Baptist," said Anderson, pastor of Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown, Md.

Once an all-white denomination founded by slaveholders, Southern Baptists have become one of the most diverse religious groups in America. About 19 percent of their congregations have African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American or other minority congregations. That number continues to grow. From 1998 to 2008, the convention added 5,221 new churches, two-thirds of them with diverse congregations. But few minorities hold positions of leadership.

Anderson is the only African-American serving on the denomination's 83-member executive committee, which oversees the convention's finances and budget and sets policies. No other minorities are on the committee. That's a problem, Anderson says.

"This is 2010," Anderson said. "Why is this still a major issue?"


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