Beginnings and ends

Religion | A conservative Baptist pioneer dies, historic mainline denominations shrivel, and other religious news | Edward E. Plowman

Adrian Rogers, the pastor whose election in 1979 as president of the Southern Baptist Convention activated a conservative strategy that led to a turnaround from creeping liberalism in the denomination, died Nov. 15 in Memphis, Tenn., from pneumonia while undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 74.

Rogers served as pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis from 1972 until last March; under his tenure, Bellevue grew from 9,000 members to nearly 30,000. He also headed Love Worth Finding, a nationwide radio and television ministry.

In meetings in the mid-1970s with several conservative SBC strategists alarmed at liberal theological trends in SBC seminaries, Rogers agreed to become a candidate for the SBC presidency. If elected, he pledged, he would use his nominating powers to name to seminary and denominational boards only those who believed in the authority and inerrancy of the Bible. After almost backing out, he won election on the first ballot. He and his successors followed through on the pledge and eventually saw conservatives weather opposition to take the levers of power in the 16-million-member denomination.