Adrian Rogers

Rogers served three times as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest American Evangelical denomination with 16 million members. He was the first conservative elected to this post in 1979 on a platform of biblical inerrancy, and beginning under his leadership, the denomination went through a ten-year-long process of shifting to a theologically conservative stance. (See Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence.) When conservative control of all SBC seminaries and agencies was finally complete, liberal and moderate seminary professors were dismissed, or replaced by theological conservatives in response to normal attrition. All employees of SBC seminaries and denominatIonal agencies were required to affirm their adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message. The denomination has remained conservative since Rogers' tenure as president.

Rogers's election as SBC president at the 1979 convention held in Houston, Texas, launched the conservative resurgence in the denomination, a movement pushed by the theologian Paige Patterson and the Houston judge Paul Pressler. In 2004, in a symposium at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Pressler said that the real movers in the Conservative resurgence who elected Rogers and the subsequent presidents were not he and Patterson but the independent-minded laypersons who came for years to the annual conventions to be heard.[4]

Ed McAteer, a prominent member of Rogers' congregation, was a figure in the Christian right who in 1979 co-founded the Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell, Howard Phillips, and others. That same year, he established the Religious Roundtable, which in 1980 was active in the successful campaign to elect Ronald W. Reagan as the U.S. President.[5]

Like many influential conservative pastors, Rogers participated in the advancement of a conservative political agenda in the United States. He stated that Christians have a duty to be involved in government.

Familial dynamics was a recurrent issue for Rogers. He focused most closely on fathers that he labeled "drop-out dads." According to Rogers, since the Bible emphasizes the paternal role in a family, the father should be the primary source of teaching in the home. He was critical of fathers who do not fulfill this role: "We have dads today that are interested in sports, business, and sex. They've forgotten their God-given assignments to teach the Ten Commandments ." He went on to say that social problems, such as gun violence, are the consequences of fathers avoiding this responsibility.

On the topic of pastoral endorsement of political candidates, he wrote 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 (and, under Internal Revenue Service regulations, a church could lose its tax-exempt status for doing so). He wrote 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."

In May 2003, 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 criticizes President Bush'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."

Cecil Sherman (the Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group of moderate Baptists who separated from the Southern Baptist Convention)[6] writes in his autobiography that he once questioned Rogers about biblical inerrancy with reference to New Testament passages that seem to support slavery. Sherman reports that Rogers replied: "I believe slavery is a much maligned institution; if we had slavery today, we would not have this welfare mess."[7][8] Rogers later signed a revised Baptist Faith and Message declaration stating that all races are equal before the Lord.[9][10]

Rogers was an adamant supporter of the anti-abortion movement, had stated that the institution of capital punishment is spiritually ordained, and (along with other Southern Baptists) supported a boycott of Disney because of the company's perceived promotion of homosexuality..

As a traditional Baptist, he opposed the use of alcohol and tobacco, frequently telling stories to warn of their dangers. One particular story tells of a father who learned that his daughter had died while driving drunk, vowed revenge towards whoever had sold her the alcohol, only to discover that she had taken the bottle from his own liquor cabinet.[11]

Rogers also preached against gambling. In one such message, he revealed he once witnessed to boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Paradise Island, Bahamas.[12]

• 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
• The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority
• What Every Christian Ought to Know
• Standing for Light and Truth
• Adrianisms (posthumous collection of quotes)
• Grace for the Widow (posthumous collection of unpublished material in appendix; book is written by his wife Joyce, to be published January 2009)

• Southern Baptist Convention
• List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated people
• Southern Baptist Convention Presidents
• Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence

• Ouramericanvalues.org
• Commercial Appeal article
• It Takes God to Make a Home
• The Uniqueness of Christian Experience
• Baptist Faith and Message 2000
• Video Broadcasts
• Baptist Faith and Message 2000
• Love Worth Finding by Adrian Rogers
• Adrian Rogers at Find a Grave