GREENSBORO, N.C., June 13 (UPI) -- Recent division in the nation's largest Protestant denomination has prompted over 12,000 Southern Baptists to meet in Greensboro, N.C., this week.
The Nashville Tennessean reports that behind the internal conflict are major generational differences between Old Guard Baptists and younger preachers who want their voices heard.
"First and foremost, it's a power struggle," Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, told the Tennessean, "Southern Baptists still share a lot of common ground ... but there's no doubt a younger generation desires opportunities for leadership."
The convention will likely be the deciding ground for this conflict with the agenda calling for the election of a new president to preside over the 16 million Southern Baptists in America, the newspaper reports.
With the younger preachers hoping for cooperation with other churches and an overall updating of the church's protocols, the vote for president may decide the future for all Southern Baptists.
"The younger generation demands transparency, desires cooperation in the sense that the new generation is very missional; they disdain politics." said Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson, "They're about doing the ministry, what they want is everyone to cooperate in the mission. They don't like the idea of people being excluded."
