NASHVILLE, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The president of the Southern Baptist Convention says the denomination needs a new name to give it greater appeal across the United States.
Bryant Wright told the executive committee Monday that he has already acted on that belief, setting up a 19-member study committee, The Tennessean reported. Its members include the Rev. Jimmy Draper, who presided over the change when the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board became LifeWay Christian Resources in the 1990s.
"There are not a lot of folks in New York City interested in going to a Southern Baptist church," Wright said. "Or in Cheyenne, Wyoming, or Boise, Idaho."
Southern Baptist membership dropped in 2010 for the fourth year in a row. There were 332,321 baptisms last year, fewer than at any time in almost 60 years.
The denomination, the largest Protestant group in the United States, was founded in 1845 in a split with northern Baptists over slavery. The church has rejected eight attempts to change its name since 1965, most recently in 2004.
