Chapman on Calvinism

"The vast majority of Southern Baptists are well-documented as believing that the Word of God teaches [that] the sovereignty of God convicts the heart of man, and he responds to that conviction by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ," Chapman said.

"If there is any doctrine of grace that drives men to argue and to debate more than it drives them to pursue lost souls and persuade all men to be reconciled to God, then it is not a doctrine that will form a foundation for a fervent fulfillment of the Great Commission," he said.

Southern Baptists must come together around the Bible rather than some man's theology, Chapman said, and acknowledge that both God's sovereignty and a believer's faithfulness to share Christ are necessary elements for salvation.

---- Morris H. Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee and treasurer for the convention, delivering the Executive Committee's report to messengers gathered the morning of June 23, 2009, at the SBC annual meeting, being held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

Source: Baptist Press