An Interview With Dr. R. Albert Mohler

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., current president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a candidate for the SBC presidency in Indianapolis, IN in June, has graciously granted my request for an interview. This interview was conducted by telephone on Thursday, January 31, 2008. Many thanks to Dr. Mohler for making time for me in his busy schedule.

The interview as follows is a verbatim account of my questions and Dr. Mohler's responses. I have taken the liberty of abbreviating "Southern Baptist Convention" as "SBC."

Question: The past two presidents of the SBC have had certain emphases that distinguished their presidencies. Dr. Welch emphasized evangelism and Dr. Page has been emphasizing unity and praying for revival. What will be the main emphasis of your presidency?

Dr. Mohler's Response: Well I don't want to be presumptuous but if Southern Baptists should elect me then I would focus on two main issues as my theme, that would be "Word and World." To focus on the fact that we have the Word of God and must be a scriptural people, a passionately biblical people. And that means in this generation, reaffirming what it means to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, to preserve the treasure that's been entrusted to us. And to make certain that we are teaching our people the great doctrines of the Christian faith so that they know how to live, believe, and think as Christians.

The second word would be "World." In order to point to the Great Commission and to the fact that God is to be honored among the nations, the name of Christ is to be made great among the nations, and that we have a responsibility to take the gospel knowing that all persons everywhere need to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only message of salvation.

So, in so far as I could summarize what my hope would be, I would put it into those two words.

Question: In recent years there has been a resurgence of Reformed Theology in the SBC, mainly among young pastors. As a Reformed theologian, what do you think your election as the president of the SBC, if you are elected, will say about the impact of Reformed theology in the SBC?

Dr. Mohler's Response: Well I can say with full honesty that my goal is not to be the Reformed or Calvinist President of the SBC, but to serve all Southern Baptists in a way that would make them proud. I think the most important thing is that there has been a resurgence of theology in the SBC. I take that as a great sign of health. I think it is a sign of God's blessing that we are beginning to discuss some of the great theological issues of the faith. To really talk to each other about what the gospel means, and how we know that God takes delight in showing His glory in the salvation of sinners through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

I am Reformed and I believe Southern Baptists would want a president of deep conviction and clear conviction. My hope would be that we would see Southern Baptists reclaim what it means to be a deeply theological people. Not just so that we can sit around and talk theology but so that armed with that truth we can go out and bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, see persons come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, see persons saved by the grace and mercy of God and see God glorified in His church as we live out the commandments of the New Testament.

Question: In the SBC, 83% of our churches have an average attendance of less than 200 in Sunday morning worship, therefore the SBC is overwhelmingly a convention of small churches. What is your view of the role of the small church in the SBC?

Dr. Mohler's Response: It's interesting, just for a moment, to realize that many of the churches we now describe as small would have been large at other times. We have a new phenomenon in America and other places of the world as well, where the rise of great cities and metropolitan areas has provided the missiological context for the development of super large congregations. While these are not unprecedented in the history of the church, you could go all the way back to Jerusalem for that kind of model, it is not the experience of most Christians who have been a part of small congregations located in towns and villages and hamlets all over the world. The SBC is not unique in the fact that most of our churches are still small churches. We need to make sure that those small congregations know that the issue is not about size; it's about faithfulness. I would just want to encourage churches of every size to be faithful to the opportunities given us in our community in light of the Great Commission. I was pastor of a small church and my wife and I still maintain friendships out of the small church I served as pastor. I am very thankful that the backbone of this denomination is made up of churches where around the bend, over the hill, and around the corner you'll find a faithful congregation serving to the glory of God.

Question: Although we're a convention of small churches, it seems that the majority of SBC board and agency nominations seem to go to representatives of much larger churches. What do you propose to do to get more small church representation on our boards and agencies?

Dr. Mohler's Response: That is a great question and it has a lot to do with the fact that the reality is we know who we know. That simple human formula explains a great deal about everything from local politics to family reunions and the SBC. One of the things we need is a better way of getting to know small church pastors, many of whom are unable to be at some of the meetings where others are present. Some of these churches have bi-vocational pastors. All of this is just a reminder to us that we need some better networks to get to know who these pastors are. One of the things I want to do is to help create those networks so that we can find those pastors of smaller churches who really do need to be deeply involved in Southern Baptist life. Now I want to point out that I think this is happening. I think when you look at the composition of our boards and agencies right now, you're likely to see a greater representation of pastors of smaller churches than was the case even ten years ago.

Question: You were a member of the BFM2K committee that fashioned our confession of faith. Recently some have called for the BFM2K to be amended to address the issues of "tongues" and "alien immersion." What's your position on amending the confession of faith to address these or any other issues of theology?

Dr. Mohler's Response: Two good questions arise there. Both of them, by the way, were considered by the committee when we did our work. The committee was unanimous in thinking that our confession of faith was adequately clear on those matters. For instance, on the matter of tongues, the confession is, first of all, very, very clear in the fact of its silence. It doesn't speak directly to tongues which means very clearly that Southern Baptists do not see this as a normative experience for Christians and for churches today. Also, the confession already stated, and was strengthened in stating, that there is no second experience of the Holy Spirit that is normative for the Christian life. That should be very clear about that issue in terms of where most Southern Baptists are. When I say most, I mean the vast majority. On "alien immersion." it's interesting that that issue comes up again. I think the confession is just exceedingly clear in defining what believer's baptism by immersion is. I think that's the most important thing.

There are always questions that arise as you work through these issues in the local church or on a mission board or a seminary faculty and a confession of faith can never be encyclopedic. I would suggest to us that it better not be like a first aid kit where we're always looking to find a new band-aid for a new theological question. It ought to speak, most importantly, to those issues that are the basic doctrines, the cherished doctrines that we hold together that define who we are. I am convinced that the Baptist Faith and Message is adequate as it is. You just never know as time goes forward what kind of questions Southern Baptists might be called upon to answer in years to come.

Question: What is your position on SBC boards and agencies developing doctrinal policy which goes beyond the agreed upon confession of faith?

Dr. Mohler's Response: I guess there are two levels of an answer to that question. At the first level, I think it's clear that Southern Baptist institutions are not to be moving in a direction contrary to the SBC and certainly to the confession of faith. When you start thinking about it, that's exactly what the Southern Baptist controversy was all about going back to the 1970s and beyond. It really was the issue, confessional fidelity and whether we would expect every one of our professors, all of our agency personnel to affirm the Baptist Faith and Message as an act of fidelity with Southern Baptists. I would say the second level, as a seminary president, that there are issues that are not addressed by the Baptist Faith and Message. And I would argue should not be addressed, going back to the fact that there are an endless number of possible issues that could arise in any hiring situation. All Southern Baptist agencies and institutions have to have some policies that go far beyond what is in the Baptist Faith and Message. Most of these relate to issues that would be of absolutely no controversy or consequence in terms of the questions we would ask of anyone who would be an employee. Questions related to moral character and marriage. Questions related to the kinds of things that a local church would ask. None of these things are directly addressed in the Baptist Faith and Message. It would not be the appropriate place to address them within the confession. But there are also new issues that emerge. The Baptist Faith and Message was revised in the year 2000. We are not yet eight years past that date and already there are some new issues that have arisen. Most of these will never be a part of the confession of faith, though they are nonetheless very important. Let me give you an example. I would not hire someone to teach at Southern Seminary who did not believe in an historical Adam and an historical Eve. But neither Adam nor Eve is mentioned in the confession of faith. I'm absolutely certain that Southern Baptists would want me to hire only professors who believe in an historical Adam and an historical Eve. No one's complaining about seminaries using that as a criteria. But on these other issues, some of very contemporary controversy, I think we need to trust the trustee process. I think we need to trust that Southern Baptists will do the right thing over time. If we work together, pray for each other, love each other, and actually talk to each other, we can make a great deal of headway in removing any controversy over these questions.

Question: Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you would like to say to the people of the SBC and to small church leaders as well?

Dr. Mohler's Response: I would just hope, Les, that as we think about our convention we'd remember that it is a convention of churches. The most important thing is not what happens in the denomination's agencies and entities, it's what happens in local churches. If we do not have faithful, vibrant, scriptural, evangelistic, missions passionate local churches, then the denomination won't matter. If we do have those healthy churches, everything else will fall into place. That's what I hope to see and encouraged for the future.