'Thanks Lotz,' say global Baptists, Billy Graham to retiring BWA head

'Thanks Lotz,' say global Baptists, Billy Graham to retiring BWA head

Denton Lotz is a great person and I am proud to say a friend of mine over the years. I had the joy of knowing him as a professor at Ruschlikon and then in his early years with the BWA He will be sorely missed by world Baptist.

In responding, Lotz expressed his appreciation and issued a plea for unity. "One of the great doctrines of the Christian faith is unity," he said. "Therefore, I would pray with you and plead with you to work for the unity of Baptists. Jesus prayed that we might be one and this was an evangelistic prayer. Why should we be one? That the world might believe! Our lack of unity means that the world cannot believe."
That unity was sorely tested in 2004, when the Southern Baptist Convention voted to withdraw from the BWA. The denomination's conservative leadership alleged that the global group had become too open to moderate Baptists in the United States, Western Europe and elsewhere in the world. However, the SBC convinced only a handful of fundamentalist Baptists in former Soviet-bloc countries to join their crusade.
In concluding, Lotz told the story of when he decided to retire from BWA. He referred to a night when his wife, Janice, was out of town on an overnight trip. Feeling lonely and somewhat uneasy about being alone, he began to reflect on the nights he had left her alone as he traveled. Realizing that he had spent the equivalent of 10 years of their marriage away from her, he decided it was time for him to retire so they could be together.

Go to the BWA cite to learn more about BWA. http://www.bwanet.org/

Go to this link: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=438 to read Dr. Lotz's retirement statement.