Morris H. Chapman, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a figure in the denomination’s Conservative Resurgence movement, has died at age 84.
Also a former president of the SBC’s Executive Committee, Chapman died on Monday, just weeks before he would have turned 85, according to the Baptist Press.
“Morris Chapman led with passion and integrity,” said SBC EC President Jeff Iorg, as quoted by BP. “He was a champion for cooperation and our global mission.”
“He was also a friend who encouraged me for many years, including after my election as president of the EC. We honor him and pray for his family in their loss.”
Former SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President, Dr. Richard Land, who knew Chapman for several years, provided The Christian Post with a statement on his passing.
“Morris was a man of courage and conviction, and, at the same time, seeking to be a reconcilier,” stated Land, who also serves as CP’s executive editor. “He and his wife, Jodi, were tremendous assets for Southern Baptists.”
Benjamin Cole, a pastor who tweets as The Baptist Blogger and is known for his criticism of SBC leadership, gave his condolences in a statement to Baptist News Global. “He will be fondly remembered by honest churchmen as a trustworthy ballast during seasons of theological retrieval and institutional realignment,” stated Cole.
“He was a source of unimpeachable personal integrity and administrative stability when it was most needed among his brethren,” added Cole. “And unlike too many of his contemporaries, the closer I got to him the more I saw that looked like Jesus. I will miss him greatly.”
Born on Thanksgiving Day 1940 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, Chapman earned a master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Chapman served as pastor of multiple churches, including the prominent SBC congregation First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, Texas, from 1979-92.
Chapman became part of the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC, which was a movement within the denomination that led to the ousting of theological modernists and liberals from leadership positions.
Chapman was the last conservative SBC presidential nominee to face a moderate challenger when he was elected in 1990. The following year, he ran for reelection unopposed.
After two years as SBC president, Chapman became president of the SBC Executive Committee, serving in the role from 1992 until his retirement in 2010.
Chapman heavily promoted the SBC Cooperative Program, which funds international and national ministries of the denomination, and is credited with helping to grow its allocation budget receipts by 44%.
According to BP, while Chapman was SBC EC president, giving through the Cooperative Program to state Baptist conventions hit a record high in 2007-2008 of approximately $548,200,000.
At a chapel service held at Southwestern Seminary exactly three years before he died, Chapman told those gathered that “our one objective is to lead others to know Jesus as we know Him.”
“I told God early on I cannot preach,” Chapman said. “You know what God did? He said, ‘Well, son, we’ll just look at that.’ He said, ‘I think I will call you to preach.’”
“I trusted Him maybe 99 percent, but I was not sure. But He is faithful. […] I am a living example of how God can take the common and do with it the uncommon.”
