Non-Baptist?

Yesterday, the Baptist Press ran an article entitled “Belmont names 7 non-Baptists to join trustee board.” However, there is a serious problem with that headline. The article explains that of the eight new trustees there was only one who was part of a church affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC). The piece then described the seven “non-Baptists”:

The seven other trustees include three Presbyterians, two Disciples of Christ church members and one who is a Missionary Baptist. Also among the new trustees: C.C. Winans, a Grammy-winning contemporary Christian singer and member of a nondenominational church.

How is the one who is a member of a Missionary Baptist church not a Baptist? Sure, that individual is not affiliated with the TBC or even the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), but they are still Baptist. Unless the SBC and the Baptist Press think they get to decide who deserves to be called “Baptist” (which may actually be what’s going on). The article has other problems as it attacks the notion that Belmont should even have non-Baptist trustees and justifies the TBC’s unbiblical and wasteful lawsuit against the University. But this “Baptist” mistake should remind all of us to be more careful about casting people out and labeling them.