Brownwood Religion ? Michael Bell would be welcomed at our table !
New Texas Baptist leader has long spoken out against injustice
11:12 AM CST on Friday, January 27, 2006
By SELWYN CRAWFORD / The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH – The Rev. Michael Bell's approach to life is alarmingly simple.
DARON DEAN/DMN
The Rev. Michael Bell, preaching at Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church, is well known for his social activism in Tarrant County.
"Either you're a prophet, or you're nothing," the pastor of the Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church.
And it's clear that Dr. Bell sees himself as a prophet – for minority schoolchildren when he thinks they're being treated unfairly, for those who seek justice in the courts, for the members of his Fort Worth congregation and for the 2.5 million Texas Baptists he now leads.
In November, the 54-year-old pastor was elected president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the first African-American to lead the group in its 120-year history. He succeeded the group's first Hispanic president, the Rev. Albert Reyes of San Antonio.
The Rev. Charles Wade, executive director of the BGCT, said Dr. Bell's race isn't, and never should have been, an issue.
"It may be a novelty to others, but for us, it was just a process we found very natural," said Dr. Wade, the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Arlington.
"It should have happened sooner, but we're glad it happened now. This isn't artificial. Michael served on the executive board for a long time ... and he had earned the respect of key people across the state."
But not enough, apparently, to keep his nomination from going unchallenged – a fact that upset some of his supporters. It's been customary for the Baptist General Convention of Texas to elect its president without opposition. Dr. Bell found himself with an opponent, a white minister from Brownwood. (Dr. Bell won by a 4-1 margin.)
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Baptist General Convention of Texas official Web site
David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed and the man who nominated Dr. Bell for president, said he didn't think the opposition effort was racially motivated.
"The person who ran against him did not run against Michael," he said. "He was going to run regardless of who was running. He was making a protest about something else. He just picked an inappropriate time to protest."
Protesting to make a point is nothing new to Michael Bell. Throughout the 1990s, he took part in a number of high-profile actions to draw attention to what he and others perceived as injustices.
He first gained widespread attention in 1993, when he led a group of pastors to the Tarrant County Justice Center after an all-white jury gave a white man, Christopher Brosky, probation for killing a black man.
Dr. Bell demanded to meet with the judge in the case. The judge asked his colleagues what he should do. They told him to meet with Dr. Bell – and quickly.
Eventually, the Tarrant County district attorney's office retried Mr. Brosky in Galveston on conspiracy charges in connection with the case. He was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
"When Brosky was given that [original probated] sentence, I could not help but do what I felt I was supposed to do," Dr. Bell said in a recent interview.
"Did I receive threats? Yes. Was I the object of ridicule and negative press? Yes. Did I do what I believe God would have had me do? Yes.
"The only thing I regret is that we didn't move sooner," he said with a faint smile.
The Rev. Howard Caver, pastor of Fort Worth's World Missionary Baptist Church, has known Dr. Bell for 20 years. He was the one who sought out Dr. Bell's leadership in the Brosky case.
"He gets the attention of people because of his forthrightness," said Mr. Carver. "He doesn't run away from a fight."
In 1996, Dr. Bell and others began protesting what they said were inequities in how minority youngsters were being educated by the Fort Worth Independent School District. In particular, Dr. Bell criticized the district's magnet school program, which he said favored white students.
Dr. Bell said he and others tried to get district officials to listen, first at school board meetings, then by picketing at district headquarters and then at the magnet schools.
Those actions, he said, went practically unnoticed.
"When we were out at the magnet schools ... the police would just drive by and wave at us."
So the protesters moved to Tanglewood Elementary School, a wealthy, predominantly white school on the city's southwest side. Soon Dr. Bell was drawing comparisons to Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price – and in Fort Worth's easy-does-it atmosphere, that wasn't a good thing.
But his protests made Tanglewood parents press the district to resolve the issue. The school board agreed to changes in the magnet program that Dr. Bell said make it more equitable.
Judy Needham, the longtime Fort Worth school trustee whose district includes Tanglewood, said she's known Dr. Bell for years and is convinced that he only wanted what was best for the city's schoolchildren.
"I found him to be very honorable," she said. "He's very caring. He's very straightforward.
"We came to be good friends, and I admire him for what he's done."
Dr. Bell was born in Marshall, Texas, and raised in Fort Worth. He returned to Marshall to get his bachelor's degree in social studies from Wiley College in 1973 and eventually got a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1981. (His doctorate in ministry is from the Interdenominational Theological Center and Morehouse School of Religion in Atlanta.)
But he said his true education came in the mid-1970s, when he moved to Washington to get his first master's degree, in divinity, at Howard University.
"When I was in D.C., I heard everybody," he said. "I heard Jesse Jackson in a revival before he was Jesse Jackson. Ben Chavis Muhammad [the former NAACP executive director] was a classmate of mine at Howard. There was nobody who was anybody that we didn't hear about. So when you get in that kind of environment, you can't help but be inspired."
Dr. Bell took over at Greater St. Stephen in 1985, when the church had fewer than 40 members and met in a rickety building on East Berry Street. Now it has 800 members. The church is still on Berry, but it meets in much more pleasant quarters, a newer building across the street from the old one. Community activism remains a staple.
The inspiration to get involved in the social fabric of the community continues to mold Dr. Bell today.
"When injustice goes on, or there's a lack of fairness, or people are being denigrated, then what does the church do? We do what Jesus would do," he said.
"Our responsibility is to make a redemptive difference. If we fail that, we fail our assignment."
It is that zeal, Dr. Wade said, that will make his friend the perfect president for the BGCT.
"I think he is already and will be a very popular, appreciated leader," Dr. Wade said. "Wherever he goes, people who don't know him learn to admire and appreciate him."
He said Dr. Bell's forthrightness and integrity, combined with his conciliatory skills, could be helpful if new opportunities arise for the Texas convention to work with the national Southern Baptist Convention leadership. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is the largest state group within the SBC, but the national group's leaders are generally far more conservative, theologically and politically, and the Texas group has distanced itself from them in recent years.
"We are seeking to do the work of God and we are working with all Baptists who want to work with us," Dr. Wade said.
"He recognizes things that are wrong, and he is committed to making them right as best he can. But in the midst of it, it's about love. He's trying to do something to help people because he cares for them."
It's that care, combined with Dr. Bell's concern for justice, that drew Melanie Harris to Greater St. Stephen a few months ago.
"It was the activist spirit aligned with the gospel of Jesus Christ that led me to join with Pastor Bell," said Dr. Harris, an assistant professor of religion and ethics at Texas Christian University.
"He's the perfect example of one who embraces scholarship and activism with the core of the gospel message. He's a caring and loving pastor, a pastor who cares about you Sunday to Sunday. In this day and time, it's hard to find a pastor like that."
E-mail scrawford@dallasnews.com
THE REV. MICHAEL BELL
Born: March 17, 1951, Marshall, Texas
Occupation: Minister of the Gospel; senior pastor, Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church, Fort Worth
Family: Wife, Mary Louise; children, "grown and gone"
Education: Bachelor of science, Wiley College, 1973; master of divinity, Howard University, 1976; master of arts, University of Texas at Tyler, 1981; doctor of ministry, Interdenominational Theological Center and Morehouse School of Religion, 1985
Favorite Bible verse: John 9:4 ("I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.")
If I weren't a preacher, I'd be: A professor of criminal justice
Religious leader I most admire: The late Leon Wright, New Testament professor, Howard University
Political leader I most admire: Martin Luther King Jr.
My friends know they can count on me to: Be honest with them
No matter how hard I try, I cannot: Sing
My greatest weakness: Not stopping to enjoy the moment
My greatest strength: My ability to stay focused
I hope to be remembered for: Making a difference in the lives of my community and of people, period
New Year's resolution I haven't kept: Get more rest
Favorite food: Seaweed
Favorite book: The Art of War
I've always wanted to visit: Africa
I wish I could: Do a better job of helping our children.
I drive: A 1996 Jetta
My radio is tuned to: The Oasis
It would surprise people to know that my CD collection includes: Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix
Athlete I idolized as a kid: Jim Brown
I get angry when: People are treated inhumanely
WHOLE LOTTA BAPTISTS
As president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Rev. Michael Bell leads the largest state group within the Southern Baptist Convention.
Here's a look at its size and reach:
•2.5 million members
•5,700 churches
•Nine universities
•Five medical centers
•Four children's homes
•Texas Baptist Men, a
relief organization that responds to disasters around the world
•The Baptist Standard, a biweekly newspaper
•BaptistWay Press, which supplies free and low-cost resources to churches across the state
SOURCE: The Baptist General Convention of Texas
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/012806dnrelbell.1f63c705.html
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