The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980 Page: 40
464 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
vention), and William R. White (president of Baylor University), to de-
termine how Baptists could most effectively deal with social issues. After
a few preliminary meetings this committee evolved into the Committee
of Seven, which in turn, after a year of study, proposed the creation of
the Christian Life Commission of Texas. In selecting a name for the new
agency, Miller later recalled that the word "social" had been carefully
avoided because of the connotations it possessed for some fellow Bap-
tists. Although Miller failed to elaborate, perhaps he was thinking of the
tendency of some churchmen to link "social" with theological liberalism.
This also probably explains why the Committee of Seven established a
new agency instead of attempting to work through previously estab-
lished social service agencies. In any event, Texas was the first state to
have a Christian Life Commission, and Miller was its first executive
secretary.23
The first meeting of the Christian Life Commission was held in Dal-
las, March 5-6, 1951. Miller, who believed his principal task was to
awaken Texas Baptists to social issues, including race, observed that the
Christian Life Commission initially was not an impressive operation. In
addition to the executive secretary, there were only two staff workers-
an office secretary and a field worker, Foy Valentine. Although opposi-
tion to the Commission developed later, said Miller, there was none in
1950-1951.24
At this juncture, the influence of Texas Baptists was extended well
beyond the state. In 1952 the sixty-three year old Miller resigned
from the Texas Christian Life Commission to become the executive
secretary on January 1, 1953, of the Social Service Commission of the
Southern Baptist Convention. The Social Service Commission, estab-
lished in 1913, had become quite unpopular in several states. The edi-
tors of the Baptist Standard (Texas), Christian Index (Georgia), and
Western Recorder (Kentucky) were highly critical of the agency. In
July, 1953, partially to allay criticism, the Social Service Commission
emulated Texas Baptists and changed its name to the Christian Life
Commission. There had been growing opposition among Southern Bap-
tists, observed Miller, to the word "social." Of a more substantive nature,
Miller endeavored to ease suspicions of the new Christian Life Com-
mission of the Southern Baptist Convention by avoiding a sociological
approach to the problems of society, stressing instead a Biblical ap-
230ral Memoirs, Maston, 37, 97-99; Oral Memoirs, Miller, 82, 88, 104.
240ral Memoirs, Miller, 64-71, 79-92.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980, periodical, 1979/1980; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101207/m1/60/: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.