Dr. Richard Land, president emeritus of Southern Evangelical Seminary, says Chapman was a leader of the so-called “Conservative Resurgence” that peaked in the SBC during the 1980s.
An SBC leader involved in the Conservative Resurgence means that person was rejecting liberal theology, which was wooing other Protestant denominations to move away from biblical teachings on sin and redemption, evangelizing the lost, and the reliability of scripture.
“Morris was a man of deep faith but he also was fearless,” Land remembers. “I mean, he was fearless in his pursuit of scriptural principles.”
An article by Baptist Press said Chapman, a Mississippi native, was called into the ministry at age 12. He gave his life to Christ at age 7 at First Baptist Church in Laurel, Miss.
After graduating from Mississippi College, Chapman earned master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the ministry at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn.
When he served as SBC president, Chapman focused on spiritual awakening and on the importance of family ministry, because he viewed the family as the “moral fiber of the nation,” according to the Baptist Press story.
“He was willing to lay it all on the line,” Land says. “I'll get into a foxhole with him anytime. He's with the Lord now. He's out of pain. He's in eternity.”
