'Outsider' takes helm of the Southern Baptist Convention

From the AP in today's WSJ:

GREENSBORO — The Southern Baptist Convention elected Frank Page its new president yesterday, choosing a pastor who had said that it would take a "miracle" for him to win and heralding a new direction for the denomination. Page's surprising win over two higher-profile candidates follows years of tightly scripted politics and intolerance of internal dissent. He called his victory evidence that Southern Baptists believe that "we could do together a lot more and a lot better than what we can do separately."
...Rallying around Page were a group of younger pastors and others who have felt marginalized by an older generation that led the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 1970s and 1980s. Some have dissented on theological issues like whether strict Calvinists and charismatic Christians should be welcome in the denomination, while at least one has been reprimanded for airing concerns on his Internet blog.

Wow. This is surprising. Even the SBC's getting 'liberal' — comparatively, at least.