“They’re out of touch with the text and the times,” he said of denomination leaders who have taken an “anti-tongues” line.

Southern Baptists have traditionally been wary of speaking in tongues — a practice associated with Pentecostals and other “charismatic” Christians who attribute their ecstatic, unintelligible utterances to the Holy Spirit.

But Baptists are also known for allowing individual congregations and believers much leeway in religious practice. And some Baptists have joined McKissic in opposing a Southern Baptist Convention policy against hiring foreign missionary candidates who have ecstatic utterances in private prayer. ...