MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- The Rev.
Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist
Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the faith, died
early Tuesday in Memphis. He was 74.

His death was announced
by Baptist Press News and by Rogers' Love Worth Finding ministry.
Officials of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention Executive
Committee didn't immediately return calls seeking comment. Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his ministry's Web site said. Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the convention. His
election turned out to a be a watershed moment for the denomination,
and the 16-million-member group shifted dramatically to the right
politically and theologically In the years that followed, conservative leaders pushed hard against abortion rights, homosexuality and women pastors. Rogers also was elected president of the SBC in 1986 and 1987. He was pastor of the 28,000-member Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis for 32 years, retiring this past March.
"There's
no one in this country I respect more than Adrian Rogers," Focus on the
Family's Dr. James Dobson said on Rogers' last day as pastor. "You draw
me to Christ. When I'm with you, I feel closer to the Lord."
Among those who attended Rogers' final sermon were Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, and Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tennessee.
During
his career, Rogers conducted religious crusades in Taiwan, South Korea,
Israel, Russia, Romania, and in Central and South America.
In 2003 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the National Religious Broadcasters.
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