The late Dr. Colon Smith thought the acrostic B-A-P-T-I-S-T is harmful in teaching the Baptist distinctive rather than helpful. For example, Dr. Smith asks, “Where is the “C” for congregational rule in the acrostic?” Dr. Smith tells of a church that changed its form of government form congregational to elder rule. The pastor sent a challenging letter to the sate association, saying congregational church government is unbiblical. This pastor further claimed that our fellowship must not believe in congregational government because there’s no “C” in the B-A-P-T-I-S-T acrostic. Apparently, someone took the B-A-P-T-I-S-T acrostic as the official definition of the Baptist distinctive, and not simply a handy artificial memory device!