Why am I a baptist?

One of my friends asked me awhile back about why I was a baptist. She was asking me because of my frustration with the Southern Baptist Convention. Through doing a letting survey and finding the church for me, I was able to come to the reasoning of this to my soul. I wanted that reasoning to be deeper than being a preconception southern baptist.
Below is the response I gave to her:
Soooo...you once asked me why I was baptist. I have started various answers at different times. Since reading the news updates on and the blog exchange for NOBTS, I am reminded what is ingrained in my about being a baptist. Politically I don't enjoy the way many in the convention make God out to be. Granted I do believe that NOBTS is a special breed of staff and education. This was not something that I knew forsure before being there and at Southwestern. Here is a link to an article of focus as they clean up the seminary. http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=21828 This outreach mentallity is very much part of being a baptist to me. The Cooperative Program is for the shared funds to reach out. When I read that article I don't feel like Dr.Kelly is even hinting that some aren't called to help minister to this city. This is my upbringing. The education of missions was big when I was a child. I wanted my friends to be saved. (I almost lost my middle school best friend because I was so gunho and didn't understand how God could be accessed differently in a different denomination.) While I never took to the memorization of scriptures, I always understood that God said it and there aren't errors in it. Even with my liberal baptist college education, I still believe this. I think it is in the people that it gets screwed up in what we think it says. While there are other things that make being a baptist unique, these are the main two reasons that it is dear to my soul even when I feel hatred from those who make decisions as baptist leaders.
Point to ponder: Has my life been very baptist lately? Sadly no. I'm working on it again as I get to know my neighbors and build relationships with them. Oddly, it was during the time that I was doing FAITH that I shared with people the least. I somewhat wonder if that was partly do to my surroundings or if I forgot what sharing really was about. I am glad to be back to have the spirit of desire back in me to hold truth to God's word and to believe I can share with others about him.