GREENSBORO, N.C. — The surprise pick for president of the Southern Baptist Convention says he'll stand up for the denomination's conservative beliefs, but he'll do it with a smile.

"I believe in the Word of God," says the Rev. Frank Page. "I'm just not mad about it."

The pastor from South Carolina comes from outside the conservative leadership that has held tight control of the nation's largest Protestant denomination for more than a decade. But he cautions that does not represent a move toward the political middle for a group fervently opposed to abortion and gay sex.

In his campaign, and after winning Tuesday over two better-known SBC leaders, Page proclaimed his credentials as a conservative and a believer that the Bible is the unerring Word of God. But he also was blunt about his determination to perform cosmetic surgery on the face that the SBC presents to the nation.

Asked how he would determine who would have a voice in Southern Baptist leadership under his presidency, Page cited "a sweet spirit" as the first requirement.

SBC leaders have often come off as filled with righteous fury in recent years, a carry-over from the vicious battle for control of the denomination that conservatives and moderates waged in the 1970s and 1980s. The struggle ended when moderates dropped out of SBC politics in the early 1990s, but a confrontational tone had been set for a generation of conservative SBC leaders.

In 1997, the Southern Baptists adopted a resolution calling for a boycott of The Walt Disney Co. after it decided to offer benefits to partners of gay employees. SBC declarations banned women pastors and declared that wives should "submit graciously" to their husbands. On Wednesday, the SBC's annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that anyone who drinks alcohol be barred from leadership positions.

Page was victorious over Ronnie Floyd, pastor of a northwest Arkansas megachurch, and Jerry Sutton, who leads a congregation in Nashville, Tenn.

Many see the Page's victory as the start of a new era.

But Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest University's School of Divinity and a frequent critic of SBC leadership, is less sure that the Southern Baptists have reached a turning point. He noted that Sutton and Floyd likely split the traditional conservative vote, allowing Page to eke out his win.

"Whether it becomes a 'kinder, gentler' denomination, publicly, depends on how much the traditional leadership — especially certain seminary presidents — respond," he wrote in an e-mail.

"Page's narrow election may give false hope to many," said Robert Parham of Nashville's Baptist Center for Ethics, which also opposes the SBC leadership. "Even if Page wants to pursue a reformation, he can't overturn decades of fundamentalist control and organizations stocked with fundamentalist employees."

Page says his election should not be viewed as a harbinger of moderating Southern Baptist philosophy. But he did say he hopes for a "broadening" of voices heard within the denomination and embraced the notion of a "kinder, gentler" SBC.

"For too long, Baptists have been known for what we're against," he said. "It's time to say, 'Please, let us tell what we're for: That there is a life-transforming, relevant-to-today's-people message that we have to share.' "