 February 24, 1999
Baptist Briefs
___ SBC won't recommend American Airlines. The Southern Baptist Convention has dropped Texas-based American Airlines from its list of recommended carriers for travel to SBC annual meetings. Convention officials cited American's "broken pledge" to stop supporting homosexual rights as the reason for the decision. Last spring, American "gave explicit assurances to Southern Baptists and others of the evangelical Christian community that it would not lend support to movements destructive of the family and society," said Bill Merrell, a vice president with the SBC Executive Committee. But American provided at least $75,000 to two pro-homosexual groups, he noted. The SBC and other groups have criticized the airlines for such contributions and pro-homosexual marketing ventures. In response, American officials said: "We are very sorry that these groups disagree with our company's policy of treating all customers and employees with kindness."
___ Baptist medicine headed to Cuba. The Baptist Medical-Dental Fellowship is making plans to send medical supplies, textbooks and witnessing tools to Cuba. The action builds upon the work of six medical volunteers who visited the island nation last fall. "This is a great opportunity to establish relationships with the health professionals of Cuba," noted James Williams, the fellowship's executive director. Cubans have trained medical professionals, but they have a shortage of medical supplies. Baptist medical personnel see the budding relationship as an opportunity to help people in need and to spread the gospel. For more information, call (901) 227-5971 or e-mail bmdf@compuserve.com.
___ Coppenger counters Dilday's prediction. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary expects to receive even "stronger support" from Texas Baptists, seminary President Mark Coppenger told Word & Way, the Missouri Baptist paper. Coppenger's remarks disputed a prediction by Russell Dilday, president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, who said he expected a proposal to cut Texas Baptist funds from several Southern Baptist Convention institutions, including Midwestern. "At Midwestern, we are gladly Southern Baptist in our unequivocal commitment to biblical inerrancy, to the new Baptist Faith and Message article on the family, to a male pastorate and to the rights of the unborn," Coppenger said. "I have to think that the basic Texas Southern Baptist would applaud this."
___ Attention shoppers: WMU goes online. Woman's Missionary Union has opened a bookstore on the Internet at www.wmustore.com. The online store presents services by author, title, subject, reading level and price. Credit card transfers are protected by encryption software.
___ Hispanics to be prompted for missions. Jason Carlisle, a Southern Baptist missionary to Uruguay since 1976, has been selected to help mobilize Hispanic Southern Baptists to meet world missions needs. Carlisle, 47, grew up in Uruguay as the son of Southern Baptist missionaries. He is a native of Texas' Rio Grande Valley. In his new capacity, Carlisle will develop relationships with Hispanic leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, identifying missions involvement needs of Hispanic churches and providing resources to help them be more effective in world missions.
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