 May 5, 1999
Baptist Briefs
___ Virginia examining university ties. Ties between Virginia Baptists and the University of Richmond will be examined by a task force named April 13 in response to the university's decision to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy. The seven-member task force was created by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's executive committee. Trustees of the University of Richmond expanded the school's non-discrimination policy March 5 to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians in student, faculty and staff recruitment and promotion.
___ Deweese to head Historical Society. Charles Deweese, former assistant executive director of the Southern Baptist Historical Commission, has been named executive director of the Southern Baptist Historical Society. He succeeds Slayden Yarborough, history professor at Oklahoma Baptist University. For the past four years, Deweese has been director of denominational publishing with Providence House Publishers in Nashville, Tenn.
___ Pastor beheaded. Russian Baptist leaders have confirmed reports that Aleksandr Kulakov, 65, a Baptist pastor in Grozny, Chechnya, has been beheaded. His head reportedly was displayed in an open market area, and police invited church members to come to a public morgue in an effort to identify his body. Kulakov disappeared March 12 and was widely believed to have been kidnapped by radical Islamic forces in the area. He had led the struggling Baptist congregation in Grozny since its previous pastor, Alexei Sitnikov, was kidnapped in October 1998. There have been no ransom demands or reports of his whereabouts.
___ Indonesians ask prayer. Indonesian Baptist leaders expressed thanks to the Baptist World Alliance for a recent letter of support and asked prayer for their country, racked by religious and political conflicts, conflicts sometimes directed against the minority Chinese population in Indonesia. "It seems we are facing a war," said Guntur and Ingrid Subagyo, leaders of the Union of Indonesian Baptist Churches. They described their country as on the brink of terror after a bombing in the basement of Jakarta's main mosque.
___ Dean to direct LifeWay fund raising. Trevie Dean, vice president for institutional advancement at California Baptist University has accepted the newly created position of director of capital resources at LifeWay Christian Resources. He will direct efforts to underwrite and endow capital asset needs and ministry projects. Dean previously served as church business administrator/ minister of education at Woods Chapel Baptist Church in Arlington.
___ Cutrer to Southern. William Cutrer has been named associate professor of Christian ministry at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Curtrer, a medical doctor, is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. He is former pastor of Wildwood Baptist Church in Dallas and former director of the Christian Medical/Dental Society in Richardson.
___ Patterson invites Baptists to Atlanta. Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson has invited Southern Baptists to attend the 1999 SBC annual meeting in Atlanta and help fulfill the convention theme, "His Tears, Our Task." The annual meeting will be held June 15-16. "My request is that you join us in a giant prayer meeting and strategy planning session led by the North American Mission Board in the preconvention Arms Around Atlanta effort, culminating in Crossover Metro Atlanta (an evangelistic blitz) from June 6-19, as we gear our hearts toward the evangelization of the great unreached masses in the cities of our country," he said.
___ Scholarship honors Young. Members of four churches have established a scholarship at Louisiana College in memory of Sid Young, who was pastor of First Baptist Church of Paris until his death in February. That church has contributed, along with Rocky Springs Baptist Church of Lisbon, La.; First Baptist Church of Natchitoches, La.; and First Baptist Church of Holly Springs, Miss.
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