Baptist Briefs
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Rogers leaves BJC. Melissa Rogers, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee, will leave the post this week to begin work at a newly created think tank on religion and public life. Rogers will become executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a new venture being funded by Pew Charitable Trusts.
___ Missionaries evacuate. International Mission Board representatives forced to evacuate the West Bank and Gaza Strip are deeply concerned for those they left behind and are pleading with Southern Baptists to pray for peace in the Middle East. About a dozen workers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip took the advice of the United States embassy and left their homes Oct. 12 and 13 as violence intensified. Packing hastily, they drove along back roads toward heavily guarded border crossings.
___ Mohler defends BF&M. Anyone who rejects the Southern Baptist Convention's newly revised Baptist Faith & Message stands apart from mainstream Southern Baptists and threatens the denomination's doctrinal integrity, Al Mohler argues in the November issue of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's magazine. "Those who reject the Baptist Faith & Message demonstrate how far they now stand from the denomination's mainstream," writes Mohler, seminary president. More than half the magazine deals with the new Baptist Faith & Message. In addition to articles by Mohler, the magazine features writing by Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.
___ Injured missionary walks. Wade Watts may not be walking on water like Peter, but for him, walking in water is every bit as miraculous. Watts was a Southern Baptist missionary to Peru in 1996 when he and his wife, Nancy, and their two sons, Marcus and Joshua, were involved in a serious car accident. Watts and Marcus, then 9, fell into deep comas after the collision. To everyone's amazement, Marcus made a 90 percent recovery, and his father recently was able to walk in a pool of water. His therapists say he is showing normal bilateral movement in his hips and gait. "There is still a good possibility he'll be able to walk; the only question is when," Nancy Watts said. "It's not if; it's when."
___ New Orleans trustees affirm BF&M. In a motion approved by hearty applause, trustees voted to affirm New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley for his work in helping develop the revised version of the Baptist Faith & Message. Trustees also showed their support by affixing their signatures to the Baptist Faith & Message, joining the seminary faculty, who previously affirmed the revised statement as a doctrinal standard for their teaching.
___ SBTC hires Ledbetter, Kumpe. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has hired a global prayer strategist from the SBC International Mission Board and a Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary vice president to new staff positions. Carra Kumpe left the IMB to begin her assignment of directing women's ministries and prayer support for the new state convention Oct. 16. Gary Ledbetter, vice president for student development at Midwestern, has been named communications director beginning Jan. 1. He previously was editor of the Indiana Baptist.
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