Baptist Briefs
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693 Texans went to SBC. Texas ranked seventh among states in messenger registration at this month's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., with 693. Florida had the most messengers, with 2,006. Other states with more messengers than Texas were Alabama, 799; Georgia, 1,305; North Carolina, 1,170; South Carolina, 836; Tennessee, 1,037. Total messenger registration this year was 11,918, slightly above the 11,554 messengers registered the year before in Atlanta.
___ Thomas re-elected. Claude Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless, was re-elected chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee June 14.
___ Annuity Board expansion approved. Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual session approved a request by the Dallas-based Annuity Board to offer a new personal investment program for Southern Baptist ministers and denominational employees. The Annuity Board also will offer new investment management services to churches and denominational entities through cooperative agreements with state Baptist foundations.
___ Search committee gives report. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustee Chairman Carl Weiser reported on the progress of the presidential search committee during the seminary's June 14 alumni luncheon in Orlando, Fla. Acknowledging the process has been slow at times during the last eight months, Weiser said the committee has narrowed its search but that an announcement should not be expected before August.
___ Newport suffers serious stroke. As of press time June 22, John Newport, distinguished professor of philosophy of religion emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, remained in a coma at a Fort Worth hospital following a stroke he suffered June 14. Newport's wife, Eddie Belle, said doctors are not optimistic about his condition. Newport, 83, has served at Southwestern both as a professor and as vice president for academic affairs.
___ Chapman announces Save-a-Family Council. Morris Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, announced June 13 that he has asked Oklahoma pastor Tom Elliff to head a new Save-a-Family Council to build a heightened awareness of the needs of families throughout the SBC. Chapman cited problems such as Baptist children forsaking their faith by the time they turn 18, a high divorce rate among Christian couples and various other social ills.
___ ABP gains credentials. The new Washington bureau of Associated Baptist Press has obtained congressional press credentials. A committee of Washington journalists that grants the press credentials determined June 6 that the ABP bureau complies with press gallery guidelines that require editorial independence and prohibit members from lobbying the government. The Washington bureau of Baptist Press last year lost its congressional press credentials because it operates out of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Likewise, a news service operated by the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs also lost its credentials.
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