October 15, 2001

Georgia executive threatens to
'shut down' women's meeting
___ATLANTA--The executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention threatened to "shut down" a meeting of Baptist Women in Ministry of Georgia at a convention-owned camp if they violated any of six guidelines he imposed on the meeting.
___As a result, the women moved their Oct. 26-27 meeting from a Georgia Baptist Convention conference center to a local church.
___Georgia Baptist Convention Executive Director Bob White had said he would send a representative to monitor the meeting with instructions to "shut the meeting down immediately" should anything "untoward" occur.
___According to a Sept. 12 letter from White to a representative of the women in ministry group, "untoward" behavior would include:
___ Any mention of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___ Distribution of materials that mention CBF.
___ Any "tone of sympathy or general support of CBF."
___ "Negative remarks about the Georgia Baptist Convention or Southern Baptist Convention."
___ Promotion of women serving as senior pastors.
___ "Strange communication about Mother God, Goddess Sophia or any such thing."
___In the letter, White said he was conveying the warning on behalf of the convention's Administration Committee, which he said was "gravely concerned and even angered about our hosting this conference" at the Norman Park conference center.
___In an effort "to calm the concerns in our committee," White said he would send his executive assistant, Fran Waymack, to monitor the conference. She and conference center Director Bill Townes were authorized to shut down the meeting if violations of White's guidelines occurred.
___White also indicated that the fundamentalist-controlled committee had expressed "great concern" about guest speaker Molly Marshall of Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kan.
___After receiving White's letter, the group initially rescheduled their meeting for Camp Pinnacle, a North Georgia facility owned by Woman's Missionary Union of Georgia, and where previous Baptist Women in Ministry meetings have been held. But Georgia WMU leader Barbara Curnutt ultimately decided it would be detrimental for that camp to host the event.
___So the meeting finally was moved to First Baptist Church of Morrow, Ga.
___Based on reporting by John Pierce of Baptist sToday

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook