2001:
The year in review
January
___ Buckner Baptist Benevolences and Baylor University's School of Social Work forge a new partnership to provide trained social workers for churches and faith-based organizations.
___ Trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary elect Phil Roberts as the Missouri seminary's fourth president.
___ Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary cuts four staff positions and eliminates faculty and staff salary increases, blaming the threatened loss of funding from Texas Baptist churches as the cause.
___ Baylor University President Robert Sloan names Paul Powell dean of the university's Truet
t Theological Seminary after the position was turned down by Howard Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Amarillo.
___ For the first time, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention endorses a political appointee, encouraging Congress to approve the nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general.
___ Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, writes to Texas Baptist churches, urging them to bypass the Adopted Budget of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and fully fund SBC entities targeted for diminished funding by the BGCT.
___ The SBC's International Mission Board says it will require missionaries to accept the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message but won't require them to sign it.
___ Texas Gov. George W. Bush inaugurated as president of the United States, drawing a large crowd of supportive Baptists and Texans to Washington.
___ Atlanta Baptist Association gains national attention for voting not to expel two churches that allow homosexuals to hold leadership positions. Although both churches eventually left the association and the association clarified its position, a new association was formed by conservative churches.
February
___ Investigators discover the dismembered remains of atheist grande dame Madalyn Murray O'Hair and two of her relatives, ending five years of speculation on their whereabouts.
___ President Bush's proposal for increased government funding of faith-based programs stirs intense debate in the religious community.
___ The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, formed in opposition to the BGCT, seeks to create fraternal relationships with BGCT agencies and institutions but finds no takers.
March
___ The chairman of a BGCT committee studying missions-sending agencies announces the committee will not recommend any funding changes for the SBC's International Mission Board.
___ Two faculty members at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary refuse to sign the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement, leading to their eventual departure from the faculty.
___ The SBC's Annuity Board announces it will not serve churches that break ties with the SBC. Veteran Annuity Board administrator Jim Morrison resigns his position rather than moving his membership from a church that has left the SBC as required to keep his job.
___ A multi-church revival in Tyler brings nearly 1,000 youth to faith in Jesus Christ.
___ The SBC announces it will cut off a 30-year series of dialogues with Roman Catholics, declaring, "We're not ecumenists."
April
___ The BGCT responds to a continuing deluge of misinformation distributed to Texas Baptist churches designed to lead churches away from affiliation with the BGCT.
___ Conflict in the Missouri Baptist Convention comes to a head as fundamentalists gain control of key committees and begin enforcing allegiance to the SBC as a requirement for service on state committees and boards.
___ The state of Arizona sues accounting giant Arthur Andersen for $600 million in the bankruptcy case of the Arizona Baptist Foundation, alleging auditors failed to report clues that something was wrong.
May
___ The BGCT unveils a new vision for the 21st century that declares the convention exists to "assist churches and related ministries to be the presence of Christ in the world."
___ Five officers of the bankrupt Arizona Baptist Foundation are indicted by a grand jury on charges of malfeasance.
___ "The Prayer of Jabez" sweeps the country and breaks sales records for Christian books.
___ More conflict erupts in the Missouri Baptist Convention after its nominating committee creates its own guidelines for trustee selection and renomination.
___ Leaders of the BGCT denounce reports in the SBC's Baptist Press as "lies" and question BP's reliance on the work of Missouri layman Roger Moran, research BGCT leaders say is merely "guilt by association."
___ Native Texan Bill Phillips resigns as a regional leader for the SBC International Mission Board rather than sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as required by IMB trustees.
___ Despite earlier cost-cutting actions based on projected losses in funding from the BGCT, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary reports at mid-year its contributions are actually up 5 percent.
June
___ Texas Baptists fan out by car, foot, boat and plane in an effort to "Pray the Perimeter" of the state.
___ Bill Tinsley named associate executive director of the BGCT.
___ Craig Turner succeeds Lanny Hall as president of Hardin-Simmons University.
___ Messengers to the SBC annual meeting in New Orleans are riveted by the testimony of dying missionary Charles Beaty, who pleads for others to go tell unreached people groups about Jesus.
___ Extensive flooding destroys the offices of Union Baptist Association and does major damaged to several Houston-area churches.
___ The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right of an evangelical Christian group called Good News Club to use a New York elementary school for its after-school meetings.
___ The SBC's Bold Mission Thrust formally comes to an end with few of its goals met. Some say politics derailed the worldwide evangelization plan; others say the goals set over a 25-year period were unrealistic.
___ The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship affirms an administrative policy barring support of homosexuality, despite intense debate during the organization's general assembly in Atlanta.
___ Russ Kaemmerling resigns as a Texas trustee of the SBC's International Mission Board after he is convicted on 19 counts of fraud and sent to federal prison in Beaumont.
July
___ The Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas adopts a new strategic plan and goals for growth and ministry.
___ The BGCT opens its first regional service center in Tyler.
___ Buckner Baptist Benevolences and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship announce a Rural Poverty Initiative, a partnership to provide ministry to at-risk families along the Texas-Mexico border.
August
___ Three administrators with the SBC's North American Mission Board resign over disagreements with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___ The Baptist World Alliance says the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship does not meet its criteria for membership. Baylor University graduates Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry gain international attention as they are imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan, charged with attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity.
September
___ The SBC's Annuity Board launches a new line of financial services beyond its traditional annuity and insurance products.
___ A shocked nation mourns and readies for war after terrorists attack the Pentagon and World Trade Center in the deadliest assault ever experienced on American soil.
___ The BGCT's Administrative Committee simplifies the convention's church gift remittance form from three options to two.
___ Baylor University unveils a new strategic plan and its quest to become one of the nation's top 50 universities.
___ The BGCT Executive Board tables a motion on inerrancy made by an Arlington pastor, who later used Baptist Press to accuse the editors of the Baptist Standard of being racists. BGCT leaders deny reports that they were unwilling to take a stand on the authority of Scripture, labeling the motion partisan politics.
___ Negotiators reach an agreement between the BGCT and trustees of Houston Baptist University, settling yearlong tension over who will appoint trustees for the university.
___ Jim Hill resigns as executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, citing inability to work with the fundamentalist leaders who have risen to power.
October
___ The SBC and its Baptist Press launch an attack on Buckner Baptist Benevolences, attempting to link the BGCT agency to support for Planned Parenthood. Buckner's president calls the report "public relations terrorism."
___ The executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention threatens to "shut down" a meeting of Baptist Women in Ministry of Georgia if they violate six mandates for their meeting content.
___ Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary elects Craig Blaising executive vice president and provost, handing him responsibility for day-to-day management of the Fort Worth school.
___ The Word & Way newspaper becomes the fifth agency of the Missouri Baptist Convention to declare a self-perpetuating board, taking itself out of the hands of the troubled state convention.
___ Messengers to the BGCT annual session elect Bob Campbell of Houston president and approve a slate of business with little controversy.
___ The Missouri Baptist Convention continues its rightward march, requiring affiliation with the SBC for state convention membership and ousting a church that has left the SBC.
November
___ Park Place Baptist Church of Houston deeds its property to Southwestern Seminary for use as the seminary's Houston campus.
___ Baylor graduates Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry are released from their Afghan prison as the Taliban flees Kabul.
___ Christians debate the merits and dangers of the Harry Potter phenomenon, as the first book in the series hits the big screen.
___ The SBC's International Mission Board appoints 118 career missionaries, the largest number ever appointed in a single service.
December
___ Christians in parts of Indonesia face eviction and slaughter at the hands of Muslim extremists.
___ Southwestern Seminary President Ken Hemphill reassigns David Crutchley, dean of the School of Theology, igniting concern among faculty, who strongly supported the dean.
___ The SBC's North American Mission Board demands greater control of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and threatens to end funding if not given more control.
___ Baylor University's Truett Seminary cuts ties to the Review & Expositor theological journal after publication of an issue on sexuality that Baylor said included "inappropriate" articles.
The Baptist Standard