June 3, 2002

BAPTIST BRIEFS
___ IMB trustees elect officers. Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board, meeting May 21-22 in Richmond, Va., re-elected by acclamation Chairman Bob Claytor of Fair Play, S.C., First Vice Chairman Stephen Davis of Russellville, Ark., and Recording Secretary Paulette Blankinship of Williamsburg, Va. They elected Phillip "Bo" Graves of Haysville, Kan., as second vice chairman, also by acclamation.
___ Baptist couple killed in bridge failure. Two members of First Baptist Church of Norman, Okla., were among motorists killed when a 600-foot span of Interstate 40 in Oklahoma collapsed into the waters of the Arkansas River May 26. Wayne and Susan Martin, both 49, were headed to a family reunion in Clarksville, Ark., and were crossing the bridge when it plunged more than 70 feet into the river. Family members learned of their deaths after the Martins failed to show up at the reunion. Martin, a detective in the Norman Police Department, was also president of the city's Kiwanis Club and served as a deacon at the church. Mrs. Martin taught Sunday School.
___ Gay-rights group will protest at SBC. A gay-rights group that has picketed the Southern Baptist Convention two years in a row is vowing to "escalate" its protest this year in St. Louis, unless the convention's president agrees to certain demands. Soulforce, an interfaith organization based in Laguna Beach, Calif., claims that SBC teachings against homosexuality contribute to violence against gays. Its executive director, Mel White, has written a letter asking SBC President James Merritt to meet with the group and to repudiate a statement by a Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, a Southern Baptist, implying that homosexuals should be put to death. White wants Merritt and at least five members of the SBC Executive Committee to attend one hour of a day-long summit at Centenary United Methodist Church in St. Louis, where 25 current and former Southern Baptists will describe their stories of how the SBC's anti-gay teachings caused them to suffer. Merritt was traveling and unable to respond before press time.
___ SBC registration secretary predicts 10,000. About 10,000 Southern Baptists are expected to register as messengers at their upcoming annual convention, according to Lee Porter, the Southern Baptist Convention's longtime registration secretary and unofficial prognosticator. The meeting is scheduled June 11-12 in St. Louis. In 1987, when the SBC last met in St. Louis, 25,607 messengers registered. Since battling factions have stopped vying for control of denominational structures, convention attendance has dropped significantly. Last year's annual meeting in New Orleans drew 9,584 messengers. The number of churches that send messengers to the convention also has declined, Porter said. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, between 8,000 and 9,000 churches were represented in a typical year. Last year, the number of churches represented was 3,829.

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