September 16, 2002
___ Oklahoma executive questions "mainstream" label. Anthony Jordan, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, devoted his Aug. 29 column in the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger to questioning the self-identification of the Mainstream Baptist Network, one of the groups of moderate and centrist Baptists at work in the conservative-dominated state. While naming the Mainstream network by name, Jordan writes about those who "have minority status" but "want us to acknowledge them as the majority." As examples, he cites lesbians, Mormons and "mainstream" Baptists, whom he says "fall short of the historic faith and practice of Southern Baptists." True mainstream Baptists, he writes, "are proud to be Southern Baptists and excitedly support the work of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program."
___ Worship materials sought. Religious leaders of all faiths are invited to submit sermons, prayers and orders of worship dealing with faith after 9/11 to the National Sermon Project, Suite 5400, 535 Pierce St. Albany, Calif. 94706. Prayers, poems, hymns and visual art as well as formal sermons and the services in which they occur are welcome. Statements and rituals from interfaith gatherings that take place in public spaces also are invited. For more information, go to www.drdavidjrandolph.com.
___ DOM wants salaries disclosed. Bob Perry, executive director of Richmond Baptist Association in Richmond, Va., has issued a national appeal for Southern Baptist agencies to disclose the salaries and other compensation of their top executives and managers. "It is time for this secrecy to end," he wrote in a letter published in the Virginia Religious Herald and circulated to other state Baptist papers. "In a society now damaged by the scandals of Enron, WorldCom and other fraudulent corporations, the secrecy has long since become inappropriate." Southern Baptist entities should disclose their executive salaries because those salaries are paid by the voluntary contributions of people in the pew, Perry argued. He specifically called for action from the SBC Executive Committee, Annuity Board, six seminaries, Woman's Missionary Union, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, LifeWay Christian Resources and the two SBC mission boards. In Texas, the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board for years has published the compensation of all its employees in its annual budget book.
___ Social work conference planned. "Working with Volunteers" is the theme of a conference to be offered for social workers and other human services professionals Feb. 8 at national Woman's Missionary Union in Birmingham, Ala. Featured speakers include Linda Fuller of Habitat for Humanity and Diana Garland of Baylor University. In conjunction with the conference, WMU will host a reunion dinner for alumni of the WMU Training School and its successors--Carver School of Missions and Social Work and Carver School of Church Social Work. The conference is sponsored by WMU, Baylor School of Social Work, Campbellsville University, Birmingham Baptist Association and North American Association of Christians in Social Work. Registration for the conference and reunion is $50 if postmarked by Jan. 17, and $65 thereafter. To register, send a check payable to NAACSW to P.O. Box 121, Botsford, Conn. 06404. For more information, call (888) 968-0322.
___ Mars Hills slashes campus ministry. Mars Hill College in North Carolina has laid off its campus minister and her assistant in a series of budget cuts described by administrators as purely financial in motive. But some question whether officials used that as an excuse to get rid of a high-profile woman minister tagged as too liberal for a Baptist school. Paula Clayton Dempsey, campus minister for 11 years, and her assistant Debra Huff were fired Sept. 4. They were among five layoffs announced by the financially strapped school. Interim President Dan Lunsford said the school would operate its campus ministry with volunteers. Rick Trexler, campus ministry leader at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said he was shocked at the news. "I just think it's drastic to take that much from that area," he said. "I'm speechless."
___ Peace Fellowship head resigns. Ken Sehested, executive director of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America since its founding in 1984, is resigning Jan. 1, citing "personal vocational needs." The president and vice president of the organization's board of directors jointly announced Sehested's resignation in a letter dated Aug. 28. LeDayne Polaski also is resigning after four years as managing director of the Charlotte, N.C.-based BPFNA, in order to spend more time with her infant daughter, the letter said. The officers said they would hire an interim executive director until a permanent successor is named.
___ New Mexico church scene of fatal shooting. An armed 14-year-old boy who walked into an Albuquerque church shortly after Wednesday evening activities Sept. 4 was shot and killed by police. Fewer than a dozen people were at Taylor Ranch Baptist Church in northwest Albuquerque when Dominic Montoya approached choir member Lori Marsh in the church's sanctuary. Choir practice had ended a few minutes earlier. The young man, who was armed, told Marsh he felt tormented by demons and asked for prayer. When three police officers arrived, they told Montoya to put the gun down, but he instead pointed the gun at the officers. They opened fire, striking him at least twice. The church's pastor is Tim Marrow.
___ University president accused of grade fixing. Gardner-Webb University President Chris White personally ordered the school's registrar to use a different university grading policy for a former star basketball player who had been caught cheating, according to a memo obtained by The Shelby Star, a local newspaper serving the Boiling Springs, N.C., area where the Baptist school is located. The memo resulted in Carlos Webb becoming eligible when he otherwise would have been ineligible, the paper reported. White's signed memo has led the NCAA--the governing body for college athletics--to begin looking into that and other aspects of the Gardner-Webb athletic program. NCAA investigators could arrive on campus as early as this week. The university faculty also has taken a vote of no-confidence in the president.
___ Publisher loses congressional bid. Baptist publisher Cecil Staton lost a Republican runoff Sept. 10, ending his bid for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Georgia's newly created 11th congressional district. Phil Gingrey, a former state senator, defeated Staton 64 percent to 36 percent in the runoff. Staton is president of Smyth & Helwys Publishing in Macon.
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