Baptist Briefs: LifeWay reconsiders building site

LifeWay Christian Resources backed out of plans to build a new headquarters on 1.5 acres of downtown riverfront property, the Southern Baptist Convention entity’s president said in a memo to employees Nov. 16. In July, LifeWay agreed to pay $12.7 million for property the Nashville’s Metro Development and Housing Agency owns across the Cumberland River from Nissan Stadium for construction of a new 216,000-square-foot building. With $4.9 million of tax-increment financing, the out-of-pocket cost totaled less than $8 million. “The property is a great downtown location and would be an exciting place for our new building, but we have concluded it’s not the best location for LifeWay,” Rainer said in the memo. “We simply have found other potential downtown properties that are a better fit for LifeWay’s future.” The Tennessean reported Oct. 7 LifeWay was exploring the option of remaining on a portion of its nearly 15-acre campus being sold to a consortium of local and national developers for roughly $125 million. 

Kentucky Baptists elect African-American president. Tom James, left, hands off the president’s gavel to Kevin Smith, who was elected the first African-American president in Kentucky Baptist Convention history. Smith is teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville. (BNG Photo by Robin Cornetet/Kentucky Today)The Kentucky Baptist Convention elected its first African-American president Nov. 10 at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Ky. Kevin Smith, teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville and an assistant professor of Christian preaching at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, defeated Jerry Tooley, director of missions in the Daviess-McLean Baptist Association in Owensboro, by a vote of 578-233. For nine years, Smith was pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville, before joining the staff of Highview Baptist Church in 2013. He serves on the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s Leadership Network Council, advising ERLC head Russell Moore, and was a member an African-American advisory council named in 2012 by SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page.

Baptists in Virginia elect officers, adopt reduced budget. The Baptist General Association of Virginia chose a new president in an election that featured two candidates for the first time in 15 years. Nancy Stanton McDaniel, pastor of Rhoadesville Baptist Church near Fredericksburg, Va., was elected president 460-123 in a contest with Brad Hoffmann, pastor of Cool Spring Baptist Church in suburban Richmond. Virginia Baptists’ annual meeting also adopted a $10.5 million budget—$1 million less than the current budget—and approved resolutions affirming traditional views on homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage. The first reaffirms two earlier BGAV statements on the issue, one adopted in 1993 calling “homosexual behavior … sinful and unacceptable to Christians,” and another in 1998 describing marriage as “a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman.” The second resolution, responding to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, asks government to “respect religious liberty and to make reasonable accommodations to the religious practices of churches, ministers, individuals and religious organizations without erring into the establishment of religion.” Messengers also approved a “partnership mission covenant” with the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

WMU Foundation seeks to increase MK scholarships. The Woman’s Missionary Union Foundation board of directors committed to support missionaries’ children by raising additional funds for MK scholarships. Children of current International Mission Board and North American Mission Board missionaries are eligible to apply for scholarships through the WMU Foundation,as well as students whose parents accepted IMB’s recent voluntary retirement incentive. In the past 20 years, the WMU Foundation has granted scholarships to more than 400 MKs. “We are seeing a trend where there are more applicants than available scholarships,” said David George, president of the WMU Foundation. “We do not want to continue turning down MKs for scholarships simply because there is not enough funding.”

Seminary professor Maurice Hinson dies. Pianist and musicologist Maurice Hinson, the longest-serving and most widely published faculty member in Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s history, died Nov. 11 after a battle with cancer. Hinson, 84, was the senior professor of piano at the seminary and taught courses 58 years. Among his 14 books, the reference work Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire is considered a standard in the field and is currently in its fourth edition. He also wrote more than 100 articles in music publications. Hinson is survived by his wife, Peggy, of 64 years (the couple first met in kindergarten at age 5); daughter, Susan Elizabeth Jordan; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Jane Leslie Enoch.