Baptist Briefs: Luter warns Scouts

Luter warns Scouts SBC is watching. The president of the Southern Baptist Convention warned the Boy Scouts of America the nation’s second-largest faith group behind Roman Catholics will be watching when the organization decides at its upcoming annual meeting May 22-24 whether to drop its ban on gay members and leaders. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, said in an interview on Christian radio it would be “tragic” for the Boy Scouts to change the policy, because that would force Southern Baptists and churches of other denominations to re-evaluate their support for the organization. “If this thing passes, I know a number of Southern Baptist churches that would withdraw their Boy Scout troops from the Boy Scout organization, because there’s no way we can compromise and allow something like that to happen. … I know our church will. There is no way we will continue to be a part of it by allowing that to happen. It just definitely would not happen here at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church,” he said.

Tyler pastor named to SBC resolutions committee. David Dykes, pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, has been named to the Committee on Resolutions for the June David Dykes11-12 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Houston. Another Texan—Carol Yarber, a member of First Baptist Church in Malakoff, a congregational uniquely aligned with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention—also was named to the committee by SBC President Fred Luter. Steve Lemke, provost and professor of philosophy and ethics at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, was named committee chair. Other members of the committee are Matthew Arbo, assistant professor of Christian ethics at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Tom Biles, recently retired executive director of Tampa Bay Baptist Association in Tampa, Fla.; David Crosby, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in New Orleans; Richard Gaines, senior pastor of Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky.; Galen Jones, church planting consultant and state missionary with the Georgia Baptist Convention; Manpoong Dennis Kim, pastor of Global Mission Church in Silver Spring, Md.; and Joe Wright, director of missions for Dyer Baptist Association in Dyersburg, Tenn.

SBC committee accepts resolutions. Proposed resolutions for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting may be submitted as early as April 15 but no later than 15 days prior to the convention’s meeting, giving the resolutions committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions. The committee also may propose resolutions for consideration during its deliberations. Resolutions may not be submitted during the annual meeting. Proposed resolutions must be accompanied by a letter from a church qualified to send a messenger to the SBC annual meeting certifying the individual submitting the resolution is a member in good standing. Proposed resolutions preferably should be submitted by email or mailed to the Committee on Resolutions in care of the SBC Executive Committee, 901 Commerce St., Nashville, TN 37203. The drafts must be typewritten, titled, dated and include complete contact information for the person and his or her church. No person will be allowed to submit more than three resolutions.