Invited guests speak up and out on things Baptist (therefore, the views expressed in this space are not necessarily those of The Baptist Studies Bulletin, though sometimes they are). Climbing upon the Soapbox this month is J. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Washington D.C.-based Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Overheard from Mr. Bart Tichenor in response to our reactivation: (05/05/05)
Legal Maxims: Qui tacet consentire
videtur. A party who is silent appears to consent.
Qui tacet non utique fatetur, sed tamen verum est eum non negare. A person who is silent does not indeed confess, bet
but it is true that he does not deny."
[Speaking about the SBC messengers about the resolution on about parents, churches, and schools] ....
“We are so afraid of offending people,” Moran said. “We are like the false, worthless prophets of old who refused to tell the truth, which could have prevented our captivity. We are becoming spiritual captives because our leaders refuse to deal with areas that we ought to be examining.”
CP
Summit yields ways to increase support for missions (Pathway) June 14, 2005
.... Preventative maintenance needs to be
done now, leaders agreed, or one day the CP will sink. Clippard called the CP
“the glue that’s holding us together” before lamenting that it is
“coming apart.”
Entities
request court rehear appeal
(Word&Way)
Five Missouri Baptist Convention-related entities are seeking a rehearing of
a recent appeal that returned an ongoing lawsuit against them to a lower court.
Word&Way announces the seven-part Beyond Rhetoric series is available in booklet form for the first time. It includes pictures and a bonus timeline and would probably be useful to a church leader, library collection or denominational relations committee. $5 each or 5 for $20 which includes shipping and handling. Contact Word&Way at 573.635.5939. ext. 208 or wordandway@wordandway.org.
Appeals
Court reverses dismissal of MBC case against institutions (W&W)
A reversal of one part of a decision rendered in Cole County Circuit Court
may return the Missouri Baptist Convention’s case against five related
agencies to that court for resolution.
Missouri
Appeals Court rules for MBC (Pathway) June 1, 2005
A Missouri appeals court on May 31 issued a unanimous 3-0
decision in favor of the Missouri Baptist Convention, reversing a trial
judge’s dismissal, and rejecting major legal arguments by five breakaway
entities.
Wallbuilders
Shoddy Workmanship: David Barton's
"Christian Nation" Myth Factory
Admits Its Products Have Been Defective
Mr. Barton was a featured speaker at the 2004 Missouri Baptist Convention.
MBC
hires new staff members
(W&W)
Members of the Missouri Baptist
Convention Executive Board authorized collection of a special offering,
authorized a building loan and hired three new staffers when they met April
11-12 at the Baptist Building in Jefferson City.
Rebuilding Lives Brick by Brick
(Dr. Scott Harrison) May 11, 2005
Seeing first hand the devastation left by last December's tsunami was a
sobering experience.
Baptist World Alliance Vice President Emmanuel McCall was named moderator-elect of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship during the CBF General Assembly session June 30 in Grapevine, Texas, further solidifying the relationship between the CBF and BWA.
Dead
frogs and baptisms gain attention of Southern Baptists 06/23/2005 (ABP)
.... A statue of Billy Graham will be placed in Nashville next year as part of the
SBC's tribute to the famed Southern Baptist evangelist, who is expected to end
his preaching career soon.
President
Clinton Honors Billy Graham During Evangelist's Final American Revival Meeting (AP) June 25, 2005
Bush
Highlights CBF Church at Southern Baptist Convention EthicsDaily.com 06-21-05
Onward,
Moderate Christian Soldiers Senator John (Jack) Danforth (NY TIMES) June 17, 2005
More
Honest Churches Needed
Family
Group Calls for Boycott of Ford (EthicsDaily.com) A
Natural Alliance (NY Times - David Brooks)
May 26, 2005
Earthly
Empires:
How evangelical churches are borrowing from the business
playbook
BusinessWeek (5/23/05)
Waynesville
pastor resigns after conflict over politics 05/11/2005
(ABP)
Georgia
campus ministers pushed to move church memberships 05/06/05 (Baptists
Today)
Dissenting
voices deserve Southern
officials hire gay-friendly maintenance firm (KY Western
Recorder)
As his final American
revival meeting continued Saturday, a fragile Billy Graham was met onstage by
former President Clinton, who honored the evangelist, calling him "a man I
love."
Praising the Southern Baptist Convention for helping to build a
“compassionate society,” President George W. Bush on Tuesday mentioned a
church aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship that no longer sends
funds to the SBC.
It would be an oversimplification to say that America's culture wars are
now between people of faith and nonbelievers.
.... Falwell’s...words of advice for
the role of future seminarians and the churches they will serve were both
horrifying and humorous at the same time: “May God lead many of you to some of
these moderate churches that deserve fundamentalist pastors like you. ...
Sometimes it takes a full year before that church is who you are.”
06-03-05
A week after declaring its nine-year boycott of the Walt Disney Company over,
the American Family Association on Monday announced it was turning its sights on
the world’s second-largest auto maker.
Earlier this week I listened to Rick Warren speak at a conference sponsored by
the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.... My
first thought was, How come Christians have all these megachurches but we Jews
don't have megagogues?
There's no shortage of churches in Houston, deep in the heart of the Bible Belt.
So it's surprising that the largest one in the city -- and in the entire country
-- is tucked away in a depressed corner most Houstonians would never dream of
visiting.
Embattled pastor Chan Chandler announced his resignation during a business
meeting May 10, surprising both supporters and detractors at East Waynesville
Baptist Church.
At the conclusion of morning worship on Sunday, April 17,
pastor Jim Dant asked the congregation of Highland Hills Baptist Church in
Macon, Ga., to pray for two long-time members who were considering leaving the
church. Neither is unhappy with the congregation or moving out of the area.
hearing on campus, historian asserts (Tx Baptist
Standard)
Disagreement about what
constitutes a religious school, at what point a school birthed by a Christian
denomination becomes secular and how particular schools should be characterized
emerged during a national conference on the future of Baptist higher education.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s decision last month to...
outsource its campus maintenance continues to
attract media attention. Sodexho, the international company Southern contracted with to provide
maintenance, has been recognized for efforts to increase diversity, including
providing domestic partner benefits and celebrating Gay Pride Month on the
company calendar.