Associated Baptist Press - 9/29/2008

In this issue
Gay-rights 'Equality Ride' targets Baptist colleges
Landrum Leavell, longtime seminary president, dies
Veteran journalist Bob Allen tapped as ABP senior writer

Gay-rights 'Equality Ride' targets Baptist colleges
By Vicki Brown

AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) -- A group that promotes equal rights for gays in religious orgnaizations appears to be targeting Baptist colleges and universities in its third annual tour of faith-based educational institutions.

Nine of the 15 stops scheduled on Soulforce Q's Equality Ride will be made at Southern Baptist-affiliated schools, including Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Soulforce Q is the young-adult division of Soulforce, an interfaith organization that "works to end political and religious oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through relentless nonviolent resistance," according to a press release.

"As young people and students ourselves, we understand that it's very difficult to learn in an environment where you don't feel safe," ride co-director Jarrett Lucas said. "And students who face harassment or expulsion can't always speak up for themselves.

Soulforce Q sends requests for meetings with administrators and students to the schools several months in advance of the ride. A negative response doesn't mean the institution will be dropped from the tour list. "The colleges' responses shape the itinerary," the release noted. "The Equality Ride strives to visit a mix of schools that are open to collaboration and schools that are not yet willing to make a place at the table for affirming viewpoints."

"A lot of schools will let students know we are coming," ride co-director Katie Higgins said in a telephone interview. "And we tend to get a flood of e-mail from students, mostly positive.

"We get contacts from students who say they are not safe," even at institutions with safety policies in place, Higgins said. "The fact of the matter is that every college in this country could benefit from the Equality Ride."

Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., likely will be among the institutions that refuse to allow Soulforce Q volunteers on campus. About two dozen participants were arrested for trespassing during the 2006 Equality Ride when they tried to walk onto the Liberty campus March 10 that year.

Liberty -- founded by the late Jerry Falwell -- is the first stop on this year's ride. After learning that Liberty's fall break is set for Oct. 2-3, the tour's original planned stop, organizers changed the date to Oct. 1. Administrators refused to comment on any planned response.

Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Florida Baptist school, will not meet with ride participants. A "visit by Equality Ride would fail to meaningfully further the mission of either organization," Palm Beach Atlantic president David Clark said in a prepared statement released to faculty, staff and students.

"As we have explained to them, our campus is already a safe place for all students. The university does not tolerate harassment of any individual. We believe we have a welcoming campus for all students," he added.

Palm Beach Atlantic does not ban students with same-sex orientation from enrolling, but does require students to follow its behavior policies, which prohibit homosexual behavior.

At least one Baptist school will welcome Equality Ride participants. Student affairs leaders and administrators at Dallas Baptist University will meet them for lunch when the tour stops Oct. 24. Dialogue sessions are scheduled for the afternoon.

"We had been aware of what the Equality Ride was," DBU Dean of Student Life Jay Harley said in a telephone interview. "We anticipated receiving an invitation from them.

"After a lot of prayer and discussion among the administration," he continued, administrators at Dallas Baptist decided to allow the ride organizers to lead a discussion, "but with the understanding that we disagree with where they stand," he said.

He continued, "It is a part of higher education to have discussions, even about topics about which we disagree."

Students had input into the decision as well. University administrators "explained why they wanted to pursue a discussion [with Soulforce Q] and asked how we would respond to that," Student Government Association president Leigha Caron said.

"Our students have a strong commitment to good character and morals. We as Christians ... can show the selfless love that Christ would have us show."
Harley emphasized that Dallas Baptist already has safety policies in place. "We regard the safety of all students -- for all students to be safe, to not be discriminated against or to experience hatred from other students ... that includes those who may be dealing with homosexual issues or students dealing with other issues or students who are not Christians," he said.

Administrators at some of the targeted Baptist schools have not yet responded to Soulforce Q. "We have not yet responded to their request. But we intend to decline to extend an invitation to them based on their pattern over the last few years," Ouachita Baptist University spokesman Trennis Henderson noted.

Equality Riders are expected at the Arkansas school on Nov. 5.

"We expect that they will unilaterally choose to come. But at this point they have released that information without any acknowledgement or response from us. So we anticipate discussion with them and hope they would honor our request in the spirit of dialogue and fellowship."

At least one Union University graduate is looking forward to the ride's scheduled stop at her alma mater Nov. 10-11.

"I originally became interested in Soulforce the first time they visited Union in 2006, because as a closeted lesbian on a Christian campus, they made a stand ... for people like me ... hiding from the reality of campus policies," noted Rachel Watson, who graduated from the Tennessee Baptist school in May.

The 2006 ride appearance fell during Union's spring break.

"I have a lot of faith in seeing change and seeing acceptance by schools that have had these policies for so long. I hope to see us learning from each other ... and to start loving each other as God intends."

Other schools on this year's Equality Ride itinerary include Columbia International University, Columbia, S.C.; Morehouse College and Spelman College in Atlanta; Heritage Christian University, Florence, Ala.; Mississippi College, Clinton, Miss.; Southwestern Assemblies of God University, Waxahachie, Texas; Central Baptist College, Conway, Ark.; and Simmons College of Kentucky, Louisville, Ky.

Louisiana College, a Baptist school in Pineville, La., also was originally included.

But Soulforce Q has canceled the visit because the area is still recovering from Hurricane Gustav, according to college spokesperson Amy Robertson.

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Landrum Leavell, longtime seminary president, dies
By Vicki Brown

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (ABP) -- Landrum Leavell, who led New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for nearly three decades, died after an extended illness Sept. 26. He was 81.

Leavell was elected the seminary's president in January 1975, and helmed the institution through some of the most turbulent years in the life of its parent denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Although he retired from the post Dec. 31, 1994, Leavell remained on campus as interim president until Dec. 31, 1995, when Chuck Kelley, the current president, succeeded him.

"By any standard of measurement, Dr. Leavell is one of the greatest presidents that this seminary ever had," Kelley said, in a statement posted on the school's website Sept. 29.

Leavell led New Orleans Seminary through the entirety of the fundamentalist-moderate conflict that fractured the SBC during the 1980s. However, unlike his colleagues at the other five official Southern Baptist theological schools, Leavell managed to avoid significant scrutiny and controversy on his campus. That may have been, Kelly told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, because many in the conservative camp recognized Leavell as a theological ally -- if not necessarily a political one.

He "kept the institution focused on its mission, which was turning out the next generation of pastors and ministers," Kelley said. "There was no talk of the conflict in chapel [services], no public reference to it anywhere. He never asked what side anybody was on."

Landrum P. Leavell II was born in Ripley, Tenn., Nov. 26, 1926, and raised in Newnan, Ga., where his father was pastor of the First Baptist Church. Ordained to the ministry in 1948, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from Mercer University in Georgia. He earned bachelor of divinity and doctor of theology degrees in New Testament and Greek from New Orleans Seminary.

He was the scion a family steeped in Southern Baptist tradition, including a number of relatives who were pastors, missionaries and denominational leaders. An uncle, Roland Leavell, also served as president of New Orleans Seminary.
Prior to accepting the presidency, he spent 27 years as a pastor of churches in Mississippi and Texas.

Leavell is credited with several innovations and improvements during his tenure at New Orleans. He led the school to establish a network of extension centers and introduced compressed interactive video to connect classes at centers and the main campus in real time.

Under his presidency, the seminary established the first center for evangelism and church growth and re-established an undergraduate program his uncle had started. The seminary renamed the program Leavell College in 2003.

Leavell and his wife, Jo Ann, also focused on assistance for seminary wives, including free educational programs, an endowment to purchase clothing and a lecture series.

He also was active in denominational life, including a stint as the SBC's first vice president in 1968 and as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas from 1971 to 1973. He served as a trustee at Mississippi College from retirement until his death. He had been a longtime trustee of the former Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans, and became a trustee of Baptist Community Ministries, a foundation established with the proceeds from the sale of the hospital.

He authored or contributed to 14 books, including Angels, Angels, Angels and Twelve Who Followed Jesus.

According to the seminary and to news reports, Leavell died in Wichita Falls, Texas, after a lengthy illness. Funeral services are scheduled for Sept. 30 at First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, where he served as pastor before taking the seminary's reins. Interment will take place Oct. 2 in Newnan, Ga.

He is survived by his wife, Jo Ann Paris Leavell; four children, Landrum Leavell III, Roland Leavell II, David Leavell and Ann Paris Leavell; and 10 grandchildren.

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Veteran journalist Bob Allen tapped as ABP senior writer
By Robert Marus

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) -- Veteran Baptist journalist Bob Allen will return to Associated Baptist Press Oct. 1 to fill a newly created senior writer position.

It will be Allen's second stint with the independent news agency, which he had once served, for a decade, as news editor. Since 2003, Allen has been managing editor of EthicsDaily.com, the news-and-opinion outlet of the Nashville-based Baptist Center for Ethics.

"I am delighted that Bob will be rejoining the ABP team," said David Wilkinson, ABP's newly hired executive director, who in turn hired Allen. "He is an experienced and talented journalist who has that dogged determination to get to the heart of the story and to report it accurately and fairly. He brings an impressive breadth of skills and knowledge that will help us broaden the services provided through ABP and our partnership with New Voice Media Group."

New Voice Media is a multimedia partnership among ABP and three historic state Baptist newspapers -- the Baptist Standard of Texas, the Word & Way of Missouri, and the Religious Herald of Virginia. Through collaborative website and content management, it provides the hosting capability for a far broader array of news-related content than any of the organizations had previously.

Allen said he is excited to reunite with an agency and staff familiar to him, but at a new phase of its organizational life. "I am excited about this new chapter in my career," he said, in an e-mailed statement. "The staff members at ABP are not only top-notch professionals, they're good friends. I'm looking forward to rejoining the team."

The position was created by the agency's board of directors in a staff reorganization necessitated, in part, when longtime ABP Executive Editor Greg Warner announced he was stepping down. Warner took sick leave following back surgery Aug. 28, with the expectation that the leave would transition into permanent disability. Warner has experienced chronic, severe back pain since 1998.

"When the directors began to restructure the staff a few months ago, we immediately started talking to Bob about returning to ABP," Warner said. "He's one of the best writers that Baptists have ever produced."

Warner noted that Allen's previous position with ABP was painful loss caused by a significant reduction in donations that afflicted many non-profit agencies in late 2001 and 2002. "We lost him once because of a severe drop in funding after 9/11. I'm delighted David had the wisdom to bring him back where he belongs."

The senior-writer position will tap Allen's expertise in reporting on a broad number of subjects -- from Baptist denominational struggles to national politics and foreign affairs. It will also draw on his experience at the Baptist Center for Ethics in production and distribution of online news and opinion content.

He will re-join two long-time ABP employees -- Lindsay Bergstrom, director of administration and production; and Robert Marus, who last year became news editor after six years as Washington bureau chief. An assistant-editor position has been vacant since March, when Hannah Elliott left the agency to work for the Forbes media empire.

Warner praised the re-grouped news team. "ABP's new structure, dividing the executive and editorial functions, allows us to pair Bob's incredible talent with David's executive skills. Adding them to the editorial leadership Rob Marus already provides gives ABP its strongest team ever. Ultimately, all Baptists will benefit as our reporting of Christian news and information expands exponentially."

Allen, a native of Marion, Ill., holds a journalism degree from the University of Southern Illinois and a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He will work out of a home office in suburban Nashville, Tenn., where he lives with his wife, Vicki.

Allen has two adult children -- Patrick, 22; and Amy, 19. He is a member of First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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