Associated Baptist Press - 11/11/2008

Associated Baptist Press
November 11, 2008 · (08-109)

David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Acting Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer

In this issue:
Texas Baptists elect Lowrie, defer name-change proposal (553 words)
Equality Riders arrested at Union University (1,076 words)
Baptist churches in Texas, California draw gay-rights supporters' protests (691 words)
Baptist youth minister charged with child pornography (307 words)
Opinion: Evangelicals and the Obama era (806 words)

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Texas Baptists elect Lowrie, defer name-change proposal
By Ken Camp (553 words)

FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) -- The Baptist General Convention of Texas elevated to its highest office the son of a former president, deferred action on a proposed name change and approved a reduced budget for 2009 at its most sparsely attended annual meeting in nearly 60 years.

The Nov. 10-11 annual meeting drew 1,891 registered messengers from 550 churches. That is the lowest number since the 1949 BGCT meeting in El Paso.
David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, Texas, garnered 53 percent of the votes for president, defeating Stephen Hatfield, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lewisville, 735-644.

Lowrie narrowly lost the president's race last year to Joy Fenner, retired executive director of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas. Texas Baptists Committed -- the organization that mobilized political opposition to prevent a fundamentalist takeover of the BGCT -- had endorsed Fenner. This year, for the first time in two decades, the moderate group did not endorse a candidate. However, they also did not oppose Lowrie.

Lowrie, 48, becomes the first second-generation BGCT president. His father, D.L. Lowrie, the longtime pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lubbock, Texas, served two one-year terms in the early 1980s.

Carolyn Strickland, a deacon at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, won a contest for first vice president, outdrawing Ken Coffee, retired associate director of the BGCT State Missions Commission, 728-668.

Strickland's late husband, Phil, served 38 years with the BGCT Christian Life Commission, including about a quarter-century as director of the social concerns and public policy agency.

Messengers elected Bobby Broyles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Ballinger, Texas, second vice president by acclamation.

Hatfield, co-chair of the BGCT Future Focus Committee, presented a progress report from the strategic-planning committee created in response to a motion at last year's annual meeting in Amarillo.

Co-chair Andy Pittman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin, characterized the committee's task as helping to "move the convention into the 21st century."

On behalf of the committee, Pittman introduced a motion that the articles of incorporation and constitution be amended to change the organization's name from "Baptist General Convention of Texas" to "Texas Baptist Convention."

The committee on convention business recommended that the proposed name change be referred to the BGCT Executive Board for further study and deliberation. "We believe that every Texas Baptist deserves the time to consider the decision that for some may be easy, logical and simple and for others may be complex," Hatfield said in support of the referral.

Messengers approved a $45,755,295 budget for 2009 -- about 8 percent less than the one approved at the previous annual meeting and down slightly from the current adjusted budget.

A year ago messengers approved a $50.1 million budget for 2008. After the first quarter of this year, the convention faced a serious budget shortfall. Staff implemented cutbacks, and the budget was adjusted to $46,186,665.

Messengers this year also approved a recommendation that the adopted budget continue to be divided 79 percent for the BGCT and 21 percent to worldwide causes as directed by churches.

For churches that select the BGCT's "worldwide initiatives" giving option, that area will include two additional-global missions programs -- intercultural international missions and Texas Baptist Men international ministries -- along with continuing support for River Ministry/Mexico missions, the WorldconneX missions network, Texas Partnerships and the Baptist World Alliance.

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Equality Riders arrested at Union University
By Bob Allen (1,076 words)

JACKSON, Tenn. (ABP) -- Three Christian gay-rights activists were arrested Nov. 10 on the campus of Southern Baptist-affiliated Union University.

The arrests occurred during the next-to-last stop on the 2008 Equality Ride, an outreach bus tour of 15 religious schools across the South by Soulforce Q. The organization is the young-adult division of a group that fights discrimination against gays with nonviolent protest.

Police arrested 21-year-old Zak Rittenhouse of Frankfort, Ohio; 22-year-old Manny Lampon of New York City; and 22-year-old Jarrett Lucas of Minneapolis, Minn., a co-director of the 2008 Equality Ride, on trespassing charges. The arrests came after campus security warned them to leave an area declared off-limits to the riders.

University officials offered to let the activists into Luther Hall, a building located across a public street from the main campus, and told students, faculty and staff interested in dialogue about their presence. Instead, the riders chose to stand vigil inside one of three entrances to the campus.

After meeting only three students, the marchers chose to march toward a higher-traffic area of campus. They were stopped and told to turn back or face prosecution. Three refused to retreat. They were handcuffed and driven away in a police car.

"Although Union University cannot affirm this group's message, the university leadership made an attempt to offer dialogue and Christian hospitality to Equality Riders," Union officials said in a statement. "It is regrettable that the leadership of Soulforce responded by rejecting these offers."

Katie Higgins, the other Equality Ride co-director, said the goal of the effort is to communicate with as many students as possible, and the university's limiting their access made it necessary for them to move to parts of the campus offering more interaction.

One of the activists, Rachel Watson, is a Union University graduate. "It was heartbreaking to have my alma mater turn me away from campus," Watson said. "I wanted to talk to students about my life and the pain I experienced as a lesbian on Union University's campus, but instead I was locked out of my own school."

Watson, 22, of Jackson, Tenn., is a former member of Union's soccer team. She said she knew she was a lesbian even before deciding to attend the school, but she had been a fan of Union's athletic teams and thought she would feel safe attending a Christian university that encourages students to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Watson said that is far from the treatment she received from several of the faculty and students, who she said looked down on her as a disgrace. "It was difficult, but I feel like I never lost sight of who I was," she said.

Watson said she made it through by "staying true to my faith and always knowing God came first regardless of judgment and what people said about me."

Another rider, Mindi Monroe of Minneapolis, grew up attending a Southern Baptist church in Tennessee. She said for the most part it was a "very pleasant experience," but she learned love and acceptance from fellow church members came with conditions when she grew old enough to begin dealing with questions about her own sexuality. After her parents moved to another state, the family joined a church of another denomination.

Still, she said, "It's impossible to write off my Southern Baptist brothers and sisters as my people."

"They are my family," Monroe said. She said she took part in the vigil at Union University because it's important to make Southern Baptists aware of "people who suffer from their teachings."

Soulforce was founded by Mel White, a formerly well-connected evangelical minister who ghost-wrote books for religious figures including Billy Graham, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. The group says more than 200 colleges and universities in the United States have explicit policies that discriminate against students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

Now in its third year, the Equality Ride has visited more than 50 of those schools, where riders say even students often are unaware of such policies. Union University, for example, has a policy prohibiting "sexual impropriety," which is defined as "engaging in premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, homosexual activities or cohabitation on campus or off campus."

Arrests are nothing new for the 17 young adults ages 18-26 participating in this year's Equality Ride. Four of the riders were arrested Nov. 3 attempting to talk to students at Central Baptist College in Conway, Ark. Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Texas pressed trespassing charges against three of them. Two were arrested at Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College Oct. 20. Three were jailed Oct. 17 at Heritage Christian University Florence, Ala. Six were arrested for trying to enter the chapel at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Christian school with ties to the Florida Baptist Convention.

Some campuses, however, were more hospitable. At Baptist-affiliated Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. -- the first stop on the Oct. 2-Nov. 13 tour and the location where 20 people were arrested on the first Equality Ride in 2006 -- this time five riders were allowed to enter campus to deliver books affirming LGBT people to the library.

Dallas Baptist University allowed dialogue termed "unprecedented" Oct. 24, engaging students, faculty and administration. Blair Blackburn, executive vice president at DBU, said at a press conference that while the school's "established beliefs may not coincide with the viewpoints of Soulforce on these issues, we understand anyone's right to disagree and their desire for an opportunity to discuss."

The following week Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, organized what Soulforce Q termed "a limited and formal exchange of ideas" with students, faculty, staff and administrators hand-picked by the seminary to represent a cross section of the campus community.

Prior to his arrest, Lucas said it's important to give conservative Christian denominations "space to grow" on the issue of homosexuality, but increased dialogue with Baptist institutions is evidence that religious organizations can change.

"I think it's been very productive," he said of this year's Equality Ride. "If we have impacted the life of one student for the better, it's worth it."

Following a return visit to Union University Nov. 11, this year's Equality Ride wraps up Nov. 13 at Simmons College in Louisville, Ky.

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Baptist churches in Texas, California draw gay-rights supporters' protests
By Bob Allen (691 words)

DALLAS (ABP) -- About 100 people stood outside First Baptist Church of Dallas Nov. 9 to protest a sermon publicized on the church marquee with the title, "Why gay is not OK."

"To say in today's culture that homosexuality is a perversion of God's plan or to say on the marquee that 'gay is not OK' is going to be to subject yourself to charges of being bigoted and ignorant and hateful," Pastor Robert Jeffress said the first of a two-part sermon on homosexuality. It was part of an ongoing series of messages themed "Politically Incorrect."

The Dallas church wasn't the only high-profile Southern Baptist congregation met by protests the weekend after gay-rights foes won ballot victories in four states. Protesters also gathered outside of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., accusing Pastor Rick Warren of misleading the public in his support of Proposition 8. The amendment to the California Constitution, which passed narrowly Nov. 4, undid a recent court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.

Laura McFerrin, who helped organize the Dallas protest, told the Dallas-Forth Worth NBC affiliate that the message on the church sign made her "really sad."
"I believe I was born a lesbian [and] that there's nothing wrong with that," she said. "I'm upset because children who are having to go into that church who might be gay or lesbian will think something about them is wrong, and that makes me sad."

McFerrin and her mother spent Nov. 8 making signs and fliers encouraging others to come out and support the protest.

"I am surprised that in 2008 any church would have a sign like this out," her mother, Grace McFerrin, added. "I feel that churches should not support hate -- which is what a sign like this does, is allow people to think it's acceptable to hate other people."

Jeffress said in his sermon it is surprising to consider how quickly public opinion has accepted efforts by gay activists, aided by the mass media, to "to normalize homosexuality in our culture."

He noted that, just over 40 years ago, a Time magazine article described homosexuality "a misuse of the sexual faculty," a "pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality" and "a pernicious sickness." As recently as 1972 the American Psychiatric Association regarded homosexuality as a psychological disorder meriting treatment.

"Today it is no longer homosexuals who need therapy, but those who speak out against" homosexuality, he said.

Jeffress said the "homosexual agenda" has made inroads not only into the culture but among Christians as well.

"Those who are involved especially in the emerging-church movement are embracing homosexuality as a viable alternative lifestyle," he said, referring to a church-planting movement popular among younger evangelicals.

Jeffress said that is because Christians and non-Christians alike have embraced several "myths" about homosexuality fed to them by culture.

One myth, he said, is that the only prohibitions against homosexuality are in the Old Testament.

But Jeffries also cited what he believes are condemnations of homosexuality in New Testament passages, including Rom. 1:26-29, I Cor. 6:9-10 and I Tim. 1:9-10.

Jeffress said it is impossible for a God-fearing Christian to be gay.

"You can't fear God and disobey God at the same time," he said. "People out there who are homosexuals, who are worshiping God or are in church and worshiping God, they're not worshiping the God of the Bible. They're worshiping the God of their own creation, the God of their own imagination."

Another myth, he said, is that Jesus never condemned homosexuality.

Jeffress said Jesus condemned homosexuality by upholding God's plan for human sexuality. "God's plan for human sexuality is very clear," Jeffress said. "God said sex is reserved for a marriage relationship between a man and woman."

In his next sermon, scheduled for Nov. 16, Jeffress said he planned to talk about the question of sexual orientation. "Is it fixed forever, or can it be changed?" he asked. "And what do you say to a friend or a family member who comes to you and says, 'I believe God made me gay?' We're going to continue next time five more myths about homosexuality. I hope you'll be here."

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Baptist youth minister charged with child pornography
By Bob Allen (307 words)

MONROE, Conn. (ABP) -- An American Baptist youth minister in Connecticut was arrested on child-pornography charges after a nude photo of a 15-year-old girl he was counseling was found on his church computer.

David Esarey, 30, was arraigned Nov. 5 on charges of employing a minor in an obscene performance, third-degree child pornography and risk of injury to a minor. Media reports identified him as youth minister at Stepney Baptist Church in Monroe, Conn.

Kevin Merritt, the church's senior pastor, said as soon as police filed the complaint, Esarey was relieved of all responsibilities and placed on administrative leave. "At this point, he is no longer employed by the church," Merritt said. He said the church would not comment on the case.

Esarey's arrest followed an investigation launched in August after a church member using his computer at the church accidentally stumbled on the photo while looking for youth group photos. The church member notified Merritt, who in turn notified the girl's mother.

After the mother questioned her daughter about it, the daughter reportedly said she put the photo on the computer herself as a dare. Police said the mother later found several sexually explicit emails between Esarey and the girl. Police said the two discussed having sex, but they didn't touch except for an occasional hug.

Esarey, who is married, admitted to police he had counseled the girl privately but denied emailing her any photos. He said a number of male teenagers were interested in the girl, and they may have used his computer and cell phone to send her messages.

"My client maintains his innocence and we intend to vigorously defend him against these false allegations," Esarey's attorney said, according to the Connecticut Post.
Esarey joined the staff of Stepney Baptist Church in June 2005. The church is affiliated with American Baptist Churches of Connecticut.

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Opinion: Evangelicals and the Obama era
By David Gushee (806 words)

(ABP) -- I began this election year with The Future of Faith in American Politics, a book arguing that there is an emerging political center in the white evangelical community.

This center breaks with the evangelical right in that it is more politically independent, prioritizes a wider range of moral issues than the traditional family values concerns, eschews the right's mood of angry nostalgia and seeks consensus solutions to advance the common good.

I suggested the right was losing its hold on younger white evangelicals, who were moving in this more centrist direction (and sometimes further left) and that it never really had a hold on a majority of nonwhite evangelicals.

During the election campaign just concluded, the right pretty much acted according to type. Especially once Sarah Palin was added to the ticket, Christian right leaders swung into action in support of the Republicans. They focused strongly on abortion and gay marriage, communicated a mood of intense anger and fear in relation to Barack Obama and pursued classic culture-war strategy to mobilize supporters.

Early exit poll results demonstrate that white evangelicals supported the McCain-Palin ticket at 74 percent, to 24 percent for Obama. In 2004, white evangelicals went for President Bush at 78 percent and Sen. John Kerry at 21 percent.

John Green, an expert on evangelical voting patterns, has reported that 32 percent of younger white evangelicals (18-29) voted for Sen. Obama, a significantly higher proportion than their elders. It also appears likely that regional differences between southern and non-southern evangelicals will emerge with further analysis.

One might conclude from these numbers that if there is an emerging white evangelical center, it hasn't emerged very far quite yet.

But I never argued that the evangelical center would vote Democratic. I said that centrists would be more open to voting Democratic, and that they would evaluate candidates according to a wider range of moral considerations.

From conversations on college campuses all year, it seems clear to me that Barack Obama's stance on abortion proved a major obstacle among evangelical centrists who were otherwise quite open to voting for him. Younger evangelicals remain just as unhappy with abortion on demand as older evangelicals, even as their positions on other issues, including homosexuality, are moderating.

Therefore, Barack Obama seems to have won the evangelical left, as expected, but only a relatively small percentage of centrists. However, he did make gains that, according to Beliefnet writer Steven Waldman, probably amounted to as many as 2 million white evangelical votes swinging his direction in comparison with 2004. This is a significant incremental change.

The evangelical right's white-hot anti-Obama rhetoric places it in a poor position to function as anything other than an opposition voice during the Obama years. After eight years of access and influence in the Bush administration, this will undoubtedly come as a shock.

On the other hand, this is how the Christian right began -- as an opposition movement. In some ways, it will mark a return to their roots.

The coming wilderness years will provide an occasion for the Christian right to rethink its approach, as will other branches of the tattered Republican coalition in the years to come.

I think they should move to the center. But somehow I don't think anyone over there cares what I think, and my intent is to leave them to their discussions while turning my attention to where the action is likely to be in the next stage.

The center and left of the white evangelical community are in a far better position to play a constructive role in affecting major policy decisions on the ethically significant issues that will be decided in the next four years.

Of course, we will not do so alone, but will work in partnership with the black and Hispanic evangelical communities, the center-left of the Catholic community, and a host of other interested parties who are ready to work with the Obama administration on a number of challenges our nation and world faces.

I am eager to see the Obama administration reverse Bush administration detainee policy as decisively as possible; sponsor necessary climate-change legislation and alternative energy measures; press for effective abortion-reduction strategies; spearhead comprehensive immigration reform; posture the United States as an adherent of international norms and practitioner of creative diplomacy; lead the world in the reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons; ensure that every American has access to needed health care; and jump start our economy in a way that especially benefits those who most need help now.

These would all, in various ways, be significant steps toward justice, human dignity and a livable planet. They would all fulfill government's mandate to advance the common good and promote the sacredness of life. It is exciting to contemplate participating in the achievement of such goals in the days to come.

-- David P. Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University.