Baptist Briefs

Posted: 9/30/05

Baptist Briefs

IMB trustees approve Elliff as VP. International Mission Board trustees unanimously ratified the selection of Tom Elliff, longtime pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla., as IMB senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations, effective Nov. 1. Elliff, 61, served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He and his wife, Jeannie, were appointed as missionaries to Zimbabwe in 1981, but their missionary career was cut short by an automobile accident resulting in severe injuries to their daughter.

Rainer elected LifeWay president. LifeWay Christian Resources trustees unanimously elected Thom Rainer to become the ninth president of the Southern Baptist publishing house. As president-elect, Rainer will begin working alongside LifeWay President Jimmy Draper Oct. 17 until Draper's retirement Feb. 1, 2006. Rainer, 50, is dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A graduate of the University of Alabama, he earned master of divinity and Ph.D. degrees at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as pastor of churches in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Indiana prior to joining Southern in 1994 as founding dean of the Billy Graham School. He is the author of 16 books, including Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, The Unchurched Next Door and Breakout Churches. Rainer also is founder, president and CEO of The Rainer Group, a national church and denominational consultant organization. He and his wife, Nellie Jo, have three sons–Sam, Art and Jess.

NAMB offers $10 million in church loans. The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board has designated $10 million in disaster relief loans to churches affected by Hurricane Katrina. The mission agency will provide low-interest loans up to $100,000 to Southern Baptist churches for repair of church facilities, replacement of equipment or materials, or to cover expenses while a church is displaced, said Karl Dietz, director of the mission board's church finance ministry team.

Tennessee Baptists reject Belmont proposal. Tennessee Baptists' Executive Board voted 44-29 to reject a covenant agreement proposal from Belmont University that would have allowed up to 40 percent of the Nashville school's trustees to be non-Baptists. Currently, all trustees must be members of churches affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention and be approved by convention messengers. Belmont, which has 4,300 students, receives about $2.3 million a year from the convention, representing about 2.8 percent of its revenue. Under the rejected plan, Belmont would have spent all convention funds on aid for Tennessee Baptist students.

LifeWay authorizes $6 million for Katrina relief. Trustees of LifeWay Christian Resources unanimously voted to authorize the company's executive leaders to use $6 million in reserve funds to help Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The funding will begin immediately and continue throughout the 2006 fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2005, through Sept. 30, 2006.

SBC Executive Committee elects Religious Right activist as VP. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee unanimously elected a Tennessee pastor active in the "vote values" movement as vice president for convention relations. Kenyn Cureton, who has been pastor of First Baptist Church in Lebanon, Tenn., nearly 20 years, succeeds Bill Merrell, effective Nov. 1. Cureton wrote the 2004 iVoteValues.com Voter Resource Guide with Richard Land, president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and he produced pamphlets, bulletin inserts and other resources for the national initiative. The materials were adapted by Focus for the Family for distribution through its 2004 voter campaign. He holds Ph.D. and master of divinity degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and an undergraduate degree from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn. He is a former pastor of Sandy Baptist Church in Ravenna.