Baptist Briefs

Posted: 12/01/06

Baptist Briefs

Alabama Baptists pray for Wal-Mart. At the Alabama Baptist State Convention’s annual meeting, messengers approved a resolution that calls on Baptists to pray for the store’s leaders and asks local and national Wal-Mart officials to reconsider their recent decision to join the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. A resolution dealing with the conflict in Western Sudan called for Baptists to pray for the suffering people of the Darfur region, as well as offer advocacy and humanitarian aid on their behalf. A resolution on ethics in government urged messengers to ask state governments to ensure that officials cannot use power for personal or private gain.

CBF needs volunteers in Louisiana. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship needs volunteers to build houses and build hope for Hurricane Katrina victims April 23-May 5 in Baton Rouge, La. More than 325 volunteers a day are needed for the two-week Habitat for Humanity build. Twelve families who lost their homes during Katrina will be chosen for the new homes. Habitat for Humanity subsidized the cost of the homes, with several Baptist organizations contributing the remainder. The Fellowship has given $105,000 to the effort, which included an initial three-house build in October. Both skilled and unskilled volunteers are needed to work in a variety of areas, including construction, hospitality, landscaping and painting. Volunteers are invited to stay for the entire two-week build or for just a few days. Fellowship volunteers should register and receive additional information through CBF’s volunteer office, which is coordinating the Fellowship’s volunteer efforts on this project. A $100 per week fee covers three meals a day and lodging. If other lodging facilities are used, the fee is $50. For more information, contact Timothy Wood at (800) 782-2451 or twood@thefellowship.info.

Kentucky Baptists elect young conservatives. Continuing a recent trend of electing young leaders, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s new top three officers are under age 40—Darren Gaddis, 37, as president; Kevin Smith, 39, as first vice president; and Chad Fugitt, 27, as second vice president. All three officers also have current ties to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Gaddis and Fugitt are pursuing doctor of ministry degrees from Southern, and Smith is an assistant professor of church history at the Louisville-based seminary.

Rift among Missouri Baptists. Strong words from several Missouri Baptist Convention leaders during the convention’s recent annual meeting highlighted a growing rift among fundamentalists in Missouri Baptist leadership. The rift is between two groups—one loyal to the convention’s executive director, David Clippard, and one loyal to Roger Moran, a political leader within the convention. In a sermon to Missouri Baptists, former convention President Gerald Davidson called for an end to the Moran-led Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association, a powerful political group that helped conservatives gain power in the convention and now controls appointment to many leadership positions. Moran has feuded with Clippard for several months.

S.C. Baptists increase budget. Messengers to the South Carolina Baptist Convention annual meeting increased their budget and elected a strong Cooperative Program supporter as president. The 2007 convention budget of $32.75 million represents a $600,000 increase over this year’s budget of $32,150,000. Sixty percent of the budget, or $19,705,000, will go to support the state convention’s ministries and missions endeavors. Forty percent, or $13,045,000, will go to the Southern Baptist Convention for national and international missions causes. Mike Moody, pastor of First Baptist Church in Honea Path, S.C., won the presidential election with 550 votes, or 67 percent of the votes cast, over Tom Tucker, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Rock Hill, S.C. In nominating Moody, Von Reynolds, pastor of Seneca Baptist Church in Seneca, S.C., praised him for his “loyal and unswerving support for the Cooperative Program.”