Baptist Briefs

Posted: 3/30/07

Baptist Briefs

Southwestern Seminary hires fundraiser. Robert Hawley of Prosper, former regional capital resource manager for LifeWay Christian Resources, has joined the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary staff as associate vice president for institutional advancement. Hawley began his fund-raising career as a pastor in California when he raised support for missions endeavors. He also has been vice president of sales training and operations for a communications company in Dallas, vice president of Stephen’s Children Foundation, chief administrator of the Christian Motorcyclists Association and president of Open Doors Ministry USA. Hawley holds a bachelor of arts degree from Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and a master of divinity degree from Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, Calif.

Billy Graham’s grandson injured in Iraq. Capt. Edward Graham, Billy Graham’s grandson and evangelist Franklin Graham’s youngest son, sustained shrapnel wounds to his arms, legs and back in Iraq. Graham, a 27-year-old Army Ranger and West Point graduate, did not suffer life-threatening injuries and was recovering at an undisclosed hospital, according to news reports. He is one of four children of Franklin Graham and one of 19 grandchildren of evangelist Billy Graham.

Couple named human rights award winners. Joao and Nora Matwawana, an Angolan couple now living in Canada, have been named recipients of the 2007 Denton Lotz Human Rights Award, presented by the Baptist World Alliance. The Matwawanas have played a pivotal role in reconciliation and peace efforts in Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola since the 1970s. Their work included ministry among more than 1 million refugees who fled Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1994; repeated visits to refugees living in camps in Zambia; visits to Burundi to discuss peace and nation building initiatives with governmental, church and nongovernmental organization leaders; meeting with a Burundi rebel leader in Holland and South Africa to successfully negotiate peace; and training Angolan refugees in conflict resolution, mediation, peace and reconciliation.

Missourian tapped for South Carolina executive’s post. After spending less than two years as associate execu-tive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, Jim Austin is expected to become new executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. A South Carolina search committee announced Austin, 53, is its unanimous choice to replace Carlisle Driggers in the chief executive position. Driggers left last month to retire to Georgia after 15 years in the position. After being approved by the convention’s Executive Board, convention messengers will consider Austin for the position. Austin was born in Charlotte, N.C., and graduated from Jacksonville State University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He has served as pastor of churches in Georgia and Virginia and was a vice president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. He also served two terms as a trustee of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. Overseas, Austin worked as a mission-team recruiter and a leader for short-term trips in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

Oklahoma pastor acquitted of sex charges. A former member of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has been cleared of criminal sex-solicitation charges. An Oklahoma judge acquitted Lonnie Latham of asking an undercover male police officer to have sex. The presiding judge found Latham not guilty of offering to engage in a lewd act but did not address a key issue—whether the law Latham was charged under is unconstitutional. Latham’s attorney had argued his client was charged under a lewdness statute that should be unconstitutional because the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 legalized consensual, noncommercial sex between adult males. If convicted, Latham could have faced a year in jail, a $2,500 fine and 40 to 80 hours of community service. As a spokesman for Southern Baptists, Latham often had defended the convention’s opposition to same-sex relations. After his arrest, he resigned from the SBC Executive Committee, the board of directors of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and his church pastorate.