Monday, May 04, 1998

• SBC Cooperative Program April gifts down; year up

  by , posted Monday, May 04, 1998 (26 years ago)

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program receipts for April declined more than 16 percent compared to the previous year’s April, according to Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the SBC Executive Committee.

  For the fiscal year, however, receipts remain above the previous year by .46 percent.

  For the month of April 1998, a total of $11,903,309 was received, compared to the same month of 1997 of $14,299,668, a decrease of 16.76 perc... Read More

• Minister to homosexuals wages EEOC complaint after losing job

  by Ken Walker, posted Monday, May 04, 1998 (26 years ago)

  RALEIGH, N.C. (BP)--When Tim Wilkins urged the 1997 Southern Baptist Convention to promote healing for homosexuals, he didn't know it would cost him his job.

  Formerly employed by the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, Wilkins was fired after a front-page article about the motion and CROSS, an ex-gay ministry he founded, appeared in the newspaper.

  After its publication last August, the member of Providence Baptist Church said he faced hostility from superiors in the circulation department. Lat... Read More

• Speaking out against homosexuality can lead to harassment, report says

  by Ken Walker, posted Monday, May 04, 1998 (26 years ago)

  WASHINGTON (BP)-- In a recent column, Frank Rich of The New York Times lamented a hold-up in Senate confirmation of James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg because of his homosexuality.

  The syndicated columnist accused three Republican senators of pandering to a far-right hysteria over a "gay agenda." He also quoted the chairman of a homosexual Republican group as saying an intolerant few were defining the GOP's stands.

  Concluding with excerpts from a letter from Hormel's ex-wife commendi... Read More

• Spiritual markers guide journey for Dixon of Texas Baptist Men

  by Ken Camp, posted Monday, May 04, 1998 (26 years ago)

  DALLAS (BP)--Bob Dixon looks at marker boards covering two walls of the communications room in the Texas Baptist Men office.

  Ongoing examples of the "activity of God" among the group's volunteers fill them: Disaster relief in Texas. Famine relief and agricultural missions in North Korea. Wide-ranging criminal justice ministry opportunities, Royal Ambassador and Challenger programs, church and encampment building projects, and church renewal events. Far-flung assignments from Belize to the Uk... Read More

• European Baptist Convention celebrates 40th anniversary

  by Judith Lynn Bloomer, posted Monday, May 04, 1998 (26 years ago)

  WIESBADEN, Germany (BP)--In countries where church buildings have been around longer than the United States, 40 years seems insignificant. However, for the European Baptist Convention, 40 years equals its lifetime.

  Begun in 1958, the European Baptist Convention (EBC) is now composed of 69 English-speaking churches in 22 countries in Europe and the Middle East.

  Special activities to mark the convention’s 40th anniversary are being planned. Interlaken '98, an annual assembly held in In... Read More