Short Spots                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                 Vol. XVI, No. 9, Nov/Dec 2003

Golden Gate seeking new president: Trustees of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary elected President William O. Crews to the transition post of chancellor and charged the board's executive committee with task of recommending a new president for the 59-year-old institution. The longest-tenured of the six Southern Baptist Convention seminary presidents, Crews was elected to lead Golden Gate in 1986. Although officially vacating the office of the president after 17 years of service and taking up the post of chancellor, Crews will maintain the duties of president and chief executive until a new leader is elected and in place, officials noted. Crews and board leaders indicated starting the process now will allow the seminary to take the time necessary to conduct a thorough search before his retirement at age 70. [BP]

Anglican leaders warn of division if homosexual bishop is consecrated: Anglican leaders at an emergency meeting in Canterbury issued a statement Oct. 16 that distances the worldwide body from a controversial action by the Episcopal Church (USA) and warns of an even further divide if an openly homosexual bishop is consecrated. The two-day meeting was called after the Episcopal Church (USA) confirmed its first openly homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson, in August. The Anglican statement, passed unanimously by the 37 primates, criticizes both the decision by the Episcopal Church and the one by the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada allowing blessings of same-sex couples. It warns against Robinson's consecration, scheduled for Nov. 2. Robinson has said he will not back down. [BP]

Debate over what God knows: Several hundred ETS members will meet in Atlanta Nov. 19-21 and decide whether to expel two of its members -- McMaster Divinity College's Clark Pinnock and Huntingdon College's John Sanders -- who embrace a theological view called "open theism." Open theists claim that God does not know the future decisions of humans because those choices have yet to be made. In other words, they say, there is nothing to know. Critics call their views heresy. Two years ago the society passed by a vote of 253-66 a non-binding resolution opposing open theism. For Pinnock and Sanders to be expelled, it must be proven that open theism is incompatible with inerrancy. Other facets of open theism are not at issue in the ETS debate. "Many do not want to deal with this issue, believing that it is unnecessarily divisive," L. Russ Bush, past president of ETS and current academic dean at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on the ETS website. "My response is simply that open theism is the source of this division, not those who are seeking to preserve the integrity of the membership boundary set by the commonly accepted doctrinal basis." In recent months the two sides have made their cases in papers posted on the ETS website (www.etsjets.org). [BP]

Houston Baptist affirms relationship with SBTC: The Houston Baptist University trustee board voted Sept. 23 to affirm a "fraternal relationship" with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), marking the first time a school affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas officially has related to the five-year-old SBTC. Jim Richards, executive director of the SBTC, which includes 1,361 congregations, welcomed the new relationship. Meanwhile, trustees of the liberal arts school also re-affirmed the university's unique affiliation and relationship with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), from which it receives budgeted funds. Preceding the university's decision, Texas Baptist Men voted in February to build a fraternal relationship with the SBTC while remaining a BGCT affiliate -- the first such entity to do so. [BP]

Moderate candidate in NC calls for end of political groups, less money for SBC: David Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, released the information in a four-part statement called "A new vision for a new day." Hughes said Beaufort layman Raymond Earp, who is running for first vice president, and Greensboro pastor Ken Massey, who is seeking the second vice presidency, agree with the statement. All three have been endorsed by Mainstream Baptists of North Carolina, the state's moderate group. In November, they will face candidates endorsed by Conservative Carolina Baptists -- Greensboro pastor David Horton, who is running for president; Phyllis Foy, a laywoman from Mooresville, who is running for first vice president, the office currently held by her husband; and East Flat Rock pastor Brian Davis, who is running for second vice president. Hughes calls for groups like Mainstream Baptists and Conservative Carolina Baptists to be dismantled. "I will ask for balance in appointments, working to assure that both 'moderates' and 'conservatives' have a meaningful place in the N.C. Baptist family," he added in the statement. Hughes said in his written statement that the convention needs to regain financial stability. "Plainly stated, our current budget formula and our multiple giving plans have contributed to the current budget crisis," he said. Hughes said he would work toward changing Plan A, one of the convention's giving options, to increase the amount allocated to the state convention from 68 percent to 70 percent and decrease the amount given to the SBC from 32 percent to 30 percent. The plan would provide an extra $500,000 for use in the state, he said. [And that much less for the SBC. TCP] [ABP]