SOUTHERN BAPTISTS
Arkansas pastor is new Southern Baptist president
BALTIMORE (AP) — An Arkansas megachurch pastor is the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Rev. Ronnie Floyd received 52 percent of votes Tuesday from delegates to the annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Floyd beat out the Rev. Dennis Kim, the Korean-American pastor of a bilingual Maryland church, who received 41 percent of the vote.
Floyd has been the pastor at Cross Church in northwest Arkansas for 27 years. About 8,500 people worship each week at one of the church’s several locations.
He was nominated by the powerful head of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Rev. Albert Mohler.
Mohler told the crowd of 5,000 meeting in Baltimore that Floyd is person who can lead the denomination at a time of “horrifying moral rebellion” in the nation.
Sound:
235-a-13-(The Rev. Ronnie Floyd, incoming president of the Southern Baptist Convention, speaking this past Sunday to Southern Baptist pastors)-“upon this nation”-The Rev. Ronnie Floyd told his fellow pastors Sunday evening that it’s time for a spiritual revival. (10 Jun 2014)
< 234-a-10-(The Rev. Fred Luter, outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention, speaking at the denomination’s annual meeting)-“Baptist Convention (applause fades)”-The Rev. Fred Luter, outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention, announces his successor ((cut used in wrap)) (10 Jun 2014) < 233-w-31-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with the Rev. Fred Luter, outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention)–An Arkansas megachurch pastor is the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (10 Jun 2014) < 328-a-09-(The Rev. Chris Osborne, pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas, speaking at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting)-“or a book”-The Rev. Chris Osborne, pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas, explains why his resolution doesn’t specifically mention “Heaven is for Real.” (10 Jun 2014) < 327-a-16-(The Rev. Thomas McCracken, pastor of CommUNITY Church of Salem, Va., speaking at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting)-“for theological reasons”-The Rev. Thomas McCracken, pastor of CommUNITY Church of Salem, Va., proposes blocking sales of a popular afterlife chronicle. (10 Jun 2014) < SOUTHERN BAPTISTS-TRANSGENDER Arkansas pastor is new Southern Baptist president BALTIMORE (AP) — Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting have passed a resolution declaring that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by self-perception. The resolution states that the denomination opposes hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery and other efforts to “alter one’s bodily identity.” According to the resolution, “God’s design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female.” The resolution expresses opposition to government efforts to “validate transgender identity as morally praiseworthy.” The resolution also condemns the bullying and abuse of transgender people and expresses love and compassion for “those whose sexual self-understanding is shaped by a distressing conflict between their biological sex and their gender identity.” Sound: 265-v-30-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor)–Southern Baptists at their annual meeting have passed a resolution declaring that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by self-perception. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (10 Jun 2014) < SOUTHERN BAPTISTS-AFTERLIFE Southern Baptists: Heaven stories may not be for real BALTIMORE (AP) — Southern Baptists in Baltimore for their annual meeting say only the Bible can reliably describe life after death. A proposed resolution calls on the denomination’s Lifeway bookstores to stop selling “Heaven is for Real,” the best-selling book and film about a child’s description of meeting Jesus, angels and deceased relatives while he underwent surgery. The resolution’s sponsor cites theological objections. A related resolution that passed Tuesday didn’t specifically mention “Heaven is for Real,” but stated that people can be led astray by popular books and movies that contain “personal testimonies that cannot be corroborated” and often conflict with what the Bible teaches. The broader resolution reaffirms what it calls “the sufficiency of biblical revelation over subjective experiential explanations” about heaven and hell. Sound: 328-a-09-(The Rev. Chris Osborne, pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas, speaking at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting)-“or a book”-The Rev. Chris Osborne, pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas, explains why his resolution doesn’t specifically mention “Heaven is for Real.” (10 Jun 2014) < MASON CITY BEARD CHALLENGE Iowa hospital chaplain loses beard for food drive MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — The chaplain at an Iowa hospital has lost his beard of 32 years after hospital staffers surpassed their food drive goal. The Rev. Ken Gehling good-naturedly sacrificed his long, white beard Monday in the main lobby at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City. He had promised to have the beard shaved off if Mercy staffers collected more than 750 pounds of food for the Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank. The Globe Gazette reported that their total exceeded 800 pounds. Mason City hair stylist Sue Wyborny cut off Gehling’s beard and his mustache. Sitting down for his shave, Gehling quipped that for him it was “like the electric chair,” but he was happy that so much food was raised. VATICAN-POPE Pope cancels 2nd day of audiences for illness VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has canceled a second day of private audiences and his morning Mass because of a minor illness. A Vatican spokesman said the unspecified illness was mild and that Francis would preside over his general audience Wednesday. Francis has had a whirlwind few weeks, travelling to the Mideast and hosting the Israeli and Palestinian presidents for a Vatican prayer summit Sunday. By Monday, he came down with a bug, and took Tuesday off to rest. Some Vatican officials have privately expressed concern at the frenetic pace of the 77-year-old pope, who only has one full lung. While past popes took summers off and escaped Rome’s heat for the cooler climes of Castel Gandolfo, Francis has chosen to stay in Rome and work. IRELAND-MASS GRAVES Ireland to investigate deaths at church-run homes DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland’s government is launching an investigation into mistreatment and burial of babies who died decades ago in nun-operated homes for unwed mothers. The investigation follows revelations that hundreds of children died at a former Roman Catholic church-run “mother and baby” home in western Ireland. Amid the outcry, Prime Minister Enda Kenny promised an extensive inquiry and acknowledged that for decades, children born out of wedlock were treated as “an inferior subspecies.” Ireland had some 10 “mother and baby homes” run by different religious orders until the 1960s. The inquiry will look at the high mortality rates and burial practices at these residences, illegal adoptions and whether vaccine trials were conducted on the children. POLAND-ABORTION Poland’s PM: doctor’s duty is above his faith WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has weighed into a debate about abortion and doctors’ religious beliefs that is roiling emotions in the largely Catholic country. Tusk on Tuesday said doctors have to put their obligation to the patient and the law above their private beliefs. His comment came after obstetrician Bogdan Chazan caused an uproar by refusing to allow a woman to abort a fetus with serious head and brain defects. Chazan is one of around 3,000 Polish doctors who have signed a “Declaration of Faith” saying they consider abortion and euthanasia as being against their faith. In Poland, abortion is only legal until the 25th week of pregnancy when the mother’s life is at risk or if the fetus is badly damaged or the result of rape. WEST AFRICA-EBOLA Prayers, precautions in W Africa amid Ebola threat CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — One African preacher advocates fasting and prayer to spare people from a virus that usually leads to a horrible death. Some people pray that the Ebola outbreaks, which are hitting three countries in West Africa, stay away from their home areas. Others seem unruffled and say it will blow over. But more than a month after Guinea President Alpha Conde told reporters the Ebola outbreak that originated in his country was under control, the death toll continues to climb in his country as well as in Sierra Leone and Liberia. At least 231 people have died since the outbreak of the fearsome disease, which causes bleeding internally and externally and for which there is no known cure. Guinea has recorded just over 200 deaths, along with about a dozen each in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
