Some black leaders say there s room for dissent in SBC over CRT
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Some black leaders say there s room for dissent in SBC over CRT
Some black leaders say there s room for dissent in SBC over CRT
The Rev. Jeffery W. Friend is pastor of Suburban Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., and executive board member of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention. | Suburban Baptist Church
As a racial and ideological divide over critical race theory continues to roil the Southern Baptist Convention, two of the denomination’s senior black leaders insist the denomination is big enough to accommodate dissent.
Student Online Petition Urges SBU Trustees to Reverse Tenure Denials
After
Word&Wayreported yesterday (Feb. 4) that trustees at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, had denied tenure or promotion to five faculty members, an SBU student created a petition at change.org urging the trustees to reverse their decision.
The unusual move by the trustees came amid a two-year controversy over control and theology at the school, and as the school already faces an inquiry by its accreditation body after a complaint about earlier actions by the trustees and the Missouri Baptist Convention that elected them. Until recently, most of the controversy involved efforts to drive out several religion professors in the school’s Redford Division of Christian Ministry.
In this undated file photo, the Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington speaks in the chapel at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. | SWBTS / Margie Dolch, File
Outspoken African American Southern Baptist Convention Pastor Dwight McKissic, who threatened to leave the SBC over a dispute about critical race theory, recently received a letter that disparaged blacks and urged the convention to “bid them goodbye and good riddance!”
The letter in question was authored by John V. Rutledge, an author who is no longer part of the SBC. The controversial document was sent last Monday and addressed to McKissic, who pastors Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas.
Nick Pacurari Named Executive Director Of Student Life At Bryan College Monday, February 1, 2021
Nick Pacurari has accepted the position of executive director of Student Life at Bryan College.
Mr. Pacurari brings a variety of experiences to his new role and is excited to lead the Student Life department in its efforts to centralize around Gospel transformation, restorative actions, and meaningful engagement. He said he believes that the Gospel of Jesus and his educational experience at Bryan have profoundly transformed him and desires to provide this same experience for all Bryan College students.
Mr. Pacurari is appreciative of the mentorship he received from his predecessor, Tim Hostetler, who was recently named senior vice president of Campus Operations & Special Projects.
When leaders in the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention rebuked him for supporting missionaries praying and praising in tongues in 2006, prominent Southern Baptist Convention Pastor Dwight McKissic said he almost quit.