A flagship Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation in Atlanta voted Nov. 23 to approve a slate of deacons including an openly gay man in a committed, same-sex relationship.

The vote followed a three-week sermon series on the Bible and homosexuality by Senior Pastor Julie Pennington-Russell. In Part 1 delivered Nov. 9, she said the messages had “about a 35-year gestation period,” as she interacted with gay Christians at previous churches in California and Texas and since 2007 at First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga.

In the final installment Nov. 23, Pennington-Russell said over time she has come to believe that welcoming LGBT people into full inclusion and participation in congregational life “is simply a matter of the church being the church. No more. No less.”

Pennington-Russell said in an email interview that she hadn’t planned to address the topic until a nominating team presented a slate of new deacon candidates for 2015 in October. One of the nominees was Theron Stuart, research project coordinator at Emory’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health, who with his same-sex partner joined First Baptist about four years ago.

A former chaplain and Christian school administrator, Stuart has gotten involved at First Baptist through teaching Sunday Bible study, leading in worship, co-facilitating Bible study groups for men and counseling.

Pennington-Russell said she began praying about how to lead the church, which has welcomed gay members “mostly in a don’t-ask-don’t-tell kind of way” for many years, in thinking about the upcoming vote.

Pennington-Russell said there are “perhaps 40 LGBT folk at First Baptist,” including couples with children, and many have joined as members. She said there has been at least one gay deacon in the past, but she doesn’t believe his sexual orientation was widely known.

“Electing an openly gay believer in a covenant relationship with his partner would be a first for our church,” she said. “Since we were asking the congregation to discern how to respond, I decided to offer some ‘handles’ from the pulpit that people could reach for in their own discernment process…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Can a Christian school require the leaders of its ROTC program—who are appointed and paid by the US Army—to adhere to a statement of faith?

Wheaton College came under fire in recent weeks from a military watchdog group that noticed the Army’s listing for a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps position at the suburban Chicago campus noted the candidate “must be of Christian faith.”

Now, the Army is conducting a nationwide review of policies at the 275 colleges that host ROTC programs, including Wheaton. While dozens of members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) partner with programs hosted by other schools, Wheaton is one of only a few to directly host a program. Many Catholic schools also directly host ROTC programs.

According to a Fox News report, the Army stated its system-wide review is unrelated to legal threats from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

Wheaton has indicated to the Army that it requires its professor of military science, who leads the ROTC program and the department, to follow its Christian statement of faith and community standards, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jim Hoyman, who currently leads Wheaton’s program. Other positions, such as assistant professors, are asked to “at a minimum respect the religious identity and mission of the college,” said Hoyman, who will serve a two- to three-year term at the discretion of the Army.

The Army job listing that prompted the MRFF response overstates Wheaton’s requirements, since assistant professors aren’t asked to profess Christian faith.

The MRFF considers Wheaton’s faith statement a violation of the constitutional requirement that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” In the Army Times, others point out the ROTC rule that hosting institutions not discriminate “based on race, sex (unless the school is a single sex school in its overall admissions policy), color, national origin, or religion…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

ATLANTA – A Georgia fire chief has been suspended without pay and has been ordered to undergo sensitivity training after publishing a book that contains quotes decrying homosexual behavior and other forms of sexual perversion.

Chief Kelvin Cochran of Atlanta has been suspended for one month and is also the subject of investigation as to whether he violated city policy or engaged in discrimination by publishing the book last year.

The publication, which is being sold on Amazon, is entitled “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” and is centered on God’s question to Adam following his disobedience in the Garden of Eden, and parallels the matter with those who are now “clothed in Christ.” Cochran states that the book was compiled as a result of a number of lesson plans that he had prepared over time for men’s Bible study groups.

While “Who Told You That You Were Naked” was published last year, it was reportedly not until last week that Atlanta employees complained to Mayor Kasim Reed about its content.

“Uncleanness [is] whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality, all other forms of sexual perversion,” Cochran wrote. “Naked men refuse to give in, so they pursue sexual fulfillment through multiple partners, with the opposite sex, the same sex and sex outside of marriage and many other vile, vulgar and inappropriate ways which defile their body-temple and dishonor God.”

But it wasn’t Cochran’s writings against sexual perversion that got him into hot water, it was the fact that he included homosexuality among those behaviors that are cited as being “vile,” “vulgar” and “inappropriate.”

Mayor Reed issued a statement this week condemning Cochran’s book and referring to it as being discriminatory.
“I was surprised and disappointed to learn of this book on Friday,” he stated. “I profoundly disagree with and am deeply disturbed by the sentiments expressed in the paperback regarding the LGBT community. I will not tolerate discrimination of any kind within my administration.”

“I want to be clear that the material in Chief Cochran’s book is not representative of my personal beliefs, and is inconsistent with the administration’s work to make Atlanta a more welcoming city for all of her citizens—regardless of their sexual orientation, gender, race and religious beliefs,” Reed said.

In addition to being suspended and placed under investigation, Cochran is also prohibited from distributing his book to other city employees as some firefighters stated that he had given them a free copy.

But some find that it is rather Mayor Reed who is being discriminatory by punishing Christians who publicly express their biblical values.

“You’d think the government would appreciate Kelvin Cochran being a role model to young black men in Atlanta, but they are instead much more focused on not offending the gay rights community,” wrote writer Erick Erickson for Red State. “What Mayor Reed and the gay rights community are saying is that if you work for government you cannot be open about your Christian faith. Again, you will be made to care.”

Source and Original Content by CNN