In Brief: October 25, 1999

1. Alabama Circuit Judge Roy Moore, who displays the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, has been cleared of possible ethical wrongdoing regarding a legal defense fund. The fund was established to aid Moore’s legal battle against the American Civil Liberties Union, which unsuccessfully challenged his display and practice of beginning each session with prayer.
2. More than 19,000 men from the U.S., the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe gathered at T. D. Jakes‘s seventh annual “Manpower” conference in Washington, D.C., September 9–11. In July, Jakes, 42, hosted 84,500 women at his Woman, Thou Art Loosed! conference, setting an attendance record at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta (CT, Sept. 6, 1999, p. 23).
3. A majority of trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary voted September 14 to dismiss President Mark T. Coppenger, concluding that his “expressions of anger” have “irreparably damaged his ability to lead this seminary.” Coppenger, 51, was elected president in 1995.
4. George Fox University inaugurated H. David Brandt, 60, in August as its eleventh president. Brandt joined the Newberg, Oregon–based institution in August 1998 following the death of former president Edward F. Stevens of cancer.
5. Overseas Council International (OCI) president John C. Bennett, 47, died of a heart attack in Indianapolis, August 25. Prior to joining OCI in 1990, Bennett was president of Advancing Churches in Mission Commitment (ACMC) in Chicago.
6. J. Brent Walker, 48, has been nominated as executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee. Walker succeeds James M. Dunn, who has directed the Washington, D.C.– based religious liberty agency since 1981.

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