Died • Jerald Tanner, on October 1, in Salt Lake City from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. He was 68. Tanner grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but became an outspoken critic after accepting Christ when he was 19. He published Mormonism—Shadow or Reality in 1963. Twenty years later, he founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry, which seeks to disprove Mormonism by examining its early texts.
Appointed • C. Ben Mitchell, as director of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Mitchell, editor of Ethics & Medicine: An International Journal of Bioethics, will continue to serve as associate professor of bioethics and contemporary culture at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois.
Died • Al Whittaker, cofounder of Opportunity International, on September 27. He was 88. Whittaker left Bristol-Myers International, where he was president, in 1971 to found Opportunity, which provides loans and financial training to poor entrepreneurs.
Appointed • Jonathan Aitken, in October, to succeed Baroness Caroline Cox as honorary president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The former British Cabinet minister became a Christian in 1999 during an 18-month prison sentence for perjury. Aitken has served on the board of reference for csw, which promotes religious liberty.
Resigned • Joel Hunter, has stepped down before his official installation as president of the Christian Coalition of America. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, had planned to expand the conservative group’s mission to include creation care and human rights.
Installed • Steve Moore, as president and ceo of the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (EFMA). Moore founded Keep Growing, which trains ministry and marketplace leaders. He succeeded Donald Bray to head efma, which represents nearly 20,000 missionaries.
Died • Noted hymn writer John W. Peterson, of cancer, on September 20. He was 84. Peterson, a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame since 1986, wrote “It Took a Miracle” and more than 1,000 other hymns and 35 cantatas. A transport pilot in World War II, Peterson later attended Moody Bible Institute and served for 10 years as president and editor in chief of Singspiration.
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Related Elsewhere:
Utah Lighthouse Ministry has created a memorial page for Jerald Tanner.
Many articles by C. Ben Mitchell are available on his staff page at The Center on Bioethics and Human Dignity’s website.
Opportunity International’s Al Whittaker memorial page has a tribute and links to an interview and memorial fund.
The Orlando Sentinel reports on Joel Hunter’s resignation.
Steve Moore has a short bio on the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies site and an interview with The Christian Post.
The John W. Peterson Music Company has posted a short biography.
