Resigned • Denise Isom, assistant professor of education, from Calvin College. In October 2007, Calvin’s board denied Isom’s request to attend a congregation outside of the Christian Reformed Church, the denomination with which the school is affiliated (see “Values Clash,” CT, January 2008). Isom, who is African American, attended Messiah Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly black congregation. Two other Calvin professors resigned in protest of the board’s decision.
Died • Maria Sue Chapman, the daughter of Grammy-award winning Christian singer Stephen Curtis Chapman. She was 5. Maria Sue died at a Nashville hospital after being struck in the family’s driveway by an SUV driven by one of her brothers.
Resigned • Ken Behr, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), on April 28. Behr had been president for just over two years.
Resigned • Rodney Hammer, from his position as the International Mission Board’s regional leader for Central and Eastern Europe. Hammer said he could no longer uphold IMB’s personnel policies regarding private prayer languages and baptism. The 2005 policies ban missionary candidates who speak in tongues and who have not experienced believer’s baptism by immersion.
Died • Dottie Rambo, a gospel singer and songwriter, on May 11 after her tour bus veered off a highway near Mount Vernon, Missouri. She was 74. Rambo, who reportedly wrote more than 2,500 songs, is most remembered for gospel classics such as “I Go to the Rock” and “We Shall Behold Him.”
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Related Elsewhere:
The Grand Rapids Press reported on Isom’s resignation and the deal Calvin was working on when she announced it. Calvin College has re-posted an explanation of its faculty requirements.
Christian Music Today reported on Maria Sue Chapman’s death.
