Elected • Emir Caner, as president of Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia. Caner, who converted to Christianity as a teenager after being raised as a Sunni Muslim, served as dean of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s undergraduate program since its founding in 2005.
Appointed • Gordon MacDonald as interim president of Denver Seminary. Most recently pastor of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, MacDonald replaces Craig Williford, who served as president since 2000.
Resigned • Samuel B. Casey, as executive director and CEO of the Christian Legal Society. Casey, who had served as CEO for 14 years, is joining Advocates International, a Christian human-rights organization.
Died • Ira Tucker, lead singer of gospel music’s the Dixie Hummingbirds, at age 83. He joined the group in his early teens and was known for his theatrical singing. Tucker also wrote songs for the group, including “Christian Automobile” and “When the Dollar Rules the Pulpit,” but the group was probably best known for its work with Paul Simon on 1973’s “Loves Me Like a Rock.”
Cleared • Lakewood Church co-pastor Victoria Osteen, by a jury who said she did not assault a Continental Airlines flight attendant in December 2005. She had paid a $3,000 Federal Aviation Administration fine for interfering with a crew member, but the attendant sued for at least $405,000 in a civil case. “This lawsuit in my opinion should not have been filed because nothing happened,” jury foreman Gilles Labbe told the Associated Press.
Ended • The dispute between Armond Morales and members of a younger group (including Morales’s son) over the name the Imperials. Morales transferred name rights to the younger group, which dropped its suit against Morales.
Died • Pauline Baynes, the English artist best known for her illustrations in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and many of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy works, at age 85.
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