—Revival meetings continue at the Pensacola, Florida-based Brownsville Assembly of God (CT, March 3, 1997, p. 54) despite the hospitalization of the 47-year-old pastor, John Kilpatrick. On September 17, Kilpatrick fell 14 feet from the second story of a home he is having built, breaking his pelvic bone in four places and fracturing eight ribs. Evangelist Steve Hill is preaching the services while Kilpatrick spends several months recuperating.
—A Georgia Baptist Convention investigative committee has concluded that Mercer University President R. Kirby Godsey has “failed his spiritual fiduciary responsibility” because of views expressed in When We Talk About God … Let’s Be Honest that “dramatically deviate from orthodoxy.” In the book, published last year, Godsey gave credence to notions of a fallible Bible and a universalist doctrine of salvation (CT, Feb. 3, 1997, p. 81).
—Orange County (Calif.) Judge Gregg Prickett sentenced Southern Baptist pastor Wiley Drake to 1,500 hours community service September 19 for breaking laws by housing homeless people at his Buena Park church. But Prickett credited Drake for 1,500 hours already served for church activities, including caring for the homeless (CT, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 94).
—The 25,000-square-foot Birmingham-based Disciples, the nation’s first “Christian superstore” (CT, Jan. 8, 1996, p. 57), has closed after 18 months. Analysts blame the closure on a combination of an inadequate location, undercapitalization, and misguided marketing.
—Alan Andrews on September 1 succeeded Terry Taylor as U.S. director of the Navigators. Andrews, 53, has been with the Colorado Springs-based evangelization and discipling ministry for 33 years. He became national leader for Canada in 1976 and in 1990 became director in Asia.
—Author O. S. Hawkins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas since 1993, took over as president of the Southern Baptist Convention Annuity Board in Dallas October 1. Hawkins, 50, will continue preaching, at various churches around the country.
—David Black, 48, is the new president of Eastern College in Saint Davids, Pennsylvania, after eight years as president of Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He replaces Roberta Hestenes, who is now senior pastor at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church in California.
—Bill Greig III, 40, is the new president and chief executive officer of Gospel Light Publishing. He has been with the Ventura, California, Bible curriculum publisher, founded by Henrietta Mears in 1933, for 18 years. William T. Greig, Jr., who has been with GLP for 47 years, remains board chair.
—President Clinton awarded the new National Humanities Medal to theologian and author Martin Marty on September 29 in a White House ceremony. Marty, a University of Chicago Divinity School professor, is senior editor of Christian Century and the biweekly newsletter “Context.” Clinton praised him as a premier scholar and teacher.
—Don H. Murdock is the new executive director of Laity Lodge, an ecumenical Christian retreat center in Kerrville, Texas. Howard Hovde has been named director emeritus after 16 years as executive director.
Copyright © 1997 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
