News Briefs: January 06, 1997

—Thomas Nelson is selling Word Records and Music to Gaylord Entertainment for $110 million. Gaylord Entertainment owns the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland theme park, and three cable networks, including Z Music Television, a Christian music video network. Word's artists include Amy Grant, Sandi Patty, and Petra. Thomas Nelson bought both Word's music and book operations in 1992 for $72 million.

—At the Georgia Southern Baptist state convention in November, messengers censured Kirby Godsey, the Baptist president of Mercer University in Macon, for views in When We Talk About God … Let's Be Honest. His book rejects the inerrancy of the Bible and questions the doctrines of original sin and the Virgin Birth.

—Church of God in Christ International Presiding Bishop Chandler David Owens has been elected to a new four-year term by a single vote out of nearly 3,000 ballots cast at the November annual convocation of the predominantly black Pentecostal denomination (CT, April 8, 1996, p. 22). Owens, who succeeded the late Louis Henry Ford in 1995 as leader of the 6.8 million-member denomination, defeated G. E. Patterson.

—Clyde B. McDowell, 46, became the new president of Denver Seminary last month after 13 years as senior pastor of Mission Hills Baptist Church in Littleton, Colorado. McDowell replaces Edward L. Hayes, who retired at age 65. Hayes joined the seminary in 1961 as a faculty member.

—San Francisco is the first major U.S. city to forbid government officials to contract with any of the 8,000 firms it does business with annually that deny domestic partner benefits to their employees. The ordinance, approved 10 to 0 in November by the city board of supervisors, was designed with same-sex couples in mind. Of the city's registered domestic partners, 90 percent are homosexuals.

—By a 2-to-1 vote, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in November invalidated a 1990 congressional provision that requires the National Endowment for the Arts to consider "general standards of decency and respect" when determining grants. The court called the guidelines vague and said they invite "arbitrary and discriminatory application." Congress had approved language to prevent "obscene or indecent" government-financed projects after such art as Robert Mapplethorpe's homosexual acts photographic display and Andres Serrano's exhibit of a crucifix immersed in urine.

—Judy Bryson is the new president of the Wheaton, Illinois-based Pioneer Clubs, a church-sponsored weekly program for young people in more than 4,000 congregations. Bryson has been with Pioneer Clubs for 26 years, most recently as vice president of marketing and sales. She succeeds Virginia Patterson, who retired after 27 years with the organization.