Prestonwood minister arrested in sting
A minister from Prestonwood Baptist Church has been arrested in a sting operation for soliciting sex with a minor. Joe Barron, 52, a minister to married adults at the Dallas-area church, was arrested May 15 in Bryan, Tex. Barron had made a three-hour drive to Bryan to have sex with a girl he thought was 13 but, instead, was a police officer he had been chatting with online in a sting operation, according to The Eagle, a local newspaper for the Bryan-College Station area. Prestonwood’s pastor, Jack Graham, said that the church has requested and received Barron’s resignation effective immediately. The Dallas Morning News reported that Barron was released Friday evening on $7,000 bail from the Brazos County Detention Center. If convicted for the second-degree felony, he could face up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. A study group is expected to make a report at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Indianapolis in June addressing the need to compile an online database of convicted or admitted pedophile clergy to protect kids and warn parents.
Court approves curb on child porn
The United States Supreme Court handed Congress a victory May 19 in its effort to combat child pornography after a previous effort fell short in the justices’ eyes. The high court voted 7-2 to reverse a lower court and uphold a 2003 law that bars the promotion or solicitation of actual or ostensible child pornography through such means as mail or the Internet. Supporters of the law applauded the ruling. “Friends of children and decency throughout the land have cause for rejoicing today,” said Richard land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “This decision is an encouraging sign that the Supreme Court is prepared to once again begin allowing Americans to exercise their authority and responsibility to protect children in this culture.”
Drake to be SBC president nominee
Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the SBC’s annual meeting in Indianapolis, Bob Bosworth, the congregation’s music minister, confirmed May 20. Drake is among six announced nominees. He is a former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is listed as a co-founder of the Presidential Prayer Team and currently serves as vice president of the Congressional Prayer Conference in Washington, D.C., and as chaplain to the Minuteman Project. Drake is best known in Southern Baptist circles for his motion at the 1997 SBC annual meeting to boycott The Disney Company for its support of homosexual activist causes.
CP: 0.97% ahead of pace for 2007
Year-to-date contributions through the Cooperative Program are 0.97 percent ahead of the same time frame in May 2007. As of May 31, the year-to-date total of $138,401,793 for CP missions is $1,333,919 ahead of $137,067,874.37 received at the same point in 2007. For the month, receipts of $18,123,282 were 10.31 percent, or $1,694,174, ahead of the $16,429,108 received in May 2007. Designated giving of $170,581,420 for the same year-to-date period is 5.68 percent, or $9,164,600, ahead of gifts of $161,416,820 received at this point last year. The $28,204,584 in designated gifts received last month is $9,902,388 ahead of the $18,302,195 received in May 2007, an increase of 54.10 percent.
Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughter killed
Maria Sue, the 5-year-old daughter of Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman, died May 21 after she was struck by an SUV driven by her teenage brother in the family’s driveway south of Nashville, Tenn. The Tennessean newspaper reported that the brother was driving down the gravel driveway of the rural home around 5:30 p.m. while several children were playing in the area. He did not see Maria in the driveway before the vehicle struck her, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. Maria, the youngest of three daughters that the Chapmans adopted from China, was taken by medical helicopter to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where she died of her injuries. The accident was witnessed by two other children; the remaining children, including oldest daughter Emily, and mother Mary Beth were also home at the time.